If you want to learn a bit more about climate change, the talks at Copenhagen, the science behind it etc etc, a really good resource is www.350.org - a group pushing for a limitation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million (ppm). We are currently at 387ppm, and the poli poli poli politicians gathered at Copenhagen are discussing a target of 770ppm.
I could go on but I think 350 does a much better job of explaining things.
Check out the 350 website, and get informed!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Australia is world's largest per capita CO2 emitter, keeps head firmly in the ground
Australia recently overtook the USA as the highest per capita carbon dioxide emitting country in the world.
It was set to pass emissions trading laws in parliament before the Christmas break. The Opposition had reached an agreement with the government to pass the legislation. The proposed law was monumentally weak, committing to only a 5% cut in 2000 emission levels by 2020 (when we were all supposed to be below 1990 levels in two years time, had we abided by the Kyoto Protocol). However, it was something.
This morning a vote was taken on the leadership of the major Opposition party, the Liberals, and Malcolm Turnbull lost out to Tony Abbott by one vote. A vote was then held on whether or not to back the emissions trading scheme, and the result was a fairly emphatic 'no'.
So Australia, the world's biggest per capita carbon dioxide polluter, will as always 'wait and see'. They will wait to see what comes out of Copenhagen, which could be a whole lot of nothing. Rather than be proactive, and act in the interests of their children and grandchildren they will risk their already depleted rivers and parched lands, not because the proposed legislation was not ambitious enough, but because there are still far too many climate change deniers walking the halls of parliament.
Well done Australia, well done...
It was set to pass emissions trading laws in parliament before the Christmas break. The Opposition had reached an agreement with the government to pass the legislation. The proposed law was monumentally weak, committing to only a 5% cut in 2000 emission levels by 2020 (when we were all supposed to be below 1990 levels in two years time, had we abided by the Kyoto Protocol). However, it was something.
This morning a vote was taken on the leadership of the major Opposition party, the Liberals, and Malcolm Turnbull lost out to Tony Abbott by one vote. A vote was then held on whether or not to back the emissions trading scheme, and the result was a fairly emphatic 'no'.
So Australia, the world's biggest per capita carbon dioxide polluter, will as always 'wait and see'. They will wait to see what comes out of Copenhagen, which could be a whole lot of nothing. Rather than be proactive, and act in the interests of their children and grandchildren they will risk their already depleted rivers and parched lands, not because the proposed legislation was not ambitious enough, but because there are still far too many climate change deniers walking the halls of parliament.
Well done Australia, well done...
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
UPDATE: I want to see a snake
It was only a couple of days ago that I wrote about wanting to see a snake in the wild, and today I got lucky! As I said early there have been a few sightings at work and today one was seen very near to where we were harvesting barley in the experimental plots. We went over to have a look and saw that it was a juvenile dugite, over a metre long and very fast moving. It was thin enough to be able to move in and out of the bird netting surrounding the plots (an area of about 2 hectares), and was pretty hard to see unless you knew it was there or if it moved. We tried to contact the guy at work whose hobby is to catch snakes, however he was not around so we sent a warning email to everyone and carried on with our harvesting (with one eye on the lookout for the snake). While it was a juvenile and not particularly big it would have been a bad situation if one of us had been bitten, and there are bigger ones around as there is bushland just over the road from work. I will be more watchful of where I put my feet in the plots from now on!
Daylight Saving grumbles
Recently Western Australia voted against adopting Daylight Saving after a 3 year trial.
Arguments against the scheme vary from the plausible: it adverseley affects farmers, as they need to keep cattle on a regular milking cycle and so their daily routine would be offset by an hour...
...to the ridiculous: curtains fade quicker (!!!). There was even an advertisment paid for by the "anti" lobby group claiming that DS contributed to an increase in car accidents.
And my opinion? Well it's probably pretty obvious by now. Twice now I have woken up to the sun beaming in my window, thinking that I had missed my alarm only to realise that it was 5.30am. Who needs daylight that early?! I would much rather have it in the afternoon so that I had more time to do stuff after work.
I really don't understand Western Australians sometimes. They are extremely change averse. As a friend of mine said, WA is short for "Wait Awhile".
Q: How many Western Australians does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: What? Change?!
Arguments against the scheme vary from the plausible: it adverseley affects farmers, as they need to keep cattle on a regular milking cycle and so their daily routine would be offset by an hour...
...to the ridiculous: curtains fade quicker (!!!). There was even an advertisment paid for by the "anti" lobby group claiming that DS contributed to an increase in car accidents.
And my opinion? Well it's probably pretty obvious by now. Twice now I have woken up to the sun beaming in my window, thinking that I had missed my alarm only to realise that it was 5.30am. Who needs daylight that early?! I would much rather have it in the afternoon so that I had more time to do stuff after work.
I really don't understand Western Australians sometimes. They are extremely change averse. As a friend of mine said, WA is short for "Wait Awhile".
Q: How many Western Australians does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: What? Change?!
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