in the news – Page 79

Day 609 – On Shell

Posted on November 25, 2021November 25, 2021

Right. Let’s just get my position out in the open at the start, shall we?

1. I appreciate the need to move away from fossil fuels.
2. I would love to have a simple, straightforward, economically viable way to not use fossil fuels anymore.
3. I would rather that Shell (or anyone else) were not doing seismic testing in the waters around South Africa.

BUT...

We all use fossil fuels every day here in SA.
Our electricity here comes (when it comes) – overwhelmingly – from coal, diesel and gas.
Our cars use petrol, and if they did use electricity, then that electricity would come – overwhelmingly – from coal, diesel and gas.
Eskom chucks out about 18 million tons of CO₂ each and every month.

We need to understand that the vast majority of this country has no choice but to use dirty fuels to live their lives. It would be great to change, but we can’t just switch that off: our power grid doesn’t work full stop, let alone work with clean or renewable sources of energy.
And we should certainly be trying to step away from fossil fuels, but as you are flinging around your hashtags and basking in the righteousness of your slacktivism, please remember that we need to get our energy and electricity from somewhere: someone has to provide it.

And why shouldn’t that be Shell? How do their seismic surveys and oil drilling habits differ from whoever’s powering your car today, as you “#BoycottShell” and go to Engen or Sasol or BP?

Do you know? Do you care? Or is it just about jumping on a conveniently passing (hopefully hybrid-powered?) bandwagon?

And if you are going to pop online and tell us how to live our lives, and which dirty oil company we should use over which other (I love the “tip the pump attendants” idea, by the way, lol!), then at least think before you post.

After all, nothing quite says “Leave our oceans alone” or #SaveOurOceans like a “cleverly” altered corporate logo and is that a picture of… er… a local sewage outflow…

Right.

Presumably you are boycotting your toilet as well, then? How’s that going for you?

Look, I’m not saying that a seismic survey off the East Coast is a good thing – I’d much rather it wasn’t happening, but as I noted above, that’s not really a tenable option right now.

But I have to say that this exceptionalism, hyperbole and misinformation around this one issue when numerous such surveys have happened around SA before and we’re all still here? Well, it’s weird, it’s misplaced, and it’s rather hypocritical given that we are all using products and services that rely on oil and gas each and every day.

Day 608, part 2 – Worrying numbers

Posted on November 24, 2021November 24, 2021

This graph, depicting Covid vaccination percentages and death rates for EU countries has been doing the rounds.

It’s pretty self explanatory, and pretty damning.

While Covid cases across Europe are spiking at the moment, there are two important things to take into account when reviewing the data: firstly, many of the cases at the moment seem to be in unvaccinated children (more reason to vaccinate them and quash that reservoir), and secondly, the death rates from Covid – when compared to the first wave (prior to vaccinations) – are thankfully much lower.

While we don’t have any means of stopping Covid 100%, using vaccinations (and other measures) is making a difference, and it’s clear from looking at graphs like the one above that countries are saving literally hundreds of thousands of lives by having effective vaccination policies.

Sadly, SA isn’t going to be one of those countries.

Stick us into that graph above and we’re sitting next to bottom at 35%. And we’re going nowhere fast:

It’s really looks like we’ve just given up. And sadly, that attitude is probably going to have some dire consequences over next next few months.

I’m running out of ideas to get people to get vaccinated. If literally saving your life isn’t going to persuade people, I have no idea what will. Well, apart from trying to avoid another alcohol ban, perhaps.

UPDATE: Now, this:

Well, no surprises there, given the numbers above. What a complete disaster.

Day 608 – Fleck

Posted on November 24, 2021November 29, 2021

Great win for United last night, but it was tempered by my having to stay up until midnight to watch it, which has left me completely broken today, and also by the concern over midfielder John Fleck, who seemed to have a seizure on the field during the second half.

Thankfully, medical attention was quickly administered, and apparently, he’s conscious in hospital and asking about the result of the game (he’ll never believe it). But it wasn’t a nice thing to see – and we did see a bit, even though they pulled the feed as quickly as they could.

Fleck had Covid in June while on duty with the Scotland team, but has played 18 games for United this season without incident. Fingers crossed for him for a quick and complete recovery.

Day 605 – Hello again, old friend

Posted on November 21, 2021November 21, 2021

Here’s a little black worm.

The little black worm has raised its head and is looking at the summer sunshine in Gauteng.
The little black worm is from the corner of the this graph:

Of course, the early bird catches the little black worm, but that feathery ship of opportunity has long sailed with an appalling uptake of vaccination and a complete disregard for rules, regulations and general common sense.
And the worm might only just be looking up now, but the last 10 days have shown a steady progression of cases in Gauteng, which led the third wave in SA.

I thought that I was going up there next week, but now I’m not (not because of this). Equal parts relief and disappointment… ish.

We can implore people to go and get vaccinated, to protect themselves, their families and their communities, but we’ve been imploring for a long while already and it’s made very little difference. Even 271,000 excess deaths in the last 18 months don’t seem to have piqued anyone’s interest.

The fourth wave is very much on its way. and conspiracy theorists and tinfoil milliners will tell you that it’s because of something about tyranny and governmental control and chemtrails, but in actual fact, it’s just basic, beautifully ugly virology.

Be sensible out there. Stay safe.