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The Forum > Article Comments > An ethical and sustainable Australia makes sound business sense > Comments

An ethical and sustainable Australia makes sound business sense : Comments

By Simon Divecha, published 29/12/2005

Simon Divecha argues Australia needs clear policy leadership on greenhouse gas emissions.

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The alchemist; how can we forget the rest of the world? We just had Christmas made in China.
Posted by Taz, Monday, 2 January 2006 11:34:11 AM
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Taz,
The Alchemist I believe has a good point if you re-read the post concerning innovation economy.
We have been told for decades that we must learn how to work smarter, we cannot yet compete with China's "a bowl of rice a day" pay structure, YET, so it stands to reason we must reduce our overheads in order to compete.
That said, why can't we continue to sell coal to China [because we won't stop doing that] and similtaneously use new innovative technologies, which are less costly, to produce our own power e.g hydro, solar, thus reducing our overall cost of production and giving us a firmer footing on which to compete.
This may mean that sometime in the future China will be having Christmas, made in Australia, what say you....
Posted by SHONGA, Tuesday, 3 January 2006 4:36:12 AM
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Shonga: We must go back to our roots to have an impact in the global market. For several decades I worked in support those at the forefront of our technology. In practical terms it mostly meant measurements and engineering for resource development, something recent social trends have failed to support.

Most folk here today can’t make their own wheels or chop sticks!

In my last comment on another article on fuel alternatives to oil I mentioned this review;

http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/598.html

Considering I worked in many of the facilities covered in this extensive review and had a keen interest in energy including hydro in all its forms, lets say I find it most significant that the minders of this heritage are also calling for an urgent re education of our young.

In other comments on regional government policy I question our sustainability rhetoric, building for the future should not include using someone else’s energy or resources. We run with a substantial NIMBY factor and that is a big handicap in these exciting times.

The Chinese may think they are a tad smarter than us when they reckon their youth can learn all we know in a year or so at our universities but I know our forbears did much more over time with their wits and bare hands. This makes me a cultural snob.

One of my mentors came from Sydney, he and his brothers made grass soup outback during the last depression
Posted by Taz, Thursday, 5 January 2006 9:51:27 AM
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Pacific Islands and the global warming Bogeyman.

The Sea Surface Height Anomaly map for the Pacific Islands for 4-Jan-2006

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dataphod1/work/HHP/NEW/2006004spsha.png

shows sea height mini basins up to 30 cms above and 15 cms below actual sea level.

There are a number of thermodynamic reasons for these discrepancies. They are NOT anything to do with putative rising sea levels.

The reasons are:

1. Natural redistribution of heat within the region based on depth variation.
2. Increased pollution plumes from burgeoning island populations causing zonal thermodynamic instabilities with resultant High/Low pressure system developments.

Either way you slice and dice it, increased sea levels that threaten Pacific islands are very much a product of their own poor wastewater management strategies. Like Australia and every other global nation these islands must learn that if you want the luxury of having mass populations at the ocean's edge, you have an obligation not only to the environment but also to yourself to manage wastewaters in a cleaner, more efficient manner.

The above SHA map and its companion SST (Sea Surface Temperature) map

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dataphod1/work/HHP/NEW/2006004spsst.png

are also indicating thermodynamic instability edges forming, that will inevitably give rise to future cyclonic activity between 150E, 12S and just North of Darwin. The cyclonic activity path or track is indicated by growing areas where warm water mass is abutted by cooler water edges. These particular regions, based on a study of recent hurricane activity in the US, allow cyclones to exchange thermodynamic energy between hot and colder zones while maintaining a warm water presence to optimise their energy absorbtion and growth.

There is no such thing as global warming on a planet whose insolation and geothermal energy inputs continually pump it away from any kind of thermal equilibrium as represented by global warming theory.

Climate changes are real, severe and threatening and are principally caused by large scale human wastewater mismanagement and its thermodynamic equalisation consequences.
Posted by KAEP, Friday, 6 January 2006 11:54:52 AM
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Heat could kill delicate coral

RECORD temperatures last year could kill up to 40 per cent of Australia's coral
"Bleaching events usually occur about four to six weeks after the high temperature anomalies begin," he said.
"This year we are worried because we have higher [temperature] anomalies, which may result in greater damage."
The university's researchers have designed a protection system that involves placing huge sun shades over the coral in summer.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/heat-could-kill-delicate-coral/2006/01/07/1136609986742.html

Comment:

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dataphod1/work/HHP/NEW/2005062spsha.png
This Sea Height Anomaly map for March 3 2005 (Cyclone Ingrid) shows that (blue plumes) pollution from the Gulf of Papua and from Port Moresby are impacting Australia's Great Barrier Reef much more than temperature anomalies.

This map is and excellent example of what pollution plumes look like. It is a shame that the GOM circulations are too complex to show up this kind of simplistic pollution representation to solve the US hurricane conundrum.

The corresponding SST map, http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dataphod1/work/HHP/NEW/2005062spsha.png
shows the surface temperature anomalies mentioned in the article. However these are diurnal in nature and probably do not have the anticipated consequences for coral that the article implies. If the sunshades that researchers are proposing fail to work, then this point will be affirmed.

As well as these anomalies casting doubt on greenhouse warming, Japan's snowstorms are tearing it to shreds:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/56-killed-as-record-snowfalls-bury-japan/2006/01/07/1136609984025.html

If you want to solve climate change issues then you must focus on strategies to clean human wastewaters entering coastal seas.
Posted by KAEP, Sunday, 8 January 2006 12:56:48 PM
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Sorry KAEP: Somebody has to say it; your dirty water argument is so much bunkum in this context.

It seems KAEP has ignored comments like my early observations around Bass Strait based on ancient inland shores sometimes way beyond the present dunes (Who here has their head in the sand?).

What really matters is thermal conditions at the poles where most of the ice is retained under normal long term balances. Melt those ice caps and many living things will suffer in the interim.

However you dirty water can turn the sea from blue to green in more than a few places along the way. Chin up hey
Posted by Taz, Sunday, 8 January 2006 5:25:28 PM
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