Post #282,541
4/20/07 11:42:06 PM
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Australian Drought reaches disaster levels
[link|http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/article2465960.ece|Independent UK] Australia has warned that it will have to switch off the water supply to the continent's food bowl unless heavy rains break an epic drought - heralding what could be the first climate change-driven disaster to strike a developed nation.
The Murray-Darling basin in south-eastern Australia yields 40 per cent of the country's agricultural produce. But the two rivers that feed the region are so pitifully low that there will soon be only enough water for drinking supplies. Australia is in the grip of its worst drought on record, the victim of changing weather patterns attributed to global warming and a government that is only just starting to wake up to the severity of the position. Unless rain picks up the government will have to ban all irrigation to preserve enough water for people to drink. The situation is already grim, if the ban goes into effect essentially the entire crop in that region of the country will be lost. Jay
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Post #282,543
4/21/07 12:20:59 AM
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Sounds like a diet of kangaroo coming soon . . .
. . and higher food prices here and in South America as Australia pays whatever it takes to eat.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #282,552
4/21/07 1:47:12 AM
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There was an article on the Science Show this morning.
The expert was advocating taking advantage of the natural, already adapted fauna in the country. He actually asked why are we farming cattle and sheep when we can hunt 'roo? And part of the irony is that the 'roos are thriving whilst the cattle and sheep are not. The other part of the irony is that the 'roos are in much better shape medically as meat animals than the cattle and sheep. For one thing, being marsupials rather than placental mammals means their parasites think we're 'some kind of weird rock'.
If I'd heard it before I went shopping I think I would have search for for kangaroo meat in the butcher's.
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
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Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
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-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. | · my ·
· [link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] ·
· [link|http://yceran.org/|website] · |
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Post #282,553
4/21/07 1:47:15 AM
4/21/07 1:47:34 AM
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(dup - ignore)
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
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Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
|
-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. | · my ·
· [link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] ·
· [link|http://yceran.org/|website] · |
Edited by static
April 21, 2007, 01:47:34 AM EDT
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Post #282,732
4/23/07 11:16:37 AM
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kinda dumb innit?
trying to terraform a desert into greenspace, then crying when the water runs out. :-(
thanx,
bill
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep
reach me at [link|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
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Post #282,802
4/23/07 6:05:02 PM
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Yeah, we Las Vegians would never do something That stupid
(Then there's all of Arizona, now growing LA-East burbs as if there's No Tomorrow.
..maybe they !-Know Something
Dumb Aussies..
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Post #282,816
4/23/07 7:26:58 PM
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dustbowl 2 coming right up, may have front row seats
if something pans out.
thanx,
bill
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep
reach me at [link|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
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Post #282,857
4/24/07 3:48:46 AM
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ObSentientLRPD points out: "History shows again and again...
...how Nature points out the folly of men."
[link|mailto:MyUserId@MyISP.CountryCode|Christian R. Conrad]
(I live in Finland, and my e-mail in-box is at the Saunalahti company.)
Ah, the Germans: Masters of Convoluted Simplification. — [link|http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=1603|Jehovah]
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Post #282,916
4/24/07 2:30:27 PM
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Go Go Godzilla!
Woo - ooo
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Post #282,933
4/24/07 4:57:53 PM
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Anyone know the cost of a de-salinization plant?
If it were economically feasible, then build some to satisfy the coastal population and let the interior have exclusive access to the agricultural regions.
I believe that a few Middle East countries have them, but then - they can afford it.
lincoln
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the United States.
[link|mailto:golf_lover44@yahoo.com|contact me]
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Post #282,978
4/24/07 9:48:13 PM
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Financial, or environmental?
There's a push for a coal-fired desalination plant in Sydney - though generally it seems it's only the politicains pushing it. The general populace feels that it's very much a wrong-hdeaded solution. (no, can't be arsed finding real numbers to back this up).
I think the govt recently reduced the incentives for households to get their own rainwater tanks, which beggars belief.
From this I can only conclude that the State Government must have close ties to companies that build coal-fired desalination plants :)
Two out of three people wonder where the other one is.
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Post #282,985
4/24/07 10:01:39 PM
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Oh, they do.
Heard it on the radio yesterday that the coal industry has not only had lobbyists in Canberra for decades, but they are former public servants. And they brag to each other about how they write policy. They, quite simply, have access to the halls of power that no-one else has. And the other groups trying to lobby for more environmental approaches have discovered this are starting to cry foul.
More: the voting public is getting sick of it, too. The Howard government may have to choose, soon, between the coal industry and the voting public. I know if they piss off the voters enough, they lose government, but I'm not sure what would happen if they push the coal industry out of Canberra. Or even if they can do it at all in eight months.
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
| |
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
|
-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. | · my ·
· [link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] ·
· [link|http://yceran.org/|website] · |
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Post #283,045
4/25/07 11:41:23 AM
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Going on here in Texas
[link|http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/iwt/desal.asp|Texas water Development Board - Desalination] From the [link|http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/iwt/desal/faqgeneral.html|FAQ] There are about 250 desalination plants in the US with a design capacity of >0.025 MGD. Almost half of them (114) are in Florida, 33 in California, and 38 in Texas (Mickley, 2004 and Nicot and others, 2006 pdf icon 1.29 MB). The 25-MGD desalination plant at Tampa Bay, Florida, is so far, the largest seawater desalination plant in the country. Texas is planning to build a seawater desalination plant within the next several years (see Question 12, above) as is California which is proposing about two dozen plants along the Pacific coast. From the [link|http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/iwt/desal/facts/fastfacts.html|Fast Facts] The average cost to produce 1 acre-foot of desalinated water from brackish groundwater ranges from approximately $400 to over $1,000 (Source: Draft 2007 State Water Plan).
The average cost to produce 1 acre-foot of desalinated water from seawater ranges from approximately $700 to about $1,400 (Source: Draft 2007 State Water Plan). [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre-foot|Acre-foot] = 325,853 gallons = 1,233 cubic meters. Darrell Spice, Jr. Trendy yet complex\nPeople seek me out - though they're not sure why\n[link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass] [link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare]
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Post #283,046
4/25/07 11:48:59 AM
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Another way to do unit conversions.
Google [link|http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=4E4&q=acre-foot+in+tsp&btnG=Search|"acre-foot in tsp"]. :-)
They don't cover all conversions, but they've got a lot.
Cheers,
Scott.
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