Daily Links Oct 31

Now there’s a great concept, a fossil-fuel non-proliferation treaty. We could start the implementation with taxing the bejesus out of carbon emissions. Waddya reckon, PM Clapper?

Daily Links Oct 30

Leaving to my descendants a new Cretaceous is not bequeathing to them a great gift. But we need to be thinking at this scale over these time intervals regarding our uncontrolled experiment with the only planet we have.

Daily Links Oct 29

In Ross Gittins’ article ‘Sensible electricity rules await the next government’, he points the finger of blame at neoliberalism and the failure of regulation. Will the next government have the bottle to do something about the former? Even though the case against neoliberalism is mounting, it’s imminent demise is not likely, I reckon. Donation law reform now!

Daily Links Oct 28

‘Phelps sets sights on reviving climate body’ as a priority. Is this the sort of thing that the Happy Clapper was referring to when he spoke of the chaos that would result from electing an independent in the Wentworth by-election? If so, bring on more chaos, I say.

Daily Links Oct 27

While world growth is a toxic danger to the environment, we are in no position to deny developing nations the possibility in improvements in standard of living. We’ll have a hard time in winning broad endorsement for reducing our standards too, so we have to ‘dematerialise’ to a huge extent, improve production efficiencies to a level we can only marvel at and repair and recycle like we never have before. But remember, humans can do big stuff when they have to (not that this is Ross Gittins expression).

Innuendo and birdwatching; a not-so-rare double

Sexual innuendo linked with bird-names is not too hard to find. Tits and shags are all too obvious and couple this with a largely male pursuit, add in lashings of post-adolescent humour and the article here is an almost inevitable consequence. I was sent this article by someone some time ago and I post it here in case someone finds it titillating or perhaps provocative of a behind-the-hands snigger.

Daily Links Oct 26

Being in nature is good for learning, it can ‘enhance creativity, bolster mood, lower stress, improve mental acuity, well -being and productivity, cultivate social connectedness and promote physical activity’. Get the kids out often and stay and play with them out there!

Daily Links Oct 25

When the world’s climate zones shift, human populations shift too. If we reckon a thousand or so boat people are a problem how will we cope with a million or so? And remember, this is all under positive feedback scenarios, so it won’t just be a million or so to deal with – try hundreds of millions.

Daily Links Oct 24

The priest talking of religion, science and proof in relation to climate change says that science doesn’t offer proof. Spot on, it offers the best explanation available for the observations at hand, pending further observation. When the explanation is overwhelmingly supported, we go ahead and act on its projections. Science however, can disprove, as the black swan did. Perhaps the priest had a word-limit.

Daily Links Oct 23

My optimism about the future (and it won’t look like the world we have now) is based upon the human resolve that put a man on the moon. When we decide to do something, throw our intellect, creativity and sufficient resources at an issue, we have shown that seemingly incredible things are possible. We don’t have enough people yet who’ve made the decision to do something.