Melbourne Climate Change Rally- 17 Nov @ 11 am

Sunday 17 November is the day for the various Green Groups to rally outside of Treasury Place Melbourne at 11 am. Join with the Australian Conservation Foundation and others in the community.

Hopefully, I and some of my family will be there, protesting against the repeal of legislation designed to address the moral, physical and economics issue of atmospheric pollution through the emission of greenhouse gases - otherwise known as Climate Change.

I would have preferred an outright majority in the recent Federal Election to help ram home the importance of this issue,  but I urge the Labor Party to continue to take a stand along with the Greens.

As Tony Windsor mentioned recently on Jon Faine's Program on ABC Radio, soil carbon has a hard time staying bound in Australian soils. Not tackling the chief emitters of CO2, the electricity, gas and other industries is like burying out heads in the sand and wondering why we can't see clearly.
Listen here (from 13.6 minutes in):

Riots in London and Europe

As ABC Radio presenter Jon Faine commented today "Whats happening in Europe? With riots in several countries including Turkey, Hungary, Germany, Spain, and England!
Austerity, rise of Fascism and far right wing militants. Is Europe heading for another group of unstabilizing conflicts like that which is engulfing countries in the Middle East?
Are the causes the same? Lake of hope, opportunity, equality and the rule of good laws with good people?
Are the rise of right-wing extremists a response to a growing list of problems we small people have very little ability to control?

Melbourne's Multicultural Moomba Parade

I was taught in history as a child, right-wing and far left-wing idealists rise in times of turbulence and change. Simple 'solutions' to complex problems have an appeal to those without hope and opportunity. This is certainly the case in Europe and the Middle East.
Lets hope all that has been built and achieved since the Second World War is not thrown out with carnage and oppression. I don't want this type of stuff in Australia because this time there are far more people in the world, many resource issues and another, Eastern superpower waiting in the wings.
But you cannot deny the swing to the right in current Australian politics and politicians.

I'm watching the DVD "Niall Ferguson Presents "Civilization: Is the West History?" Borrowed from my local public library, that source of reputable information, freedom, democracy, access and equity. All those good things in life.

Climate Commission Report

Yesterday the Climate Commission released its "The Critical Decade" report.  This updates the science on Climate Change and continues the warning that this decade is critical for actually doing something about changing our behaviour. Key message number 4 states: " This is the critical decade. Decisions we make from now to 2020 will determine the severity of climate change our children and grandchildren experience. "
John Faine, after his holiday in Turkey, commented that in Europe no one is still arguing the science but is actually trying to do something. The fairly lax standards introduced initially are being tightened and some are proposing that the European Union will impose greenhouse gas controls on products and services imported from parts of the world that lack such regulations.
So no matter what we do, others will impose their solutions on us. Whether Britain can manage a 50% cut in Carbon Emissions as reported by CoolMelbourne.org  (and others) is moot, at least it is having the moral and physical attempts at trying. Unlike us, so far.
So gird your loins and expect price changes in electricity (coming anyway with infrastructure improvements in network and transmission), fuel, food, imports etc, etc.
Just start saving and stop consuming quite so much and many of us will have money to pay for these changes.
Think global & act local.
But even if we cut CO2 emissions it won't make a lot of difference right? Favourite argument of the denial movement. Check out Skeptical Science site for the maths for this. Rational argument, detailed explanation , not 1 minute, TV/Radio, irrational sound bites help to understand these problems.
Go to your local library and any of the plethora of books and magazines on the subject. Go do something useful.