Australia’s Non-Green Stimulus

Back in the heady, long-gone days of 2009, The Oil Drum web log hosted a discussion about Australia being highly vulnerable to oil shortages :-

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5477

“Aleklett: Australia highly vulnerable to oil shortages : June 11, 2009 : ASPO International president, Professor Kjell Aleklett of the Global Energy Systems group at Uppsala University has been in Australia over the past week, presenting lectures in Adelaide and Sydney on peak oil…warned that Australia will be one of the first countries hit hard by oil shortages as oil production peaks within the next three years. Kjell Aleklett, a physicist from Uppsala University in Sweden, says Australia’s relatively underdeveloped public transport system leaves the country more vulnerable to a downturn in energy production. “Australia is very sensitive to such developments,” Professor Aleklett told the Herald. “Much of your industry and transit is dependent on oil, and supplies will decline.” Professor Aleklett addressed the NSW [New South Wales] electric car task force and the Federal Government’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics yesterday…”

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Don’t Do It, Kevin !

Dear Kevin Rudd, current Prime Minister of all Australia,

Of all the meaningless things to stake your premiership on, it has to be that ridiculous notion of Carbon Trading.

You realise that it won’t raise a single dollar for the de-Carbonisation of your appallingly ginormous national Energy and Transport sectors, don’t you ?

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The Copenhagen Diaries

Grist Magazine asks “How foerked are we ?” in the promotional picture for their Copenhagen Diaries.

For Professor Corinne Le Quere, from the British Antarctic Survey and East Anglia University, the answer is “very” :-

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26375158-401,00.html

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Kevin Rudd versus Rupert Murdoch

A huge round of applause for Kevin Rudd, Australia’s Prime Minister, for lambasting, basting and roasting the Climate Change deniers :-

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/06/2735769.htm

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Sterner Stuff : Climate Change in the First World

I’m starting to read Nicholas Stern’s new book “A Blueprint for a Safer Planet : How to Manage Climate Change and Create a New Era of Progress and Prosperity.” No hint of megalomania, grandstanding or grandiosity, there, then.
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