Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Average Temp Anomalies Showing Only Warming Trend: John McLean

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Out of curiosity I created a graph of annual average temperature anomalies based on HadCRUT3 temperature data but omitting 1943-1971 . 

I don’t for a moment believe that the HadCRUT3 data is accurate and reliable, however, I found the graph interesting.

I remind you that IPCC attributed the first half of the rising period to natural causes and the second half to human activity.

I think it looks more like consistent warming out of the Little Ice Age and the omitted period is a time when La Nina conditions dominated.  Another hypothesis is that the rise in temperature is due to increasing night-time cloud cover due to industrialisation.

Cheers, John McLean

Click on graph image for larger view.

The Disputed Natural History of the Lower Lakes

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OUR  society places a premium on restoring degraded and polluted places to their natural state. It is clear from the scientific literature that the Lower Lakes have a marine origin and that they could be healthy if filled with water from the Southern Ocean rather than taking fresh water from upstream which has been government policy at least since construction of the barrages. 

That the salt water solution is resisted, and that the Murray Darling Basin Authority insists in its new plan that even more water be taken from irrigators to keep the lakes fresh, suggests that this key institution is more influenced by politics than science.

Filled with seawater, and with regular tidal flushing, the Lower Lakes would possess a different, but not necessarily less natural, or less healthy, assemblage of plants, animals, fish and microorganisms…

Read the complete article just published at Quadrant Online: 

http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2010/11/jennifer-marohasy

[Read more…] about The Disputed Natural History of the Lower Lakes

Excuses, But No Good Reason for Murray River Barrages

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I have received a barrage of excuses as to why the Lower Lakes at the bottom of the Murray River should remain fresh rather than removing the barrages and letting the area fill with seawater, as suggested in ‘Basin barrage of bad ideas” (The Land, November 4, pg. 26). 

And I’ve made a few enquiries, to understand why, for example, the government and the opposition remain silent on the issue.

Advisors to both major political parties tell me that the barrages are far too contentious an issue, even for discussion, and that advocating the removal of the barrages could cost them important votes in South Australia.  

[Read more…] about Excuses, But No Good Reason for Murray River Barrages

Mann Promotes Rio Tinto

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Most people know that the stock market is a volatile place and that the price of Rio Tinto shares has fluctuated significantly both up and down over the last thirty years.  But this is how at least one modern climate scientist might go about promoting Rio Tinto shares…

The first graph shows how the price of Rio Tinto shares varied over a 30 year period up until Feb 2009.

Note that the price ALWAYS goes up.

Note that the long term linear average rise is close to $1 per year over 30 years.

The second graph tells us that over the past year the rate of increase is now about thirty times the long term average.

On this basis Mr Mann, the stockbroker, advises all his clients to sell everthing, borrow as much money as possible and buy Rio because:

Rio shares NEVER go down AND they are now going up 30 times faster than ever before.

The values used to plot the graphs are genuine.

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If a broker in Australia actually did this the would probably end up in jail for misleading and deceptive conduct, even though the points used to construct the graphs are all genuine.

Free Burma’s political prisoners

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Dear Jennifer,
Fantastic news!
After spending 15 of the past 21 years unjustly under house arrest, Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is finally free.
But the Nobel laureate was just one of 2,200 political prisoners in Burma punished for simply engaging in peaceful political activities. Now, as the people of Burma rally around Aung San Suu Kyi, we must remember her words that “the release of political prisoners is the most important thing for all those who truly wish to bring about change in Burma.”
Stand with Aung San Suu Kyi and call for thousands like her to be freed.
This morning in an ABC radio interview, Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledged your contribution to her freedom and the people of Burma’s. Yet her unfair treatment is only the tip of the iceberg of human rights violations in Burma. Imagine: if the government can subject her to such arbitrary detention, we can have little doubt about how vulnerable, less well-known individuals are treated.
People like Mie Mie – a 39 year old mother of two who was arrested in a violent crackdown following an anti-government protest. She is currently serving a 65 year sentence in a prison that is over 1,200 km from her family, making it almost impossible for her children to see her.
Or 32 year old Myo Min Zaw, arrested as student activist – and reportedly tortured – in 1998 for distributing leaflets and organising student. He is currently serving a sentence of 52 years in a prison.
These are only two of over 2,200 people unfairly imprisoned inside Burma: join us and others worldwide to demand the military junta free all prisoners of conscience.

http://www.amnesty.org.au/action/action/24153/?utm_source=assknov10&utm_medium=email-sf&utm_content=link2

Together, we have been campaigning for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi for over two decades. Thank you for everything you’ve done — your letters, demonstrations, phone calls and discussions with friends, family, and colleagues. Now Aung San Suu Kyi has her freedom, please help her achieve real change for Burma.
In hope,
Jenny Leong
Campaign Coordinator (and Aung San Suu Kyi admirer)
Amnesty International Australia