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nogapsallowed 4h ago Guardian Pick 24 25

All climate patriots should watch the 12 minute video Who is Responsible for the Australian Bushfire Crisis?</I>

Written and produced by Kara Schlegl and narrated by Tim Minchin, it has gone viral for its sharp analysis of Australia’s turgid climate politics in each of the decades from Keating’s anti-environmental economic rationalism through to the current national fire crisis. Made by A Rational Fear, the video examines the history of Australia’s deliberate political inaction and denial in the face of scientific warnings of climate change, with successive governments prioritising the economy over commitments to reduce emissions. Against all logic, the fossil fuel industry enjoyed increasing incentives to expand, with the current Morrison government providing US$29 billion in subsidies.

This superbly made video is on YouTube. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aEOBu0r47YY

What a week……………..sudden storms on two afternoons which gave 130 mls of rain within 30 minutes. Humidity follows with sleep difficult. my modem blew despite having a zap trap plugged in.

The gardens have seen flocks of king parrots coming in and devouring tree tomatoes, taking one bite before they drop them to the ground. I countered 22 one day, stripping the fruit as I have never seen before.

Without insects, local ecologies and our food supply would collapse. But the global insect population is in decline.
The intensity of the Australian bushfires has highlighted how quickly and comprehensively damage can occur.
Coincidentally, a group of 70 scientists from 21 countries has just published what they called a ‘roadmap’ for insect preservation.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/insect-crisis/11890858

Pesticide/herbicide/insecticide use, habitat loss and climate change are the major contributors to insect decline. Here too where we see hectares of poisoned camphor and coral trees, both habitat for 100s of insects and butterflies as well as bird nectar sources during winter.

In my cabin.

 

 

 

 

A compound made by cannabis plants has been found to wipe out drug-resistant bacteria and break down persistent films of the microbes, raising hopes for a new weapon in the fight against superbugs.

Scientists screened five cannabis compounds for their antibiotic properties and found that one, cannabigerol or CBG, was particularly potent at killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, one of the most common hospital superbugs.

Tests in the lab showed that CBG, which is not psychoactive, killed common MRSA microbes and “persister” cells that are especially resistant to antibiotics and which often drive repeat infections. The compound also cleared up hard-to-shift “biofilms” of MRSA that can form on the skin and on medical implants.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/19/cannabis-compound-could-be-weapon-in-fight-against-superbugs

A week ago smoke billowed from my boundary with Night Cap NATIONAL PARK.

Heavy rain has fallen overnight with the rain gauge overflowing. Coopers Creek ran black for a few hours as the hills and valley’s ash was flushed down.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-18/gondwana-era-nightcap-oak-devastated-by-bushfire/11877770?WT.ac=statenews_nsw

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2020/jan/17/the-week-in-wildlife-in-pictures

Now our thoughts are with the Alpine areas of Victoria where the fires are out of control. 

5 months of extraordinary tension beginning to subside.

Lets refresh who is who in climate denial in Canberra.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/16/there-is-no-link-the-climate-doubters-within-scott-morrisons-government

As the clouds replace the smoke and the humidity increases, the creatures of the bush are on the move. A carpet snake tried to occupy the spare room and a juvenile goanna searched for a way inside the cabin.

 

Two tiny tree frogs moved into the shower room. The photos I took were blurry.  First mosquitos of the season too.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/13/photographer-mother-kangaroo-dying-queensland-australia

A little rain has fallen. Gentle as it washes the ash from the fires into the soil.

Garden looks greener by the minute.

Finger limes abundant..ideal dry weather producer of the most delicious capsule of lime juice. Salads, like cous cous or bulger, become a delicious side dish.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2020/jan/13/oceans-are-as-hot-as-humans-have-known-them-and-were-to-blame

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-11/australia-bushfire-crisis-just-dont-mention-climate-change/11857590

January 11, 2020

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Sydney Morning Herald.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/class-actions-against-negligent-governments-it-s-a-burning-issue-20200109-p53q1h.html

How are these oafs still in power? That’s the question exercising the country just now. But a deeper one underlies it. Our federal government owes us a duty of care. What should we do if they betray it?

When ex-Victoria police commissioner Christine Nixon committed the sin of dining with friends on Black Saturday, 2009, she was likened to Nero, fiddling while Rome burned. Her career never recovered. Yet our current political leaders, exponentially more arrogant, are fireproof.

Having intensified this crisis with coal, confounded it with politics, ignored the fire chiefs, dumped us in it then vanished for weeks while Australians became refugees in their own country, they’re are still making silly adverts, forcing unwanted handshakes on dissenting adults and bullying their way around the corridors of power. How do they get away with it?

Is it because they’re shameless? Or Christian? Or men? Is it all of the above? Are they funded by the fossil-fuel lobby fighting to retain control with its last, wheezing gasp?