Moving targets

Economic solutions

2012-01-27T18:53:00.001-08:00

Just how deeply will the Economic crisis shake our people's faith in market fundamentalism?
Philosophers would wisely say that the West's love affair with the market mechanism for success is very fickle. Ellul would say "while it's working, or percieved to be working " it will be favoured . But a society whose first love is not eco, but technology, will throw out what doesn't work, or is perceived not to work ".

Maybe some political groups will latch onto the idea of investing in a sustainable view - its better value and more stable because it is not as fickle as the market.

Economic solutions

2012-01-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

Just how deeply will the Economic crisis shake our people's faith in market fundamentalism. Philosophers would wisely say that the West's love affair with the market mechanism for success is very fickle. Ellul would say "while it's working, or percieved to be working " it will be favoured . But a society whose first love is not eco, but technology, will throw out what doesn't work, or is perceived not to work ".

Maybe some political groups will latch onto the idea of investing in a sustainable view - its better value and more stable because it is not as fickle as the market.

After the last deluge there will be another in a spot quite predictable

2012-01-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

RE After the deluge ABCTV
Toowoomba ( also QLD ) floods were extremely dangerous, but their predicatablility was not tackled by Paul Lockyer. ABC seems to have moved from being observer to participant in recent decades .Followers rather than leaders and even avoiding best practice training (go looking go reporting - esp someone OTHER than a poly)
Man's part in both prediction and avoidance of such disasters has yet to be properly addressed . Our sometimes sycophantic ABC celebrated the event today as " gods fault " , thereby failing to properly review the incompetent environmental planning that is now common .The problem is serious because many of the 170 who died in summer of 2009 ( near Marysville) need not have died either.

I year later for the flood , its nice of the ABC to let the QLD government agencies off the hook . ABC4corners should investigate it as a case where the man made component and government incompetence should be addressed. In 2011 this sort of disaster should only occur in the third world.

The huge additional rainfall drop resulting from orographic effects is no news to some of us ; well known by some of us as risk management specialists ( see item in mid 2000 on designwithnature.blogspot.ccom) but not well documented in Aus Rain&Runoff journals.The Met Bureau can't be relied on either because they used to work with now defunct angencies with land based skills .
Reporters seem to have fallen for the simple modelling of polys who think agencies like themselves are " one hit wonders" - "experts on everything:" . Such crass stupidity explains why so much ABC reporting and analysing of environmental issues is so shallow - even hypocritical ( don't say its complex in one sentence and treat it as simple in another )
Over history the Met Bureau have also not maintained some important measure stations or reviewed the results of those stations properly ( my review of Benwerrin and Tanybryn records showed that huge 20 hour totals were not only likely( on an high return period) on specific sites and events. In earlier days I published several articles on very large 10-20 hour totals assocaited with winds rising up onto the ridges in both the Otways and in the new millennium in Gippsland .

More disasters will happen while we create departmnts to manage them ( DAA-departments of administrative affairs) and while "WE" think the met bureau ( or some venerated source who is not going to dispel your illusions) is god .
In what millennia will Our dear Auntie do a proper review of the undermining of the clever country by reporting how polys clone their own crap - determining science research on the basis of their own predjudices denials and projections. Bookmark this site and save yourself some embarrassment.

The truth - its all relative, isn't it?

2011-10-10T05:20:00.000-07:00

Is the sea rising or the Ocean island in Kiribati falling?

Trust the new religious lot to get it wrong .
Charles Darwin wouldn't have said the truth is relative - he was a good scientist- careful to research things well; to determine what pushed what ;to test and confirm a theory ; not go off half cocked like some new Margaret Mead trying to find proof of her pet PC theories on some remote island where the audience gets no context. Unsustainable is the name of such sus science.Sure ABCTV and the government talks sustainability but like so any they don't know it .In seeking to make it real they best recognise that talk is cheap and those that practice and know it are rare.
The island is about 3km wide and the sea round it over 3 kilometres deep .A very very sharp mountain . As Darwin discovered , the islands form by subsidence . Some people talk science , but never look closely enough to check they know what they are talking about .They lead by just being out on the edge somewhere

Darwin would rightly have the ABC TV guts for garters over their desperate PC hunt for sea level rise.( the story they put to air on the eve of the great carbon tax imposition on October 9th 2011)
The ABCTV story on the sea level rise on Kiribati islands (Sunday 9th October ) has no substance.

Over 150 years before the current expert hunters of facts , Darwin had demonstrated that the coral atolls on the Pacific rim were caused by subsidence and erosion of the base materials on which they formed .
Politicians and their wannabes in the media want us to believe THEY know what they are talking about . When their rhetoric runs a bit thin they change the rhetoric. Why let the facts get in the road of a great story - one that will put Julia , Bill and the Greens into history as the most adventurous and courageous impractical ignoramuses in Australia's political history .No safety is listening to their own echoes.
When the talk of "warming" runs a bit thin, they use the word "change" to include cooling and all things in between - a great catch all phrase that allows them to have it both ways . Yet the people still follow .
Politicians want us to believe THEY know what they are talking about - I used to think we would never fall for them when they change the ground under which they want us to work from but TOMMORROW we will see it happen again .
ABCTV are setting the scene ; revising the thorough work of Darwin himself - that's how clever they are up there.
A tax that will change something but no one is sure exactly what - clearly the whole idea sounds good and in a post modern world --we just do what we feel like .

The religion of the post modern is clear enough-" the god's will smile on us if we just do what we feel is right." Me thinks a god that stupid was never worth taking seriously ever -- but people do . Sort of like a prize for who wears the most invisible clothes . http://abctv.blogspot.com/2011/10/charles-darwin-wouldnt-believe-anyone.html#links
Some wise old writers recognised that rationality has its limits - some things are hidden and somethings are even not seen until you have been given eyes to see them.
Is the truth that Julia and Caucus are the most courageous leaders in history, or
--just taking advantage of their position to do things that benefit noone but those who " just wanna do something about improved earth use ". They don't seem to care whether it will work or not, offering to sort that out "once the money is in our pockets ". ( trust me I sound really caring sort of stuff) Making the big wanna do's happy at the cost of the rest of us is certainly not something they have a licence to do. Normally on committee they wouldn't get anywhere until they convinced the rest of us about the budget in detail " When "exactly what they will do " is not clear and no deadlines- its perfect .
Real leaders ( should there be any) should not feel the need to do anything, until the real need ( let alone the project plan with the practical stuff listed in detail) is identified . Lets hope there are few Perretts willing to act responsibly on the matters before them .Well done Graeme for speaking up .

More on avalanches and how to avoid standing on top of one here

Respect for Diversity is based on respect for names

2011-08-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Contrary to the crass simplicity promoted by the Greens , you destroy respect for diversity if you destroy definitions . Children in Australia in 2011 know what marriage means and means for them ( my father and mother) ; they may not in 2020 when all the worlds problems will be solved by proactive Greens .

Suddenly, as if by some miracle, the Greens have the answers and they will impose them as they have been doing since they made deals with Labor ( presumably because they as a small group know more than we do ). They claim to be respeonsible but they insist on imposing their wills and word games .

If we need to be more inclusive, why not include polygamy with monogamy , homosexuality with heterosexuality , contract with commitment , divorce with seperation , promiscuity with fidelity .

Adam Brandt would change the world by changing a word . Love has just become just a word . *I have no problem with homosexuals being accepted and their commitments registered ( esp as the evidence is that promiscuity divorce and polygamy are likely to become features of any such definition ) ,
I am just not supportive of one small group changing the meaning of a powerful and clear concept for one which is unclear providing no clear choice for our children and those who clearly want to respect diversity and the unique character and needs of diverse groups .

The attractiveness of this simple and unthought through idea is quite understandable amongst those who want simplicity .

The limited value of shock therapy

2011-08-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

All of us who are serious parents, or students of parenting, know its value. Noni Hazelhurst reminded us only last night on Qanda that shock therapy should be in the tool box for parents (hear, hear!).
The problem as Plibersek found out last week on the same program ,(especially when you try to solve all the worlds problems all at once)is that shock therapy has limited value; It should not be used as a quick fix; We must use it with care ( no coincidence that its a mother whose allowed to swear here! But think of all the real dictators through history and now outside our homes who made their job easier by using it ) ;
Fact is , we as a generation are a real woosy lot and we are tempted to use it in reaction to our slackness .

The West is founded and kept going on the twin beauties of reason and reasonability.After you get angry, you need to be more reasonable( and you need to check the reasons for your anger ). Politicians running around talking about something they don't understand is not reasonable . Qanda goes down YET again in another dumbing down by talking about science but not having scientists ( a most reasonable lot ) helping to avoid very embarrassing moments where people get wound up for no apparent reason.
Mothers of course are excused - it is clear they have put forward many ,many reasons and many times and in all places been quite reasonable before they let fly . Hear hear to mothers shock therapy-(- after all the target is not moving and that's usually part of the problem. )

Now its not a tax, but a trading scheme

2011-07-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

Our prime Minister has changed her mind again. It may be a woman's prerogative to change her mind but surely not the governments. Her extensive use of the personal pronoun is troubling for thinking Aussies, but quite natural for her ( the reason its acceptable?) According to the logic of post modernism it's quite Ok to change your mind , and just do what you feel like at the time .
Now the Carbon Tax is only going to be a Tax for 3 years and then revert to a Trading scheme. It used to be that such a big policy change would kill your mandate . How does she get away with that?
What sort of weakies are they in caucus? What sort of unprincipled powerbrokers are they ? Is postmodernism our biggest handicap because it allows both the people , the leaders and power brokers the freedom to play games with the truth - esp betwen elections . How deep does the disease run within Labor ?
Scary thought .According to the logic of post modernism its quite Ok to change your mind and just do what you feel like at the time . Unsustainable

One minute its carbon tax, next minute its alternative energy, then renewables

2011-05-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Now its ethanol from ........sugar, Corn ......and really that's photosynthesis , even wood - the ultimate source .Pity the greens, Greenlabor or Greenlibs didn't think this through, because they would be ahead of the game by now - instead they have brought us back in their slow carriage model with blinkered half baked views finally back full circle- pity too they didn't think of the consequences for the earth BEFORE they advocated for the earth.
Are the Liberals really any different with their head in the sand view of planning and resource depletion /investment issues . The Libs couldn't care less about stopping people doing what they like?
The average car fuel use in Australia could probably be supplied by a few acres each, but the point is those acres are used for something else. Any change of land use will cause huge economic distortion .Land supply is quite limited and the land suitable for sustainable cropping is really quite small.Still its a free country - Let the chinese or others buy up all our land - we don't need to worry - we've got 30 years of iron ore left .
No need to panic - just need to plan - esp land use . We don't need more than a few acres to supply food needs- PLUS maybe somewhere ( right ecosystem) down the track a few acres of land for fuel ( current demands) .

ALSO Finding new sources of energy doesn't necessarily solve the problem of supply - the hidden cost of using some new source may make it unsustainable in the future .

Take soil erosion and soil degradation . There is arable land and marginally arable land ( the stuff that erodes easily when you grow things in it) . The world simply cannot afford to use annual land crops to supply its energy needs because the erosion risk to soils , long term, is too high . The use of corn or other annual crops for fuel too cannot be widely advocated or encouraged when it competes directly with food production and its widespread use can be expected to increase the unsustainable loss of topsoils. You heard it first on quickfiz . Check in your own country and make sure your politicians aren't playing quickfiz games on this subject.

CSIRO- plenty of chiefs, but no indians who think for themselves?

2011-04-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

CSIRO gets yet another leader this week and one who sounds rather dull and distracted . How long will the publics fascination with the glory days of CSIRO last? When will our Polys take state led science and planning into the 21st century instead of waiting outside CSIRO's doors for another lottery item to invest in ?
When will our polys stop focusing on the past brilliance ( real enough ) and deal with the parlour state of state science politics?.
CSIRO is irrelevant to Australia if its inventions and creations go offshore ( as has usually happened) or if its research is , like the politics of environment today , - is so heavenly minded ----its of little earthly use.
Posted elsewhere " Ian Chubb ( new CSIRO chief ) did not, in his interview on the ABC last week , speak to the critical issues. Particularly the politicisation of science and the quickfiz of outcome focused research. I noted within my own area of applied science in State insitutions that leadership was all talk and very little on ground competence in big picture issues"

Detecting projection - solving someone else's problems

2011-03-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

Some Journos reporting on the crisis around the Mediteranean at the moment keep forcing the words "democracy" on the ambitions of protesters and "dictator" on the danger . Shallow and unsubstantial We have our own dictator doing what she thinks is best . Desperation ?

Going around doing good - just like Robin Hood

2011-02-28T14:48:00.000-08:00

Queen Julia and Prince Brumby have been justifying taxes because they are going to do so much good with them .

Edmond Burke said "The greatest evil is done in the name of the best intention" .He was right . These new princedomes simply don't know what is right, even though they have "some idea" . They quote scientists to suit their case, but if asked a question they lose their place . Not good enough . Scientists at least remain confident within the limits they set themselves . Imposters have to keep changing the legs they stand on till the chair falls over .The legs of the chair keep changing ( warming, cooling , changing to wet dry co2 or renewables )what's it to be or is the problem all things to all men
The public has not twigged that her and his men are not poor , and neither are they experienced on the ground , but live in cocoons in castles, cultivating courts of consultancies and empire builders .

The white knights remain invisible and do what they think best, while we pay . Their bosses have the gall to call their arrogance , ignorance and lack of experience in real on ground living and patronising logic "a mandate ". They are good , we have been bad .
The public has not twigged that "it's us that have been bad "( we don't appreciate all the good things we have)
The castle has decided that the only way the plebs will conserve things is if they pay more for them
FINALLY
Would you trust them to stop spending the windfall taxes on empires? - they can't even tell the difference with their Robin Hood hoodwink strategy ( copyright ecacademy) working so well , between a resource that's getting scarce ( fuel) and one that quite renewable ( like water ) Sack em .

Think before you act in haste on really big and complex issues

2011-02-24T16:37:00.000-08:00

Well let's just call that an understatement .We have a lot of overstatement around us - especially when the mood is panic . These marginally representative people want to achieve something great ( which is understandable) But the greatest evil is done in the name of the best intentions . whose on the right track ? Research more here http://designwithnature.blogspot.com/2011/02/carbon-dioxide-is-not-pollutant-and.htmll

Climate is variable within limits - the worriers know no limits .

2011-02-20T04:27:00.000-08:00

Co2 was made the enemy and the only enemy ( The simplicity of the idea appeals to the simple ) .
Once the dummies offered a tax to solve it they revealed their love of simplicity,proneness to projection and incompetence to do anything practical about something practical .Moving from warming to cooling and hooter and drier to hotter and wetter--- they have lost it.

Those who push will eventually get pushed

2010-12-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

The Climate debate is lost because of a spin alliance amongst those who seek to move the people without moving their minds.This compromise and insult has destroyed the credibility of the pushers and given us taxes that are completely from Imperial Australai Inc . A drug culture may be part of our inheritance, but it doesn't have to be .Democracies only progress when you take the people with you .
Ted Baillieu is right about a few things - one of them is steady, is the way to be ready to govern . I hope he , unlike Holding and Hulls , reads the inscription on the floor of Parliament before he goes "anywhere" with risk management . He will need help because he's unlikely to find anything but self-select spin agents hanging around Spring Street.

Stop breathing everybody

2010-07-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

Having been reminded that they have completely confused themselves by trying to pick BOTH winners and handicaps in the carbon reduction race,Wongys group will be busy this week trying to avoid talk of the power of mere air movement and radiation from remote heat sources to the real issue of BASE LOAD ( you heard it first on Blogger) .
What a load of techno garbage Wongy wanders over - as if clean and dirty coal fired power stations are greatly different in the main stakes of CPR . (Qanda last night 26th July )

We will all need CPR of a different kind if she keeps calling the shots .
The technological fix dreamers are so far ahead of themselves they don't even realise that my predicted drip feeds for the next week ( solar heating and clean coal ) aren't even in a proper production mode to be adopted.
WE would be better off getting some reduction if we could stop some big animals from doing what comes naturally .

A new moral challenge for Labor - to stand still

2010-06-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

Labor need to very careful with the old easy sword called "needed change". Many of us can smell a rat before we see one . Some of us even smell its sus when the simple address the simple with "the simple need for change ". The temptation of new Labor to change direction is a strong one, but not one that is "necessary" ( after all its too easy to gain a sense of momentum ,purpose and neccessity from the mere appearance of "change")

We don't like people who keep talking change .Shorten's use of the word "innovative" (QandA last week )( A safer word for change ) is symptomatic, not of his being on the right side of his earth shift (between conservatives and radicals), but of being clearly down the crack in between.

Nothing better demonstrates Labor's ongoing willingness to change its image than Gillards decision to call the population discussion a key issue of sustainability.
Gillard may think she's hosing down the worryers out there, but maybe its only sustainability in Mark Abibs territory. Tony Burkes not the only one whose credibility is to be questioned .
What things will people say ---just to hold power ?
I wonder how all the climate change voters feel about being gazumped by all the latest paranoia over population?
The only new footprint issue raised around this complete furphy is the heavy boots in the minds of those who don't really know what's worrying them . Fuzzyheaded talk by Burke and Shorten will limit both their lives in the public square.

An image fix ? Replace the greyhead with a redhead

2010-06-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

What do you think? - was the hasty replacement of Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard a piece of irresistible logic , or something else - mere window dressing ?. Its made out to look like the direction is changing, but does this repaint and rebadging change anything .Takes one to know one?- unfair dismissal? and arrogance ? More here

Is your profession at risk ?

2010-04-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm with Julia Gillard about at least one thing ---the need for a education revolution. I just disagree to the absolute core on how Labor think it will work . Maybe they don't think ?Superficial would be a kind word for their arrogance about something that needs clear thinking.

How do we explain the big issue of degradation of professions? Its clearly not just one party at fault here. The post modern worldviews are key big issues across the board.

but as far as Labor goes - its classic weakness , in this case, is its lack of radical review or perpective ( something it claims it has but often has not) ; its retreat to the reactionary.

The reason I started my first website over 12 years ago was because I could see how my profession was being ruined by those who thought bthey could make me work better . perfectionists of a sort ; those in power who thought progress meant restructure ; who talked reform but practiced revolution; who talked revolution but just went around in circles themselves.
The heart of their stupidity and arrogance was that they only seemed to know the basics about my profession - that we experimented and tested. They could do that too-- surely. Pretend they were scientists when they wer celarly not .- shoodabeen taking their advice!
Nothing has changed in the intervening years . The politics of blowing up the old in the hope of finding a few good bits is still in train; the favourite game of the desperados in power . Fun for them but a complete failure for some of us who spent our lives training for jobs we were now good at. "If the first marriage doesn't work try another - experiment ! .Would you want your daughter to spend her life experimenting ? "
THE PROBLEM WITH MOST WANNABES IS THEY HAVE NO OWNERSHIP . Your next CEO should be not "good at management" but "good at something a little less esoteric" ! Tell me I am wrong . Tell us about your profession and where its going .

Why Science education is in trouble

2010-03-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

Many of our generation are unaware that their own schooling ( incl at work over the last few decades )inadequately prepares them to teach a younger generation in science principles and practice . More here

Copenhagen -it will look good but achieve nothing but continue the revenue stream

2009-12-14T04:21:00.000-08:00

Even though there is very little credibility in the idea of a ETS working in a practical way on the ground , the groups present will focus on making the target sound good - that's what modern meetings and media theory insist on.
Forget the science - thats a secondary matter. Forget science and the truth - this is about international politics and Rudd, Wong and Flannery's role in it.

Few international meetings have ever such a poor consensus really on how to/( as opposed to what to ) use any tax . The much too late speculation in Australia today about biosequestration is an illustration of the mess Labor have left the non direction for agriculture in - doors remain open that should have been closed by the leading proponents- running sores.

Despite all the leaks , I expect the target will be high because : numbers are all that matters to the school of mere description who are running this salvation machine . This salvation machine with a tax to drive it and bureaucrats to run it . The appeal of this simplisticity with wannabes is completely understandable.

To see how easy it is to calm the nerves of just about everybody just watch the newsrelease ; WE agree to no more than a 2 degree rise by 2020 or a 15% cut by 2020. What with changing energy prices , carbon tax increases and buffering of the increased co2 emmisions , the world will not need an international bureau to achieve those targets. More on win-win at copenhagen here

The poor world will not be any richer and the rich nations may well get away too easily - but it will be a failure of mispaced reason and direction , not a failure of willfulness.
In a society which worships technology , the greatest evil is still done by not engaging the minds when persuing the best intentions .

ETS become CPRS ; 3 legs becomes 2 and the whole chair falls over

2009-11-16T04:17:00.000-08:00

The agindustry leg is removed. ( Actnow Ad has 3 industry )
Those of you have read this blog for a few years will know ---we lead ----the government follows.
You will also know that Australian politics is talking about the TITLE issues to the point that it could cause an election and a big spill of leadership.

Clearly though, the lack of credibility over direction, content and effectiveness will cause Rudd to end up wearing no clothes over the issue. You heard it first on blogger . If Labor knew where they were going they wouldn't now find themselves in the black hole of deep space where they now are-trying to say something about effectiveness , when, even according to their own logic, they will produce NONE .

None of us enjoy this hard yakka because we had careers where we could concentrate on providing protection and good unchanging advice. Once you've done that and seen conservation work , the less satisfying " I told you so" is no fun . After all too, all this advertising hotair hss cost careers in science.
Be useful and blog yourself ( bookmark this blog)so the big opportunities aren't blown by philibusters and the fanatics sitting far too confidently in the seats of power.

The greatest waste is in every century is done in the name of the best intention.

Just a lot of hot air - as usual

2009-08-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

If our polys knew what they were doing by trying to change the earth with hot air taxes they would realize they are going around in circles with only hot air to help them. Playing with ephemeral gases maybe their forte, but it doesn't cut any ice - either long term with the electorate or on the edge of the ice shelf itself.
Neither party is credible on the ETS or the renewable energy industry sector because they both have allowed this esoteric issue to become a political football .
The sustainable energy industries are sometimes just like their other mates in industry - willing to put eco in front of anything because it looks right - The right badge can hide a multitude of sins on sustainaibility esp when the right veneer does wonders for industry growth .( for a short while)
That this silly game has no substance is well illustrated by Senator Feildings being able to kick a few goals on the subject with it -Wong can't tell anyone whether its CH4 , CO2 , or which combination of which "we" are actually worried about. the left are happy to suspect industry as the enemy ,while the right fail to know what's wrong with the enemy .

This weekends announcement of an agreement about the renewables energy sector is an expensive act of desperation. It may be an agreement of sorts but it is generated by Labors fascination with fantasy and helped along by the libs disengagement from ( business knows best myths ) the faulty science and practice logic in this whole area . Industry is not a god to be hated or loved.

Make up your mind you dummies - should the market decide , or should YOU decide whats sustainable ( by spending our super money )or for safety's sake - engage some experinced sustainability Scientists .

The rush to support the renewable energy industry is a sign of things to come - more misinvestsment because neither party has a reliable science practice advisory system in place to prevent them from backing the wrong horses . Hanarahan might have a few suggestions about picking a real winner when the well dressed and their dressage agents are the only ones in view .
A sound sus science group could tell the naked emperors( or the wannabes) whether the gearboxes for the wind energy focus should be bought now, later or never , or whether solar energy means cells or sun reflectors It goes on - etc etc
There was a guy called Don something , I recall - he was really into backing his own horse on wind technology .Noone took him seriuosly after a while !

Moving On is often moving Back

2007-10-06T04:24:00.000-07:00

The postmodernists are reluctant to admit it, but a facination with change ( the worship of technology or progress or whatever name you like to use) is , in matters of much human health strategy and governance , a recipe for wasting public money; and, in the end, coming back to somewhere near where our not so stupid forefathers left off .
Mr Howard acknowledges he is looking for some new age nightingales. Pity his blinkered bookkeeping mates pushed em out a few years ago eh!.
The people too will vote on whether his version of employer relations is infact a back ward or a forward step . Time the libs knew what the solid ground of conserative politics really looks like .

The Sydney Schmatz

2007-09-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

How do you get an agreement signed , when you don't really agree ? The answer--You say something , but you say nothing. The leaders will be smiling when they finish , but people who care will wonder at what opportunity has been lost.
What arrows , amongst the many being fired, would have cut some mustard for the future ? Was this talkfest just the biggest load of hot air ever about hot air? And why didn't Australia take the opportunity of a lifetime to be credible about the environment , poverty and protection ? The answer : No consensus and no credible focus in this country for environmental risk assesssment. How can we encourage agreement outside this island when we have no agreement within it . Tell me i am wrong and why i am wrong!

No one it seems , should be happy with the Sydney agreement, whatever it finally says .( this post published on 8th sept at 8am )
The greens cynical use of "climate change" in recent months ( cf "global warming" and much better targeting ) has left the door wide open for the bigger horses to bolt . The result is everyone is smiling, except those who would like our most powerful leaders to tackle the problems of poverty and protection seriously .

Change doesn't come out of agreements drawn up in the heat of the moment , but on the basis of consensus and realistic ecological , scientific and economic facts . Despite the media hype , the content of this broad consensus is missing. This should not be so, when the west is so wealthly and the integrated problems of disaster , threat , rural poverty and environmental protection are matters of known praxis. Australians have led the way in the intellectual debate on earthcare .
Those who thought attendance in Sydney would bring forth new agreements in the context of controversy are not very realistic - the ground work in the above areas must be done and consensus built BEFORE it happens . Kyoto was bad enough, Sydney was quick fix ( where is the carbon trading consensus???) Sydney maybe be a turning point in being too weak to be believable . A turning back

Those who should be most worried about this loss of opportunity are the Greens and those of us who want the earth to be better used . The trouble with the " bucket of change for changes sake "is --it leaks. Grist are saying this and they are right . You can't win wars with all the money in the world . Mr Gore !Your arrows have to be sharp . You must support strong scientific debate and consensus building that comes from it - This could have been the real big " agreement" from Sydney , Australia in 2007 . not some self congratulatory statement that we have the physical resources and we are willing to share theme with you ! The big worry in this is ---the intellectual climate !
You can't change the agenda from global warming to climate change and back again with out opening the door to nuclear distraction.

Those of us who want realistic attention given to resource use need to support those who advise these leaders with informed comment on the above matters . There can be no international agreement out of SYDNEY if there is no internal agreement in Australia - support a forum for consensus .
Sydney will probably be noted for at least one major achievement - the biggest load of hot air about hot air ever .

Tasmania in big trouble

2007-08-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Poor old Tasmanians will be wondering at what cost a reasonable discussion of the possible impacts of a paper / chip mill in the Tamar valley after parliament is recalled to change the EIS legislation . Historic precedents and historic undermining of the credibility of a parliament over environmental issues.

Its no longer OK to blame bob brown for the careless talk . Careless Environmental discussions occur on both sides of the house, so how do the people get the real truth. click here

Just a lot of hot air and obfiscation

2007-07-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

Well , did we get what was expected? A lot of hot air talk - yes . Could you call it a debate ? No ( ABC debate on Durkins hard work on "the climate change swindle")) , I don't think so !!!

Tony Jones and Robin W did a shocking job of setting up a debate - wasting a good hour and failing to nail the only scientist to criticize the films' key question - the dearth of evidence of a connection between co2 and temperture rises!

The public have every right to question certainties that can't be easily explained!
.

Just a lot of hot air!

2007-07-12T02:55:00.000-07:00

The hot air tonight will leave many steaming . Many of us , what ever the limits of Durkins work ( I am not surprised the research on sun activity-(the Big deal in the press this morning) maybe not conclusive-- but what is!) I will be glad at least one person got together to question the rationale.

The fearmongers will not have it all their own way .

the winn ing points ( we haven't seen it yet Posted 7.30pm) should be

- the lack of evidence of CO2 as the priniciple causation factor

- the deliberate willingness of carbon trading proponents to push " the need for it " through regardless of the "haste makes waste" and sound "too early to build invetsemest"arguments

- the very real difficulty modern scientists have to gain credibility when the media propote a change issue .
-The funding problem for research must be taken as a real danger for the clever country- scientists are now at mercy of short term political agendas - tonight the night to at least "put it"

- the foolishness of those (on the PCteam) who think you can force people to behave well

--the foolishness of those who think all the pushing haste and fear generation will produce some sort of improvement in how we use resources . "short term gain long term nothin" is expected to be the result of this PUSHINESS

- the failure of our own ABC to raise the reality of fanaticsm and denials of powerlessness as a major diseases of our own age .

- the ABC's failure to support scientific debate and its preferenecce for promoting popular causes ( will the candidates of review be worthy?????) A great test of the ABC tonight !!!!

Agenda change agents

2007-07-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

"Successful" in the short term only .
Several months ago were were being told that the drought was a 1in 1000yr event . Now we are being asked by the hype merchants to believe that we have 1 in 1000 year floods( in gippsland)
All things are possible, it seems, to those who believe in agenda change agendas . For those who want to follow some of the links to authentic science click here . Remember you heard it ( re agenda change agendas) first on blogger !
What fools we are to listen to much TV, those who traffic in short term gains . Far better to blog with someone who knows or admits what they don't know .

Is the country going mad ?

2007-06-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

100 people living near Uluru are being quite reasonable in asking whether the rest of the country is going mad! Not them, but lots of aussies seem to be !
Too many austrailians want quick fix and are prepared ( in reality)to pay the piper to do just that .
Great that some attention is given to the powerbroking incompetent progressives who trot out the same old idealogical blame drivel but do nothing effective to really help remote communities to achieve self determination . About time comfortable government advisors got the heat put under them and more constantly than is still likely .
We are going mad with PServants who think they know but are ineffective in their posts! dummies and the new breed of patronisers who think you give self determination when we all must just take it.

The very high seas of media led motivation

2007-04-24T04:29:00.000-07:00

You don't have to be Einstein to recognise that Flannerys and Gore's flirt with the media over climate change is unsustainable; you just have to be a sustainability expert.

The 3 amigos

2007-04-21T00:27:00.000-07:00

The three amigos HT and C arrived in the country this week , raising more dust than was helpful in our predictably cloudless sky. Either something happened on the way, or they left from different places because they did not arrive here together or with the same message . Lots of dust was raised when they arrived and it appears to have clouded the vision of why they came, and just what they were going to do about water , once they got here .
Clearly they didn’t come to solve the problem; if they had , they would have agreed beforehand about the who what when where .
They agreed about somethings - we needed advice, techno..nological stuff. why? cause we are stupid or careless with water ? . Slipping on banana skins once they got off the high horses was to be expected, especially as Canberra doesn’t yet believe in diversity- let alone within the economic ecosystems they now think they can manage . Emperors with no clothes comes to mind .
The high riders got into giving us advice too quickly and with disrespect – “Can’t we give you some money , or teach you how to use water better “. “What you need is technology” two of them said in a chorus that clearly showing their blatant disregard for the constraints of ecomia.
These blokes want to win votes at the next election! Look over your shoulders cowboys - you can't trust the commercial in confidence brigade to keep you in competence on risk matters

Listen for real risks -----you dummies

2007-04-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

"Crikey" , even crikey can't get past the hype . Foreign coorespeondenet does a questionable story on flooding islands in the pacific a few wekks ago ( and not one squark is heard anbout tectonics in that simple story or should we say construct ---allowing, as one margaret mead did some decades before, the allowance of the residents to tell reporters what they wanted to hear ???
Crikey prints the portrait painters manifesto on distaster management ( 12 points) and why you should worry - the der 's themsleves! > item 12 is
12. In the next 50-100 years, 21% of the Tasmanian coast is at risk of erosion and significant recession from predicted sea-level rises;
where did they get that garbage from !

I'm sure the Solomon Islanders this week wished reporters spent their time supporting effective warning systems about known and real risks rather than looking for evidence which they themselves are in no position to sort .

It will rain soon

2007-03-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

The THOMPSON dam speculation . Both the Opposition and the Mr Thwaites will look like the wet behind the ears reactionaries they both are --- when it rains . Worrying about the weather and wether of not someone knows how to pump water . Think they would know that you need to get real experts to give some credibility and comfort to important environmental risk matters. Instead of the comfort of reason these dummies allow their own ignorance, arrogance and weel heeled wannabe more powerful water sector fixit fanciers (rather prefer to fix problems than prevent them !) to drum up support in the media with tempatations they ALL love too much-- fear and trembling and told you so techniques - short term gain mate! you wouldn't last long in the real world !

Enshrinement no answer

2007-03-14T15:34:00.001-07:00

Whatever happened to empowerment? I know, but obviously, the press aren't up to "what's new with ideas" or they would be telling us - not the bloggers ( go google) .
In a stroke of mere mindless innovation,( or should be say plagerism ) the secularists have , perhaps unwittingly, captured the essential essence of the their own stupidity ; adding a sacred component to their grand campaign to convert everything western to the completely secular . And even Blair, the believer, is apparently unaware of what's now laid bare .
The English parliament, like so many wannebe more powerfuls, are compromising their integrity over big picture truths ; blurring the line betwen the monists and the dualists ; trying to do the impossible and tramping hypocriticaly over the already enshrined doctrines of democracy at the very same time - pack of monotonist dummies.
Will it last?

2007-02-07T04:08:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe isn't it . The ink is just dry on the ozone layer and the sky is falling again .
The situation is said to be so seriuos they need to act straight away . "the day of salvation is today - thursday - if we don't act its disaster things will melt irrevobaly said john feine this morning .
Polys this week will be asked to give away their powers to hold up the sky and produce more water . I don't think so .
Most of the things polys build tend to fall over and how did they all get the idea that big is better - are they all on drugs or something. How come they are in cooohoots with the intellecatual medai on this ?

I think i would wanna be sure not only there is a problem and also celeraly what cased it before i spent 10 billion dollars on it .

Maybe this carnival of acts and expenditure has got nothing to do with results on the ground - just results at the up coming election.

But i'm only a poor bastard from the bush - what would i know! From hanrahan

2006-11-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

I'm Worried ; I mean really worried . No ,, not like those who think the sky is falling . They are common enough eh? If only they knew what 1:1000 means for sustainable planning.

I'm worried .I mean about where has reason gone! We are very used to seeing the polys panic and the city panic ( esp at election time ) but now even those who claim to represent science ( Dr Williams of this Wentworth group )can't defend the place for irrigation in a 1000 yr drought and help keep the balance .We should be worried when they all agree to something simple ---they are just as likely to do something silly !

2006-04-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

Know your parrot before it moves mate ! An award must go to Hon Ian Campbell for his failure to recognise the ephemeral nature of shy parrots and the unwillingness of the public to fall, like polys seem to, for always believing their own bullsh .
Time for us who love this country and its good things to get seriuos about the shallow cynical and empty rhetoric about conservation and those like Campbell who help turn the most important planning issues of the century into a joke .

2006-02-23T04:41:00.000-08:00

Don't be distracted - the iraq errors provide no basis for geeting distracted
Don’t allow the AWB to be targeted – it’s the government who send confusing and irrational responses when confronted with complexity.

2005-10-30T16:09:00.000-08:00

FAST and LOOSE in CUP WEEK ?
Its a paradox of some proportion that our recreation still seems to reflect our great Fair go world view, while our politics seems to be limited to one race, and one view of it .

The racid politics of this week seems to be more of a fanatical race to follow some silly nag up the front No attempt is made to bring the people with them . stay out infront and hope for the best . we know best they know nothing excepet to criticize and be mediocre /. Why the hypocrisy then of medai campaigns that HAVE not brought the people up to speed.
NOGOOD MATE !
This one horse race is where most of the players are FORCED to wear blinkers , run as hard as they can in ONE DIRECTION and hope that the PEOPLE will get some benefit from it .Silly idea that speed is more important than where we are going

WHAT A WEEK _HOW WEAK can our leadership get ?

2005-10-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

LABOR doesn't know where its going because the ageing lefties have found themselves in the conservatives camp - not by thinking about it, but by not thinking about it.
As much is clear when you realise they can't decide wether idealism is OK or business knows best . The two parties are as confused as each other

Fortunately, if you make the assumption that somehow ignorance is the key, you'd be half way to winning next time .

SLOT IN this assumption . Not everything is at it seems. Idealism is not dead, just hidden. It seems to me there are always a few really good idealistic stayers in the race. The question is why Fed labor can't see them :can't see whats coming up from behind .Idealists become cynics too easily .thems the facts .Why though should the elderly run this country?
Like so many who take the media too seriously, they are only looking at whats moving fastest- it could be cancer or it could be a crash . Find out at http://quickfiz.blogspot.com

2005-08-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

The Feds have got a cheek -Workplace relations. What would they know about it? Their own house in order? - start there first I say, otherwise they may just be working from experience, and that won't do .
Reform your own house FIRST --No more experimenting at our expense . Management level Public servants love to change direction at a whim , and too many polys don't know how to discourage them !!!!- So old PS budget lines are left in a mess. Kennett got one word right - caretaker. Trouble he too got confused by the superficail beauty of an altrnative - the CEO . Change Everything Often---Isn't that what CEO means?

If the Feds want to improve rather than meddle in Workplace relations and nail down our taxes, they should include a clause to limit the number of new ideas any public servant can implement in a year . Reward public servants for sticking to the job they were trained for ----it would really help !

2005-06-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

Apparently the issue in the Otways is not Biodiversity but Catchment protection. Seems that cities of many greens like Apollo bay and Deans marsh get the best protection , then Geelong ,sort of . The rural water districts of Warnambool and Western district supplies must be a bit different , somehow- they missed out on the protection given to the others. You can log in there neighbourhood ,its doesn't impact quite as much -for some reason?

2005-06-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

According to the sales assistant in the Kennett era, Mark Vallie would make a good new NP leader - he's into selling stock apparently . The popularity of simple solutions in the information age is understandable, if not acceptable . No longer though can our chanting church distinguish between a sale in the asset column and a sale in the economic sustainability column ( sorry if if I left you behind!) More

Apparently a good salesman can dress up anything to look like anything else . anyone for freshly rapped colourpaper spuds for 1 cent each? .sorry the wrapping would cost more than the item !

2005-06-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

when is a forest not a forest ? when its a plantation ? A monoculture How long before the greens will insist we manage native forests for tiumber production. Hope it won't be too long .we might still have some to manage .

2005-04-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

Something's change but some stay the same
Political leaders prove the old adage that rather than be true leaders they follow natural cycles and each other ( ross kelly and her whiteboard) like sheep .
take Ian campbell talking to the sheep on the subject of cuttingedgecare.blogspot

2005-02-21T03:10:00.000-08:00

Carbon dioxide . The world is no longer in panic about the ozone layer - but its now in a panic over global warm ing. Great that our Aussie leaders are not in a panic. Kyoto or any huge inernational agreement , if it is really important for the long term, can wait for the facts to come in .

The facts about carboxylation, ocean buffering capacity, glacial and heat balance drivers , the importance of wood products and such basic possibilities as carbon recycling and storage . After all , in less than one year many greens have really cooled on the former imperative idea of plantationss the answer to future wood production.
Since when has panic been a good idea? esp when any change of direction will take a great deal of time and conviction . I as a scientist remain unconvinced .

2005-02-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

The change for changes sake merchants who continue to do it at taxpayers expense, need to heed this warning from the past.
“ Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness …. Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it “. From George Santayana (1863-1952)

2004-11-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

The biggest issue in australain politics before the Federal Election was supposed to be "old growth forests ". Not so after the election . Finally the press are taking the real experts and the moderates seriously and recognising that the greens don't know what they are doing . Following the greens around is an exercise in frustration for practical politicians . Will the victorian State goverenmnet learn the lesson before they lock up western Victoria or will they fall into line on the meery go round risking their future and credibility in the longer term.

2004-09-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

A simple definition of sustainability

Living in the bush , every so often, you realise something that city folks don't learn . Like what matters and what works and it ain't money and it aint what you learn off the giggle box about the environment. -If we cared as much about mone a some we would be doing it a bit easier , harvesting possums and living in a bark hut in your suburban backyard .

The idea you learn to put clothes on out here is sustainability - simply its about long term stability- what works long term .
The giggle box is just not enough to get it all together conservation wise. You have to be here . night and day for generations - to really know ; to really care .
We are not born exploiters , we on the whole care for land .

but the very careless words of the popular press often imply otherwise.

So you don't trust us. maybe you trust Public servants better ? maybe you believe we can use more taxes and employ a lot more policemen to make sure noone touches, let alone damages .

We country folks need someone competent and independant to remind the city that greenies and other hangerson often exaggerate risk.and also to stop those who do not adopt the precaustionary principle .

After all, if pesticides were the big issue, this spring would be silent and you wouldn't enjoy a nice drive in the country for the devastation it causes . We still use them . Rachel's and the greens ideas are the ones that keep changing .

2004-06-21T00:41:00.000-07:00

Ok , so the reason changes - we still need to limit to stop warming Don't we and we can can't we ....we MUST stop using ... I'm confused .

2004-06-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Pin the tail on the donkey, anyone ?

Politicians rush to outdo each other this week with religious like doomsday stories on the grand design and the great damnation risks from "global warming" . Have they had just walked out of the day after tommorow . Has politics come down to believing its own hype?. Most scientists are starting to realise that most of the talk is completely careless, dangerous and likely to lead to waste in moving goalposts. Take all the so called " direct connections"( CO2 = warming )formerly (warming =ozone)
Talk of moving targets-- where oh where has the ozone layer gone?
Sequestratio too will become a dirty word the way they suddenly name it as "the new imperative". What quick fix junk!
Leading the pack was so called independant Tim Flannery. In a move that looks more like fanatiscm than future walk talk , he claims that everything from Kakadu to the Great Barrier reef was under threat - left Bob Brown with nowhere to go .
More significantly , I thought, was Tim flannery's story on Perths runoff figures ---unconvincing . Does he too think "some good comes out of recent figures" like the quick fixers do .
Is he not concerned that Bob Brown uses the same argument as his to deflect attention from the real cause of recent bushfires on the east coast . Tim's into water now ..but is he out of his depth? How about a bit of talk of where we are with the next glacial before every cat and dog is storing water in their backyards,.... for their own use .
Panic merchants we should not be! see http:/esda.blogspot.com

2004-05-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

Academics too with no vision, but to close things down? Hard work making decisions about something as simple as the environment! ?????

A sydney academic on the world today last week had no answers for Sugar farmers . Get big - they've got bigger . get smarter ( you name it they"ve done it !
Perhaps he didn't say what he really thought- love to hear from you mate! Rob?
I wonder if he listens to the media and thinks sugar farming is unsustainable ,but wasn't really prepared to say so ----pity the truth is now a large casualty of the war !
More on Sustainable systems? Don't let the media and wannabe leaders tell capable people what is and is not sustainable http://www.rachel.org
Unless you know more than they do or know something they don't ? Why not share your wisdom?

2004-03-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

Lets have a good meddle with land use issues !
There will be no effective uproar by those who act as custodians for our resources - after all they
are irrelevant -at least politically ( http://fairgomate.blogspot.com)

Polys have finally found something that doesn't matter but on which they can pontificate .I say doesn't
matter because all the talk of
cuttingedgeconservation( blogspot of that name ) "professionals" are just NOT important. After all they
are not organised like medicos .
doesn't matter if the peasants and the professionals get cut by all the careless talk - they don't
matter politically-- they are just wingeing farmers and their suspect friends

Between Bob Brown and Mark
Latham they know what to do ( in tas yesterday) - close down use of the land - its that simple!
Problems with surgery you say? - lets have none of it !
Dead easy mat

2004-03-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

We don't always use the earth well but that's no excuse for rushing into things .Esp will paradigms that get us into messes in the first place like
|short term gain - long term pain .
No this is what we need NOT to do -something that is so much part of the real anti- conservation agenda . Recognising the problem is one thing - finding a solution is often a more complex task - but critical to doing it well and getting the esenatil bits of long term change we should be all aiming for .
Before we turn our recognition of a problem into an imperative in someone else 's backyard lets be sure we know something of what pulling one lever will do to all the other component of the ecosystem or learn to trust those who study these things !