To read this post please scroll down.

 

Readers!

 

It is now July, time once again to celebrate the start of this webpage in 2010 with my annual July fund-raising campaign.

 

This year I celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black. During that time I have done more than 33,000 posts, mostly covering the global space industry and the related planetary and astronomical science that comes from it. Along the way I have also felt compelled as a free American citizen to regularly post my thoughts on the politics and culture of the time, partly because I think it is important for free Americans to do so, and partly because those politics and that culture have a direct impact on the future of our civilization and its on-going efforts to explore and eventually colonize the solar system.

 

You can’t understand one without understanding the other.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent independent analysis you don’t find elsewhere. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn’t influenced by donations by established companies or political movements. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:

 

4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.


Shilling for climate cash

The international development agency Oxfam is screaming disaster..

This year’s food shortages and famine are a sign of what’s to come if the world doesn’t get climate change under control, Oxfam is warning. The international development agency made a call for action the day before the UN kicks off its annual climate change conference in Durban, South Africa. . . .

Oxfam warns that without action, the world will see more food insecurity as well as skyrocketing food prices and unpredictable crop yields. “Our failure to cope with the climate variability and shocks of today presents a daunting outlook for food security tomorrow,” Oxfam said in a report released Sunday. “For governments around the world this serves as an urgent call to act at the UN climate talks in Durban if the extreme weather events witnessed in 2010-11 are not to be a grim foretaste of future suffering and hunger.”

And the Canadian “journalist” writing this article (or should I say taking dictation from Oxfam’s press release) is so eager to help!

Developed countries need to do more to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, the aid group said, pointing out they have collectively committed to cuts that would bring world emissions 12 to 18 per cent lower than 1990 levels by 2020, instead of 40 per cent. They also need to get a $100 billion Green Climate Fund up and running by 2013 and direct half the resources to adapting to climate change, the report said, as well as put a price on carbon for international shipping. [emphasis mine]

Gee, I wonder who will get all that money? Might it be Oxfam itself?

The claims made by Oxfam are simply false. Even if the climate is warming, there is absolutely no evidence yet that this warming will lead to either famine or more extreme weather. If anything, warmer temperatures should increase crop yields, as it will allow for more harvests in some areas and make other areas more fecund. For example, there is evidence that the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is actually helping to expand the world’s forests.

Finally, I think Oxfam owes this journalist, Laura Payton, a commission for acting as their public relations agent. More importantly, I think the CBC should fire her, since she clearly isn’t working for the Canadian news bureau.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

One comment

  • I’m noticing that as the dire predictions of the climanistas fail to materialize, the screaming gets ever louder. Much of our current data on climate comes from research tools (satellites, etc.) funded by climate ‘scientists’ in an effort to support their pet theories. The data shows that it just ain’t happening the way they said it would. The phrase ‘Hoist by their own petard’ comes to mind.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *