A lingering pool of disbelief

[anacostiakat]

From The Washington Post

Somewhat of a long article on Austalia's ten year draught in today's local paper.

[Ellery]

Interesting article, I would love to hear what the Australians on this site have to say on this subject.

[dicko]

I'm not from the country. However, IMO farmers have a lot to lose from new climate change legislation. Even though people in these rural areas make up only a tiny part of the population they have a huge amount of political clout. This is because there are proportionately more legislative 'seats' in the country than in the urban areas in oz. The article seems to mention this as a negative but really farmers are at the forefront of making changes to how they operate in an environmentally friendly manner and over history have shown themselves to be very resourceful and innovative.

The article mentions 'bad luck' - very true - the rains come where it is not needed (as much) and so it puts the spotlight on the drought-stricken areas. Sure, a farmer might clear trees to make a crop and cause an effect on run-off to a river, but then again people in the city cruise around in there high powered utes and SUV's pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, and have their sprinklers on their lawns every night. Climate change ( to whatever extent you believe it exists) needs everyone doing the right thing!

Just my 2 cents

Dicko