Melbourne Heatwave

I saw the 7.30 Report last night where the Victorian Government is blaming the public transport breakdowns on the heat.

Another expert mentioned that it will need a lot of funding to address the issues, as the number of heatwave days will only increase with global warming. (Another example of the financial cost of NOT acting on climate change).

Meanwhile the ACF has put out a media release about this, which includes a CSIRO projection where Melbourne's "Days over 35°C" are predicted to triple.

"My fellow citizens"

Apart from the stiring inspiration that might be expected an an inauguration speech, Barack Obama made more than a couple of references to the task of dealing with climate change.

Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

..and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed.

With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet.

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America... We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories... All this we can do. All this we will do.

More than 5%

I read today that the Greens have intiated a petition to the Prime Minister. It asks him to listen to the advice of the world's scientists, and make serious reductions in Australia's greenhouse emissions.


You can sign the petition here.

The Hot Topic

When a book comes with recommendations from Al Gore and Tim Flannery, you know you're in for a good read - and so it is with The Hot Topic by Gabrielle Walker and Sir David King.


It is in three sections - the problem, the technical solutions and the political solutions. The last section includes actions we can take as individuals in our own lives - and also an informative comparison of the emissions of various countries (both current and historical).

For instance, the much-talked-about China and India produce 5.0 and 1.6 tonnes per person of greenhouse gases (in a year). By comparison, the US (24.0) and Australia (26.2) are clearly slackers - even compared to Japan (10.6) and France (9.0)