tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5928164776127538974.post5414176225410614160..comments2023-11-01T03:32:14.895+11:00Comments on Nic Stuart: Where are the Policies?Nick Stuart, Nicholas Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07664320617342513026noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5928164776127538974.post-81939912003733169222010-07-28T11:29:36.824+10:002010-07-28T11:29:36.824+10:00This is another e-mail I recieved after the ietm a...This is another e-mail I recieved after the ietm appeared in the Canberra Times. Again, I haven't posted the details of the sender for privacy reasons. <br /><br />'Dear Nic<br /> <br />Read your opinion piece in the CT today and one can only agree with the staggering lack of leadership shown on climate change by both major parties.<br /> <br />Received this from Australia 21 this week - maybe you can pick up in a future piece before the election.<br /> <br />With respect to the issue of a "new narrative around climate change" it's clear to me that we are now in emergency country, yet the major parties seem almost ho-hum in terms of urgency. NASA's James Hansen reckons the next five to ten years is critical. And David Spratt and Philip Sutton in the book "Climate Code Red" put the case for the climate emergency in terms of the science, and also with repect to implementation. Their comparison of the normal political-paralysis mode vis-a-vis an emergency mode suggests a much more urgent and focused agenda for the necessary transformation. (page 224 of the book gives a useful table summary)<br /> <br />Hope you might be able to use the Australia 21 stuff somehow, and also the Climate Code Red ideas on implementation.<br /> <br />cheers'Nick Stuart, Nicholas Stuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07664320617342513026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5928164776127538974.post-41210307293351515302010-07-28T11:12:09.109+10:002010-07-28T11:12:09.109+10:00The following comment was made in an e-mail after ...The following comment was made in an e-mail after this article appeared:<br /><br />"Hi Nick<br /> <br />I agree wholeheartedly with most of your article this morning in the Canberra Times regarding the wishy-washiness of both Labor and Coalition policies. I would call both parties pathetic. Gillard's proposal for a citizen's committee to cogitate on climate change is not just pathetic and unworkable, but is highly cynical as well. Better to promise nothing in this zone. Gillard's team must really take the public to be morons.<br /> <br />The main reason I'm writing this email to you is regards to your suggestions of the three grand water plans. I am a water scientist and have worked on the Ord and Daly Rivers in the north and I can assure you that even though there is plenty of rain in the summer this does not necessarily mean this region is a prime agricultural opportunity. The soils are generally poor as most of the nutrients have been leached out of them. The north is characterised by rivers that flow like mad during the summer monsoon and don't flow at all during the rest of the year. So, storages would need to be constructed and this would not be all that easy as the land is generally flat. And then there are the insects which do quite well in the tropics. The Ord Irrigation Area is set to expand, but it has not been an unqualified success. <br /> <br />With regards to the Lake Eyre suggestion there are two major problems. The first is getting the water into the basin. Pumping may be an option, but not particularly desirable as it would require lots of energy. Secondly, if one were able to get a flow of sea water into the lake, the water would evaporate leaving the salt behind. The lake would become saltier and saltier, until the salt would start to precipitate. Of course we turn this into a tourist attraction - a lake that is saltier than the Dead Sea. <br /><br />I'm not at all against grand visions and all ideas need to be considered. We should open up our minds to new ideas as we will need them. The point is that something that looks attractive may not be feasible or may be environmentally detrimental. The cane toad is one example. <br /> <br />I enjoy reading your articles."Nick Stuart, Nicholas Stuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07664320617342513026noreply@blogger.com