A rant.....plus some potatoes!
Finally, someone bloody said it, we mine it here - coal that is- use it to produce cheap electricity in Australia but we also sell it around the globe. Then, our federal government (who amongst other laudable achievements refuses to ratify the Kyoto protocol) has the audacity to blame China and India, for burning the coal which we sold to them, that they use to process the other raw materials we sold them, to produce the crap that we buy and don' t need for being big time polluters. Ummm......? (entire Tim Flannery interview on Lateline )
What is further galling, is how the commodities boom that has buoyed the Australian economy and funded an untold amount of government largess (especially at election time) is spun as some sort of government achievement - they take the credit but assume none of the responsibility for their actions. The spending decisions of this federal government are a topic for another time!
Recently, in the NSW Land & Environment Court a ruling was made that as part of the assessment process for new mines, the greenhouse emissions that will be generated from extraction to final use need to be included in the environmental impact statement. It has to be accounted for. It goes somewhere and yes, the atmosphere is common to the whole planet - interconnected no less. The state government hasn't challenged the ruling yet but instead amended legislation to get around it - very quietly in the weeks before Xmas. They want to be seen to be green especially with an state election coming up - the environment is a hot topic!
Did I mention that I love potatoes? They are such glorious tubers and when you grow them yourself, you understand why the French call them "pomme de terre". They are crispy like apples. I found this great book about potatoes and now want to try out different varieties.
I harvested the crop two days ago and we got about 40- 60 kgs of spuds. My hopes for a more bountiful harvest were dashed when we go some 'unseasonal' heavy rain and hot weather in November and the plants started to produce lots of leaf. Heavy application of straw followed - don't know if it helped increase tuber production.
The nice thing, whilst digging out the potatoes, was noticing how the soil had improved, mainly due to the increase in earthworms (and some double digging / manure/ compost application) They are truly marvellous creatures.
What is further galling, is how the commodities boom that has buoyed the Australian economy and funded an untold amount of government largess (especially at election time) is spun as some sort of government achievement - they take the credit but assume none of the responsibility for their actions. The spending decisions of this federal government are a topic for another time!
Recently, in the NSW Land & Environment Court a ruling was made that as part of the assessment process for new mines, the greenhouse emissions that will be generated from extraction to final use need to be included in the environmental impact statement. It has to be accounted for. It goes somewhere and yes, the atmosphere is common to the whole planet - interconnected no less. The state government hasn't challenged the ruling yet but instead amended legislation to get around it - very quietly in the weeks before Xmas. They want to be seen to be green especially with an state election coming up - the environment is a hot topic!
Did I mention that I love potatoes? They are such glorious tubers and when you grow them yourself, you understand why the French call them "pomme de terre". They are crispy like apples. I found this great book about potatoes and now want to try out different varieties.
I harvested the crop two days ago and we got about 40- 60 kgs of spuds. My hopes for a more bountiful harvest were dashed when we go some 'unseasonal' heavy rain and hot weather in November and the plants started to produce lots of leaf. Heavy application of straw followed - don't know if it helped increase tuber production.
The nice thing, whilst digging out the potatoes, was noticing how the soil had improved, mainly due to the increase in earthworms (and some double digging / manure/ compost application) They are truly marvellous creatures.
posted by Nada at 08:58
4 Comments:
60 kgs!Gordon Elliott!
I just watched a nice Republican chappie on Fox News (via the Daily Show) assert that the new scientists' global warming report was released so that the weather channel could make money - because nobody would watch if they weren't scared. We're doomed!
We may be doomed but I think the Bush administration and our very own federal govt morons have suceeded in starring in their own absurdist farce....it is better than anything by Havel.
Did you not know that facts, data, science, informed opinion are redundant - eviscerated by funding cuts to education and science - cuts to spening on anything worthwhile.
Did I mention I loathe the federal govt?
Nx
Now Nada, you're not paying attention are you. It's all going to be OK! Our Fearless Leader told me personally. Oh, well, maybe not personally, but via the Daily Telegraph which is pretty much the same thing, right?
We might be selling coal willy nilly to China and India but - here's the important bit - it's clean coal. Yes, that's right, like potatoes, we wash it first, and then it makes exactly zero emissions when it's burned! At least I think that's what he was saying - something like that. It was all happy joy joy nice Chinese happy people with their Clean Coal Power Stations opening at the rate of one every six days.
This power is so clean that the biggest problem we're going to face in decades to come is more likely to be soap suds.
Oh calloo callay, I can't wait to vote for Little Johnny again.
I'd forgotten about that latest addition to the pantheon of oxymoron.
Johnny and the Mediocre Fascists really have got it going on!
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