No point in petty bickering ... we're all in this boat together

Sorry, but man made climate change is absolutely real, there are mountains of scientific studies to support for anyone who cares to seriously look. You can argue correlation vs causation all you want but it is a big stretch to draw any other conclusion given the number and pace of changes that have occurred since the industrial revolution.

It is disappointing that the hard work of scientists who put forward clear hypotheses backed by statistics and evidence are trumped by people who's counter argument is to just shout louder. Don't get me started on evolution...

 

I kind of understand this point of view.

Look at alternative energies. Pretty much, most transport in Australia relies on fossil fuels from geopolitically unstable regions of the world. That is not energy security and puts Australia at a huge risk. The other issue is economic. It has been projected that by 2030, Australia will produce on 18% of it's required oil. The rest will have to be imported and economically, that is unsustainable.

"This could mean increased dealings with geopolitically unstable regions and also require longer supply chains which are inherently more expensive and involve greater risk." (1)
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The other issue is pollution (not carbon) from, for example, coal-fired power stations.

"Australia's coal industry is driving increases in air pollution according to a new analysis which names coal mining as the dominant source of air particle pollution.
...
"Air pollution kills more Australians than car accidents – that was noted by the Senate inquiry into the health impacts of air pollution in 2013." (2)
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Australia's fantastic response to this was to give Australia’s dirtiest power stations around $1 billion in assistance annually from 2013-14 (3).

Talking about soil degredation and deforestation and forest degradation in Australia, the problems are both severe and the environmental impacts and potential human impacts are huge. A decline is soil fertility puts our food security at risk. I live in WA and this is a problem that has been developing for decades. If we don't grow our own food, we will have to import it with the issues of food security, it's economically unsustainable and with a risk to food quality (hepatitis (3) and melamine for example).

Something I find disappointing is that since climate alarmism, it seems that issues like soil degredation, deforestation and pollution have taken a back seat while a whole bunch of people bicker about whether climate change is real. As a crude measure, I ran some searches in google news (Google). There are the results:-

soil degradation in australia About 3,510 results
deforestation in australia About 73,100 results
pollution in australia About 607,000 results
climate change in australia About 1,540,000 results​

While left and right bicker about whether climate change is real, soil degradation accelerates, deforestation continues and pollution appears to increase unabated. The way I feel is that at this rate, by the time climate change is proved or disproved, there won't be an environment left to save.

So every time I see left and right bickering about climate change, this is what I think:

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(1) http://www.qer.com.au/sites/default...R_Why Australia needs to create new fuels.pdf
Note: While the risks outlined in this paper are correct, the solution given is "shale resources", which I don't support. Why don't we develop renewable energies instead?

(2) Coal the biggest contributor to toxic air pollution: study

(3) Clone of Paid to Pollute | Environment Victoria

(4) Department of Health | Hepatitis A and frozen berry products recall

 

I dont understand how someone can dismiss even the possibility that 7 billion consumers could not affect the atmosphere. Have you ever seen those pics of earth at night? Something is powering those lights (let alone, everything else) and its generally not sun and wind.

 

The evidence of air pollution is not disputable.

Woman walks through the smog that covers Beijing
In Beijing particle pollution is 40x the International Safety Standard.



The question is, how do you convince people we need to reduce pollution? Has the 'climate change' argument convinced people we need to reduce pollution and look after the environment?

In 2013 CSIRO commissioned a survey that found:

• 52% of Australians don’t believe that human activity is causing climate change.
• Less than 30% of Australians have taken part in an environmental event.
• Less than 20% of Australians have given money to a group that aims to protect the environment
• 11.4% of Australians haven taken part in a conservation activity (1)

This is a photo of desertification in Australia and only 11.4% of Australians haven taken part in a conservation activity



I would say we have something to be concerned about.

(1) https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=csiro:EP1312080&dsid=DS2

 

Imagine if we focused our talents, $ etc on real problems that we know we can tackle..

I'm taking the family to participate in a community planting day this weekend, because it's a good thing to do.

 

Perthguy - when I look at that "deforestation" picture all I can see is the massive amounts of top soil disappearing in the wind!

It's the loss of top soil that is causing the majority of climate change (billions of tons of top soil is now airborne - so the carbon of that soil has moved from the ground to the air).

Personally I'll be mulching my freckle off ... and contacting a few well known media outlets and pollies

 

Great! There is a lot that we can do as individuals. From the CSIRO survey:
(1) I recycle/compost as much household waste as possible
(2) I have switched to products that are more environmentally friendly
(3) Most of my cleaning products are environmentally friendly
(4) I have reduced the amount of water I use around the house and garden
(5) I switch lights off around the house whenever possible
(6) Where possible, I buy products that are made locally
(7) I have reduced the amount of gas and/or electricity I use around the house
(8) I will usually try to fix things rather than replace them
(9) I have reduced the amount of petrol I use
(10) I have installed insulation in my home
(11) I have changed my gardening practices
(12) I have installed a rain water tank on my property
(13) I am on Green Power electricity
(14) I have installed a solar hot water system, or solar panels, in my house
(15) I usually walk/cycle/carpool/take public transport
(16) I have reduced my amount of air travel
(17) I buy carbon-offsets to reduce my carbon footprint
(18) I have changed my diet
(19) I have taken part in a political campaign about an environmental issue
(20) I have installed a grey water recycling system on my property
(21) I have contacted a government member about climate change

These are all the options. Personally, I have done all except 12, 13, 14, 17, 20 and 21. If I owned a home, I would add 14 and 20 to that list.

 

My household has done all except 12,13,16,17,19-21.

 

#1 is the biggest ... it drives me nuts when I go to someone's house and they don't compost and I have to put scraps and tea bags in the rubbish bin. Goes so against the grain. Even apartment dwellers can compost.

 

I was in high school, in South Yarra, when is happened in 1983 over Melbourne. We watched it coming. Incredible and tragic.

 

When we were in Germany in 2014, we noticed what was obviously a power station but nothing like any I have ever seen in Australia. I googled the company name on the building (cant recall) and discovered Frankfurt collects its domestic garbage and turns it into electricity to power the city. We are so far behind the rest of the world here in Oz when it comes to common sense. Please add this infrastructure to Glenn Steven's list of useful projects.

 

I'm not sure where we're at with the tips but we are making progress with treatment plants (second article)
100 per cent renewable energy powering Bondi Wastewater Treatment Plant

Basically sydney water has a few treatments plants now that are capturing the methane and turning into electricity to power the plants. Bondi (3rd largest in Sydney) is powered 100% and putting 16% back to the grid.
They ate slap doing it at the north head plant. I've seen that one when it was getting built, they use a big plastic bag (technical term) over the tank that rises and falls with the gas given off, then burnt to produce electricity