SWAMP, wetland, marsh, marshland, everglade – there are a variety of different names for wet areas covered in native vegetation and the specific mix of reeds, grasses, shrubs and trees will of course depend on how the areas is managed, including whether it is regularly burnt or grazed – or not.
[Read more…] about The Swedes Choose Cattle for Stockholm’s Wetlands
We have heard much of the dangers of global warming due to carbon dioxide. But the potential danger of any potential anthropogenic warming is trivial compared to the risk of entering a new ice age. Read more here.
THERE has been severe flooding along parts of the east coast of Australia with the towns of Grafton and Lismore evacuated over the weekend. Grafton is towards the bottom of the mighty Clarence River which is completely unregulated. I can’t find a reliable estimate for the amount of water discharged on average or during flood events. It drains an area of 23-thousand square kilometres.
It doesn’t matter what time of year you drive through this region, known as the Northern Rivers District, it is always green and the wide Clarence is always brimming with water.
In Australia we repeat the mantra that this is the driest inhabited continent on earth but, according to the World Resource Institute, we have 51,000 litres of available water per capita per day, this is one of the highest in the world, and well ahead of countries such as the United Kingdom with only 3,000 litres per capita per day.
[Read more…] about Unwilling Communities on Big Rivers will be Flooded
Something very important has been happening this week — more important, if you can believe it, than what Nancy Pelosi knew about waterboarding or why Kris Allen scored his upset victory on “American Idol.” Read more here.
PHYSICS is the science dealing with natural laws and processes and the states and properties of matter and energy including of course the radiative transfer within the atmosphere that underpins the theory of anthropogenic global warming. There is criticism amongst some physics teachers both in the UK and Australia that the physics curriculum has become corrupted in particular “calculation has been replaced by writing”, “precision is gone”. Indeed according to one physics teacher: while physics was once a subject unpolluted by a torrent of malleable words, now everything must be described in words.
“The bill imposes cuts on greenhouse-gas emissions and creates a cap-and-trade system requiring power plants, manufacturers and other polluters to buy emissions allowances… “To convince skeptical Democrats to back the bill … agreed to lower emissions caps and renewable fuel standards… gives away nearly 85 percent of the emissions allowances for free to utilities, manufactures, oil refiners, and other industries.” Read more here. “If fully utilized, the emissions ‘offset’ provisions would allow continued business as usual growth in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions until 2030, leading one to wonder: where’s the cap in the “cap” and trade?” Read more here.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
Read more