Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Opinion

American Activists Target Australian Fishers

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A VERY large American philanthropic organisation based in Philadelphia, PEW, has a few projects on at the moment.  In Washington DC it’s renovating and refurbishing a building in what it describes as “the heart of the nation’s capital”.  According to its website seven floors will be for its staff and three floors for other NGOs (non-government, non-business organisations).  That’s a lot of lobbying.  Meanwhile in Australia its employed well known activist Imogen Zethoven to  manage its “Coral Sea Campaign” which aims to close down fishing along the north eastern coast of Australia.  

The previous Australian government [the Howard government] handed out hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate commercial fishing interests following the last campaign Ms Zethoven ran.   That was when she worked for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).    

The fishing industry of north Queensland has been gutted over the last decade, but still environment groups come back for more – this time with money from Philadelphia in the US.

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Climate Sceptic to Run Climate Research?

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President Nicolas Sarkozy’s desire to appoint an outspoken climate-change sceptic to a new French super-ministry of industry and innovation has drawn strong protests from party colleagues and environmentalists… Putting him in charge of scientific research would be tantamount to “giving the finger to scientists”, said Nicolas Hulot, France’s best-known environmental activist.  Read more here.

Relative Humidity has been Falling

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Correlation is not causation.    But it is always exciting to see a good correlation between two variables that one assumes will correlate because of some theory or other.   

According to the ‘Saturated Greenhouse Effect’, a controversial theory developed by Hungarian physicist Ferenc M. Miskolczi, adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere will result in a reduction in relative specific humidity.  

According to data from the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, relative humidity has been generally trending down, especially at higher elevations, since 1948.   [Read more…] about Relative Humidity has been Falling

Reconnecting with the Coorong

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I first learnt about The Coorong – a narrow lagoon that runs parallel with coastal dunes for 140km in southern Australia – when I saw the 1976 film ‘Storm Boy’, the story of a boy and a Pelican. 

The impression I got from the film, and then later from media reports and environmental campaigning is that the lagoon is connected to the freshwater lakes at the bottom of the Murray River, when in fact they have been separated since the 1940s by barrages – infrastructure built to keep out the Southern Ocean.   

But as Susan writes in the following note, “looking at the satellite imagery of the Coorong and Lower Lakes drives home the message that the two are really part of the same ecosystem and should not have those 1940’s barrages separating them.”

There will be people disadvantaged if the barrages are now opened, in particular South Australian irrigators, and also environmental campaigners who have used images of the drying lakes to argue for more water to be taken from irrigators in New South Wales and Victoria for environmental flow. 

But given the dry conditions that continue through the lower Murray Darling Basin, it is surely the best solution and would immediately restore water to this ecosystem. 

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Gaia – Saved by the Seas

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THE idea that the earth’s physical and biological systems adjust to perturbation through feedback systems is central to James Lovelock’s Gaia theory. Let me declare upfront that I don’t subscribe to this theory because I don’t see the earth as a living entity, but rather as a place where life is lived. I do agree, however, that natural systems tend to exhibit strong negative feedback around an equilibrium point. Negative feedback is the opposite of positive feedback. It acts to oppose perturbation on a system and thus to maintain the current equilibrium. [1]

The Gaia theory is very popular including amongst many sceintists concerned about global warming notably Tim Flannery. Professor Flannery was named Australian of the Year in 2007 and is presently chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council. The Gaia theory underpins his influential book on climate change ‘The Weather Makers’.

Given Professors Lovelock and Flannery believe in feedback systems which seek to maintain an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on earth, Gaia, it is perhaps surprising that they are so concerned about elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide causing a climate crisis.

I understand that this concern, as articulated by Professor Lovelock in his 2006 book ‘Revenge of Gaia’, stems in large part from a belief that Gaia has been so despoiled that the biological systems which would normally buffer, for example the capacity of phytoplankton and forests to draw excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, is no longer properly functioning.

But what if there exists a physical system, in addition to these biological systems, to prevent runaway greenhouse?

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