Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

jennifer

Australian Skeptic Bets $US6,000 That Warming Will Cool

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Hi Jennifer,

I devoted six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian government to estimate carbon emissions from land use change and forestry (Google on “FullCAM”).

When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty conclusive, but since then new evidence has weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause.

I am now skeptical and have recently bet $US6,000 that the warming trend will weaken
soon.

As Lord Keynes famously said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

Read more by clicking here http://tinyurl.com/3dbbrb or here http://backseatdriving.blogspot.com/2007/04/climate-skeptics-guest-post-why-david.html

Cheers,
David Evans

Sweden’s Smallest Owl

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Hi Jennifer,

We run a small animal rehab centre north of Stockhom in Sweden. Due to some problems with rooms, activity has slowed downed a bit. Usually we have about 1200 patients each year – all species of birds and small mammals (mostly hedgehogs). Mortality rate is about 50 percent. This is not too bad as the patients usually arrive in a pretty bad shape.

I’m sending you a pictures from the centre of a Sparrow owl, Glaucidium passerinum. This is Sweden’s smallest owl.

ANsparrow hawk.jpg

The owls are are not much bigger than a sparrow, but very greedy bird which eats prey much larger than themselves!

This individual suffered from a broken wing.

Cheers,

Ann Novek.

A Few Thoughts

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I apologise for not posting very much over the last week. I have been somewhat preoccupied with my trip to Indonesia. I am leaving next Thursday for 10 days.

I am not sure whether I will have good internet access while I am away. I will be visiting Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi. This is the place where mining giant Newmont is accused of dumping mine waste which some claim poisoned the local fishing village and coral reef.

I have of course, prepared for trips before without slowing down with the blog postings, but I shall admit to finding some of the discussion here a little bit repetitive of late.

Perhaps, I am also slightly taken a back by the extent to which public discussion on environmental issues in Australia is now so totally dominated by global warming hysteria. Of course, this is not always the case at this blog.

But I do find it quite extraordinary, for example, that the Australian government is going to get involved in forestry issues in Indonesia, not because of the intrinsic value of these forests, but to “save the world” from climate change.

I did enjoyed watching the expression change on the face of this journalist as she interviewed climate change sceptic Professor Ian Plimer:

http://www.video.news.com.au/newsinteractive/videopage/videoplayer/?channel=National+News&clipid=1094_102085&bitrate=300&format=wmp

Professor Ian Plimer, a geologist from Adelaide University, is apparently unaware that there is a “consensus” amongst scientists on climate change.

Anyway, the number of blog postings from me might slow down a little for the next little while.

I invite readers and commentator to send me in potential guest posts. Make sure the text is self explanatory and include relevant links. Readers also like wildlife photographs, and its best if the photographs are already in jpg format and a suitable size for the blog.

Another Pedia

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It’s not on the net, but it’s in the hard copy of today’s The Australian(pg 36), an article entitled ‘Wikipedia references a source of anxiety‘ detailing how “male, crude and given to the concerns of the rich middle class” is the internet, but, not subject to the xanax control of media barons.

The article begins by outlining how Middlebury College in Vermont, in the US, has banned its students from citing Wikepidia and goes on to quote Wikipedia’s founder Jimmy Wales suggesting that the school should also ban the Enclyclopaedia Britannica because all ‘pedias “stand several degrees of separation away fron the events on which they report”.

The article also makes mention of British journal Nature’s critique of the Encylopedia Britannica and Wikipedia which found the two sources comparable as regards reliability.

In short, the article was all about ‘the internet’ suggesting those who attempt to shun it will lose out eventually, because it’s here and it’s influential.

And it all reminded me of a note I received from David Tribe some weeks ago introducing what he described as a
“better alternative to Wikipedia” at http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page.

It’s all explained in an article ‘Citizendium aims to be better Wikipedia’ which you can read here: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2007-03-25-wikipedia-alternative_N.htm

Koalas Extinct in 7 Years: I Don’t Think So!

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“Extreme drought, ferocious bushfires and urban development could make koalas extinct within seven years, environmentalists are warning,” in an article in new online journal The Brisbane Times.

“Alarms about the demise of the iconic and peculiar animal, which sleeps about 20 hours per day and eats only the leaves of the eucalyptus tree, have been raised before.

“But Deborah Tabart, chief executive officer of the Australia Koala Foundation, believes the animal’s plight is as bad as she has seen it in her 20 years as a koala advocate.”

I don’t know.

I reckon Debbie might be exaggerating.

In fact, it might well be concluded that the economics of conservation in Australia currently favour ignorance and failure. I’ve written that before: http://www.ipa.org.au/files/57-2-arekoalasindecline.pdf

And that was before I visited Gunnedah, ‘The Koala Capital of the World’: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/001916.html.