We’ve been away for a couple of weeks, and the news has not got any better on our return.
On the home front we are breaking the record for the number of climate records we break in Australia. BraveNewClimate has an excellent article on the subject which points out that Adelaide was having its first springtime heatwave since records began (defined as five or more days above 35°C). The nearest it got was four days in 1894, while the recent one lasted 8 days. This was the third record breaking heatwave in two years, and follows Australia’s hottest August on record when average maximum temperatures over the whole country were 3.20°C above the long-term monthly average, while many locations amazingly broke their August record temperatures by more than 4°. We look to be in for another hot summer. At the same time the government seems hell bent on making a bad CPRS even worse with the help of the opposition. Simply put commercial interests seem to trump the future prospects of our species.
Overseas was not a great deal better with NASA reporting that the globe experienced the hottest June to October on record, easily outdoing 1998 which the dissentients trumpet as the start of the “cooling phase”.
The most comprehensive CO2 study to date suggests that global temperatures will rise 6C by end of century on current trends, as the earth’s ability to absorb CO2 declines and we keep increasing our emissions (by 29% in the last decade alone!).
Another recent post on BraveNewClimate examine why the Cap and Trade approach taken by most governments is ineffective, basically because it is easier to pervert. The detailed report states:-
“So now we have one of the world’s leading experts on climate change, Jim Hansen saying cap-and-trade would be a disaster for the climate and also the inventors of cap-and-trade and the economist who did the most work on cap-and-trade theory agreeing with Hansen. We should pay serious attention to this. Suppose you were dying of cancer and had a year to live. The doctors tell you have only time to take one drug: Drug A or Drug B. Most of your doctors say in theory Drug A should work best (even though it has never worked on your cancer), but the world expert on your cancer says it will kill you and the company that invented the drug says Drug B will work better. For Drug B, almost everyone says it will work, it has worked in real life for people in British Columbia, but some doctors are sceptical of whether you’ll decide to actually take it.”
All very depressing – the only good news I can dredge up is a report that talks between China and the US on climate are going well, and the fact that Marc Roberts’ excellent cartoon website is active again. A couple of his latest follow:-
