45.1˚C here today

[wotavidone]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

True, but the Authority's charter is to protect the reef and manage its use. They have not listened to the science that was presented or considered the other (more costly) options. All the marine scientists from the Aust.Institute of Marine Science and James Cook Uni are gob smacked at the decision. There was a submission signed by 240 scientists against the proposal.

Money always wins.

It's a pity the ABC quoted Greenpeace. They are just so anti-everything that the minute they weigh into an argument, lots of people, myself included, turn off.

I must tell you about the time Greenpeace sailed (motored) up Spencer Gulf in their steel boat to protest the Whyalla steel works, then wore their PVC wet weather gear as they protested the petrochemical plant, then came over to our place to protest our "polluted" drain water, motored up the creek in their inflatable boats (more petrochemicals), then actually rinsed their coffee cups in said drain water (I kid you not), all the while giving interviews over the lead acid battery powered ship's radio while they were parked just offshore from our lead smelter! So much hypocrisy, so little credibility.

[Greenman]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Truth and honesty has little to do with management of the natural resources in Queensland right now. Decisions are made by stooges appointed by the govt. Same goes federally, they don't like the truth getting in the road of decisions that benefit their financial supporters either.

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Everyone has a vested interest in the environment.

[wotavidone]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Everyone has a vested interest in the environment.

Very good point.

We just have to be careful we don't pander to the idiots who are more concerned about enjoying the fight rather than gaining a decent outcome.

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Somethings are worth fighting for and not everyone agrees at the time
To stop sand mining Fraser Island,save the Franklin River,save The Rocks were all good fights.

[wotavidone]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Anyway, on to Global Warming.
If this bushfire isn't warming up the planet, I dunno what is.
The hills are about 10 km away from where this pic was taken on Sunday night. Published on adelaidenow.com.au

23 days now.

[david s]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Very good point.

We just have to be careful we don't pander to the idiots who are more concerned about enjoying the fight rather than gaining a decent outcome.

My perception is that most environmentalist are also peace lovers and are not looking for fights, just taking assertive action. I also think that the IQ levels are pretty much evenly distributed on both sides of the argument.

[nissanneill]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Well the bush fires up in the southern Flinders are back and with a vengence.
My cousins, who just missed the initial blaze had the second surge run through their properties, fierce fighting saved their sheds and houses, but they they lost pasture and fencing. I phoned my cousin who said that 90% of the Wirrabara forests have gone, only remaining forests are around the house/property where I was living as a baby before coming to Adelaide. Ash and dust blowing over burned paddocks and charred forest stalks.Some lost sheds and houses but the community will rally around them, I'm sure from what I have experienced over the years of visits.
Not looking forward to seeing it when I go up there for a family reunion in April.
Neill

[wotavidone]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

My perception is that most environmentalist are also peace lovers and are not looking for fights, just taking assertive action. I also think that the IQ levels are pretty much evenly distributed on both sides of the argument.

My problem is with that word "most".
There is a vocal, and often violent minority, who love to protest, and often don't consider the human costs. I've seen 'em with my own eyes.

I once read an article about the campaign to stop fur seal hunting. The dismissive comments from the spokespersons for the anti-fur movement when asked what they thought about the local human population living in alcoholic poverty, now that their last industry was gone, made me stop and think.

I was once an environment officer for my company. A more thankless task is not imaginable. The day I ordered the plant to stop because it was making a mess shall stick in my mind forever. At the time, the losses were in the order of $32,000 an hour. Think I was popular? In the end I didn't get sacked, and the babies got fed for another day.

On the other side of the fence (literally as well as philosophically, she worked at the tree nursery next door) was a lovely lady named Maggie, may she rest in peace.
Her advice to her more extreme environmentalist friends was "If we were really serious about not having a lead smelter, we would all stop driving cars." i.e. most of lead production goes into lead-acid batteries - we used to say we don't make lead, we start cars.
Her push was for clean production, a point we had no trouble agreeing on.

The trouble is, I don't meet many environmentalists like Maggie.
Ask one what sort of electricity we should have instead of South Oz's major input from coal fired power, and they invariably say wind or solar. The fact that the sun doesn't shine all day, and that wind generators need to feed into a large reactive load, i.e. the coal fired electricity grid, seems to escape them.
These days, you can get battery backed grid connected solar, but guess what is in the batteries? Lead. And guess how much coal, coke, natural gas, and sodium carbonate (all emitters of carbon dioxide) goes into making the lead? And heaven forbid anyone mentions nuclear.
I still toil from within to make it better, but the environmentalists who stand on the outside throwing stones, with no viable cost effective alternatives on offer, give me the shits.
For example, all car batteries could be made from recycled lead, but would you all be prepared to pay three or four times as much for the battery?
I already know that people are not prepared to pay that much to save the environment, otherwise all the cars would have lithium batteries, and the lead industry would be stone cold dead.
And if we weren't here, who would consume all the old TV's? Yep, between ourselves, and one mob who ship overseas at massive cost, we have cleaned up all of Australia's stock of old television screens, recovering all the lead, zinc, copper and precious metals, and turning the glass back into sand, which gets sent to a cement manufacturer to be turned into cement.
There are good, level headed, sensible environmentalists out there, but the violent idiots who push over fences, throw paint over people, board ships at sea and throw acid and stink bombs, sabotage vehicles, farms and factories should all be locked up and the key should be thrown away.
Funnily enough, most of the truly sensible ones are working in industry or the EPA, busting their arses to keep manufacturing afloat while keeping the air clean enough to breathe and the water clean enough for the fish to swim in.
All the while paying enough tax so the rabid element can collect it's dole cheque, so it can afford to protest instead of work.

Having said all that I still agree there is no way they should be dumping dredge spoil at sea. When we widened our wharf, we found a way to cheaply dewater it on land. It can be done.
Unfortunately, once Greenpeace weighs into an argument, the cause is lost or at least in serious jeopardy. They have no credibility with the people who make the decisions. They are not seen as defenders of the environment, they are seen as the lunatic fringe.

Rant over. For now. Thanks for reading, I feel better.

[wotavidone]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

It's raining here right now.

Forecast for tomorrow is 100% chance of 25-50mm.
i.e. the Bureau of Meteorology is virtually guaranteeing us 1 to 2 inches of rain tomorrow.
That should put the fire out, though for now the radio is still broadcasting the "run like the devil is on your ass" message.

Thank goodness for that.
Usually, if you build in the hills you accept that there might be the odd fire or two come through.
Generally, we say, "Of course we'll give you a hand, we'll throw everything we've got at it, and welcome. Volunteer firefighters will come from all over the country and work 'til they drop. But, FFS, don't build right under the trees. Have a bushfire survival plan. Clean your gutters out come spring, and service your fire fighting pump and make sure your swimming pool or water tank is full."

This has gone waay beyond all that.
It's been absolutely unstoppable, and it wouldn't matter where you built, or what your plan is. 100 foot+ flames don't need to get anywhere near your home to heat everything hot enough for the roof frame timbers to burst into flames.
No-one dead that we know of. A miracle.

[nissanneill]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

I hear and fully understand what you are saying.
My relatives in and around Wirrabara forest have been evacuated 3 times in the time that fire started, only a wind changed saved their home and sheds by 200mm, but they lost most of their fencing and 90% of their grazing stock feed. Miraculously, the 400 stock were untouched, how nobody knows. The fire came back and they were on tender hooks again and only 2 days ago they were again evacuated. What an (or should I say 3 experiences in as many weeks)
The pics are around a property surrounded by scrub and pine forests. 90% of all the plantation pines have been burned and the ones in the pic are privately owned. You can also see the orchard through the burned gums, so you can see how close they came to being wiped out, very scary!
Great to see the rain, at least it will help to quell the fires but history has shown that even 8 months after afire, embers from smouldering tree roots were blown out and rekindled yet another bushfire.

Neill

[wotavidone]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Talking to one of the Fethers' boys the other day. Their farm went OK because they'd run enough stock to eat most of the stubble down. He reckoned the sheep just stepped over the flames.

One of the hobby farms on the Survey Road didn't survive. Apparently a previous owner had done the cool hippie thing and built the garage around a gum tree.

Looks cool, I'm sure, but according to Fethers when the tree caught it took the garage and the house with it.

In the last wek I've seen two headlines that just leave me confused. One says the Bureau of Meteorology
reckons that they can conclude that this run of really hot weather is definitely the result of human activity.
Another says that a prominent global warming scientist admits that we've had a 13 year plateau in global temeprature rise.
There is only one thing for it. You don't have to believe, just recognise that it might be so. Then anyone with half a brain can see that if it is possible, perhaps even probable, then in the absence of irrefutable proof we should still be prudent.
This is why I have a four cylinder car, live within five minutes of my work, have a small house, recycle everything that can be, and according to my water bill (received today) use no more water than a single person with a small garden.
The cure is at a personal level, in my opinion.

[BOOMERS WFO]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

So far Mt Lofty has had 46 mm of rain today. A welcome relief particularly as I had to cart water last week to ensure I kept enough for fire-fighting. Hopefully, when I get home the tank level is at a level where I won't need to cart anymore.

With luck the widespread rain today and tomorrow will give the CFS and residents a much needed break.

Cheers

Craig

[wotavidone]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Fire is out. Getting one fifth of your average annual rainfall in 24 hours will do that for you.
Took a drive over the ranges yesterday. Struck by how selective the fire was.
Some areas burned to bare earth, next door a few singed trees.
Wongyarra looks awful.
Germein Gorge Road closed.
Not from fire - the downpour has washed out the road!
All the creeks are running - but the water is a black slurry of soot and ash.
Caught up with a couple of mates. All safe.

[Greenman]

Re: 45.1˚C here today

Seems that you folk are getting all of the extremes. Some reports of the rain causing flooding and taking the exposed topsoil in some areas.

There has also been talk of a cold front! I hope it all evens out for you and you can get back to some sort of normality.