Hyggen takes heat on climate change tweet
By Lethbridge Herald on August 25, 2022.
Herald file photo
Mayor Blaine Hyggen, seen here at a recent council meeting, is taking heat over a tweet he reposted on his personal Twitter account from an organization that disputes climate change, an opinion he says doesn’t reflect his own beliefs.Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge mayor Blaine Hyggen is taking heat over a tweet he reposted on his personal Twitter account from an organization that disputes climate change, an opinion he says doesn’t reflect his own beliefs.
The tweet is not on his official mayor’s Twitter account, which is a separate entity.
The article written by Chris Morrison of The Daily Skeptic states in its opening paragraph “The political fiction that humans cause most or all climate change and the claim that the science behind this notion is ‘settled’, has been dealt a savage blow by the publication of a ‘World Climate Declaration (WCD)’ signed by over 1,100 scientists and professionals. There is no climate emergency, say the authors, who are drawn from across the world and led by the Norwegian physics Nobel Prize laureate Professor Ivar Giaever. Climate science is said to have degenerated into a discussion based on beliefs, not on sound self-critical science.”
The Daily Skeptic, an online publication at dailyskeptic.org, is run by creator Toby Young who calls himself a “free speech zealot.” He also created in April 2020 the site Lockdown Skeptics, which was a precursor to the Daily Skeptic.
The controversial article focuses on the “World Climate Declaration” which states “there is no climate emergency.” Hyggen’s Tweet said it was an “interesting article.”
That tweet provoked a heated response from many including Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips who wrote on Twitter “article is not interesting. It is disinformation clickbait. Engaging this well-known disinformation site does not reflect well on scientific or medial literacy. Accurate information is foundation of healthy democracy. Best not to indulge conspiracies.”
In a statement to The Herald Thursday, the mayor said the article “does not reflect my personal beliefs on climate change.
“We see climate change in our lives every day. From wildfires to floods, it’s pretty hard to miss, even here in southern Alberta. I post to social media, on my both personal and Mayoral (@MayorHyggen) accounts, to engage in topics of conversation with the community.
“I’m proud to be part of a city that voices their passion about the issues that are important to them. It’s part of what makes our community so fantastic.”
The Daily Skeptic is on Twitter at @LD_Skeptics and posts links to stories on its website such as one about COVID in which it refers to a graph that “shows an interesting correlation between the timing of the spring rollout of vaccine boosters in the U.S. and a wave of excess deaths made more striking by the fact that COVID deaths were falling at the time.”
Other topics include a story claiming fracking could ease higher energy bills if approved.
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So every news report states he shared the article and only said ‘interesting’ or ‘interesting article’ . . . I see nothing that states he agreed or disagreed!
First, I never listen to anything Shannon Phillips says since she is always spewing venomous attacks which reflect a very angry woman, so who cares what she says!
Was what the Mayor stated as ‘interesting’ because of the completely different take we have been bombarded with on climate change . . . ? If there were a Mayoral race and this was just politics in an electoral race I could see the major attack shown here,but there isn’t . . . to share something and only state ‘interesting’, not in agreement or disagreement leads me to believe it was more of a statement, ‘how is this possible’ . . . I can’t believe this was turned into such a major issue!
I know that around 2008 the US government was so aggressive in pushing ‘global warming’ that they were considering charging the ‘nay-sayers’ under the RICO act ( Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ) which is strange that scientists could be charged under such an act for disagreeing.
I also remember many scientists being blacklisted for speaking out and trying to show scientific evidence against the pro-global warming groups, and if not blacklisted, fired. When goverments get that aggressive for a group speaking out, I get suspicious myself.
We all know there is change in our climate! But I personally have many questions . . . why has there not been a major push in efforts to attempt to mitigate the impacts of climate change instead of the major funding to say we are doomed if we don’t stop this . . . We will never stop it and we need to prepare for the impacts.
I do have to wonder if we are the cause, just how the Sahara desert has been proven 15,000 years ago or so to go from desert to lush green forested lands with streams and rivers, back to desert after a thousand years, when very few humans were on the planet. Or the major impacts of the solar flares on this planet that effect weather and tectonic plate activity, which have been on the increase over the years, and which also our magnetosphere is supposed to protect us from the rays of it, but often are in flux, allowing more or the gamma and other rays through, and does all of that space junk floating around we have sent into space add to the magnetosphere being in flux . . . and what impact of the pending reversal of magnetic poles have . . .we as humans believe we control everything, but we do not! We think we know everything, but we do not!
I am not sure what the Mayor was thinking and we will never know, but to share something that makes people think, is a good thing . . . for me, I may have stated the same thing, sharing it, thinking, ‘wow, how can people still think this way’ . . . it is interesting!
I also remember the Mayor when he had more time as a Councillor, attending many non-government groups or committees to listen to their point of view on matters, whether he agreed or not, he listened. It was something I respected at a time when Council was not listening to the citizens . . . he was one of the very few on Council that came out to listen to our concerns, whether he agreed or not, he took the time . . . he listened! For that he will always have my respect and I give him ‘the benefit of the doubt’ his intentions were well meaning, and he felt it was interesting someone would thing that way.
Last time I checked the Mayor was not running for provincial politics so I find it ‘interesting’ he was viciously attacked by Shannon Phillips! Tell me what Shannon Phillips has done to end the encampment issues downtown, which is her constituency! Nothing . . . in fact her party was who pushed the SCS on us and harm reduction, which anyone can see after 19 years of trying in BC is a complete failure and had killed many people needlessly!
Sad there are no good politicians in a society that badlly needs them!
That’s a whole heap of words just to show the boys you don’t have a gag reflex.
Shannon’s gang is back at it!
Post and repost what you wish Blaine. Free country
When IGNORANCE SCREAMS, intelligence moves on.
P.S Gore’s a billionaire and Suzuki want’s those who disagree with him tossed in jail. Typical opinions and thoughts of the climate cult religion. Don’t think, follow.
So, Bucky, are you saying the mayor is a denier of climate science?
Nope. Just approving of his right to free speech. Denier is a chicken word to shut up any who may think for themselves. Grow up. Are you a religious climate cultist. I doubt it but you have your opinion of which no one is silencing.
‘Denier’ is the correct word for a person who cannot allow themselves to accept established facts, for reasons of political dogma, guilt for their selfish actions, or a perverse pleasure of destroying a livable planet.
Free speech or not, a Mayor has a responsibility to seek expertise when they don’t understand. They have a responsibility to try to be correct. You could work on that, too, Buckmeister.
I am the Communications Manager for Friends of Science Society. Interesting that the story only references the Daily Skeptic and not the content of their story. Here is the CLINTEL World Climate Declaration. https://clintel.org/world-climate-declaration/ The signatories are many esteemed scientists and scholars. Please read it and evaluate it for yourself. CLINTEL is also the only organization that took on the World Economic Forum for giving the unvetted Greta Thunberg a stage to scare millions of children around the world. Turns out ‘I want you to panic’ is not based on any science – as Greta testified to US Congress in 2021, long after kids around the world had been scared to death. We posted the letter to the Swiss President and WEF on our website with permission from CLINTEL https://blog.friendsofscience.org/2022/01/17/clintel-on-host-state-status-of-world-economic-forum-in-switzerland/ In 2019, when Greta was scaring the world with her ‘how dare you’ speech at the UN, CLINTEL sent a registered letter to the UN, requesting a high level science meeting to discuss the diverse climate views. UN still has not responded. Why would they give airtime to a 16 year old girl, and completely dismiss a group of (then 500 – now more than 1,000) scientists and scholars? We reissued their press release to >500 media in Canada and not one picked up the story. I did a reading of it on video, and it got over 700,000 views before Facebook started shadow banning it, and anyone who tries to post it. https://youtu.be/GpVBH-HY5Ow We see in Europe and the UK that ‘green’ climate policies are pushing people into extreme ‘heat or eat’ poverty – and the same is happening in Alberta and Canada. The NDP climate policies have tripled the average electricity pool prices since 2015 – it’s not going to get better. Now instead of using our own clean coal fired power plants, we import coal-fired power from Saskatchewan and Montana and hydro from BC – every day. Before, we used to be an exporter of power. We pay for those imports. But somehow there are no stories in the media about this debacle and the crushing burden on citizens. The media is preventing open, civil debate by not addressing these issues. The public should be outraged.
Lots of ‘interesting’ things about this story – like how the denial industry just keeps on going. Do you want to share who pays the bills at the FOS, Michelle?
Sure. We are funded by our member/subscribers(to our newsletters). We are a volunteer-run non-profit operating on about $150K/yr. Most donations are under $500./yr. We are not a charity, so we are not tax-subsidized, nor are we funded by government, unlike the Big Green ENGOS. https://blog.friendsofscience.org/2019/05/07/environmental-charities-a-compilation-of-reports-on-their-finances-power-and-implications-for-canada/ We are not funded by industry, nor to we represent any industry. We are apolitical. We have a handful of members from foreign countries and nominal donations from them. We DO advocate for sensible energy policies which would include conventional fuels as these provide reliable, affordable means of operating modern society. This is simply common sense and good engineering.
By contrast, the largest ENGOs in Canada are foreign and domestic and government and industry funded, and most are also tax-subsidized charities. The Allan Inquiry/Alberta Inquiry found in the Deloitte forensic report that:
“ Governments are the largest funders of registered charities. Over the period 2010 to 2018, the federal government provided $72.6 billion, the provincial governments $1.3 trillion and municipal governments $85.9 billion. Foreign funding added $14.9 billion more.
• Over the period of review, foreign foundations provided grants totaling $788.1 billion to Canadian ENGOs. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and the William and Flora Hewlitt Foundation provided about 71% of the total.
• The names of the 31 largest ENGOs ranked by revenues were mostly redacted from the Deloitte report for unexplained reasons. Over the period under review, those 31 ENGOs accumulated over $2.5 billion in assets, received $897.5 million in foreign funding and received $2.1 billion in government funding.
• Environmental Law Organizations, as a separate group, accumulated almost $11 million in assets, had foreign funding of $21.5 million and received $7.8 million in government funding.” https://blog.friendsofscience.org/2021/11/02/has-no-one-read-the-deloitte-report/
If you are wondering who the top ENGOs are in Canada, here’s the list:
The participants deserve to be named, so here is the list published by the Inquiry:
• Pembina Foundation and Pembina Institute
• The David Suzuki Foundation
• Greenpeace Canada
• Equiterre
• Western Canada Wilderness Committee
• Sierra Club Canada Foundation
• Sierra Club of British Columbia Foundation
• Raincoast Conservation Foundation
• International Institute for Sustainable Development
• World Wildlife Fund Canada
• Makeway, formerly Tides Canada
• West Coast Environmental Law and Research Foundation
• Environmental Defence Canada
• Dogwood Initiative
• Leadnow
All of these organizations enjoy charitable status in Canada because the activities defined as charity include “public education” and these organizations claim to be “educating” the public about environmental issues and problems. One has to wonder whether an organization that sought charity status so that it could educate the public about economic development issues and problems would be so qualified.
Charity status grants several benefits, especially in financial terms. The charity sector has revenue of over $300 billion per year. In the pre-COVID-19 period, it rivalled the revenues of the federal government. Registered charities pay no taxes on this revenue or on the appreciation of their over $500 billion in assets. Collectively, they represent a state-within-a-state, with far less transparency and accountability than federal and provincial governments. Over $160 billion in funding for charities comes not from private donations but from governments, and most of that from provincial and local governments. So, taxpayers pay twice, once through government direct expenditures and again through what are called “tax expenditures”.
https://blog.friendsofscience.org/2022/03/16/canadian-charities-need-more-oversight/
It is interesting that your friends, let’s say friends of Friends, think you are beholden to American right-wing think tanks and petroleum companies. Kind of questions your objectivity.
https://www.desmog.com/friends-of-science/
Wouldn’t it be better to preserve a livable environment for our grandchildren?
Desmog blog was established by PRMan James Hoggan, an Al Gore acolyte, and as far as I know, the first person to accuse people with dissenting, rational views on climate change of being Holocaust Deniers.
Interesting that James Hoggan, who started DeSmog, is not only an Al Gore acolyte, but also consults to Big Oil. Kind of questions their objectivity, doesn’t it Friends of Science Society is not beholden to anyone. We have no association with ‘right-wing think tanks’ in the US or anywhere.
One reason our founders started Friends of Science Society is that they wanted a livable environment for their children and grandchildren and they saw that wind and solar are destructive to the earth, cannot support even basic society, are unreliable and cost 3-9 times conventional power, the turbines and panels are extremely toxic and unrecyclable, and that much of climate ideology is extremely totalitarian. One of our founders had narrowly survived the Nazi invasion of Europe and saw all the signs from far away. In fact, Deutsche Bank is, today, promoting the concept of an eco-dictatorship to ‘build back better’. https://blog.friendsofscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/deutsche-bank-november-rebuild-plan-2020.pdf (~pg 70)
Our founders preferred that our children and grandchildren live in a world with ample, affordable, reliable energy. They regarded the Kyoto Protocol as scientifically unfounded (this was the forerunner to Paris Agreement) and economically destructive. Just look at the UK and EU right now and you can see they were correct.
Pls watch Donna Laframboise’ presentation: Climate Activism: Undermining Free Speech, Free Thought & Free Choice https://youtu.be/w8XpE5FMEJc?list=PLZcRTdbkGEnG2mjnaE_lefMd4SpQhA_Cb&t=151
Many of our members are the engineers and scientists who have CREATED solutions that reduce emissions. Our President worked on the first CCUS project that we know of – so you should be thanking our people and not denigrating them. They have made Alberta a cleaner province with a thriving economy; and prior to the NDP we had affordable, reliable power. Now avg electrical pool prices have tripled since 2015, largely due to the NDP’s accelerated coal phase-out and renewables targets.
Hyggen doth protest loudly whilst backpedalling.
Here is Dr. Guus Berkhout of CLINTEL “Let the Data Speak”. Please watch his presentation and think for yourself. https://youtu.be/Msy3sFneOdA?list=PLZcRTdbkGEnFFHb2VRXxFtO71ErWy6ibL PPT is posted on our website if ppl want to look at the slides.
Is that all you got, M.? I think you used this the last time you littered our paper.
https://www.desmog.com/climate-intelligence-foundation-clintel/
P.S. Love the ‘think for youself’ from someone in the conspiracy game.
Conspiracy. Yeah. No conspiracy, just massive collusion of major philanthropies to impose cap and trade, a price on carbon, and renewables by funding ENGOs as proxies for them, to make it appear as if there is a grassroots demand. Here it is in a peer-reviewed paper by Matthew Nisbet who has been tracking the Big Green money since the early 2010s. https://web.northeastern.edu/matthewnisbet/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Nisbet2018_ClimatePhilanthropy_WIREsClimateChange_Final.pdf They use ENGOs to push their pecuniary interests like EVs and suchlike. This is all outside the democratic and sovereign nation process BTW. This is the ENRON model – and you know what happened to ENRON. https://ep.probeinternational.org/2009/05/30/enrons-other-secret/ Hurt a lot of people when that house of cards collapsed.