I like this:
… A lot of people have this strange idea that the only thing preventing us from going off fossil fuels is the oil lobby. But it is not the oil lobby that is doing that. It is the we-dont-want-short-and-shitty-lives lobby that is behind it. In other words it is all of us. …
This is from a piece by Nico Metten for Libertarian Home, published in October of this year. That I only just gave it any serious attention is because I have been having a breather from libertarian polemics, either written by others, or doing them myself. I still haven’t properly read through this one, but already I recommend it.
It’s not that I have been entirely ignoring Nico. He is a friend of mine, and this is a photo I took of him and some of his mates in the Blackheath Halls Orchestra, at a concert of music by Debussy and Sibelius that I attended in November. The Sibelius (Symphony No. 7) was particularly good:
Nico is the guy at the back who played those big drums. Some instrumentalists can hide in an orchestra. By which I mean that they can still do some damage, but without you knowing that it’s them doing it. But the man on the big drums cannot hide. Nico was very good.
The Libertarian Home piece quoted above is also remarkable for the scathing way that Nico writes about Germany and its government. Pioneers in badness basically, once upon a time, and still. But being a German himself, Nico is allowed to say such things.
If it makes anyone feel better , you can blame “our” dependence on oil on me personally.
I get cranky if I have to walk 2 miles through 2 feet of snow to get a pack of cigarettes, and I REALLY get cranky if everyone in my household must huddle together with the livestock in the living room to avoid frostbite when it’s <10F (-12C).
I figure the issues with disposal of "expired" solar panels has begun, is waiting to explode exponentially,
(esp. in California) and the realities of repair/replacement of windmill blades is on track for….oh wait, THAT'S already reared it's ugly head as well!
One or two volcanic dust plumes ought to
1. Fix ALL "global warming" complaints, and
2. keep solar panel cleaners/windmill blade leading edge repairmen (and it WILL be men) in business for at LEAST a generation and a half.
Provided young Americans that self identify as cis-hetero males and females can commit to a partnership, get busy, and bring fourth another generation when it's their turn to do so. (and that's NOT at 40).
As a person who is at this minute getting ready to put on layers of clothing and boots and gloves in order to venture out into a new six or eight inches of Partly Cloudy, I loved his Part 2 post, in which he discusses how no one has really shown that global warming would be a problem even if it did occur.
I yearn for global warming. If the trade-off for my not having to lose skin and flesh to frostbite is that Pacific Islanders who are sitting in the moonlight dangling their toes in the warm sea waters need to step back a foot or two, sign me up!
MFGW
MFGWM4GW ! *g*a quote from the linked article:
Humans only move from one technology to another, or find new uses for existing technologies, if it has advantages and benefits over what is current.
So Humans moved from burning wood, to burning oil and gas, from horse power to steam power, to electrical power.
Mankind would have moved onto nuclear power but was stopped by the intervention of ‘environmentalists’ and their lies.
If something else comes along offering advantages and benefits over fossil fuels, then Humans will make the move voluntarily, and in good order – if left to get on with it.
To try and force Humans to change, requires central planning and control and that fails disastrously wherever, whenever it is tried.
And that is what is happening now, an attempt to force Mankind away from fossil fuels without any alternative except back to pre-industrial, subsistence farming. The aim of the Ecofascists.
Sib 7 is sublime. Karajan and the BPO rule it.
Sib 6 is also grand and I have unfortunately not ever seen Kyung Wha Chung play the violin concerto.
Brian (and Nico),
Thank you for this wonderful piece from Nico, a superb contribution to the debate, which takes me back to Ludwig von Mises Omnipotent Government, which, when I first put it down, made me sigh for its wonderful sweep through dominant strains of German political thought. Nico may proudly stand in that small Austrian’s big shoes. I have not looked at LH as often as I might, the odd bout of infantile Rothbardism does put one off a bit.
And for your aside on the Blackheath Orchestra, another wonderful reminder of voluntarism in south London’s Hampstead (there are others), and the wonderful gift that is music (unless it is Giftmusik). The Lefties haven’t really got around to hating music yet (as opposed to corrupting it), a musical instrument is entirely unforgiving, it requires dedication, skill and patience in whatever combination that arises, and there is no place in music (as opposed to noise) for ‘prizes for all’, the ear does not lie, reminding us of objective truth and reality. We are not all equal, some have talent and persevere, some simply have neither, and music shows that like few other skills (apart from bomb disposal).
How the Lefties must, in their hearts, hate musicians who work, not for monetary exchange which they can attack as unjust, exploitative or oppressive, but for the pure joy of music, and striving for excellence, hours and years of toil bearing fruit despite many a musician not seeking reward, nor even praise, just the satisfaction of bringing human genius to life, be it in collaboration or individual performance.
And the sheer genius of composers, how unequal, how unfair, how wonderful: Barenboim said that he thought Mozart must have been among the most intelligent people who ever lived, there were others, like Antonio Bertali and his Ciaconna in C.
It is indeed not the “oil lobby” that has prevented us moving over to nuclear power, it is the very people who denounce the (largely mythical) “oil lobby” who have pushed for the endless regulations that have crippled the development of nuclear power.
The most extreme case is Germany – “Global Warming Central” which denounces the “oil lobby” with every other breath. And yet is actually closing down all its nuclear power stations – for no good reason, just out of “Green” CULTISM (they might as well still be looking for “Odin’s Stool” as Mr Himmler, head of the SS, did – he was an ardent “Green”). The “renewables” have, of course, failed in Germany – leaving them dependent on brown coal, and oil and gas that comes courtesy of Mr Putin.