Because we all know that CO2 is black, right? Because it’s carbon, right? And it’s pollution, right? And it’s causing catastrophic climate change, right? Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong again. But that doesn’t stop the moonbat NSW government wasting even more precious taxpayer money (that could be spent on e.g. fixing the state’s woeful transport network or any one of a thousand more deserving causes) on no less than fifteen (count them, fifteen) adverts to blackmail the weary population to wear dirty, damp clothes covered in bird-shit (no warm washes, no tumble dryers allowed, line dry instead), suffer in cold houses in winter and hot ones in summer (turn down that evil heating and cooling), and of course, live entirely in semi-darkness with flickery, epilepsy-inducing CFLs (get rid of those tungsten filament bulbs right now) all to “save the planet”. I am all in favour of reducing energy consumption, but this is just pure Green propaganda:
[hana-flv-player video=”http://www.australianclimatemadness.com/video/nsw_save_power.flv” width=”400″ height=”330″ description=”NSW Save Power advert” player=”4″ autoload=”true” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”true” /]
There’s also a hideous new website [how much does that cost?] to go with it here, and plenty more of those sinister black balloons.
Welcome to the interfering, meddling, nanny state of environmentalism… or as we call it, New South Wales.
Australian Climate Madness 
We had those advertisements here in South Australia some time ago (at least a year or two). Your opinion of them is the same as mine was then, and is now..
This is a classic.
At a meeting with co-workers (NSW govt scientists at the end of 2009) we were blessed with the scientific knowledge of a speaker from DCC. Of course, man was the bad one in the presentation but the classic was the reference to this stupid ad.
I asked the presenter at question time why the ad was actually misrepresenting basic laws of physics. The answer was “Where is this ad misleading?”. I then asked the audience how many knew why it was misleading? It was incredible how many actually saw no problem with the ad. I then proceeded to answer my own question – first, if you filled balloons with CO2 would they rise to the ceiling? It was amazing how many actually neglected the little fact that CO2 filled balloons wouldn’t float/rise to the ceiling. They would stay at floor/ground level. I then asked why? My goodness – they didn’t even know that CO2 is heavier than air!
Second, was the reference to the balloons being black – when black equates to evil (eg the bad guy in the old westerns always wore a black hat). CO2 being a colourless, odourless gas and only in trace amounts, why use black? That’s when the speaker suggested answering questions from someone else.
Crying out loud, I was in a room with scientists (government ones that is). Either they they chose to ignore this little fact or they just didn’t want to “rock the boat”.
Unbelievable. What a joke.
Love this blog Simon. Keep up the good work.
WipeOut
Simon, WipeOut spot on with your comments! We should forward the following information for training purposes to the NSW gov.:
Coal is stored solar power; made from clean green CO2 [colourless, tasteless, odourless, clear]
CO2 – the building blocks of life on earth
plant food.
lowers the thermal inertia of air.
makes plants more water efficient. WUE. reduced stomata mediated water losses thus soils retain water longer.
all fossil carbon in the ground WAS carbon in the biosphere and can be safely returned to it.
deserts are shrinking
bring back mega fauna. turn the Simpson Desert into the Simpson Jungle
combined O2+CO2 in fossil/ old amber bubbles was about 28-30. Hyperbaric chambers in hospitals and green houses are proof people and plants thrive in higher partial pressures of both.
Evidence is already accumulating that deserts will shrink. Just google ‘shrinking deserts’.
Optimal CO2 levels for life on earth might be around 1000ppm.
Nuclear energy can be postponed in Australia by at least 50 years.
“CO2 is heavier than air!”
You stole my thunder, Wipeout! Actually, this ad neatly encapsulates a fundamental lie promulgated by alarmists driving the climate madness. That the lie has been deliberately engineered may be assumed because there has been no effort by authorities to correct it. On the contrary, it’s carbon, carbon, carbon, as far removed from CO2 as hydrogen is from water.
Think of the CARBON POLLUTION Reduction Scheme. Labor knew full well that most people would jump at the chance to curb that horrid black stuff! No wonder climate polls continue to fly in the face of sweet reason.
I continue to be truly amazed at the stupidity of people. Why do we continue to accept this stupidity and nobody condems it from on high even when it flies in the face of the most elementary chemistry.
You are correct WipeOut. How can a group of so called scientists sit back and not condem the craziness?
I can just picture me standing before a scientific audience say forty years ago and indicating that this was a truly representative advertisement for the behaviour of carbon dioxide. Without doubt I would have been laughed of the podium.
You forgot one thing: CO2 is not going upward in a balloon, because it is heavier then air!