Greenwashing a ghastly future

Underestimating risks and dangers is one of the surest ways to ruin. The captain of the Titanic had been warned about icebergs, but he wanted to reach America as soon as possible and did not slow down. This led to one of the greatest maritime disasters of all time.

For many year experts have warned us about the dangers of environmental ruin. But our destructive activities have not slowed down. Mainly because too many people profit from them. The situation has already become critical. A recent scientific study stresses that the situation is far worse than most people realize and will lead to a "ghastly future" for mankind. Those are exceptionally strong words for scientists and should serve as a potent wake-up call. Instead, very little meaningful action is taken.

It is climate denial all over again. It took about 30 years to get rid of that dangerous nonsense. Now the business community has turned to another form of deceit to prevent action to salvage our world: Greenwashing. Instead of changing their ways the major polluters and destroyers simply claim that they have become environmentally friendly overnight. They are suddenly all sustainable, renewable and green and they are all making plans and commitments and promises and pledges and whatnots for the future.

It is nothing but complete and very dangerous nonsense. Jam tomorrow.

Real, immediate action is sorely missing.

Even some well-meaning conservationists are part of the greenwash, embracing harmful alternatives as lesser evils and exaggerating their benefits, especially where energy is concerned.

This time we don’t have 30 years to overcome these new tactics to prevent fundamental change. The natural world is collapsing. Many losses will be irreversible if we don’t act right now.


Climate change
Global heating continues. January had the third highest percentage of record warm temperatures (behind the record-breaking years of 2016 and 2020). February was less hot than 2020, although the percentage of record-warm temperatures was the sixth highest percentage since records began in 1951. March had the 11th highest percentage for record-warm March temperatures. The expectation for 2021 is that it will not end up as warm as 2020 but will almost certainly be among the top 10 warmest years since records began.

At the beginning of April heat records were broken all across Europe.

A study published in January showed that the melting of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland has accelerated so much that it is in line with the worst-case warming scenarios (which predict that earth will become uninhabitable for 1-3 billion people this century). Other studies indicate that the two largest glaciers in Antarctica are approaching tipping points that will make their collapse inevitable, with severe consequences for rising sea levels.

In April it was reported that geological research has found that the Earth's axis has tilted as a result of the melting of ice and loss of groundwater, reaffirming the enormous impact that humans are having on the planet.

CO²
The relentless increase of this greenhouse gas is not slowing down. In February it reached the highest level in the atmosphere ever recorded. (Meanwhile on 8 April 2021 it broke that record again, reaching 421.36 ppm.)

Methane
Recent figures show that this dangerous greenhouse gas increased dramatically in 2020. The annual increase was the largest since systematic measurements began in 1983.

Extinction
During the first quarter Netflix aired Seaspiracy, a documentary highlighting the desperate state of the oceans as a result of the destructive practices of the fishing industry. It made quite an impact. The general public finally started to take notice. Of course the evildoers made frantic efforts to discredit the movie, led by industry-paid "scientists". They pointed out some (minor) inaccuracies, which matter little. Nobody is perfect. But the central and vitally important message of the film is completely valid. We are destroying life in the oceans, just as we are destroying it everywhere else on the planet. No amount of nitpicking is going to change that ominous fact. We therefore highly recommend the movie. You can watch the trailer below



Another equally important movie, Bright Green Lies, was released on Earth Day. We could not agree with its message more. It reveals the terrible state of our planet and the woeful lack of a meaningful response, highlighting that all kinds of half measures, presented as environmentally friendly or sustainable or renewable, are quite the opposite. We strongly recommend it. Watch the trailer below.



Deforestation
According to scientific data the destruction of the world's forests increased sharply last year, making 2020 the third worst year for forest loss since 2002.

Plastic waste
A recent study has again confirmed that airborne microplastics are polluting the Earth's atmosphere all across the world. The researchers said their findings highlight that microplastics are one of the most pressing environmental issues of our time, on a par with climate change. Nevertheless no meaningful action is being taken against this extremely dangerous source of pollution. On the contrary, the pandemic has been used as an excuse to produce even more plastic waste.

Overpopulation
As usual, the human population increased by about 20 million in this quarter.

China
As the worst polluter the world has ever known, this country never does what it says where the environment is concerned. Recent reports show that in spite of lofty - and highly implausible - carbon-neutrality pledges China's coal output hit a record high in 2020, not counting the hundreds of coal plants that it finances across the world.


And then there was the pandemic.

With the arrival of vaccines Big Pharma's grip on the Covid-19 narrative is now complete and unlikely to end any time soon. Some companies are already warning that a third shot will be necessary and it won't be long before they start advocating repeated shots for everybody in the whole world every year until the end of time.

The hysteria is kept alive by all kinds of sensational and sentimental articles in the mainstream press, seeking out the most unfavorable numbers anywhere in the world to create the worst possible impression.

Meanwhile the basic fact of the relative mildness of the virus has not changed. So far 3.3 million people have died. In a population of 7.8 billion that amounts to 0.04%, while the vast majority of that tiny number are either old, overweight or sick.

At the end of April India became the poster country for the daily media frenzy. The number of deaths indeed rose sharply for a while. But they were still very low for a country with 1.4 billion people. At present (mid May 2021) India ranks 110th among all countries, with 177 deaths per 1 million people, far below the global average of 408. In comparison the USA has 1760 deaths per 1 million people.

Not content with actual numbers the New York Times took the madness one step further and began to lament hypothetical numbers. It had found "researchers" who estimated how premature the deaths were and reported that Covid-19 had taken more than 20.5 million years of life. For good measure they threw in the (outrageously untypical) death of a 13-year-old.

This is so stupid that it beggars belief. It is not only pointless but also erroneous. If we are being hypothetical, we should also take into account that the vast majority of people dying from the virus have already passed their natural life span. They are only kept alive in a frail condition by huge quantities of drugs. That makes their deaths overdue rather than premature.

More importantly, the unnatural ageing of humans has been extremely harmful. It has fatally overpopulated the planet, multiplying all the dangers we are now facing. The argument that it benefits individuals is merely an expression of selfishness. The fate of individuals should never take priority over the future of the species.

To put it even more bluntly: from a purely evolutionary angle a virus that reduces overpopulation as selectively as Covid-19 does, benefits the species by rejuvenating and strengthening it.

Although we firmly believe all the attention devoted to the pandemic had better been directed to more important issues, we want to share one more thought on the subject.

The pandemic could have been an excellent learning moment, showing how harmful modern lifestyles in developed countries have become, not only for the planet but also for humanity itself. Yet another reason for the massive changes advocated by environmental experts.

It is an established fact that developed countries have suffered much worse than less developed countries. That makes sense, because the main risk groups (the old, the overweight and people with existing health problems) are much bigger in richer countries.

One typical example will make this clear:

Country	Deaths per 1m/pop. up to 28 April 2021	% pop. >65 global average 9%	% pop. obese global average 13%	Health expenditure p.p. in US$
USA	1,766	15.4	36.2	10,624
Nigeria	10	2.8	8.9	233

The same pattern is repeated all over the world. The combination of low ageing, low obesity and low healthcare expenditure leads to very few fatalities. Most strikingly, intensive healthcare offers no protection against the virus. On the contrary. By keeping alive a large group of vulnerable people it significantly - and quite logically - increases the risk of high mortality and weakens society as a whole.