Einstein Quotes & Climate Change

"In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."

• The Farce that is Federal Parliament - http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbott-flees-as-thomson-votes-with-coalition-20120530-1zi79.html.

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

• On the door of the Library workroom

"This world is a strange madhouse," Einstein wote a friend at the time.  "Currently every coachman and every waiter is debating whether relativity theory is correct. Belief in this matter depends on political party affiliation."

• Quoted by Shawn Lawrence Otto (Fool me Twice author) in his blog- http://shawnotto.rebeccaotto.com/neorenaissance/blog20120508.html 

"Members of the public with the highest degrees of science literacy and technical reasoning capacity were not the most concerned about climate change. Rather, they were the ones among whom cultural polarization was greatest. This result suggests that public divisions over climate change stem not from the public’s incomprehension of science but from a distinctive conflict of interest: between the personal interest individuals have in forming beliefs in line with those held by others with whom they share close ties and the collective one they all share in making use of the best available science to promote common welfare." -

• Quote from http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1547.html- 

The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks

• Dan M. Kahan
,
• Ellen Peters,
• Maggie Wittlin,
• Paul Slovic,
• Lisa Larrimore Ouellette,
• Donald Braman
• & Gregory Mandel 
Published online
 
27 May 2012.

Where do you stand? Rugged individualism or egalitarian communitarian?

Migrant Workers and Mining

While trying to read the VCEC report on Feed-inTariffs and Barriers to Distributed Generation (all >200 pages) my son and I have been diverted by the current media reports on the effects of the Mining Boom on a Queensland town of Moranbah ("Casualties of the Boom" 4Corners, ABC TV) and todays discussion of migrant workers.
As a "migrant" worker, married to another "migrant" worker, its amazing to re-visit the arguments yet again. The scale of the mining boom, much as I personally deplore it, will totally dwarf the employment opportunities of local areas. So migrant workers are absolutely necessary. Remember the Snowy River Scheme. Those migrant workers contributed enormously to the nation.
Migrant or Australian workers are also not easily able to move states, unless people are willing to take the risk, move to WA or Queensland first, & then know the process of applying for jobs. This takes a special sort of person, not necessarily those who are currently looking for jobs in the Eastern States. It also takes resources ($$) and persistence.
As a librarian, I see many people looking and not succeeding in their job searches. This is for many reasons and lack of knowledge, skills and sometimes personality/psychology! To my children, a job is sitting in front of computers. I acknowledge Senator Cameron's concerns for safety, appropriate wages and conditions for the workers, but assume that much of this infrastructure is already in place and working (or why not??).
The ABC program last night left me with a number of questions.

• Why were more houses/accomodation not built in Moranbah to ease the housing shortage?
• Who controls the land around the town and enables the release of land?
• Who is responsible for the services needed to support the FIFO workers?
• Is it the Council or is it the Employer?
• Who fills in the holes left by the Miners??

Questions and Answers : More than what 1 radio show and 1 TV program can provide.

World Wildlife Fund -2012 Living Planet Report

Have a look at this report. Just as Victoria is planning to export more coal! Go figure the consequences!

Tree Loss & Climate Change

Catch-up TV is great. While away in the beautiful, deforested South Island of New Zealand, ABC TV Catalyst program screened "Tree Deaths" on 26 April 2012. Having just caught up with the program in ABCiView I am struck by the sad vision of acres of tree die-back in Western Australia. According to the program "We're looking at tree mortality over a scale of tens of millions of hectares in the last decade alone. "
Tree death is nothing new to landscapes such as Australia and New Zealand, where for years land deforestation has been the norm with consequent degradation of bio-diversity, erosion, water and carbon loss.
My ecology degree, many years ago, touched on the consequences of this type of loss.
I remember the problem of acid-rain and loss of trees in North America, Germany and other places, showing the environmental effects of atmospheric pollution. See http://www.greenfacts.org/en/forests/index.htm for more information on world forests.
So its not hard for me to see that temperature extremes coupled with increased evaporation may easily kill even well-adapted species (such as Eucalyptus) over a particularly short time span as documented in the program.
Mass kill events have been documented in other environments for example wide-spread coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef.
All this is secondary information to the climate change debate. It adds more dimensions to the problem.
The old chestnut, that increasing CO2 is good for plant growth, is not necessarily true for food crops and for forests. After all we have so changed the plant-based face of the planet and increased the population so much that this experiment with our base livelihood is really disturbing.

Near Alexandra, New Zealand-deforested and dry

Emissions Trading Scheme & New Zealand

While I'm still remembering my holiday, I thought it might be instructive to contemplate the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). New Zealand, unlike Australia, introduced a price on carbon a while ago but is now reviewing it. "Changes to the scheme are being considered as part of a Select Committee Review and discussions with Australia on harmonisation with their similar Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme" (outdated statement!).
(Note: if in fact the current Federal Government manages to convince voting Australians that the sky won't fall in after July, the coal barons & gas won't stop extracting carbon rich fossil fuels and the government is not incompetent - big ask!).
 In New Zealand, life continues as usual, the populace are trying to be green and reduce emissions. Higher unemployment and greater debt are largely the result of the Christcurch earthquake. Cows and Sheep are exempt from the ETS. Its worthwhile noting that New Zealand is also banking on having a global agreement to share their responsibility with the rest of the world and has compiled a snapshot of their Greenhouse Gas Emissions (up to 2010). (I wish they would update their website!!!)

NZ Responsibility for CO2 Emissions. Note where Australia is!

The following website, Licensingline News, indicates the current state of entry into the ETS scheme by various sectors of the economy. Note the Carbon Price of $25 much like Australia's legislated but not implemented price, though that has effectively been halved to $12.50 by the implementation period in the scheme.

In Australia we still have the heavies in the Resources industries waging war against both the Federal Government and the Federal Opposition vowing to repeal the legislation when it comes to power. Time will tell if the NZ ETS is effective, if Australia manages to implement its Carbon Tax (almost an ETS), and if we get any of the various oligarchs in the resource sector being pre-selected to the Liberal or National Parties.

For the sake of the little people, I hope not!

On Holiday

So gentle reader, its been a few weeks since I've typed up a blog post. No I haven't disappeared down some black hole. I've been on holiday and now back at work, home and blog.
Autumn holidays can be wonderful. This year I decided to visit the South Island of New Zealand, just a few hours hop (by plane). Yes I purchased Carbon Offsets for the flight but not for the rental car that I used to do the tourist trail from Christchurch (damaged but not out) to Aoraki Mount Cook to Central Otago and back to Christchurch via the Pigroot and Moeraki Boulders.

Moeraki Boulders

As I drove, I contemplated the NZ marketing campaign " 100% Pure New Zealand". The scenery was spectacular, the waters of Lakes Tekapo, Pukaki, Ruataniwha and Dunstan sparkling blue and clear. The silvery tussocks waving in the gentle breeze under a bright blue sky beckoned one to breathe the fresh air.
But the truth is that much of the South Island flora and fauna is completely introduced and man-made. Gone are the vast swathes of Southern Silver Beech, Red Beech and Kahikatea forests. The Lakes mentioned above are all controlled for hydro power and Lake Dunstan swallowed the historic bridge and part of the town of Cromwell - something I remember from my last visit 20 years ago!
But the holiday was a breathe of fresh air. Time to recharge and contemplate the breathtaking beauty of a relatively empty country. Time to see misty mountains, rushing rivers and glacial lakes, golden poplar trees and catch up with the damage in Christchurch.

Former Arts Centre

Crown Plaza now completely demolished

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