Latest 15 of 20 Total Comments Show All

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  Madverts at 05:00 PM JST - 21st July

  Skip,

  I don't think they get much rainwater.

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  SushiSake3 at 05:01 PM JST - 21st July

  Here's 1 million Aussies in danger, just last year 19 million Bangladeshi and Indians were affected by the worst flooding on record....the list goes on and on...

  "You are trying to pin this on one person."

  I would answer that if I understood it. Who are you refering to here?

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  Madverts at 05:03 PM JST - 21st July

  C'mon, sushi. Even I got that one...

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  SushiSake3 at 05:09 PM JST - 21st July

  Madverts - "I don't think they get much rainwater."

  You're right, and that's the whole problem, and it IS related to climate change.

  Also, population growth isn't helping as increasing populations require more food which requires more water to be diverted for crops rather than drinking water.

  All this is obvious, but it doesn't change the fact that water shortages - that are popping up more and more often - are going to pose real problems.

  This distraction of terrorism isn't helping either.

  Australia has some of the best water desalinaization machines in the world (one of their larger companies is currently exporting water deslainzation machines to Mexico, California, Egypt, etc.) and they have machines scattered right down their east coast.

  Water desalinization tech is going to become VERY big business in the very near future and when people start running out of water - a resource that is so essential to life - like these Aussies are, they are going to realize just how trivial and mistaken they have been to support the ultimately trivial "War on Terror."

  And the reason is blindingly obvious - try living without water for more than a few days, then come back and tell us how "important" fighting terror" is......

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  rajakumar at 05:10 PM JST - 21st July

  Why don't Australia use their abundant uranium for nuke power and their abundant gas power, to get them german/EU desalination towers going ,like in middle east.

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  skipthesong at 05:17 PM JST - 21st July

  Most places that are having a problem with droughts have had many droughts to deal with over the years before this war on terror came to be. Most people were barely touching the issue long ago and they are barely touching it now.

  You are deep into this environment stuff aren't you?

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  SushiSake3 at 05:23 PM JST - 21st July

  Skip, ever heard of a tipping point?

  Australia is now suffering the combined effects of climate change and the ravages of a population that is becoming too large for the available resources to sustain. Sydney, Aussie's largest city, has had water restrictions for more than a year now.

  It's long been news that outback Aussie farmers have been killing themselves after they watched their farms turn to dustbowls, and thirst crazed camels have been seen running rampage through outback towns and camps in search of water.

  Skip, if you were living in outback Australia and the creek that supplies your town was running at a trickle and forecast to dissapear, do you think you would still so passionately believe that terrorism is actually a serious issue??

  I think people need to get more in step with what are the real issues and what are the side shows.

  Climate change affects millions and has the potential to affect billions of people.

  Moderator: Readers, terrorism is of course irrelevant to this discussion.

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  skipthesong at 05:42 PM JST - 21st July

  sushi:
  Have you stopped eating beef? Did it ever occur to you one of the most major problems with water is the land space required to have cattle, destroying millions and millions of aches and forests each year with all the lose dirt and dust going straight into the rivers. Australia is a big cattle production country. Stop the need for eating meat, this is one area I never see people discuss. If you are the environmentalist as you purport in your posts, then, for your sake, I hope you have given up on red meat, otherwise you are a you know what. Just like we can blame cars today on pollution, we can consider raising cattle kind of a pre-historic pollution.

  Notice how since the 70's people at street level KNEW what was going to happen, but took nothing into real consideration until now, which as you imply is too late. Why the wait? And now people want the government to do something. Had people gone back to days of old and saved their rain water, BTW, one inch of rain comes to about 4.16 gallons with a rain catcher; check it out http://www.friendsofwater.com/Water_Catch.html I know people who use this, even in Japan. Additionally, to date, there really are only three major countries that have prohibited privatization of water and that is India, Indonesia, and one more South East Asian country.

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  OldGeezer at 06:03 PM JST - 21st July

  There's a "drought" despite increased rainfall. It must be due to "climate change" (which has fashionably become a negative). Population centers have been pushing the limits of natural freshwater resources for decades.

  Now, considering the current economic crisis precipitated by growing demand for oil and gas, particularly by China and India (nuclear powers, btw.), and a near-monopoly by OPEC (with major member-states whose governments are targeted for destabilization by terrorists), a reasonable individual might justly fear a crisis that might very well spark an outright world war. Considering how much larger the world population is and how much more reliant nation-states have become on international trade for essential goods, such as food and medicine, the possible repercussions are far greater than some give credit for, even if nuclear war is discounted.

  There is no single issue whose importance dwarfs all others (excluding end-of-life events such as a cataclysmic impact by a celestial body). As humankind has become more interconnected, the ripples in one part of the earth can become life-threatening. Note the food-riots in a number of countries as foodstuff production has been supplanted by energy production (i.e. ethanol) in other major food-producing countries (e.g. the United States).

  Of course, some people like to focus on only one or two issues. That's fine. Just don't buy into the nonsense that those issues are the ones that 'really matter'.

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  SushiSake3 at 06:49 PM JST - 21st July

  Oldgeezer, if you were living in outback Australia and the creek that supplies your town was running at a trickle and forecast to disappear, do you think you would still believe that terrorism is actually a serious issue??

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  SushiSake3 at 07:11 PM JST - 21st July

  "As Australia dries, a global shortage of rice"

  Indeed, the chief executive of the National Farmers' Federation in Australia, Ben Fargher, says, "Climate change is potentially the biggest risk to Australian agriculture."

  www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12077306

  Climate change is looming as a massive threat to not just our water suppplies, but our food supplies too, both of which are, of course, integrally related.

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  OldGeezer at 07:12 PM JST - 21st July

  SushiSake3,

  If you lived in outback Australia and were having an increase in rainfall over historic averages, would you believe that climate change is a bad thing?

  If you lived in outback Australia and were having a water shortage because major cities were draining water resources faster than they could be replenished, would you believe that cities are a good thing?

  Perspective is shaped by life experience and, like life, varies from person to person.

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  westurn at 08:19 PM JST - 21st July

  Hmmm... serious drought goin on for a good 7 years you say ? Funny, hasn't affected the price of Australian wines around the world one iota ! Be honest now, if the country was really in such dire straights wouldn't export items like wine, beef, fruits and other veggies be seeing their prices go through the roof ??? And wouldn't the government be putting restrictions on water usage, thus driving up prices more ? But, happy to say, we see none of that ! Could this be just more malarkey drummed up by the "climate change" chicken littles ???

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  skipthesong at 08:50 PM JST - 21st July

  UD08: good post.

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  tclh at 10:09 PM JST - 21st July

  westurn,good point.The supply of fresh food (meat,fish vegetable,grain,fruit..) in Australia is so abundant,even the price did go up a little over the years , it is not only because of climate change but also it is affected by high fuel price worldwide.And also it depends on where you go for shopping. For example now in Sydney, if you go to a major super market you will have to pay nearly 20 dollars for a kilo of rum steak,but you can get the same or better quality for 7.50 dollars only from some retail butcher shops nearby run by migrant Chineses.

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