UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s citing of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in support of his policy of subsidising the construction of many thousands of otherwise uneconomic wind turbines might appear grotesque, even comical; but not if you genuinely believe that Britain’s switching from coal to wind power for its electricity generation will save the lives of countless Africans. Read more here.
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First Moon Landing
I’ve heard a ‘baby boomer’ definded as someone born after World War II who remembers the Apollo II moon landing. I remember being told about it at school, in the afternoon. I was five years old, in grade 1 at Batchelor State School in the Northern Territory of Australia.
It happened forty years ago today – July 20, 1969.
Defining the Greens (Part 16) and Bushfires
IN 1994, Ray Evans bought a cottage at Marysville (Victoria, Australia) which he and his wife subsequently renovated and extended. The cottage and its extensive garden were destroyed by fire on the night of Saturday February 7 – now known as Black Saturday. In the following provocative and political article Mr Evans blames the fire “on green doctrine” and the Victorian government wilfully ignoring the advice of a previous inquiry because it did not want to “offend the sensitivities of the Greens”.
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Safe Portable Nuclear – Almost
“The future of nuclear energy could lie in plants that can be factory built, shipped to a site, and operated 30 years without refuelling…
“It has become commonplace to say that we are at the beginning of a global revitalization of the nuclear energy enterprise. The scope and timing of this “nuclear renaissance,” however, remain somewhat uncertain. What is known is that in countries around the globe, including the United States, significant numbers of new nuclear energy projects are under way or in various stages of planning, and this activity represents a departure from that of recent decades…
IPCC Author on Natural Variability
Tom Tripp, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said there is so much of a natural variability in weather it makes it difficult to come to a scientifically valid conclusion that global warming is man made. “It well may be, but we’re not scientifically there yet.” Read more here.
What to Take Bushwalking?
A 19 year-old British tourist who went for a walk in rugged terrain not far from where I live in the Blue Mountains ended up lost for 12 days.
He claims to have survived the freezing conditions by sleeping in a log and eating leaves and seed.
His story has resulted in lots of advice in mainstream media articles about how to survive in the bush with some experts commenting that he should have taken his mobile phone, four litres of water, eaten insects rather than plants, worn a beanie and the list goes on. But I’m yet to read a story that explains the value of a compass.
I regularly bushwalk in the area and always take my compass, tucked in my camera bag. I’ve been temporarily lost before, not in the Jamieson Valley, but regularly when I did field work in the riverine forests of south west Madagascar. Without reference to a compass it is difficult to maintain a direction in forested areas.
Media reports explain that the 17 year-old Australian bushwalker who died in the same region a few years ago didn’t have a map. But I haven’t been able to determine from these same reports whether or not he had a compass. It would seem to me that a map, without a compass, would be of limited use. [Read more…] about What to Take Bushwalking?
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.