Religious Intolerance

» Ben Hughes - Hybrid cars

In response to Hybrid cars posted by pink101:

Lancashire, UK.

» redback - 2008

In response to Hybrid cars posted by benhughes:

May 2008 find you having more fun at school and beyond, Ben.

-- posted by redback

» Ben Hughes - 2008

In response to 2008 posted by redback:

Thanks.

Happy new year to you all.

» redback - I love a sunburnt country

In response to 2008 posted by benhughes:

So...your page has shifted to a "new" community?

Here's an interesting...to me...summary of Australia's climate change:
http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/medi...

Looking at 'temperature', I live on the east coast of OZ...in New South Wales...in the area of 2007 having the highest temperatures on record ie in over 140 years. Globally, 2007 was 0.41 degrees Celsius above normal, Australia 0.73 degrees Celsius above normal.

Doesn't the UK have colder winters and colder summers than OZ...or is this only in London? And while we're getting hotter, which direction are you expecting the UK to go?

Climate change also brings about our long term droughts simultaneous with increased flooding and increasing bushfires as we've experienced in 2007.

-- posted by redback

» Ben Hughes - I love a sunburnt country

In response to I love a sunburnt country posted by redback:

"New" in every way - I must've missed a line of communication somewhere during the holiday!

Yes, we are colder than you. Quite comfortably I think. The temperatures have just risen a bit here the last couple of days but are still in single figures (Celsius) which I think is still a little above average for this time of year.

In terms of which way I think temperature will go, I can only think it will keep steadily increasing. Some time ago I think the information was we'd have more extreme temperatures during the seasons, with much hotter summers and much colder winters, but now there appears to be an agreement that we'll just get warmer generally. We certainly don't have the snow in the winter that I can remember and that wasn't all that long ago.

Living in the north of the country I get a lot more rain than living in the south where I grew up, but down there they stil have a shortage of water each summer.

The double effect of increasing bushfires is that there is less in terms of trees and plants to soak up the carbon dioxide in the environment, which in tern creates more problems and means the atmosphere can't get rid of as much pollution. It a real cumulative effect.

Isn't it true that a lot of bush fires are started deliberately? What are the authorities doing about it?

» redback - I love a sunburnt country

In response to I love a sunburnt country posted by benhughes:

""New" in every way..."

Well, not quite. If you check out the 'Protestant' page, you'll encounter ongoing discussions that seem to be outliving other Communities here like 'Health' etc who have gone into hibernation...for the duration, not just winter.

Yes...may fires are deliberately lit in my home State. I don't expect arsonists are joining the debate anytime soon. But I'm guessing they'll whinge quick enough when water restrictions etc begin to bite. A loss of trees? Again, in my local shopping centre carpark, vandals destroyed most of the 20 immature trees that were never replaced. They're adults now, whinging about their cars unprotected from the hot sun...that majestic fully mature trees (by now) could have formed an almost continuous shelter. I poner the possibility of one of these grown-up vandals now leaving their child in the same car while they go shopping. A very dangerous culpable action in Australia.

There are countless ways our planet is being damaged...not just from actions of relative good intent.

I saw an ad in the paper...for a motel. They offer a rebate to the value of the day's temperature...in dollars. If it's 27 degrees Celsius outside...it's $AUD27 "cooler" inside.

What's on offer in the UK?

-- posted by redback

» Ben Hughes - I love a sunburnt country

In response to I love a sunburnt country posted by redback:

I still feel the UK are lagging behind with initiatives to promote green issues and the environment in response to climate change.

With cars, the main idea seems to be to increase the tax on petrol and (hopefully) build fewer roads to encourage more people to use public transport. But there isn't a real investment in public transport in the first place.

A local small shopping precinct near me is supposed to be under redevelopment but it appears no-one wants to make the project as environmentally friendly as they should because it's not cost effective enough (they won't make as much profit) so the council is willing to go against something like four of its local sustainability policies if something ever goes ahead.

We haven't got the extreme temperatures over here like you have in Australiabut there don't seem to be any policies about promoting solar panels on buildings - even new ones.

Instead there seems to be a big thing about wind farms. Being an island where there is a strong North Sea wind, it would be a good idea to harness some power. But there's also a bit of a debate at times about on-shore wind farms. Where I live, we have something like 80% of Europe's acid peat bogs which are neutralised when they are filled with big lumps of concrete for the wind turbines. But the authorities still go ahead with plans for two or three turbines on a hilltop despite the regulations saying that they only need to work at about 24% efficiency. Does that sound like madness?

We just don't seem to have any coherent policies to do anything at the moment. Is it just an apathy over here? No-one seems to take climate change that seriously. Like you say, maybe they will when it's too late.

» redback - feel goods

In response to I love a sunburnt country posted by benhughes:

I bought a bottle of water the other day...not a regular thing. Usually, I turn on the tap, boil the scary offerings, 2 litre glass jar to the fridge. But today, by accessing the website and entering the last 4 digits of the bar code, 'Mt Franklin' will fund Landcare to plant a tree on my behalf. They've named the tree Jeffacia, (an acacia) a form of wattle tree to be planted in Victoria along with 249,999 other variuos trees.

I will not be able to see the tree growing from my State of NSW but I have six mature trees in my suburban property. One is particularly "annoyed" at the drought. A further two (mmature plants in the last 3 months. The households in my street have on average 1.25 tress per household ie most have none. I don't count the trees in the nature strip. So, how many trees in the houses in your street? ABC

I watched a part of Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' the other night but inconveniently fell asleep during one of his monotones. I don't drive any gas guzzler but as a negative trade-off, my house is air conditioned awaiting Australia's response to climate change so I will no longer need it.

-- posted by redback

» Ben Hughes - feel goods

In response to feel goods posted by redback:

I don't really drink bottled water either but it sounds like a good incentive to plant a tree for people who do.

There are a few trees in my road, but I live in an area where houses are often built too close together without much of a garden - older houses built for mill workers rather than for living spaces. Most people don't have trees around here but my next door neighbour has a couple while we have one which is just about standing after some strong winds this week.

There isn't any call for air conditioning in the UK but local councils are really pushing recycling and we've got a compost heap as well. What's Australia like for recycling? We can do plastics, paper and cardboard, glass and cans.

In terms of transport, I think too many people in this country drive 4x4s when they don't need to and public transport isn't as good as it should be. Train fares have just gone up by at least 2 or 3 times inflation. What's that all about when we're told to use a public transport system which isn't integrated?

» pink101 - Where Do You Live?

In response to feel goods posted by benhughes:
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So, "Where do you live?", he asks for the second time.
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-- posted by pink101