Boom Town

Australia's population passes the 21 million mark.

A Tale of Two Climates

It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. . .

While two months ago, Australia was struggling to come to terms with the scope of the drought that was taking its toll on farm and city, Australia is now struggling to come to terms with rainfall and flooding that is taking its toll on farm and city. Whereas previously the Bureau of Meteorology was saying things like "lowest rainfall every recorded" it's now switched to saying things like "highest rainfall ever recorded". It's a stark reminder that Australia has the highest rainfall variability in the world. Small comfort to those that have gone swimming in their living rooms over the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Pasha Bulker is still stuck on the beach outside Newcastle. Apparently it's not so easy to refloat a coal freighter after its run aground. In the meantime, Greenpeace has been cleverly using the ship's hull for its usual fun and games.

Mayday, Mayday. . .

After a bit of a pause, I can now report on a minor adventure, delivering climate change science to the people of the NSW south coast as part of the NSW Department of Primary Industry's Risk Management Regional Forums.

I caught a small commerical flight out of Melbourne and flew into the coastal hamlet of Merimbula where I hitched a ride over the Bega. Enjoyed a nice reception and dinner before getting down to business the following day in the unheated (and not entirely water tight) Bega Town Hall. This made the day a bit uncomfortable as the east coast low sitting off the NSW coast and sent temperatures way down. But hey, we're intrepid scientists right? It takes more that a bit of frostbite to keep us down. In any case, the workshop had a good turn out and the various farmers that showed up (largely dairy folks, given Bega is one of the nation's dairy hubs) were much appreciated. In addition to thanks, I got several comments along the following lines:

-"You don't look like a CSIRO scientist."

-"When I first walked in the room and saw you sitting there, I thought you were one of those rap guys. . ."

-"Man, I love your hair!"

Things got more exciting as we left the workshop and had to hop a small charter flight and shoot up the coast to Nowra racing the storm. Rob, the pilot, was cool calm and collected, although I raised an eyebrow (or two) when he proceeded to wipe off the condensation on the windscreen with his hand and don a headlamp to view the controls. From where I was sitting it was a long and bumpy 45 minutes. Rob rated the turbulence with a dispassionate ("moderate").

We calmed the nerves with another fine meal, liberally supported with wine and then got up the next day to do it all again with another set of equally enthusiastic farmers in Nowra. After which, Rob safely conducted us back to Sydney on much smoother and pleasant flight right over the city at night. Good fun.

Barnstorming

I'm off to regional NSW for a couple of days to deliver climate change science to the people. Best of all, due to limited commercial air traffic to the area, I get to do some sight-seeing from a seat on a very wee charter plane.

Just Like Home

Melbourne became even more like an American city this morning, as at least three people were gunned down at Flinders Street and Williams during the morning rush. Reports are all over the place at the moment - some saying a cafe, some saying the Rialto, some saying backpackers were the victims (tough break for tourism). At least one individual is confirmed dead. Uta is currently barricaded in a doctor's office, as the shootings took place around the corner from her office and the shooter is apparently still on the loose.

NSW Storm

A storm off the coast of New South Wales has turned the state's central coast into a bit of a mess - washing out roads, cutting power, flooding communities, and, strangely, dumping a coal freighter on the beach. Flood waters have begun to recede, but they're going to need some mops, cement, and superglue over there.

Runs Open

For the first time in seven years, Australians were able to go skiing on the first day of the ski seasons. Snowfall combined with larger snow-making capacity allowed the major ski resorts in the Alps to open up a few runs, causing operators to forget about that string of bad years, punctuated by last years disaster.

Gramps

OK. An American, a German, a Chilean, a Mexican, an Australian, and an Irish woman go camping. . .

I know what you're thinking: here comes the odd, long-winded joke making fun of ethnic stereotypes. Nope - just another holiday weekend spent with friends in the Grampians National Park of Victoria.

The six of us hit the road early Saturday morning in two of the more improbably recreational vehicles on the road: a Getz and a Lada - certainly not what any outback guide to Australia would recommend. However, we ended passing even more modest autos in transit. We stopped off at The Vines in Ararat for second breakfast and arrived in Halls Gap around mid-day.

We pitched camp at the Lakeside Caravan Park (or some of us did - Rodolfo appeared to erect something that looked more like a Hyatt than a tent), ominously set at the base of the dam, but since the reservoir doesn't have any water in it, I suppose the consequences of dam failure were minimal. We spent the afternoon around Brambuk cultural centre and took a quick stroll to see some of the roos, deer, and emus. By nightfall, temperatures were dropping rather quickly, so we bundled up, cooked up some Gluehwein, and enjoyed a barbie by the fire. Then we beat a hasty retreat to the sleeping bags to insulate ourselves against the cold, with temperatures overnight dropping to just above freezing.

We had a lazy breakfast Sunday morning before heading out to check out Zumstein (skip it), followed by Mackenzie Falls (where we ran into some folks that we knew - as one does in Australia) and the Balconies. We ended the hike over coffee in Halls Gap. We headed back to camp at dark, cooked up more Gluehwein, and commenced with a chili cook-off, accompanied by a raucous Aussie family reunion/birthday (we scored some cake!).

Monday morning, we broke camp and headed for the Pinnacle for a final trek over rocks and around the charred remains of trees (still standing after the 2006 bushfires that swept through much of the park and almost claimed the town).

Thanks to the Queen and the Commonwealth for giving us an opportunity for a day off.

Photos here.

Blues Win It

We took advantage of today's lovely winter weather to stroll over the MCG to catch a little footy action: Carlton vs. Western Bulldogs. As we strolled up to the arena, a kid selling raffle tickets opened his pitch with "is this your first footy game?" So apprently we still have some work to do on blending in. Perhaps it was our complete lack of team paraphenalia, or maybe we looked too sober. In any case, despite the two teams not exactly being in the top tier of the ladder at the moment, it proved to be a good game - a few changes of lead and a close contest down to the wire. This of course meant that we got to hear all manner of classic Aussie sledging and shouting of obscentities right down to the last buzzer. Nice!

No He Didn't!

Responding to the Task Force on Emissions Trading, John Howard has given the Australian government until 2012 to implement a national carbon cap-and-trade system. Has a new era begun in Australian (and international) climate policy? Perhaps, but he's also hinted that whatever cap is set on emissions, it isn't likely to be terribly stringent and lots of players are likely to receive a free pass.

Winter

Winter has arrived and brought all sorts of strange forms of water-based precipitation to southeast Australia. Stuff like rain. And snow. Things most people haven't see any of in a very long time. Farmers and ski operators are using words like "optimistic" and even smiling. It's madness, I say. Could this be a sign that things are returning to normal (and by normal I mean a normal chronic drought as opposed to a stupefying, acute drought)? On the other hand, the month of May was the warmest for Australia in, well, recorded history.

Drunks: Vulnerable to Climate Change

The climate community has invested decades in studying the potential adverse consequences of climate change, but as usual, it's the stuff we never saw coming that haunts us. Who ever gave consideration to the risk that heat waves would increase drowning fatalaties among drunks?

28 die in heatwave drunk-drownings
1145 GMT (1945 HKT), May 30, 2007
MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Twenty-eight people, many of them drunk, have drowned in the Russian capital this month as Muscovites cool off from a record heatwave in ponds, fountains and canals, rescue services said on Wednesday.

C John Trade

Well, well, well. John Howard appears to be getting all friendly with climate policy all of a sudden. His Task Group on Emissions Trading released it's assessment of potential carbon trading in Australia this morning, and it was chock full of stuff that Howard has for years been either ignoring or denying. Things like:

"Climate change is a global challenge that requires a long-term global solution in order to avoid environmental, social and economic dislocation."

or

"On balance, there would be benefits in the Australian Government now setting a post-2012 constraint on emissions."

or

"The overriding goal of Australia’s efforts should be to lower emissions at least cost."

or

"For Australia to commit to emissions trading now would place us in advance of most of the world community."

So almost overnight, it's as though a national cap-and-trade system is a feasible option. But then, it is an election year, Howard's getting killed in the polls, and the opposition are almost certain to advance the issue, so what choice does he have. If he can somehow rescue himself politically, he can always back out on any deal that's made. After all, that's what Bush did in 2000. But wait, strange things are also afoot in the White House. What the hell is going on?

Melbourne Social Hour

Well, Americans might be widely regarded as the friendliest people on the planet (present regional skirmishes, excepted), but Aussies are no slouches when it comes to striking up a casual conversation.

While waiting on the wife in the CBD last weekend, I sat myself down on a bench, basked in the sun, and sucked down a tasty Boost Juice (which I still enjoy, despite the recent unpleasantness).

A short time later, a middle aged man strolled over and started chatting me up. Had I been back home on America's fertile religious ground, I would have smelled what was up a mile away, but can't say I've been a party to much proselytizing in Australia. But hey, Australia continues to go the way of America, so I guess we just have to accept that and get used to bible thumpers rocking up to bring Jesus into an otherwise perfect Aussie day.

So anyway, the usual dance commenced as he set about trying to catalog my many and varied sins and offering to throw me a life line from the hell I've committed myself to. I countered with the secular humanism bit, but he wasn't buying. Apparently honouring my mother and father, my marriage vows, and my fellow man isn't enough - I'm still going to hell (why is God so freakin' selfish? It's always ME, ME, ME!). He told me to abandon my scientific beliefs, embrace faith, and beware of all the false prophets employed by Satan. I suggested for all I knew he was such a minion of Satan come to lead me astray. He countered with a clumsy attempt to take on science head-on, attempting to convince me that C-14 dating is proven rubbish and that scientists were wrong 500 years ago in thinking that the world was flat. Now as far as attempts to debunk science go, these are pretty lame, being the former goes against fundamental physics (presumably God created the physical universe so maybe one should have a little more respect for its structure and properties) and the latter recorded history. So I lit him up with these points, at which point he got a bit sad and opted to end the debate. He parted with "there is only truth and lies", to which I said "don't you mean truth and faith". Overall, I still haven't figured out why such folks continue to have such piss poor knowledge of fundamental science - this reminds of the time I got jumped on New Year's Eve by thumpers, one of whom (on the subject of evolution) stated, "what, do you think monkeys just fell out of trees and started walking around like men?" followed by "humans have 36 chromosomes, right . . . [I don't remember what he said after this because I got hung up on the 36 chromosomes bit]. I don't insult fundamentalists by butchering the bible, how come they can't show me the same courtesy? Maybe because fundamentalists only have 36 chromosomes?

That nonsense, aside, I was immediately joined by a far more pleasant elderly gentleman, who had stopped to see what the fuss was about. The 85 (soon to be 86) year old was an expat from Belgrade who'd migrated to Australia in 1949 and had been living in St. Kilda ever since. He asked where I was from, to which I replied "America". He said, "South America". "No," I said, "the US". "You don't look like an American," was the reply (go figure). We chatted for a bit, at which point work-mate Julian strolled by (see, what a social town) and so I broke off to catch up with him, before returning to Mr. Belgrade. At this point, Uta walked up which added another dimension to the conversation, which continued on in German (with the occasional lapse into French, Italian, or Spanish - this guy was talented). Anyway, we enjoyed getting the dirt on one of Melbourne's old guard, and he seemed to be highly amused to speak with us (particularly in German - I think it'd been a while since he had occasion to use it).

Scheiss Wissenschaft

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