May 05, 2008

William Connolley at Wikipedia - by Lawrence Solomon

At Wikipedia, one man engineers the debate on global warming, and shapes it to his views:

Next to Al Gore, William Connolley may be the world's most influential person in the global warming debate. He has a PhD in mathematics and worked as a climate modeller, but those accomplishments don't explain his influence -- PhDs are not uncommon and, in any case, he comes from the mid-level ranks in the British Antarctic Survey, the agency for which he worked until recently.

He was the Parish Councillor for the village of Coton in the U.K., his Web site tells us, and a school governor there, too, but neither of those accomplishments are a claim to fame in the wider world. Neither are his five failed attempts to attain public office as a local candidate for South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council as a representative for the Green Party...

Read more here: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=490337

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The Opinionator, At Wikipedia, one man engineers the debate on global warming, and shapes it to his views.
by Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, Published: Saturday, May 03, 2008

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April 28, 2008

Fred Singer Does Not Believe in Martians: Lawrence Solomon

Fred Singer, one of the world’s renowned scientists, believes in Martians. I discovered this several weeks ago while reading his biography on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. “Do you really believe in Martians?” I asked him last week, at a chance meeting at a Washington event. The answer was “No.”

Wikipedia’s error was neither isolated nor inadvertent. The page that Wikipedia devotes to what is ostensibly Fred Singer’s biography is designed to trivialize his long and outstanding scientific career by painting him as a political partisan and someone who “is best known as president and founder (in 1990) of the Science & Environmental Policy Project, which disputes the prevailing scientific views of climate change, ozone depletion, and second-hand smoke and is science advisor to the conservative journal NewsMax.”

Innocent Wikipedia readers would be surprised to learn that Dr. Singer is no conservative kook but the first director of the U.S. National Weather Satellite Center; the recipient of a White House commendation for his early design of space satellites; the recipient of a commendation from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for research on particle clouds; and the recipient of a U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award for the development and management of weather satellites.

He is, in short, a scientist of the highest calibre, with a long list of major scientific achievements, including the first measurements, with V-2 and Aerobee rockets, of primary cosmic radiation in space, the design of the first instruments for measuring ozone, and the authorship of the first publications predicting the existence of trapped radiation in the earth’s magnetic field to explain the magnetic-storm ring current.

Read more here: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2008/04/25/the-real-climate-martians-solomon.aspx

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The Real Climate Martians, by Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, April 26, 2008

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April 27, 2008

Who the Hell is Robyn Williams? Request for Information from Graham Young

This morning's Ockham's Razor broadcast was by Don Aitkin on global warming. Presenter Robyn Williams introduced him in these terms:

"It is one of the disappointments of my life as a broadcaster that I've never managed to interview Nigella Lawson. How would she fit into a science program you may wonder, but that's mere detail.

I have, on the other hand, had her father Nigel Lawson on the Science Show, talking about innovation or some such, with his usual flair and penetrating intelligence. Not a science-trained man, but economics is near enough, isn't it, and he was Thatcher's Chancellor of the Exchequer (or Treasurer).

Now Lord Lawson has brought out a book on climate called An Appeal to Reason. Here's the first paragraph of a review in this week's Spectator magazine:

'When there is so much data suggesting the world's climate is heating up', goes the review, 'some may find it presumptuous of Nigel Lawson, who is not a scientist and has undertaken no original research, to hope to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy. Would we take seriously an appraisal of his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer written by someone whose only expertise was in oceanography?'

Well the same could apply to Professor Don Aitkin, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, a political scientist and like Lawson, a journalist. Professor Aitkin gave a lecture on climate to the Planning Institute of Australia, A Cool Look at Global Warming. That was a couple of weeks ago, and I thought you might like to hear some of his thoughts, recast for Ockham's Razor. Though 9 out of 10 Australians are said to be alarmed at climate change, 10% think differently, and Professor Aitkin is one of them."

There are a number of issues of impartiality that arise from this introduction, but in this post I am interested in the main slight which is that because Aitkin is a "journalist" (I actually think he would be more correctly described as a social scientist) he cannot be taken seriously on the issue of climate change.

So, I'm interested in what qualifications Robyn Williams has. Afterall, while argument from authority has no role to play in establishing the truth of a proposition, turned back on its proponent it can often be the best demonstration of just how hollow their argument is.

Here is what I think I know about Williams. Happy to be corrected, or to have the list extended.

He has an honours degree in biology. He does not have qualifications in physics, climatology or earth-sciences
He has some honorary PhDs, but he does not have an actual PhD
He is a visiting professor at UNSW, but is not actually on staff
He is an adjunct professor at UQ, but is not actually on staff
He has in the past, and perhaps to the present, been a supporter of communist politics.

If I am correct in all of this it leads to the conclusion that his only standing on this issue is as a journalist, with a particular political bent, who is no better qualified than Don Aitkin. Which in his own terms must make it quite improper to make the introduction that he did. Afterall, with those qualifications, what would he know?

Graham Young
Ambit Gambit

This is a cross post from http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/002974.html

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Robyn Williams Might Apologize to Don Aitkin and Nigel Lawson

A fellow called Robyn Williams has a monopoly on the reporting of science on Australia's publicly funded national radio, the ABC. He runs several programs including Ockam's Razor broadcast on Sunday morning.

He is usually quick to promote the latest scare and perhaps not surprisingly has become a great supporter of alarmist global warming claims. It is not difficult to find credible scientists to interview who support the consensus on global warming. Unfortunately, however, anybody holding a skeptical view risks ridicule when they speak out, including from Robyn Williams.

Here is a disgraceful introduction from Robyn Williams to the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, Professor Don Aitkin. No doubt if Professor Aitkin were not a skeptic he would have been given a suitably adoring, or at least a gracious, introduction.

Also, in the following introduction Mr Williams suggested Nigel Lawson is a trained economist, he is not. He is a journalist by training. But was a very able Chancellor of the Exchequer in Margaret Thatcher's government.

Here goes:

Robyn Williams: It is one of the disappointments of my life as a broadcaster that I've never managed to interview Nigella Lawson. How would she fit into a science program you may wonder, but that's mere detail.

I have, on the other hand, had her father Nigel Lawson on the Science Show, talking about innovation or some such, with his usual flair and penetrating intelligence. Not a science-trained man, but economics is near enough, isn't it, and he was Thatcher's Chancellor of the Exchequer (or Treasurer).

Now Lord Lawson has brought out a book on climate called An Appeal to Reason. Here's the first paragraph of a review in this week's Spectator magazine:

'When there is so much data suggesting the world's climate is heating up', goes the review, 'some may find it presumptuous of Nigel Lawson, who is not a scientist and has undertaken no original research, to hope to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy. Would we take seriously an appraisal of his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer written by someone whose only expertise was in oceanography?'

Well the same could apply to Professor Don Aitkin, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, a political scientist and like Lawson, a journalist. Professor Aitkin gave a lecture on climate to the Planning Institute of Australia, A Cool Look at Global Warming. That was a couple of weeks ago, and I thought you might like to hear some of his thoughts, recast for Ockham's Razor. Though 9 out of 10 Australians are said to be alarmed at climate change, 10% think differently, and Professor Aitkin is one of them."

Now read/listen to 'A challenge to global warming orthodoxies - part one' by Don Aitkins here:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2008/2226464.htm

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March 06, 2008

Climate Change Conference, New York – Day 3, In Review

I’ve already reported on the standing ovation given to Vaclav Klaus following his speech at breakfast on day 3 of the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change in New York.

President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus addressing delegates at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change

There were two keynote speakers at each meal.

William Gray spoke after President Klaus and to the title 'Oceans, Not Carbon Dioxide are Driving Climate' and in particular about the circulation of water from the North Pole by way of the “Great Ocean Conveyor Belt” – Thermohaline Circulation (THC) – and the importance of the highly saline Atlantic Ocean.

Dr Gray has worked in the observational and theoretical aspects of tropical meteorological research for more than 40 years including studies of broad-scale cumulus interactions, processes associated with tropical cyclone structure, development and movement. And I will admit to not understanding all of his presentation, so I am going to say no more than that while acknowledging that carbon dioxide, the sun, land use change and water vapour all impact climate, Dr Gray went on to explain that it is the oceans that really drive climate and that the associated changes in energy fields and atmospheric moisture are too complex and chaotic to integrate into climate models.

A key slide from Dr Gray's presentation.

After breakfast I headed to what is known at the Marriott Marquis as the Skylobby on the 16th floor to hear Marc Morano, Marlo Lewis and Michael Fox. The session on science and politics was introduced with reference to the so called scientific consensus and the suggestion was made that it is really a political consensus, not a scientific consensus.

Michael Fox is a nuclear specialist and he drew similarities in his speech between the current campaign against fossil fuels and the long standing campaign against nuclear energy. He suggested both reflected ‘illiteracy’ in the general public when it comes to science, maths and energy and spoke at length about environmental activists being against nuclear and hydro – yet these are the only real alternative to fossil fuels. His comments about activists being well organised and using regulation, litigation and/or taxation to attack the nuclear industry were interesting.

He finished with a quote from a Washington Congressman that “in my district it is political suicide to be rational on nuclear issues.”

I am familiar with the work of second speaker Marlo Lewis and in particular his comprehensive critique of Al Gore’s book ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ which you can find here: http://www.cei.org/pages/ait_response-book.cfm . But I had trouble following much of his speech at the conference because it was about the complexity and history of US environmental legislation the implications of which he was hopefully exaggerating because is it really possible that litigation could close down the US economy. Dr Marlo spoke about ‘ethanolism’ as an addiction which has swept over Washington and went into great detail about National Ambient Air Quality Standards and how government legislators could set the standard for carbon dioxide lower than current levels!

Marc Morano followed Marlo Lewis and I have already posted on his presentation here: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002818.html . I will just add that Mr Morano also said polar bear numbers are at historical highs yet it is likely they will be listed as endangered.

I only caught part of the last session in the Skylobby which included some discussion on the Christian lobby and their links with the AGW lobby. The size of this constituency in the US runs into the tens of millions.

Instead of hearing more speakers I ended up joining UK resident and social anthropologist Benny Peiser and famous economist David Henderson for a pot of tea and some discussion on Level 8. Of course the pot was just hot water but we put the teabags into the pot rather than our cups – as the Americans get this so wrong.

Lunch was delicious; a delicate green rocket salad followed by a large piece of salmon on a wholesome risotto. The speakers were also great. Dr Roy Spencer is a principle research scientists for the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the US Science Team leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite and his presentation was entitled ‘Recent Evidence for Reduced Climate Sensitivity’. While at the morning session William Gray suggested oceans drive climate, Dr Spencer's key point was that “if there is one organising principle it is precipitation systems” (rainfall). He explained his interest in temperature anomalies since the launch of the NASA Aqua satellite in 2002 and the detailed data this satellite collects including on intraseasonal oscillations in troposhere temperatures. I was fascinated to hear how the satellite data has helped understanding of how clouds change as they evolve and the strong negative cloud feedback during troposphere warming. This is not how the climate models behave – they suggest a strong positive feedback. Dr Spencer also explained how when his findings were published last August there was no media interest to his astonishment given then importance of the findings.

In an attempt to move with the opinion within his discipline that if you can’t “put it in numbers in a climate model all you are doing is hand waving”, Dr Spencer developed his own climate model, what he described as the ‘world’s smallest climate model’.

Slide from Roy Spencer's presentation.

What the model showed was that the real climate system (as opposed to the virtual modelled system) is much less sensitive than most modellers assume.

Dr Spencer's talk was perhaps the most important at the conference and his conclusions including:
1. Recent research supports reduced climate sensitivity including that tropical intra-seasonal osciallations show strong negative feedback and observational estimates of feedback are likely bias due to neglect of natural variability, and
2. The accommodation of these results by climate modellers in their cloud parameterization could greatly reduce climate model projections of future warming.

The last speaker for the conference was ABC News correspondent John Stossel. He gave an interesting talk on ‘scares’ and how and why the media reports them.

In his closing remarks for the conference Heartland Institute President and CEO Joseph Blast drew parallels between our conference and the small group of economists who gathered at Mont Pelerin, near Montreux, Switzerland, to discuss the state and the possible fate of classic liberalism in 1947. Mr Blast suggested that our gathering in New York will hopefully mark the beginnings of an intellectual movement that will help turn-around the politics of climate change.

I walked and napped in the afternoon before meeting some conference delegates - Bob Ferguson and Carol Ferguson, Bob Carter and Ann Carter, blogger Joe De'Aleo and Astrophysicist Willie Soon - for a light dinner and a glass of wine (or two) in the hotel.

Conference delegates Bob Carter, Joe De Áleo and Willie Soon not in a spaceship, but rather in a lounge at the New York Marriott Marquis.

I would like to again thank conference organisers and sponsors The Heartland Institute and also the people of New York who have helped make my short say here truly memorable.

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You can read my perspective on Day 1 of the conference here: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002809.html and Day 2 here: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002813.html

Some media from the conference is here:

Bob Carter on the Global Warming Conference
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/6724/

Inconvenient Thermometers
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/6727/?ck=1

Glenn talks with Lord Monckton
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/6783/?ck=1

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March 05, 2008

Meeting Marc Morano

A highlight of The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change for me was meeting Marc Morano.

He is a former journalist with CNS, reporter and producer for the Rush Limbaugh Television Show and also American Investigator. Now communications director for the Republicans on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in Washinton amongst his many activities and responsibilities he also finds time to run an award winning blog.

Mr Morano gave two papers at the conference. I sat in on Wednesday morning's session on politics and science which also included presentations from Marlo Lewis and Michael Fox.

Marc Morano chatting with a delegate before the session.

Mr Morano began with an overview of the history of the politics of climate change including a quote from Newsweek magazine of April 28, 1975, ““The longer the planners delay the more difficult they will find it to deal with climate change once the results become grim reality.”

Marc Morano speaking at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change

He went on to talk about carbon based economies as the greatest liberators of mankind in the history of the planet facilitating the “20th Century Miracle” including the lowering of infant mortality and increasingly life expectancy.

Following the presentations Mr Morano answered a question about the value of focus groups in understanding public opinion on global warming and helping to formulate appropriate public responses. He said that what was most needed from politicians was simply "political courage" including the courage to tell it as it is.

After the session I was privileged to meet not only Marc but also his mother and nephew who were also at the conference.

Marc Morano with his mother at The Marriott Marquis, New York.

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You can read my perspective on day 1 of the conference here http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002809.html , day 2 here http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002813.html and breakfast with Hon Vaclav Klaus on day 3 here http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002816.html.

Thanks again to conference sponsor’s The Heartland Institute

Posted by jennifer at 08:29 PM | Comments (1)

Breakfast with Czech President Vaclav Klaus

The 500-strong contingent of skeptics currently in New York for The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change were up early for a second day. Breakfast was again at 7am and the first speaker was given a standing ovation – a man who had travelled all the way from Prague, the President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus.

Vaclav Klaus is a well know global warming skeptic and was re-elected President just two weeks ago.

In his speech President Klaus talked about the “robust relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth” and went on to suggest there are three types of countries in Europe based on their emissions profile and level of economic growth. He described the less developed countries of the European Union (EU), including Greece, has trying to “catch-up” since the signing of Kyoto and in the process increasing their level of carbon emissions by 53 percent. The post communist countries were described as seeing their heavy industry disappear and experiencing a decline in GDP and a drop in emissions of 33 percent Then there are countries like France and Germany which have seen their emissions increase on average by 4 percent.

The President said that “the dream” to reduce emissions in the EU by 70 percent in the next 30 years could only be achieved if there was a dramatic de-industrialization of Europe (likely associated with a dramatic drop in GDP), a dramatic drop in population or a technological revolution.

President Klaus outlined previous attempts in Europe, for example the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, to impose radical economic change and the “innocence of climate alarmists” to currently mastermind society including their belief in their own omnipotence.

The President concluded with comment that “uncompromising lessons about the collapse of communism” need to be re-learnt:

“We have to restart the discussion about the very nature of government and about the relationship between the individual and society. Now it concerns the whole of mankind, not just the citizens of one particular country. To discuss this means to look at the canonically structured theoretical discussions about socialism (or communism) and to learn the uncompromising lessons from the inevitable collapse of communism 18 years ago. It is not about climatology. It is about freedom. This should be the main message from our conference.”

Standing ovation, including from London-based Kendra Okonski and former advisor to Russian President Putin Andrei Illarionov . New York based Statistician William M Briggs is the tall guy in the background to the immediate left of Dr Illarionov.

Thanks again to conference sponsor’s The Heartland Institute .

More on day 3 soon.

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You can read a perspective on day 3 of the conference from William M Briggs here: http://wmbriggs.com/blog/2008/03/04/heartland-conference-day-3-and-wrap-up/.

You can read my perspective on day 1 of the conference here http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002809.html and day 2 here http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002813.html .

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March 04, 2008

Climate Change Conference, New York – Day 2, In Review

The 500-strong contingent of skeptics currently in New York for The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change were up early to hear Robert Balling and Ross McKitrick speak at breakfast.

A key message from the address by Professor Balling was that there are a lot of non-greenhouse signals that can impact climate including sulphates, dust, ozone, biomass burning and land use change. Given even the IPCC agrees that we have a poor understanding of the impact of these different variables on climate – how can the debate be over? The Professor concluded with the Thomas Huxley quote, “Skepticism is the highest of duties, blind faith the one unpardonable sin”.

Ross McKitrick gave a very different type of address getting into the detail of the recent temperature record – how it is measured and how there is a large population effect on the US temperature data which accounts for about half the observed warming since 1980. Dr McKitrick went into the detail of the statistic analysis and his arguments with the IPCC and scientists at Realclimate.

Ross McKitrick speaking to the title 'Quantifying the Influence of Anthropogenic Surface Processes on Gridded Global Climate Data', 7am Breakfast Session

Bob Carter amongst the crowd who woke early to hear Dr McKitrick

Following the breakfast we had a choice of 6 different tracks on either paleoclimatology, climatology, impacts, economics, politics or movies. I spent most of the day in the ‘impacts’ track and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I even got to meet polar bear expert Mitch Taylor. He followed a presentation by entomologist Paul Reiter which emphasised malaria is not historically a tropical disease with outbreaks in the England, Sweden and Finland before the advent of DDT. Dr Reiter also made the point that Al Gore was completely wrong in his documentary to suggest that Nairobi did not have a history of malaria outbreaks – in fact here were five major epidemics to the 1950s.

Of course the best photographs for the day were from Mitch Taylor who told us about his field work in the Arctic counting polar bears – or more correctly field sampling using mark-recapture techniques. Dr Taylor said that these demographic studies indicated at least two subpopulations of polar bears in the Artic had a constant population size, that two were increasing in number and that two were in decline – one of these from over hunting and the Churchill subpopulation from climate change in particular a reduction in the amount of sea ice. Accepting the climate models Dr Taylor indicated that bear numbers could decline across the Artic from present numbers of about 24,500 to around 17,000 over the next 100 years.

Jennifer Marohasy and Mitch Taylor, Marriott Hotel, March 3, 2008 International Climate Change Conference

My colleague Alan Moran told me that the best speakers of the day were Tim Ball and Fred Singer at lunch, but still slightly jet lagged and still recovering from a breakfast of scrambled egg, hash-browns, spinach, bacon, fried tomato and a bit more I decided to sleep through lunch. I also missed Dr Moran's presentation as it clashed with Dr Taylor's.

Denis Avery giving a television interview.

I did wake up in time to hear William Briggs who gave a fascinating insight into the worldwide hurricane data concluding there is no discernable increase in either number or intensity. This conclusions was supported by Stan Goldenberg from NOAA who emphasised the importance of understanding how hurricane data has been collected historically in his presentation which included photographs taken inside the eye of hurricanes from flights within NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters – WP-3D Turbo Prop Aircraft.

Leon Ashby, South Australian landholder and director of the Australian Environment Foundation, films conference proceedings.

I sat in on one of the economics sessions and the talk by Michael Economides, University of Houston, focused on our past, present and likely future dependence on oil and gas explaining that these hydrocarbons account for 87 percent of the world’s energy needs and suggesting that there was no alternative to hydrocarbon energy in the immediate future with wind and solar only likely to ever meet half of 1 percent of our energy needs over the next century. This presentation, in which the professor explained he considered AGW "unadulterated nonsense" contrasted sharply with the presentation from Benny Peiser. Dr Peiser spoke at the last session for the day in the impacts track asking the question “What if Al Gore is right?” He put it to the audience that the current response from the world’s skeptics was not reassuring to the public or politicians and that given our “cultural baggage” people had reason to fear climate change. Dr Peiser, like the other speaker in this session, Dr Stan Goldberg from NOAA, suggested regardless of the cause of climate change we should prepare for it.

Dr Peiser acknowledged government across the world had no real solution to rising emission levels but that solutions would come through geoengineering. In contrast to Professor Economides, Dr Peiser suggested the world might one day be run on solar energy and that within a 100 or so years we would know how to make it rain.

With the conference over for the day, my colleague Alan Moran and I decided on a brisk walk through Central Park before a wine and meal at Morrell’s in Rockefellar Plaza.

A racoon in Central Park. March 3, 2008

Another great day thanks to conference organisers The Heartland Institute.

More tomorrow.

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And you can read about yesterday here: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002809.html

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March 03, 2008

Climate Change Conference, New York – Day 1, In Review

I arrived in New York this morning for the first ever international meeting of ‘global warming skeptics’.

It’s actually called ‘The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change’ but many of the speakers and delegates are well known AGW skeptics and they have never gathered before in one place and time. At least certainly not the 500 or so said to be here today. [And of course none of them are skeptical of climate change – but rather the extent to which carbon dioxide drives warming.]

Perhaps appropriately for a first meeting of AGW skeptics it has been a chilly day. It has been probably close to zero outside with a blustery wind.

Indeed when I ventured out onto Broadway for brunch this morning in a warm coat I thought my ears were going to freeze off. Then I found a shop full of hats and bought something lined with fake fur – and I was slightly warmer.

Jennifer in her new hat, Manhattan, March 2, 2008

After a long nap – I hadn’t really slept for 36 hours having missed my connecting flight from Sydney to New York in San Francisco – I registered for the conference at 5pm.

The conference is at the New York Marriott Marquis right on Broadway. I am also staying at the hotel and I think you can get everything here except a pot of tea.

Anyway, it was good to see some Australians here including my colleague Alan Moran, Bob Carter and his wife Ann, Viv Forbes, Ian McClintock, Tom Quirk – and that was just who I met this evening.

I was asked to mind a table for the Australians for dinner at the request of Viv Forbes, anyway, next thing a couple of Italians asked if they could join me and I thought what the heck, then three New Zealanders turned up and sat down, and Viv returned to find his dinner table full of ‘others’ and me – but I think he had a good night anyway.

My colleague Alan Moran (the good looking one) with a fellow from Sweden and another from Holland at the conference reception. Manhattan, March 2, 2008.

The conference dinner was opened by Joseph Bast, President of The Heartland Institute. He began by saying that Jim Martin, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, recently told the Denver Post, “You could have a convention of scientists who dispute climate change in a relatively small phone booth” and went on to say that we finally hope this conference will put this misinformation to rest for good. He mentioned some of the 101 speakers from around the world joining the 400 or so delegates including skeptics from Russian, France, Canada and Australia.

Mr Bast also mentioned that Al Gore had been invited to the conference and to speak and that The Heartland Institute was prepared to pay his US$200,000 speaking fee – but he declined the invitation.

There were few formalities, no head table or pledges of allegiances. We were asked to respect diversity of opinion and the freedom to disagree.

The first speaker was a comedian Tim Slagle who was absolutely hilarious. He began by complaining that he had looked many of the delegates up at Sourcewatch before coming and was disappointed to find he was the only one not getting a million dollars from an oil company. [It was a joke, which the dinner crowd enjoyed, and by-the-way The Heartland Institute organised the conference without any money from oil or gas companies]. Most of Slagle’s jokes were so politically incorrect I shall not repeat them here and he included a plea for the legalization of cannabis and a comment that “global warming would be a God sent for Canadian citrus growers”.

The keynote speaker was Dr Patrick Michaels. He gave a really interesting address focusing on whether global temperature is still on a warming trend and what is happening at the Arctic and Antarctica concluding that the temperature trend is still one of increase – when ENSO, volcanoes, solar variability and carbon dioxide are taken into account – but that the warming is not much of a global threat. [The presentation also included a couple of good Al Gore impersonations.]

Much of the discussion that followed the key note address was around the subject of warming trends right back to the so-called Medieval Warm period and Ross McKitrick was invited to the stage to comment on the extent to which there is now a consensus regarding the last 1,000 or so years of the temperature record. For those who have read ‘Taken by Storm’ you may not be surprised to know that his answered was long and interesting.

All in all it was a great day and dinner and I would like to thank The Heartland Institute, The International Policy Network and The IPA for the opportunity to be here.

More tomorrow.

The view from my room. Even at midday Broadway was lite up.

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From today's New York Times:

Skeptics on Human Climate Impact Seize on Cold Spell
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: March 2, 2008

"The Heartland Institute, a public policy research group in Chicago opposed to regulatory approaches to environmental problems, is holding a conference in Times Square on Monday and Tuesday aimed at exploring questions about the cause and dangers of climate change.

"The event will convene an array of scientists, economists, statisticians and libertarian commentators holding a dizzying range of views on the changing climate — from those who see a human influence but think it is not dangerous, to others who say global warming is a hoax, the sun’s fault or beneficial. Many attendees say it is the dawn of a new paradigm. But many climate scientists and environmental campaigners say it is the skeptics’ last stand.

Read more in the New York Times here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/science/02cold.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

But of course don't believe everything you read.

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August 02, 2007

Chris Hogendyk and the Marsh Block

In May 2005 Chris Hogendyk became aware of a small 260ha property located in the heart of the Macquarie Marshes that was for sale. The property had been used for cattle grazing for over 150 years, and was in a rather sad state after 5 years of drought and overgrazing.

Chris motivated a group of 30 residents of the Macquarie Valley to chip in to buy the property, which they named ‘Burrima’, the local Aboriginal name for ‘Black Swan’.

The group formed a unit trust, the Macquarie Marshes Environment Trust (MMET), and elected a Committee of Management to handle the day-to-day management of the property.

Since the MMET has owned ‘Burrima’:

1. It has been de-stocked, with spectacular regrowth of reeds and other plants

the block in 2005

the same area a few years later

2. An eco-toilet has been put in to cater for visitors

Chris Hogendyk is the man with the wide brimmed hat.

3. Walkways have been put across major channels to make the wetland walk more accessible

4. A total of 1,170 native trees and shrubs, including 600 saltbush, have been planted. Revegetation with native grasses has been planned for this spring.

5. Local traditional owners have been granted access to map scarred trees and Aboriginal middens

The MMET has hosted hundreds of visitors to ‘Burrima’ including local community groups, schools, politicians, birdwatchers, universities, research scientists, and many more.

Chris has also become increasingly determined to expose the environmental water theft and politics that are destroying the two nature reserves in the Macquarie Marshes.

He has been lobbying for policy change through his role as Chairman of Macquarie River Food and Fibre.

Chris is also the General Manager of Auscott Macquarie - a large cotton growing enterprise with a farm and gins in the Macquarie Valley.

Chris is passionate about farming and the environment. His wife Gill Hogendyk is Treasurer of the Australian Environmental Foundation and an active member of the Wildlife Information and Rescue Service (WIRES).

Ignorant armchair environmentalists at the popular blog Larvatus Prodeo criticize Chris on the basis he grows cotton and Gill on the basis she is married to Chris (see comment posted at 4.43pm on October 5). And at least some of those guys and gals wear cotton jeans and t-shirts! If the folk at Larvatus Prodeo want to learn something about wetlands and cotton growing they could volunteer to chip weeds at ‘Burrima’ or in the upstream cotton fields.

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July 05, 2007

Paul Biggs To Start Blogging

Since beginning this blog in April 2004, I've received lots of information and opinion from readers. I've really appreciated the notes that I've been able to publish from people like Libby, Ann, Ian, Luke, Roger, Cinders and others.

I've also occasionally published comment from Paul Biggs, who should not be confused with Paul Williams who I also occasionally publish.

Paul Biggs is now going to join Neil Hewett as someone who occasionally posts directly to this blog and will look after the blog when I visit Indonesia again later this month.

Paul Biggs is a Biological Sciences graduate who has worked in medical research at Birmingham University, UK, since 1979. He became interested in climate change after watching a BBC documentary in 2003 called 'The Big Chill,' which claimed that the Gulf Stream could be cut off within 20 years, resulting in the UK having climate like Alaska.

Worried by this, he decided to investigate the claim in climate journals that he has access to at Birmingham University. It soon became clear to him that the Gulf Stream shut down was more scare that substance. As a result, he now spends much of his spare time debunking the claims that there will be a man-made climate catastrophe due to carbon dioxide.

Paul and his partner

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April 01, 2007

Verdict on Richard Ness Postponed

The verdict in the high-profile trial of Richard Ness was to be handed-down this Wednesday, 4th April, in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. It has now been postponed with Chief Judge Ridwan Damanik telling Reuters the judges need more time to draw up the verdict.

Mr Ness, President-Director of Newmont Minahasa Raya which operated a gold mine at Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi, is accused of knowingly polluting the bay.

"It takes time to compile opinion from five judges into a verdict. But I think the verdict can be read out on April 18," said Chief Judge Damanik.

"The case is sensitive because we are trying foreign parties. We don't want to rush things as it could become a problem," he added.

The prosecution has relied on evidence from the Indonesian National Police with an initial water quality sample, processed in an uncertified laboratory, showing high levels of mercury and arsenic.

Duplicate samples (simultaneously collected) which Newmont had tested in an independent laboratory found all levels of heavy metals within international standards.

Other scientific studies have shown the waters of Buyat Bay to be unpolluted including studies by the CSIRO and medical and toxicological studies by the World Health Organization and the Minamata Institute of Japan have found no evidence of mercury or arsenic poisoning in local villagers.

Nevertheless, the perception is that Mr Ness is guilty with the New York Times publishing a front page story on 8th September 2004 falsely implicating the gold mine in the poisoning of local villagers.

In the Indonesian judicial system a defendant can make recommendations. At the end of his statement of defense, Richard Ness requested that in the final ruling the courts order an investigation, and if sufficient evidence is established, the prosecution of Rignolda Jamaludin, Jane Pangemanan and Raja Siregar for what he described as the “Buyat Hoax". He also asked the investigation of the members of the Ministry of Environments “Technical Team” who, he claims, under the guidance of Masnellyarti Hilman willfully and knowingly manipulated data and referenced non existing regulations to deceive the pubic by creating the image that a village needed to be relocated because of pollution when in fact no pollution existed.

May truth and justice prevail when the verdict is eventually handed-down.

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March 06, 2007

Rick Ness Could Not Eat 77 Cans of Tuna

I had lunch last week with Rick Ness, President Director of Newmont Mining in Indonesia, and his son Eric. They were in Australia very briefly and took time to visit us at the IPA when I was in Melbourne.

Journalist Mark Hawthorne from The Age was there and wrote about it the next day with comment that:

“A SMALL group gathered at the Institute of Public Affairs office in Collins Street yesterday to hear the tale of woe of former Newmont executive Richard Ness.

The mining boss is being tried in Indonesia for alleged arsenic and mercury pollution at a mining operation at beautiful Buyat Bay, home of a fishing village and a popular scuba diving spot.

"Government cracks down on polluting miner" made plenty of headlines around the world, but the only problem for green groups and the non-government organisations (NGOs) behind the investigation into the mine is that all the evidence now seems to clear Ness and Newmont of any criminal pollution and, indeed, has revealed a high-level conspiracy to incriminate Ness with falsified evidence…

"Ness' best advice was to fight fire with fire — especially when tainted evidence was presented by NGOs showing how mercury had "polluted" the food chain. "We went though the data and found they had assumed the average family of two adults and two children under 15 kilograms eats 77 cans of tuna per day," Ness said.
"I turned up to court and put 77 cans of tuna on the table in front of me. That made my point." [end of quote]

Eric had visited, and dived, at Buyat Bay just before coming to Australia and describes the experience in a recent blog post:

“It’s actually hard to describe how great the diving is in Buyat, which was one of the first things we did. I’ve been diving since I was about 14 years old and I’ve been fortunate enough to dive in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Thailand, the U.S. and a number of different areas throughout Indonesia and I can unequivocally say that Buyat Bay has the best diving I have ever seen. It’s no surprise that Jerry and the North Sulawesi Tourism Office has recently put out a dive book to promote the area as a dive destination. Read the rest of the blog here:
http://www.richardness.org

You’ve seen Rick on a motor bike, remember this blog post: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/001697.html

Well, here he is underwater:

Rick Ness diving at Buyat Bay, February 2007

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October 25, 2006

About Richard Ness, by Eric

My Dad, Richard Ness, is the President Director of PT Newmont Minahasa Raya and is currently on trial in Indonesia.

He and my step mom Nova, have five sons. My step Mom was born in Indonesia and Dad has spent a total of over 20 years in various parts of Indonesia and also in other parts of the world. My younger bother was born in Australia.

Dad was born and raised on a farm in Northern Minnesota. He attended Moorhead Technical Institute, and on graduating was employed by a Caterpillar heavy equipment dealership. Seven years later, he made the decision to change career paths, returning to teach at the same technical institute he had graduated from.

In 1979 he took a sabbatical leave, packed up his family, and traveled to Indonesia to accept a consulting assignment to design and develop a maintenance program and mechanical training curriculum for Freeport’s Mine in Papua, East Indonesia. He later joined Freeport and lived in Papua for 10 years where he spent some of his time learning the rich culture and exploring the rugged beauty of that part of the world. I remember he spent time in various villages assisting in the development of health and education infrastructure. He later moved to Jakarta as Vice President of the company.

His responsibilities in Jakarta, included promotion of local procurement, and he conducted several feasibility studies, including a study for a copper smelter. In addition he focused on any opportunity to expand business in Indonesia. Dad continued his interest in economics and development through further studies at Harvard Business School.

Without doubt, it is Dad’s belief that the biggest enemy of the environment is poverty, and poverty can only be overcome with positive policy changes. Through his work in Indonesia, Dad has been part of a team which has created over 23,000 direct jobs for the Indonesian people and maybe four times that many in indirect employment plus represents in excess of $6 billion in direct investment into the Indonesian economy.

That was what Dad did for a living. He lives his life in trying to make the world a better place. He has been the Mining Chair of both the American Chamber of Commerce as well as the Mining Chair for the International Chamber for several years, promoting both investment and legislative reform. He was also First Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, often traveling to Washington D.C. to lobby the US Government on behalf of Indonesia on array of issues ranging from trade, investment to foreign policy. He is currently on the Executive Board and former Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Mining Association promoting responsible mine development and legislative improvements that would benefit both Indonesia and investors.

On the international front, he has represented the International Chamber of Commerce as a United Nations delegate to both regional assemblies as well as representing business at the United Nations 10 year World Summit for Sustainable Development, helping outlining how governments and the private sector work together to reduce poverty and set the 10 year millennium goals at the United Nations Assembly.

In Johannesburg, one of the Indonesian projects showcased as a partnership initiative included a project that a group of Dad’s employees had worked on with the local universities and dive association to undertake a major reef coral reef rehabilitation project in North Sulawesi. At the time, this was the single largest private sector reef rehabilitation project in the world and has continued to be very successful.

My Dad has worked and been a delegate representing Asian region to the World Bank on their world wide Extractive Industries Review; with a similar focus on how oil, gas and mining can reduce poverty and improve living standards of developing nations. He also helped co-author the economic section of the plan for the Council of Foreign Relations on how economic development can help reduce conflict in Papua. None of these activities were part of his formal job, and they took precious time away from his family, however, he firmly believed that if one does not take the time help change the world along with the environment that we live in, by fighting to reduce poverty in an ever growing world population, the conditions for the poor and underprivileged will only get worse.

Do my parents practice what they preach?

Yes they do! Dad’s main social focus at work is poverty reduction – health – education – environment. At home, Mom and Dad have, and continue, in supporting literally 100’s of children with school fees and books on the islands of Lombok, North Sulawesi and Jakarta.

It is our family’s belief that only through education and policy change, can those who are underprivileged raise themselves from poverty, and it is only when economic conditions improve will environmental conditions dramatically advance.

There is no lack of opportunity to make a significant impact in poverty reduction in Indonesia. If you use the $2 per capita per day as a poverty bench mark, then almost half of the nation is living below this level. My parents are involved in supporting orphanages in North Sulawesi, Jakarta and Lombok.

I know that they, along with other employees of Newmont, are active in many other programs and with everyone’s combined efforts have made a difference; including surgery for those in need, personal support to remote medical clinics, not forgetting to mention support for Indonesia’s share of natural disasters - from tsunami’s in Aceh to earth quakes in Central Java.

I know when the tsunami struck Aceh and the island of Nias the whole world pitched in to assist, from Governments, relief agencies, NGO’s, religious groups as well as companies and individuals from the private sector. I know dad was also willing to do his part, and he was invited along with a handful of long term experienced residents to offer suggestions and advise on recovery planning to the United Nations special council.

But what do Mom and Dad do besides work, plus meeting their religious and social obligations?

Dad is an avid reader. In the past he was my diving buddy, and he likes fishing. Both enjoy good food and like to cook, watch a good film. They both love children.

But when Dad really needs to clear his mind, he regresses to his younger days and cranks up his motor cycle and goes for a ride.

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As a reader of this blog you may like to tell us something about yourself, a colleague or friend. Please send to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com. Contributions are filed under 'People'. Scroll down to read about some of the other contributors to this blog. There is a note from Richard Ness here.

Posted by jennifer at 09:30 PM | Comments (9)

October 14, 2006

About Walter Starck

Walter Starck grew up on, an island in the Florida Keys and began catching fish in salable quantities off the family dock at age five. At 6 he helped his grandfather build his first boat with which he began diving using a face mask.

He started scuba diving in 1954 (before scuba was a word). In 1964 he completed a PhD degree at the Institute of Marine Science of the University of Miami. In the process he determined that the world of academia was not to his taste so started his own business as well as a private research foundation. In 1968 he took delivery on a purpose built 150 ton research vessel, El Torito, and spent the next two decades exploring widely from the Caribbean to the Western Pacific.

Walter arrived in Australia in 1979 before boat people became unfashionable and established a home base on a 164 acre rainforest property on the north shore of the Daintree River.

His research interest has centered on coral reef biology and has included research grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research and National Geographic Society as well as various private foundations and individuals.

Walter has been a research associate of the Institute of Marine Science in Miami, the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, The Australian Museum in Sydney and the Western Australia Museum in Perth.

His wide experience of reefs around the world has encompassed the full spectrum of conditions ranging from heavily impacted to untouched as well as several opportunities for decade or longer familiarity with individual reefs. His views on reef biology derived from direct observation are not always in accord with popular theories.

But the articles that Walter now writes are increasingly read by practical environmentalists. His paper 'Threats to Great Barrier Reef' was the most popular online publication at the IPA website last year and shortened versions where published in 'Go Fishing' (Aug/Sept 2005) and 'News Weekly' (18 June 2006).

His presentation, based on the paper 'Marine Resources and The Growing Cost of Precaution', was a highlight of the recent Australian Environment Foundation Conference.

You can read more on Walter Starck's perspective at his website www.goldendolphin.com, click Eco-Issues for a list of recent environmental writings.

Walter's favourite quote is by John Maynard Keynes:

"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"

Quotable Walter quotes include:

"You are never so comfortable as when doing what you've always done but never so alive as when doing what you've never done."

"One of the most important lessons of history is that most people most of the time are wrong."

"The eco-bureaucracy has become a sheltered workshop for those afflicted by the saviour syndrome."

"Environmental management is characterized by the application of hypothetical solutions to imaginary problems."

"Ecology is above all holistic. Everything we do or don't do has consequences. We can't save nature by locking it up."

Walter is no fan of environmentalism and I once jotted down this comment from him:

"Environmentalism is about much more than concern for a healthy environment. You could describe it as a quasi-religious bend of new-age nature worship, junk science, left-wing political activism and anti-profit economics."

Posted by jennifer at 10:18 AM | Comments (23) | TrackBack

September 26, 2006

George McCallum

George McCallum is a regular reader and sometimes commentator at this blog. He has been based in Berlin for the last 9 years, working as a freelance wildlife photographer, marine mammal observer, freelance field researcher, chief cook and bottle washer. He also runs his own one man company, Whalephoto.

George has just returned from the Arctic and is working on the 20,000 or so digital images he has shot this year as well as preparing a poster/paper for the upcoming European Cetacean Society conference in San Sebastian, Spain. The conference is in early 2007 and George will be speaking on the use of flash equipment in low light and backlit conditions.

And George has found time to send us information about himself for the people category at this blog:

"I’ve been an ID photographer/observer on Norway´s whale population surveys since 1995, team leader on same last year, team leader/ID photographer of whale observers on some ecosystem surveys also last two years, also in arctic Norway, North and North East Atlantic areas.

Previous and concurrent to this, I have worked as a field researcher volunteer/ID photographer from both commercial whale watching boats and hired vessels off Andenes in Arctic Norway between 1995-2000, occasionally as a guide on one of the whale watching boats. Also worked as a field researcher/volunteer/ID photographer with T.Simila´s killer whale project in Arctic Norway from 1993 onwards. I also spent a number of winter seasons in Tysfjord working with and for various TV and film crews who had come to Tysfjord to film the local killer whale population as either vessel driver, local expert and once or twice as the subject being a prat for the cameras.

Its a kittiwake on his head.

I’ve spent 6 months in the Canary islands off the north African coast as a research assistant on a boat studying Short-finned Pilot whales, basic ID work and collecting data on the effects of whale watching boats on the local Pilot whale population.

Prior to that, I studied in Scotland for 5-6 years at University as a mature student. I studying biology, but dropped out before my final year after a few field trips led me to the realization that the field researchers had most of the fun and aimed myself in that direction.

For the ten years before that, I worked as a marine mammal trainer (with dolphins, seals, sea lions, sea elephants, killer whales etc.) for around ten years in various marine parks and establishments throughout Europe.

I’ve also worked as a barman, driven a delivery truck, worked on a farm, trained Macaws, penguins and a herring gull (strange but true) as well as working in a commercial slaughterhouse for 6 months or so.

Other experience includes using pax arms (modified DNA sampling rifles used to take a plug of blubber from marine mammals) maintaining and operating high frequency sonar equipment, conning various sea vessels of various sizes, and trying to fix various bits of equipment in the field when it goes up the creek without a paddle.

I speak three languages fluently and get by in two others and I can stutter around in French.

Hobbies include hassling and being hassled by airport security/airline check-in folk whilst traveling with 25 kg or more of assorted photographic equipment and having a once fortnightly malt whisky tasting session in the best stocked Malt whisky bar in the world in Schoneberg. The bar has over 700 different malts so my journalist friends and I foresee a number of years further research before we can give a final opinion on which is best.

Best regards from sunny 28C Berlin.
George

PS. Have you seen this, Greenpeace taking a pasting again:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Home/29C5599A-FCD8-4E30-9AD5-5497999ABA1B.html

and this:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Home/ABC6DFDA-9DE9-4EA8-A269-65EAAB628676.html."

Thanks George for sharing this information about yourself with us ... and for the great images!

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As a reader and/or commentator at this blog you may like to tell us something about yourself. Contributions encouraged please email to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com. I've just also received some great photographs and information from Walter Starck which I will upload soon with a link to his paper from the recent AEF conference.

More wildlife photographs at Whalephoto.com.

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September 05, 2006

Steve Irwin's Legacy to Conservation

The death of Steve Irwin is being reported as the biggest story to have come out of Australia in the last 25 years. According to Jeff Wall writing for On Line Opinion in a piece entitled 'Steve Irwin- Even larger in death than life': The Los Angeles Times, for example, reported the story extensively … and the story has been the most viewed on its website. Every major USA newspaper has given his death prominence.

The Crocodile Hunter died yesterday while filming: struck in the chest by a sting-ray.

Here is comment from me at the blog of BBC broadcast journalist Chris Vallance:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/podsandblogs/2006/09/irwins_death_sparks_conservati.shtml .

I have also written a piece for On Line Opinion entitled Steve Irwin's 'Legacy to Conservation'.

Posted by jennifer at 01:10 PM | Comments (3)

September 04, 2006

Steve Irwin Killed by Sting-ray

The Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. According to News Ltd he was killed in a freak accident in Far North Queensland by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest as he swam off Low Isle.

Steve Irwin was 44 years old and leaves his wife Terri and young children Bob and Bindi.

Travis made comment at an earlier thread at this blog that:

"Whilst Steve Irwin's tactics can be over the top to say the least, he has also done a lot to highlight the diversity and wonder in the world of reptiles, something that has been long overdue in this country."

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August 28, 2006

Something About Russell

I would like to think that debates at this weblog were won and lost on the quality of the information provided and the logic of the arguments presented, but so often information is judged on the perceived standing of the commentator based on the prejudices of the reader.

Some months ago I started a 'people category' and suggested regular commentators and readers send me some information about themselves.

Russell posted the following information at an earlier thread in response to some misguided comment from others. He has agreed for me to post it as a new thread:

"I have lived in Nigeria for the last three years where I am a freelance consultant on projects in Nigeria, Ghana, and lately Indonesia.

I am currently engaged on projects in urban planning, coastal and land-use management, reconstruction (Aceh), rural development (primary health care, water and sanitation at village level).

Prior to that I spent a year in Germany where I was the technical advisor to Iraq in their defence of claims against them at the UNCC for damages caused to the coastlines of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran by the largest oil spill in history.

For two years before that I lived in Townsville where I was the head of an environmental sciences group for one of Australia's largest consulting engineering companies and ran projects in Australia (QLD, WA, NT, SA, TAS) and New Zealand.

Before that I lived and worked for two years in Indonesia running a mangrove reforestation project.

Prior to that I lived for 3 years in Brisbane and ran my own consulting company, working in Queensland, the Northern Territory, Indonesia and Vanuatu.

I was also the unfortunate owner of a restuarant in Brisbane during that time.

Prior to that I lived and worked for 15 years in the Northern Territory for the NT government as a marine and coastal ecologist and spent a lot of time engaged in coastal management and planning. I also completed my PhD parttime and was resident on a bushland block at Humpty Doo.

Prior to that I was at Uni for 4 years where I studied zoology and botany, statistics, chemistry.

Before that I wandered and worked around Australia, mostly the south west of Western Australia and have worked as a truck driver, storeman and packer, share cropper (wheat and sheep), on the mutton chain in an abbatoir, fruit picking, builders and brickies laboring, casual farm laboring, factory hand, ships chandler (Victoria), and numerous others."

Thanks Russell to telling us something about yourself.

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This post will be filed under the category titled "people". As a reader and/or commentator at this blog you may like to tell us something about yourself. Contributions encouraged and you may use a pen name ...please email to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com.

Posted by jennifer at 01:31 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

June 14, 2006

Sally Warriner in Southern Sudan: I Salute You

"I would rip off someone’s arms at the moment to get to a clean, crisp, delicious, fresh salad and grilled fish which was not going to reappear again within 30 minutes in mutant form. Tonight is my cooking night, so I have to go to the store and choose which can of bland vegetable will be to added to spongy potatoes and fried onions. None of which I can eat at the moment, but everyone else will.

Probably what I will have will be a Tusker (the very excellent Kenyan beer) and a couple of cigarettes. Sadly I have succumbed to the aid organisation affliction - but I just had to give myself a break on something, and it is only three at night, never during the day."

That's a quote from my friend Sally Warriner who's just been published by Online Opinion, click here for the article titled 'Everything is not gwar in Sudan'. Sally is a medical worker right now in war torn southern Sudan.

-----------------------------

I was working as an entomologist in the northern Sudan in May 1990:

.

I'm the one in blue jeans and blue shirt. There was no beer or cigarette for me then. Alcohol was, and I think still is, banned in northern Sudan. I survived on the meal a day I got, if we got, to the next Forestry Research Station by about 11am.

I was travelling along the Blue Nile with a couple of Sudanese foresters. We survived on chai tea in the evening. Since that trip to the Sudan in 1990 I've been grateful for a meal in the evening. I remember going to bed feeling so hungry!

Posted by jennifer at 05:19 PM | TrackBack

June 05, 2006

Reflections on World Environment Day 2006

It's World Environment Day and I woke to hear Australia's MInister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer talking up the possibility of the Australian Government building a nuclear power station to run a water desalination plant for Adelaide.

Adelaide is the capital of the driest state on this driest of continents. South Australia has plenty of uranium. Nuclear power is greenhouse neutral. Much of the water for Adelaide has been traditionally piped a couple of hundred kilomtres from the Murray River. It would all seem like a rather sensible idea me, but it is radical and of course the very conservative Australian Labor Party has already condemned it (click here for the response from Kevin Rudd on ABC Online).

Interestingly British Labor PM Tony Blair is talking about the possibility of a second generation of nuclear power stations for the UK, when Australia doesn't yet have a single nuclear power station. And while the USA gets something like 20 percent of its water from desalination, desalination is also a novel idea for Australia.

My friend Phil Sawyer proposed both a desalination plant for Adelaide and a nuclear power station in his documentary 'In Flinders Wake' released in 2002 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the voyage of Matthew Fliners. It was shown on SBS TV about the same time.

[Phil at the launch, photograph from the ABC SA website]

Phil has been a supporter of new environment group the Australian Environment Foundation (AEF) which was launched exactly a year ago in Tenterfield. The group has been fairly quiet over the last year, but there will be a big get together for the first Australian Environment Foundation AGM and conference on 23rd and 24th September at Rydges, Southbank in Brisbane. Mark that date in your diaries. Chances are Phil and copies of his video will also be there.

Posted by jennifer at 08:07 AM | Comments (33) | TrackBack

May 06, 2006

Ann Novek & A White Swan

Ann Novek was once a medical student, but quit to work as a wildlife rehabilitator. She works mostly with birds, and has a special interest in helping birds affected by oil spills.

Here's a picture of a swan being cleaned after an oil spill, Ann's in the yellow jacket.

She's also a Greenpeace Nordic volunteer involved mostly in ocean issues and a new reader and commentator at this blog.

Ann lives somewhere in Sweden and has her garden fenced to keep out cats making it a "little bird heaven". I assume the fence also keeps out the the many roe deers which according to Ann roam around in people's gardens in Sweden eating tulips and apple trees.

In Brisbane, in Australia where I live, it is possums that roam around gardens eating roses and destroying vegetable gardens.

----------------------------------------------------
Ann, thanks for sharing the photograph and something about yourself.

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April 13, 2006

First Birthday & Going Fishing

This blog is a year old tomorrow, the 14th April.

Interestingly there are comments at that first post from Walter Starck, Tim Lambert and Michael Duffy.

I have learnt a lot over the last year, especially about people and how they view different issues, and the knowledge and prejudices they often bring to a discussion.

I have been amazed at the web traffic this blog has generated. My Alexa rating is now 91,696. If this is any reflection of comparative traffic, my blog is now one of the most popular political blogs in Australia according to analyses in January by Tim Blair and Tim Lambert, click here. In fact, while my Alexa rating has improved dramatically over the last few months moving from 482,108 to 91,696, the other blogs mentioned at that post have not moved much with Tim Blair now on 42,756 (was 50,087), Catallaxy now on 238,196 (was 225,665) and Gravatt.org on 482,108 (was 488,606).

I would like to thank National Forum for hosting this site and advertising the blog at The Domain.

I am going to start using the subscribe facility at this website to send out a monthly email. I will perhaps include links to a few of the best blog posts for that month and information about what's happening and where I might be speaking. So please log on, and register your email address by clicking here.

The blog costs me time and money and I am considering placing some advertisements at the site or asking for sponsorship.

The blog and website might be useful for advertising upcoming conferences in environment and related areas - doesn't anybody know anybody who organises lots of conferences who might be interested?

The blog Larvatus Prodeo has a paypay for donations, maybe I could also add something like that?

There have been some comments, particularly at the global warming threads, suggesting I am pushing a particular perspective in my posts while others claim that I am too negative and always questioning rather than providing answers.

In response:

1. I repeat my offer to post essays at this blog from those with a very different perspective. I have posted different perspectives on whaling (including from Greenpeace and Libby Eyre) and I am more than happy to do the same on global warming.

2. According to Wikipedia: The Socratic method is a negative method of hypothesis elimination, in that better hypotheses are found by steadily identifying and eliminating those which lead to contradictions. It was designed to force one to examine his own beliefs and the validity of such beliefs. In fact, Socrates once said, "I know you won't believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others."

Anyway, thanks for sharing your prejudices, evidence, insights, and stories with me over the last year - and may the reef be as beautiful, and autumn as warm, in April next year.

I leave tomorrow for a few days of camping on the New South Wales mid-north coast. But I will be back.

Best wishes for Easter, from the beach, East Coast of Australia.

Posted by jennifer at 11:46 AM | Comments (27) | TrackBack

April 03, 2006

Taz the Technician

Taz, who also uses the pen name Bugger, has an opinion on most everything. A champion of the anecdotal he can hold his own in discussion on forestry, energy - but I'm not so sure about salinity.

I'd been wondering how Taz spent his time between growing up in Tasmania and retiring in Canberra, so I sent him an email and this was his reply:

"Technical history - Fitter, Machinist, Mechanic, Scientific Instrument Maker, Engineer, Technician, Technical Officer

Before retirement 1996, The Spectrum Management Agency - frequency assigning, licensing policy, major network rollout, implementation of device interference and immunity standards.

Previous; AFP technical support only, mostly in radio communications for routine & covert operations, VIP protection, also supported with our gear some UN and offshore operations.

ANU John Curtin School Medical Research, electronic instrument circuits for the late Professor Peter Gage

Last industrial site as contractor; Cleveland Tin, cassiterite and associated mineral recovery and concentration plant at Luina closed down in 1986. Other Mines were King Island Scheelite, Savage River ion ores, Renison (Bell) Goldfields tin separation and metal concentration.

Other freelance technical support in Tasmania, Education Dept. scientific instruments in high schools and colleges, UMT (Bonlac) reverse osmosis whey protein filtration, cheese making, milk drying, Bakeries, Glaxo opium poppy storage, Tasmanian (Adelaide, Seini) mushroom crops Spreyton, Blue Ribbon smoked small goods Camdale, various vegetable processors.

Simultaneously I sold fire protection door to door in these industries for importers like Firemaster & CIG. In this manner I visited most timber and logging operations.

Melbourne industrial scene; worked all over, natural gas & fuel, oil refineries & petro-chemical plants, ICI research, paper mills, hospitals, breweries, food processors, appliance makers, MMBW water supply & sewage treatment plants, Pilkington's float glass plant.

Some special fields in industry, Pressure and Temperature measurements, Ph control in acid treatment, flow of slurries, effluents, furnaces and boilers, natural gas & super heated steam, evaporation, freezers, vacuum, chlorination, fluoridation, floatation, continuous cellulose web production, hazardous environments, radio propagation and reception, induction furnaces, nuclear devices, x-rays.

Other long term interests; Australian military aircraft production and aeronautical research at Fishermen's Bend, Bushfires, Civil Construction, Electricity generation and distribution, Industrial noise & hearing defects, Materials recycling, Hand tools, Soils, Timber, Streams.

Major industrial achievement - my retirement, mostly intact with ten toes and fingers."

Thanks Taz.

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This post will be filed under a category titled 'people'. As a reader and/or commentator at this blog you may like to tell us something about yourself. Contributions encouraged please email to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com.

Posted by jennifer at 11:01 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

March 12, 2006

Alan Ashbarry

Alan Ashbarry has a deep commitment to people in communities that depend upon the sustainable management of Australian forests and acknowledges the pride that forest scientists, professional foresters and timber workers have in providing a renewable resource and in creating jobs that have long term benefit for society, the economy and the environment.

Alan was a researcher for the 15 branches of Timber Communities Australia (TCA) in Tasmania and describes himself as more of a people person than a technician. He has told me that he got involved with TCA intially through "helping a mate".

If you are trying to find a forestry related statistic, I discovered some months ago that an email to Alan was a good place to start.

When I first asked Alan to tell readers of this blog something about himself he declined. He said he prefered to stay in the background. But he's since decided to come out and tell us that he occasionally posts a comment at this blog under the pen name "Cinders".

Alan is concerned that the people who know the forest best and depend upon it for their daily family income are often dwarfed by the media coverage of well orchestrated campaigns.

Cinders posted the following comment last December at this blog:

"For those interested in propaganda icons by the extreme green movement this boastful extract from one of their books is worth a read.

THE REST OF THE WORLD IS WATCHING GREEN IMAGES
by Richard Flanagan and Cassandra Pybus

Innovation has been a hallmark of the Tasmanian Green movement, not only in its political orientation, but also in its appropriation of the marketing methods of capitalism to win its battles. Long before any other radical movement in Australia, the Tasmanian Greens were using market research, sophisticated advertising techniques, direct-sell catalogues and photographic images of the highest quality to sell their message. "We have grabbed ideas from wherever we could," Bob Brown explained in a 1983 interview. "We looked at the way other people who sell cheese and paper tissues, how they do it, and thought that if that sells an idea then how much more important that [it] be grafted by us into saving wilderness". In an era vaunted as the age of communications (and all the contradictions that this implies) the Tasmanian Greens have been a measure of their time.

... The campaign to protect Lake Pedder brought forth a range of aesthetic responses which drew from the Romantic tradition and also the newer modernist abstract aesthetics. The most potent expression of the beauty of Pedder was in the work of Lithuanian-born bushwalker, Olegas Truchanas, who regularly packed the Town Hall with his slide shows. Truchanas' magnificent collections of photographs of the Tasmanian wilderness had been lost, along with his home, in the 1967 bushfires. He determined to rebuild his collection to show people just what it was that would be destroyed by hydro schemes in the south-west.

Truchanas returned again and again to the southwest. In 1972 he lost his life in the Gordon River he wished to save. "He had been destroyed by biblical simplicity by two of the elements: fire and water," wrote his friend, artist Max Angus. "Classical mythology affords no stronger example of the drama of the incorruptible man who passes into legend."

Olegas Truchanas became the Greens' archetypal hero: the man who returns from of the wilderness with an aesthetic and a political vision which challenges the established order, and then is returned to the wilderness in the most profound and final way. It is a reincarnation of the great Romantic figure: the artist as hero, the essence of which is starkly captured in Ralph Hope-Johnstone's photograph of Truchanas taken days before his death.

The posthumous publication of Truchanas' seminal work in The World of Olegas Truchanas (1975) was an impressive beginning to the Greens' role as a major cultural interpreter. Books, films, photographic ephemera poured out of the movement during the late 1970s and early 1980s. These were the nub of a political-commercial-aesthetic nexus which the Tasmanian Greens skillfully nurtured, creating their own national distribution through the very successful Wilderness shops. The Greens made wilderness a commodity whose commercial nakedness they clothed in the Romantic aesthetic borrowed from Piguenit and refined by the wilderness photographers who followed in Truchanas' footsteps.

The leading exponent of this school was Truchanas' student and disciple, Peter Dombrovskis. The political Romantic vision has its apotheosis in his photo of Rock Island Bend, the most famous photograph ever taken of the Franklin River. It was used to illustrate a full-colour supplement in all major newspapers on the eve of the 1983 federal election. The ALP judged the Franklin issue to have been critical in the outcome of that election. In 1990, when once again Green issues looked to determine the federal election outcome, Rock Island Bend was prominent in glossy advertising promoting the ALP as the environmentally responsible choice.
Amanda Lohrey has suggested that in Tasmania the Greens have fused the Utopian and Romantic visions of Tasmania into a new vision that is greater and different from both of them. This new vision finds eloquent expression in a well-publicised photo of Christine Milne taken at the height of the Wesley Vale controversy. This high Romantic image - a solitary woman on a blasted heath - became charged, in the context of a highly charged environmental and political battle, with a whole new array of rich meanings.

In this image is also the idea of the Green leader as a solitary prophet, remote from the movement which creates and sustains such leaders. Images of mass action, such as the 20,000-strong rally in Hobart in 1983, have never fascinated the media in the same way as the image of a messianic leader.

Long-time Green strategist, Chris Harries, has written of the problems and contradictions of using the media during the Franklin campaign. Faced with a media "which demands superstars and which has conditioned society to think in terms of hierarchies and heroes ... Bob Brown played out The Life of Brian. His pre-eminence in the media campaign was always understood as a means to an end, not an end in itself, and he was painfully aware of the contradiction".

A media that creates a messiah must logically have its tale told in full, replete with a crucifixion. When forestry workers at Farmhouse Creek dragged Bob Brown (one of many protesters) away from the bulldozer, they were enacting their set roles in a passion play cum photo opportunity par excellence- The powerful image of this photo, shown over and over again across the nation and across the world, is full of falsities, not the least of which is the idea of the prophet being destroyed by a stupid and vicious common people.

The Farmhouse Creek photo does also point to a change in the political aesthetic in Green promotion in the late 1980s. Forests do not lend themselves to Romantic vistas in quite the same way as do wild rivers, but images of the violence done to majestic native forests do, and these became more prominent than the images of the forests themselves.

Stark monochrome vistas of burnt-over clearfells became the staple of Green publications throughout the forestry battles. Likewise, as the forestry industry and government strengthened their armoury against the Green protest, images of confrontation loomed large, both in the media and the Green press. The workers, not the bosses, are portrayed as the enemy in graphic close-ups of chainsaw-wielding forestry workers or alarmed police cordons."

Alan left TCA at the end of 2007 and now is an independent consultant specialising in Tasmania's forest and natural resource management sector

Alan Ashbarry lives in Tasmania with his wife and four inspirational children.

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This post will be filed under a category titled 'people'. As a reader and/or commentator at this blog you may like to tell us something about yourself. Contributions encouraged please email to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com.

This post was updated on May 14, 2008

Posted by jennifer at 09:52 PM | Comments (74) | TrackBack

February 24, 2006

On Boxer and Blogging

I've observed that comment threads following blog posts can be a bit like forests. When just a