We Serve Neither King Nor Kaiser

at

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) and Britain’s Duchess of Cornwall at a reception last night following Britain’s Prince Charles’ address to COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland

Until now.

“You all carry a heavy burden on your shoulders, and you do not need me to tell you that the eyes and hopes of the world are upon you to act with all dispatch, and decisively because time has quite literally run out.”

“The recent IPCC [UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report gave us a clear diagnosis of the scale of the problem. What we will do with a growing global population, creating ever increasing demand on the planet’s finite resources.

“As we tackle this crisis, our efforts cannot be a series of independent initiatives running in parallel, the scale and scope of the threat we face a call for a global systems level solution based on radically transforming our current fossil fuel based economy to one that is genuinely renewable and sustainable.

“So there’s going to be my plea today is for countries to come together to create the environment that enables every sector of industry to take the action required.”

“Here we need a vast military style campaign to marshal the strength of the global private sector with trillions at his disposal, far beyond global GDP, and with the greatest respect, beyond even the governments of the world’s leaders.”

Britain’s Prince Charles to the COP26 climate change conference

Fight!

Six of the most melodramatic warnings from COP26 (The Spectator)

COP26: ‘Not yet where we need to be’ on climate, Merkel says — as it happened (DW)

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36 thoughts on “We Serve Neither King Nor Kaiser”

  1. scottser

    ‘don’t worry lads, we’ll maintain our rapacious profit levels and the taxpayer will pay for it. again’
    *thunderous applause*

  2. Nigel

    ‘What we will do with a growing global population’

    Only a relatively small part of which is responsible, in the present and historically, for over-consumption, waste, carbon emissions and environmental destruction.

    ‘radically transforming our current fossil fuel based economy’

    Ending. Ending our fossil fuel based economy. Otherwise you’re actually ignoring the seriousness of the probblem.

    ‘“Here we need a vast military style campaign to marshal the strength of the global private sector with trillions at his disposal, ‘

    Haha, no. We need to regulate the private sector to punish and prevent environmental destruction and carbon emissions and ecocide, which needs to be made an actual crime punishable with imprisonment, we need to tax the perpetrators till they squeal and pay reperations for all the damage they did, we need a democracy-based political movement with public ownership of land set aside for rewilding, rewetting, and restoration we need to protect and support the indigenous people and activists who are actually out there doing the work and getting murdered for it at an appalling rate.

    This is what they prefer to hear, rather than whatever Greta Thurnberg or Vanessa Nakate or any number of other people who actually care would have to say to them, which would be a good deal less flattering.

      1. Nigel

        No. Less poverty and more equality for women would sort out any population issues, which are a red herring on this issue anyway, given that the problem isn’t the global population, but a relatively small part of the population that needlessly overconsumes and generates vast amounts of unecessary waste.

          3. Ghost of Yep

            Explain how. Not in the equality leads to more education for women which leads to less children. I get that.

            Explain how on your projected timeline before climate collapse we should rock in to the African countries with deeply rooted misogyny and corruption that have far and away the highest projections for population growth and impose a totally different social structure to limit Co 2 output.

            You are useful as that person who glued their head to a road. Probably less so in truth.

            Do you know how little the projected temperature change will be hampered even if all EU countries have reached the targets?

          4. Nigel

            ‘We’ don’t have to ‘rock into’ anywhere – amazing assumption on your part there – there are plenty of activists and organisers in Africa working to end poverty and create equality and calling for action on climate and biodiversity loss. They are literally the people experiencing the worst effects of climate change right now and in most immediate danger in the current and near future, despite having contributed the least to carbon emissions. Africa aren’t the problem. Rich countries in the global north are the problem.

            And yes I do know that predatory delay and denial has made it nearly impossible to prevent temperature rise – it just means we have to take urgent action now to stop it getting even worse.

  5. Diddy

    Meanwhile the hyper rich contribute nothing from their billions. Start by paying Brazilian loggers not to log

  6. ce

    Elephant(s) in the room… Brazil, Indian, and China are very rich countries…

    Other than that –

    Mushrooms, eat more mushrooms…

    1. Nigel

      The combined historic emissions from Brazil, India and China don’t even come close to the historic emissions of tiny Belgium, let alone monsters like Canada, the US and the UK. India, for the first time, set a net-zero target for 2070.

      1. Ghost of Yep

        Just because you flooded your house doesn’t mean the tap left on next door shouldn’t come under some scrutiny ye plonk.

        1. Nigel

          We can always be sure that some people will demand that scrutiny while others try to sort out the flood.

          1. Chris

            One of the biggest dangers of moving to a secular society, was it being hijacked by cultists.

            That it has happened is undeniable, they want to impose their flagellation upon everyone. There’s really no point conversing with them, they’re too far gone. But they must be resisted at every turn.

          4. Nigel

            There’s no dichotomy at all. You don’t represent the other side of anything. Even fossil fuel companies stopped publicly denying climate change when it became as untenable as cigarette companies denying lung cancer, moving to delay, capture and greenwashing. You’re out here denying climate change as an offshoot of denying covid. You’re an outlier, and edgelord, a quasi-autonomous bot infected by viral memes that are out-dated but still useful to reactionary capitlaist institutions who benefit from the confusion and discord generated by climate disinfiormation and trying to infect others.

          5. Chris

            Your assessment has as much validity as your take on anything. Exactly none. You surf the topline propaganda spouted from outlets such as The Guardian, and treat it as gospel.

            You are the textbook definition of a useful idiot. Unquestioning, devout and factually vacuous.

          6. Nigel

            You trot out tired old fossil fuel nonsense as if it’s received wisdom, I don’t, I think I’m ok.

          8. Nigel

            I don’t regurgitate rickety old fossil fuel climate-change denying talking points, so, I’m ahead on that score.

          9. Chris

            From an outsider perspective, the position of a useful idiot is rather pathetic. I mean, I can grudgingly respect those you serve for getting their way – but their indoctrinated lackeys? No chance.

            Those you serve evidently agree if history to be considered. First against the wall and all that.

          11. Chris

            Oh, you’d like some content? https://www.iltempo.it/attualita/2021/10/21/news/rapporto-iss-morti-covid-malattie-patologie-come-influenza-pandemia-disastro-mortalita-bechis-29134543/

            We’re you not hystericaly prattling on about Covid deaths being over 5 million? Well Italy has just revised it’s figures down from 130,000 to 3700.

            You see, you being a useful idiot, adding to the panic and grossly exaggerating numbers – can have real world consequences. That is, if people are foolish enough to imagine you have a clue.

          12. Micko

            Ahhhh…

            I remember when I was younger and more carefree and I used to have back and forth with Nigel.

            Long into the night we would exchange whimsical jibes and toss tempestuously with one another (oooh matron)

            To be young again…sniff… mmmmf

            Enjoy these special, special times Chris… he’s a super special guy.

          13. Chris

            Yeah I twigged the ‘special’ bit. There’s no real chance of discourse with someone so far gone, it’s more for anyone that happens across the thread tbh.

          14. Nigel

            Aw, Chris, bringing covid disinformation into a climate debtate, except you weren’t even debating the climate, so I can see why details don’t matter to you.

            Micko – you and Chris should feel free to console each other in your weird online exes’ club, if that’s what you need.

      2. ce

        It doesn’t matter what historically happened, we’re living today and everybody has to chip in or it will never work… blaming the ‘colonial’ powers of the past won’t save a single pacific island that will disappear below the sea… If China and India in particular cut back on their nuclear weapons program, maybe they might have a bit more money to help out their citizens and to help fix their environment… but it’s much easier to blame whitey and do nothing and keep your population in poverty and play the post-colonial card… sort of how we blame the brits for stuff while letting FF/FG bankrupt the country for 100 years…

        This does not absolve us from doing nothing – cow’s gotta go, tax air fuel, rapid (and actually rapid) roll out of off-shore wind, cutting down on car use, paying more for imported food… etc… etc…

        1. Nigel

          What happened historically does matter because the quantity of carbon put out by ‘whitey’ and which is directly causing what’s occurring now, so vastly dwarfs India’s, China’s and Brazil’s it’s not even funny. There has to be SOME sense of fairness and responsibility involved.

          1. ce

            “There has to be SOME sense of fairness and responsibility involved” – yes, if we had time for a debate but we don’t – and frankly, most people responsible for all this are dead… Those alive and doing the most damage today (Ireland included, having some of the highest per-capita emissions in the EU) need to get their act together…

            We have to do our part regardless of what other countries do – I have no time for Healy-Rae nonsense… but listening to China, India, Brazil complaining about fairness…

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