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The Green Revolution?
Similar to how our governments bailed out the banks instead of the people during the 2008 financial crash, it’s my belief that the government sponsored faux big business/corporate green revolution is one of the biggest travesties and missed opportunities of our age. Don’t get me wrong, at the individual and grassroots level there is some amazing work being carried out under the banner of environmentalism. Equally, there are many big business and government interests that are using peoples concern to greenwash their products/narratives and future proof their control mechanisms.
This post is not intended as a debate on the validity or indeed invalidity of man-made climate change. Whichever side of the fence you sit, I believe the issues I will discuss relate to us all. Aside from climate change, I believe the future health of our biosphere is secured by empowering individuals and communities as opposed to the machinations of big business. Power to the people!
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Despite promises to the contrary I believe that big business, energy sector and government sponsored environmentalism is too often based upon a false premise/promise, a slight of hand that gives with one hand and takes with the other. Environmentalism based upon a lie that as always puts the bottom line before the health and well being of our mother earth. A government sponsored lie that puts the interests of big business before individual and community interests. Environmentalism based upon facts, figures and energy targets that fail to tell the bigger story.
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There are many environmental injustices and crimes that are occurring right now; alas because many are being carried out under the banner of renewable energy targets and CO2 reduction, the silence is often deafening. Much like the many aid agencies have been infiltrated and politicised (often greasing the skids for and justifying unjust wars) many environmental protection agencies and charities have been equally subverted.
We often have our attention averted from politically sensitive truths; whilst at the same time having the subconscious guilt and blame for the state of the world attached to the shoulders of the collective, teaching us to hate ourselves and that we are a disease upon the planet. At the same time greenwashed corporate business interests are too often allowed to continue unimpeded.
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WWF
So let’s first take a look at the world wildlife fund, I have included them as in many ways I believe they're the glue the binds some of these injustices together. In 1961 the WWF was co-founded by Prince Philip, former Nazi SS officer Prince Bernhard and Godfrey A Rockefeller. A few months before the charities launch Prince Philip joined Queen Elizabeth (both of whom are responsible for the wholesale slaughter of thousands of animals) on a tiger hunt. Alongside several tigers the “party” also bagged an extremely rare Indian Rhino, at the time of the shoot there were just 250 left in the wild.
After the shoot the WWF’s first international appeals director Ian MacPhail later told a BBC camera crew that Prince Philip shot and killed an elephant whilst her calf ran in terror, stating that "he helped to cover up the incident because the WWF was about to be launched and he believed the Fund would benefit wildlife conservation."
“In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus to solve the overpopulation problem”. Prince Philip.
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A Tangled Web
Prince Bernhard’s eldest daughter former Queen (now Princess) Beatrix is the largest single shareholder in royal Dutch Shell plc. Shell oil has been implicated and indeed charged with both environmental crimes and being complicit in the murder of environmentalists.
The world wildlife fund has been accused of “selling it’s soul” by creating allegiances with corporate business interests that use the WWF brand to greenwash their names/brands. The fund has also been accused as complicit in the evictions of indigenous communities from Indian and African forests and enabling Monsanto to plant GMO soy in the Amazonian basin. In truth, if you’re prepared to do your homework you will see that corporations such as Coca-Cola, Shell Oil, Monsanto, B.P, Cargill, Alcoa etc etc are actually connected to the same core interests as WWF.
A Word To WWF Workers
That’s not to say that the world wildlife fund doesn’t have some passionate and compassionate environmentalists working for them or that some great work hasn’t been carried out by them. Alas, despite these valiant efforts, at its rotten core I’ve come to believe what we have is neo-colonialism masquerading as environmentalism. The manipulation of empathy and the use of public money to accumulate political power and vast tracts of land into private hands.
Green Energy Revolution?
Firstly I would like to preface this by saying that I’m not against green energy, in fact when implemented intelligently I think it’s a very good idea. Equally, from the perspective of the energy giants (who are more dogmatic than revolutionary) let’s not kid ourselves that this is what’s happening here. In reality, they’re using the green revolution to maximise profit, position themselves and retain control of the energy sector, using government funds, price increases, and thus public money to achieve it.
There exists the technology for each new build house to generate its own energy needs and to recycle a large percentage of its water. If our collective governments funneled a fraction of the money that’s going towards big business tax breaks and huge (oft inefficient) green/renewable energy projects/targets into the empowerment of the individual, I believe that within a generation each household could be energy self-sufficient. The public will is there, alas the leadership is not. This would be a truly green energy revolution but unfortunately, this would eat into the energy giant’s shareholder profits and a challenge a narrative that aims to nefariously connect every aspect of our lives to the net/grid.
It’s my belief that an ideal system would be where (under new planning regulations) every new house was designed (and existing houses funded) to become energy self-sufficient, each household would then pay an inflationary capped rental on the household meter and insurance for a skeleton grid. One thing’s for sure, from the perspective of the customer our current system is completely unsustainable and will only get worse. With the energy market in private hands that (on a yearly basis) need to increase profit margins for their shareholders, the burden and cost will ultimately fall upon the shoulders of the consumer.
Indeed each year in the UK we have elderly people dying of hypothermia because they're unable to afford to heat their homes! Unfortunately, unless we take up the mantle ourselves it’s a revolution that’s unlikely to come to fruition. Equally, for those that do decide to make the break, there are even people that have disconnected themselves from the grid only to be evicted from their home. You may rightly ask how we could afford this true green revolution/evolution? Well the fact of the matter is that the energy giants are only really private when they’re taking profit and in terms of infrastructure projects they’re heavily funded by government.
Sadly instead aiding the individual and community interests, we have attempted private coups on water supplies (charging Latin American's for collecting rainwater from their own roofs) and governments across the world exploring huge, short-sighted, ecologically damaging and inefficient energy projects such as the Three Gorges dam, the Amazonian Belo Monte dam, and the damming of Europe’s last free-flowing rivers. These projects will (and have) forcibly removed indigenous communities from the land of their fathers, destroyed ecology, biodiversity, and forests that are the lungs of a world they purport to save, clever eh?
Green Energy Targets
So to meet their “renewable” energy targets governments across the world have been quietly felling ancient, pristine and in several cases protected forests. A quarter of Estonia’s woodlands are now considered to be at risk of deforestation and a further 20% have already been clean cut. It’s sobering to note that this deforestation has taken place before the opening of their billion euro bio-refinery in 2022.
In order to meet renewable energy targets, protected forests and woodlands are being felled across Europe and the U.K is also felling/burning pristine woodlands from Canada to the U.S. In order that they can wear their renewable energy badges with pride, forests across the U.S are being felled to quench the Europeans insatiable lust for wood. Here we can observe that in order to reach CO2 targets, deforestation in northern Europe has risen by 49%. Whilst Louisiana is currently a key fighting ground for environmentalists not quelled into silence by the oft hypocritical premise of green energy.
Alas, many within the climate change movement are so full of their own hubris that few look beyond the targets and bottom line. Few appear to challenge the wisdom behind the wholesale destruction of forest environments and the shipping of this “green energy” resource halfway across the world. These are the inconvenient truths that many of our environmental stewards appear unable to question.
Wind Farms
So once again I’d like to say that I’m not against wind farms, but I am against the frankly idiotic placement of them. I lived in the Highlands of Scotland for several years and witnessed firsthand the folly of these decisions. The Highlands are internationally famed for their vast ancient peat bogs. From a climate change proponent’s perspective, these bogs are a veritable treasure trove that stores literally thousands of years of carbon. Perhaps it would be wise to question the wisdom behind desecrating ancient landscapes to build industrial-scale wind farms atop (and thus damaging) said bogs? Indeed when you factor in the carbon it takes to build each turbine, the shipping, and the damage they can cause to these carbon sinks, the words white elephant spring to mind.
From this freedom of information request we can observe that since the year 2000 Scotlands wind industry has clear-felled 17,283 acres of woodland, which equates to approx 13 million trees. To add insult to injury (because it’s cheaper) instead of burying the associated cables they’re increasingly covering vast tracts of pristine (and often protected) Highland landscapes with pylons. The electricity generated from these wind farms is then carried down south and into substations from where it begins to feed to the grid. The power from these substations is then pumped back northwards and because of the elongated process and distances involved, the people that live alongside the wind farms are actually paying a higher rate for the electricity they produce.
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Biofuel
For several years many across the world have been patting themselves on the back safe in the knowledge that their public and latterly private vehicles are running on a mixture of environmentally friendly biofuels. But where do these fuels come from and what is the cost?
Firstly it’s being increasingly argued that biofuels may actually emit more greenhouse gasses than fossil fuels. The synopsis behind this analysis comes down to deforestation, changes in land use, transport and road networks that open pristine areas of forest and leave them ripe for illegal logging/mining activities. Equally as more countries like the U.S use their landmass to plant ever more bio crops, they need to import more crops such as soybean. Soy is often grown in rainforest environments and is now 90% GMO with Monsanto controlling 90% of the soybean market, this leads to further deforestation and damage to sensitive ecological balances.
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Deforestation linked to the E.U biofuel bonanza has resulted in a loss of biodiversity, the clear felling of rainforests, land conflicts, and again the forced removal of indigenous communities. Many biofuel crops damage the soil and because of their poor energy return consume vast tracts of land. Entire rainforests burned or felled in order to make way for a fuel that only produces 500 – 1000 litres of biofuel per hectare. When you begin to factor in the production and transport issues, then suddenly things aren’t as green as they first appear.
Conversely, when we compare these crops to hemp we can see that they stand in the shadow of this mighty plant. Hemp is extremely hardy and thus kind on the soil, within numerous and varied environments it can produce 1000 litres of oil per acre. It is also extremely fast-growing and so can produce three/four crops per year. In the states, enough oil to run the nation’s cars, heat homes, and power industry could be produced on just 6% of its landmass. Even once the oil has been extracted and processed, hemp fibers can be used in the manufacture of car parts, textiles, construction, and clothing. Again a truly green revolution/evolution that’s impeded by government, big business, and oil interests.
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Electric Cars
But what about electric cars? Surely they’re the answer to our energy woes? Well erm .. no! As with all government and big business initiatives there is always a payoff, both environmentally and personally. First it’s time to put my conspiratorial head on; as with the smart meter, electric cars have little do with saving the environment and everything to with connecting every facet of our lives to the net. To increasingly ensnare us ever deeper into the web in order that we can be tracked, monitored and surveilled by a 5G powered omnipresent smart grid. I will add that I have that I have valid concerns (as do many scientists) about the over-saturation of EMF's and as such the 5G network that the electric car will be increasingly communicating with. Whoops I’ve digressed, where was I?
The electric car might not require petrol/diesel to run it, but where does the electricity come from? Again, if you’re a proponent of man-made climate change, then your local grid may still be using coal fired plants. Equally, if they’re meeting their renewable energy obligations then where is the energy coming from? How will a world of electric cars impact upon the aforementioned forests?
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But let’s take a closer at the mining aspect behind the electric cars components, nickel, lithium, cobalt etc etc. Many of these mines are incredibly environmentally destructive and a percentage are known to use child labour. Many of the metals and minerals used in the technologies to fuel both the electric car and the impending 4th industrial revolution are extracted from threatened chimpanzee habitats throughout the Congo Basin and thus have decimated their population. From coal powered furnaces to rock crushing equipment, the manufacturing process behind the electric car generates far more carbon than the production of the conventional motor. The rare earth minerals that are required to run the electric car exist in minute quantities and there extraction is both labour intensive and damaging to the environment.
If we look at a standard clay mine, in order to dissolve the clay workers dig deep holes that they fill with aluminium sulfate. The next stage of the process involves the bagging and removal of a residue that is then passed through several acid baths, finally it’s ready to be baked in a coal fired kiln. The rare earth minerals that are extracted amount to 0.2% of the soil that’s been removed from the ground, the remaining (toxic) 98.8% is then dumped back into the environment. Yes when compared to a conventional motor, over the lifetime of the car it will save Co2 but it still compares very unfavorably to my aforementioned hemp solution. Indeed car maker Renew are making cars from carbon negative hemp material than can run on hemp ethanol.
The CANNA 100 & 130 models have a Lifetime Carbon Footprint that’s 10% lower than the average new electric vehicle, while the CANNA EV model drives 22% greener than the average electric vehicle, ranging from 80 to 400+ horsepower.Source
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Conclusion
Whilst energy resources are the buzzwords of our age, a sad fact remains that the greatest untapped resource is the collective ingenuity of humanity. The U.S patent office alone has over 5,000 private inventions that are held under secrecy orders. Equally we also have mega-corporations with entire departments dedicated to buying up patents that may impede their business practices. It certainly makes you wonder how many patents relate to energy? Alas, instead of freeing our creative spirit, we're being strangled by an ever tightening noose of red tape and regulation.
As our sycophantic and dogmatic governments fawn over, capitulate and pander to the circle jerk of corporatocracy, our greatest and most ingenious minds often disappear through the cracks and wander in obscurity. That said, many are awakening to the fact that now is the age of change .. will we grasp the opportunity, or allow the system to define our future? I guess time will tell.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, as always I will leave you to decide who has the perceptualflaws.
Further References
1)https://amazonwatch.org/take-action/stand-in-solidarity-with-brazils-indigenous-rights-agency
2)http://www.occupyforanimals.net/earths-lung--deforestation-and-the-construction-of-the-belo-monte-dam-are-destroying-the-amazon.html
3)https://www.offthegridnews.com/current-events/florida-city-evicting-woman-for-living-off-the-grid/
4)https://www.globalresearch.ca/monsanto-teams-up-with-world-wildlife-fund-wwf-to-convert-amazon-into-giant-gmo-plantation/5476826
5)https://www.commondreams.org/views/2009/06/20/thirst-profit-corporate-control-water-latin-america
6)https://www.wired.com/2016/03/teslas-electric-cars-might-not-green-think/
7)https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/24/protected-forests-in-europe-felled-to-meet-eu-renewable-targets-report
8)https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1994/eirv21n43-19941028/eirv21n43-19941028_041-the_oligarchs_real_game_is_killi.pdf
9)https://csglobe.com/cars-made-out-of-powered-by-hemp-are-the-future/
Written by perceptualflaws
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