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Archive for the ‘Climate’ Category

Currently in Nottingham

Posted in A writer's life, Climate, Travel, UK, United Kingdom, Warhammer, weather, tagged , , , , , on January 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

There’s been a lot of rain hereabouts. Storm Gerrick while we were in Brighton and Storm Henk while we are in the north. The River Trent is in flood, but hopefully it has dropped from its peak last evening.

We are having a quiet, relaxing time with a few trips out. Matthew’s lovely cousins gave us the use of a room at the top of the house with an ensuite and we are cosy and warm. We sleep a lot but as I might have mentioned it is very dark here in the UK in Winter. Two hours less sunlight than Winter in Canberra. I did a bit of research. The flip side of that is that there is two hours more sunlight in summer in the UK than at home. I am very sunlight dependent I find. At home I’m awake with the dawn.

If we have something on I’m fine with being awake when it is dark, otherwise at 4pm I feel like it’s the middle of the night and I have this instinct to go hibernate. Weird. I can understand why some people get SAD in Winter.

So far we went to the Broadway cinema and watched a Filipino film called Raging Grace. It was a great film screened in a lounge with an eclectic mix of chairs. We had dinner in the cafe first. Then last night we had dinner with Marc at The Botanist restaurant a short walk from where we are staying. It was great to catch up after so many years. I saw Marc in 2019 but Matthew has not travelled since 2014 I think. It is hard when you really enjoy spending time with someone but you live so far apart. Anyway, we ate, we talked and were chucked out of the restaurant as it closed at ten. Hahahaha. We could have gone to the bar but it was late by then.

Yesterday we went for a walk. First to grab some brunch/lunch and then cousin Bob suggested we walk along the embankment next to the river which was in flood. We did do that walk but kept on going until we walked to Warhammmer World. We had a look around and a drink in Bugman’s Bar. I think we are heading there again today. We caught an Uber back though as it was more than 10,000 steps.

Otherwise today I’m not sure what we have planned. Maybe dinner in the pub across the road. As we were travelling in Winter we hadn’t really planned to do touristy stuff. We planned on hanging out getting to know our family and friends more and maybe write and walk etc. This is what we are doing so all good.

We hadn’t planned too much ahead but now I’ve booked some accommodation in South Shields, Newcastle on Tyne, within walking distance of the great, great, great grandfather’s house and other things so that’s kind of cool. Then we head to Edinburgh for a few days, a day in Lancaster to meet up with friends as we break our journey back to Hertfordshire.

Trent River in flood
A quick view of how fast the river is flowing.

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A few words on the Australian Government’s stance on climate change

Posted in Climate, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , on October 18, 2019| Leave a Comment »

I don’t comment on politics often but this has been on my mind.

We have protests. We have affirmative action from the people. We have solar power and wind power. Why does the Australian government not understand or seem to act?

It comes down to economics and coal. Coal the core of our trade and how can the government say coal is bad and keep selling it? Basically it can’t. If they stopped the coal industry tomorrow our economy would collapse.

I get that but I’m not happy about it.

What the Australian government needs to do is look for new industries for Australia to have at its core and start the move away from coal. That might take fifty years but we should start now. Successive governments have had decades on decades to more our economy from a commodity base to more dependable footing say manufacturing, finance, technology and ideas. But I can’t see any attempts at that. Now, we have our backs against the wall. We have a lot of coal but soon we aren’t going to be able to sell as much of it as we used to. Coal creates greenhouse gases and as other economies get on board with this, they will change and we should be changing ahead of the game. For example, China buys coal and burns coal. In Shanghai you have to wear a mask in the winter due to the coal burning power stations and I believe Beijing is the same. China are investing in solar energy and that’s probably where my solar panels were manufactured.

What I’d like to see is for the Australian government to support climate change action. Listen to the voices of the people who want recycling, who want less waste, who want less plastics in the environment. We want support for electric cars so we aren’t contributing to more greenhouse gases. Supporting climate change action doesn’t have to mean economic loss, but it does mean the government acknowledging the will of the people when it comes to climate change action.

The government talks about banning protesters and Morrison PM says that kids are too young to worry about such things. Scott Morrison you are being an ass and Dutton, your dopey comrade, is just too ridiculous for words, calling on the police to sue protestors because the courts won’t punish them. Cue eye roll. Ever heard of the separation of powers?

Australian government start talking about a positive future and about where Australia will be in fifty years or even one hundred years’ time. Plan to have a no coal future and build us an economy that can support us and where we can actively reduce greenhouse gasses and still live.

Not all Australian governments are blind and stupid. Canberra is moving to phase LPG (gas) out by 2030, I think. Besides being pricey LPG  contributes to greenhouse gases. Canberra is set to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, which is great but there’s more to be done obviously.

The Australian Government missed the boat on a future fund based on the mining and petroleum sectors. I mean the then Labor government did try, but it brought the government into disarray. Rich mining moguls have way too much money and power! One day all those minerals will run out and Australians will be turning out their empty pockets and will need to go begging. But that’s the greed culture for you.

I have included a few links. The one in the Conversation talks about how the statistics say one thing but if you include the downstream industries that mining is fifty percent of the economy and is pretty interesting about economics generally.

Warning the Mining Council can be a bit right wing.

https://minerals.org.au/coal-community

https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/5204.0Feature%20Article12017-18?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=5204.0&issue=2017-18&num=&view=

http://theconversation.com/australias-five-pillar-economy-mining-40701

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