Dr. Gianluca Grimalda. Source Twitter, Fair Use, Low Resolution Image to Identify the Subject.

“Refusing to fly has lost me my job as a climate researcher”

Essay by Eric Worrall

But apparently has not dampened your enthusiasm for playing white saviour.

Refusing to fly has lost me my job as a climate researcher. It’s a price worth paying

Gianluca Grimalda

My company in Germany has demanded my swift return from climate-change fieldwork near Papua New Guinea. I can’t do it

Thu 12 Oct 2023 23.12 AED

Two weeks ago, my employer presented me with a stark ultimatum: return to my offices in Kiel, Germany, within five days, or lose my job. I am a climate researcher and since March 2023, I have been completing vital fieldwork into the social impact of climate change almost 15,000 miles away by overland routes, on the island of Bougainville off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

This weekend, I will set sail on a cargo ship to return to Germany, travelling to East New Britain in Papua New Guinea. From there, I will cover the remaining distance to Europe by cargo ship, ferry, train and coach.

Many people have asked why it is so important for me to travel as low-carbon as possible. I have three reasons. First, I want to be consistent with my moral commitment to avoid flying. …

Second, I promised all the 1,800 participants in my research in Bougainville that I would return low-carbon. I want to keep my promise. White men (of whom I am one, as I am frequently reminded here) are often referred to as giaman – liars, fraudsters in Tok Pisin – probably with good reason given the country’s turbulent colonial past. I do not want to be seen as giaman.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/12/fly-climate-breakdown-germany-climate-change-papua-new-guinea

New Guinea is a dangerous place, which appears to be plagued by corrupt authorities, violent drug crazies, and religious maniacs. A word of warning, don’t click the religious maniacs link unless you have a strong stomach.

I think the professor is deluding himself if he thinks his example has somehow made a difference. His presence is a footnote, a colourful visitor in a long line of colourful visitors, who will nevertheless quickly be forgotten. Life in such places is simply too intense to hang on to memories of people who are no longer present.

Don’t get me wrong, there are good people in New Guinea. You’ll find good people even in the most troubled places, as I have personally experienced. But good people cannot always help you, if you attract the attention of the wrong people.

The following travel video by Kurt Caz gives a fascinating on the ground glimpse of life in New Guinea. Kurt is a crazy South African who visits lots of dangerous places.

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Krishna Gans
October 14, 2023 6:07 am

This weekend, I will set sail on a cargo ship to return to Germany, travelling to East New Britain in Papua New Guinea. From there, I will cover the remaining distance to Europe by cargo ship, ferry, train and coach.

Certainely CO2 free, or, in new speech, net-zero 😀

alastairgray29yahoocom
Reply to  Krishna Gans
October 14, 2023 6:34 am

Swim you wimp! All these other industrial alternatives are carbon footprinty – you know the sort of stuff you would deny to me .
Hope the sharks get you.

Editor
Reply to  alastairgray29yahoocom
October 14, 2023 6:42 am

“Swim you wimp!”??? Thanks. That made me laugh.

Regards,
Bob

Bryan A
Reply to  Bob Tisdale
October 14, 2023 8:18 am

Phileas Fogg barely made it around the world in 80 days. What makes this guy think he can make it 1/2 way around in 5 days utilizing the same modes of travel? He only has 5 days to make it back to Germany. I guess his Climate Researcher position means little to him.

KevinM
Reply to  Bryan A
October 14, 2023 9:27 am

Even single-volume publications seem to turn into movie trilogies nowadays, but 80 days fit in a 3hr move. He should be home in time for lunch.

CampsieFellow
Reply to  Bryan A
October 14, 2023 1:26 pm

What makes this guy think he can make it 1/2 way around in 5 days utilizing the same modes of travel?
He doesn’t. That’s his point. His employer has told him to return within 5 days and he says he can’t do it.

CampsieFellow
Reply to  alastairgray29yahoocom
October 14, 2023 1:29 pm

To be fair to him, he says that these other forms of transport will result in fewer carbon emissions compared to flying. He doesn’t say they are carbon-free. Whether he is correct that these other methods will emit less carbon dioxide is another question.

Richard Page
Reply to  Krishna Gans
October 14, 2023 7:19 am

He’s also a member of Scientist Rebellion, that group of rational, level-headed people with no agenda whatsoever. Oh, wait…

Richard Page
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 7:30 am

In fact, he was one of the idjits that glued themselves to the floor of the Porsche exhibition in Germany last year. And there he in the photos – just to one side of the main group, in front of the white Porsche. Wonder if his activism was a contributing factor to his getting fired from the ‘Kiel Institute for the World Economy’?

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Richard Page
October 15, 2023 3:59 am

“Wonder if his activism was a contributing factor to his getting fired from the ‘Kiel Institute for the World Economy’?”

The Boss may be taking this opportunity to get rid of this guy.

Rich Davis
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 12:43 pm

Yeah he doesn’t look at all absurd except for the fake nose and mustache glasses. Oh wait, that’s real?

Richard Page
October 14, 2023 6:11 am

A fraudster trying desperately to avoid being found out as a fraudster.

Curious George
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 9:02 am

What fraudster? This climate researcher is a social scientist.

Richard Page
Reply to  Curious George
October 14, 2023 9:05 am

He’s an ‘experimental economist’ and committed climate activist. He’s a fraudster.

CampsieFellow
Reply to  Curious George
October 14, 2023 1:32 pm

Not only that, but he has “been completing vital fieldwork”. Lives depend on his research. What, perhaps, he meant was that his livelihood depends on doing this research.

CD in Wisconsin
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 9:45 am

According to the link below, his PhD is in Economics and does his research work on the social approaches to global issues…

Gianluca GRIMALDA | Senior Researcher | PhD Economics | Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Kiel | IFW | Social and behavioral approaches to global problems | Research profile (researchgate.net)

Gianluca GrimaldaKiel Institute for the World EconomyPhD Economics

Without a background in the hard sciences associated with the climate and atmospheric physics, it would appear that Dr Grimalda has fallen for the climate cult despite his PhD level education. With that educational level, one might think that he would know better than to fall into the climate trap without doing this due diligence first. But apparently not.

As much I perhaps should, I am afraid I cannot wish him good luck finding a new job.

CD in Wisconsin
Reply to  CD in Wisconsin
October 14, 2023 9:55 am

Here he is at an auto exhibition protest in Germany about 11 months ago….

‘All the rage’: Protesters glue themselves to the floor at Volkswagen – YouTube

Tom Abbott
Reply to  CD in Wisconsin
October 15, 2023 4:04 am

He’s a busy guy!

Just think how many more protests he could attend if he had only flown home. Now he’s wasting his time on a cargo ship.

Scissor
October 14, 2023 6:14 am

Papua New Guinea is one place where you don’t want a call from a headhunter even if you need a new job.

alastairgray29yahoocom
Reply to  Scissor
October 14, 2023 6:35 am

Sounds like his bosses wanted him back home to get his head on a platter

Krishna Gans
Reply to  alastairgray29yahoocom
October 14, 2023 6:49 am

He and the university have a contract , both have it to fulfill, he didn’t and wonders ?

Graemethecat
Reply to  Scissor
October 14, 2023 1:24 pm

Made my day!

antigtiff
October 14, 2023 6:52 am

There are YouTube videos of a missionary bush pilot who flies supplies into remote areas of New Guinea and flies out coffee or passengers. The professor should next travel to Ukraine and stop the war which is bad for the climate.

Oldseadog
Reply to  antigtiff
October 14, 2023 8:27 am

Where4 does it say he is a Professor?

Richard Page
Reply to  Oldseadog
October 14, 2023 9:08 am

He isn’t – he was employed by a private think tank, the ‘Kiel Institute for the World Economy’ as an associate researcher and does part-time lecturing in, presumably, economics.

Ytongs
October 14, 2023 6:58 am

“…East New Britain in Papua New Guinea. From there, I will cover the remaining distance to Europe by cargo ship, ferry, train and coach….”
Some people call that a holiday.

Phil R
October 14, 2023 7:15 am

First, I want to be consistent with my moral commitment to avoid flying…

Someone should tell him that “moral” and “stupid” are not synonyms.

Rick C
Reply to  Phil R
October 14, 2023 10:03 am

Hmm, wonder how he got to New Guinea in the first place. Just a wild guess – he flew.

Richard Page
Reply to  Rick C
October 14, 2023 11:22 am
Richard Page
Reply to  Phil R
October 14, 2023 11:38 am

He also appears to be lying his a$$ off somewhere – in the Guardian piece he’s quoted as having a ‘moral commitment to avoid flying’ but in the Afp piece he states he has ‘medically diagnosed climate anxiety’ and can’t fly!

Krishna Gans
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 2:29 pm

Sounds hypochondric 😀

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Richard Page
October 15, 2023 4:12 am

“states he has ‘medically diagnosed climate anxiety’”

I’ll bet he does! CO2-phobia has a strong hold on this one.

Phobia = an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something

I believe that describes this fellow to a T.

Richard Page
Reply to  Tom Abbott
October 15, 2023 7:53 am

I’m betting it’s a phobia of work.

Joseph Zorzin
October 14, 2023 7:19 am

Reminds me of something a WWII vet told me. I was working in a factory in the summer of ’68. That vet told me that during the war he was in Papua New Guinea as an army soldier. He was on a beach- hanging out waiting for his next mission, looking down at something – when he saw a shadow, looked up and saw a local in native costume with a long spear and a bone in his nose. He said the guy certainly looked primitive but he also looked dignified- more so than some of this soldier’s friends who were often slovenly looking when inactive.

Scissor
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
October 14, 2023 7:56 am

That would have been somewhat scary, but back then it seems the natives had a rich, one might say Rockefeller like, taste.

Kurt Caz seems like an adventurous guy.

Andy Pattullo
October 14, 2023 7:22 am

He is a role model for idiocy. Calling him a professor is like calling the head of North Korea a humanitarian. first the imaginary human caused climate change he is studying has as much supporting evidence as fairies in the back garden. Second his activities will do nothing or less than nothing to help people of New Guinea attain better lives. And finally his “low carbon” options for a return to Germany are all fossil fuel driven. I suspect like many pseudo academics he is just milking the teat of academic funding for his own benefit.

Richard Page
Reply to  Andy Pattullo
October 14, 2023 7:37 am

He was a researcher at a private thinktank – ‘Kiel Institute for the World Economy’ who must’ve known he was a climate activist after he very publicly glued his hand to a Porsche exhibition floor last year (yes – that one). Presumably asking him to ‘fly home within five days or lose his job’ was their way of firing him without risk of a tribunal.

Joseph Zorzin
October 14, 2023 7:25 am

The “researcher” probably knew he’d be fired- but, he’s probably hoping that this publicity will result in a better job in a climate fanatic university which can then brag how dedicated Gianluca is to “the cause”. No doubt he’ll add this incident to his CV.

Richard Page
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
October 14, 2023 7:32 am

He’s a known activist.

Gregory Woods
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 8:21 am

Does that appear on his rap sheet?

Richard Page
Reply to  Gregory Woods
October 14, 2023 9:49 am

No you have to dig for it. Alternatively you can look at the photograph’s of the protestors that glued themselves to the floor of the Porsche exhibition in Wolfsburg last year – he’s the one near the white Porsche.

Josh Scandlen
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
October 14, 2023 10:01 am

exactly!

Richard Page
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
October 14, 2023 11:27 am

No he’s actually fighting the dismissal, on the grounds (try to keep a straight face here) that he has ‘medically diagnosed climate anxiety’ and he simply can’t fly or he’ll get a panic attack. His employers must be so very glad to be shot of him now.

Gunga Din
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 2:51 pm

And don’t forget that he claims his original plans to return on time were delayed by “former freedom fighters” and a volcano.
(At least he didn’t claim a dog ate his ticket!)

Denis
October 14, 2023 7:35 am

Steamboats and trains? Piker! Why not sailboats and walking?

Lee Riffee
Reply to  Denis
October 14, 2023 7:57 am

That’s what I was thinking too – he should look to the “hero” of the CAGW movement, Greta, who traveled by sail boat (well, only on the first leg of her trip) across the Atlantic.

Oldseadog
Reply to  Lee Riffee
October 14, 2023 8:23 am

A sailboat built of carbon fibre and powered by dacron sails made from oil derived material.

Hans Erren
Reply to  Lee Riffee
October 14, 2023 2:01 pm

With the second relief crew flown in.

Rick K
October 14, 2023 7:40 am

If heat is so bad, how did he ever survive the hellish temperatures on Bougainville Island in the Solomons?

StuM
Reply to  Rick K
October 14, 2023 1:35 pm

Bougainville is NOT in “the Solomons” which is the colloquial term for the country named Solomon Islands”:. It is however part of the “Solomon Islands Archipelago”
The Autonomous Region of Bougainville is a Region of Papua New Guinea (currently 🙂 ) forerly knwon as North Solomons Province.

Bob B.
October 14, 2023 7:49 am

 “have been completing vital fieldwork into the social impact of climate change”

He could’ve just stayed home and looked in the mirror.

Scissor
Reply to  Bob B.
October 14, 2023 9:00 am

Here are some of his publications. Seems like a communist through and through.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gianluca-Grimalda

MarkW
Reply to  Scissor
October 14, 2023 11:14 am

He’s fallen for the global warming nonsense. It looks like he will fall for anything.

quelgeek
Reply to  Bob B.
October 14, 2023 9:59 am

I have been completing vital fieldwork

Vital. Vital I tells ya!

Self-respect is good. Self-esteem too. But self-aggrandizement not so much. And this one shades deep into narcissism.

Mark Whitney
October 14, 2023 7:54 am

A great loss to the literary genre of fiction.

Richard Page
Reply to  Mark Whitney
October 14, 2023 11:30 am

Oh I don’t know – rather than fiction writing he seems to be following Joseph Grimaldi into a career as a clown! Hmm Grimalda – Grimaldi, must be something in the name.

Denis
October 14, 2023 7:55 am

He is a climate researcher in Papua New Guinea? According to Worldometer, Papua New Guinea CO2 emissions are about 1 ton per person per year or about 0.03% of world emissions. Whatever he achieved, it could not possibly be even noticed. Why not do his “research” in Qatar, the world champion per-person emitter at about 38 tons per day or even Canada at about 19 tons per person per day. He could be so much more effective at seeking emissions reduction in Qatar or Canada and therefore a better world climate. No?

MarkW
Reply to  Denis
October 14, 2023 11:23 am

He’s not even a climate researcher, he’s researching social impacts of climate change.
He has no evidence that the climate in Papua New Guinea has even changed.
He has no long term data on how the social structure of the natives has been changing because of their increasing exposure to the modern world. But he feels that with a couple of months of research, he’s going to be able to figure out how a few hundredths of degree of warming has changed native culture over the last 70 years.

BTW, it’s well known that the absorption lines that CO2 has are almost all shared with water vapor. As a result, any time there is water vapor in the air, CO2 is incapable of having much impact on temperature. Not that it has much impact even when there is no water vapor in the air.

StuM
Reply to  MarkW
October 14, 2023 1:39 pm

Not to mention the social structure changes resulting from the “Bougainville Conflict” in the 90’s

Phil.
Reply to  MarkW
October 14, 2023 5:47 pm

“BTW, it’s well known that the absorption lines that CO2 has are almost all shared with water vapor”.
 
Not true, the H2O lines are more spread out and there are far fewer of them, here’s a section of the spectra.

guest767718341.png

PCman999
Reply to  Phil.
October 15, 2023 7:54 am

What you wrote is contradictory – the fact that the H2O lines are spread out means that they are even better at absorbing IR than if they were narrow – and do you mean by far fewer? The range that H2O covers is huge, doesn’t matter how many separate bands there are. How about you look at it this way: how many individual, whole number nanometer wavelengths are absorbed by water and how many by CO2 (essentially measuring the area of the absorption graph) – there isn’t much left open to CO2, and don’t forget that there is many times more H2O than CO2, so even if say H2O is much less effective at a given wavelength than CO2, the IR photon rising from the ground will mostly likely hit a water molecule than a CO2.

Anthony Banton
Reply to  PCman999
October 15, 2023 10:10 am

yeah, good idea ……..



Anthony Banton
Reply to  Anthony Banton
October 15, 2023 10:11 am

In response to ….

How about you look at it this way: how many individual, whole number nanometer wavelengths are absorbed by water and how many by CO2 (essentially measuring the area of the absorption graph”

MarkW
Reply to  Phil.
October 15, 2023 8:46 am

Your point does not contradict what I said.
I never said that H2O did not have absorption lines that CO2 does not have.
All I said was that every absorption line that CO2 does have is also absorbed by H2O.

It doesnot add up
Reply to  Denis
October 14, 2023 9:13 pm

Bougainville is the location of a major copper mine. It was supposed to reopen, but has been mired in controversy for a long time. That’s why it attracted such an activist no doubt.

https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/decades-old-mine-in-bougainville-exacts-devastating-human-toll-report/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-06/bougainville-community-wants-answers-over-goldmine/102405194

Peta of Newark
October 14, 2023 8:02 am

Gotta love the picture.

He’s got his head on upside down and the ship is back-to-front.

iow: Perfect climate science

strativarius
October 14, 2023 8:20 am

The word for a man who is so deluded he cuts off his nose to spite his face is

dork

Gary Pearse
October 14, 2023 8:27 am

How much fossil fuel will he be using for his share of all the travel by sea, cooking for a couple of months, on board and ashore, taxis, laundering, etc., etc. compared with 1/300th of the airline fuel. I think pressing on the link to his website might find the craziest loon of all.

MarkW
Reply to  Gary Pearse
October 14, 2023 11:25 am

Modern airliners, when they are full, are very fuel efficient.

ferdberple
October 14, 2023 8:52 am

I lived in PNG for a year and have returned more than once. It is not a dangerous place. It is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS place.

PNG is fascinating but….

StuM
Reply to  ferdberple
October 14, 2023 1:41 pm

I’ve lived in PNG for over 30 years and the vast majority of the country is NOT an extremely dangerous place.

ferdberple
October 14, 2023 8:53 am

Jet travel is fuel efficient.

rocdoctom
October 14, 2023 9:06 am

Those cargo ships you plan to travel on burn bunker fuel—not exactly a clean/green way to go.

AndersV
Reply to  rocdoctom
October 16, 2023 6:11 am

That is true, in terms of direct air pollution. In terms of GHG they are extremely efficient.

Jeff
October 14, 2023 9:12 am

Stupid is as stupid does.

Gunga Din
October 14, 2023 9:14 am

“Two weeks ago, my employer presented me with a stark ultimatum: return to my offices in Kiel, Germany, within five days, or lose my job.”

Sounds like he told before that ultimatum to return and refused.
(Also sounds like he wasn’t very good at his job!)

Richard Page
Reply to  Gunga Din
October 14, 2023 12:09 pm

After spending a lot of time getting there by boat, rail and bus he was supposed to be back at his desk on 28th September after another long journey by boat, rail and bus. So he then gives his employer a series of excuses as to why he hasn’t left yet followed by them at the beginning of October telling him he’s got 5 more days then he’s fired if he’s not back at work. Two weeks later he’s still in Papua New Guinea, not even started the journey back and he’s wondering why he got fired. His employer appears the more reasonable of the two.

old cocky
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 3:02 pm

As we constantly reminded Project Managers trying to get us to work ridiculous hours, “lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part”

Richard Page
Reply to  Gunga Din
October 14, 2023 3:42 pm

His employer, Kiel Institute, have been remarkably quick in removing him from their website – just nothing there, even links from search engines get a 404 page up. They may also have replaced him, or at least be in the process of replacing him.
I’m guessing he’s had a history of being a nuisance employee and they created an opportunity, knowing he would likely f#€$ it up again so they could replace him.

KevinM
October 14, 2023 9:20 am

I suppose he couldn’t drive from New Guinea to mainland Germany in a Volkswagon. He will have to get home somehow.

I was tempted to opine “at least he sticks to his principles” but he’s skipping the return leg of the trip on a flight that already collected ticket price. Going home first then quiety switching to a non-travel job may have had the same net effect.

John Hultquist
October 14, 2023 9:58 am

A piece in the WSJ explained the father-son connection that took the NYC writer to Australia for a promised attendance at a football game. This was a single event trip, and the man immediately flew back after the event. It is, however, a nice story, but I would have stayed a couple of weeks.

Josh Scandlen
October 14, 2023 9:59 am

cargo ships are DEFINITELY low carbon! What a clown.

Shoki
October 14, 2023 10:41 am

That’s a shame.

Right-Handed Shark
October 14, 2023 11:16 am

Sounds to me like he has a thing for seamen and want’s to work his passage.

ToldYouSo
Reply to  Right-Handed Shark
October 14, 2023 11:49 am

I see what you did there!

ToldYouSo
October 14, 2023 11:48 am

My immediate thought to the above article’s headline:

Ooooo . . . poor baby!

October 14, 2023 12:39 pm

I think the professor is deluding himself if he thinks his example has somehow made a difference.

except he never said this was his reason.

he said:

  1. to avoid hypocrisy
  2. to keep a PROMISE
  3. to avoid being called a LIAR

not to “make a difference”

Richard Page
Reply to  Steven Mosher
October 14, 2023 1:14 pm

Actually, in the Afd article he states none of those reasons. He said that he has ‘medically diagnosed climate anxiety’ and he can’t fly because he’ll get a panic attack. I provided a link to the Barrons site that reprinted the article further back up the thread, check it out; it provides both more and different information than he has given to the Guardian, unless they are either paraphrasing him or just being ‘economical with the truth’.

bnice2000
Reply to  Richard Page
October 14, 2023 2:58 pm

unless they are either paraphrasing him or just being ‘economical with the truth’.”

Really ?? the Gruniad would never do either of those things. 😉

bnice2000
Reply to  Steven Mosher
October 14, 2023 5:45 pm

#1 and #3..

You really need to put a lot of work in… don’t you moosh !

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Steven Mosher
October 15, 2023 4:30 am

The guy just wants to be loved.

Javier Vinós
October 14, 2023 12:46 pm

vital fieldwork into the social impact of climate change

There’s a contradiction right there.

massieguy
October 14, 2023 1:04 pm

If he were to fly in a commercial aircraft that would otherwise have an empty seat, the incremental carbon dioxide emitted by the aircraft would be nigh unto zero.

Coeur de Lion
October 14, 2023 1:38 pm

When will we see his paper?

Gunga Din
Reply to  Coeur de Lion
October 14, 2023 2:54 pm

Next you visit “the necessary” it will be right next to Lew’s paper.

Nansar07
October 14, 2023 1:41 pm

So he was researching “the social impact of climate change”, should have taken all of five minutes since there isn’t any in that part of the world. I wonder if he calculated the difference in CO2 emissions between flying for a few hours versus days on diesel powered ships, trains, and buses. Perhaps his virtue would not allow that.

cgh
October 14, 2023 1:43 pm

“Refusing to fly has lost me my job as a climate researcher”

Good. One down only a few tens of thousand coprophiliacs to go. You’re not a climate researcher, bub. You’re a lying fraud of an activist. You add nothing of consequence to the world’s knowledge store.The rest of the world would have got more use from you if you had stayed in New Guinea and gone into a stew-pot.

old cocky
October 14, 2023 2:30 pm

 White men (of whom I am one, as I am frequently reminded here) are often referred to as giaman – liars, fraudsters in Tok Pisin – probably with good reason given the country’s turbulent colonial past.

Hmm, perhaps he could have reviewed some history before travelling to Bougainville to research the social effects of climate change.

Wikipedia actually has a reasonable summary.

Summarising the summary, Bougainville is an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea. It became a German Protectorate in 1886, and became a League of Nations mandate administered by Australia at the end of WWI. It was taken by Japan in WWII, and freed by Australian and US troops. The locals much preferred the white men to the Japanese.
PNG was an Australian Territory until the mid 1970s, when it gained independence. After various conflicts, Bougainville became an autonomous region.

The bottom line is that it’s had a turbulent past, but hasn’t been anybody’s colony since 1918.

michael hart
Reply to  old cocky
October 14, 2023 3:13 pm

They’re probably going to add stupid to that list.

Richard Page
Reply to  michael hart
October 14, 2023 3:30 pm

They do, I believe, have a name for stupid and gullible visitors – ‘tourist.’

Larry Hamlin
October 14, 2023 3:17 pm

Complete climate alarmism stupidity and incompetence.

Richard Page
Reply to  Larry Hamlin
October 15, 2023 11:54 am

Probably. He sounds like he’s having a bit of a breakdown; selfish, inconsiderate, regressing to the state of an 18 yo gap student backpacking in the Pacific rather than working.

michael hart
October 14, 2023 3:19 pm

 “I have been completing vital fieldwork into the social impact of climate change almost 15,000 miles away…”

The bigger issue is that he is working for a company that shouldn’t exist. What useful products or services does it sell? What are its sources of income other than grants from German and/or EU taxpayers?

michael hart
Reply to  michael hart
October 14, 2023 3:20 pm

And also, does this company report profits?

Richard Page
Reply to  michael hart
October 14, 2023 3:45 pm

No it’s a non-profit organisation. I get the impression they are an important economic think tank that jumped on the climate change bandwagon and are now regretting hiring an activist like Grimalda.

Bob
October 14, 2023 3:37 pm

This guy is dumber than a box of rocks, what is he going to Germany for to collect unemployment? Don’t cargo ships burn bunker fuel?

2hotel9
October 14, 2023 5:44 pm

Bullshyte. That climatard twat has more frequent flyer miles than Hunter Xiden does. What a lie spewing f*ck.

D Boss
October 15, 2023 5:37 am

What a completely ignorant moron! Definitely has severe mental instability and displays both Messiah Syndrome (I’m to save the world); and that abhorrent behavior of religious zealots who self flagellate or self mutilate. (like the blonde monk in The DaVinci Code movie)(I will punish myself for being a white male by riding on a cargo ship instead of flying)

If he did a bit of simple chemistry and math homework, he’d find that “low carbon” is pretty much to travel by wide body aircraft for long distances, as follows: (not that his belief that carbon dioxide is a pollutant is valid, but even with his twisted and distorted world view… the math says otherwise)

Boeing 747-400 per passenger mile emits 0.239 lbs CO2 per passenger mile. (400 passengers at ground speed of 600 mph)

Small cargo ship (45,000 tons) burns 50,000 lbs of fuel per day traveling 331 miles. This generates 155,000 lbs of CO2. So let’s say passengers and crew are 50 persons…

The Cargo ship generates 9.36 lbs of CO2 per passenger mile! Essentially 39x more CO2 per passenger mile than a 747-400!

Now both the B747 and the cargo ship are going to make their journey whether or not this nutbar is onboard or not. But if you want to feel personally responsible for a CO2 emission value, clearly the jet is the better option as it will take only 22 hours or so. While the ship will take 40 days.

The jet will burn a total of 407,000 lbs of fuel, while the ship burns 2,000,000 lbs of much dirtier fuel for that journey. (CO2 ratios for both fuels is roughly 3.1 lbs CO2 per pound of fuel burnt)

Diesel trains are actually worse than jetliners, coming in at 0.293 lbs CO2 per passenger mile and cars only slightly better than the 747. (4 passenger small car getting 22 mpg yields 0.221 lbs CO2 per passenger mile)

Actually a newer B737-800 gets 0.222 lbs CO2 per passenger mile. I used the decades old 747-400 as a conservative value – new aircraft engines are as much as 25% more fuel efficient than older ones. (and modern A380 or B777 are even better than the 737-800)

AndersV
Reply to  D Boss
October 16, 2023 6:15 am

And why do you think they call it a cargo ship? In your calculation you just made the entire cargo emission free.

Mark Whitney
October 15, 2023 6:10 am

His family is waiting for him.comment image&ehk=Wffv35%2fCY0Ur6wQ%2frPRlpGEIx1y5q2nZdorJNY6l73I%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

Mark Whitney
October 15, 2023 6:14 am

His family is waiting for him. (Repeat since the other did not work)

trolls.jpg
gyan1
October 15, 2023 2:47 pm

Blithering idiots will think this blithering idiot is a hero..

AndersV
October 16, 2023 6:09 am

If he does just one leg on the Superfast that is behind him he has lost the GHG-game….travelling on a large cargoship will let him claim the emission-per-ton-mile which is way lower than air travel. How he thinks he will get away with travelling by bus/car or train in addition is beyond me.

Richard Page
Reply to  AndersV
October 16, 2023 8:39 am

Your mistake was in assuming he ‘thinks’ rather than feelz. Nothing he has said on this subject has been thought through for a single second, it’s all about his feelings on AGW.

iflyjetzzz
October 17, 2023 11:25 am

He was fired because he refused to follow his employer’s instructions. I suspect that he’s been a ‘problem child’ and his superiors at the Kiel Institute saw this as an opportunity to terminate him.

Peter C.
October 19, 2023 6:55 am

“Climate researcher” is that supposed to be some sort of occupation? Sounds like “tourist”

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