Floods, Fires - Australia's Adaptation

While Melbourne managed to get a few drops of rain recently, all media focus switched from the high country fires to the floods in Queensland.
The same towns as 2011 were in danger of flooding - Grantham, Lockyer Valley, Gladstone, parts of Brisbane with dams overflowing and controlled releases of water from the Brisbane River Wivenhoe Dam. Bundaberg, meanwhile reached record flood levels.
The flooding is less severe than 2011 (mostly) but the combination of 6 tornadoes from cyclone Harold and resulting huge dump of rain over a few days is causing similar results to last time. Hopefully, without the loss of life and lesser property damage.
Insurance companies must be wondering how they can afford to insure these areas.
The "brittle buildings" as mentioned recently in the Financial Review that cannot withstand 6-9 meter rise in water.
A suggestion to buy out these properties was made on Jon Faine's 774 ABC Local Radio program this morning. Now in the land of the "droughts and flooding rain" ("My Country" by Dorothea McKellar) which government can afford to do that?
Some of the residents of Grantham agreed to a land swap and have rebuilt on higher ground. They are now benefiting from their wisdom.
A Liberal/National Party Government is likely to cut government services, sack public servants and outsource your services to profit making enterprises, and sell off the public enterprises in order to balance the budget. Not that a Labor Government is any better with record borrowings and toadying to big business.
Neither of them actually listening to what science is saying about the risk and costs of climate change. (Remember the Garnaut Report Chpt 15 reported on my blog 28 Jan 2011)
Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Fires, Heat, Water : Summer in Melbourne

Another 40 plus degrees C day yesterday. Not surprisingly there are now more fires in Victoria, with many still burning uncontrolled in NSW.
A friend snapped a couple of photos from Sale, Victoria. Note the eerie sky colours and hot pink sun!.

As a result of the heatwave, water usage has shot up. Melbourne Water reports the storage drop is double the summer average (Jan 17 report). This is not surprising as we have only recorded 3mm this month. It makes you wonder why the Water Restrictions were lifted in Spring last year.
However, this is one thing that no State Government can get right. If the restrictions weren't lifted then there would have been complaints given the near full water storages. But as the extreme heat has started earlier and rain has dried up, people are needing to use water to keep their gardens alive. So it will be interesting to see if there needs to be changes in the Water Restrictions by the end of the Summer period.

Oil Rig on Fire

Like many people, I too am concerned about the Oil Rig on fire in the Timor Sea. I have sympathy for the company trying to plug the oil and gas leak. After all it is a remote area and they probably have only "budgeted" for events that are more likely. Extreme events which are very unlikely are hard to effectively plan for.
The response by both the Company and Federal Government should come as no surprise to anyone. After all Australia's "culture" has been one of development no matter the cost later. Wildlife and the Envronment has been low on this list largely because the $$$ are hard to calculate (bean counters are everywhere in government and companies) and the possible consequences are incalculable and largely in the future. Something companies and governments have great difficulty with.
Good luck to all the environment groups who are trying to clean up the mess. Lets hope the future for the area is not that similar to the environment around the Alaskan Sound where the Exxon Valdez spill occurred.
Call me a cynic but we will be hearing about the effects for the next 25 years and living with the economic consequences of these actions for longer.,

Winter and warming

After almost a week of foggy, crisp mornings and brilliant sunny days we know in Melbourne that winter has arrived. Aeroplane flights were delayed several mornings this week but we are extremely lucky to be living in an area where such great weather is normal in winter.
The wood stove (with triple burn technology) has been used to great effect this week and there is nothing like sitting in front of a warm fire and reading a good book.
This weekend I'm starting "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" by Marina Lewycka as part of the book club I belong to. Its only a short book so I'll expect to complete it by the end of the long weekend.
What are you doing these wintry nights?
While watching ABC TV last week I was intrigued by the story on power generation in Woking, UK. It just shows you that one person can make a difference. The change from one polluting technology (greenhouse gases) to a far less polluting technology is possible when someone is committed and passionate about the problem. For those interested here is the website http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2244790.htm.
And it seemed to use previously known technology and cost less.