Fourth ‘Dialogue on Climate’ in Italy—Scientists Must Act Politically To Stop Green Transition

July 9, 2021 (EIRNS)—The fourth “Dialogue on Climate” sponsored by the Padua Association of Engineers, featured Prof. Gianluca Alimonti, staff physicist at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Milan and Renato Angelo Ricci, honorary chairman of the Italian Physics Society and former chair of the European Physics Society.

Alimonti documented and elaborated on the gap between records of extreme weather events and media reports on the latter, showing that extreme events such as floods, tornados and hurricanes have not increased, even accepting a 1°C increase of global temperature since the mid-19th century. NASA observations and even some IPCC reports admit this. Among other aspects, Alimonti showed that increased damage from extreme events are not related to intensity or frequency of such events, but to the increased value of lost assets, such as houses, or infrastructure, built over the decades.

As for CO2 emissions, models show that by cutting emissions back to pre-industrial levels, we would lose 16% of agricultural production.

Professor Ricci blasted the IPCC assumption of measuring climate with mathematical models. As a nuclear physicist, he has been working with modelling his entire life, Ricci, now 93, said. Even the best models and experimental data are not able to represent the entirety of an atomic reality, Ricci said. “Climate variations are of such a complex nature as to preclude a mathematical representation of such a scientific theory,” Ricci argued.

Schiller Institute representative Claudio Celani intervened in the Q&A period, setting the tone for a lively and constructive debate. Celani joined Prestininzi’s regret that attendance in the Dialogue webinars has dropped, and briefed the audience on the highly successful Schiller Institute June 26-27 international conference, at which Prof. Nicola Scafetta, a member of the group, was a panelist. The science panel, “Why the World Needs Many More Terawatts of Energy,” on June 26, for instance, had over 1,300 visits on YouTube, because the panel was part of a larger event that addressed strategic, scientific, economic and cultural issues. Celani invited all participants to join the next Schiller Institute event on the economic and social effects of green transition July 24.

In this context, Celani asked both speakers for a comment on recent statements by the Italian minister for “ecological transition” that there will be a bloodbath as the consumers’ bill for electricity will increase, and by the Deutsche Bank representative, who recently said that we need dictatorial measures.

Ricci answered that scientists are called upon to go beyond mere representation of scientific truth, and they have to act politically. For instance, one should look into the current “recovery plan” and raise questions. We must find a system for how to intervene, he said. I believe their effort will fail, but maybe things won’t change until people will take it to the streets to protest against price increases.

Alimonti answered that electricity price increases are already there and the monthly bill for families would be already 20% higher, had the government not intervened with heavy subsidies. The cement industry is complaining that they must pay incredibly higher CO2 prices this year. All these costs will be passed on to the consumer. Maybe people will initially accept it, but for how long? There will be an uprising.

Moderator Prof. Alberto Prestininzi intervened, pointing to the Swiss CO2 vote as a sign that the population is already revolting. Other participants intervened with several proposals, such as finding a politician who can organize a referendum, or creating a publication; and others reported that farmers in a northern Italian town are protesting against a 50 ha solar park which Shell wants to build there.

Prestininzi drew the conclusions by saying everybody agrees that something must be done, that it is no longer sufficient to merely state facts as they are.