Category: Columns

Geoff has written for publications as diverse as PC User and The Northern Star His weekly columns have been a source of humour and inspiration for tens of thousands of readers and his mailbox is always full.
Here you can find his more recent contributions.

PERMAFROST METHANE TIME BOMB

admin /23 December, 2009

Permafrost Methane Time Bomb          (Source John James)
                             www.planetextinction.com

A vast expanse of permafrost in Siberia and Alaska has started to thaw for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago, marked in dark blue on the map. It is caused by the recent 3+°C rise in local temperature over the past 40 years – more than four times the global average. Peat bogs cover an area of a million square miles (or almost a quarter of the earth’s land surface) to a depth of 25 meters. Those in Siberia are the world’s largest.

What was until recently a barren expanse of frozen peat is turning into a broken landscape of mud and lakes, some more than a kilometre across. All only in the past 3 or 4 years.

Tipping PointsThis has the potential to release vast quantities of methane trapped by ice below the surface – billions of tonnes of methane. World-wide, peat bogs store at least two trillion tons of CO2. This is equivalent to a century of emissions from fossil fuels.

A conference without compassion: a guarantee of Mutually assisted suicide

admin /19 December, 2009

A conference without compassion:
a guarantee of Mutually Assured Suicide

Dear Friends, The following was extracted from a report on the Copenhagen Summit by George Monbiot in The Guardian.

Any deal would do, as long as the negotiators could pretend they have achieved something. A clearer and less destructive treaty than the text that emerged would be a sheaf of blank paper, which every negotiating party solemnly sits down to sign.

The final Accord was the chaotic, disastrous denouement of a chaotic and disastrous summit. The event has been attended by historic levels of incompetence when the world’s governments tried to decide how to carve up the atmosphere, and asserted their right to draw lines across the global commons.

This is a scramble for the atmosphere. Most of the rich and rapidly developing states have sought through these talks to seize as great a chunk of the atmosphere for themselves as they can, to grab bigger rights to pollute than their competitors. The process couldn’t have been better designed to produce the wrong results.

FOOTPRINTS

admin /30 November, 2009

Dear Friends

 

Now that Copenhagen is about to start, read James Hansen’s forceful statement. He argues, as we have been doing in FOOTPRINTS since we sent out our first issues two years ago, that nothing less than total restructuring will change our fate.

This means agreeing at Copenhagen to ending all fossil fuel use before 2020. A percentage is not sufficient. You all know the situation on sea-level rise, chaotic weather, seas without fish, drought etc and (most concerning) the release of methane. Add to that population growth and the scramble to corner the world’s food production, and we know that immediate action is needed if we are to stop at 3 degrees or more.

Particularly when we suspect that tipping points can happen suddenly, and not slowly enough to give us warning. The ice caps melted in less than a decade according to one study, and the Gulf Stream collapsed in a few months just 12,800 years ago, sending Europe into an instantaneous deep freeze.

Remember the snap-frozen mammoths with summer food still in their stomachs?

Impact of religions will have ‘deeper roots ‘ than Copenhagen

admin /31 October, 2009

Impact of religions will have ‘deeper roots’ than Copenhagen Ecologist 31st October, 2009 Archbishop speaks of the lasting impact of a religious movement to tackle climate change ahead of major summit of religious leaders The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has spoken out about the crucial role of the world’s religions in tackling climate change Continue Reading →

Extinction of life on Earth through Global Waming

admin /27 October, 2009

Extinction of life on Earth
through Global Warming

Courtesty of John James ( www.planet extinction.com)

For the proofs of our situation (all fully referenced) read this file.

Also look at my talk on “Global Warming, National Security and Ethics” to the Independent Scholars of Australia in Canberra, October 2007. It can be viewed here.

Scientists have become increasingly anxious about global warming and our future on this planet. Since late 2005 fear of global warming has made them increasingly concerned. The evidence is now overwhelming – we have glimpsed what the future may portend.

It is urgent because only a slight increase in temperature is needed to trigger tipping points that cannot then be reversed. This will release vast quantities of greenhouse gas that will have a catastrophic effect on life. Temperatures could rise by 5 degrees in a decade, so how much time do we have?

One dollar rent for homeless

admin /8 September, 2009

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Last week’s Northern Stars carried stories about homelessness on the Northern Rivers and rural Victorian towns renting abandoned farmhouses for a dollar. Could one be the cure of the other?

Immigration has long been seen as means of settling remote areas, from mining booms to the Ord River. My pet favourite is a string of cities across northern Australia each dominated by a different language and cultural group. Why travel the world if it can come to you?

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