Letters to the editor are published regularly by Redlands2030. We encourage community discussion about a range of issues including those which are inadequately covered by mainstream media.
Climate change leaves me cold
The public debate about the cause of climate change leaves me cold. Climate change is happening and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a risk we don’t need to exacerbate. We need policies that will lead away from fossil based fuels.
Our society’s addiction to fossil fuel harms human health, causes global warming, degrades land and marine ecosystems, and pollutes the earth.
We need energy that provides clean, renewable, and reliable energy in a way that does not threaten our health or our environment. We can create a better future, and to not reach for it would be an abdication of our moral responsibility.
I understand that focusing on climate change is just one of many issues during these challenging times. However, we can not wait we must take strong action now to address the daunting challenge that climate change poses.
LM
Capalaba
Houston we have a problem
I read with interest the “advice” in the Newscorp’s The Australian (22nd July) to the organisation Getup about how “politicians are lining up to give the “proudly progressive” organisation a sound kicking.”
I don’t know if there is a legal basis of the legal kicking alluded to but a few of the comments included “one of the good outcomes from this election has been the exposure of GetUp as a really nasty front for the worst elements of the left” and “GetUp is getting away with despicable lies and propaganda”. There were more.
Whether people agree or not with this thinking isn’t my concern but for me the disappointing aspect was how selective this concern was. There were other influences deployed during the election which were unprecedented and of equal or greater concern.
The “investment” ($60m or more) on behalf of the United Australia Party was astounding. But not one seat flowed to the UAP from that investment (which was predictable).
However, if one person can apply so much money through advertising into the political “argy bargy” of an election campaign and arguably dictate the election outcome then we are surely at a critical moment in history and in the words of the Apollo 13 astronauts “Houston, we have a problem”.
SM
Cleveland
Citizen journalists and Redlands2030
As anyone who cares to know, knows I am standing for election in the upcoming local government election in March 2020.
In doing so I’m running my campaign on the basis of what I believe.
In so doing I have been a frequent attendee at the meetings of Redlands2030. As a direct result I’ve received many questions of my independence from Redlands2030 and asked if I’m a member. For the record I am not a member of Redlands 2030.
I have been a writer and contributor to the Redlands2030 website and I do that as citizen journalist. I think their initiative on making that facility available is to be commended. I am sure that they don’t always agree with me but they have made space available so I can express my point of view, including others.
Another criticism is that I have confused my employment in the media with my political ambitions. To be clear I have been employed by newspaper and media advertising agencies but any work as a citizen journalist I do is outside of paid employment, i.e. in my spare time.
I took interest in R2030 some years ago as I did with the Redlands Sharks Club, Meals on Wheels, and Crime Stoppers. I wanted to put my free time to useful purposes.
In the future I may take interest in more groups, especially those that are open to fresh ideas and community discussion. If people want to Stop Toondah’s 3600 units, start revitalising the Cleveland CBD and look to solving issues then I’m the bloke to turn too, now is the time for action.
Callen Sorensen Karklis
Candidate For Division 2 (Cleveland/North Stradbroke Island)
Editor: Callen Sorenson Karklis has written a number of articles and letters to the editor which have been published by Redlands2030. Redlands2030 welcomes letters, stories and opinion pieces contributed by people in our community. Publication of articles does not imply that Redlands2030 endorses the opinion of the writer or in the case of candidates for office, their electoral prospects.
Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor can be emailed to theeditor@redlands2030.net
Here’s a link to more letters published by Redlands2030, on 9 July 2019.
Published by Redlands2030 – 29 July 2019
Please note: Offensive or off-topic comments will be deleted. If offended by any published comment please email thereporter@redlands2030.net
One Comment
Climate change leaves me cold too, LM. First, they said it would cause catastrophic global warming, and now they’re admitting we’re in a cooling phase which is why it’s referred to now as climate change, not global warming. This is akin to having an each way bet.
“Our society’s addiction to fossil fuel harms human health, causes global warming, degrades land and marine ecosystems, and pollutes the earth.”
Breaking this statement down, it’s agreed that we have been forced to develop an addiction to “fossil fuels”, but let’s unpack that a bit and inspect it properly. First, the reason oil is regarded as a fossil fuel is due to something that John D Rockefeller did over a century ago. He sent a team of scientists to an oil conference in France in the late 19th century with the goal of promoting the idea that oil was a product of fossilized organic matter. As backyard mechanics would know, oil comes in two broad varieties, mineral oil, and synthetic oil, both of which are produced from mineral oil. Synthetic oil is chemically restructured to make it perform differently than similar mineral oils, making it remain stable at high temperatures at thinner viscosities. It’s called mineral oil because it’s produced underground often at levels that are significantly deeper than fossils have ever been found, and they’d decided it was of mineral origin, not fossils. Rockefeller promoted the idea it was from fossils because that implied it was a finite resource, which enabled the argument that demand would become increasingly scarce, and that would ensure prices could be manipulated to remain higher than otherwise.
Older members would recall the idea they promoted a few decades ago of “peak oil” which meant we were approaching peak oil production some time ago, and after that production would decline because world supplies would run out. That ensured prices remained higher than necessary as well, as does the occasional war in the Middle East, or trade embargoes.
“…harms human health…” It definitely does harm human health in strange ways, one of which is by causing people to pay too much for it, thereby causing economic stress, which is definitely unhealthy. About 40 years ago pollution from leaded fuel and diesel particulates did cause health problems before Ralph Nader forced the industry to clean up it’s act. While it’s not as good as it could be using hydrogen, it’s certainly much better than it was previously.
“…causes global warming..” Not just warming either, we’re told. Cooling and extreme weather – in fact almost everything is being blamed on CO2 nowadays. That is certainly cause for alarm, especially if it were true. Unfortunately, anthropogenic climate change, much like the fossil fuel and peak oil scams before them, and the Y2K bug, WMD’s in Iraq, and many more, is simply not scientifically supportable. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is 0.04%, and the UN IPCC calculates that all man caused CO2 production is around 3% of the total, and Australia’s contribution to the whole 3% is around 1.3%. In mathematical terms – 0.013 x 0.03 x 0.04 = a 0.0000156% change in CO2 concentration. To put it in perspective, volcanic eruptions can produce more CO2 than we’ve produced in the last 100 years just in one go, but we’re not talking about plugging up volcanoes…
“…. degrades land and marine ecosystems, and pollutes the earth.” It does, but not as much as we’re led to believe. Remember previous stories we’ve been spun that turned out to be false? This is another one. However, we would definitely be better off if we could run petrol, diesel, and kerosene engines (gas turbines), on hydrogen, especially if it’s produced on demand from water and doesn’t need to be produced by big business, stored in pressure vessels, and sold at whatever they decide to charge.
In summary, things could be much better than they are now, but wasting time and energy on fabricated problems – no matter how compelling, won’t solve anything. All it will do is force us to remain dependent on big businesses, and pay far more for commodities that could be virtually free.
GetUp was seed funded by George Soros, who is one of the main players behind this scam, and economic manipulation of whole countries is his forte. He’s famous for breaking the Bank of England, and that’s not easy.