Free coffee?

No. We are paying for the "free coffee" being hand out at the COP conference in Turkiye. The reported cost is $32,000 for the coffee being handed out to the delegates.

It is not even coffee we have grown ourselves. We grow around just one per cent of the coffee consumed in this country. 

Those long lines of people lining up for their free coffee would be amusing if it was not for the cost to them and to us. The conference goers are paying to be there, either out of their own pockets or out of someone else's pocket. The climate is paying too. If the conference goers had all stayed home it would have saved quite a lot of fossil fuel.

The real concern however is that it has cost the taxpayers of this country millions to co-host the conference. The cost of the coffee is just small change. What are we paying for then?

People do not know who "that person" is, the one with the supposedly powerful position at the conference. Downunder's "climate minister"? Who is he? What has he managed to achieve? No idea. Is Downunder doing a good job? No idea. What are they doing? No idea. Some sort of "renewables" push? Must be I suppose because that's what it is supposed to be about but don't they export coal and gas...?

There can be few things more ridiculous than Downunder lecturing the rest of the world on fossil fuels and climate change, renewables and solar panels or wind turbines. We export fossil fuel and import the solar panels and wind turbines made with the fossil fuel. We export uranium and yet refuse to have nuclear power. (It is "too expensive" as well as "dangerous".) 

Over there, in another country, we are being told we are reaching our renewable target. We are being told it is "more than fifty percent", that "power prices are coming down". It is not true but it sounds good and, if you avoid the awkward questions, it could even sound true I suppose. 

According to some economists, the sort who do get to sit on the boards of banks, power prices are set to double within five years if we continue with the only renewables strategy. If that really does happen then we will be in even more dire financial straits. We will not be able to manufacture anything but that will only be part of the problem. We will not be eating because we will not have the energy needed to grow the food we need in order to do the manufacturing. We will not be able to move ourselves or anything else around. Life will come to a standstill perhaps? 

It was a relief when Downunder's bid to host the COP conference here failed. That would have cost us even more. It would have been for no benefit at all. 

Taking care of the environment cannot be done by pursuing the current strategy.  It is seen as an easy solution, easy to sell and implement. That it will not work is not a concern. There will be excuses and then the Digital Duty of Care Bill will allow them to suppress any criticism of what is going on. It will all be our fault of course.

Could someone please capture "that man" and make sure he and his boss do not get on a plane back here? The rest of us might need to rethink renewables.