This is a post by Malcolm Delingpole.
As more and more people get a free view of Michael Moore’s film Planet of the Humans, with its revelation that renewable energy is not that renewable, and indeed produces very little of our energy, it either confirms what we knew all along or has us desperate to find a trustworthy source to refute it.
At least Cabinet Ministers and their girlfriends must be grateful that they will not now have to welcome plane-loads of ‘concerned ecologists’ to the sun-drenched beaches and fleshpots of Glasgow this autumn.
There is too much capital invested in the climate scam for it to disappear altogether, but those of us who have been sceptical since Climategate now have some heavy artillery provided from inside the movement.
One thing to note about the film is that it is against there being too many humans. As James Delingpole says, ‘The Malthusian belief underpinning the movie is that over-population is killing our planet’.
It is a common belief that too many children are being born. If this is true, we can ask the questions, “Where and why? And has anyone tried to reverse this?”
Like it or not, the answer is that the highest birth rates are in sub-Saharan Africa, and yes, someone has successfully reversed the trend, When Hassan VI came to the throne of Morocco in 1999 he instituted a campaign to ensure that all his subjects had access to reliable electricity. This he achieved by building coal-fired power stations using coal imported from South Africa.
This had a knock-on effect. With electricity, his people were able to get television, and, watching television, people were able to see how others in the western world lived, and girls soon realised that they did not have to get pregnant at fourteen and have up to eight babies. They started to get education, began dating instead of marrying, which they delayed until their twenties.
As a result the birth rate fell from 7.8 to 2.7 and the population growth dipped below 1.6%.
If we check the relationship between the countries with the highest birth rate in the world and the countries with the lowest access to reliable electricity in the world one can see where the problem lies.
BIRTH RATE PER WOMAN ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY
1. Niger: 7.0 1. South Sudan -5.1% (of population)
2. Somalia: 6.2 2. Chad -6.4%
3. Congo (DRC): 6.0 3. Burundi -6.5%
4. Mali: 6.0 4. Malawi -9.8%
5. Chad: 5.8 5. Liberia – 9.8%
6. Angola: 5.6 6. Central African Republic – 10.8%
7. Burundi: 5.5 7. Burkina Faso – 13.1 %
8. Nigeria: 5.5 8. Sierra Leone – 14.2 %
9. Gambia: 5.3 9. Niger – 14.4 %
10. Burkina Faso: 5.3 10. Tanzania – 15.3%
In most of these countries people cook indoors on charcoal-burning stoves (biomass!). Well-meaning attempts have been made to persuade them to use wind and solar, when we can see that a Morocco-type solution is required.
A final question might be, “Morocco is next to the Sahara Desert, so why didn’t they go down the solar route?” The answer is that they have been trying to, with poor results. They copied the ‘Ivanpah model’ of ‘concentrated solar power’ at Ouarzazarte but all is not going well, and imported coal still provides 97% of their electricity.
20 thoughts on “Malcolm Delingpole: Too Many People?”
“… those of us who have been sceptical since Climategate now have some heavy artillery provided from inside the movement.”
I used to be optimistic that enough people would see through the Global Warming Scam eventually. Maybe when all those people crowding the airports in summer time realized that they were heading to warmer Greece & Italy to avoid the chilly English summer, not going to Siberia for some of that proper cold weather. But the reaction of too many of our fellow citizens to the C-19 Scam has made a doubter out of me.
Life is no fun during lock down. Many people are complaining about the impositions — but they are going along with them. The Ruling Class is probably learning an important lesson — even when the “science” is quickly revealed to be garbage and the burdens imposed on people are real & onerous, the population is generally docile enough to accept their boot on our neck. Our Betters will realize they have not yet over-reached to the point that real push-back occurs. They will remember that, and act accordingly. Covid-19 has not killed half a million people in the UK; nor will it kill the Global Warming Scam.
My apologies for being a downer, but we have to face reality.
Malcom
Great post and spot on. Population growth slows down as people get richer and goes hand in hand with increased energy demand (and provision). There is a wonderful talk by Hans Rosling, a Swedish statistician (now sadly passed away) which explains very clearly some of the facts and trends of increasing population, The link is below and anyone who has seen it will never again have concerns about this particular ‘problem’.
https://youtu.be/FACK2knC08E
Worked numbers from Netherlands showing Professer Pantsdown estimates for under 70’s miles out,
closer for over 70’s
@andrew_lilico
On the left: The assumptions Ferguson et al made in their report of early March.
On the right: Actual outcomes in the Netherlands up to end april. https://t.co/F0a9TwN4xn
I’d be sceptical of any official figures coming out of Africa though no reason to suppose those numbers are that far off the mark. One thing I know from direct experience is prevalence of charcoal stoves. Even people with electricity, eg in upscale areas of Nairobi / Kampala, never mind slums use charcoal-burning stoves inside or outside. They’re cheap, efficient and you don’t have to worry about power-cuts or the generator running out of diesel.
” The Ruling Class is probably learning an important lesson ….”
The ruling class already knows an important lesson. The rules they establish must be strictly applied to the little people, but THEY do not have to follow them….
…because THEY are the nomenklatura…
On the brighter side, the Wuhan virus has almost certainly killed off globalist dreams and the old ‘the future is Chinese’ narrative. It’s good news for populist leaders, strong borders and nation states, but terrible news for Chinese authorities, the UN, our China-protecting Trump-hating mass media, deluded internationalists and our hordes of unwitting communists.
Except that the Johnson government is still going ahead with letting Huawei be involved in building the UK’s 5G network.
I updated the chart of ONS weekly deaths data here:
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0ZXy6/1/
Non-Covid deaths are now returning towards more normal levels, but are still a little on the high side in Week 17, but with many more deaths in non hospital settings. The tragedy in care homes continues, with a broad peak over Week 16/17. It is clear that we are now past the total mortality peak.
There were some 953 deaths added to week 16, and (at least) 119 deaths previous categorised as non-Covid in hospitals were recategorised to Covid. There were also additions to earlier weeks.
But you can’t plug your TV into a charcoal stove.
My point was that young women in Sub-Saharan Africa need to find out that there IS a world which doesn’t begin with having a first baby at 14. Their husbands aren’t going to tell them !
That is a very nice presentation of the data, It Doesn’t Add Up. Thanks.
While we always have to remember that data inevitably contains inaccuracies (and potentially contains biases), that presentation does show very clearly the substantial decline in “Non-Covid” deaths in hospital and the corresponding dramatic increases in deaths in care homes and regular homes. Very round numbers, between Weeks 10 & 15, Non-C-19 hospital deaths declined by about 1,500 per week, while Non-C-19 deaths at home and in Care Homes increased by about 3,900.
It is not clear if governmental responses to this panic saved any lives, but they clearly accelerated a significant number of deaths for reasons that did not include a virus. It is just like the Global Warming Scam — over-simplified models exclude important real-world effects, and thus lead to damaging actions by the Political Class.
“It is just like the Global Warming Scam — over-simplified models exclude important real-world effects…”
It’s worse than that. Models of such complex systems are inevitably over-simplified. So our best policy is to reject them until they get a great deal better – that is, until we understand the relevant systems in much more detail – and fall back on simpler, tried and tested mental models. Generally known as “common sense”, “tradition” and “experimental science”.
What Ferguson was doing is equivalent to going back to the days of Plato, with his a-priori assumptions.
So long as people have guaranteed welfare (including unemployment benefits, btw), taxpayer funded electricity and food, affordable TV’s, affordable booze, and affordable streaming services then nothing will change.
And this whole episode should show to people on the fence that little scribbles on pieces of paper sitting in a government office somewhere are not a check on tyranny, and are in fact more often an enabler of it. There is only one true check on tyranny – reality. Specifically physics. Specifically ballistics. But only if a free people is willing to threaten using such a check will it be effective, so…goodbye West, you were beautiful.
So “their husbands” are keeping this forbidden knowledge in a secret crypt? Do they hold weekly patriarch meetings bragging about how many new mouths they have now to feed? Please.
I hate this tacit acceptance that more humans is bad, and more black humans is really bad. Like welfare queens in the West the problem isn’t human biology or lack of knowledge but lack of accountability and therefore proper incentives. Millions spill out of Africa fleeing corrupt governments and cultures, seeking employment where Western philanthropy has priced them out of the market, and chasing free stuff and superior (but alien) cultures instead of staying home and fighting hard for reform. Not that I blame them, but what cannot go on forever won’t.
Consequences – Five Eyes under threat
U.S. Reviewing All Military and Intelligence Assets in Britain After Boris Johnson’s Huawei Deal
“It is just like the Global Warming Scam — over-simplified models exclude important real-world effects, and thus lead to damaging actions by the Political Class.”
Models. It is as unrealistic to model climate by guessing the climate sensitivity as it is to model epidemic with the R0, because both of those numbers are only available retrospectively. They are not totally useless numbers, but you can’t just guess them for insertion into models, unless the purpose of those models is just to scare people.
Chart of changes in the data here:
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8BAcE/1/
It seems that extra Covid deaths are being created to mask the extent of other excess deaths.
I’m more optimistic about the reaction of the masses to anything that the Powers That Be attempt to impose in the name of Climate Change. The CV-19 situation is not a fair comparison – thats a risk in the here and now. You go out to the pub, maybe you get the virus, and even if it doesn’t kill you, you might give it to your aged mother, who does. It has the possibility to impact each and every person in a personal way within a few weeks or months. Ergo people are frightened (even if statistically they have no need to) and likely to want to hang on to nurse, and support draconian State actions. They’ll accept the stick, because they have the carrot of avoiding dying.
Climate Change is a whole different ball game. No one or their aged mother is going to suddenly die due to it. Ergo there is all stick and no carrot. How long do you think the populace would stick something approaching a lockdown type existence in the name of reducing the average global temperatures by a degree or so 100 years hence, when we’re all dead and buried anyway? Not very long in my view, and rightly so.
Just wow….
https://lockdownsceptics.org/code-review-of-fergusons-model/
It’s worse than we thought, Jim.
I agree. The only caveat i would include is the pressure of religion on people to have large families. The vested interest in keeping a faith system going by those religious leaders is powerful. We rarely hear any of them advocating family planning!
And meanwhile Wales is rammed into poverty despite still having over 100years of clean coal of the best quality in the world!
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