Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for February 7, 2011

What’s Not Important to Murray River Modellers

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I stayed in a house by the Murray River just upstream from Barham in the Central Murray Valley in November 2007.  Every morning I drank a large glass of water from the kitchen tap; water that had been pumped straight from the river.   The water tasted fine, and I didn’t get sick.   

In the afternoon, I sometimes swam in the river.  It was deep and there was often a strong current because water was being released from Hume Dam.  

The bird life was especially amazing, with wood ducks on the river, cockatoos and galahs on the lawn, superb blue wrens amongst the roses and red-rumped grass parrots in the red gums.

According to Penny Wong, then Minister for Climate Change and Water, the two-year period to November 2007 recorded the lowest ever inflow to the Murray River.    Inflows during that period were 43 percent lower than previous record lows which occurred at the end of 1938. 

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What to Listen to, and Read, This Week

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1. Michael Duffy in Conversation with Stewart Franks

This afternoon at 4pm the very clever climate scientist Stewart Franks will be on ABC Radio National’s Counterpoint in conversation with Michael Duffy.  Make sure you listen in.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/counterpoint/default.htm

2. Bronwyn Herbert asks why there is no water in Lake Eucumbene

Sometime this week I am hoping the ABC TV 7.30 Report will feature a story from Bronwyn Herbert on the mismanagement of Snowy Hydro waters.    

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/

And the story started at this blog, scroll here, https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/tag/snowy-hydro/

3. Graham Young on enlightenment values and gay marriage

My advertising revenue, which would add up to about $7,000 per year at current readership levels (nearly 20,000 page views each week), has plummeted because of a boycott of On Line Opinion and Domain blogs (of which I am one) by activists within the gay lobby.

Graham Young explains today:

“We published a series of articles on gay marriage after we were approached by Rodney Croome calling for a conscience vote on gay marriage, and in the context of the Prime Minister urging all parliamentarians to go out and consult with their electorates on the issue.  It is important to us that we cover the ambit of arguments as much as possible, so of course we approached writers from all sides, and received submissions from many more…

“For 11 years On Line Opinion has been my passion. It’s been my passion because I’m a child of the Enlightenment and I was raised to believe that not only do people have a right to an opinion, but they have a responsibility to continually test and examine that opinion in the light of what others think and believe…

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=11583

It was Graham Young who got me blogging, and who has insisted I keep blogging.

4.  And More

Later this week I plan to post part 2 from Luke Walker on finding that AGW signal (amongst all the natural climatic variability) and part 4 from Max Talbot on Snowy Hydro.

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Consider this an Open Thread and I will try for the same each Monday.
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More Politics from Ross Garnaut: A Note from Des Moore

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LAST November Ross Garnaut was commissioned, for an unknown fee, to produce an Update of the Review of climate change he completed in 2008. Garnaut is an economist who describes himself as an independent expert but he acts like a believer in a greater role for government and has worked closely with Labor governments. As one commentator put it yesterday, “his work has been a key feature of Labor’s campaign to introduce a carbon trading scheme”. Indeed, his first Update and associated comments present a blatantly political perspective in portraying all developments since the Review as supporting the need for emission reducing action by government and dismissing or ignoring the reality that those developments have clearly heightened the uncertainties about the so-called science and whether there will be any agreed international political action.  

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