OPINION
The celebrity eco-crite is a grimly familiar phenomenon. You know the sort: the A-lister who bangs on about cutting emissions and reducing our ecological footprint — and uses their private jet to flit about their collections of mansions scattered around the globe. It’s not just celebrities, though. Scratch a climate cultist glueing themselves to a road or “striking for climate”, and you’ll find a carbon footprint about the size of an entire developing nation. Isn’t that right, Izzy Cook?
Even in my own experience, those of my family and friends who are the loudest Climate Cultists are constantly updating their social media profiles with photos from their latest overseas holiday. Lest I be accused of peddling anecdotes, scientific studies have verified what we all knew: the most ostentatiously “green” virtue signallers tend to have the most massive carbon footprints. Mostly due to their addiction to overseas travel.
The average American flies 1700 km per year. University students travel 8525 km, while academics fly more than 33,000 km per year. Climate change researchers fly more than any others.
The Climate Cult are the world’s most polluting hypocrites.
Of course, they try and hand-wave away their planet-killing addiction by blithering, “Oh, but I offset my carbon emissions when I fly!”
Well, I’ve got news for the Izzy Cooks of the world: you’re not achieving a damn thing.
Except for lining some grifter’s pockets.
In fact, if anything, you’re making things worse.
So-called “Human Induced Regeneration” (HIR) is the most common scam, oops, “scheme”, for offsetting carbon emissions. Put simply, it means paying farmers to do nothing. Not planting trees, just stopping doing any agricultural activity at all. The idea is that the land “regenerates” and stores carbon.
I’m sure you’ll be as gobsmacked as I was to learn that it’s just another greenwashing scam that does more harm than good.
Professor Andrew Macintosh is scathing of the scheme. For six years, he was the chair of the watchdog that monitors carbon projects: the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC).
He now works with a team at ANU and UNSW that has analysed how HIR projects are performing overall in Australia.
“The vast majority are performing badly. By that, I mean over 80 per cent of projects, their tree cover has either gone nowhere or it’s gone backwards since the projects were first registered,” he told 7.30.
So, that’s millions of hectares of once-productive agricultural land going to shit. And all so a bunch of Climate Cult hypocrites can pat themselves on the backs.
Oh, and so that someone can make a whole lot of money for literally nothing. Over the period Professor Macintosh monitored the scheme, nearly a billion dollars was paid out in “carbon credits”.
Of course, the carbon trading troughers, and bureaucrats like the Clean Energy Regulator, squeal like pigs at the thought of such a rich trough being taken away. But their protests ring hollow.
Ecologist Dr David Eldridge is also scathing of the CER.
Dr Eldridge told 7.30 his work over four decades had been misinterpreted by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER).
“When I found out that the Clean Energy regulator had used my research inappropriately, I was quite concerned,” he said.
A central part of many HIR projects is the removal of grazing to encourage trees to start regenerating, but Dr Eldridge said the effect of grazing on forest regeneration is completely overshadowed by rainfall and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
“I’m really concerned for those pastoralists graziers, landholders … that have signed up to a program where they are expecting that removing grazing is going to enhance trees and shrubs,” he said.
“At the end of this program, they’re going to end up either with similar levels of trees and shrubs, or in some cases, actually reductions.”
It’s no secret that the Green left hates farming. If I was conspiracy-minded, I might even suspect that HIR is a Trojan horse for the Greens’ dearest wish, shutting down animal husbandry.
Professor Don Butler is a leading ecologist and agrees the impact of grazing in most cases is marginal.
ABC Australia
But, but… the farting cows!
Climate kids: farting cows have got nothing on the nauseating gas that eructs from your overfed gobs every time you take out the silver spoon and throw another demented tantrum.