Monday, February 9, 2009

A global Warming Shock

The unprecedented bushfires in Southeastern Australia being Australia’s worst natural disaster and the floods in northern Australia in Queensland has shocked Australia. Fire fronts from Warnabool in the west to the Alps in the east and traveling at speeds of 120km/hour consuming and flattening and killing everything in its path. A wild fire of gigantic proportions left the landscape bare just like a nuclear holocaust. To date 181 people have died and will likely grow to more than 300, hundreds of others injured, 4000 homeless and 750 homes destroyed. At the same time at one stage 60% of Queensland was under water or affected by floods having had 2 meters of rain in about 5 days. All over the world extremes of weather are now happening. Is this a result of global warming? We only know that as time goes by more extremes of weather will occur and they will be even worse! Thousands of scientists discredit global warming at least that which is triggered or generated by man saying the earth is warming anyhow and some say it is cooling and we humans have had nothing to do with it. No matter which way you look at it, it is warming and we know that we have to do as much as we can to retard the process. We still have a small window of opportunity to do so, ten years at the most. If we all as global citizens understand better how nature works and have a better understanding of science, biology, geology and physics of the earth, we will understand that we need to look after the big fish, the large animals, the large old growth forest trees, as well as the understory, the macro as well as the micro in order for the earths ecologies to survive and we will know how we fit in and how dangerously close we are to extinction. We actually can’t live without intact ecologies! Also importantly we will have a greater chance to reverse the direction of global warming. It will quickly come upon us that we have to change our ways drastically. To do so needs massive education worldwide. The only mass worldwide educational tool is the Internet. Think for instance how those who cut down forests in third world villages to replace them for palm oil production or whatever, if they had a computer connected to the internet, they could learn how to earn a living without cutting the forests down or continuing in destructive ways and to protect the environment as well. In Australia our government is still pandering to the fossil fuel industry providing billions of dollars to it whilst leaving the renewable industries to almost fend for themselves saying that the fossil fuel industries provide the jobs and therefore have to be helped. This pandering has to stop. Our government like many governments in the world today are plowing massive funds providing an economic stimulus with the intention of preventing global economic collapse. It has been suggested that a small part of the 42 billion package in Australia be directed towards the funds needed to rebuild all that has been destroyed by the recent bushfires. This should be at least 2 billion. But it is also plainly evident that in view of global warming massive funds need to be directed to the renewable industries and to mass education worldwide. Understanding the physics of this planet and the implementation of renewable industries is where our future jobs will be and this is where the economy will be on a secure footing taking the environment into the economic equation. This is where global warming will safely be reduced and eventually stopped and where we will ultimately arrest those massive bushfires and disastrous floods and extremes of weather and where our food supply will be secured.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Commit to New Technologies

This planet is on a course for massive global warming. It is difficult to see if anything will arrest this as not only do we have global warming we also have world economic problems. But there is a way to help both. Global warming has to be considered the only issue, as we will not have an economy if we do not stem global warming. Presently politicians and business do not understand how serious it is. On the technical front we have the know how to produce 100% of our power needs from renewable sources. When the true cost of the market system is seen in terms of environmental degradation as it is at present only then will we be in a position to understand how to run our economy in a manner that will also help the environment. Today our market system is still based on the theory that there is no biophysical limit to growth of the market system. We are still in the age of trying to find new environmental horizons and plundering expectant wealth those horizons might reveal and plundering what we already have. There is no possible way to grow our economy using the old system. That’s why it’s imperative we change our ways now and one of the ways to help is to inject massive funds into renewable energy. It is a sunrise (excuse the pun) pursuit. It will provide much needed jobs and grow the economy in an environmentally responsible manner. Similar economic management has been done in many times of recession or depression e.g. the building of the railway system although back then there was no understanding of environmental issues and purely economic gain were to be had. We have that environmental understanding now, be it very limited, and we can now move ahead with the environment in mind. “Dramatic immediate commitment to nurturing new technologies is essential to averting disastrous global warming” –Jeffrey Sachs director of the Earth Institute Columbia University.