You have probably heard of "Net Zero," the unrealistically ambitious target of having no net greenhouse gas emissions by some point in the relatively near future (2030, maybe 2050 at the latest). A report filed in 2019 by the prestigious government-funded UK organization of engineers and scientists, UK FIRES, thinks Net Zero is not enough and is pushing for an insanely aggressive program called "Absolute Zero," absolutely zero emissions by 2050. What does it entail? Among other things, no flights, no container shipping, no red meat consumption, no cement, no new steel production, and no fossil fuel use for any reason, even plastics, by 2050. How do they expect this to be possible? Draconian governmental action combined with drastic semi-voluntary reductions in individual quality of life for all citizens. In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay reads the Executive Summary of the UK FIRES "Absolute Zero" report (pdf, hosted by Cambridge University, by the way) to expose the unworkable, catastrophic insanity of their zero-emissions program in the UK and beyond, warning that it sets the stage for a Western Holodomor.
Absolute Zero and the Western Holodomor