“The society which has abolished every kind of adventure makes its own abolition the only possible adventure.” Paris, May 1968


Monday 31 December 2012

2012 - A taste of things to come ?

During the past twelve months the UK has experienced an unprecedented number of extreme weather events. Extreme weather is always a possibility of course but 2012 really was unusual in that we had drought, severe gales, and  record levels of rainfall all crammed into one year. Beyond explaining the migrations of the jet-stream, climate scientists are being justifiably cagey about giving a reason for this years extreme weather but for many people it looks as though the effects of climate change are happening before our very eyes.                                                                                                               Meanwhile the precipitation continues. There was a knock on the door just now. Jehovah's Witnesses. I was  explaining my position on matters of faith when the Postie arrived. "You want to talk to the Jehovah's Witnesses?" I enquired. " I'm too busy building my ark",  he replied, handing me a soggy envelope. We will see what 2013 brings. Happy New Year.

5 comments:

Gitane said...

This is certainly getting serious in the West Country. The whole area is sodden, nutrients are being washed away and plants are practically drowning. We're still picking roses in the garden and the temperature is 14C. There's still swarms of midges about.Even the fucking slugs have drowned!
The flock of sparrows that we cultivated with nest boxes and bushes has only 25% of the population of last year and not a single fledgling this year. The field rats' burrows are flooded and they've taken to living under sheds (a brave thing to do given the number of cats and staffs on our estate,survival chances nil). The allotments are sodden so raised beds are going up a plenty to allow for drainage, the trees are showing signs of a permanent green mould.
Heven't been able to get to the garden at all this year, everytime we planned time out to sort out the plants it fucking rained!
Lots of little leaks in guttering, roof, shed etc need special attention. Black mould appearing in many neighbours properties because of ground saturation.
Basically our whole life style is changing, consumption, travel and housing have all been seriously affected. Have yet to see anything in the media covering this basic evidence of serious environmental change; noone has been brave enough to grasp the nettle, the same way they all knew about Savile but said nothing.

d said...

If you really want to upset anarchists and greens join the discusssion on climate change. I tried once to separate the science from the politics driven science and eminent anarchists went, ballistic. It seems as if the EU governments,anarchists/socialists and greens are singing from the same sheet. So I will say only one thing: science is data driven, political correctness is when politics drives science. Contrary to the BBC, Guardian and Prof Steve Jones, science is never settled.


http://www.australianclimatemadness.com/2012/03/essential-reading-dr-david-evans-climate-coup/

Dr Llarregub said...

If you really want to upset anarchists and greens join the discusssion on climate change. I tried once to separate the science from the politics driven science and eminent anarchists went, ballistic. It seems as if the EU governments,anarchists/socialists and greens are singing from the same sheet. So I will say only one thing: science is data driven, political correctness is when politics drives science. Contrary to the BBC, Guardian and Prof Steve Jones, science is never settled.


http://www.australianclimatemadness.com/2012/03/essential-reading-dr-david-evans-climate-coup/

Gitane said...

Hi Dr Buggerall,
I don't care what you call it but our lifestyle is changing significantly because of the change in our weather.
Will someone start telling the truth about how we are being affected by weather change. Our entire agricultural output on any economies of scale you want to mention is fucked. The lousy weather has increased our dependency on imports of food on an unprecedented scale, this is a huge and unnaccounted burden on a failing service economy. The local veg and allotment output was a washout, so it was back to Lidl and Asda. The price of veg and meat in our SW provinces has doubled in 12 months.
I do notice that the hedge fund parasites have wrapped up the prices of staple foods very nicely in the grip of cartels and monopolies just in time for world food shortages and weather changes.
I've been to the Australia Evans comes from, Aussies are confused about the facts of their own local geography never mind the rest of the world. Seas you can't swim in, beaches you can't lie in, forests with trees that are lethal (really), piosonous snakes, spiders, ants, leeches, killer fish and shellfish , massive floods, droughts etc Everyone living within 50miles of the coast the interior is uninhabitable to most. And yet they reckon its paradise! Nice people Aussies, just (generally)turn a blind eye when they're discussing geography, weather and "paradise".

Dr Llarregub said...

Hi Gitane,
I cannot disagree with what you are saying, change is taking place and people are being ripped off and deceived. My beef is with the political manipulation of the science. You cannot get funding for scientific research unless your proposal complies with government climate change policies. So I cannot believe what we are being told. An example: I have recently submitted a report to Defra, as I did for the Welsh Assembly, on the ethics and efficacy of training dogs with electric shock collars. What has this to do with climate change? No chance of it being taken seriously unless climate change is mentioned. So I looked at electric shock devices planted in the ears of cattle to stop them grazing on land that has been designated for green policies to grow trees blah blah to prevent climate change. Waste of time, but politically expedient. Maybe it is right, maybe it isn't but it has sod all to do with training dogs. But that is how the science has to be conducted. I only quoted the Australian guy because he said things that opposed the politicisation of the scientific debate. Beyond that he is a fair target for criticism. And this, as I said in my earlier post, is what is missing in the anarchists camp. My garden is flooded. The local rivers are flooding and in the Spring experts warned on continuing drought.