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Thread: Australian Fires

  1. #1
    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Mervin

    Default Australian Fires

    Not long ago Al had a post on here about climate change and the shortness of beer somewhere in Europe. This on is much more serious. Already it's killed thousands of animals and wiped many parts out altogether. The summer has just begun a month ago and the worst is yet to come, so they say. Just goes to show that something as gone wrong with the climate and I do believe that fossil fuel has "most" to do with it. We all put it off til tomorrow. We don't have a lot of tomorrows left. Do others feel the same way? Or are you more optimistic and think that scientists will come up with some sort of gigantc filters to filter it all out. They had better started yesterday, if so. And what about the other life forms we share this space with. Anyways, I hope all you Aussies make it though the summer. Wish you all the best.

  2. #2
    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Australian Fires

    Thanks for your well wishes Merv. The loss of life is tragic. Aussies are famous for their grit, pulling together and pulling through hard times. My fellow countrymen & women are literally in the heat of a major battle. We shall prevail once more!
    I'm not sure that the animal habitats have ever encountered such widespread brutal destruction with loss of life, and I hope and pray that numbers rebound once this inferno is quenched. Fortunately many of Australia's native plants require their seed to be burned to germinate, so with the change of seasons and our winter rain there's hope for future habitat restoration.
    It does appear that the end of it all has hastened somewhat since the rise of "modern" man and the population we create. Again, I hope and pray for a solution to the crisis our natural world is in.
    All the best to you sir!

  3. #3
    Registered Member Discluv's Avatar
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    Default Re: Australian Fires

    My heart goes out to the Aussie's in this very devastating situation. I am in Northern California and know many people who lost their homes in the fires that swept through Paradise. In California, these fires have become the new norm.
    This topic is very important to me--- daily on my mind, so Ill give my take--
    That we are in the midst of a changing climate is without dispute. Those that deny this is happening are those who willfully choose to not look at our climate crisis because it doesn't align with their politics and/or economics.
    The socially responsible, those who can look beyond their political affiliations and their own economic impact, are needed to lead us away from the brink we are now standing on. Actually, sadly, we have fallen over this precipice; but, it is our duty to do what we can now for the future of our children and grandchildren. We will be judged by future generations by how we dealt with this crisis.

    Lets look at the Facts:

    Waters are rising all over the world- this is fact.
    Weather patterns are more extreme and changeable ( cold and heat- this is a fact.)
    Fires, floods, tornadoes. They are becoming more frequent and devastating. This is a fact.
    Permafrost/glaciers are melting at the poles. Excess carbon from this melt is further increasing rate of erosion of ozone layer. This on top of what we are already contributing by the use of fossil fuels. This is the "Greenhouse -effect."

    It can be explained this way:

    The depletion of the ozone layer is caused mainly by the increase in emissions of chlorine- and bromine-containing compounds like CFCs, halons, carbon tetrachloride, methyl chloroform and methyl bromide. Emissions of greenhouse gases can affect the depletion of the ozone layer through atmospheric interaction.


    https://www.pbl.nl/en/publications/E...zone_depletion

  4. #4
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    Don Speers

    Default Re: Australian Fires

    Honestly I have trouble defining exactly what "what we can" means. Please do not take this as a criticism as I struggle with what the right answer looks like, I keep fish, I own a 67 Mustang and a 67 Camaro and occasionally get criticized by the "woke" generation for even driving them. We recycle extensively, we compost, and my family makes less trash than almost if not everyone in the neighborhood,but in a 3500 sq foot home fully air conditioned or heated to our comfort level as opposed to "wear a heavy sweater, it's winter" level, with solar panels. I am a conservative independent, and I find both the global warming deniers and the green new deal proponents to be equally naive and aggressively uneducateable and wrongheaded about either the scope of the problem or the cost, effectiveness and feasibility of solutions.

    Alternative facts:
    Only approximately 1/2 world population has 24/7 access to electricity
    Only approx 2/3 have 24/7 access to safe treated water
    At some point we will shift away from fossil fuels by choice or by need
    It is highly likely that we will still heavily depend on renewable carbon based fuels as our primary energy source, due to cost, portability and convenience.

    I wonder how those billions of people with limited access to electricity or clean water would interpret our practices associated with discus keeping. I seriously doubt they would agree we are doing what we can.......a lot of folks disagree with my hobby involving classic cars (but at the same time more 20 somethings want to buy them than see them destroyed), but I see much more virtue signaling that actually walking the walk.

    FWIW, my conclusions are that even if the Paris accords were met, that would primarily shift the use of fossil fuels to 3rd world countries as this source of energy (cheapest out there now) would become even cheaper as the industrialized world substantially reduced demand. The outcome would be little if any impact on the current trajectory. Enforcement of non-use would require draconian measures to prevent both suppliers from selling and consumers from purchasing.

    Absent a massive breakthroughs in alternative means of both long term storage and energy density, biofuels will replace current hydrocarbons, batteries and non-hydrocarbon fuels will remain on the margins. This affords the additional benefit of carbon sequestration but is currently marginally utilized due cost. I truly hope I am wrong and battery technology continues to improve both in terms of duration, charge density and cycle life, but today's electric aircraft is limited to an ultralight design with a very limited number of passengers flying a few hundred miles.

    In the interim I wonder how much worse it has to get before we consider deployment of some reflective technique to reduce the amount of absorbed solar radiation. What is happening now is pretty bad

  5. #5
    Registered Member Discluv's Avatar
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    Default Re: Australian Fires

    What "we can" means making this a priority in every aspect. Making goals and keeping them.
    We are doing that in California. This is what can be done:

    https://www.edf.org/climate/californ...climate-change

    https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/pillars/pillars.htm

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