Climate Change

[stylofone]

Keep an eye on water status situations, like Port Lincoln.

Water is number one, isn't it? In terms of adaptation, I think it is.

I lived in Sydney in a period where water storage went from 100% to around 30%. Then it went back up to nearly full. An then it went to 50% in 2 years. The fluctuations are so wild, next time when the drought hits it might get to 20%, 10%, less. That city will be a hell-hole when the hardcore water restrictions kick in.

While I was there we also had the hottest day on record, and many other days not far below the record. That was a major factor in me moving south. Two weeks after I locked in the move, black summer hit and my little block of land was on fire. Since then there has been a series of rain bombs, floods, landslides, roads washed away or peppered with potholes. Water storage is overflowing. But in WA it's bone dry.

We are experiencing the apocalypse, it is fucking insane. Speaking of which...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... treme-heat

[stylofone]

There's more politics than climate going on in this article, but I'm more inclined to put it here. The SMH/Age also has a bit about the coalition climate train wreck. One of its quotes was from the Teal backers saying Dutton's folly is a gift, they are going to keep their seats and target more. I think it's be behind a paywall so I'm posting this one.

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/new ... vision#mtr

[stevebrooks]

In a new interview Dutton again refuses to reveal any details of the coalitions plans for combating climate change apart from repeatedly saying the word Nuclear, however this gem stands out!

The Opposition Leader was then asked if the plants would be government subsidised, and responded by saying all power sources, other than coal, receives funding.

Subsidies to the coal industry!

$129 million on upgrading Hunter Valley coal railways to “secure their long-term reliability and productivity.”

$45 million to the incident-prone Callide coal-fired power station.

$21 million to the Meandu Mine.

$250 million in capital spending planned for Collie and Muja coal-fired power stations.

Land tax exemptions for coal mining cost $1 million per year.

A $65 million Coal Innovation Fund

.

So no subsidies for coal then? I mean this stuff is so easy to find, the man is an idiot!

https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/ ... -election/

[pipbarber]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ittleproud

David Littlebrain is a top shelf moron. But reading through another article about the idiotic coalition and climate change, it really brings home the fact that these people, in their heart of hearts, just don't believe the science is real. They think of climate change as a political issue, an ideological one, that's what it is to them...and i sometimes wonder if that's not also the case with the ALP.

I laugh at the state of politics in the US, but really we are just as terrible when it comes to ecological protection and climate change. The nationals are ecocidal psychopaths. It's so despairing.

[stevebrooks]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ittleproud

David Littlebrain is a top shelf moron. But reading through another article about the idiotic coalition and climate change, it really brings home the fact that these people, in their heart of hearts, just don't believe the science is real. They think of climate change as a political issue, an ideological one, that's what it is to them...and i sometimes wonder if that's not also the case with the ALP.

I laugh at the state of politics in the US, but really we are just as terrible when it comes to ecological protection and climate change. The nationals are ecocidal psychopaths. It's so despairing.

Now I can indeed understand this;

While the development over the weekend was welcomed by a number of groups, some in the community have continued to oppose offshore windfarms due to potential environmental, economic and social impacts.

But I also understand this, given these same standards they are using to oppose the wind farm, not a single coal fired power station would have been built. The environmental damage from coal fired power stations is enormous, just building them is a huge impact, then the mining of the coal, environmental vandalism is what it is, then mowing down forests to build railways and transport systems, electrical grids etc. I mean these people are complaining about roads to move wind turbines to the coast to be built.

We can compare the current and future cost of wind farms and other green power projects to the past and future cost of coal fired power stations and other fossil fuel methods of making energy and decide which is best. Lets see, continued unfettered use of fossil fuels, future cost? Possible death of all humankind, collapse of ecosystems worldwide, the planet starts over with evolution of new species. The future cost of renewables? Well, I don't think that while there is some environmental damage and harm caused by the construction of renewable power generation systems, I mean everything we build does some damage, somehow they compare to the end result of not changing to renewables.

The other question is, what are they proposing as the alternative? As far as I can tell the alternative is, do nothing, and that's not an alternative that results in us surviving in the way we are at the moment. In the end survival will determine what we do, the collapse of society due to environmental refugees and possibly wars will eventually end and whatever is left of humans will have to start again, is that the alternative?

[pipbarber]

Yes, i totally get the concerns around wind turbines - actually, i'm not a fan (sorry). I'd prefer power restrictions, except for domestic or medical use perhaps, but that suggestion tends to produce peels of laughter. The best option open to us in the developed overdeveloped world is to work out how to use less electricity - fat chance of having that conversation at a public level, let alone actually doing it.

But you make the point well Steve, if we're not going to use less, we absolutely have to go all in for the least worst option and obviously that's renewables like solar and wind. To promote the opposite is an act of nihilistic insanity, imo. Welcome to Liberal/National coalition, what a bunch of total fucking dipshits.

[stylofone]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ittleproud

David Littlebrain is a top shelf moron. But reading through another article about the idiotic coalition and climate change, it really brings home the fact that these people, in their heart of hearts, just don't believe the science is real. They think of climate change as a political issue, an ideological one, that's what it is to them...and i sometimes wonder if that's not also the case with the ALP.

I laugh at the state of politics in the US, but really we are just as terrible when it comes to ecological protection and climate change. The nationals are ecocidal psychopaths. It's so despairing.

It's disturbing how anti-vax is tied in with climate denial. It's like conspiracy theory thinking has come in from the fringes and infected the mainstream right. The more facts and evidence you throw at them, the more they are convinced that they are right. This includes actual climate disasters. They will treat the facts as further reason to believe their political fantasy. I'm not sure how many floods or temperature records we need to have to change that.

Add the burgeoning racism and other bigotry to that and we have a very nasty situation.

On the Labor side is the irrational belief in pseudo-religious neo-Liberal concepts, which will only allow for market-based climate action, even when such action actually makes the problem worse. This has led to things like Jim Chalmers saying that his plan to speed up the approval of new oil and gas projects is good for the environment. It's not just in Australia. The COP meeting is being hosted by a petro-state for the second year in a row. Azerbaijan sounds like it could be even worse than UAE for fossil fuel fascism.

[stylofone]

550 deaths seems like a terrible disaster to me. Meanwhile we've got extreme heat in India, the USA, Mexico. It's hard to keep track.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... ed-illness

[stevebrooks]

Dutton announces proposed location of Nuclear power plants! This should be interesting!

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Dutton said the plants would be built at the sites of existing coal power stations: two in each of NSW (Lithgow and Liddell) and Queensland (Tarong and Callide), plus Victoria's Loy Yang, Collie in Western Australia and Port Augusta in South Australia.

Some states have legislative bans on Nuclear power, how's Dutton going to handle that?

Dutton said he would negotiate with premiers to overturn those bans, suggesting they could be convinced with a "bucket of money".

What he is basically saying is, everyone is for sale, they will sacrifice all their ethical and moral position if you offer them enough money! I mean that may be Dutton's reality, but lets see how that goes when it hits the states with bans.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/oppos ... 6a0d2866d4

[stylofone]

Dutton announces proposed location of Nuclear power plants! This should be interesting!

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Dutton said the plants would be built at the sites of existing coal power stations: two in each of NSW (Lithgow and Liddell) and Queensland (Tarong and Callide), plus Victoria's Loy Yang, Collie in Western Australia and Port Augusta in South Australia.

Some states have legislative bans on Nuclear power, how's Dutton going to handle that?

Dutton said he would negotiate with premiers to overturn those bans, suggesting they could be convinced with a "bucket of money".

What he is basically saying is, everyone is for sale, they will sacrifice all their ethical and moral position if you offer them enough money! I mean that may be Dutton's reality, but lets see how that goes when it hits the states with bans.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/oppos ... 6a0d2866d4

I think he is doomed to fail with his mad plan. Australian voters generally reject major changes, e.g the last two referendums. However there is still a danger of a sort of national mass brainfart which we have seen so many times overseas, so we must be vigilant.

I don't hear much about the most effective climate action, where we stop burning fossil fuels BEFORE we develop alternatives. We could reducie car ownership, aviation, shipping and coal-fired metal processing. Just consume less. We could also reduce the amount of power in the grid and have voluntary load shedding. They always talk about keeping the lights on, but why not try to turn them off every once in a while?