Some interesting reading folks !! One Man's View Ian Rutherford Plimeris an Australian geologist, professor emeritus of earth sciences at the University of Melbourne, professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide, and the director of multiple mineral exploration and mining companies. He has published 130 scientific papers, six books and edited the Encyclopedia of Geology. Born12 February 1946 (age 68)ResidenceAustralia NationalityAustralian FieldsEarth Science, Geology, Mining Engineering InstitutionsUniversity of New England, University of Newcastle, University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide Alma materUniversity of New South Wales, Macquarie University ThesisThe pipe deposits of tungsten-molybdenum-bismuth in eastern Australia (1976) Notable awardsEureka Prize(1995,2002),Centenary Medal (2003), Clarke Medal (2004) Where Does the Carbon Dioxide Really Come From?Professor Ian Plimer could not have said it better!If you've read his book you will agree, this is a good summary.PLIMER: "Okay, here's the bombshell. The volcanic eruption in Iceland. Since its first spewing of volcanic ash has, in just FOUR DAYS, NEGATED EVERY SINGLE EFFORT you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet - all of you.Of course, you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress - it’s that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans and all animal life.I know....it's very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kids "The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speedboat, vacationing at home instead of abroad, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your 50p light bulbs with £5 light bulbs ..... well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the tubes in just four days.The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in just four days - yes, FOUR DAYS - by that volcano in Iceland has totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud at any one time - EVERY DAY.I don't really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in all its years on earth.Yes, folks, Mt. Pinatubo was active for over one year - think about it!!!!Of course, I shouldn't spoil this 'touchy-feely tree-hugging' moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keeps happening despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud, but the fact of the matter is that the bush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years. And it happens every year.Just remember that your government just tried to impose a whopping carbon tax on you, on the basis of the bogus 'human-caused' climate-change scenario.Hey, isn’t it interesting how they don’t mention 'Global Warming' anymore, but just 'Climate Change' - you know why? It’s because the planet hasCOOLED by 0.7 degrees in the past few years and these global warming bullshit artists got caught with their pants down.And, just keep in mind that you might yet have an Emissions Trading Scheme - that whopping new tax - imposed on you that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer. It won’t stop any volcanoes from erupting, that’s for sure.But, hey, relax......give the world a hug and have a nice day!"
Thanks Tam, I have always been in the "what a load of bollocks" camp personally! Like most things in this World there are major entities out there blackmailing us into changing our habits. Changes that cause us to spend more money. For the record I think wind turbines are next to ****ing useless and a blot on the landscape, the Americans never went to the moon in that tin can and I am 50/50 as to whether or not IS actually exists!
Sorry Tam, Plimer is a bit of a crank. His opinions are well and truly out there. Better to read this kind of thing so we can get both sides of the debate. Personally, I'd be prepared to believe the stuff below than Plimer's offerings. Of those 130 papers, I think less than 10 are on climate change. http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/07/11/get-fact-how-accurate-is-ian-plimers-new-book/
The gaff where I work has spent tens of millions of pounds, of taxpayers money, on funding ‘Climate Change projects’ over the years and it has been akin to putting the dough down the drain. Still no tangible proof it actually exists (throughout time there have been periods when the earth has both heated up and cooled down. What evidence exists that this isn’t one of those instances), no solution, and still no real understanding of the whole topic. If you want an easy life jump on the ‘climate change’ bandwagon and the Government will fund your research for years and years and years and years!
Thanks for the tip Barney. I'm now going to front up at the local council on Monday morning with my hand out. I'm going to tell them it's bloody hot and I'm going to find out why. It's all so simple, I feel a right fool for not realizing before this, that easy street was just around the corner.
Of course it's flat, God made it that way. He had to give us some light, so he created the Sun. Anyone knows that when you need to light up a work place, you need a close light, not something down the street. The Sun is only about 5,000 kilometres off. It's silly in the extreme to believe that God would place our light 150 million kilometres away. The Earth is indeed flat and the placement of the Sun proves it.
Luddites of the World unite! East of me in Hull, the German engineering giant Siemens are building a heavily-subsidised wind turbine factory. Without the subsidies, wind turbines would not be economically viable. Once they have positioned the damn things (onshore or off), they need maintenance because they are mechanical devices and after around fifteen years they wear out and need replacement. Of course, when the wind is not blowing, they provide zero energy – what a fantastic idea. Here we are on an island and we are spending almost nothing on hydro power like capturing tidal energy. It might need subsidy to get started but at least we know that the tide always happens, every day of the year, so there is guaranteed to be energy produced. The tree huggers do not want us to do fracking for cheap gas as they would rather we keep paying the Russians to pipe expensive gas across the North Sea. We are getting cheap oil at the moment because Saudi Arabia are over-producing black gold to try and destroy the fracking industry in the USA. I do think that the Yanks went to the moon because going there was surely cheaper than trying to keep up the pretence for nearly fifty years since. I am certain that Tim Peake went for a space walk on Friday because it ended up getting cancelled mid-walk because something went wrong – the sort of thing that always happens when we take a junior role in any international operation. Were we not supposed to stop calling Islamic State by any acronym like “IS” or “ISIS”? Indeed, we should stop calling them Islamic State because they are not recognised as a state by the United Nations.
I saw a few minutes of the BBC astronomy programme “Stargazing” the other evening and, apparently, when the Solar System was being created – by God, obviously – there was another huge planet out near Jupiter, but that big bully forced it out into the cold depths of space and now astronomers are searching the night skies with powerful telescopes trying to find it. It should not be too difficult – it will be the one crying because it has been beaten up. You have to like God’s sense of humour, finding something interesting for astronomers to do every night rather than go to bed with some fit piece of kit.
The climate change argument at heart is about self interest, and homo sapien is a very self interested species. The world will not end should it heat up a bit, it will simply become uninhabitable for homo sapien, but homo sapien is the most destructive species to walk this earth during it's documented lifetime. The was a statistic which I cannot remember but it was along the lines of that since homo sapien emerged the effect on other species has been a decline of about 60%, to say that 60% of other species have been lost. We don't live well with other species or even ourselves, so if the earth is on a heat up cycle and homo sapien meets it's demise it will be akin to getting the bull out of the china shop. The earth will eventually cool down again as it has done since time began, before it does, during and after life will continue somewhere, in some way. Homo sapien is just a particular expression of life that appeared a very short while ago because conditions were perfect for it to do so, it will leave the stage when conditions no longer remain to support it, but those new conditions will be just as perfect for something else to emerge. We say we need to save the planet, but the planet has been fine for billions of years and is likely not sweating on this one, we mean save ourselves of course, because we are self interested, but if it is not climate change, it will be viral epidemic or war, you see we are the James Dean of species, destined to live dangerously and burn out young. And so whilst I don't deny we are making a small difference with the way we live to climate change, if we are it's likely to be like a bullet already fired, by the time you are aware of it it's too late.
Very well put, Bluesky. I feel more or less the same. We're just one live species- among millions- and our intelligence and ability to reason in no way guarantees perpetuity. Doubtless the birds and insects will still be here when we're long gone. Their diversity of type and regenerative, reproductive simplicity creates a biological and ecological suffusion unmatched by mankind. In fact, I'm not too concerned about climate change. Rather I'm more concerned about a mankind that, in little more than a century, has managed to kill, imprison, or enslave hundreds of millions of its own species. It's easier to be more optimistic about "individual man" but, despite tremendous scientific and technological advances, real progress in human terms is a myth. As Pascal famously said.... Man is only a reed.
I have no problems with the actual recognition of global warming. A pet love of mine is fine German Riesling, especially from the Mosel. In the '80s the growers/winemakers struggled to get 8% alcohol QmP wines. Now they easily make 11-12% QmP wines year in year out. In fact German wines have changed and the old classifications of Kabinett, Spatlese and Auslese are becoming redundant now (in the main). So temperatures have risen giving riper grapes. But I struggle mightily with the models and theories. When I went to school the geologists view was that the most likely outcome was a new ice age and guess what was going to be the cause? Yes you guessed it increased quantities of CO2. I do believe we need carbon policies to preserve our natural fuels, I do believe in looking at alternative energy forms, I do believe we should drive out pollution and I don't believe in wind farms one bit. I think the world has been through cycles like this before and there's probably more happening above us and below us that is affecting the global temperature than any effect we might have.
Said Hanrahan P.J. Hartigan ("John O’Brien") "We’ll all be rooned," said Hanrahan In accents most forlorn Outside the church ere Mass began One frosty Sunday morn. The congregation stood about, Coat-collars to the ears, And talked of stock and crops and drought As it had done for years. "It’s lookin’ crook," said Daniel Croke; "Bedad, it’s cruke, me lad For never since the banks went broke Has seasons been so bad." "It’s dry, all right," said young O’Neil, With which astute remark He squatted down upon his heel And chewed a piece of bark. And so around the chorus ran "It’s keepin’ dry, no doubt." "We’ll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "Before the year is out. "The crops are done; ye’ll have your work To save one bag of grain; From here way out to Back-O’-Bourke They’re singin’ out for rain. "They’re singin’ out for rain," he said, "And all the tanks are dry." The congregation scratched its head, And gazed around the sky. "There won’t be grass, in any case, Enough to feed an ass; There’s not a blade on Casey’s place As I came down to Mass." "If rain don’t come this month," said Dan, And cleared his throat to speak – "We’ll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, " If rain don’t come this week." A heavy silence seemed to steal On all at this remark; And each man squatted on his heel, And chewed a piece of bark. "We want an inch of rain, we do," O’Neil observed at last; But Croke "maintained" we wanted two To put the danger past. "If we don’t get three inches, man, Or four to break this drought, We’ll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "Before the year is out." In God’s good time down came the rain; And all the afternoon On iron roof and window-pane It drummed a homely tune. And through the night it pattered still, And lightsome, gladsome elves On dripping spout and window-sill Kept talking to themselves. It pelted, pelted all day long, A-singing at its work, Till every heart took up the song Way out to Back-O’-Bourke. And every creek a banker ran, And dams filled overtop; "We’ll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "If this rain doesn’t stop." And stop it did, in God’s good time: And spring came in to fold A mantle o’er the hills sublime Of green and pink and gold. And days went by on dancing feet, With harvest-hopes immense, And laughing eyes beheld the wheat Nid-nodding o’er the fence. And, oh, the smiles on every face, As happy lad and lass Through grass knee-deep on Casey’s place Went riding down to Mass. While round the church in clothes genteel Discoursed the men of mark, And each man squatted on his heel, And chewed his piece of bark. "There’ll be bush-fires for sure, me man, There will, without a doubt; We’ll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "Before the year is out."
