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Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
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Mar 7 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
The same people who hyped Russiagate ignored warnings by the head of NATO & Hillary Clinton that Russia was financing activists to block nat gas production

The result was Putin's stranglehold over Europe's energy supplies, more coal-burning, & the worst energy crisis in 50 years
Not everybody ignored the warnings.

Investigative journalist @lhfang @theintercept wrote about Hillary Clinton's claim of “phony environmental groups” that are “funded by the Russians to stand against” fracking back in 2016

theintercept.com/2016/10/10/cli…
One of the biggest promotors of the Russiagate conspiracy theory was @maddow, who appears to have entirely ignored the 2014 warnings by the head of NATO and Clinton, even though her 2019 book, "Blowout," covered Russia, fracking, and Clinton, at length

amazon.com/Blowout-Corrup…
News media coverage of anti-fracking & anti-nuclear activists from @GretaThunberg to @billmckibben has been near-uniformly positive, even though their advocacy shut down nuclear plants, blocked natural gas pipelines, and suppressed gas production

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/g…
McKibben & Sen @BernieSanders advocated the closure of a Vermont nuclear plant, resulting in higher emissions.

European Greens advocated the closure of nuclear plants while their business partners accepted funding from Russian natural gas interests

michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/maybe-theyre…
We still do not yet have the full story of how Putin gained control over European energy supplies, nor the role played by Russia's financing of anti-fracking NGOs

But what has emerged so far isn't pretty:

The mainstream news media failed miserably to properly cover this story

The vast majority of journalists who covered climate change over the last decade behaved as unabashed cheerleaders for Greta and renewables, and as harsh skeptics of gas & nuclear

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More from @ShellenbergerMD

Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
Mar 8
In December, Mayor @LondonBreed of San Fran promised a crackdown on drug dealing

Instead she delivered a supervised drug use site

Since then, the dealing has worsened so much that even street addicts want cops to crackdown

Now, Mayor Breed is calling for state & fed help
Today, Gov. @GavinNewsom will characterize his proposal for dealing with mentally ill homeless as "unprecedented"

In truth, Newsom is proposing to waste more money on a system that HIS MOST SENIOR ADVISOR SAYS CAN'T WORK
Newsom's proposal is doomed

It not only keeps in place but also *increases* funding for California's COUNTY-BASED approach to homelessness

Worst of both worlds

— 58 separate county systems with redundant, wasteful overhead

— Extremely sick people falling through the cracks
Read 12 tweets
Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
Mar 7
People think Germany's a climate leader but it produces 6x more emissions per unit of electricity than France

People say nuclear is too expensive but nuclear-heavy France spends 59% as much for electricity as Germany, which will have spent $580B on renewables by 2025 ImageImage
There is a high up-front cost to building new nuclear plants, and when workers don't have experience building them, they are more expensive.

But costs come down significantly over time as workers gain experience building them

And what's the cost of Russia's invasion of Ukraine?
Nuclear keeps nations safe.

It provides highly reliable zero-pollution power, and has thus saved 2M lives to date.

And nuclear allows nations to stockpile fuel on-site, liberating them having to depend on foreign nations for their survival, as Europe today must on Russia. ImageImageImageImage
Read 16 tweets
Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
Mar 4
People are claiming a nuclear reactor in Ukraine is on fire, that radiation levels around the plant are elevated, and that it could be worse than Chernobyl, BUT NONE OF THOSE THINGS ARE TRUE & SHOULD BE CONSIDERED MISINFO

Listen to below Space

Here's what we know & don't know
First, we know that the reactor WAS NOT AND IS NOT on fire

There was a fire at an employee training building and was nowhere near the reactors or any other safety-related system

Second, we know that RADIATION LEVELS ARE NOT ELEVATED

The great thing about radiation is that it is so easy to detect

The plant, like all nuclear plants, is INDEPENDENTLY MONITORED and tracked in real time

Read 23 tweets
Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
Mar 3
Calif. Gov. @gavinnewsom says he’s proposing a new system to help with mentally ill homeless people, but he’s not: all he’s proposing to do is throw more money at the same broken system

If he gets his way, Gavin will make the problem worse — as he has done for over 20 years
Over the last year, my colleagues & I have made the case for a new, statewide system, Cal-Psych, to take over psych/addiction care from the counties

Newsom is co-opting the language of Cal-Psych but rejecting the state takeover of care from the counties

californiapeacecoalition.org
I am, on the one hand, happy that our work has forced Gavin to act. It is a sign that our proposal has strong public support.

But he is proposing to do the same thing he has done FOR 20 YEARS, which is to throw more money at the same broken system.

michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/why-californ…
Read 22 tweets
Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
Mar 3
People think Europe depends on Russia for energy because it lacks its own, but 15 years ago Europe exported more natural gas than Russia does today. Now, Russia exports 3x more gas than Europe produces. Why? Because climate activists, partly funded by Russia, blocked fracking.
In 2014, NATO's secretary general revealed Russia was funding climate activists, saying, “Russia... engaged actively with so-called nongovernmental organizations working against shale gas to maintain dependence on imported Russian gas"

Nobody listened.

wsj.com/articles/a-les…
Climate activists weren't the only ones to blame

"BP acquired a 19.75% stake in Rosneft in 2013... Shell and Exxon Mobil developed joint ventures with Gazprom and Rosneft"

But the big Western oil & gas companies only did so because climate activists blocked fracking in Europe
Read 20 tweets
Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
Mar 2
President Biden tonight claimed his legislation would lower energy costs by subsidizing renewables, but that’s obviously wrong: renewables make electricity expensive everywhere

Worse, Biden is proposing to double down on the same policies that empowered Putin to invade Ukraine
Renewables make electricity expensive bc they are inherently unreliable & require 100% back-up power

Renewables made California electricity prices rise 7x more than the rest of the US

And renewables made Germany’s electricity the most expensive, and Russia-dependent, in Europe
Biden said his legislation would “cut energy costs for families an ave. of $500/year by combating climate change” w/ “tax credits to weatherize your home & business to be energy-efficient. Double America's clean energy production in solar, wind… Lower price of electric vehicles”
Read 21 tweets

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