Climate Change

[nibble]

California’s grid passed the reliability test this heat wave. It’s all about giant batteries

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-go ... 09339.html

[stylofone]

I don't need any more rage against climate-denying sociopaths, but I had a dose this morning anyway.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... elle-smith

[nibble]

Shit it's cold !!

Also, forum has been quiet of late

[stylofone]

Shit it's cold !!

Also, forum has been quiet of late

Where are you nibble? I can't complain because I have moved from Canberra to the coast. The Canberra version of winter doesn't happen here. I hate the cold, but July is the coldest month so tomorrow I will be ready for it to warm up.

I surmise that the forum is quiet because our most active member is taking a sabbatical from posting. Without the critical mass of those posts to initiate discussion, everything slows to a near standstill.

[pipbarber]

It's been a very cold winter in Melbourne, and yes, i've had that question asked of me: 'So....what do you think of climate change now?' Sigh. Denialism will exist even when people are knee deep in water. There's no ending it. It's similar to religion in a way, it even has its own culture and is based on belief that is contrary to fact.

[nibble]

Stylo I'm in Melbs. I don't mind the cold (avid skier) but I dislike the darkness.

[stevebrooks]

So the NSW government has decided to contribute to climate change by ordering all workers back to the office, backed up, of course, by people who own stuff in the city and want workers back int o spend money there;

Those praising the move include Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou, who said hundreds of city businesses needed the boost to foot traffic, and Property Council of Australia NSW executive director Katie Stevenso, who said it was exactly what the city needed to thrive amid high CBD vacancy rates.

Lets be clear, cities before the modern era were places of residence, the CBD is a thing of recent invention, it sucks basically, it's an artificial parasite that supports landlords and owners of large office buildings. It doesn't matter if the work is done in the office or at home for a lot of people, but what does matter is that WFH reduces traffic congestion and the generation of greenhouse gasses. Huge office buildings need to go away, I mean if WFH is good for a lot of people, and they want a lot of people in the city to support businesses in the city, why not make a lot of affordable living spaces in the city so people can WFH in the city, yeah I know a novel idea right! That way if they want to meet colleagues for lunch or to discuss a problem they can all just arrange to meet at a cafe or something.

It's about time we stopped listening to these people who actually make money from forcing people into the office and started actually thinking about how things should be working to make lives better for people.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at ... 646034eb26

[stylofone]

It's 26 on my outdoor thermometer. It feels like a summer's day. Weatherzone says it's 28.1 at Moruya airport just down the road, which would appear to be an August record. I've read that various climate drivers are adding to the likelihood of a wet spring (Indian Ocean dipole, southern annular mode, la nina). But I am assuming that doesn't mean we won't also have extreme heat in coming months. The scorching northern hemisphere summer is likely to be repeated here.

Meanwhile, a newspaper profiles one of the doomists. Science is never settled, Jem Bendell might be wrong as his critics claim he is. The impression I get is that the predictions of "extremists" 20 years ago have now come to pass, and if anything the data and techniques to interpret it are much clearer now than they were in 2004. So I favour the doomist position and I have done for years now. I have pretty much done what he suggests:

... take a deep breath and then time to grieve. He is an advocate for the COVID-era trend of quiet quitting for the desk-bound practitioner of deep adaptation.

With that done, says Bendell, many will want to leave their work and refocus their lives on simpler things.

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/clim ... 5k3wj.html

[stevebrooks]

Using petty to battle self entitled home owners!

Australian councils are waging an ongoing war against tree poisoning — and now their “petty revenge” against malicious vandals, often wealthy residents in leafy suburbs seeking to boost their property values by improving their view, has been hailed online.

A series of images going viral on Reddit show how councils often respond by erecting signs where the trees once stood to block the view and shame the culprits.

“Tree vandalism has occurred in this area,” read one such sign erected by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/envi ... b8741e032b

[stylofone]

This sort of thing used to be in the realm of science fiction. Philip K Dick would often describe hothouse conditions in his future scenarios. But now it's science fact, as portrayed on this screenshot of of the weatherzone website now.

Screenshot 2024-08-30 at 14-52-37 Weather - Australia 7 Day Forecasts & Weather Radar Weatherzone.png (234.61 KiB) Viewed 58 times

https://www.weatherzone.com.au/