Life's a beach, and then it disappears - Narrabeen 2050

[ac2026]

Read about it here: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/lif ... 81985.html

[Karlos]

So is that f*ckin' PM of ours still denying the significance of global warming? Apparently Australia is the biggest emitter per capita of greenhouse gases. It's shameful what we're leaving to future generations.

[Karlos]

From the end of the article:

"The science behind the reports is unlikely to be changed by the time a final report is made public by the climate change panel next year.

However, it is expected that the wording in the chapter on Australia could be toned down by the Federal Government."

Nah, they'd never do that now would they?!?!?

[smw1]

So is that f*ckin' PM of ours still denying the significance of global warming? Apparently Australia is the biggest emitter per capita of greenhouse gases. It's shameful what we're leaving to future generations.

Although I agree with your sentiment 100%, it's probably a little unfair to point the finger so harshly at Australia.

Take the transport system for example - you could say there's a greater reliance on cars in this country because of its size and distributed population centres. Compare it to, say, the UK, where everyone practically lives on top of each other and it ought to be much more straightforward to create an effective public transport infrastructure -yet despite all that, the UK makes about as much effort to wean itself away from cars as anywhere else.

We're all in this together - if fingers are to be pointed, you have to start with all the western countries over the past 150 years. And you aint seen nothing yet - just wait a few more years until everyone in India and China has a car, and they get a taste for all the luxury consumer goods we westerners enjoy, that require vast resources for manufacturing and power etc.

All a bit of a worry to say the least.

[panaitan]

[quote="smw1"] Although I agree with your sentiment 100%, it's probably a little unfair to point the finger so harshly at Australia. [quote]

You couldn't be more wrong smw1. Australia has continued to undermine the Kyoto protocolL

Firstly by getting its effectiveness watered down by including "carbon sinks" into the rules - which means we can stop clearing vast amounts of trees and pat ourselves on the back about doing something, when we are doing nothing.

Secondly we chucked a tantrum and threatened to walk away until we were the ONLY country allowed to increase our emmissions from 1990 level - therefore setting a dangerous precedent for future targets. This tantrum was based on a financial impact which was subsequently found by the Commonwealth Ombudsman to be seriously suspect.

Thirdly we continue to profit from being be the worlds largest coal exporter and growing - a product which is to blame for most of this problem.

Fourthly we provide legitimacy to the US as being the only other country not prepared to sign Kyoto. Without our support they would be completely isolated on the issue, and much more prone to change their mind.

Most concerning is that our government has been placed in charge of the next round of negotiations for Kyoto from 2012. That same government said yesterday that emissions trading was a failure (even before it has begun?) - and that some magical technology that will not be developed for another 20 years was the answer!!! (but of course our coal exports will be protected in the meantime)

This is complete Bull$%# and if you are at all concerned you need to start writing letters to politicians.

[Kunji]

Although I agree with your sentiment 100%, it's probably a little unfair to point the finger so harshly at Australia.

You couldn't be more wrong smw1. Australia has continued to undermine the Kyoto protocolL

Firstly by getting its effectiveness watered down by including "carbon sinks" into the rules - which means we can stop clearing vast amounts of trees and pat ourselves on the back about doing something, when we are doing nothing.

Secondly we chucked a tantrum and threatened to walk away until we were the ONLY country allowed to increase our emmissions from 1990 level - therefore setting a dangerous precedent for future targets. This tantrum was based on a financial impact which was subsequently found by the Commonwealth Ombudsman to be seriously suspect.

Thirdly we continue to profit from being be the worlds largest coal exporter and growing - a product which is to blame for most of this problem.

Fourthly we provide legitimacy to the US as being the only other country not prepared to sign Kyoto. Without our support they would be completely isolated on the issue, and much more prone to change their mind.

Most concerning is that our government has been placed in charge of the next round of negotiations for Kyoto from 2012. That same government said yesterday that emissions trading was a failure (even before it has begun?) - and that some magical technology that will not be developed for another 20 years was the answer!!! (but of course our coal exports will be protected in the meantime)

This is complete Bull$%# and if you are at all concerned you need to start writing letters to politicians.

Tell me which ones and i will. Is it at State or Federal level or what? Who is the appropriate people to register complaints with????

[WANDERER]

so we needed scienticians to tell us that narrabeen beach was falling into the sea??? next scientific reports will be concluding that the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, or if your a glass-half-full type person that morning is when the sun rises... whatever...

[loco4olas]

On topic-I went to a UNSW alumini Brain Food presentation last night on "Climate Change", presented by Professor Matthew England http://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~matthew/.

Very good, but very troubling presentation.

That work up of Narrabeen could well be conservative.

Matt

[loco4olas]

so we needed scienticians to tell us that narrabeen beach was falling into the sea??? next scientific reports will be concluding that the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, or if your a glass-half-full type person that morning is when the sun rises... whatever...

Yeah-and if you're an ostrich, with your head in the sand, what does it matter.......

[swift]

I know this wont fix any greenhouse issues, but what if they set up a pump like they have on the goldy and pump sand around the headland at Longy, create another superbank and fix the beach along the roy/narabeen stretch as well?

PS. I'm waiting to be shot down here!!!!

[Hawkeye]

so we needed scienticians to tell us that narrabeen beach was falling into the sea??? next scientific reports will be concluding that the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, or if your a glass-half-full type person that morning is when the sun rises... whatever...

Yeah-and if you're an ostrich, with your head in the sand, what does it matter.......

I think his point was "why have a scientific report to state the bleedin' obvious"

[Kunji]

I think his point was "why have a scientific report to state the bleedin' obvious"

We need a scientific report so we can understand what exactly is happening. Not just some basic observations but some hard science to be able to predict what will happen. Armed with that knowledge they can then plan and take the necessary steps to prevent this and learn how to be able to deal with other beaches in threat in the future.

[Hawkeye]

Of course, you're absolutely right Coops. But on its own, I doubt the science will be enough to persuade the pollies.

But put compelling science (expressed in a way that allows pollies to understand tangible effects) together with the credible threat of losing votes and we might get some traction.

If you get that list of names and addresses I'd appreciate you flicking a copy my way.

[Kunji]

If you get that list of names and addresses I'd appreciate you flicking a copy my way.

Will do mate.

[Nick Carroll]

We need a scientific report so we can understand what exactly is happening. Not just some basic observations but some hard science to be able to predict what will happen. Armed with that knowledge they can then plan and take the necessary steps to prevent this and learn how to be able to deal with other beaches in threat in the future.

There is abundant science on the subjects of global warming, climate change, sea level rise, etc. The IPCC's predictions are very much on the conservative end of the scale. In fact atmospheric CO2 is increasing faster than the IPCC's predictions from earlier this decade. It seems quite possible that by the end of this century, there will be more CO2 in the atmosphere than at any other time in planetary history that scientists can accurately check up on (which takes it back around 3 million years).

As a result, whatever sea level rises occur between now and 2050, the rises beyond that will almost certainly be way bigger and more significant. If you liked the digi-twitch pic of Narrabeen this monring, imagine one involving a sea level rise of four metres.

It's important to know that the science behind global warming has been around a long time and is not seriously doubted or challenged by any reputable scientific body, nor has it been for many years. CO2, along with a number of other gases, is known to trap the sun's reflected heat close to the planet's surface; it's why the Earth's mean temperature isn't some 14 below zero, which it'd be if all the sun's heat simply escaped back into space.

Politicians won't deal with it because it's outside their timeframes. They also fear that dealing with it may cause them to become unpopular with everyone from the giant oil companies and industries dependent on coal-fired power to Western consumers who've grown used to an easy life on the back of fossil fuel energy expenditure. This means us btw.

[panaitan]

Tell me which ones and i will. Is it at State or Federal level or what? Who is the appropriate people to register complaints with????

At the Federal level the key figures controlling policy are:

The Prime Minister at:

http://www.pm.gov.au/email.cfm

The Environment Minister at:

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/h ... /s-h15.htm

At the state level almost all state premiers are working towards an emissions trading scheme - except Peter Beattie - so you can lobby him at:

http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/tools/contact.shtm

[Butts]

This is what most politicans do anyway with regards to the environment

[Nick Carroll]

Of course if you're a fundamentalist Christian none of this matters anyway because

a) the Earth is only just over 6000 years old and all the science is hokum
b) it's all part of God's mysterious scheme.