From an article in today's (18/2/09) Australian by CLIVE MCALPINE AND JUSTIN RYAN
1. If the Australian Government's climate policy remains unchanged, the devastating bushfires which swept Victoria on Saturday, February 7, will become more frequent.
As responsible journalists, on what do you base this statement?
2. Without urgent action to reduce global greenhouse emissions, the landscapes of south-eastern Australia will become drier and hotter and more prone to catastrophic fires.
As responsible journalists, on what do you base this statement? Co2 emissions promote plant growth! Won't plant growth promote more rain and therefore wetter rather than drier?
3. The Government's current policy response to climate change needs to do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Why?
Native forests and woodlands moderate climate fluctuations by recycling moisture back into the atmosphere as well as cooling the land surface. The net effect is a cooler and more moist landscape.
Right! See response to #2 above.
Land and Water Australia recently funded joint research by the University of Queensland and the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence to model the impact of historical land-cover change on Australia's climate. Their findings suggested it was too simplistic to attribute climate change solely to greenhouse gases.
Ah, some research quoted.
Like the IPCC Assessment Reports (as opposed to the backing details) all sorts of "could," "possibly," "might".....
and still no link to CO2 causing Global Warming
Showing posts with label Victoria Bushfires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria Bushfires. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Victoria bushfires stoked by green vote
Further to my last post, in Today's Australian, David Packham - a Bushfire Scientist for more than 50 years - who, as a concerned private citizen, was prompted to raise the alarm through a memo distributed to concerned residents.
In his opinion piece he goes on:
"The science is simple. A fire disaster of this nature requires a combination of hot, dry, windy weather in drought conditions. It also requires a source of ignition. In the past, this purpose has been served by lightning. In this disaster, lightning has not played a big part, and for this Victorians should be grateful. But other sources of ignition are ever-present. When the temperature and wind increase to extreme levels, small events -- perhaps the scrape of metal across a rock, a transformer overheating or sparks from a diesel engine -- are capable of starting a fire that can in minutes become unstoppable if the fuel is present.
The third and only controllable factor in this deadly triangle is fuel: the dead leaves, pieces of bark and grass that become the gas that feeds the 50m high flames that roar through the bush with the sound of jet engines.
Fuels build up year after year at an approximate rate of one tonne a hectare a year, up to a maximum of about 30 tonnes a hectare. If the fuels exceed about eight tonnes a hectare, disastrous fires can and will occur. Every objective analysis of the dynamics of fuel and fire concludes that unless the fuels are maintained at near the levels that our indigenous stewards of the land achieved, then we will have unhealthy and unsafe forests that from time to time will generate disasters such as the one that erupted on Saturday."
David also sent a letter to his local paper, the Weekly Times, on January 25:
"I predicted we were facing a very critical situation in which 1000 to 2000 homes could be lost in the Yarra catchment, the Otways and/or the Strezleckies; that 100 souls could be lost in a most horrible and violent way; and that there was even a threat to Melbourne's water supply, which could be rendered unusable by the ash and debris. Horrifically, much of this has come to pass, and it is not yet the end of the bushfire season.
In the face of this inferno, the perpetrators of this obscenity should have the decency to stand up and say they were wrong."
He doesn't say it but I will. The perpetrators of this obscenity are the Greens, who are against control burns and the Labor Government - pandering to the Greens for Preferential votes.
Criminals - stand up and say you are wrong! Bob Brown, Kevin Rudd, Bob Carr and all of you who have use the manic Greens to advance their political careers.
In his opinion piece he goes on:
"The science is simple. A fire disaster of this nature requires a combination of hot, dry, windy weather in drought conditions. It also requires a source of ignition. In the past, this purpose has been served by lightning. In this disaster, lightning has not played a big part, and for this Victorians should be grateful. But other sources of ignition are ever-present. When the temperature and wind increase to extreme levels, small events -- perhaps the scrape of metal across a rock, a transformer overheating or sparks from a diesel engine -- are capable of starting a fire that can in minutes become unstoppable if the fuel is present.
The third and only controllable factor in this deadly triangle is fuel: the dead leaves, pieces of bark and grass that become the gas that feeds the 50m high flames that roar through the bush with the sound of jet engines.
Fuels build up year after year at an approximate rate of one tonne a hectare a year, up to a maximum of about 30 tonnes a hectare. If the fuels exceed about eight tonnes a hectare, disastrous fires can and will occur. Every objective analysis of the dynamics of fuel and fire concludes that unless the fuels are maintained at near the levels that our indigenous stewards of the land achieved, then we will have unhealthy and unsafe forests that from time to time will generate disasters such as the one that erupted on Saturday."
David also sent a letter to his local paper, the Weekly Times, on January 25:
"I predicted we were facing a very critical situation in which 1000 to 2000 homes could be lost in the Yarra catchment, the Otways and/or the Strezleckies; that 100 souls could be lost in a most horrible and violent way; and that there was even a threat to Melbourne's water supply, which could be rendered unusable by the ash and debris. Horrifically, much of this has come to pass, and it is not yet the end of the bushfire season.
In the face of this inferno, the perpetrators of this obscenity should have the decency to stand up and say they were wrong."
He doesn't say it but I will. The perpetrators of this obscenity are the Greens, who are against control burns and the Labor Government - pandering to the Greens for Preferential votes.
Criminals - stand up and say you are wrong! Bob Brown, Kevin Rudd, Bob Carr and all of you who have use the manic Greens to advance their political careers.
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