Hello Poland, Russia, the USofA, and the Phillipines and welcome to the blog...how's the weather where you are?...we here in Mt Gambier had a brief but punchy cold front come though about 0130 hours (ACST) and it was pretty full on...I'd reckon 10-15mm of rain in a few minutes and a bit of hail preceded by very high winds and some thunder, but still nothing compared to some of the storm events currently happening across the globe ...(and I'm going to use 24hr time from now on...it's so groovy-Ed)...thank you Ed...
And apologies for a slapped together post reminiscent of some previous posts, but this 'Climate Change Sceptics' thing is really annoying me.
And today is the Australian Rules Football Grand Final between Fremantle from Western Australia, and the Melbourne based Hawthorn club...so plenty of opportunities for inappropriate cussing at my empty lounge room...(the dog's gone to the kitchen...even he doesn't want to hear it-Ed)...'cos I just don't follow what's happening anymore...
I may have said before...(dunno-Ed)...but best I can tell, one team throws it to each other, while the other team hits them in the head...and Collingwood gets the free kick...and my cynicism's fervour fanned by the relentless corruption in all sport that I keep being told about by the main stream media...
(Good opportunity to do some housework-Ed)...indeed...(and when did you buy carpet?-Ed)...I've always had carpet, I just tidied up my paperwork and newspapers and stuff...a bit...(and piled it up in the roll-top desk and shut it?-Ed)...and piled it up in the roll-top desk and shut it...but I digress..
I haven't heard any reports of drastic damage or injury, etc, so all in all our little storm was a blip on the radar of global machinations...(bit like the human race really-Ed)...indeed, and how ironic that we as a species should have such an effect on the planet, yet still be so vulnerable to it's various moods and mannerisms...
It is impossible for me to state a scientific reality because I am not a scientist, and the torrent of claims and counter claims streaming across the debate where both sides claim the 'scientific high ground'...so mine is a layperson's opinion, and that's all, based on a general impression of the over-all argument.
Climate Change is like excrement...it happens...and it's going to happen regardless of human interference...but I cannot subscribe to this idea that we can do the things we do to the environment and not effect the climate as well...I believe that we do influence that change...(and it appears that Hawthorn have just won...yay for them...)
We are the first species to be an 'Extinction Event', and already the fifth (sixth?) largest event in what we understand to be the history of the planet...and much of that is due to Deforestation and subsequent habitat loss...it is currently estimated that 100 rainforest species are made extinct every day, and often before they have even been 'discovered'...(yes, well that's all well and groovy, but extinction isn't Climate Change-Ed)...
Fair enough...but deforestation also changes the weather patterns in that area, and over a large enough area does become climate change...and always with devastating effects 'downstream', both figuratively and literally...clearing forests means that rainfall doesn't get held in the area where it falls, with several effects.
Firstly, when it rains there is greatly increased runoff and therefore flooding, and this has it's own consequences, including far more erosion which leads to dam sedimentation and choking, and also polluting/choking of rivers, loss of arable lands, etc...
This also then means that there is very little moisture held in the ground to slowly seep out and keep those creeks and rivers supplied, so they dry up very quickly, and in the wet season flood badly again...this ultimately and often very quickly leads to desertification...and all of this does effect the climate.
If there are no trees and no moisture held in the ground, then there is no evaporation to create the weather systems that rainforests are a critical part of...so the impact spreads well beyond the immediate area of the clearing...and that impact can be said to affect climate...and these are all natural cycles influenced by human involvement.
And despite our proximity (in Mt Gambier) to the mighty Southern Ocean and the influences of the massive, relatively dry and hot continent on which we are precariously perched, our climate and weather is all fairly, relatively stable...weather being the daily expression of the longer term cycles that are an area's climate...
Mount Gambier is located (according to my Macquarie Atlas) at about Latitude 37:49, Longitude 140:48...we manage around 0 degree Celsius on the coldest nights, and up to 45C in the shade when the hot Northerlies blast in off the desert...and last summer was virtually dry (15-20mm rain in 2-3 months) but the one before that extremely wet, and this winter has been fairly wet, but still nothing on what was happening 30-40 years ago...so who knows...
The latest United Nations official statement is that the reality of human impact on Climate Change and/or Warming is irrefutable...but I have no idea what that actually means...and is it driven by vested interests with shares in Wind Turbine production or some other 'Renewable' nonsense?...I've heard some sceptic stating that 'it's better to have warming rather than cooling, because it's better for the crops'...
Climate Change 'sceptics' often identify the natural progressions of climate change, and quote statistics that apparently show that the planet isn't warming as badly as those on 'the other side' would have us believe...whom does one believe?...(one really doesn't know-Ed)...and here's a thought...
If Climate changes naturally...(yeah-Ed)...and the warming is happening but isn't as bad as we think...(uhhuh-Ed)...and that means we haven't affected it...(yes-Ed)...well, what if the natural cycle is trying to cool, but what we are doing is keeping it from doing so?...(I don't know-Ed)...indeed...what if we are in a brief period of denial before the planet flips into an extreme change to restore the balance, and so into the next ice age...it wouldn't be the first time in the planet's history that warming has led to an ice age...
Anyway, enough of this...I believe that we as a species do effect the climate in any number of ways and should take steps to minimise those effects...but Carbon and the Carbon Tax is a whole separate issue for a whole separate post...
Tomorrow: My Mistake or The Power Of The Blog
Can't say anything specific just yet, but the clue is in the implied sarcasm of 'My Mistake'...perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think I have been...perhaps this blog has driven change...
Sorry to be so 'secretive' about it...(I'd have said 'such a tool about it'-Ed)...but I want to get all my facts straight as best I can...so tomorrow...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...laters...
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