rather than making room for the others, and helping those floundering around in the sea, Donald Trump beats them with the oars – he unilaterally takes his country out of the Paris climate change Agreement because he thinks that doing so will damage the US economy.This ridiculous assumption is like hogging the set of waves on his surfboard while a monstrous tsunami lurks menacingly on the horizon.
Category: Climate Change
Rinehart’s climate change denialism is well known, and she is reportedly and unsurprisingly amongst those voices that argue that 99% of the Fitzroy River’s water is wasted because it flows into the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, Australia was experiencing catastrophic fire conditions across the Eastern seaboard. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the 11 November 2019 was the first day on record that no rain fell anywhere across the entire expanse of this vast continent. The north of Australia, like the rest of the country, is in the grip of drought.
via Water Barons: Gina Rinehart pitches cattle against sawfish – Michael West
The population, science and business are all onside but the LNP isn’t(ODT)
We have truly lost our moral compass, following get-rich-quick cults and ignoring the needs of those who do not have a chance to ‘have a go’!
We waste food while the poor in other countries – and some in our own – are starving.
We have developed a throw-away economy where manufacturers build in obsolescence.
We pollute to the point that some fresh water sources are no longer suitable for consumption.
The rate of loss of species diversity is enormous. No surprise, when we recognise that humankind is the Earth’s most dangerous predator!
The clock is ticking ever closer to Doomsday, and all the wealth, in financial terms, which a few have accumulated, will not save them forever when the air and water are polluted and the temperatures soar out of control! They might end up living lonely lives in luxurious caves!
Government funding cuts and concentration on research that brings in money has not yet quite destroyed the CSIRO. We have plenty of sources of viable plans for action.
via The clock is ticking ever closer to Doomsday – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Key points:
UN chief Antonio Guterres told Asia it is “lagging behind” and said the rollback of coal could help curb rising global temperatures
Australia is the world’s biggest coal exporter
According to the Minerals Council of Australia, most of Australia’s coal production is sold overseas, and mainly to Asia
In a statement, 350 gave the numbers:
From 20th to 27th of September, 1.4 million people took to the streets in Germany, over 1 million in Italy, over 600,000 in Canada, over 500,000 in the United States, 350,000 in Australia and another 350,000 in the United Kingdom, 195,000 in France, 170,000 in New Zealand, 150,000 in Austria, 50,000 in Ireland, 70,000 in Sweden, 42,000 in the Netherlands, 20,000 in Brazil, 21,000 in Finland, 15,000 in Peru, 13,000 in Mexico, 13,000 in India, 10,000 in Denmark, 10,000 in Turkey, 10,000 in Pakistan, 6,000 in Hungary, 5,000 in South Korea, 5,000 in Japan, 5,000 in South Africa, more than 3,500 in Chile, 3,000 in the Pacific, 2,000 in Singapore and much more, since many locations are still striking and the final count is not yet confirmed.
“The week of Global Climate Strikes is on par with the 2003 anti-Iraq war protest as one of the largest coordinated global protests in history,” 350 said.
The event comes at a dramatic crossroads for climate action. Young Americans are more worried about climate change than ever, but federal action to address the phenomenon has only been rolled back since the ascendency of President Donald Trump. Over the past two years, the White House has rolled back or eliminated dozens of the country’s key environmental laws and withdrawn the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate agreement.
At the same time, scientists have been tolling warning bells loudly. Global carbon emissions — the main driver of climate change — rose to a record high in 2018, which was also the fourth hottest year on record.
via From Sydney To San Francisco, Millions Are Striking For Global Climate Action | HuffPost Australia
It only takes 30% of the population to change a governments policies. In the case of the LNP it was less than 30% of it’s members to hold policies of the moderates back,(ODT)
Despite warnings and scientific advice, our Government hasn’t budged on the issue of climate change so it’s time to strike back, writes David Ritter.
Firefighters in New South Wales and Queensland are gearing up for a week of unseasonably warm weather as they continue to battle blazes across the two states.
We let the Ramsay Center into our Universities, Abbott wanted a Climate denier control center in one who lost his Koch Bro funding, Dr Bjorn Lomborg. What funding doe Murdoch get from the Kocks of this world? (ODT)
“It is much more dangerous to be unaware of whom you’re taking money from, and what kind of politics they support,” Kellie McElhaney, a University of California, Berkeley professor, told McBride. “You sure as heck should have some core values you’re not going to compromise on,” she added.
When there is money of the magnitude that Koch Disruptive Technologies has at its disposal, you should probably bet on the money!
What’s next for Koch Industries? Will Chase Koch be setting up a pavilion at Burning Man?
via Koch Industries, Masters of Far Right-Wing Skullduggery, Target Silicon Valley | The Smirking Chimp
via 
Despite the heavy-handed presentation, if a viewer actually listens to what Ocasio-Cortez is saying, it’s quite clear she’s making a cogent and intelligent case, and understands the actual scientific evidence far better than her detractors.
Thunberg was also greeted by a wave of misogynist nastiness, largely coming from allegedly grown men in both Europe and the United States. The attacks on Thunberg were in the same vein as those on Ocasio-Cortez, accusing her of being too stupid to know what she’s talking about and denying that her voice is one worth honoring. A writer for the conservative Washington Examiner claimed that Thunberg is a victim of “child abuse” and that her mother “pimps their kid out,” explicitly drawing a line between forced sex work and climate activism.
Trump doesn’t even have a head of FEMA (ODT)
When once in 500 year events start happening several times a decade, then Something Big has Changed and they aren’t once in 500 year events any more.
Hurricane Dorian: DeSantis & Trump haven’t curbed CO2 Emissions & Should Resign
Jakarta was designed and influenced by the Dutch experts in water (ODT)
If there ever was an issue where erring on the side of caution is preferable to the alternative, it is global warming. Donald Trump, whether he and his sycophants want to acknowledge it or not, already has blood on his hands created by his racist rhetoric. Will his “grand finale” be a legacy that results in the deaths of millions?
GREED. Too many lifestyles, particularly of the wealthy, are driven not by what they can leave for the future, but how much profit they can make today; therefore, any laws that impede their greed are anathema.
And for those who believe that America’s so-called “leaders” will do what the greedy and corrupt will not: FORGET IT. In addition to Trump seeking to obliterate climate change from the nation’s, and world’s, consciousness, several rulings by America’s corrupt and politicized Supreme Court have ensured that, for decades to come, plutocrats and corporations will be able to buy and sell politicians like trading cards.
– July was the hottest month ever recorded, i.e. the hottest since about 1850 when scientific records began being kept around the world using modern thermometers. So writes Chelsea Harvey at Climate Wire via The Scientific American.
July was more than 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than the late 20th century average. That is huge. Enormous. The surface temperature of the earth includes Antarctica and the oceans (which are deep and cold). To get an average rise of a whole degree means that some places on land are 15 degrees warmer. Some places on land were already 110 F. in July, so adding any increase at all is a severe health risk to people who live there.
We are in unexplored territory in predicting what is to come, because we have a welded-on belief that we can predict the future based on the past. But examination of weather patterns since the Industrial Revolution makes it quite obvious that the pattern is now continually and more rapidly changing as the years go by, with severe weather events occurring increasingly in both frequency and severity.
Anyone who cannot accept that the whole world needs to take action is living in a fool’s paradise – or doesn’t give a damn about future generations of life on earth!
via Destruction and disaster are the consequences of delay – » The Australian Independent Media Network
She also points to this recent science paper that finds a feedback loop. The white fluffy snow that used to cover Greenland reflects sunlight and keeps things cool. When the snow melts, the rock or ice underneath is duller and reflects less light, allowing for greater surface warmth. And more warmth means more snow melt, which means less reflection of sunlight, etc., etc.
via Be Afraid, Very Afraid: Greenland Ice Sheets Cascading into Ocean 50 Years Ahead of Schedule
Something as transformative as the Green New Deal — a democratically achieved Climate Leviathan — will not come about because the Democratic Party or Xi Jinping or the U.N. secretary general suddenly realizes that radical change is necessary, nor simply through ordinary parliamentary and congressional procedure. Major change of this sort could only come from a far more basic form of democracy: people in the streets engaged in actions like school strikes and coal mine blockades. This is the kind of pressure that progressive legislators could then use to push through a mutually agreed-upon Green New Deal capable of building a powerful administrative force that might convince or coerce everyone into preserving the global commons.
via Combatting the Climate Emergency: The Chinese Path or the Green New Deal?
via 
What Andrew Bolt laughs at but ignores (ODT)
Moreover, ADF Chief Angus Campbell has warned in a private speech that an ascendant China could potentially occupy islands in the Pacific following a massive exodus from the region should the harmful effects of climate change continue unabated.
Yes, our total carbon (CO2) emissions is a small percentage, but per capita, we are one of the largest emitters in the world. As Australians, we pride ourselves for punching above our weight internationally. Our armed forces are admired and respected, our diplomats are influential and respected by states bigger than our own.
Surely, we can punch above our weight against climate change too. Or at the very least, not continue to fall behind the pack.
This is not progressive “green” politics. This is about national security. This is actually protecting the borders. This is about the future and longevity of Australia and our place in the south Pacific.
New Jersey would have to pay almost $25 billion to build almost 2,700 miles of seawalls to protect its coastal communities from anticipated sea-level rise by 2040, according to the latest study on the state’s vulnerability to rising ocean levels.
via NJ could need 2,700 miles of sea walls to defend against rising waters – NJ Spotlight
Sydney join a variety of local and national governments around the world, in a movement that is increasingly gaining momentum. In total, some 658 local governments around the world have made the same declaration, with the UK and Canada committing their national governments to the global movement in just the past two months.
via Sydney declares a climate emergency – what does that mean in practice?
Except, despite what Taylor has claimed, investors are actually calling on governments to put in place policies that will support a transition away from fossil fuels, including the reintroduction of a carbon price, a phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies and an end to thermal coal.
A collection of 477 global investors have issued a joint statement ahead of a meeting of G20 leaders in Osaka, calling on governments to do more to tackle climate change and plan for a world without coal.
Specifically, investors have called on governments to “put a meaningful price on carbon” and to “phase out thermal coal power worldwide by set deadlines.”
The group of investors, that manage a combined $US34 trillion in investment assets, with signatories to the statement including Australian investment managers, including Australian Super, Cbus, Hesta, First State Super, IFM Investors and BT Financial Group.
During his tenure as federal energy minister, Angus Taylor has overseen a period of increasing greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and has raised fears among members of the COAG energy council that he has no plans for reducing emissions in the electricity sector and may disengage with the council altogether on the issue of emissions policy.
Angus Taylor ignores investors when he passes the buck on climate policy failures | RenewEconomy
