C'mon...

Are there really any non-believers left?

I know I am talking to the believers here...well I hope so.

This information is from 'Get Up'.  

They ask that we freely use this graphic and information.

Print, talk, argue, and convince!

The links in the section below (Research and Analysis) could also be used as support evidence in you work of spreading the facts!

...please do scroll right down to see my good news too.

The hottest average maximum temperature ever recorded across Australia – 40.33 degrees, was set on Monday surpassing the old record of 40.17 °C set in 1976. (Bureau of Meteorology)

The number of consecutive days where the national average maximum daily temperature exceeded 39°C has also been broken this week—seven (7) days (between 2–8 January 2013), almost doubling the previous record of four (4) consecutive days in 1973, (BOM)

According to the National Climate Data Centre, nine of the 10 hottest years on record have been since 2000 (the other is 1998).

While temperatures vary on a local and regional scale, globally it has now been 27 years since the world experienced a month that was colder than average. "If you’re 27 or younger, you’ve never experienced a colder-than-average month" - Philip Bump, Grist, November 16, 2012.

The CSIRO has found Australian annual average daily maximum temperatures have steadily increased in the last hundred years, with most of the warming trend occurring since 1970.

The Bushfire CRC (Cooperative Research Centre) says large areas of southern Australia, from the east coast to the west coast, face “above average fire potential” in the summer of 2012-13. According to the Climate Institute extreme fire danger days are expected to rise more than 15 per cent in south-eastern Australia.

The last four months of 2012 - globally - were the hottest on record. (British Met Office) and 2012 was the hottest year the continental United States of America has ever recorded.("2012 Was the Hottest Year in U.S. History. And Yes - It's Climate Change", Bryan Walsh, TIME 8 January, 2013).

The hot-dry trend is expected to continue, with the Climate Commission predicting large increases in the number of days over 35°C this century.

Around the world, 2013 could be the hottest ever recorded by modern instrumentation, according to a recent study by Britain’s Met Office. If that turns out to be accurate, 2013 would surpass the previous record, held jointly by 2005 and 2010.

Research and Analysis

Get used to record-breaking heat: bureau

This article includes perspectives from climate scientists at the Bureau of Meteoroloy on recent hot weather and some international evidence about the changing global climate.

Ben Cubby, Get used to record-breaking heat: bureau, 9 January 2013, The Age.

Australia faces another week of 'catastrophic' heat

This article provides a useful outline of the connection between climate change and the recent heatwave.

Andy Coghlan and Michael Slezak, Australia faces another week of 'catastrophic' heat, 8 January 2012, New Scientist website.

Extreme January heat

This Special climate Statement from the Bureau of Meteorology summarises the weather conditions during the recent heatwave.

Bureau of Meteorology, Extreme January heat, 7 January 2013, Bureau of Meteorology website.

Grim Warning on extreme weather for Australia

This Climate Commission report summarises the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on extreme conditions and disasters and deals with the impact of climate change on heat, rain, drought, fire, cyclones and sea-level rise.

Climate Commission, Grim Warning on extreme weather for Australia Climate Commission website.

The human impact of heatwaves and extreme weather

"But the greatest threat to human health, says Liz Hanna of the Australian National University, is the heat itself." "[It] directly causes more deaths than fires, floods and all natural events combined in Australia." When it gets hotter than 35 °C, people have difficulty maintaining normal body temperature, putting strain on the heart. Babies, older people and those with heart conditions are most at risk."

This report from the Climate Commission summarises research on the impact of climate change on physical and mental health and communities.

Climate Institute, The human impact of heatwaves and extreme weather, 9 January 2013, Climate Institute website: media briefs.

State of the Climate - 2012

This report jointly produced in 2012 by the CSIRO and Australian Bureau of Meteorology provides an updated summary of observations and trends in Australia's changing climate.

CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, State of the Climate - 2012 13 March 2012, CSIRO website.

And...not bragging or anything but I received this cheque from my electricity supplier today:

Alright, it isn't huge, but combined with the fact that we haven't paid a single cent for power this year, it is pretty cool - and we have electric cooking and hotwater!  Gotta love solar panels.

This year, we will have to be even more careful about our usage and our usage patterns as the price of electricity from the grid has gone up dramatically.  I wonder if we will get a refund next January?

It is Sunday! Must be time for a Rant!

I find myself living in a community which was horrendously affected and effected by the 2009 Black Saturday Bush-fires which ravaged huge swathes of this state.

More than 3 years have passed but the community is still reeling from the shock and aftermath of these events.  Even though a great deal of the infrastructure and housing has been built back: much of it bigger, grander and better than before;  it is the phychological, emotional, social, economic and environmental scars that continue to fester and ooze.

Mental illness, suicide, drug and alcohol problems, domestic violence, negativity, and bullying are all problems exacerbated by the isolation of the community, socio-economic issues, struggling small businesses, unemployment, low education levels, youth disengagement, lack of services, high cost of living,  etc.  Even the climate on the mountain contributes at this time of the year.  It is cold and heating costs high in an area where there is no mains gas and many rely on wood heating.

I have been thinking that this community is really a microcosm of the world at large.  It underwent a cataclysmic event in the space of a few days.  The world, on the other hand is undergoing its own series of cataclysmic events: GFC, european and american economies on their knees, climate change, expanding gaps between the rich and poor, peak-oil, shrinking resources...you get the drift.  Unfortunately many people cannot, or are unwilling to, put these together to see the whole...unlike my community where it happened so suddenly, people couldn't help but notice!

I am thinking, some of the things that may heal this community may, in the long run, also benefit the whole world.   Building a community that is self-sustaining in the areas of governance, economy, society and environment would benefit this community; as it would the whole world.

Unchecked growth, globalization and the elevation of money and wealth to the status of a god have brought us here.  Maybe localization can bring us back!...or at least allow us to continue in a sustainable way.

Check out these links:

Planet Kitchen

Post growth economies

Local Blu

Whether, weather,weather...

 Whether the weather be hot,

or whether the weather be cold

We'll weather the weather together,

Whether we like it or not.

But will we?

My low tech high/low thermometer.
Today's range 8.5 - 14 deg C.

I was already thinking about the weather because the rain put paid to my kitchen building plans and this was going to be a little light hearted post about that.

Mist rolling up the valley late this afternoon following a pretty soggy day.

Then I went wandering down the

Sweet Scented Pathwith Mrs B.  

She posted about a book she has been reading.

She included this quote from Paul Gilding's book, 'The great disruption'.

"It's time to stop just worrying about climate change, says Paul Gilding. Instead we need to brace for impact, because global crisis is no longer avoidable. The Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices and dramatic ecological change like the melting polar icecap. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version  1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our plant's ecosystems and resources." 

- from The Great Disruption: How the climate will transform the global economy by Paul Gilding

And even if it was only about fossil fuels...

The ordinary bloke over at

The Greening of Gavin

posted about Peak Oil today

and will be following up tomorrow.

Have a read. 

Of course, all over the news for weeks (months) we have had the pollies in Oz arguing about how to deal with global warming. I am so over their bickering and their Mickey Mouse 'solutions' which all involve fiddling at the edges of the problem...fiddling while Rome  The Earth burns.  If the Carbon 'tax' ever gets of the ground properly, at least it will be something.

But I am with Paul Gilding, we need to take a good look at the real problem....capitalism and the orchestrated consumerism we have all been lured into since WWII. All sorts of environmental (and humanitarian) disasters have been caused by the hunt for profit and our belief that we should have the biggest, newest, bestest, latest..... 

Money or the latest fashion/gadget isn't worth much if there isn't any world.   But it is so hard.  If you are trying to be an ethical consumer, advertising and packaging make it very difficult.

The lovely Rose is carrying out her own detective work over at 

The Greening Of Rose.

She is tracking down the sources of her daily food.

What is in the product,

where it is produced and packed...

and who owns the brand.

Even a humble carton of orange juice 

with the label 'Berri since 1943' and 'Australian Grown'

contains additives produced in China

and is owned by a multinational. 

It feels as if there isn't a lot the individual can do...
proselytize...but who will listen?

Vote...who for?

Another blogger, Nick,  over at , Make Believe, has made a few
changes to the way he lives now and is
making plans for the future after reading
Gilding's book.

So here I sit, chipping away, doing the little I can to make a difference.

Growing a few veggies,

turning off lights,

installing solar panels,

avoiding processed foods,
cooking from scratch,
eating mainly vegetarian,

keeping chooks,

ignoring advertising,

buying only what I must,

making do,

recycling, re-using, repurposing,

op-shopping,

volunteering,

reading,

educating myself about the issues,
trying to become self sufficient
(in skills and knowledge as well as the usual)

and blogging about it.

Whether the weather be hot,

or whether the weather be cold

We'll weather the weather together,
I hope,

Whether we like it or not.


Remember Winter Wednesday tomorrow.
Write something that is good about Winter
and join in the fun.

Cate Blanchett..too rich to care?

I thought I would sit down and whip off a quick but informative piece about climate change and the proposed tax on carbon in Australia which is all over our news at the present time. 

But as I read a few news sites for more background, quotes and links I just got plain old fashioned furious.

 

Cate Blanchett is featured in an ad campaign in Australia  in support of the proposed tax on carbon.   

The conservative politicians and the press have come out with all sorts of nasty jibes that basically boil down to, 'Miss Blanchett is just a rich airhead, what would she know?'

Talk about shooting the messenger...and here I was thinking that money talked.

I have a dream....

In it politicians, big business, miners and citizens (including rich actresses) all agree that the planet is in trouble, that climate change is real, and the changes required to make a real difference will probably hurt us all...and that the alternative just doesn't even bear thinking about.

I do not necessarily think the carbon tax is the cure all for climate change...but it is a beginning. 

 

Don't just stand there, 

grandstanding and worrying 

about your electoral future pollies

....lead the way!!