… and time to get real about climate, say Greens

Greens Leader Christine Milne has lamented the lack of urgency in the debate about climate change in Australia – despite the recent heat-wave across the continent – and said she predicted that both mainstream parties would seek to avoid the issue in the upcoming Federal election.

In an interview with RenewEconomy, Senator Milne called for more submissions to the Senate inquiry into extreme weather events – the deadline is this Friday – with the aim of keeping the issue at the front of the political debate. She lamented the lack of a proper debate about the link between extreme weather and climate change in Australia, pointing to The Australian’s front page “scoop” on Tuesday suggesting no link between sea level rise due to climate change, just as the IPCC gathered to meet in Tasmania to discuss the next issue of it climate change analysis. The Australian story was immediately rebuked by the author of the report that was quoted in the article, saying his study had come to no such conclusion.

“You would think that Australia sweltering as it has, in case of the heat wave, you would think with BoM having to put new colours of heat map in Australia, that that should bring home to you what is going on,” Milne said.

“Unfortunately, there are so many vested interests in Australia – with links into  both Labor and the Libs/National party – you will see no effort in Australia to link the two, and work out how we going to mitigate, to change the economy and reduce emissions.”

Milne said the Coalition was effectively “stranded” because of its commitment to abandon the carbon tax, and the Labor Party had a “schizophrenic” position on fossil fuels, implementing a carbon price but making no restrictions on the expansion of the coal business.

Despite the lack of sufficient action either in Australia or overseas, Milne did hold out the hope that technology breakthroughs – particularly in solar – would open a path to address the issue. She recently visited solar thermal plants in Spain that boasted 24-hour storage and a range of different technologies.

“We get so tired about hearing that it coud never happen, and solar can never provide 24-hour power, and they we were standing in the middle of it. It is now a matter of the economics of it, not a matter of whether  technology can deliver power after the sun goes down,” she said.

“Walking around that I felt like I stepped into the future, it was fantastic. And all I could think was here they are doing it in Spain, why aren’t we doing it in Australia when we got all the advantages in terms of physical space, we have got the right solar irradiation but we have got the mindset that sticks with old fossil fuel technologies.”

Here is an edited transcript of the interview.

You’ve made a call for more submissions to the Senate Inquiry into extreme weather events. What’s the urgency?

I’m trying to encourage people to put in a submission as quick as possible, given the current suite of extreme weather events around the country, bushfires and heat waves in particular. Submissions close on Friday, but people can make a preliminary submission – with a view to give evidence in a hearing later. The terms of reference are as broad as you can make them. In part it will be the scientists reaffirming global warming scenarios – we are going to be facing between 1C and 6C, as (IPCC chairman Rajendra) Pachauri said this morning – the science is stacking up on side of worst case scenarios. We will be looking at costs associated with extreme weather events –people in local communities, from councils and farmers – losing stock and fences, and we will be looking at the question of local government planning, particularly when it comes to flood and storm surges.

In Queensland, we’ve seen Premier Newman repeal those recommendations that prevented development on vulnerable coast areas. So we come to issues about what are the appropriate panning tools. Have we got right mix of  co-operation between emergency services – volunteer and professional fire brigades. And it is an attempt to bit of pressure on government, because the climate change adaptation framework has effectively stalled. I understand that the Productivity Commission has done a report on this, but the government hasn’t released it. They got a report from PwC, which found that heat waves have killed more people than any other type of natural disaster over last 200 years. For instance, in the Victorian fires 173 lost their lives– but 400 died from the week-long heat wave, the report highlighted that but we don’t have a national heat wave plan. PwC suggested that the national climate adaptation framework had stalled. The PC report has been in government hands since  September but we haven’t seen it yet.

Has the heat-wave had a similar impact on public perceptions of climate change as Hurricane Sandy in the US?

I’d like to think so – we have got the IPCC and 255 scientists meeting in Hobart this week, but then on the front page of The Australian – have you seen that – you find a story that claims no link between sea level rise and global warming, and quotes poor old John Church, one of our most eminent sea level scientists, who had to come out with Pachauri to say that the story is rubbish, that they had misused his research, that sea level is clearly linked to climate change and The Australian got it wrong.

Am I hopeful that there will be change? I think that the Coalition will continue with their line that because scientists will not say that one particular fire, one particular flood, one particular hot day can be directly linked to climate change, therefore it is not happening, therefore we don’t have to prepare for it. It’s just so ridiculous in the face of the trends, as Pachauri made clear in his (ABC) interview today. If you look at the trends, it is pretty much unmistakable, and any proper analysis makes that clear.

What needs to happen for that to change?

You would think that Australia sweltering as it has, in case of the heat wave, you would think with BoM having to put new colours of heat map in Australia, that that should bring home to you what is going on –  and more particularly bring home to people who care about species and future generations – that we are basically gambling our children’s future, and our ecosystems’ future. Unfortunately, there are so many vested interests in Australia – with links into  both Labor and the Libs/National party – you will see no effort in Australia to link the two, and work out how we going to mitigate, to change the economy and reduce emissions.

You have taken a bit of flak over your position on the Whitehaven case.

The issues with Jonathan Moylan – and a few commentators have noted on this – is that there have been people campaigning on rural and regional Australia, on the impact of coal mines on forests and  ecosystems and farming, for a long time. They have been ignored in the media, their concerns are not reported, and you are seeing an increasing level of desperation. They feel like it’s not being taken seriously. I’ve got sympathy with people who have tried in every which way in the normal channels, but have been ignored completely. So Moylan tried in the long tradition of direct action, so I certainly sympathise with his motivation. The actual tactic, I suppose, is not something that I would encourage. I’ve said pretty clearly that nobody is above the law – and those activist that break the law will face consequences.

If Australia is going to struggle to turn around it’s thinking in light of heat wave, are you encourage by any international development that could break that nexus.

I’m encouraged by the fact that the World Bank, the IEA, meteorological bureaux around the world, and scientists are becoming more outspoken, more direct in their language in pointing that door is closing on the opportunity to prevent global warming of more than 2C. And as you reported, they were pretty explicit about the impacts during the climate change talks in Doha. I’m encouraged that people are saying it straight, but the really critical play here is (US President) Barack Obama. There is a lot of hope that in second term he will take on climate. People have told me off the record that his second administration does intend to deal with climate change. I have not seen that yet. When asked about options, he has talked about it in terms of energy security for the US rather than climate context – so I don’t see anything that would shift the politics globally.

But my biggest hope is that the speed of the changes in the technology, particular in solar, and my hope is that these technologies become cheaper than persisting with fossil fuels and it is this comparison that ultimately drives the change. And just this week we have seen the response to the appalling pollution in Beijing – much of which is attributed to coal –fired generation on the outskirts on city – and the Chinese of course are supporting all technologies. You have to hope that if the Americans don’t act, the Chinese might, if for no other reason than to try to maintain civil order, because if these pollution events continue they run the risk of civil unrest on a big scale.

Now, I understand you recently visited Seville to inspect some solar facilities. What did you see there?

We wanted to see the significant breakthrough in technology, which is molten salt storage. At the Gemasolar plant you see thousands of heliostats and mirrors capturing the sun’s power and the ability to store heat in molten salt technology and use that energy after the sun goes down. We get so tired about hearing that it coud never happen, and solar can never provide 24-hour power, and they we were standing in the middle of it. It is now a matter of the economics of it, not a matter of whether  technology can deliver power after the sun goes down. And having travelled down from Madrid to Seville on the very fast train, and seeing that plant and then going to the Abengoa plant, where they have the largest demonstration site, private or private of different solar technologies anywhere in the world – they are looking at six different technologies, and walking around that I felt like I stepped into the future, it was fantastic. And all I could think was here they are doing it in Spain, why aren’t we doing it in Australia when we got all the advantages in terms of physical space, we have got the right solar irradiation but we have got the mindset that sticks with old fossil fuel technologies?

And why is that, do you think? 

You tell me. I think it’s a refusal to embrace future. It’s vested interests in Australia who have invested heavily in coal and gas, who do not want to see new technologies rolled out because it threatens the business model of the existing power stations. I look at Origin Energy, for example, which for a while pretended it had real interest in renewables but then invested heavily in gas. Now the fossil fuel industry recognises that it is at risk as solar advances. And they have now turned a focused and dedicated campaign to undermine renewables in Australia. But anyone who thinks renewables are going away are mistaken. And we will fight to get the Renewable Energy Target extended to 2030, and lift the level of ambition, first of all in renewable energy, and then in greenhouse gas reduction.

And how will this play out in this year’s election campaign?

The Greens will be campaigning for 100% renewables energy as quickly as possible, and end to expansion of coal exports, and coal seam gas. We will be arguing that you don’t start a new fossil fuel industry at end of fossil fuel age when it comes to coal seam gas, and that you can’t be serious about addressing global warming if you continue to subsidise fossil fuels and continue to support expansion of coal ports in Queensland and coal exports. We will be campaigning heavily on that. No doubt, neither the government nor the Coalition will not want to campaign on climate change.  Because the coalition has no intention of increasing the level of ambition of 5% because they are now stranded with their policy because the community has moved on since the introduction of carbon pricing and the issue for Abbott is how he is going to pay for it if he abandons carbon pricing. And from the government point of view, it has no intention of moving on coal exports – it wants to keep its schizophrenic position on fossil fuels, where it can argue that it introduce the carbon price, but it intends to maintain and expand coal experts. So it doesn’t want much scrutiny on that either. So while we will campaign heavily on climate change, there will be a real push to by government and the coalition to say we have already dealt with that and no going to discuss it further.

Can your position attract more of the mainstream electorate?

We will certainly be trying. What will bring them unstuck, tragically, is that extreme weather events will not go away – they are part of a trend of climate change and  just as Hurricane Sandy disrupted the plans of Obama and Romney in trying to get climate change off the agenda – it came on the agenda in the last week, and despite what Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott are trying to do, the trend is there for extreme weather events and we are going to face the consequences. The reality is there. The people who get it most are those living in rural Australia. You only have to look at consequent of heat waves and bushfires. They understand it is happening. And increasingly they will be looking at Tony Abbott and Warren Truss and thinking that those people don’t actually get rural and regional Australia if they think they can put up a policy platform that doesn’t address global warming. Rural and regional Australia want a plan that recognises the reality of climate change and want a strategy to adapt and prepare for what’s coming as well as rolling out renewables.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

46 responses to “… and time to get real about climate, say Greens”

  1. Peter Wachtel Avatar
    Peter Wachtel

    If “the public” change its stance on global warming based on the Australian heatwave it is the same mistake and just as dangerous as discrediting the models based on experience. “I’m not hot”, “It’s hot” are not relevant. The answer is in the numbers.

  2. cynthia Avatar
    cynthia

    It is summer 😉

  3. Trev Adams Avatar
    Trev Adams

    This is irrelevant because the greens are irrelevant

  4. Trevor C Avatar
    Trevor C

    An airy fairy mob like the Greens telling people that they need to “Get Real” about anything? I damned near chocked and sprayed a mouthful of coffee over my keyboard here laughing. Christine Milne. The first time that the Greens get “Real” about anything (anything at all) I like many others will start taking the Greens seriously. Bring on the next election when at least half of you twits will find yourselves out on your ear.

  5. Just_chris Avatar
    Just_chris

    I read late last year that Australia has the most expensive electricity in the world, it also has (pretty much) the most coal fired power stations per head in the world. Why? Why worry about 24hr power this year? Why not put in more domestic solar PV that delivers the most power on sunny hot days? Right at the sunniest hottest part of the day. Why not put more wind turbines in that offer the cheapest power of any technology when the wind blows? Why not shut down some of the coal and run the gas fired power stations for more than a few days a year? Why not tax electricity and petrol that you can choose to use more carefully rather than income tax that you can’t change. Why indeed.

  6. MICK Avatar
    MICK

    why don’t the rest of these loony greens go buy some puffy shirts and eye patches and go be pirates like Bob
    its summer in Australia you fools of cause its hot

    1. belinda b Avatar
      belinda b

      Us Climate Change Believers know full well that winter is cold and summer is hot. The issue is that there is scientific evidence that the earth has been showing a warming trend since the 1970s. This means heat breaking records, fewer storms but more severe, flooding in vulnerable countries who cannot afford to upgrade their systems, longer heatwaves and hotter weather. Just look out for heat record breakers. And forget the argument that the earth warming is just a natural phenomenon. If that is true, true, it is still bad for the earth to warm up. The ice age killed off many living animals and people too.

  7. Greeny Avatar
    Greeny

    This hoax is well and truly been exposed. Give Up, not get up. We are all sick of it.

  8. Dan Ros Avatar
    Dan Ros

    Milne just arrived from outer spave with Bob a few years ago. She obviously hasn’t been here too long. Maybe a lesson in meteorological history will show her we’ve had hotter times than this. And how naive is she and all the other alarmists to think that humanity is bigger than mother earth. It is the longest wait to the next election.

  9. Ashlee Avatar
    Ashlee

    Congrats to all the posters who obviously didn’t read any of the above, and probably shut their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears whenever someone tries to talk to them about this subject. Any person with half a brain can understand the basic principles of climate science, so it must be wilful stupidity on the parts of deniers. Actually go out there and read up about climate change, I encourage you so we can have actual debate/discussion on here. Not just fools slinging sound bites.

    1. Bill T Avatar
      Bill T

      I’m a denialist, save the planet get rid of a Green hugger, frog lover parasites. The sooner we can have an election, the sooner we will be able to eradicate the Green watermelon loonies. Half a brain is all it takes to understand that debates don’t create solution, it only creates more problems. The Greens are not part of the solution they are mainly part of the problem. All of you cafeteria warrior, stop debating and come down from the tree and join the rest of of the human race.Incompetent bunch of idealistic morons,

    2. Mark Avatar
      Mark

      Ashlee, I’d suggest you broaden your reading material too. Vested interests from all over the world and from many different perspectives are publishing rubbish. Take the ocean rising figures for a start.Vested interests and the uneducated will tell you it is rising dramatically the truth is here in Sydney the actual number is less than 2mm p/a and it has happened before! Regardless of the actual truth in all this Australias Carbon Tax will not help one bit Not the climate anyway.

  10. suthnsun Avatar
    suthnsun

    Glad to see the Greens are intending to focus on climate change, hope they can do it consistently and sell the message to the likes of poor old Dan Ros (above) who obviously has not seen the data and does not comprehend how pernicious this problem really is.

  11. dean Avatar
    dean

    Well done Giles, RenewEconomy must be getting serious traction if the trolls and automatic “deniers” see fit to begin peddling their abuse and trite on your site.
    I wonder how many of the people posting abusive and anti-science messages are paid to do so under numerous different avatars?
    Anyway those of us genuinely interested in the science, economics and politics of the emerging new economy will keep reading and recommending your service.
    Keep up the accurate and informative journalism.

  12. Riley Avatar
    Riley

    Pity the chicken-little alarmists assume that those who disagree with them are simply ignorant and haven’t read the data. Poor dummies. That view is far from the truth. Many so called deniers have read all of the data and are more than well enough qualified to form a view. The view that we have formed is that the climate change panic is idiotic. We seem to be in an upward trend in temperature and sea level rise (although there are some very good and convincing scientific studies that show quite clearly that the rate of sea level rise is decreasing and that the “climate scientists” have fiddled the data to make past periods cooler). However, even if we accept the popular data, there is no evidence at all to suggest that the increase in temperatures and sea levels over the next 100 years will be any different or more problematic that that which has occurred over the past 100 years (ie insignificant and not a problem). Anyone who is convinced that humans are causing this with CO2 emissions, that the world is in some sort or perilous predicament or that we could change or halt it with legislation is quite frankly a raving lunatic.

    1. Peter Avatar
      Peter

      Riley ..it’s frightening that you say what you say, it’s bizarre that you think what you think. It’s a mystery how you could become so cynical . It’s the likes of you paid fools that our future could do without. You are an ugly human being ,

      1. Riley Avatar
        Riley

        Oh dear Peter. I almost feel sorry for you. You’re scaring yourself shitless over something that is not actually happening but that people are telling you is going to happen in the future. I’m telling you this to try to help you. Have you noticed that notwithstanding the fact that these same people have been telling you that disaster is imminent for over 20 years now there is no disaster actually happening. Since the panic started the temperature has only increases insignificantly (if at all), the rate of sea level rise has not increased (in fact it has decreased), all the scientific studies show that cyclones, hurricanes, droughts, floods, bushfires, earthquakes (you name it) are not more frequent or more nasty. So, you are in a panic over what these people are telling you will happen in the future, but without any actual evidence to support that prediction. The problem with you types is that you have poor logic. Your type is prone to have emotional reactions to these sorts of scare campaigns. If you are able to read a book on logic or critical thinking, please do, and sit down and have a cup of tea and a think. Maybe then you will stop giving yourself high blood pressure about something that is quite simply not occurring (and you can then get high blood pressure, like me, about those idiots that believe it).

      2. Mark Avatar
        Mark

        Peter, There is only one ugly person here and only one fool Personal attacks…. your Labor is showing

        1. Giles Parkinson Avatar
          Giles Parkinson

          Mark (and others) are right – personal abuse gets us nowhere. Keep it clean folks.

  13. Gary Caganoff Avatar

    I reckon 95% of the people commenting here are Astro-turfers (fake grass-roots) employed by the climate sceptics.

  14. Peter Avatar
    Peter

    How quickly those , who also decry the greens as home base for layabouts , can get to their keyboards , on this a working day.

    Part time trolling for the IPA as supplement, perhaps ?

    Time better spent reading I’d venture.

    Maybe then their idea of tomorrow as the future may become less literal

  15. D. John Hunwick Avatar
    D. John Hunwick

    The only political group making a sensible stand on climate change is the Greens.

    1. Lisa Avatar
      Lisa

      Thank God for all the smart sensible people who are awake and alert, those who care about our Planet,Nature, our wildlife, our children and the future, our air, our food and our water all too precious and priceless to lose.
      Thank God for the Greens and thank God for Christine

  16. Denisio Fabuloso Avatar
    Denisio Fabuloso

    I see the comments page is full of the usual science hating climate denialist nutbags who STILL cant tell the difference between weather and climate… or read a graph. ‘Because it’s summer’. Sheesh! When climate reality starts hitting the fan – as it surely will – some of these idiots will still be whinging about the Greens as they stand up to their necks in shit and plastic gasping for air. No idea… not even a nanogram of rational thought amongst the lot of you.

  17. Graham Palmer Avatar
    Graham Palmer

    The Greens are the only ones with the courage to tell it like it is. Both the Liberals and Labor are in the pockets of Coal and Oil interests and are prepared to take us down the path of extracting the very last drop of oil and coal no matter what the price to the environment and all of us eventually.
    Those who want a business as usual are spineless luddites fearful of a future that promises innovation, jobs and security.

  18. Concerned Avatar
    Concerned

    Dr. James Hansen and Reto Ruedy of NASA GISS have written a paper (non peer reviewed) with a remarkable admission in it. It is titled Global Temperature Update Through 2012.
    He advises:
    “The five-year mean global temperature has been flat for the last decade, which we interpret as a combination of natural variability and a slowdown in the growth rate of net climate forcing.”
    I thought Hansen had claimed that “climate forcings” had overwhelmed natural variability?
    In 2003 Hansen wrote a widely distributed (but not peer reviewed) paper called Can We Defuse the Global Warming Time Bomb? in which he argues that human-caused forcings on the climate are now greater than the natural ones, and that this, over a long time period, can cause large climate changes.
    “As we shall see, the small forces that drove millennial climate changes are now overwhelmed by human forcings.”
    According to Hansen’s latest essay, apparently not.

    1. suthnsun Avatar
      suthnsun

      Concerned, you may be interested to read Grant Foster and Stefan Rahmstorf’ s paper analyzing and adjusting for natural variabilities http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/6/4/044022/fulltext/

      The resultant trend (reflecting the underlying forcings) is nearly linear , around .14 to .18 degrees per decade.

      You appear to have quoted Hansen’s candid opening remark without acknowledging it’s nuance and the detailed substance of the essay and the conclusion ‘..the continuing planetary energy imbalance and the rapid increase of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use assure that global warming will continue on decadal time scales.’

      As your post states ” human-caused forcings on the climate are now greater than the natural ones, and that this, over a long time period, can cause large climate changes.”
      So Hansen was always referring to ‘long time period’ and there is no fundamental inconsistency between the latest and earlier essays.

  19. Belinda B Avatar
    Belinda B

    I have read the scientific findings and it is now common knowledge that the Climate is tipping toward a warming phenomenon. Most scientists believe the evidence indicates this. And look at the pictures of coal burning, the haze in Beiijing, China. The health effects of dirty energy on citizens are well known. Like emphysema, the disease hitting our planet is invisible to the naked eye. That is why so many people deny it. I am waiting a little while longer until solar technology can offer me 24 hour electricity, then I’m stepping off the Coal train baby, and going Green. That word, Green, that pollutant lovers scorn and scoff at. Green baby Yeh!

    1. Chris Fraser Avatar
      Chris Fraser

      Fine sentiments indeed ! Only one point of interest to make is that we can go energy carbon negative anytime … for only about four cents per kWh in addition to our fossil tariffs.

      Financially perhaps, this course of action is not for everybody at the same time. But the point remains if enough people ask for it, they’ll have to stop building coal fired power stations.

  20. Dale Avatar
    Dale

    Once again the word heat-wave is being used and abused. What heat-wave are you talking about? the 2-day heat-wave of last week? 2 days? Is that a heat-wave? We have had no summers at all for the last 2 years, and you get 2 days of temperatures that have been the australian summer norm for decades, and you call it a heat-wave? Please go away, stop inficting on us your mental pain.

    1. Peter Wachtel Avatar
      Peter Wachtel

      Dale, reality is in the numbers not in the perception. Whatever it means or doesn’t mean about long term climate issues we had the hottest Australia since records began. As per the bureau of m.

  21. cynthia Avatar
    cynthia

    Arr to the so call climate believers, for one I have read all the crap in this article, and if you think a bloody tax on climate change is going to save our planet, then your the ones whose eyes need opening up, this planet has changed many times before we were all here and it will continue to change regardless of what we humans do, so grow a bloody brain you bloody half wits.

  22. Kay Trevean Avatar
    Kay Trevean

    I understand about climate change,but what about the sick people that are lighting these fires,there should be very harsh penalties, Half of these fires are purposely lit and I for one am on edge every day,they have to be stopped and punished for all the damage that they do,even if they are children,or their parents held accountable.

  23. Gary Caganoff Avatar

    All this bickering is getting us nowhere and that is the aim of the deniers. It all reminds me of this classic climate change cartoon:

    “What if it’s a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?”

    http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/18/2115988/joel-pett-the-cartoon-seen-round.html

    Don’t waste energy arguing with the deniers. Put that energy to better use.

  24. Grant Avatar
    Grant

    Oh, and then there are the facts:

    1. On Jan 8 records for number of days ave Australian max temp > 39C
    2. Jan 7 hottest ave Australian max temp on record.
    3. Jan 9 third hottest ave Australian max temp on record.
    4. Jan 7 hottest day on record in Hobart and Adelaide Airport.
    5. 2012 hottest year on record United States.
    6. 10 hottest years on record all recorded in the 21st century.
    … blah, blah, blah …

    1. Gary Caganoff Avatar

      The denialists must have had there heads in the sand when these figures came out. It’s slightly cooler with ones head in the sand; though, for the head only. Bit of a metaphor really: cool head = everything’s OK, but the body is sweltering. No connection between the two.

  25. Belinda B Avatar
    Belinda B

    Climate Change is also occuring because there is carbon stored in the earth, in the ground, ice, trees. When bushfires occur, carbon gets released. One million years of carbon storage is getting released with ice melt. When a million Camels in the dessert fart, carbon gets released. It is not just human activity but a complex system of variables. But that is not to say that human activity is insignificant. Scientists have clear and unambiguous evidence that the industry is contributing to emissions. Why do you Climate Sceptics want to support and Coal and Gas industries who charge you to use energy? Go figure….

  26. Hans Avatar
    Hans

    Do you climate denier idiots get your information from validated scientific sources,or did you just read it in the Australian.

  27. Hans Avatar
    Hans

    There is no point arguing with these deniers,because they don’t even have the mental capacity to understand how stupid they are, let alone mount any kind of reasonable fact based arguement. But no, they without any understanding, scientific accumen or knowledge believe without any doubt that they are right and almost all the worlds climate scientists are wrong. What kind of strange ego based delusion is that? There is no point telling them to grow a brain,because it would just whither in that barren environment.

  28. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    I’d take Ms Milne’s comments more seriously if she didn’t lead a party that actively fights against controlled burn-offs. This narrow-minded approach only serves to make the bushfire danger in this country even more lethal. A cynic might say that the greater the bushfire disaster, the more the Greens can use it to push their barrow(s).

  29. cynthia Avatar
    cynthia

    You call me stupid when hasn’t the weather changed why don’t you ask a geologist because your government controlled climate agency don’t want to how many times have they been caught lying or over exaggerating the effects and you call me stupid as for the heat don’t forget about the near record cold in Europe Russia etc. how funny the real warming areas are where nobody lives.

    1. suthnsun Avatar
      suthnsun

      One of the predictions arising from the record ice melt in the arctic is that the high altitude Rossby waves will become slower and deliver persistent weather patterns, this means that snow storms and the like may persist for long periods and deliver record amounts of snow, especially to certain regions, like Seattle, New York and others. This is not a contradiction to climate change/warming. When we observe massive and persistent snowfalls in areas previously largely unaffected by snow, we will know that the climate has been changed.

    2. Peter Wachtel Avatar
      Peter Wachtel

      Cynthia, you said “how funny the real warming areas are where nobody lives”. Did you really mean that. What made you come up with that idea?

  30. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    The deniers are just trolls barely able to type sentences on a computer. Give em five bucks for a beer and they’ll sell you their mother. So absolutely no point even trying to have a debate on that front. Something interesting and even more promising is storage of heat energy in zeolite, which approaches indefinite storage without loss. By the way I don’t mind a good beer, a real beer, not the crap peddled here…but I drink modestly and still have an IQ higher than a brick. The same pathetic rednecks make this country so racist, carrying out the political ends of their conservative masters. Half-wits with most front teeth missing.

  31. David Hamilton Avatar
    David Hamilton

    Good interview, Giles, and it is comforting that we have one political party in Australlia that takes climate change moderately seriously. What is really fascinating, though, is the comments: it must be the conjunction of “climate change” and “Christene Milne” which really brings the trolls out to play. Given the level of ignorance, I can’t believe that many of the rabid anti-green commentators are regular readers of your excellent newsletter.

    Wise up, folks – this is a really serious problem, and we need drastic action.

  32. cynthia Avatar
    cynthia

    I said climate change is real – its happened since the earth began but you would have to be an idiot if you think paying a tax is going to hold the temp under 6 degrees forever the weather will always change what ever our dear leader says.

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