MP - that link has already been posted in this series of comments, see above in a comment by jdmh - why does it not surprise me you both think the Age is a source of objective wisdom. Of course the sponsor and chief drumbeaters of Lights Out Day, or whatever you call it, is going to be a good source of fact.

Another "you have to be alarming to get their attention" type article in the Age. So well known to be objective when it comes to AGW. In the last year I believe only one article in the Age actually mentioned there might be some doubt in some people's minds - and that was in the Business Section.

So we have some frightened firefighters, poor bastards - I can understand why they feel that way, I couldn't do their job, let's not make it more confusing for them.

Please, we can all go Google to our hearts content for articles for or against our pet point of view.

Bottom line - regardless of why the earth is warming, what can be done? Seriously, what? Yes I know we can reduce our CO2 output, but so what, will that stop or reduce warming - by how much when? We need to adapt, not stick our heads in the sand demanding we return to some previous point in history you might be happy with - it's not going to happen.

Apart from trying to garner everyone's donations - what is Greenpeace actually going to do? Bothering people and scaring children doesn't count - I saw the Greenpeace Christmas video of the north pole going under and Santa being saved, we are not amused at such scare tactics aimed at children.

Yes, Crowley was a nutjob. I haven't been out of Australia in the last decade.

I'm glad we've got that resolved. Now, what about climate change?

OK! CJ. Nut job! You are an equated man.. You can go with the rest of nineteenth century if you want to, but best left too the thinking of stone-age... people, that have learnt too sharpen the new spears.
and that's a fact! CJ! Have you looked around you lately? Because quite frankly, you don't have a clue! People of the now, make you seem some-what fossilized. ( NO DISRESPECT INTENDED )

In all reality, We need to get of this planet! if One's thinking's goes wrong, and we are all...well you know what.

There is so much I want to say on this site, but the old world seems to get in the way.
People! I love to help!
When you drive past me! just smile! Then i will know you have an open mind.

Does the world seem to be getting smaller?
If something goes catastrophically wrong we have no where else to go, I am so glad my small words not so long ago NASA has finally given the approval of mankind a second chance.
Cryptically! three billion is sustainable and you all know, just do the maths!
Just imagine if the best of the best can get out there, there are no words for there boldness and if there were hands up for volunteers to go to a new planet, I would raise my hand with all that makes me human.

EVO

The notion that these current dreadful fires are exceptional and therefore a manifestation of AGW is wrong; a cursory comparison with the Black Friday fires of 1939 reveals a slight increase in the Melbourne maximum and no exceeding of the prior maximum for the surrounding countryside; the 1939 catastrophe also lasted longer; the comments by various green spokespersons to the contrary, including the opportunistic and odious remarks by Brown, reveal a deep misanthropy and preoccupation with ideology at the expense of people. It is clear that the criteria by which human interaction with nature is judged is changing from a cost/benefit analysis, from the viewpoint of people, to a criteria where any encroachment or interference with pristine nature is automatically regarded as negative and damaging. It is a dreadful and unrealistic standard; everything that is decent and civilzed in life is created by keeping the ravages of nature at bay; being nearly 60 I grew up with school-mates who had polio and it was not unusual for young people to die from tetanus or croup and various other preventable diseases; I can remember listening to a talk by Alan Marshall who, with great vigour, said the next generation would be luckier than his because we would not have to put up with the ravages of nature; it is a lesson being thrown away by arrogant and illusionary greens such as the author of this drivel.

A couple of commentators have referred to the Drought: Exceptional Circumstances Report by CSIRO and BoM which aledgedly predicts more extreme events such as the fires due to AGW; this report is a farrago; its inadequacies have been well dealt with by Dr David Stockwell who, strangely, is finding trouble getting his critique peer-reviewed and published. More generally, the 'predictions' of AGW are bereft of validity; Hansen's ludicrous utterances have been proven false by genuine scientists like Koutsoyiannis and Christy and Douglass. AGW is clearly an ideology which feeds on the fear and complacency of people; the ghoulish comments from the greens about the recent fires proves that.

I think the severity of these fires has a lot more to do with the "greenies'" successful campaign to prevent the clearing of firebreaks and undergrowth.

I think that those that those lunatics that prevented people protecting themselves should be held legally and financially responsible for the devastation that they are directly responsible for.

I personally will cheer on the lawyers as they strip those individuals and negligent municipalities of their financial pants.

It is not only in times of fire that large trees present a problem. There are homeowners in Brisbane who were prevented by the council from taking down large eucalyptus trees in the yards and suffered crippling damage from the same trees last storm. Every time there is a bit of rain or wind, the electricity supplies are immediately cut by falling trees and limbs. Invariably it is an Australian native tree, yet councils still refuse to allow tree removal from next to houses and power lines.

Eucalyptus trees are magnificent in the bush but are totally out of place in urban ares, parks and schools. They earned their reputation as 'widow makers' because they randomly drop large limbs. A tree doesn't have to be old or hollow in the trunk to do it.

A primary school local to us has a fully mature gum with limbs 400 - 600mm through overhanging demountable classrooms packed with children. Gum tree branches are seriously heavy. No way I would let my children occupy those rooms, yet naive bureaucrats and parents added to the risk by planting a row of peppermint gums as 'shade' for a play area and outdoor gym.

Much of this is down to political correctness and refusal to face facts.