MORE Co2, OR LESS?
RAIN AT LAST in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia……..we’re happy, but does it change the gloomy long-term forecast?
From a parochial observation, until now the writer has missed-out on the joy of a breaking drought, but last night the clouds came this way for a change, and inches of rain poured down the cavernous cracks in the soil: ah, at last, the drought has broken. A lucky drop, though; just local, and not affecting the overall situation. Too late for many farmers, of course, and great tracts of the country keep missing the cloud-belts.
Tempting to relax with the relief of good rain, washing away the dry gloom. Tempting to hope that the aquifers are re-filling. Tempting to watch the green shoots colouring the brown wastes, and hope that the land will return to fecundity.
The inches of rain that lighten the hearts of the lucky recipients are a bitter irony to the majority that miss out, particularly those burned-out. The horror of a charred ruin that was once a home, now soaked, the black charcoal sprouting green shoots, the insidious gums reviving amongst the desolation they have caused.
I can only imagine the pain of those pitiable householders and farmers watching the too-late rain falling on their wrecked endeavours so soon. Such awful irony. Even to state the obvious in print is insulting: ‘this rain, had it fallen two weeks ago, would have changed our futures from destitution to viability.’
The national hope is for a return to a climate that we can cope with, despite its awful disasters interrupting isolated ventures. It is obvious that local rain would inevitably lift the spirits, but we must constantly be aware of the overall situation, and watch the national rain-gauge with close attention, and plan accordingly. The lucky majority of folk in our major cities, soaked with rain, must not influence the vital action to protect the unlucky majority of farm-land presently under threat of extinction.
Farm-land which has become unviable, threatening the survival of our vital productive communities. The land supports the cities: not vice versa. Long-term planning must go ahead no matter how reassuring the local rainfall. Farmers and farm-land must be kept operational at all costs, if possible. The alternative is depopulation of vast areas of rural Australia, a situation which would be ruinous.
More Co2, or less? All eyes must be on the national rain-gauge. Where is our climate headed? Is it ‘business as usual’, or ‘prepare for the worst’? The science of the weather is all-important; we are fortunate to have enabled research recently which is far-reaching in its discoveries on a global scale. International climate models become more sophisticated by the day, and long-held beliefs are being relinquished.
More Co2, or less? The on-going preoccupation with the dangers of fossil-fuel burning is on the brink of being revealed as a furphy. Current science is advising the opposite view; we need more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, not less, it is said. The vast store of carbon in land and ocean is undeniable: this at the depletion in our atmosphere, the weather-maker.
How is it possible that the science, which has created a whole-world outlook, could suddenly be reversed? Are we being duped by vested interests? Is fossil-fuel the danger or the saviour? We have known for generations that the climate which created the vast coal and oil deposits was staggeringly wet; only constant rainfall and copious Co2 engendered such fecund growth. Science is now suggesting we need to burn more of this stored carbon, not keep it in the ground. For the benefit of the climate, and for us.
Buteyko-beathing! Increasing carbon dioxide levels in the body, with vital effect on health. The victims of nervous trauma, breathing their own Co2 from paper bags. Is the fear of increasing carbon in the atmosphere unfounded?
Greenhouses have been gassed with growth-promoting Co2 for some time now. It is a conundrum: why not, therefore, promote more Co2 in the atmosphere? There is still plenty of oxygen for the creatures (us) on the planet. The conflict of information from various fields of research will resolve many questions, attitudes, and beliefs over the coming years; old assurance becomes undermined by new information. Certainly we individuals are following the accelerating accumulation of knowledge with rapt interest; it will affect us directly, and soon, and is fascinating to watch science unfold, opinions to reverse, and world-view reveal!
The question of the effect of more atmospheric Co2 on the oceans (which would become more acid), and the corals, and all ocean creatures, is a debate not yet resolved, and continuing with vigour. The effect on land looks positive, but that debate rages on the Internet: Google yourself into an opinion……it’s all happening right now.
What irony if the oil and coal interests (which appear to be succumbing to popular opinion) were beneficial all along? What irony if the Green movement has concepts which prove not to be the safeguards of life? No green without rain. What of the floods and blizzards in other parts of the planet? Science and reality are confusing. Turning-over a scientific stone reveals so much to be investigated and more importantly, interpreted. It is the interpretation that is vitally important.
If the previous interpretation of climate-science is proving to be misguided, what then?
Here I sit at my keyboard, and the lovely, lovely rain cascades in torrents, filling my senses with delight and my tanks with pure, pure tapwater. It’s been a long time. Hard to be globally-aware when locally gratified! Typical human.