|
September 28, 2009
I returned to Adelaide this morning from Victor Harbor without taking any of the planned medium format pictures of beach erosion at Encounter Bay over the weekend. The wind and the rain from the storms that swept across the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia were just too great for working on a tripod with long exposures.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, erosion, Encounter Bay, 2009
All was calm and peaceful this morning when we left. The storm had gone. It was ideal conditions for landscape photography. All I had managed to take was a few snaps on the digital camera. Frustration.
On the drive back to Adelaide whilst listening to Radio National Breakfast about the economy and sharemarket I kept on thinking of climate change. I realized that I was linking the beach erosion to rising sea levels, and to the way that the scientific prognosis for this part of Australia just keeps on getting worse.
I realized that I was become ever more pessimistic. Paul Krugman in his latest op-ed in the New York Times asks: 'what is driving this pessimism?' He answers thus:
Partly it’s the fact that some predicted changes, like a decline in Arctic Sea ice, are happening much faster than expected. Partly it’s growing evidence that feedback loops amplifying the effects of man-made greenhouse gas emissions are stronger than previously realized. For example, it has long been understood that global warming will cause the tundra to thaw, releasing carbon dioxide, which will cause even more warming, but new research shows far more carbon dioxide locked in the permafrost than previously thought, which means a much bigger feedback effect.
It's happening now I thought. But it is not being taken seriously by Australian governments.
|
Hello
I am a student at RMIT University and I am currently researching public opinion on pollution and emissions trading in Australia. Would you or your readers be interested in participating in the following online survey?
It is completely anonymous and should take 5-10 minutes to complete. Results will not be published outside RMIT, however participants are welcome to contact me for these upon completion of the research in November – my and my supervisor’s contact details are included at the beginning of survey.
Many thanks in advance, Rose