tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64417263039087909732024-03-13T19:01:47.800+11:00Sou from BundangawoolarangeeraClimate change and other stuff from the other side of the black stumpSouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-70962516745297316262023-11-26T19:27:00.001+11:002023-11-26T19:27:16.113+11:00Checking in Keeping this blog alive (just).Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-66198812168336314872013-07-04T13:56:00.000+10:002015-04-22T02:05:14.395+10:00The foliage on native plants in Australia's arid zones is boosted by CO2
Increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) have helped boost green foliage across the world’s arid regions over the past 30 years through a process called CO2 fertilisation, according to CSIRO research.
In findings based on satellite observations, CSIRO, in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU), found that this CO2 fertilisation correlated with an 11 per cent increase in&Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-87577072110587526322013-05-29T04:50:00.002+10:002013-05-29T04:53:01.484+10:00The Heat is On....Stop Procrastinating, People
Don't take comfort from the Bayesians or other low estimates of climate sensitivity - this study says it's going to get bad, and worse if we don't act now...
Uncertainty no excuse for procrastinating on climate change
By Roger Bodman, Victoria University and David Karoly, University of Melbourne
Today we released research which reduces the range of uncertainty in future global warming. It Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-91882753118340227922012-12-13T16:57:00.001+11:002013-01-04T23:14:55.712+11:00Coming soon...I've cleaned this blog out again. I'm going to be writing some more serious articles here about science and environment with a particular focus on Australia. That's a job for the first quarter in 2013.
I now have a sister blog, blog.HotWhopper.com, which I started as a way of letting off steam about the appalling treatment I got from the operators and moderators at a large Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-85531561468402616552012-01-31T23:02:00.000+11:002016-01-11T06:45:43.534+11:00Cattle Banned! Finally some protection for Victoria's High PlainsVictoria's high country is safe from cattle grazing in the national park. The Victorian Government says it is not ruling out a High Court challenge, but lets hope they don't waste their money. It's enough that they've reneged on other environmentally important issues, like restricting wind farms.
After the cattle were kicked out last time around, the plants grew profusely. I've been visiting Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-57146698546794725782012-01-18T23:33:00.000+11:002016-01-11T06:58:47.260+11:00Scientists say the Draft Murray-Darling Basin Plan should be scrappedThe Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists have called for the Draft Murray Darling Basin Plan, released last month, to be scrapped
They say the plan should be started afresh. Not throwing out all the work they've done - but they need to completely re-think what the plan is meant to be a plan of (water management, irrigation, environmental flows and so forth). It's not a plan yet and it Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-8698998524410021362011-09-11T01:52:00.000+10:002016-01-10T18:24:35.684+11:00Will USA wake up soon that climate change is already here?On the fires in Texas - like the 2009 fires in Victoria - more precautionary burning wouldn't have made much difference. And it would probably have been dangerous to attempt it any time in the past 12 months - too dry. From Jeff Masters:
As I reported in yesterday's post, there has never been a Texas summer hotter than the summer of 2011. The summer of 2011 now holds every major heat recordSouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-77674651927521197602011-09-06T21:29:00.000+10:002016-01-10T18:28:53.005+11:00Congrats to John Cook of SkepticalScience.comCongratulations, John, on winning a Eureka prize. Well done and very well deserved.Send him your best wishes, everyone.Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-33443081519910323382011-07-24T01:14:00.000+10:002016-01-11T05:23:08.698+11:00Cadel Evans - You're the Winner of le Tour de France - You bloody beauty!Cadel Evans - a heart bigger than Pharlap!You are brilliant! First Australian Winner of le Tour de France. Congratulations!!!!!Building on the shoulders of Oppie and the great Phil Anderson, championsRobby McEwen and Stuart O'Grady, cyclists Brad McGee, brilliant Mark Renshaw and all the other great Australians - more here.And congrats as well to Richie Porte from Tasmania Australia = great Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-14402564574603198022011-07-23T03:07:00.000+10:002016-01-11T05:15:55.128+11:00BBC to improve science reportingThe BBC is going to improve its reporting on science, following a "review of impartiality and accuracy of the BBC's coverage of science" - as reported in The Guardian:
The BBC is to revamp its science coverage after an independent review highlighted weaknesses and concluded that journalists boosted the apparent controversy of scientific news stories such as climate change, GM crops and the MMR Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-88659120590946565062011-07-03T04:29:00.000+10:002016-01-11T05:11:19.215+11:00Another bit of fluff from political denier & campaigner for devastation by climate, Bob CarterThe Sydney Morning Herald today printed another bit of fluff from the political denier and campaigner for devastation by climate, Bob Carter. It was a response to an article by Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb. Let's hope SMH will now provide 'balance' by making sure the next 99,999 articles it publishes on climate are from climate scientists. (My comments are in dark blue and Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-18965738725319747232011-06-08T00:28:00.000+10:002016-01-10T18:01:21.005+11:00Canadian Tar Sands Means Game Over - Silence is DeadlyJames Hansen writes that exploitation of the Canadian tar sands could be catastrophic. He writes:
...Although there are multiple objections to tar sands development and the pipeline, including destruction of the environment in Canada and the likelihood of spills along the pipeline's pathway, such objections, by themselves, are very unlikely to stop the project. An overwhelming objection is thatSouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-75487052000692187672011-05-25T02:48:00.000+10:002016-01-10T18:19:25.198+11:00The Critical DecadeYesterday, Australia's Climate Commission released a new report with important messages:The following points highlight the key messages arising from the accompanying report The Critical Decade:
1. There is no doubt that the climate is changing. The evidence is overwhelming and clear.
The atmosphere is warming, the ocean is warming, ice is being lost from glaciers and ice caps and sea levels are Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-48856234159124970222011-05-22T01:24:00.000+10:002016-01-10T17:49:55.399+11:00Murray Darling Plan turning into a fiasco, with the Wentworth Group of Scientists leaving the processLate last year the then Chair of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Mr Mike Taylor, quit because the Government made demands that were not only in conflict with the Water Act but were impossible to achieve.
Now the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists have left the process on the grounds that the plan is proposing to let the river die by not ensuring sufficient flow. (A paper on the Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-86295354020584170952011-04-18T01:40:00.000+10:002016-01-21T16:55:21.833+11:00Quadrant article by Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks and Bill Kininmonth - how confusingHere is a summary of the points raised by Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks and Bill Kininmonth in an articlepublished online in Quadrant yesterday (link below). I've loosely grouped the points they made into topics for clarity. The statements are not direct quotations. They represent a summary of the main points made by these eminent men in their short article. I've put Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-44061464774947168102011-04-09T00:54:00.000+10:002016-01-10T16:42:48.307+11:00Which companies will advertise on Andrew Bolt's new show on Channel 10?How about telling the Channel 10 advertisers what you think of them supporting Andrew Bolt.Glen Beck, infamous for spouting ultra-right wing views, has been effectively fired from Fox News. It appears that a large number of high profile advertisers pulled out, not wanting their products to be associated with his unAmerican sentiments. (You'd think the son of Lachlan Murdoch might have learnt a Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-49291621005434335812011-03-17T21:24:00.000+11:002016-01-10T16:47:55.399+11:00Julie Bishop's followers support a carbon tax!Julie Bishop, deputy leader of the opposition (Liberal Party, Australia, welcoming climate catastrophe), ran a survey on her website, checking support for a carbon tax.What's that? 80.2% support a carbon tax! 75.6% strongly support a carbon tax!
I grabbed this screenshot of her website last night:
Now this and all previous survey's on her website seem to have disappeared. What went wrong?Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-54890905963091610292011-03-11T13:54:00.000+11:002016-01-10T16:52:56.664+11:00On House Republicans overturning science - by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)The Republicans yesterday voted to increase pollution in the USA and to accelerate global warming and make weather disasters worse, more frequent and more widespread. This is what Rep Markey had to say about it:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/03/10/174942/markey-flat-earthers/Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-48051954635888282482011-03-02T20:07:00.000+11:002016-01-10T16:57:04.664+11:00Will democracies survive global warming?Down here in Australia we have Sophie Mirabella MP, shadow Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, dog-whistling the crazies to murder and mayhem. In reference to PM Gillard's proposed introduction of a price on carbon, Mirabella said:
"If Ms Gillard believes Australians want to pay higher electricity and higher petrol prices, she is as deluded as Colonel 'my people love me' Gaddafi."
Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-75348621520181491762011-02-26T14:58:00.001+11:002016-01-11T06:12:52.029+11:00Cardinal Pell backs Plimer against the Pope and the Catholic ChurchAs discussed in the Sydney Morning Herald and numerous other places, Cardinal George Pell has made a bit of a fool of himself on the record in the Australian Parliament's primary record, Hansard. In line with his numerous pronouncements that global warming is not a threat (such as here), Pell wrote to the Senate to immortalise his lack of understanding of climate science and his faith in a book Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-80760021559576643142011-02-26T14:58:00.000+11:002016-01-10T17:03:33.934+11:00Cardinal Pell backs Plimer against the Pope and the Catholic ChurchAs discussed in the Sydney Morning Herald and numerous other places, Cardinal George Pell has made a bit of a fool of himself on the record in the Australian Parliament's primary record, Hansard. In line with his numerous pronouncements that global warming is not a threat (such as here), Pell wrote to the Senate to immortalise his lack of understanding of climate science and his faith in a book Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-62303631020508709882011-02-20T15:11:00.000+11:002016-01-10T17:06:23.581+11:00The ecology crisis and shrinking biodiversity in a warming worldI'm putting together a few links on ecology and biodiversity. Most nature lovers will have observed changes in their local flora and fauna in recent years. There will be many more changes over coming years as species are affected by the altered atmosphere and the warming earth, which will have multiple and cascading effects affecting food webs and local habitats. Here is some further reading Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-67000677710211811152011-02-16T13:59:00.000+11:002016-01-10T17:10:38.464+11:00On morals and ethics and climate science
Both 'ethics' and 'morality' have their roots in a word for 'customs', the former being a derivative of the Greek term from which we get 'ethos', and the latter from the Latin root that gives us 'mores', a word still used sometimes to describe the customs of a people. - Peter Singer.
The recent behaviour of O'Donnell et al (referred to in my previous post) raises issues of morals and ethics. Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-82795201593417856772011-02-10T16:40:00.000+11:002016-01-10T17:14:32.602+11:00Deniers slam the GATE on deniersDeniers and denier chums seem to be doing their best to destroy any semblance of credibility they might have hoped for among gullible members of the public. Hopefully their latest shonky tactics backfire and they sink into oblivion sooner rather than later.ClimateGATE: First denier shonkiness was shown up after their unfounded 'interpretations' of stolen emails, which were subject to several Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441726303908790973.post-46002608679107570462011-02-05T19:55:00.000+11:002016-01-10T17:20:47.747+11:00Yasi moving south
Here is Yasi as it moves down south three days later, courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology.Souhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08818999735123752034noreply@blogger.com0