Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Opinion

Pondering the Carbon Tax

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Last week the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced that carbon emissions would be taxed from July 1, 2012. 

The Prime Minister explained that by making products that generate carbon emissions more expensive, people will use less of them and this will be a good thing for Australia.

For example, if the carbon tax increases the average Australian family’s electricity bill by $500 and the electricity bill of an average small business by $2,000, families and businesses will use less electricity and this will be a good thing for Australia.

At the same time the Prime Minister announced the tax, she explained that families would be compensated for any increase in electricity charges.   But how will families be compensated?  The Prime Minister must be careful that families are not compensated in a way that would result in them using more electricity.

Indeed, wouldn’t it make more sense if the Prime Minister didn’t compensate anyone for the tax?

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http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/climate-change-framework-announced

Big Bang Rebuttal, Part 3: A Note from Joseph Olson

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TOOL making and communication skills are easily distinguishing features between human beings and other species on this planet. When coupled with a natural curiosity and the ability learn from our mistakes, we have lifted most humans from the vulgar realities of our ancestor’s existence. For those bent on controlling others, tools and communication must be controlled and manipulated.

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Belief in the Truth of a Theory

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I wrote these two laws down on a scrap of paper years ago. I still have the scrap of paper but not the original reference.    They seem relevant to dicussions about power stations, the Murray River and especially the universe.  

Harris’s First Law:

Belief in the truth of a theory is inversely proportional to the precision of the science.

Harris’s Second Law:

The creativity of a scientist is directly proportional to how much he knows, and inversely proportional to how much he believes.

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posted August 04, 2005
posted May 09, 2008
posted October 14, 2010

What to Listen to, And Read, This Week

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Here is a clever video about what is wrong with government’s latest planning scheme for the Murray Darling Basin.

Interestingly Topher has quoted extensively from my 2003 monograph ‘Myth and the Murray: Measuring the Real State of the River Environment’.

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Consider this an open thread. Let other readers of this blog know what you are watching, listening to, and reading, this week by way of a comment.

And consider donating to the continued operation of this blog. There is an orange button at the top right hand corner of this page.

This blog is about community, and access to information. Information that is not politically correct or even fashionable… But hopefully well considered.

Mysterious, ‘Dr X’ says Universe Is NOT Expanding: A Note from Joseph A. Olson

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WHAT first began as ‘rumored’ science on conservative websites is now being reinforced by what can only be described as the foremost authority on the Expanding Universe.  The thought that there was a Non Expanding Theory has been introduced by a trained engineer, who has turned rogue astronomer.  The following quote from Dr X does add credibility to this challenge to eight decades of ‘settled’ science:

    Dr X has “admitted that the expanding universe might be an illusion, but
    implied that this was a cautious and colorless view.  Last week it was apparent that
    he had shifted his position even further away from a literal interpretation of red
    shift, that he now regards the expanding universe as more improbable than a
    non-expanding one.”

What gives this Dr X usurper, along with that engineer turned rogue astronomer, the right to challenge this cornerstone of modern astronomy ?

The identity of the mysterious Dr X is none other than “Mount Wilson Observatory’s brilliant Astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble,” who with coworker Milton LaSalle Humason first observed the red-shift of light from distant stars.  Continuing, “It was assumed that the distant nebulae were retreating in all directions.”

One interesting fact is that this interview was for Time Magazine and was published as “Science: Shift on Shift” on Dec 14, 1936.  Here you have proof that the ‘father of the Expanding Universe Theory’ had misgivings just years after his 1929 disclosure.  Following the motto of P T Barnum, of “there’s a sucker born every minute” the existing ‘big science’ teams saw an unlimited opportunity to expand astronomy budgets.

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‘Carbon Price’ Won’t Reduce Emissions from Power Stations

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THE Australian government has announced plans to introduce a carbon price scheme forcing industry to buy a permit for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted from July 1, 2012.  A trading system, with the carbon permit price set on a market linked to other schemes overseas, could follow in three to five years.  But the scheme is unlikely to achieve a reduction in carbon emissions from coal fired power stations.  Tony explains:

The Carbon Price and Coal-Fired Power:  A Note from Tony

We are being told that the introduction of this ‘Carbon Price’ will drive down the emissions of the offending greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.

When those politicians stand at the podium and tell you this, it indicates only that they have no idea whatsoever of how electrical power is generated.

When I try and explain that what they say is incorrect, that is somehow perceived as my taking a political standpoint by disagreeing with the politics of either the Labor Government who are introducing this, or The Australian Greens Party, who are in fact driving the Labor Government on this matter.

To effectively understand what effect a ‘price on carbon’ will have on coal fired power generation, you need to understand how a coal fired power plant produces its electrical power, and once you can visualise this, then it becomes patently obvious that just placing a price on those emissions will not lower those emissions by any amount whatsoever.

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