Monday, February 09, 2009
Australia in Mourning
The terrible pictures coming from Australia have moved us all. Such devastation is something we in this country find difficult to imagine. The loss of life has been horrendous. For all our national rivalries in sport, we love Australians. We love them because they are people like us. We share a common history and language. It may not be a palatable thing to say, but if this were happening in, say Peru or Vietnam , it would not be getting the same amount of media coverage. It's wrong, but that's the way the media operates.
Australia's politicians have not been shy about showing their emotions. Victoria's Premier broke down in tears on TV, while Kevin Rudd, their Prime Minister has also teared up live on TV. In the clip above, Rudd looks a broken man as he struggles to cope with the fact that some of the fires were started deliberately. He calls the arsonists "mass murderers". He's right. I empathise with his incomprehension of the thought process which would lead someone to start a fire like this deliberately.
I'm sure I speak for all my blog readers when I say that our thoughts are with the Australian people at this tragic time.
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34 comments:
Iain
Matthew Taylor has a thoughtful post about how this reminds us of the threat of climate change.
http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/uncategorized/the-fires-in-australia-what-they-say-to-us/
I sincerely hope they catch the arsonists.
Summary execution is my choice and I'm sure there'll be others who agree.
They were travelling at up to 70kph, embers 15 miles in front. The smoke would have destroyed visibility. Truly devastating. Yeah, much love.
I know someone who lives there and they have been going through hell and back.
She asked me to help spread the word about climate change back here.
@Matthew Cain - the only verifiable threat of climate change is the warmist climate change industry.
Whats happened in Victoria sounds horrific, but its not a propganda moment for the warmists, any more than the snow here confirms they are wrong.
Beautifully expressed Iain. Our love and best thoughts to our friends in Australia.
Man in a Shed - would you care to say how much evidence you would need before changing your opinion. That's all your view is - an opinion - whereas the actual facts tell a different story.
* last ten years have featured 6 of the warmest worldwide years as far back as records go.
* ocean temperatures are currently highest globally on record for time of year in the northern hemisphere.
* drought in Australia is of record length and intensity. Scientists studying ancient trees say it could be the longest and most intense drought in Australia since the last ice age.
* glaciers worldwide continue to retreat at an unprecedented rate.
* major loss of ice in the Antarctic ice shelves is now going at an even higher rate than previously thought.
* Greenland ice cap is retreating at a faster rate than previously thought.
* general consensus amongst scientists is now that the climate will irreversibly be 3-4 degrees warmer worldwide in 100 years time regardless of any actions taken now. This will have catastrophic impacts on food production. Sea levels will continue to rise and are currently rising.
We can make a difference to the long-term picture but the time is over for placing heads in sand.
The part I couldn't understand when I read about the suspected arsonists was that they'd get a maximum of 25 years in prison.
"Liberal"...
I'd agree with you, except that you're wrong on almost every point.
This is nothing to do with "global warming" or "climate change" or whatever the chatterati are calling it this week - it's a hot dry spell in Oz, and like virtually every year the heat brings out the nutters with their boxes of matches. I have a friend who's a fireman in Oz and he says it's the same every year.
My wife and I spebnt a lovely day in Marysville, Victoria two years ago. It was such a beautiful place.
My son and daughter in law live in melbourne and they emailed this morning to say that many of the towns people who have lost everything did not have any insurance. The Red Cross in Australia have set up a fund if anyone wishes to help.
BUT you would think that our Government, which gave millions to Gaza, would contribute something to show we care! The newspapers could also call for donations.
Are the Royal family flying out there now? Do they need to be told?
Having responded, from reading your excellent blog, Iain. I am quite disgusted to see this blog being grabbed by the Climate Change Facists! They are sick.
Michael Crichton. STATE OF FEAR!!!
Here's what one of my mates, located on the outskirts of Melbourne, has written:
"You will have seen and read by now about the weekend's terrible devastation - the death stats are even now still rising as more bodies are discovered. The day was like an inferno and when the wind got up there was nothing could be done about the raging fires. It was almost literally on our doorstep - the worst areas are not more than an hour's drive from here and in the evening, without knowing the extent of the damage, we could smell the smoke and burning embers. One couple, amongst our best friends, have lost their home and farmhouse at Narbethong and another fellow I know has lost his wife in the fire, while suffering severe burns himself. It's all very close to home - and yet there are record floods in FNQ. Things are crook and that's to say nothing of economics & finance. What can you do but give thanks that we're OK and get on with life."
And here is the story from another of my old mates (I live in Crowborough but am of Oz origins):
"Yesterday our temperature reached 46.4C (115.52F), Melbourne's highest on record, and it was not pleasant. Hopetoun, in the north, reached 48.8C ― an absolute State record. Today we see a respite, in Melbourne at least, so that I can enter my study and stay awhile. Although our air conditioning system gave up almost two weeks ago (to be replaced the week after next - I hope) we are among the luckier ones. The Hume Highway, along which we travelled home on Thursday, has now been cut at several points by horrendous fires ravaging parts of Gippsland. As I type, I hear a report of nine more dead from that area, bringing the State's toll to over 35 ― and rising. Six bodies were found this morning in one car attempting flight. There are many burns victims who survive. The once-pleasant winter-sports town of Marysville (pop. 600) 97 km to Melbourne's north-east was last night largely eliminated; the splendid wine-growing area in the Yarra Valley (a mere 45-minute drive from our house) has been gravely affected; stock and property loss is widespread. I now hear that the Cathedral Range State Park north of Marysville (near which my good friend and a companion on last week's trip, has a place) is now ablaze. The fires change pace and direction in moments with high and fickle winds; and the mood of depression abroad is reminiscent of war. The ABC is doing a very good job of continuous on-the-spot reporting. Yet huge floods invade parts of Queensland: the town of Ingham has been engulfed for over a week. Enjoy your cool!"
It strikes home with accounts like these, so thanks Iain for your kind comments.
Climate change? I think we need be more concerned about arson.
We have always had forest fires.
The last time Australia had a similar disastrous bush fire it was in 1983 (killing 75).
So how is this one due to climate change? Don't be dopes.
The deaths are caused by Australia's increased population and the building of houses in the bush areas.
Deaths are caused by people staying behind in the deluded attempts to save their homes. Deaths are caused by a poor plan (any paln?) to evacuate people.
Just as well Australia has a Labour leader, the Tory equivalent would no doubt get the George Bush treatment.
Bush and forest fires happen. Look at Americas national parks were they are sensible enough not to allow building. Now they realise that forest fires play an important ecological role and let them burn themselves out.
Forest fires happen and we need them to happen.
Forest fires happen every year Pogo. Not the very intense temperatures, which contribute to it.
Strapworld, it isn't "faschist" to point out factual evidence. And what is truly sick is to see such suffering and not explore underlying causes.
I do wonder though at the motives of the more extreme climate-change deniers who gather here (presumably because Iain himself denies climate change) - is there some financial interest involved, or do you just not like the idea that you might be forced to change something, eg, use less carbon?
I am curious - which is it. And please, no blather about it being wrong - not one of you has even 1% of the factual grasp of the world's leading climate scientists. So if you can't engage with this honestly, don't waste your time.
Despairing Liberal, yet again you misrepresent me and try to traduce my reputation. I'm getting rather sick of it. I resent being called a climate change denier firstly because it is untrue and secondly because it equates me to be the equivalent of a holocaust denier. The left are very clever in their use of language.
I have never denied climate change and I would challenge you to find an instance of me doing so.
The climate has been changing for eternity. It's a natural thing. I also don't deny than man has had some effect on it. I question that it is all down to man, though. And that's what climate change obsessives can't cope with.
And to suggest that I have any financial gain from that is beyond the pail. It's untrue and I ask you to withdraw it.
Over the last few days you have delighted in throwing spurious allegations around - of the very kind you often criticise me for doing. But you don't like it when you;re accused of it, do you?
Bad as it is, about 1,000 children are killed or seriously injured each day in road traffic accidents, worldwide.
1,000 people die of AIDs everyday in South Africa.
Over 8,000 people died in the UK where Clostridium difficile was a contributing factor.
My thoughts are with the millions of people whose deaths are a mere statistic.
Weasel, I agree
And as for the Climate Change loonies, let's see them campaigning naked at the North Pole if they are serious.
Someone has already mentioned the aussie red cross appeal. You can find it at: http://www.redcross.org.au
Despairing - there is no evidence that climate change is responsible for these fires ...
Climate is not the same as weather anyway.
2008 was the coldest year for 10 years so maybe some dense cloud of CO2 has been hovering over the antipodes?
The fires are one thing. the deaths are another and questions are starting to be asked in Australia
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/4569568/Australian-bush-fires-No-amount-of-blame-will-bring-loved-ones-back-from-the-flames.html
"why firetrucks were sent out of the town to help other communities, when a raging inferno was bearing down on their homes"
"why it took so long for rescue teams to reach them, when the extent of the threat finally became clear."
"criticisms have also started to surface. Questions of priorities, organisation, coordination. Questions about planning, preparation and advice"
Like I said its a good job Rudds name is not Bush.
I am not an extreme climate change denier - just someone who knows that there is not one shred of evidence to promote the notion of man made global warming.
Mr Despairing Liberal as you only want evidence from scientists you may like to read this letter from 'a man on the ground' not an organisation with axes to grind.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/01/22/antarctic-warming-part-2-a-letter-from-a-meteorologist-on-the-ground-in-antarctica/
First, I'd like to apologise to Ian for slightly hijacking a serious and tragic subject, in my defence I was incensed that someone should use what is going on in southern Australia to push an agenda.
Interestingly, only part of the "severe weather" story is making the headlines... To quote from an Aussie acquaintance: "I wish we could get some of that flood in far North Queensland to down here. Ironically up there some houses are barely peeking out of 2 metres of water at the moment, with more rain forecast and 2/3 of the state already declared as a disaster area."
As to my reasons and "qualifications" for doubting AGW, if you read my blogger profile you'll see that I was (I'm recently retired) a "proper" scientist and I'm singularly unimpressed with the standards of science, proof and empiricism that are considered acceptable to the AGW fraternity.
As a scientist it was my job to be sceptical. "Concensus" is a political concept, not scientific.
I'd like to echo the words of the Aussie PM "what can you say about such people"?
My thoughts are with them.
"The climate has been changing for eternity. It's a natural thing. I...don't deny than man has had some effect on it. I question that it is all down to man"
As I understand it the sceptics also suggest that we focus upon how to deal with climate change rather than focusing upon trying to change it.
For example even if humans are the cause of global warming, it does not follow that the behaviour of billions of people on planet Earth can (or for that matter should be) radically changed.
Putting it this way you can see why conservatives, who by and large seek to make the best of what we are given, tend to be more sceptical than radicals, who by and large believe that we can re-make the world.
On the substantive issue I know little about what the current state of knowledge tells us about the options. It does not surprise me however that "Despairing Liberal" uses your expression of sorrow about a human tragedy in Australia as an opportunity to sermonise about correct thinking and behaviour.
The Left is predictably intolerant and indifferent to human suffering, what they crave is the pulpit. Just ignore the self-righteous cretin and continue to support those who strive to be alert to complex realities rather than simple dogmas.
The headline is `Australia in Mourning`...just for once grow up and stop this climate change willy waving.....People have DIED..The Aussies have always been there for us, the mickey taking is just that, they are our people and for once let us stand with them in this THEIR hour of need and despair..God bless them all...
"People have DIED..The Aussies have always been there for us, the mickey taking is just that, they are our people and for once let us stand with them in this THEIR hour of need and despair."
Agreed. Let the lefties caper and dance in the ashes. No-one's listening to them.
I can't find a UK-based appeal, but the Red Cross in Australia is doing a lot:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/09/2486666.htm
I've emailed them to see if there's a UK-based appeal going up, or if one can contribute to the Aussie one.
JuliaM. You can donate to the Australian fund. See post at 3.07.
Oh, cheers!
You are of course correct 'vista' and the example you quite is a classic of 'scientific' deception.
Mann et al are seeking to justify their previous calumnies and are now reduced to fiddling the results for Antarctica.
Thanks to real scientists like Watt and Macintyre their efforts are being rebuffed.
Everything thsat is bad about science is present in the climate change debate. The fact is all the figures used to justify AGW are bogus.
http://mclean.ch/climate/IPCC.htm
Meantime I find the number of deaths in Australia shocking and I do not think politicians weeping in the streets should be allowed tol go unchallenged.
Iain wrote: "I also don't deny than man has had some effect on [climate change]. I question that it is all down to man, though".
There is indeed a natural variation in the Earth Temperature trends, but scientists are looking at a strong correlation between our CO2 (and other GHG) emissions and the temperature.
Australia has a definite shift
in its rainfall (less in the east, where the fires are, and more in the west), and a definite increase in temperature over the last 50 years.
In the end, this is not an academic debate, because we and our children are part of the experiment. The consensus among scientists (yes, with a few exceptions, as is always the case in science) that we should decarbonise our economy as a matter of urgency.
Say we do that, and it turns out that AGW theory is wrong? Well, we will have created hundreds of thousands of jobs in insulation and taken thousands out of fuel poverty. Not bad, but that's not all. We will also have reduced the shock of Peak Oil and Peak Gas. Also not bad.
In short, it is a case of .Pascal's Wager all over again, but with our children's future, not God, in the scales of judgment.
Oh, and David Cameron seems to be on board with us "eco-worriers".
If for the sake of argument, it shoul
Matthew Cain said "Matthew Taylor has a thoughtful post about how this reminds us of the threat of climate change."
So he's using the tragedy in Australia to promote propaganda and lies. Could these liberals be any more despicable if they tried?
I was very saddened to hear of Her Australian Majesty's Prime Minister sobbing.
Is the land of Russell Crowe turning into a nation of wets too?
That is how a Prime Minister should act. God, that man has dealt with this with such class and bravery.
There have been reports over the last year or so that jihadists in US and Oz have called for arson & forest fires as a way of conducting economic warfare as well as causing disruption. There was an article to this effect in the Melborne Age but it's been pulled.
One of the issues with bush fires in Australia is ignorance. Houses are built in the much desired 'sylvan setting', but unless small burns are made regularly to remove fuel for larger fires, near and around buildings, the chances of catastrophe occurring grow every year.
I am not trying to be wise after the event. My uncle is a retired forestry manager in Australia and he has always railed against the stupidity of building homes in likely fire paths.
Forest fires are his specialty. Why arsenists like starting them, however, is hard to fathom. The politicians should stop crying and start doing something to stop houses being built that cannot be protected.
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