My Conclusions
Get yourself a small (2-3 Kw generator). Get yourself a small pedal 5v generator for charging your phone. Get a Swarey power pack which stores at least half a KwH of energy for lights, computer, etc. Make sure you have plenty of warm jumpers – turn down your heating. Store at least 10 gallons of fuel (petrol) – or more – in proper safe jerry cans. Keep £500 in cash in a safe place. Make sure you have food stored (deep freeze, cans, dry goods, root vegetables etc. - beer kits and sugar too!)
Ukraine, Climate and Covid come face to face with what's left of Liberal Democracy
Has there ever been a time when world events were more different to what's going on in the garden? How did we get into this mess? It certainly was not by design so it must have been an accident – or, perhaps, it is an inevitable consequence of some built-in flaw in nature's human experiment!
How come people who can build computers, send spaceships to Venus and solve the most complex maths problems do not seem able to manage Earth's affairs more effectively? It's a question I have been asking myself ever since I abandoned my study of theoretical physics at Cambridge in 1967.
Things don't seem to be going too well on Planet Earth at the moment. The west has leaders chosen for the quality of their teeth, hair and “charm” - they no longer “lead” but slavishly follow opinion polls. The east is in the grip of systems and philosophies which turn humans into state automatons – the east is on the rise. The Russians are more and more frustrated and angry while Africa holds the great basket of vital resources which both the east and west would like to plunder.
Generally there seems to be a floating miasma of discontent amongst the people – reflected, for example, in the fast growing army of Russell Brand's followers (now 5.3 million). In my last newsletter I speculated that the complete failure (disaster) of the elite's covid “techno” response might trigger a rejection of the whole edifice of populist democracy. This hopeful dynamic has now been over-run by the horrors and stupidity of the Ukraine war – all very good for the business of the MSM (Main Stream Media). So we are now drowning in an outpouring of misinformation and propaganda from all sides. From where I sit President Zelensky seems to be flying high on the politician/actors ultimate stage – a kinetic war – while NATO and the west fan the flames with a deluge of weapons and poisonous rhetoric. The ordinary people of the Ukraine and Russia are the ones paying the price for all this political grandstanding. The MSM would love to spread this madness with their mindless pro-war rhetoric.
It remains an extraordinary thing that so many young men are prepared to kill their planetary companions when, from my experience teaching students how to kill a chicken, most normal people are scared stiff of death. Perhaps it's easier to blow your fellow humans to pieces when you can do it from a distance – you can even kill thousands at a time thanks to nuclear technology! Here again we can thank the wonder of science and technology which provide modern humans with such an illusion of power over the natural world. The utter madness of war is surely another sign that life is more like an unpredictable “game” than a manageable “test”!
Ukraine The foundations of this war were laid down by the west in their “cheap” political opportunism which followed the fall of the Berlin wall (and Soviet Union) in 1989. When the US was pleased to support the violent over-throw of the elected Ukrainian President in 2014 the wheels for this disaster were set in motion – aided and abetted by the “charitable” funds of George Soros. For reasons we may never understand Mr Putin miscalculated when he took military action in the face of NATO's thoughtless provocation. The war can only be ended if Zelensky and the west get off their high horses and negotiate with their frustrated aggressor.
Covid We now know that the entire pandemic was a scam of lies and misinformation promoted by big Pharma, Bill Gates and their friends in government. What we don't yet know is how the planet's biggest ever medical experiment will play out as the side effects from the mRNA jab continue to manifest. Now we watch as the drama of the Chinese battle with the Wuhan virus pits over-arching state power against the wishes of the people – it won't end well.
Climate The science of climate change is still uncertain. The inflows and outflows of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere are both HUGE numbers – so tiny effects in either can seriously upset the balance. There are also hugely significant and unpredictable feedback loops.
The central issue in all this is not the balance between fossil fuel energy and renewables but the huge amount of energy which modern life depends upon. If we are serious about tackling CO2 emissions, then rationing energy is the most important question we have to address. (We should also note that creating more fission power is NOT a good idea – the toxic radio-active waste is not a present we should leave on Earth for the next 20,000 years!) A 2kw max power per person is my suggestion – for all purposes (driving and heating). We also need to be clear that methane from ruminants is NOT increasing atmospheric warming and electric cars/heat pumps are NOT a magic solution either.
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