Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for November 2008

Sydney Morning Herald Open to Letters from Skeptics

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Some time ago Art Raiche suggested to me that, “In all honesty, I suspect that it would be easier to hold readings of Dawkin’s “The God Delusion” in Mecca than to get the Sydney Morning Herald to print letters critical of AGW.  At least the response would be more direct.”

Today, the Sydney Morning Herald Letters Editor wrote:

“CLIMATE change is always a problematic issue for the letters page, and Michael Duffy’s opinion piece last Saturday sparked vigorous exchanges all week. Readers on both sides hold views with something approaching religious fervour, while grounding their arguments in science. If we publish the views of sceptics, we are accused of airing theories with as little credibility as creationism. If we don’t, we are accused of censorship and taking sides.

“It seems to me much better to have all kinds of opinions in the open – the letters page is not a peer-reviewed journal, and even if it was that would not necessarily give it authority in this debate. All we can do is plead for politeness, brevity and a bit of nuance…”   Mike Ticher Letters editor

I am impressed!  Thanks Mr Ticher.

The Wilderness Society and Bushfire Management

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I have been critical of many environmental activists over the years on the grounds that they know what they are against, but they don’t know what they are for. For example, bushfire management systems developed by forestry agencies over many decades are savagely condemned, but no alternative system is offered up as a replacement.

I was therefore interested to see that the Wilderness Society News 173 (Winter 2008) contains a Six Point Action Plan that the Society says will “reduce bushfire risks and help to protect people, property, wildlife and their habitat”. They have done this because they assert that a “massive increase in hazard reduction burning and firebreaks is destroying nature, pushing wildlife closer to extinction and in many cases increasing the fire risk to people and properties by making areas more fire prone”.

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A Depression Would Reduce Carbon Emissions

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PREDICTIONS for the planet are dire indeed, if we do not drastically cut our carbon dioxide emissions in the very near future. 

In Australia, we will lose the Barrier Reef and the Kakadu wetlands, the Murray River will dry up completely and snow vanish from our Alpine regions.  Sea level could rise precipitously as the great ice sheets of Greenland and the Antarctic melt.

On the economic front, things have actually gone from bad to worse.  The sub-prime crisis has morphed into fears of a global recession, perhaps even a depression.  Bastions of United States capitalism such as General Motors now teeter on the brink of bankruptcy. Here in Australia, companies that run child-care centres and shopping malls are collapsing.  Even our iron ore shipments are now being cancelled by China. The world price of oil has plummeted 60 percent in just a few months – the reason is an anticipated reduction in global demand.

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