Modern Victoria — where 5,000 volunteer knitters help the poor stay warm

Once upon a time we could afford heating.

Volunteer knitters in high demand as soaring power prices leave people cold

A national army of knitters is in desperate need of more volunteers to help them meet the growing demand for winter woollies.

Victoria returns to the Victorian era

Knitters can not keep up with demand

“Some people say it has been a colder winter — I actually don’t think so,” Ms Rogers said. I think it’s been milder than what we’ve had, it’s just the need that’s so much greater unfortunately.

“Even if people have got heating, they can’t afford to run it, so they need the warm clothes or the blankets.”

Can you knit to keep a poor Victorian warm?

UPDATE from Beowulf:

I hear Audrey Zibelman, boss of AEMO, is a dab hand with a set of needles. Here’s her favourite pattern ladies: plain one, pearl one, skip 10, repeat.

It makes a jumper full of holes that must be plugged with other materials, but it saves heaps on the cost of wool and we don’t need to breed any more sheep to make our jumpers. Fabulous.

PS:I’m still travelling. Apologies for very delayed replies to email.

9.6 out of 10 based on 71 ratings

209 comments to Modern Victoria — where 5,000 volunteer knitters help the poor stay warm

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    The fact that Knitters are needed because Electricity is now Too Expensive is due to decisions made by the Knutters in charge.

    A study found that the number of Knitters required was directly proportional to the number of Knutters directing electricity policy.

    KK

    550

    • #
      Yonniestone

      What about the sick irony of their ABC running the story while having a pivotal role in spreading the warmist propaganda and its politics throughout Australia then feeding off the misery it helped create.

      470

      • #

        Their ABC, or anyone of the Left, never sees the irony in what they say or do. It’s like Antifa being against the intolerance, hatred and violence associated with fascists.

        240

        • #
          TdeF

          Or the violent fascist blackshirts who call themselves AntiFA without any sense of hypocrisy.

          It’s flip side of the long march through the institutions to prevent the study of European history, so that the mistakes of the past can be repeated, from socialism to fascism to communism. Mussolini’s Blackshirts and Ernst Roehm’s brownshirts were all thugs from violent socialist parties. Facisti was simply an italian name given to groups. Both believed in shutting down free speech, burning books, a totalitarian society and attacked conservatives with violence.

          180

          • #
            TdeF

            What is odd is that at the time of the Fascisti, the devastation of WW1 was terrible. Unemployment was 40-50%. Food was scarce. The world was in turmoil and Hitler and Mussolini provided jobs and security and investment and promises of a better world.

            Today, people are in that far better world of peace and prosperity in Australia. Even the beggars at traffic lights are on welfare and have cigarettes and soft drinks.
            The protesters are often students and the full time unemployed, so why do they want to bring it all down?

            So I would see the modern fascists as either employees of world agitators like Soros and many more, an unemployed class pretending to be students and a good number of lazy violent anarchists who think that by destroying a meritocracy, they can rise to power with no skills or qualifications at all. Like Hitler’s henchmen and Hitler himself, a failure at everything he tried except rabble rousing. Luckily for the world he was a lousy general too.

            70

      • #
        Latus Dextro

        Very old Hat, old school, and so aptly Victorian.
        This insanity may be traced back to the 1980’s, to the dawning eco-Marxist ideology and the UN global warming Trojan horse.

        UK Parliament Hansard 19 Oct 2011, Column 935

        Robert Flello (Lab)

        My right hon. Friend will recall, as will most Members when the Government take us back TO THE 1980s, that it was Edwina Currie (Con; then junior Minister of Health) who said that pensioners had to stay in one room with a flask beside them, knitting themselves scarves and hats to keep warm.
        We are going back to that same territory, are we not?

        180

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Yonnie,

        This post could be used as a prompter for discussion on so many aspects of our society but for me it prompts the question;

        “How did Australia lose momentum”.

        The car industry is a good example.

        Is it that we are being played by the active political partis who will give us exactly what we ask for; maybe higher wages requiring government subsidies e.g. our southern motor vehicle industry.

        Eventually the subsidies must be withdrawn, in fairness to other taxpayers, and until the product can be produced at reasonable cost for sale overseas there are two mechanisms that may need to be in place: wage restraint and or a lower Aussie dollar.

        There’s an inbuilt cascade effect built in to most situations like this that can be exploited by politicians.

        It goes on and on and eventually we may all end up spinning wool, men, and knitting, woemen.

        KK

        80

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          KK:
          The drive to eliminate industry has been going since Whitlam’s time. Then it was couched in terms of getting the lowest priced goods for the public. Thus it was ‘suggested’ that Australia’s 15 refrigerator and freezer manufacturers could be consolidated into 3, who would enjoy economy of scale. In the case of the company my father worked for the retort was that if economy of scale was required they would stop buying local components and buy from a european company who made 30 times the whole Australian market.
          The immediate effect was the loss of hundreds of jobs and eventually the australian manufacturing sector has gone.

          One senior manager lost his temper (unusually) with the inquiry and said “Well, if we have to reduce costs to match overseas producers, does that mean we will reduce costs by importing lawyers from Costa Rica and politicians from Brazil?” Sadly those who are insulated from the cost of policies they advocate are usually spared the effect of them. The same is supposed to apply to the Greenies who overwhelmingly get their income from the State and/or Federal Governments and think that they will never be affected. If they manage to cause a depression then they will find out to their cost that they aren’t essential.

          140

          • #
            Kinky Keith

            Good points.

            The winners over the last forty years have been the Unions, asking for more pay for workers, sometimes getting exorbitant rates, think Vic Roads highway splurge and Desalination Plants, and by no means last the government of the day with their hangers on often “consulting” or otherwise involved; think Son of Our Dear Departed President T.

            They don’t care much about their constituents.

            KK

            40

        • #
          Yonniestone

          KK & G No.3 I was once one of the sheeple that simply thought if living cost more wages went up and that was that, but after reading Steve Kates economics articles on Catallaxy Files over the years the old ideas of minimum wages and true free markets have been challenged completely, I believe from our federation Australia has always had some form of leftist collective mindset that worked as the people had freedom to question and regulate those accountable, its now that Australians are conditioned to ask for any solutions to problems via government that’s become the real issue, people call it government money instead of taxpayer revenue without thinking.

          30

      • #
        TedM

        Extremely well said Yonnie.

        20

    • #
      Graham Richards

      The knitters must claim tax deductions from the knutters by reason that the knitters are doing the job of knutters. Force knutters to accept the knitters Accord!

      90

    • #
      beowulf

      I hear Audrey Zibelman, boss of AEMO, is a dab hand with a set of needles.
      Here’s her favourite pattern ladies: plain one, pearl one, skip 10, repeat.

      It makes a jumper full of holes that must be plugged with other materials, but it saves heaps on the cost of wool and we don’t need to breed any more sheep to make our jumpers. Fabulous.

      If there aren’t enough jumpers to go around, Audrey has a wonderful “jumper shedding” plan where each day jumpers will be torn from the backs of selected “volunteers” and distributed to others.

      Audrey, our hero — how can we ever repay you? Hint: you could have hitched a ride back to NY with Mal-con and Loosey Turnbull.

      130

      • #
        Bobl

        Not to mention jumpers that only work when the sun is out.

        70

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Speaking of a bit odd…..from our favourite dissemination organization ( notice I never called it news…)
        I’m still laughing..what could possibly go wrong?

        https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/04/queensland-could-reap-24bn-renewables-boom-if-it-phases-out-coal-generators

        “Queensland could reap $24bn renewables boom if it phases out coal generators

        Analysts say sector could expand sixfold if all planned projects proceed and government focuses on carbon reduction policies

        Regional Queensland is on the verge of a $24bn renewable energy boom, but the “vast majority” of projects will never be built without the phase out of existing coal-fired power stations and government policy to reduce emissions in the energy sector.

        A new report by analysts Green Energy Markets, commissioned by Solar Citizens, finds the renewable industry could expand sixfold – employing 34,000 people in construction and 1,500 people in ongoing jobs – if all projects under planning were to proceed.

        The report found Queensland solar and windfarms were performing well above international standards – most were between 20% and 50% more efficient. Homes with rooftop solar already save $720 a year on power bills.

        The report said while the future could be bright, policy settings needed to shift if Queensland was to capitalise on the opportunity and meet the state’s 50% renewable energy generation target by 2030.

        “The vast majority of these projects [under consideration] will only proceed to construction if there is new government policy to encourage further carbon pollution reductions in the electricity sector or the closure of existing power plants,” the report says.

        Louise Matthiesson, the spokeswoman for Solar Citizens Queensland, said the state’s high-quality sun, wind and water resources offered a competitive advantage over other states and countries.

        “Without strong, consistent and ongoing policy support for renewables, it is highly likely Queensland will miss out on many of these opportunities and fall short of reaching its target of at least 50% renewable energy by 2030.

        Matthiesson said the state government’s establishment of a renewable energy corporation, CleanCo, was a welcome step.But she said Queensland still lacked a clear industry roadmap to ensure growth continued.

        Renewables forecast to halve wholesale energy prices over four years

        Last week the Queensland government announced it would establish CleanCo, a long-planned and publicly owned generation company that would focus on renewables. In the June state budget papers, it appeared plans for CleanCo had stalled.

        The government now expects CleanCo will be trading in the national energy market by mid-2019, operating an initial portfolio of about 1,000MW of renewable and low-emissions generators.

        It was hailed as a “game changer” by treasurer Jackie Trad last week.

        The Green Energy Markets report said a recent assessment of the energy grid by the state government’s transmission business, Powerlink, “suggest[s] there is room to support substantial additional renewable energy capacity in the network”.

        20

  • #
    pat

    spare a thought for the Scots, who have done so much for the “renewables” industry:

    10 Aug: StornowayGazetteUK: There is a far higher price to pay for fuel poverty than expensive bills
    by Melinda Gillen
    In 2018, fuel poverty in the Western Isles stands at 56%…
    At the launch of the scheme Hebrides Energy chairwoman Carola Bell said…
    “People living on the edge of the UK has all too often been penalised by higher fuel prices and many aren’t aware that they are free to switch supplier.”…
    National statistics indicate that more than 3,000 people die each year in the UK because they cannot afford to properly heat their homes.
    Living in cold conditions also increases the risk of general health problems, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as falls and injuries.
    People experiencing fuel poverty can also struggle with poor mental health and this can also lead to social isolation…
    https://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/news/there-is-a-far-higher-price-to-pay-for-fuel-poverty-than-expensive-bills-1-4782052

    solution – order an investigation!

    31 Aug: Energy Voice: Scotland is an energy rich nation
    by Paul Wheelhouse, minister for energy, connectivity and the islands
    Scotland has been at the heart of the global oil and gas industry for decades and, more recently, has been a driving force behind the renewable energy revolution, and has demonstrated high ambition with our world-leading targets and frameworks for mitigation of climate change.
    Yet, despite Scotland’s comparative advantage in energy resources, there are still people in Scotland living in fuel poverty: people who are genuinely forced to choose between being cold and being hungry. That sobering fact requires decisive action…

    There are significant opportunities that could be achieved through developing a public energy company that is involved in both generation and supply, building on Scotland’s natural advantage in renewable sources…

    I am therefore commissioning an outline business case to further investigate these proposals and to develop our understanding of the practical details, costs and benefits…
    https://www.energyvoice.com/opinion/180578/scotland-is-an-energy-rich-nation/

    70

    • #
      ivan

      As of 21h00 BST all the wind machines are only producing 1.41GW (4.07%) of the UK’s power requirements and of course nothing from the solar brigade. They have even called on coal to provide 1.49GW (4.30%) as well.

      Xo much for the unreliables providing for those in fuel poverty they are the cause of it.

      Information by http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk

      140

    • #
      Geoffrey Williams

      More B*llsh*t from the energy minister for the Britsh and Scottish people.
      Nothing will change just more beaurocracy, more lies and more renewables. Oh,and more expensive electricity.
      GeoffW

      100

      • #
        Mal

        Less electricity when needed, but what is available will be sold to highest bidder. Isn’t this the Mafia business model?

        20

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      I think the Government’s line is “Let them burn bulls*t”.

      60

    • #
      PeterPetrum

      Looks like Paul Wheelhouse is Sccotland’s answer to Turnbull. Build more wind turbines and let the owner sell his/her power directly to consumers and charge what they like.

      Should work well.

      80

  • #
    el gordo

    Apparently 90% of Victorians believe in the value of renewable energy, so I’m not sympathetic. Let them eat cake.

    More importantly, for the sun worshippers.

    https://www.devdiscourse.com/Article/140507-scientists-detect-strange-and-unexpected-phenomenon-in-sun

    110

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Munchausens by proxy……

      50

    • #
      Jonesy

      Sun worshippers? Interesting. Gamma rays that would radiate more out along the orbital plane during solar minimum. What would be the interface with our magnetosphere with consequent effect on weather?

      30

    • #

      Apparently 90% of Victorians believe in the value of renewable energy,…

      I suspect that those stats (probably from Their ABC) are as reliable and factual as climate stats produced by the BOM.

      141

    • #
      Ve2

      I for one firmly believe in the value of renewable energy and is why I purchase AGL shares. Great little dividend earner.

      31

      • #
        el gordo

        How do you sleep at night?

        Coal is holding its own outside of Australia.

        https://www.thegwpf.com/content/uploads/2018/09/Screenshot-2018-09-03-15.21.27.png

        20

        • #
          Bobl

          I have oil shares so if someone wants to milk subsidies off AGL by holding their shares why should I care. I don’t buy into this divestment crap. I have solar panels and rip 60.1c per kWh out of the system too, that’s a nice little earner too while it lasts. My system has already paid for itself so I’m as the head of the queue at the trough. Later after the party is over I might recycle the solar panels into novelty garden tables that power garden lights via a Li battery.

          PS. I never bought the solar to save CO2, the current power bill disaster was totally predictable back in 2010 so I did it to hedge ( offset ) the inevitable price rises and to eventually off grid because I’m a libertarian and don’t want governments messing with my life. Independence from water and electricity grids is part of that. Solar + diesel is the best way to become grid independent.

          30

  • #
    wal1957

    Oh well, as long as the ‘greenies’ are happy…that’s the main thing.

    Fair dinkum, no politician would want to step in my house! How they can bear to look in the mirror every morning is beyond me! Bloody disgraceful!

    230

  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    Make the yoghurt knitters use wool instead!

    30

  • #
    King Geo

    Help a Victorian keep warm by knitting a woolly jumper for those poor souls struggling to pay those exorbitant “RE driven power bills”? I could but then I, together with all the other Jo Nova skeptics, would be complete “knit wits”. May I suggest the struggling Victorian folk vote out Premier Andrews on 24 November, just like SA recently voted out RE (wind) obsessed Premier Weatherdill back in March this year – took the wind right out of his sails.

    231

  • #
    ivan

    Should be emailed to ScoMo

    70

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    Glorioys Leader speaks:

    “Here in glorious Soviet Victoristan Republic, our patriotic knitters are showing degenerate capitalist states how glorious is New Southern Uzbekistan.”

    ( ….faint sound of a portable generator somewhere behind the building…..)

    201

  • #
    pat

    one day it will dawn on Australians the CAGW mob have only just begun in making demands of them:

    1 Sept: Scotsman: Holyrood’s draft climate change bill in hot water
    by ANDY GREGORY
    The Scottish Government’s draft climate change bill will not be effective enough for Scotland to meet its obligations under the 2016 Paris Agreement, a study has shown.

    An analysis of what constitutes “Scotland’s fair share of greenhouse gas emissions” under the international agreement has been carried out by climate scientists from the Tyndall Centre at the University of Manchester and Sweden’s Uppsala University.

    The Scottish Government’s new bill, set to be debated at Holyrood this autumn, proposes a 90 per cent reduction of all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to 1990. Their advisers, the UK Committee on Climate Change, claim this target “is at the limits of feasibility”.
    However, the new report shows that Scotland must aim for 102 per cent reductions by 2050 and at least 10 per cent higher than the bill’s 2030 targets in order to play its agreed role in keeping global temperature rises below 2 degrees Celsius. The report’s suggested targets are even higher than those called for by campaigners…

    “This report clearly shows that a 90 per cent target for 2050 is well short of what the Paris Agreement requires of Scotland,” said Richard Dixon, director of ***Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES), which commissioned the report alongside umbrella group, ***Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS)…

    Campaigners believe that by 2050 Scotland should see a 100 per cent reduction in all greenhouse gases…
    https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/holyrood-s-draft-climate-change-bill-in-hot-water-1-4793580

    90

  • #

    100% reduction in ghg’s because everyone
    will have left…

    100

    • #
      Latus Dextro

      …or be dead. Zeroing out “climate change” by definition may only be achieved by zeroing out humanity. The UNFCCC is designed to provide political and ideological justification in perpetuity.

      50

  • #

    Why would someone spend days knitting when cheap synthetic fabrics and finished soft goods are available by the container? I believe the industrial revolution occurred some time ago now. If people enjoy knitting and giving away what they make, that’s nice. If there is a need for warm clothing for a lot of people I suggest buying piles of clothing from whoever can make clothing cheaply and quickly. Take my taxes. We buy sillier things from Asia with our national budget.

    Then again, why erect whirlygigs and send the Snowy back uphill when you can just burn coal?

    Talk about a bunch of Hard-Way Harries.

    180

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Nice idea except Industry is dead here except for the big government employment boom.

      60

    • #

      Why would someone spend days knitting…

      Because it keeps them warm doing and gives them something to do, given that they can’t afford to do anything else.

      70

      • #
        Greg Cavanagh

        Seems to be another form of virtue signaling.

        Surely the cost of the wool would be equal or greater than just buying a mass produced cardigan and giving that away.

        40

        • #

          From what I understand, all the wool is donated and unravelled so that new garments, blankets etc can be made.

          To me, this is a great signal to ‘they who don’t seem to care’ that things are crook in Tallarook.

          30

          • #
            OriginalSteve

            Is a symptom of a much deeper problem……there is a structural issue being exposed, namely accelerating fuel poverty.

            The wearing of warm jumpers can only take you so far.

            I have been telling anyone who will listen that Victoriastan is run by a Communist govt that appears to be hell bent on bringing the state to its knees economically, in order to kill off the middle class. Car manufacturing has gone, power is unreliable, the police appear to shoot first and ask questions later. If you we describing the failing state of South Africa, or the failed state of Zimbabwe, you woudn’t be too far off. The common thing is Communists running the show.

            Mandela was a communist, the ANC are communists, Mugabe is a communist. The Labor party and Liberal party are socialists, Turncoat was a champers socialist, Shortonideas is likely a red ragger in a plain wrapper. Gullard was a communist, Kevvie07 was a clueless UN-loving Socialist.

            Were in a bad way….

            30

            • #

              Yep. My house, built for the view rather than the aspect, is too cold in winter, and that’s not far from the sea and the sub-tropics. If we want to go back to the days of no indoor heating we can expect the life-expectancies of those times. People relying on personal cladding alone will always do less, achieve less and move less.

              Same goes for heat. The deaths in France in 2003 occurred in old premises with heating but no cooling. I have a small office where I spend my indoor time blissfully when it is either too cold or hot…all thanks to a little Panasonic air-conditioner and the miracle of mainstream electrical power. I want that for everybody. (I don’t want more than that for everybody because a good thing needs to be tempered with thrift, a word never heard from our Green Betters.)

              We make gods of plausible commie thugs like Mandela and applaud when a power plant, which has brought comfort and convenience to generations, is dynamited. Twisted, or what?

              70

            • #

              the police appear to shoot first and ask questions later

              Except when it comes to certain youths that gather for no apparent reason, then the police seek assistance from the community to identify said youths that were behaving badly in front of said police.

              30

    • #

      I dunno, guys. Waiting for urgently needed clothes and blankets to get hand-knitted is like waiting for advanced submarines to get built by people who can’t make bodgie canoes…for delivery much later in the century, all going well with dodgy unions and dinky power supply.

      Nobody would ever be that silly. Right?

      90

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Of course not. This is Australia and nothing can go wrong here.

        And even if it does, our glorious Politicians with their ABCCC can show us that we/they are not to blame because somebody else did “it”.

        KK

        50

    • #
      yarpos

      Why would anyone do woodwork when you can go to Ikea?

      Why do metalwork when you can by something from Bunnings?

      Why restore and maintain old cars when you can buy a new one?

      Some people derive pleasure from doing and creating and maintaining skills, rather than just shopping.

      80

      • #

        Agreed yarpos. There is therapeutic value in knitting and gifting. I bet the knitters would score higher on mental health studies than people who sat at home and watched The Project.
        Likewise for the giftees — getting hand-made goods rather than mass processed ones would have a five star placebo effect.

        50

        • #
          beowulf

          That’s right, knitting is therapeutic. The rhythmic click of the knitting needles, the purr of the cat on your lap, the crackle of the logs on the fire, the bass pounding in your chest from the neighbour’s boom boom music 2 doors up. Ah, bliss.

          20

    • #

      The real problem with my idea is that government would find a way to make a five dollar blanket cost fifty. Remember the set top boxes?

      Still, I wouldn’t care if we bought cheap blankets (scientifically waffled using naughty Uzbek cotton and Bangladeshi labour) for a few bucks a piece and gave them out to those in need…while waiting for a proper coal-based power system to come on line. (I know, I know…distribution costs and admin will turn them not into fifty but into hundred dollar blankets…but let me dream.)

      Hey, we can’t all be right-wing here. I still kick warmies harder than anybody, right? Who would you want by your side in the trenches if the Green Blob was rolling right at you?

      50

      • #
        yarpos

        “……government would find a way to make a five dollar blanket cost fifty. ”

        absolute rolled gold certainty

        40

  • #
    Sean

    I love the word play in the comments. Knitters to knutters correlation (by Kinky Kieth) is great (but it’s probably easier to simply track price). After all, the “certainty” built into renewable schemes is all about guaranteed profitability for the investors. Then Pat quoted the a Scottish story by Paul Wheelhouse who lauded the “high ambition” of Scottish energy policy while going on to discuss energy poverty. Perhaps a more appropriate word for “ambition” in green energy policy ought to be “ruthlessness” where feelings of pain imposed on others is blocked out in order to achieve power at any price. So next time you hear “ambition” being thrown about by Green bureaucrats remember it’s just a more politically acceptable way to say ruthless.

    130

  • #
    bob sykes

    Real Victorians burned coal in their coal stoves to keep warm.

    With the power plants shut down, there ought to be plenty of coal to go around.

    130

  • #
    toorightmate

    I wonder if John Setka’s kids knit.
    Or have they only been taught how to protest?

    81

    • #
      Gazman

      Those kids are being abused. Setka doesn’t deserve them.

      51

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Good point about modern society. If your argument might attract critical comment just send the message with the kids.

        They are the modern “Untouchables”.

        In another view, the expendables.

        KK

        40

      • #
        Bobl

        They shouldn’t have even been taught that word yet. Neglect is probably more appropriate. I hope family services is looking into it.

        30

  • #
    pat

    3 Sept: Bloomberg: Will Judges Have the Last Word on Climate Change?
    By Bob Van Voris and Jeremy Hodges
    In the fight against climate change, one tool is proving increasingly popular: litigation. From the U.S. to India, activists, governments and concerned citizens are suing at a breakneck pace…
    1. Why turn to the courts?
    Activists and environmentally minded lawyers are seeking new ways to use the law to slow global warming and assign responsibility for the resulting economic damages. They’ve been given new urgency by President Donald Trump’s decision to remove the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Some believe courts are uniquely suited to impose controls where legislatures and government agencies have failed…

    4. So it’s about human rights?
    Yes, human-rights arguments are a small but growing approach. Plaintiffs make the case that climate change has threatened or taken away the basic rights to shelter, health, food, water and even life…

    5. How have governments responded?
    They argue that judges should not be setting government policies…

    8. How have lawsuits fared in the U.S.?
    Badly so far…

    9. Why do environmentalists keep trying?
    They’re seeking their tobacco moment…
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-03/will-judges-have-the-last-word-on-climate-change-quicktake

    3 Sept: BusinessGreen: Women on boards help big companies lower environmental risks, study suggests
    by Chloe Farand
    Research from the University of Adelaide in Australia examined the relationship between board gender diversity and corporate environmental violations…
    The study, published in the Journal of Corporate Finance (LINK), examined 1,893 environmental lawsuits filed against any of the firms listed on the Standard and Poor’s 150 composite index in the US from 2000 to 2015 and compared the data with the gender diversity of the companies’ boards.
    It concluded that for every additional woman appointed to a corporate board, the company experienced an average 1.5 per cent reduction in litigation risk…

    In contrast, study author Dr Chelsea Liu, a senior lecturer at the Adelaide Business School, found that women CEOs reduced the risk of environmental litigation only in firms with a low level of women representation on their board…
    Liu said that her findings provided “an important insight to investors, managers, and policymakers into the role of female leadership in public companies”…
    https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3061962/women-on-boards-help-big-companies-lower-environmental-risks-study-suggests

    50

    • #

      So more sheilas mean less litigation but more Green Blob? Thanks for the warning.

      Chloe and Chelsea, get back to the kitchen.

      (I know, I know…just snip me. But gawd that felt good to say.)

      90

    • #
      RickWill

      In terms of material damages, the greatest loss associated with the Climate Change Industry has been incurred by those not in a position to make their own electricity so are required, by law, to pay significantly higher unit cost for electricity. This amounts to billions each year and has been accelerating since 2009.

      It seems reasonable to me that a class action to recover the losses directly associated with the RET would have merit. The ACCC may even support such action given its stance on the transfer payments.

      It would be great to have the AGW supporters actually trying to defend the punitive impact on electrify costs in a courtroom.

      70

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    3 Sept: UK Times: Companies get sinking feeling as ‘Solarcoaster’ plunges again
    The government’s decision to abandon feed-in tariffs for solar power has presented providers with significant problems
    by David Waller
    Gabriel Wondrausch remembers the last time that the government announced reductions to the so-called feed-in tariff, the incentive that rewards customers for generating renewable energy and supplying it back to the grid. What was an obscure policy detail to most was a threat to Mr Wondrausch’s livelihood.

    It was nearly three years ago. He heard the grim details, loaded his dog into his car and drove to nearby Starcross beach in south Devon to consider his options. The previous tariff cut had sent the turnover of Sungift Energy, his Exeter-based renewables company, plummeting from £8 million to about £2 million. He had only recently steadied the business and here he was, facing another tsunami.
    “I didn’t know if I could cope…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/companies-get-sinking-feeling-as-solarcoaster-plunges-again-vnpdpcttc

    a different kind of tariff:

    3 Sept: BusinessGreen: European Commission ditches tariffs on Chinese solar imports
    by Madeleine Cuff
    As was widely expected, the Commission announced late last week it will scrap minimum import price (MIP) rules from midnight tonight.
    It claimed the decision was taken in the “best interest of the EU as a whole” and with a view to supporting the bloc’s new renewable energy targets…

    However, the move is likely to anger the handful of solar technology manufacturers based in Europe, who have long argued that import measures are required to create a level playing field with low cost Chinese importers…
    https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3062016/european-commission-ditches-tariffs-on-chinese-solar-imports

    20

    • #
      RickWill

      This highlights the unrenewable aspect of so-caled “renewables”. No country with a high market share of wind and solar energy can possibly compete with a country using coal to power its industry.

      As EU increases its energy intensive imports from China it will actually achieve a reduction in CO2 emissions within its borders. However it simply shifts those emissions to China resulting in a net increase due to the energy involved in shipping.

      50

  • #
    pat

    Turnbull lives on, at The Guardian:

    2 Sept: Australia will honour Paris climate agreement, Simon Birmingham says
    Trade minister fails to name mechanism for emissions reduction as energy policy looms as key issue in Wentworth byelection
    by Paul Karp
    Turnbull’s son Alex has spruiked for donations on behalf of Labor’s candidate Tim Murray, citing energy policy as a key consideration when the progressive Liberal inner-city electorate goes to the polls.
    On Sunday Birmingham said that Morrison “has made very clear we will continue to honour our commitments” including the Paris climate agreement, as Australia had done for the first and second round of Kyoto targets.
    “We continually see, in terms of that abatement target required to meet the 2030 targets, that gap is closing with each update and we’ll continue to work on the policy settings to make sure that is achieved,” he told Sky News.

    Asked if this would include emissions reduction in the electricity, agriculture or transport industry, Birmingham said the government would “encourage adoption of new technologies and new practices, all of which have played a big role meeting targets to date”.
    “We will continue to watch closely in terms of the projections around the abatement task and work hard to make sure Australia meets and fulfils our obligations.”
    On Saturday Scott Morrison said that Australia’s commitments to its Paris targets “haven’t changed”.
    “Australia stands on its record. I mean, we hit our first target, exceeded it by 128m tonnes,” he told reporters in Indonesia. “We’re on track to meet our second Kyoto target and exceed it by 294m tonnes.”

    Alex Turnbull has intervened in the Wentworth campaign over the issue of energy policy, calling for donations Labor’s candidate for Wentworth on Twitter. He cited the need for a federal integrity commission, donations reform and a “sane energy policy”…
    Far from staying silent on Sunday, Turnbull doubled down on his earlier comments, arguing that “the market disagrees” with the proposition that the Liberal Party’s energy policy will reduce wholesale prices. “Paris agreement had zero impact on prices [by the way],” he said.
    Turnbull argued that energy market participants had an incentive to correctly predict the trajectory of prices. “It is crystal clear what those with the right incentives think about what scrapping the Neg means – prices will rise.”

    On Sunday the former member for Wentworth – Liberal Peter King – signalled his intention to seek preselection…
    King did not articulate a vision for emissions reduction, instead focusing on the need to lower power prices.
    “We’re exporting our coal and our gas to India and China, they’re then using it to produce cheap power and selling back products to us at a higher rate – so we lose out twice,” he said.
    King argued that renewable energy is given $2.8bn a year in subsidies – a figure generated by the Minerals Council most of which is accounted for by solar feed-in tariffs provided by state governments.
    King suggested that blockchain technology could be used so that “if you want to pay more for green power, fine, but if you’re doing it tough or want to pay less you ought to have that opportunity too”…
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/02/australia-will-honour-paris-climate-agreement-simon-birmingham-says

    70

  • #
    pat

    3 Sept: BusinessGreen: Adam Smith Institute: Lab-grown meat could help world tackle climate change
    by Chloe Farand
    Meat grown in lab would free-up land to feed growing population and significantly reduce CO2 emissions, argues report
    Consuming meat that has been grown in a lab could cut greenhouse emissions by up to 96 per cent, according to a new study from the Adam Smith Institute.
    In a report called Don’t have a cow man (LINK), the free-market think tank argued eating meat which has been cultured in a lab could help the world reduce its CO2 emissions and help tackle climate change…

    It also notes that the price of lab-grown burger is falling fast, costing around £215,000 in 2013 against around £8 today…

    Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute and co-author of the report, said the UK should recognise cultured meat as “a game-changer” and that the country “could become a world leader in this multi-billion-pound new industry”.
    Jamie Hollywood, co-author of the report, said the government should encourage such emerging technologies which he said “seek to provide mass benefit to society”…

    (FROM THE REPORT)
    Government should consider the establishment of a tax structure that encourages start-up businesses in the sector to grow and develop, and provide a regulatory regime that facilitates innovation in the area, just as its “sandbox” rules liberate new firms in financial services to innovate and experiment.

    We need to recognize in the UK that new technological developments are in the process of radically transforming the world economy, just as steam power and electricity did in the past. Self-driving vehicles and drones are among these developments, and cultured meat is another transformative innovation that will give shape to tomorrow’s economy. We should take the steps now that can facilitate and encourage the new industry to locate and develop in the UK, and make the UK a world leader in it.
    https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3061957/adam-smith-institute-lab-grown-meat-could-help-world-tackle-climate-change

    Wikipedia: The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) is a neoliberal (formerly libertarian) think tank and lobbying group based in the United Kingdom and named after Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher and classical economist.
    The libertarian label was officially changed to neoliberal on 10 October 2016…
    ASI President Madsen Pirie has sought to describe the activity of the organisation as “[w]e propose things which people regard as being on the edge of lunacy. The next thing you know, they’re on the edge of policy”…

    20

  • #

    Antichoice voting is used to coerce every voter in Australia (Blackouts), Ireland (Female Forced Labor), New Zealand, Northern Ireland, and Scotland (Nazi Abortion laws), and Malta (Comstock law birth control bans). Bad record overall compared to the normal voting that requires politicians to choose between repealing bad laws or losing their government paychecks. If the cancer weren’t spreading to more naíve and desperate banana republics, its dissemination would be less criminal.

    20

  • #
    Ruairi

    The cold that Victorians feel,
    Gives rise to a statewide appeal,
    For knitters to knit,
    More warm woolly kit,
    As home heating costs are unreal.

    220

  • #
    Geoff Sherrington

    Last evening we had another blackout.
    In the darkness I tripped over a power extension cord I had rigged up to run a portable electric generator, fell and broke my leg.
    Now, I am in hospital.
    I am waiting for my bones to knit.
    The guy in the next bed teases me about being old with woolly thinking as I get my next morphine pain shot.
    He calls it a knitting kneedle.

    (But enough of this high class wit). Geoff

    90

    • #
      Bobl

      I believe you may have a right to compensation from the power company, can I have 10%?

      60

    • #
      Latus Dextro

      Dang. Bad luck Geoff. Heal quick and well. Thank God for small mercies … “we had another blackout” not “I had another blackout.”
      Ditch the opiates as soon as practically possible.
      Think judicious amounts of quality Scotch.

      10

  • #
    glen Michel

    Hope your recovery is quick.

    40

  • #
    glen Michel

    OK it’s 2.30am.

    40

  • #
    Roy Hogue

    I just knew knitting would be in demand. I couldn’t tell how, where or when. But sometimes you have that flash of revelation that says, just wait for it Roy and it will come right to you.

    The tragedy here is not that I disrespectfully poke fun at the bad situation people are in but that the situation is present to poke fun at because of a man made problem; actually because of a government made problem, a government that doesn’t give a damn about its citizens but instead, puffs itself up to look good in the eyes of the rest of the world, especially the UN. Paris counts more than freezing Brits. And if anyone can’t see the tragedy in that they should put a bag over their head when they go out in public so their ignorance isn’t noticed, lest it embarrass them. But of course, liberal politics has done away with embarrassment.

    Well, at my house they don’t look good and embarrassment is still acceptable and I’m fed up with the nonsense and have decided I’ll tell the truth as bluntly as possible every time I see it.

    I’m so mad about it that I’ll ask, “Richard, where are you when your precious socialism needs defending.”

    30

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      And Richard, I know you don’t believe climate change is a real problem.

      20

      • #
        Roy Hogue

        Richard is apparently not reading anymore. If you remember him you’ll know who I’m talking about. He argued against the global warming scare all the way, yet he was a diehard fan of British socialism.

        Go figure.

        I won’t reveal his last name but he’s able to speak for himself if he want’s to.

        00

  • #
    Yonniestone

    I’ll add a dose of reality to this heart warming story, I mentioned a while back that through my work a few of us volunteered to hand out food and clothes at the local homeless charity including the KOGO knitted items and I’d say apart from the odd few that have been taken the majority don’t move and end up a large stockpile that eventually has to be stored.

    Considering the way government has annexed charities into its own industry it comes as no surprise that the image of giving is greater than actually helping, for those in need blankets are like gold next to waterproof tarps, in their world cute designed accessories are in reality used for other activities.

    30

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      Yoni,

      I think the problem we don’t acknowledge about homelessness is that for many if not all of them they were not managing their lives very well even before they became homeless. Things like PTSD are different but when we have had so many years of such easy life as it has been in this country and probably in Australia too, when that final blow hits, you don’t know what to do and suddenly begging on a street corner and hiding in the buses at night is the only option. And I don’t know what to do about it because self sufficiency is no longer the “in”thing.

      And then once someone is living in some riverbottom squatters camp there’s a really hard problem to crack.

      And government programs are designed to keep the welfare recipient dependent on the government so they have a reason to keep electing the same old problem causers. And nothing ever really changes.

      50

      • #
        Bobl

        Roy, Australia’s welfare system is much more generous than the US the dole here is easily enough to pay for some sort of accommodation, electricity and food. In general people are only homeless here very temporarily or because they want to be.

        Most long term homeless here just want to spend their money on drugs instead of rent.

        40

        • #
          yarpos

          easily? at $230ish a week, I’d be surprised if its easy

          10

        • #
          Roy Hogue

          Bob,

          Here too if you were on welfare it would be generous enough to have a roof over your head. But to get it means you must apply for it and all too many don’t.

          I think it’s much too generous and lacks any real incentive to become self sufficient again. But I’m just one voice shouting into the wind.

          It’s recorded in the Bible that Jesus said the poor would always be with us. So they were there then and they’re here now. So about 2,000 years of them have happened and still no change. I’m disgusted with California all the way around including the way welfare is handled and I don’t see it changing.

          It’s interesting to note that during the last year I worked my route from there to the office took me by what I can only call the least possibly desirable places to live — apartment buildings in not very good shape in a run down neighborhood and all with parking areas surrounded by high fences and gated. On many days I would see an expensive car pull out ahead of me or waiting for me to pass. I can only make an assumption but it’s pretty clear that the expensive car counted for more than the place where they lived. There’s a whole different decision making process going on than the one you and I would use.

          00

      • #
        Yonniestone

        I’ll add in case it comes across as me judging the volunteers motives that most people do it because their simply decent human beings its the very few that use the position to personally virtue signal or reinforce a political agenda, sorry but its true iv’e seen it occur however that type of person can crop up anywhere publicity is a possibility also.

        20

  • #
    Mark M

    … and, the sheep are getting smaller because of global warming which means less wool …

    “The experts say shorter and milder winters mean that lambs do not need to put as much weight on during their first few months of life.

    Smaller animals that would have perished in harsh winters a few decades ago can now survive to their first birthday.

    As a result, the average weight of the sheep has dropped by 81g each year.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/jul/02/shrinking-sheep-climate-change

    Science!

    40

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      Have the lambs actually put on less weight during the critical months or is it just bluster. Someone much be a sheep rancher and can tell us.

      Forgive me. It was The Guardian. Dummy, you should have known.

      And lest we all be made fools of, these are wild sheep and I think, unlikely to be sheered for their wool, at least not if you have to scale a mountain side like the one pictured.

      30

    • #
      joseph

      “As a result, the average weight of the sheep has dropped by 81g each year.”

      I’m impressed! It would be a lot of work to climb so many mountains, to catch so many sheep, to get so many readings to be averaged out over 38 years! Hope they were well paid.

      30

      • #
        joseph

        Sorry, I’m in error. I didn’t the article carefully enough the first time.

        They say the average weight has been decreasing since 1980 but the study only began in 1985. So, if they started averaging the temperatures in 1985, they’ve been averaging the temperatures for no more than 33 years. I do hope that’s not going cause us to question the accuracy of the 81g figure.

        20

      • #
        Greg Cavanagh

        The average weight of a merino sheep is 80kg. So in 987 years, all merino sheep will be 0kg weight if this trend keeps up (and we all know that Climate Science is all about extending trends to infinity [and beyond]).

        10

    • #
  • #
    Another Ian

    Not Victoria!

    “Delingpole: No, Trump’s Red State Base Is Not ‘Suffering Most’ from Climate Change”

    https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/09/03/delingpole-no-trumps-red-state-base-is-not-suffering-most-from-climate-change/

    50

  • #
    Gazman

    For such an apparently mild winter, the snowfields are doing pretty well. Maybe they didn’t get the memo in the high country… never mention cold, only talk warm.

    90

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      He he…a retake on an old saying from Fawlty Towers….

      “No on mention the warm…”

      40

    • #
      William

      I have lived in Sydney for several decades now, and I cannot recall a colder Winter than this last one. So naturally I am looking forward to the BOM announcing in the next few days, that this is the warmest Winter on record for Sydney.

      60

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        My feelings as well.

        I have a heavy winter coat that I’ve worn every day this winter and still using it.

        Previous winters I’ve rarely used it for more than two weeks.

        KK

        50

        • #
          William

          OK so Channel 7 is telling us it was the fifth warmest on record. The ABC online said the same thing, but that it was based on maximum temperatures. So I wonder whether the minimum temps were lower than average (which I expect that they were) and the maximums were affected by micro bursts of heat – or were homogenised or otherwise adjusted.

          The ski season has been extended to mid-October so clearly that confirms this Winter was a particularly hot one then! Well it would be proof to an alarmist zealot.

          40

  • #
    Latus Dextro

    OT, apologies, but the wheels are finally coming off the Green eco-Marxist forest management policies. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the percolation of sanity and science to reach Australia, New Zealand and Canada …

    THE LA TIMES INADVERTENTLY ADMITS TRUMP IS RIGHT ABOUT WHAT’S CAUSING CALIFORNIA’S MASSIVE WILDFIRES

    Adopting more active forest management policies such as increased thinning of trees and conducting controlled burns will help mitigate damage from future wildfires, the Los Angeles Times editorial board writes.

    Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke began advocating similar policy prescriptions earlier in 2018 after President Donald Trump blamed California’s “bad environmental laws” for creating a wildfire-prone environment.

    140

  • #

    […] latest news from Benny Pieser. Less heat, more ice, Judith Sloan on the local scene and Jo Nova on volunteers in Victoria knitting to keep the poor warm. Something that the people in the AEMO and cognate climate-related […]

    20

  • #
    PeterS

    Some bad news and some good news from the new energy minister Angus Taylor interviewed on 2GB today. Bad news is the renewables subsidies will take years to go away. IMHO they should be gone much sooner. Good news is that any power company who doesn’t keep their existing coal fired power stations open for the forseable future the government will force them to “diversify” the power stations, which I presume means they will be forced to be sold to another company who will keep them open.

    80

    • #
      PeterS

      The result is power prices might fall but they can’t fall a lot since the renewables subsidies paid by consumers through their power bills will remain for some years to come. This is not good enough and in fact is a contradiction to their promise to reduce power prices significantly to avoid businesses closing down as power prices are now unsustainable, which Taylor himself admits. Another contradiction is the reaffirmation to stick to the renewable target set by Paris yet saying it will not have any impact on power prices while at the same time criticising ALP’s policy to increase the renewables target. If meeting our commitment to the Paris target will not impact power prices then how can meeting another target set by ALP be any different? That is all typical doublespeak by LNP. Taylor then affirmed we are silly not building even one new coal fired power station while hundreds are being built all over the world. How can a company here build one if the renewables are subsidised to the tune of billions of dollars? Taylor made the comment there may need to be “incentives” committed to new coal fired power stations. This is a messy situation. Time will tell if they can reduce power prices enough to convince voters the LNP is worth their support, and Taylor himself stated they will be judged on their record.

      80

      • #
        Bobl

        But realistically it is like that, consumers do have contacts (was borne out inner very early days) so they need to be honored, the government could short circuit the cross subsidy and take it out of the energy mix and pay it back to people as a tax rebate. That at least would get rid of the market distortion.

        40

        • #
          PeterS

          Another approach is to give consumers the option to participate in the renewables subsidies. Those who believe in CAGW can continue to pay the subsidies while the rest of us who don’t want to have a bar of the crap can opt out. Of course that means the more who opt out the more the rest will have to pay but I say “talk to the hand”. If no one ends up subscribing to the renewables subsidies then power companies who rely a lot on renewables can sing.

          40

          • #
            angry

            An “opt out” of renewals option on your electricity contract perhaps?

            10

            • #
              PeterS

              That’s what I mean. Sorry I wasn’t clear. To me it’s such a simple idea and easy to implement. The problem of course is I suspect only a few hard core CAGW believers would subscribe so their share of the cost would be extremely high forcing even them to opt out eventually. So I think it won’t work in practice as pretty much all of us are pragmatic at least to some degree. It’s a bit like torturing someone to get information. Pretty much everyone will give in at some stage or another depending on their pain threshold.

              10

              • #
                William

                I suggested a while back that people should be able to indicate on their power bills whether they are in favour of coal or wind and solar so that when the inevitable load shedding (read brownouts and blackouts) kicks in this summer, those who chose renewables can be the first to have their power turned off.

                It has the added benefit of providing a true indication of the support for renewables – if people realise they are the ones to lose their power, they will likely tick the box for gas and coal.

                30

  • #
    Amadeus

    Oh well, it’s all turning out according to plan. Reminds me of the song..”Windmills of Your Mind” by Bergman/LeGrand…

    Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
    Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
    Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
    Like a carousel that’s turning running rings around the moon
    Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
    And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
    Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
    Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
    Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
    Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream
    Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
    Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
    And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
    Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
    Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
    Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said?
    Lovers walking along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
    Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
    Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song
    Half remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
    When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware
    That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!
    Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
    Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
    As the images unwind, like the circles that you find
    In the windmills of your mind

    Mmmmmm…As the adage goes…you reap what you sow…

    I’ve tried to be sympathetic but the only remaining thing I can say to Victorians is ….get knitted.

    90

    • #
      Greg Cavanagh

      I’ll see you and raise you….

      Ecclesiastesor, the Preacher

      1:1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 1:2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
      1:3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
      1:4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
      1:5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
      1:6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
      1:7All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
      1:8All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
      1:9The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
      1:10Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
      1:11There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

      King Solomon

      00

  • #
    Drapetomania

    Apparently 90% of Victorians believe in the value of renewable energy

    Yes..virtue signalling for co2 credits?
    “Clean energy”= I am clueless
    “Green jobs”=see above
    “Sane energy policy”=see above

    60

  • #
    Philby

    Don’t know about knitting but Victorians have been stitched up over electricity prices

    100

  • #
    yarpos

    My wife an daughter have been doing this for the last couple of years. Last year scarves, this year blankets. Takes a lot of knitting to make a blanket. It would be more cost effective, given the cost of wool, to just go down to bloody Target/KMart/BigW and buy a few blankets to donate but I am missing the point with that idea apparently 🙂

    These were for the homeless/needy of Wangaratta. I hope the dispensors had a filter to weed out the “if its for free, its for me” brigade that leach off charities.

    80

  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    Modern Victoria and renewable intermittent electricity;’Nitwits’is the word that comes to mind.
    GeoffW

    61

  • #
    angry

    And yet our pm morrison and his coalition federal “government” refuse to abolish the RET!!

    THEY DON’T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT AUSTRALIANS!

    50

    • #
      PeterS

      They rarely do give a crap. As Mark Twain allegedly said “If voting made a difference, they wouldn’t let us do it”.

      100

  • #
    pat

    ridiculous…but well-timed for Bangkok:

    3 Sept: BBC: Heatwave: 2018 was the joint hottest summer for UK
    2018 was the joint hottest summer on record for the UK as a whole, and the hottest ever for England, the Met Office has announced.
    It said highs for summer 2018 were tied with those of 1976, 2003 and 2006 for being the highest since records began in 1910.

    England’s average temperatures narrowly beat those seen in 1976, they added…
    To the nearest 0.1C, all four years – 2018 as well as 1976, 2003 and 2006 – had an average temperature of 15.8C (60.4F).
    That is 1.5C above the long-term average, the Met Office said. The margins between the years are so small it’s impossible to separate them, they added.
    In England, the mean temperature was 17.2C (63F). The 1976 record had been 17C.
    No records were set for other parts of the UK – although it was close in Wales, with an average of 16C, just 0.1C under the current record set in 1995…

    The hottest day of 2018 so far was Thursday, 26 July, when temperatures reached 35.3C in Faversham, Kent.
    But it still did not top the UK’s highest-ever recorded temperature of 38.5C (101F), also in Faversham, in August 2003…

    There were winners and losers in the heatwave. Many enjoyed taking the opportunity to sunbathe or spend more time in the garden.
    But higher temperatures posed a health risk to some people, and there were record A&E numbers over the summer.
    There have also been warnings food prices could rise in the coming months because of the extreme weather…

    Having record average temperatures is consistent with the general picture of the climate warming in the UK and globally, the Met Office said.
    A spokeswoman told BBC News: “It’s generally accepted that the risk of heatwaves is increasing due to global warming…

    Analysis by Matt McGrath, BBC News environment correspondent
    The immediate cause of this year’s extended warm weather was the meandering jet stream taking a more northerly track over the UK, creating an area of high pressure over Britain which did not shift for weeks.
    But many scientists are also asking about the role of climate change in “loading the dice” and making a heatwave more likely, when an event like the wandering jet stream occurs.

    An early analysis by researchers from the World Weather Attribution group found that human activities including the burning of fossil fuels made this year’s European heatwave twice as likely to occur…

    Friends of the Earth’s head of policy Mike Childs said: “This is yet another bleak warning that we’re racing towards catastrophic climate change.
    “But rather than taking their foot off the pedal, ministers continue to fuel the crisis with more roads and runways and by championing the development of dirty gas and oil.
    “It’s time for the government to take the heat off the planet by ending our fossil fuel fixation, investing in energy efficiency and developing the UK’s huge renewable power potential.”…

    A warmer autumn?
    Meteorologists say above-average temperatures are more likely because sea surface temperatures are at “near-record” levels
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-45399134

    40

  • #
    manalive

    Victoria the state of energy poverty, gangs let run wild in streets, government members investigated by fraud squad, police force aiding and abetting violent demonstrators and demanding ‘protection money’ from lawful speaking tours, etc.
    Sportsbet odds on Victorian election 24/11/2018:
    Pay on the Party which provides the next Premier of VIC at the next election:
    Labor: 1.75 Coalition: 2.00 Greens. 81.00.
    You can’t help stupidity.

    60

  • #
    angry

    Oh no! Morrison continues to deceive?

    Scomo? Nope! ScoMoCommode seats better!

    http://morningmail.org/pm-morrisons-weasel-words/#comment-86495

    40

    • #
      PeterS

      I see you copied and pasted some of my comments there. No problem. Spread the real news to overcome so much fake news, doublespeak and lies permeating the world.

      70

  • #
    pat

    3 Sept: ClimateChangeNews: Three goals for this week’s Bangkok climate talks
    By Yamide Dagnet and Nathan Cogswell,World Resources Institute
    The clock is ticking…
    Unlike other climate negotiation sessions that include dozens of side events and an exhibit hall, there will be none of those at the Bangkok session in order to minimize distractions and ensure negotiators make maximum progress advancing the rulebook…

    The Game Plan
    As they head into the Bangkok negotiations, countries have additional resources at their disposal to help them work through the sticking points highlighted above. These include informal tools produced by the negotiation co-chairs (LINK) and a new publication released earlier this month by WRI and the Project for Advancing Climate Transparency (PACT) (LINK) consortium, which provides suggestions for negotiators to meet their December 2018 deadline…

    On the way to COP24, key milestones include the Global Climate Action Summit in mid-September, which will celebrate and incentivize climate action from states, regions, cities and the private sector through such initiatives as science-based targets. The One Planet Summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly in late September will continue to galvanize and scale up financial support from the private sector and others. And the upcoming Climate Vulnerable Forum virtual leaders’ summit on November 22 aims to create a coalition of countries committed to strengthening their climate action to meet the most ambitious Paris goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/09/03/three-goals-weeks-bangkok-climate-talks/

    2 Sept: Guardian: UK’s green watchdog will be powerless over climate change post-Brexit
    Environmentalists accuse government of using withdrawal of EU controls to weaken regulation
    by James Tapper
    Matthew Pennycook, Labour’s Brexit spokesman, said: “Our EU membership has been key to delivering and enforcing UK emission reductions. In choosing to exclude climate change from the remit of their environmental watchdog, ministers are deliberately weakening the tools we have to hold them to account. The Brexit process cannot be used as a cover to water down the UK’s leadership on climate change.”

    Greener UK, which represents 13 of the UK’s biggest environmental organisations including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the RSPB and the National Trust , said it is very concerned about the omission of climate policy from the watchdog’s remit. About 55% of the UK’s planned carbon reductions are tied to regulations derived from the EU and would have been enforced by the European commission…

    Environmentalists believe the ECJ has been effective in getting Whitehall to live up to its pledges. According to research by the Institute for Government, between 2003 and 2016 the commission started 753 actions against the British government, of which about 120 related to the environment. Yet ministers were quick to settle matters before they reached the ECJ, which only passed judgments on 63 cases. However, 29 of those cases related to the environment, indicating that ministers would often not take action unless forced to do so.

    In announcing its plans for the watchdog, the government argued that climate change was already covered by the Climate Change Act 2008, which created the committee on climate change and international treaties. But the CCC, which said recently that the UK would miss its 2025 and 2030 carbon reduction targets, only has powers to advise and report.

    Its chairman, Lord Deben, told the environment secretary Michael Gove that excluding climate policy from the watchdog’s remit would be “artificial and potentially create problems”. But Gove is not responsible for government policy on climate change. The issue has now been passed over to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)…

    Shane Tomlinson, director at E3G, part of Greener UK, said: “The government says it wants to be a leader in tackling climate change. However, leadership is not just about the promises you make, but being accountable for delivering on them.”…
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/02/green-watchdog-powerless-climate-change-post-brexit

    30

  • #
    manalive

    Another comment sent to the sin bin, Gawd knows why.

    30

    • #
      yarpos

      I think it has a random selection function as well as key words and phrases. Bit like airport security.

      20

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        I always seem to get picked for the bomb sniff test…..mind you, I always ask for my luggage to be lightly toasted on its way through the airport security x-ray…perhaps we arent allowed to have a sense of humour?

        40

        • #
          PeterS

          Perhaps the developers can modify the code to warn us before posting by using the “Preview” option. We can edit it before finally posting the comment to reduce the load on the moderators.

          10

  • #
    Michael Reed

    I’ve said this before very recently that when Turnbull left the sinking ship the Titanic sorry
    my mistake I meant Australia there would be little change in the energy policy.I said because
    there are three aspects to the inevitable energy poverty end game.First the huge financial vested interests in the renewable energy market.Second the catechism of please repeat and respect
    the following words(phrases) Paris Agreement,emissions and Cimate Change taught to us
    by the MSM most notably the ABC (which really stands for the Australian Broadcasting Climate
    change organization) .And last of all the gullible Australian Public which in any case can’t have
    much to say in these matters.However we see Alex Turnbull having a lot to say on renewable energy (despite his association Infigen and wind power) that gets reported in the media meanwhile
    Mal and Lucy are are probably enjoying Central Park and Manhattan in the springtime.Oh and I
    forgot they are probably at the the US tennis Open too (I think Lucy used to play that “game”
    Quite well) Isn’t it really reassuring to know that life doesn’t change that much after all
    Cheers Mike Reed

    50

  • #
    crakar24

    Typical ABC Orwellian double speak they go to great lengths to avoid the subject of why KOGO is in such high demand and link to another story which claims

    The reality is new coal power is not the answer for cheaper electricity bills

    And the stuck on stupid believe every word, show them the AEMO site with multiple LOR’s in NSW and their eyes will glaze over because its all too hard to break the mind control shackles

    51

    • #
      PeterS

      If I ever am confronted with someone who makes a similar comment I would ask for an explanation why Australia is unique in the world given it’s not only the answer for cheaper power bills but also that answer is being implemented on a grand scale with several hundreds of new coal fired power stations being built across the world.

      60

      • #
        Dennis

        Around 1,600 new coal fired power stations under construction, recently commissioned and planned for construction soon.

        50

        • #
          PeterS

          Yes, I know. Not only that but many existing ones are now being bolstered or upgraded to keep them running longer than originally planned. It’s as though Australia has missed the world-wide call to push ahead with coal fired power stations as a matter of life and death, which in fact it is. Try telling that to a leftist. I’m prepared to denounce with truck loads of facts anyone who tries to tell me that renewables are the way to go.

          70

          • #
            Kinky Keith

            The two basic Denounceables are;

            1. The full lifecycle from construction to demolition and restoration of the environment of renewables creates more CO2 per kWh generated than coal fired.
            Hence they are more damaging to the environment than coal fired generators.

            2. The cost of renewables in dollars per kWh generated is much more than coal fired.

            Renewables are a Catastrophic Failure in their use as picture postcard perfect Eco friendly generation.

            How do they get away with this.

            KK

            51

            • #
              PeterS

              And much more. For example, what happens when the wind stops blowing or it’s night? Oh, dear!

              50

            • #
              Bobl

              Keith
              Another note for you. Cost of manufactured goods has a very close correlation to energy 50-70% of the cost of am item is cost of energy in materials and construction and therefore the amortized cost of energy is also closely related to total lifecycle energy input. The carbon dioxide intensity of an asset can be broadly deduced from its cost. So generally whichever of coal or wind/solar has the lowest unsubsidised unit cost of production is almost certain to have the lowest CO2 footprint.

              60

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Yes Bob, logic suggests we have to agree on both points.

                I am staggered by comments from local business people who have offices with a few staff or food businesses requiring continuous refrigeration and or air conditioning.
                Their power bills have jumped incredibly in recent years.

                Costs of demolition of renewables are huge and would go a long way to explaining why thousands of derelict wind turbines litter the US landscape.

                KK

                40

              • #
                PeterS

                Yes I also have been bemused as to how small to medium sized businesses can survive with such high power prices. I suspect many will close down when prices continue to climb under ALP+Greens. The LNP should in theory be able to defeat the ALP+Greens very easily at the next election on this issue alone; and there are others to boot. Of course we all know how pathetic the LNP typically are at election campaigns. They are very often amateurs compared to the ALP.

                40

              • #
              • #
                PeterS

                Indeed. Remands me of one of the scenes in the opening sequence of the Soylent Green movie.

                10

  • #
    Michael Reed

    PS Sorry my error I meant Autumn and falling leaves in Central Park ,nonetheless
    a very pleasant experience most Australians will never have and definitely will not
    in the future with the growing documented rate of fuel poverty (now nearly 200,000
    families) in this country.How did we ever arrive at this point anyway?????
    Cheers Mike Reed

    30

    • #
      yarpos

      Plenty of Autumnal tones in Oz depending were you live, not sure if the experience is more or less special being surrounded by tall buildings

      20

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    Turnbull tangoed with Paris climate deal, but perhaps it’s time we tiptoed away
    Now that the national energy guarantee is dead, perhaps Australia should formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
    We struck a very bad deal as part our commitment to the Paris Agreement compared with Kyoto. The nature of our electricity system and our…
    The Australian – 4 Sept 2018

    Australia should stick to its Paris targets, just like Germany and Canada
    The Australian – 4 Sept 2018
    Canada is on track to miss its commitments under the Paris climate agreement — and that’s after Ottawa fudged the targets by changing the …

    30

    • #
      PeterS

      I’m not so fussed about whether we withdraw from Paris or not. It would be nicer if we did withdraw but I’m happy to follow the vast majority of the world and just ignore it and say “talk to the hand”.

      41

      • #
        Bobl

        I’m not, a future government will use it to reinstate the pain. All incentive to do that must be pulled out by the roots.

        50

        • #
          Kinky Keith

          The ideal solution, but politics being what it is Jeff’s comment following is a good start, if that’s really how they are going to play it.

          KK

          30

          • #
            Bobl

            I don’t agree, it’s the coalition leaving behind the building blocks of socialism that underpins the creeping socialism in our society. Coalition government tread water and don’t undo the socialist weapon systems meaning that future socialist government can leverage of a higher point. Trump instinctively knows this so he is dismantling many of the foundations of socialism meaning that after he’s done the next democrat government will have to start from around the same point they were at after Reagan. It’ll take them 3 terms to make it back to where they were after Obama.

            41

        • #
          PeterS

          A future government can sign up to Paris again. There ought to be no doubt that a future ALP government would do that. So there’s really not point in focusing on Paris so much. We could be signed up to a Paris target of 100% and we could still ignore it. We need to focus on a far more important and urgent issue – renewables subsidies. The sooner they are gone the better. The LNP should not hesitate at taking that to the next election. If people want higher power prices they can vote for ALP+Greens. If they want lower power prices they can vote for LNP. Let’s hope the LNP makes that their number one election issue.

          40

      • #
        Jeff

        Yes, why cause a stir and possibly harm trade.
        Just talk the talk over there, but don’t walk the walk here, like most other countries will do.

        30

  • #
    Dennis

    Victorians, a close knit community of energy negativity.

    50

  • #
    pat

    4 Sept: news.com.au: Melbourne shivers through coldest September in years
    GETTING out of bed this morning was especially difficult as parts of Australia shivered through its coldest September day in years. And the freeze isn’t over yet.
    The city dipped to 3.4C just after 6.30am, with the temperature eventually rising to a top of 18C — it was Melbourne’s lowest minimum September temperature at 3.2C since 2003.
    “With very light winds last night, clear skies and that pull of cold air over the state, it was a good recipe for cool temperatures,” Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior forecaster Dean Stewart told AAP…

    With the state’s overall winter rainfall about 20 per cent below average, the year to date is tracking to be the driest since 2009 — and the 11th or 12th driest in 119 years, BOM’s senior climatologist Blair Trewin said…
    The chilly conditions aren’t just affecting Victorians — West Australians are also being advised to rug themselves and their sheep up as freezing temperatures hit the state…
    There is a risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions…

    While Victoria recorded one of its coldest September mornings in more than a decade, South Australia beat that record by nine years.
    Clare in South Australia hit a minimum of -1.4C this morning, the town’s coldest spring night in 24 years…
    Parts of the state also had morning frost with towns experiencing some of their coldest periods in decades.
    https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/melbourne-shivers-through-coldest-september-in-years/news-story/9bd5a92222b2c79080f756ab560b4bc5

    20

  • #
    pat

    comment in moderation re: Melbourne shivers through coldest September in years

    3 Sept: ABC: NSW records its driest year since 1965 but the Top End gets ‘abnormal’ winter rain
    ABC Weather By Kate Doyle
    Updated about 3 hours ago
    Rainfall was below average, particularly in New South Wales, where it was the eighth-driest winter on record and the driest since 2002.
    Senior climatologist Blair Trewin said winter was just the latest in a sequence of dry seasons for NSW.
    “If we had just had the eighth-driest winter on record on its own and conditions had been okay before that, it wouldn’t have anywhere near the impact we are seeing,” Dr Trewin said.
    “If you look at a slightly longer time range, it has been the driest year to date for NSW since 1965.
    “There are areas inland, particularly in the western part of the state, which have had their driest January to August on record.”

    It has not just been a dry year to date — it has been hot too.
    “Nationally, daytime temperatures for the year-to-date are running at their highest on record, at about 1.3 degrees above the long-term average,” Dr Trewin said…

    Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes fellow at the University of Melbourne, Joelle Gergis, said just looking at rainfall did not give the full story when it came to drought.
    She said with droughts, things to be considered included rainfall, temperature and evaporation rates…
    “Temperature is really a massive influence in terms of the evaporation,” Dr Gergis said.
    High evaporation rates are helped by high temperatures as well as high winds and clear atmospheric conditions, which dry out soils.
    This year’s high temperatures, low rainfall and high evaporation rates have been compounding to worsen the drought…
    “We have actually seen maximum temperatures in NSW running about 2.2 degrees warmer than average, which is obviously exacerbating the rainfall deficits that we’re experiencing,” Dr Gergis said…

    Dr Trewin said dry soils could in turn affect temperatures.
    “When you have low soil moisture, you tend to get higher daytime and lower night-time temperatures. The influence of that tends to be fairly site specific,” he said…
    “We’ve already got this natural variability. We are this land of drought and flooding rain, so we do experience drought conditions,” Dr Gergis said.

    But now our natural variability was playing out on the background of a warmer climate.
    “We’re starting to see the changing nature of Australian droughts. Our droughts are getting hotter as the planet continues to warm,” she said…
    This background warming has been documented in Australia and was predicted to continue, which was not good for future droughts.
    “As Australia continues to warm, it is going to cause an exacerbation of the drying, which is going to make our droughts worse,” Dr Gergis said…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-03/warm-and-dry-winter-for-nsw/10188560

    00

  • #
    pat

    2 comments in moderation.

    first there was this:

    31 Aug: ABC: Fears vital Tasmanian weather knowledge will be lost under forecasting changes
    By Tamara Glumac
    There are fears plans to move local weather forecasting to Melbourne and Brisbane will result in a “sausage factory” delivering Tasmanian weather from the mainland.
    More than 200 forecasters across the country were told this week about the plan to centralise local forecasting…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-31/tasmanian-weather-forecasting-changes-angers-union/10186294

    and now this:

    3 Sept: ABC: Union attacks Bureau of Meteorology plans to end local weather forecasting in most states
    By Irena Ceranic
    More than 200 forecasters across the country were told last week about the plan to centralise local forecasting in the two major centres by 2020 — which the union claims is the biggest shake-up to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) in 110 years.
    The move follows a long-running pay dispute which left frosty relations between staff and head office at the bureau…

    The union representing bureau staff said they were “horrified” by the plan, under which up to 40 forecasters in Perth would be affected.
    “We’ll lose between 30 and 40 highly skilled, highly trained forecasters who are very aware of conditions in WA, the vast land mass that we have,” CPSU organiser Melanie Booth said.
    “They have built up their experience about that and weather patterns here for a good 10 to 15 years some of them, if not more.
    “It’s going to be a brain drain and it’s going to mean the quality of the service will be hugely reduced.”…

    ***Bureau denies jobs to go
    In a statement, the BOM said it was consulting with staff on the “proposed transformation” and was committed to providing localised expertise to each state and territory.
    “Claims of cost-cutting and job losses are simply untrue and there are no plans to remove the bureau’s local presence from any state or territory,” the statement said.
    “A proposed new approach to improve services, which is being discussed in consultation with staff, customers and stakeholders, would involve general forecasting services moving to specialised hubs, allowing locally-based staff more time to provide specialist expertise to key state sectors such as emergency services, agriculture and energy.
    “A further benefit would be the creation of new teams of experts focussed on providing advice on the key natural hazards which affect life and property.”

    BOM could become ‘faceless organisation’
    WA Pastoralists and Graziers Association president Tony Seabrook said he had serious concerns about the proposal.
    “There are a few groups of people in the community that absolutely depend on forecast, and aviation is one, maritime is another,” he said.

    “But farmers make day-to-day decisions based on the forecasting that we get, and they can be very significant decisions to do with livestock welfare.
    “If they can absolutely guarantee there will be no diminution of the services provided, then there might be a case, but based on previous experience, the further away from the centre of activity that people like forecasters are, the less likely we’ll get the accurate forecasting that we need.
    “They may say with computers they can do it just as well, but somehow or another most of us will have a grave fear that the centralisation of forecasting may actually mean forecasting … might not be as accurate.”
    Mr Seabrook also said he was worried the bureau would become a “faceless organisation” with few opportunities for interaction.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-03/bom-to-end-local-weather-forecasting-in-wa-tasmania/10196358

    30

    • #
      pat

      Blair Trewin from BoM Melbourne certainly seems to be the man speaking for all the States, so maybe there’s something in the rumours!

      Weather warnings as parts of Australia bake in record autumn …
      The Guardian-11 Apr. 2018
      The north of Western Australia had record high temperatures for late March, said Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Blair Trewin.

      How bad is the drought and why has it been so dry?
      ABC News-10 Jun. 2018
      According to Blair Trewin, a senior climatologist at the bureau, the areas … However, Dr Trewin said parts of inland Queensland were

      Sydney shivers as severe weather whips, soaks nation’s south-east
      The Sydney Morning Herald-10 May 2018
      Leslie Vale were the second- and third-highest May daily totals on record for Tasmania, Blair Trewin, the bureau’s senior climatologist, said.

      31 Aug: Riverine Herald: Brrrr! It hit -5C on Wednesday
      By Ivy Jensen
      THE district shivered through its coldest August day in 21 years early Wednesday.
      According to a Bureau of Meteorology weather expert, the mercury dropped to a chilly -3C in Echuca-Moama, but only 20 minutes way in Torrumbarry it sank even further, to -5C — making it our coldest August temperature since 1997 and almost 10 degrees below our monthly minimum average…

      The frost caused havoc for farmers, including Torrumbarry avocado farmer Andrew Crossman who expects 300 of his 1400 trees to have been affected.
      Mr Crossman said it was the lowest temperature he had experienced during his years of farming.
      ‘‘We thought we were through the frosts but then you get a weather event like this,’’ he said…

      According to a BOM spokesperson, temperatures averaged six degrees colder across parts of central Victoria.
      Heathcote was a freezing -4.4C, while Kyabram dropped to -3.8C.
      The bureau’s senior climatologist Blair Trewin said it was unusual to have such a cold snap late in the year but there were a couple of underlying reasons.
      ‘‘One is that the basic underlying air mass is pretty cold,’’ he said.
      ‘‘But also because we had clear skies over the Melbourne area and light winds; that meant it was pretty well set up for overnight cooling.
      ‘‘We’re generally not seeing quite such significant numbers elsewhere in the state except for parts of the north-east.’’
      https://www.riverineherald.com.au/@news/2018/08/30/216605/brrrr-it-hit-5c-on-wednesday

      Blair Trewin’s epic journey to 112 Australian weather stations
      Blair Trewin is a wonderful character and one of the leading researchers of the homogenization community. He works at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and created their high-quality homogenized datasets. He also developed a correction method for daily temperature observations that is probably the best we currently have. Fitting to his scientific love of homogenization, he has gone on a quest to visit all 112 weather stations that are used to monitor the Australian climate. Enjoy the BOM blog post on this “epic journey”.
      http://variable-variability.blogspot.com/2016/08/blair-trewin-journey-112-australian-weather-stations.html

      The Conversation: Blair Trewin is an Australian climate scientist. His specialist areas are the development of long-term historical data sets for the assessment of climate change, and the analysis of extreme events, both current and historic. He was the lead developer of the main long-term Australian temperature data set, ACORN-SAT. In the international sphere, he was the scientific coordinator of the World Meteorological Organisation’s annual Global Climate Statement in 2016, and is a member of the WMO’s Task Team on Homogenisation. He was also President of the Australian Meteorological and Oceaonographic Society in 2012-14.

      00

  • #
    pat

    Hannam has a story to tell:

    3 Sept: SMH: Parrots flock to Sydney amid NSW’s record warmth, deepening drought
    By Peter Hannam
    Sydney’s driest start to a year since 1968 appears to be encouraging a trend that has nudged large flocks of corellas and other parrots to set up home in Sydney’s parklands in recent years, experts say.
    The city has posted its fourth-driest January-August on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Richmond, on Sydney’s north-west, has not had such a dry beginning to a year since records began in 1928.
    “It’s really dry – all the animals are struggling,” said Michael Sheils, supervisor of Australian fauna at Taronga Zoo.
    “When their food source dries up, they come looking … they’re not going to survive where they are.”

    Large flocks of little corellas, such as those spotted at Queens Park in Sydney’s east on Monday, have become more common over the past decade, Richard Major, principal research scientist at the Australian Museum, said.
    ‘Kookaburras are everywhere!’
    First came ibises as wetlands dried up or were developed into housing or for other uses, followed by sulphur-crested cockatoos and corellas.
    “They’re adapting to the reliable resources,” Dr Major said…
    “We’ve never seen anything like it – there are kookaburras everywhere and we assumed it has something to do with the lack of rain,” Arianne Martin said…

    Daytime temperatures continue to be exceptionally warm, with Australia and NSW alone posting their fifth hottest winters on records going back to 1910, the bureau said.
    For NSW, though, the year-to-date maximum temperatures continue to be “the largest on record by a pretty large margin”, Blair Trewin, senior bureau climatologist, said.
    So far in 2018, average daytime temperatures are running more than 2.2 degrees above the 1961-90 baseline used by the bureau. That beat the previous NSW record by 0.4 degrees set only last year – which itself was 0.4 degrees ahead of the next warmest period, Dr Trewin said.
    Mean temperatures, which average out days and nights, are also running at a record year to date in NSW even with the clear skies dragging down minimum readings, he said…

    One effect of the low rainfall and high temperatures is that reservoir levels have been dropping rapidly…
    As of Monday, Sydney’s water storages were sitting at 64.6 per cent, down 0.7 percentage points over the past week, and about one-quarter lower than a year ago…
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/parrots-flock-to-sydney-amid-nsw-s-record-warmth-deepening-drought-20180903-p501g9.html

    10

  • #
    PeterS

    Just heard John Williams (Nats senator) state on 2GB three Hazelwoods a week are being built in the world. Not sure how accurate that is but it must be close enough and shows how delinquent our anti-coal groups are for wanting to destroy our coal fired power stations.

    60

  • #
    pat

    2 Sept: AP: Trump’s rollback of pollution rules to hit coal country hard
    By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and JOHN RABY; with SETH BORENSTEIN IN WASHINGTON
    GRANT TOWN, W.Va. (AP) — It’s coal people like miner Steve Knotts, 62, who make West Virginia Trump Country.
    So it was no surprise that President Donald Trump picked the state to announce his plan rolling back Obama-era pollution controls on coal-fired power plants.
    Trump left one thing out of his remarks, though: northern West Virginia coal country will be ground zero for increased deaths and illnesses from the rollback on regulation of harmful emission from the nation’s coal power plants…

    Knotts, a coal miner for 35 years, isn’t fazed when he hears that warning, a couple of days after Trump’s West Virginia rally. He says the last thing people in coal country want is the government slapping down more controls on coal — and the air here in the remote West Virginia mountains seems fine to him.
    “People here have had it with other people telling us what we need. We know what we need. We need a job,” Knotts said…

    Trump’s rollback would kill an extra 1.4 to 2.4 people a year for every 100,000 people in those hardest-hit areas, compared to under the Obama plan, according to the EPA analysis. For West Virginia’s 1.8 million people, that would be equal to at least a couple dozen additional deaths a year…

    Retired coal miner Jim Haley, living 4 miles from the town’s coal-fired power plant, has trouble telling from the smokestack when the plant is even operating.
    “They’ve got steam coming out of the chimneys. That’s all they have coming out of it,” Haley said…

    (FINALE) “They need to make that safe,” said Perkins, a health-care worker who had opted not to follow his father into the coal mines. “People got little kids.”

    (Raby reported from Charleston, West Virginia. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed from Washington)
    https://apnews.com/4c0ec2408aec431b8063bddc1076a54f

    10

  • #
    robert rosicka

    And as an OT Perth is having its wettest winter since 2000 .

    50

    • #
      el gordo

      With the collapse of the subtropical ridge I predict SWWA will receive normal winter rains for the next couple of decades.

      20

      • #
        Graeme#4

        Totally agree. Also the BOM is now claiming that Perth will have a hot summer, but I believe that it will be similar to the last two summers – cooler and more humid. And Perth’s cold, wet and stormy weather continues, with no sign of a “normal” Spring yet.

        10

    • #
      Graeme#4

      But the BOM is only basing the 2000 figure on records from the MT Lawley site, not from records going back to the early 1900s from Kings Park and East Perth. I believe there were also many wet years before this – I can recall how wet it was in 1972 for instance.

      20

  • #
    Asp

    Is the flatulence of a merino carbon dioxide free?

    30

  • #
    Dave

    O/T
    But interview with Australian Energy Council Chief Sarah McNamara on Sky News here

    Where she states it is cheaper to build renewables with Gas & Battery back up than build a new coal power Station?

    Being a Qualified Lawyer & A Bachelor of Arts, why is why in charge of the Australian Energy Council?

    Hope Tony has settled into his new abode without drama.

    50

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Bizarre, and something that the politicians must fix soon if they want to stay in office.

      Electricity Bills Hurt.

      I suspect we are near a point where those in business who have been hanging on in the hope that common sense will arrive, will give up soon.

      There could be a cascade of closing businesses with painful unemployment.

      KK

      31

      • #
        el gordo

        It has already begun, we are in the midst of a credit squeeze.

        ‘Tight credit and a lukewarm economy are pushing more businesses to the wall, with almost 55,000 failing last financial year.’ Oz

        50

  • #
    el gordo

    Coal is still king.

    ‘Despite concerns about climate change and a slowdown in financing, coal is clinging to its power generation crown.’ Oz

    31

  • #
    pat

    4 Sept: Reuters: Where is Promised Money, Campaigners Ask at Climate Talks in Bangkok
    by Rina Chandran
    BANGKOK — Developed countries are dragging their feet on meeting their pledges of billions of dollars to help developing nations tackle climate change, leaving poor nations with mounting costs from rising temperatures, rights groups said.
    Rich governments have promised to mobilize $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020 to help poorer nations make the transformation to clean energy and cope with the impact of higher temperatures…

    “Rich nations are attempting to escape full accountability for their role in causing and exacerbating climate change, and their obligation to deliver climate finance,” said Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development.
    “Inadequate climate finance compromises the capacity of the developing world to survive the climate crisis,” she said.

    Many of the programs developing countries have promised as part of their efforts to curb climate-related risks and turn to green energy depend on adequate international climate finance…
    But there is disagreement on where the money should go.
    “The big fight is that while developed nations are focused on mitigation, developing countries need help with adaptation and loss and damage from floods, storms and drought,” said Harjeet Singh of advocacy group ActionAid.
    “People are losing lives; we should not be focusing on trade agreements for solar panels and wind farms,” he said.
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-climatechange-un/where-is-the-promised-money-campaigners-ask-at-climate-talks-in-bangkok-idUSKCN1LJ1J4

    30

  • #
    pat

    4 Sept: Reuters: EU energy industry calls for VAT exemption on trading to be extended
    by Nina Chestney
    Energy industry associations called on the European Council on Tuesday to extend an exemption from the EU’s value-added tax directive for power, gas and carbon emission transactions to protect the markets from fraud…
    To combat the issue, the EU introduced an exemption from its VAT directive for electricity, gas and emissions trading transactions which will expire on Dec. 31 this year.
    The exemption enables member states to apply the so-called Domestic Reverse Charge Mechanism to these goods and services, which ensures the seller does not have to pay VAT, shifting the liability to the buyer.

    Eighteen industry associations, including Eurelectric, Eurogas and the International Emissions Trading Association, said VAT fraud remained a persistent threat to the integrity and operation of electricity, gas and carbon markets in Europe.
    It has been proposed that the exemption should continue until June 2022, but industry associations said it should be extended until at least Dec. 31, 2023.
    https://www.reuters.com/article/eu-carbon-fraud/eu-energy-industry-calls-for-vat-exemption-on-trading-to-be-extended-idUSL8N1VQ23R

    4 Sept: CarbonPulse: New Zealand’s productivity watchdog backs strong ETS reform
    New Zealand’s Productivity Commission on Tuesday released a government-commissioned report on how to shift to a low-carbon economy, backing efforts to reform the emissions trading scheme and set a price on emissions from agriculture.

    00

  • #
    pat

    3 Sept: Guardian: Disempower far-right climate change deniers. Don’t debate with them
    by Molly Scott Cato
    (Molly Scott Cato is the Green MEP for the south-west of England)
    A Ukip MEP has written a shamefully ignorant climate change report for the EU – it should never have happened.
    After a long, hot summer beset by record temperatures, drought and deadly fires, imagine my shock, on returning to the European parliament, to be confronted with a report that denies the reality of climate change…
    Some of the claims made by the report’s author, the Ukip MEP Stuart Agnew, are, frankly, pretty hair-raising. For instance, he claims that the effect of CO2 levels on our climate is “negligible”, and that it is “one of agriculture’s greatest friends”…

    So how could it be that someone with a track record of shameful ignorance of the science of climate change ends up being assigned the task of compiling this report?…
    Unbelievably, the decision to appoint Agnew was met with support from Christian Democrat, Conservative and Liberal members of the European parliament’s agriculture committee, while the Socialists and Democrats, supported by the Greens, attempted to challenge the decision to give Agnew the leading role…

    Quite rightly, in response to this news, climate experts have reacted with disbelief and anger. Bob Ward, from the Grantham Research Institute on climate change and environment at the London School of Economics, said: “There is not a single scientific institution in the world that would agree with this daft assessment. This document demonstrates how Ukip’s climate change denial is putting at risk the lives and livelihoods of people in the UK and across the European Union.” Dave Reay, professor of carbon management at the University of Edinburgh, also ridiculed the report: “The hackneyed, pseudo-scientific arguments here would make the dinosaurs blush. This will be a wonderful resource when [my students] discuss the ill-informed ideas that bounce around the echo chamber of climate change denial.”…

    What this fiasco reveals is the huge threat to rational climate action posed by the rise of the far right. It also shows the risks from Brexit, as the links between climate denial and Brexit are well documented. For example,the long-standing supporter of Brexit and arch-neoliberal Nigel Lawson founded the Global Warming Policy Foundation to oppose climate change mitigation policies. He labelled the Kyoto protocol “wrongheaded”, and has called for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to be shut down…

    Given the dangers posed by the far right and the very real threat of a significant bloc of populist, climate change-denying MEPs after next year’s European elections, it is time for those of us who back the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change to take back control. That is why I joined other politicians, scientists, academics and campaigners in signing a letter pledging we would refuse to debate those who deny that human-caused climate change is real. We can no longer give voice to the pseudo-science of climate change deniers; we must urgently move the debate on to how we address the causes and effects of dangerous climate breakdown…

    The large right and centre-right groups in the European parliament could and should have blocked Ukip from taking charge of a report on climate change. We can only hope that the mainstream groups in parliament – right, left and centre – that are likely to continue to control the majorities will show a greater degree of responsibility in future.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/far-right-climate-change-deniers-debate-ukip-emp-report-eu

    10

  • #
    pat

    4 Sept: Financial Times: Nick Butler: Tackling transport congestion will strain rights and freedoms
    Transforming travel is core to energy transition — and the most resistant to change
    (Nick Butler is visiting professor and chair of the King’s Policy Institute at King’s College London)
    The right to mobility is regarded as an entitlement — a symbol of individual progress and freedom. The costs, however, are increasing and we are approaching the moment when our freedom of movement may have to be constrained…

    Since 2000, demand for oil from transportation has risen by a third. There are some 450m more cars and vans on the world’s roads and some 60m more lorries. Almost all run on oil.
    Some 3m electric vehicles are now in use worldwide. But there are over 1.1bn cars and light vans using internal combustion engines. Meanwhile freight transportation by land and sea continues to grow — by around 3 per cent per annum, measured by vehicle miles. So does the use of aircraft. Some 4bn passengers took scheduled commercial flights last year…

    Today 55 per cent of the world’s population live in urban areas — up from 40 per cent in 1990. By 2030 the figure will reach 60 per cent.
    Within 20 years there could be another 900m cars in use, taking the total over 2bn. Freight demand is also expected to keep growing especially in Asia…
    Fundamental rethinking is necessary and the difficult question of whether individual mobility should be constrained cannot be avoided…

    By 2030, on quite modest assumptions about economic growth, around 8.5bn of the world’s 9bn citizens will be able to buy the energy they need for the basics richer countries take for granted — heat, light and mobility. In emerging economies, a growing middle class will be aspiring to the next level of consumption — a car for local travel and flights to see the wider world…

    Chinese tourists spent an estimated 25m nights in Europe last year. The Indian government has said that it expects to build as many as 100 new airports within the next decade, doubling current capacity.

    Mobility has become an assumed right but that assumption could now be challenged. In many western cities congestion and parking charges are becoming more common.
    For the moment they are more about collecting revenue than changing behaviour…

    A better bet is that, in one way or another, personal travel will be restricted. This will probably be achieved through taxes and other charges but also through parking controls or measures which limit access to certain days of the week. Such restrictions are already appearing in the developed world and will spread globally as cities encounter the reality of growing vehicle numbers and urban pollution.

    The realisation that individual mobility will have to be limited and rationed will come as a sharp reminder that the process of transition will not be painless and will require some sacrifice of rights and freedoms we have come to take for granted.
    https://www.ft.com/content/a5e73048-a470-11e8-a1b6-f368d365bf0e

    10

  • #
    pat

    3 Sept: France24: 200 stars urge ‘serious’ action on climate change in letter to Le Monde
    Two hundred of the world’s most prominent artists and scientists signed an open letter in French daily Le Monde on Monday calling for urgent political action to address the “global catastrophe” facing mankind and other species.
    The letter (LINK), penned by actress Juliette Binoche and astrophycist Aurélien Barrau, called on politicians to act “firmly and immediately” in tackling climate change and the “collapse of biodiversity”, described as the “greatest challenge in the history of mankind”.

    “It is time to get serious,” the signatories said. “The sixth mass extinction is taking place at unprecedented speed. But it is not too late to avert the worst.”
    The letter said it was up to politicians to take all necessary measures, ***however unpopular they may be…

    Binoche was joined by fellow French actresses Isabelle Adjani, Marion Cotillard and Catherine Deneuve as well as artist Anish Kapoor; actors Bradley Cooper, Willem Defoe, Ethan Hawke, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Charlotte Rampling and John Tuturro; directors David Cronenberg and Wim Wenders; and many others.
    Prominent scientists who signed on included astrophysicist Françoise Combes, climatologist Jean Jouzel, mathematician Mikhaïl Gromov and physicist Carlo Rovelli.

    The letter comes as French President Emmanuel Macron is under pressure to do more to deliver on his green promises after his high-profile ecology minister, Nicolas Hulot, suddenly resigned, citing his disappointment with progress on the environment…
    https://www.france24.com/en/20180903-climate-change-environment-letter-artists-scientists-le-monde-binoche-france

    30

  • #
    pat

    3 Sept: UK Telegraph: Power showers could be restricted and households forced to install water meters, under drought plans
    By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
    A recent report by the National Infrastructure Commission (LINK) calculated that Britain would need to find an extra 4,000 million litres a day to cope with a drier climate and population growth by 2040.
    And the NIC said that every household would have to save an extra 23 litres of water daily.

    Speaking at a briefing in London about water resilience, Professor Jim Hall of Oxford University, said the government may need to introduce restrictions on appliances such as showers, washing machines and dishwashers to limit their water use…
    Prof Hall, Director of the Environmental Change Institute, said: “In the way that one has energy efficiency a requirements, it would affect the sort of things that consumers are able to buy. So washing machines, dishwashers and showers.
    “Compulsory water meters for a large part of the country is an option we should be considering, but regulators are reluctant and the Government is cautious about imposing them.
    “In the current situation there are winners and losers. For example, people living in a large house with teenage children taking a lot of showers and using more than the average amount of water would end up paying more with a meter, but people using less than the average may end up paying less.”

    Prof Hall said the meters were not necessary in wetter, less populated parts of England and Wales but could have a big impact in London and the South East.
    Asked if it could be the end of the power shower Prof Hall said: “Yeah”…
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/03/power-showers-could-restricted-households-forced-install-water/

    10