Ok, I admit defeat, I’m ending the week 4 days behind schedule, only one day of the schedule completed, the post holes have been dug, half the builders mix is here, but nothing else. No posts, wire, posts in the ground, weedmat completed.
I haven’t got the propagation house marked out yet either. Tuesday the person who borrowed our hammers and nail box failed to return then, till today, the handsaws are still out being used on someones house, the builders string line is being borrowed by someone else marking out their house, the axe is being used by someones wife to cut all their firewood, the bushknives have all gone missing as usual, both tape measures, the 100 metre and the 50 metre one have been borrowed and not returned yet. No I can’t just walk down the road and buy another, hammers are $200 - $400, String lines are $85, handsaws start at $300 for a cheap Chinese copy of the Japanese copy of a Sandvik or Stanley, and having spent nearly $2800 last month on tools, there would be questions raised about me buying them all again 3 weeks later.
And there is no definite reason that anyone can pinpoint to show why. Apart from the normal Solomon Island “tomorrow” belief in something happening. I think if I was more results or detail orientated I’d be going spare, but even this is starting to get to me a bit.
Having only one truck again doesn’t help, the old one is in the garage having the starter motor rewound, for the past 2 weeks. There aren’t any modern rewinding tools here, so it comes down to a little old man who comes in at some stage every day, sits down on a knocked up wooden stool, and commences to hand wind hundreds of coils of wire onto the motor. He’s been 2 weeks doing it so far, and it isn’t any good saying anything, he is the acknowledged master of the craft here, and if he gets annoyed, you don’t get it done. Which means getting the motor flown to Brisbane, and rewound there for a considerable sum of money. And no, there aren’t any spare parts here, or spare motors to suit the truck. I have to admire the work he does, it is absolutely brilliant, practically a lost art in any industrialised country now. But it is still 2 weeks in and possibly another one till it is finished. And we are back to one truck and a shite load of work to get done.
Then again, it could be worse and I could be in a country without trucks at all, and relying on water buffalo or donkeys for transport. And a considerably slower pace of life as well. I don’t think I’d cope too well. Too many things to get done and I want to do them NOW!
I might feel better after the weekend, when I have a whole new schedule to dream about following for next week.
High points of the week,
We now have another 500 Archontophoenix seeds in tubes, my zucchini have all sprouted and we have 28 in bags now, the chilli seeds sprouted, the red silverbeet , and the Digitalis rubea. Still waiting to see if the Cordyline australis sprout, and the Jacaranda have survived being transplanted into PB5 bags and are slowly growing. I could say growing fast, as you can actually see the growth rate each day.
Tiff and I had a site meeting with the people developing the new Honiara Casino site at Town Ground end of Honiara, we are high on the list of getting the landscaping to do. They saw my plans that I’d done for Heritage, and looked at what Heritage did, liked it, so they know we can produce. I’ll work with Kennedy on this one though, I got a bit annoyed about Frank using my ideas for Heritage and not acknowledging the fact it was my plans that got him the job.
Anyway, end of another week with some things done, some things not.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Tuesday 7th September
We finally had some rain last night, it has been getting steadily hotter all the last week and no rain. Even the water supply at Hasting Deering ran out, so everything has been suffering. We were going to water through town last night, all the tubs and a couple of the roundabouts, but as we were going home the sky opened up and the rain fell out.
Which pleased me no end.
Had an interesting discussion at work today. I’ve been after all the Delonix regia seed pods along the road at Ranadi, but the crew always seems to forget to collect them. I’ve finally got a promise that they will get them tomorrow, but why did I want them? When I said to plant and grow on, the look I got was priceless. Why do that, we can just go into the bush and cut them out of there instead of waiting for them to grow?
I had another try at explaining that by growing from seed we add a bit of genetic diversity to the pool, but I don’t think it sunk in. I think all the trees we have planted through Honiara all come from very few trees to start with, all of them have been cuttings from a very small group, so the chances of losing them all if something decides to get in and decimate the population, we won’t have enough diversity to withstand a specific pest or disease. A bit like the potato famine in Ireland, all of the potato crop then came from a very small genetic pool of 8 plants I think, grown by Sir Walter Raleigh at his estate in Cork. And consequently, when the blight hit, it wiped out the entire potato population.
Anyway, what I want to do is start growing a lot more of the local plants from seed, I’ve had some success so far with the palms, the Hibiscus and Bouganvillea ok, we’ll keep using cuttings for those, to keep the varieties stable, although I’d like to try some seed raised Hibiscus as well.
The concept of planning and starting growing plants for a job a year out is still a difficult concept to get across. We’ve been asked to supply plants for the new Honiara Casino which won’t be starting till December, and planting wouldn’t be till June or July next year at the earliest. Which I’m more than happy to go along with, but the looks when I told the crew that we have to ear mark and keep, and propagate plants now, for next June, they couldn’t understand why we can’t just keep going into the bush and cutting stuff out.
I’m only running a day behind in my work plan so far this week. Ok, it’s only 2 days into the week, still another 3 days to go, but I figure the week will end with only 2 days behind schedule. All the post holes for the shade cloth are dug, the posts are ordered, we have the builders mix and cement for the concrete. Which leaves me with marking out the propagation house tomorrow, post holes to be dug for that, and a concrete pad marked out, dug and boxed up. I can’t see the posts going in though, so there is the day we’ve lost, but next week was a fairly open schedule with a couple of days to juggle with.
We’ve got another 300 or so Archontophoenix palms bagged up, a few palms outside Pacific Casino dropped seed earlier this year, so I asked the girls to collect the seedlings when they did the gardens this week. Along with the 15 we put into 75 litre bags last week to grow on for City Centre when I redo the planter boxes there in March. They also bought back a seed head off one of the palms, so I’ve spent the evening here soaking them and washing the pulp off. Another 500 or more seeds to be tubed up tomorrow.
Did a quick estimate this afternoon, we now have 650 Archontophoenix growing, ok, a year at least till planting out, but once I get the routine going, we’ll have a steady supply of mature or ready to plant palms in a couple of years. Now to get the same thing happening with the trees, hibiscus and bouganvillea.
I need about 40 bouganvillea as 3’ standards for the Memorial gardens, I may go to 6’ standards, we have the bamboo stakes for that height, it is a matter of getting cuttings growing suitable for training. I only need single leader plants, everytime I separate some out, and tell the girls to keep them aside, they get cut back to bush growth. Patience I guess. Or perseverance. Or just be bloody minded and have a tantrum.
Which pleased me no end.
Had an interesting discussion at work today. I’ve been after all the Delonix regia seed pods along the road at Ranadi, but the crew always seems to forget to collect them. I’ve finally got a promise that they will get them tomorrow, but why did I want them? When I said to plant and grow on, the look I got was priceless. Why do that, we can just go into the bush and cut them out of there instead of waiting for them to grow?
I had another try at explaining that by growing from seed we add a bit of genetic diversity to the pool, but I don’t think it sunk in. I think all the trees we have planted through Honiara all come from very few trees to start with, all of them have been cuttings from a very small group, so the chances of losing them all if something decides to get in and decimate the population, we won’t have enough diversity to withstand a specific pest or disease. A bit like the potato famine in Ireland, all of the potato crop then came from a very small genetic pool of 8 plants I think, grown by Sir Walter Raleigh at his estate in Cork. And consequently, when the blight hit, it wiped out the entire potato population.
Anyway, what I want to do is start growing a lot more of the local plants from seed, I’ve had some success so far with the palms, the Hibiscus and Bouganvillea ok, we’ll keep using cuttings for those, to keep the varieties stable, although I’d like to try some seed raised Hibiscus as well.
The concept of planning and starting growing plants for a job a year out is still a difficult concept to get across. We’ve been asked to supply plants for the new Honiara Casino which won’t be starting till December, and planting wouldn’t be till June or July next year at the earliest. Which I’m more than happy to go along with, but the looks when I told the crew that we have to ear mark and keep, and propagate plants now, for next June, they couldn’t understand why we can’t just keep going into the bush and cutting stuff out.
I’m only running a day behind in my work plan so far this week. Ok, it’s only 2 days into the week, still another 3 days to go, but I figure the week will end with only 2 days behind schedule. All the post holes for the shade cloth are dug, the posts are ordered, we have the builders mix and cement for the concrete. Which leaves me with marking out the propagation house tomorrow, post holes to be dug for that, and a concrete pad marked out, dug and boxed up. I can’t see the posts going in though, so there is the day we’ve lost, but next week was a fairly open schedule with a couple of days to juggle with.
We’ve got another 300 or so Archontophoenix palms bagged up, a few palms outside Pacific Casino dropped seed earlier this year, so I asked the girls to collect the seedlings when they did the gardens this week. Along with the 15 we put into 75 litre bags last week to grow on for City Centre when I redo the planter boxes there in March. They also bought back a seed head off one of the palms, so I’ve spent the evening here soaking them and washing the pulp off. Another 500 or more seeds to be tubed up tomorrow.
Did a quick estimate this afternoon, we now have 650 Archontophoenix growing, ok, a year at least till planting out, but once I get the routine going, we’ll have a steady supply of mature or ready to plant palms in a couple of years. Now to get the same thing happening with the trees, hibiscus and bouganvillea.
I need about 40 bouganvillea as 3’ standards for the Memorial gardens, I may go to 6’ standards, we have the bamboo stakes for that height, it is a matter of getting cuttings growing suitable for training. I only need single leader plants, everytime I separate some out, and tell the girls to keep them aside, they get cut back to bush growth. Patience I guess. Or perseverance. Or just be bloody minded and have a tantrum.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Sunday 5th September
Went into work this morning after shopping at Kukum Market. The zucchini that we planted on Friday are already pushing up through the potting mix, in the couple of hours I was there another 3 popped out, so I think we have got a good mix going finally. The Jacaranda are all looking healthy, only an inch or so high still, but you can see them slowly growing. The Cordyline have recovered from transplant shock, and it looks like we have some to plant out next year. I’ll get some tomato and
Cayenne chilli seeds set out tomorrow to try.
And that is an interesting concept to get across here. Actually waiting for plants to grow, instead of just going into the bush and cutting or digging plants and trees out, or raiding the neighbours garden. There are a few concepts that are going to take a while to get across actually, waiting for plants to grow, then waiting for fruit and vegetables to be ripe before picking them, or leaving some to grow on and keep for seed for the next crop. I can see us having problems at the nursery once we have mother stock planted out, with people climbing the fence and raiding the seed crop, or just stripping everything out. There isn’t any thought of personal property, or the idea of saving seed. My little garden I tried growing here at Ba’hai was systematically stripped out before anything had a chance to grow, being at work every day meant it was fair game to anyone walking past.
If anyone has long a long memory, I wrote last year about having a guy track me up to my house, then persistently keep coming around for a few weeks or so asking for money. He arrived back again today. All us palangi must look alike or something, he didn’t recognise me, asked where I worked, then started telling me about the white man that used to live here that worked at the Botanic Gardens and always gave him money for his family, last year he had 4 children, he’s obviously been home in the meantime, he now has 5 children. I guess 18 months here have had an effect on me, I didn’t feel any qualms about sending him away empty handed again. Which I think is a terrible statement to make, with the poverty here, coupled with the corruption that is endemic in the system, I know the starfish story, but helping one person here leads to a lot of complications. I’d likely have his whole wantok in Honiara around after a handout, then it could get a bit ugly. I’d rather offer him a job with us, if I thought he’d be suitable. But our pay rates are barely above minimum poverty level anyway. Everyone here, well, the politicians, and Govt employees, all seem to think the Aid money is going to support them forever. Without anyone ever asking for an accounting of where it has all gone.
It’s a bit off when you start thinking Peter Bauer was a liberal socialist. And didn’t go far enough. Google will find him.
I’m hoping to get some major work done on the nursery this week, I’ve written up a work schedule, I know, stop being stupid Warren, but I figure it lets me know how much we haven’t got done at the end of the week this way. Hopefully we’ll have all the posts for the shade cloth over the beds in place, and a start on the propagation house. I did say hopefully. We have the official opening of the Nursery in the middle of October, the shade cloth only left Brisbane last week, along with the irrigation, so that won’t be here till the 3rd week this month at the earliest. And if we get stuffed around by Customs again, it could be the end of this month, so it is going to be a hectic few weeks. As well as get the water tanks and water supply sorted, the power shifted, and the fence erected.
We have finally got building permission, now we have a funding problem as the building Planning approved isn’t what we described in the funding proposal, so we have to try and get a letter from Planning explaining why they changed the building to have any chance of getting the funding still. It’s going to be the usual duck shoving competition with Planning, no one there is willing to put anything in writing, there is a lot of he said, they said, but never anything written.
Cayenne chilli seeds set out tomorrow to try.
And that is an interesting concept to get across here. Actually waiting for plants to grow, instead of just going into the bush and cutting or digging plants and trees out, or raiding the neighbours garden. There are a few concepts that are going to take a while to get across actually, waiting for plants to grow, then waiting for fruit and vegetables to be ripe before picking them, or leaving some to grow on and keep for seed for the next crop. I can see us having problems at the nursery once we have mother stock planted out, with people climbing the fence and raiding the seed crop, or just stripping everything out. There isn’t any thought of personal property, or the idea of saving seed. My little garden I tried growing here at Ba’hai was systematically stripped out before anything had a chance to grow, being at work every day meant it was fair game to anyone walking past.
If anyone has long a long memory, I wrote last year about having a guy track me up to my house, then persistently keep coming around for a few weeks or so asking for money. He arrived back again today. All us palangi must look alike or something, he didn’t recognise me, asked where I worked, then started telling me about the white man that used to live here that worked at the Botanic Gardens and always gave him money for his family, last year he had 4 children, he’s obviously been home in the meantime, he now has 5 children. I guess 18 months here have had an effect on me, I didn’t feel any qualms about sending him away empty handed again. Which I think is a terrible statement to make, with the poverty here, coupled with the corruption that is endemic in the system, I know the starfish story, but helping one person here leads to a lot of complications. I’d likely have his whole wantok in Honiara around after a handout, then it could get a bit ugly. I’d rather offer him a job with us, if I thought he’d be suitable. But our pay rates are barely above minimum poverty level anyway. Everyone here, well, the politicians, and Govt employees, all seem to think the Aid money is going to support them forever. Without anyone ever asking for an accounting of where it has all gone.
It’s a bit off when you start thinking Peter Bauer was a liberal socialist. And didn’t go far enough. Google will find him.
I’m hoping to get some major work done on the nursery this week, I’ve written up a work schedule, I know, stop being stupid Warren, but I figure it lets me know how much we haven’t got done at the end of the week this way. Hopefully we’ll have all the posts for the shade cloth over the beds in place, and a start on the propagation house. I did say hopefully. We have the official opening of the Nursery in the middle of October, the shade cloth only left Brisbane last week, along with the irrigation, so that won’t be here till the 3rd week this month at the earliest. And if we get stuffed around by Customs again, it could be the end of this month, so it is going to be a hectic few weeks. As well as get the water tanks and water supply sorted, the power shifted, and the fence erected.
We have finally got building permission, now we have a funding problem as the building Planning approved isn’t what we described in the funding proposal, so we have to try and get a letter from Planning explaining why they changed the building to have any chance of getting the funding still. It’s going to be the usual duck shoving competition with Planning, no one there is willing to put anything in writing, there is a lot of he said, they said, but never anything written.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Weekend edition 3rd - 5th August
Friday 3rd August
I think everyone is aware of my thoughts on AGW. This weeks Discovery TV hostage drama in the USA is something I’ve thought was going to happen sooner or later.
Tom Fuller posted a really good article in WUWT on Thursday, I’ve put it in here.
It is past time all the disaster scenarios published by the IPCC, and the looney green fringe parties, the WWF, Greenpeace, the doomsday scare tactics, were all scrapped and some sensibility crept in to the discussion.
The world is not going to heat up and fry everyone, there won’t be a global catastrophe, there will be weather as usual, hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, floods and droughts, as usual. Sunshine and rain, the sea isn’t going to rise 2 inches, 2 feet, 20 feet and flood the world.
If you really want to stop over population, you provide or make accessible cheap effective energy, and if that means using coal to provide the 3 rd world economies with energy, then we do it. Populations stabilise once people improve their lives, when you live in poverty, and 60% of the children born die of malnutrition, malaria, dengue fever, measles, chicken pox, flu, and every other disease of poverty, polluted water, insufficient food, it is natural for the constant increase in births.
Here is Toms post from http://www.wattsupwiththat.com/
Stop the Hysteria
Posted on September 2, 2010 by Anthony Watts
Guest Post by Thomas Fuller
After the tragic events in Maryland on Wednesday of this week, where a man took three hostages and tried to make The Discovery Channel a vehicle for publishing his manifesto, there have been accusations and counter accusations in the global warming world about taking advantage of this to advance political goals.
In particular, Joe Romm of Climate Progress harshly criticized Anthony Watts for the title of his blog post alerting readers to the situation. Personally, I think Anthony’s choice was mistaken, but not malicious–I’ve made worse editorial decisions myself.
And this may be one of them. The deluge of catastrophic predictions regarding global warming and its consequences have reached almost everyone on the planet, and perhaps unintentionally have replaced Cold War bomb scares as the primary source of doomsaying.
The messages are well-thought out and prepared by professional communicators, with disturbing and graphic images of a post-apocalyptic scenario lifted from Mad Max, and with about as much connection to reality.
In March of this year, a couple in Argentina shot their two children before committing suicide over fears of global warming. On Wednesday, in Maryland, James Lee apparently committed ‘suicide by cop’ after taking three hostages in an attempt to force the Discovery Channel to alter its programming to suit his fears over the environment.
At what point will we call to account those who have preached ‘the end of the earth as we know it’ to countless people? How many people will be driven to desperation by those who distort the science?
The IPCC’s AR4, published in 2007, painted a future with global warming as a serious, multinational problem that we should face together. You may agree or disagree with their findings–I agree with most of it, not all.
But nowhere does the work of thousands of scientists in peer-reviewed literature say that we are doomed, that civilization is at risk, that there is no future for us.
That falls to several groups of committed lobbyists, scientists, environmentalists and politicians who began saying the IPCC report was too conservative almost the day it was published. The evidence they bring forward for that claim is nowhere near as robust as the science referenced by the IPCC.
They are scaring people to death. How many more lives will be blighted or destroyed before they understand that their propaganda has real world effects?
It’s hard to work up too much sympathy for Mr. Lee–he took hostages, threatened to detonate an explosive device, and pretty much guaranteed his fate. And his worries weren’t confined to global warming. He was equally concerned with overpopulation, another scare story put out by some of the same people pumping hysteria over global warming.
At any rate, what these people are doing is despicable, if not murderous.
Sea levels are not going to rise by 20 feet. Or 10. Or five. There is not going to be a climatic tipping point that pushes our planet into a spiral of ever-increasing temperatures. Global warming is not going to cause the extinction of half the species on this planet, or even 1%.
And it is long past time that respected members of the scientific community publicly acknowledge those facts and helped bring this debate back within the realm of reality.
My father met Jim Jones briefly before he moved to Guyana with his flock, and described him as intelligent and persuasive, able to talk reasonably about a multitude of subjects. We don’t need more smooth talkers preaching the language of despair. We can now see the results. In their zeal to communicate their fears of the effects of global warming that go far beyond the predictions of mainstream science, those who Anthony called ‘warmistas’ in his blog title and who I call alarmists and sometimes hysterics have created a library of disturbing words and images that can influence the vulnerable.
Are these people responsible for the tragedies in Argentina and Maryland? No. But did they act responsibly, caveating their predictions as personal fears instead of the verdict of science. No. They were trying to scare you. They succeeded too well.
It’s time to stop the hysteria.
Thomas Fuller http://www.redbubble.com/people/hfuller
All of this over a rise in “global” temperature since the Little Ice Age ended ca 1850. A rise of 0.6 * C. in 150 years. And which has flattened out since 1999, to the extent that with the present Solar Minimum and the PDO and ENSO being affected by the coming La nina, we are experiencing falling temperatures, and a possibly 30 year cooling period again.
And whoever decided that the world should only warm up to 15*C? The average high temp is 22*C, at which stage the oceans take over as a gigantic heat engine, and shift the heat by evaporation, and deflect incoming Solar radiation by increasing cloud cover.
Google “The Thermostat Hypothesis” by Willis Eschenbach, then sit down and think about it all.
And write to John Key and tell him that the ETS scheme is a fraud.
Saturday 4th September
I’m almost over my rant from last night, although it doesn’t take much to get me going whenever anyone mentions AGW. Especially living here where the school kids are being fed AGW hysteria from the time they start school. The British High Commission here put together a dvd that is doing the rounds of the schools. I haven’t seen it yet, I’m hoping to get a copy and find out exactly what is in it, I can use the Environmental Discussions I’m doing around the schools as a reason for wanting a copy.
Until I’ve seen it I don’t want to get involved in an argument over it, but the publicity that the High Commission put out about it states it shows rising sea levels, heat waves, drought and flooded Islands, so I take that to mean it is no better than Al Gores comedic masterpiece.
I’ve decided to apply for an extension for next year. I know I’m going to have all the same frustrations again, but the good part is that the nursery will actually be working, and I will be training people, instead of dealing with stupid bloody minded people in various Govt Depts.
I’ll take another month off next year to catch up with everyone, Al and I were hoping to do a tour of NZ but I won’t have the time available for it. 2012 it will have to be now.
It’s settled into the Dry season here, high dry temperatures, 35*C most days now, and only 40 – 50 % humidity. Although we are getting impressive thunder storms a couple of times a week now as the thunderclouds build up over the mountains. We’ve had predominately south easterly winds lately, which push the rain clouds over West Guadacanal from the Weather Coast, and Central and East Guadacanal have been missing the rain.
We had a busy couple of days at the nursery Thursday and Friday. The guys have been steadily catching up with the compost, and Sheron and I managed to get 12 Archontophoenix palms bagged into 75 litre bags for growing on for next year to plant at City Centre once they are above head and car height. As well as 15 Jacaranda seedlings bagged into 5 litre, and a lot of seeds started, silverbeet (Chard), Canterbury bells, Digitalis rubea, Cordyline australis, Tamarillo.
A few of the last lot of Cordyline did sprout, I get the feeling the potting mix wasn’t the best, but we have a few that grew, including a red tinged leaf which I was hoping for. The seeds came from one of my Cordylines I grew at Tokoroa and planted at Mums. And those seeds came from the plant at the house in Tokoroa which threw up a wide range of colours from green to brown and khaki, plus striped leaves. Hopefully the latest lot of seeds produce better.
I’m glad the Jacaranda grew, apart from the seed coming from the one in Mums garden. Tiff said there used to be two in Honiara, but both got cut down for firewood during the civil war, so we can replace them now. As soon as we can be sure they can have a good place to be planted where they will survive the bush knife attacks and drunken drivers.
We lost another 5 palms over the week to drunken drivers and a couple of bush knife attacks. I’d write another letter to the Sol Star, but I’m on a promise not to get involved or get contentious stuff into the paper again.
I think everyone is aware of my thoughts on AGW. This weeks Discovery TV hostage drama in the USA is something I’ve thought was going to happen sooner or later.
Tom Fuller posted a really good article in WUWT on Thursday, I’ve put it in here.
It is past time all the disaster scenarios published by the IPCC, and the looney green fringe parties, the WWF, Greenpeace, the doomsday scare tactics, were all scrapped and some sensibility crept in to the discussion.
The world is not going to heat up and fry everyone, there won’t be a global catastrophe, there will be weather as usual, hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, floods and droughts, as usual. Sunshine and rain, the sea isn’t going to rise 2 inches, 2 feet, 20 feet and flood the world.
If you really want to stop over population, you provide or make accessible cheap effective energy, and if that means using coal to provide the 3 rd world economies with energy, then we do it. Populations stabilise once people improve their lives, when you live in poverty, and 60% of the children born die of malnutrition, malaria, dengue fever, measles, chicken pox, flu, and every other disease of poverty, polluted water, insufficient food, it is natural for the constant increase in births.
Here is Toms post from http://www.wattsupwiththat.com/
Stop the Hysteria
Posted on September 2, 2010 by Anthony Watts
Guest Post by Thomas Fuller
After the tragic events in Maryland on Wednesday of this week, where a man took three hostages and tried to make The Discovery Channel a vehicle for publishing his manifesto, there have been accusations and counter accusations in the global warming world about taking advantage of this to advance political goals.
In particular, Joe Romm of Climate Progress harshly criticized Anthony Watts for the title of his blog post alerting readers to the situation. Personally, I think Anthony’s choice was mistaken, but not malicious–I’ve made worse editorial decisions myself.
And this may be one of them. The deluge of catastrophic predictions regarding global warming and its consequences have reached almost everyone on the planet, and perhaps unintentionally have replaced Cold War bomb scares as the primary source of doomsaying.
The messages are well-thought out and prepared by professional communicators, with disturbing and graphic images of a post-apocalyptic scenario lifted from Mad Max, and with about as much connection to reality.
In March of this year, a couple in Argentina shot their two children before committing suicide over fears of global warming. On Wednesday, in Maryland, James Lee apparently committed ‘suicide by cop’ after taking three hostages in an attempt to force the Discovery Channel to alter its programming to suit his fears over the environment.
At what point will we call to account those who have preached ‘the end of the earth as we know it’ to countless people? How many people will be driven to desperation by those who distort the science?
The IPCC’s AR4, published in 2007, painted a future with global warming as a serious, multinational problem that we should face together. You may agree or disagree with their findings–I agree with most of it, not all.
But nowhere does the work of thousands of scientists in peer-reviewed literature say that we are doomed, that civilization is at risk, that there is no future for us.
That falls to several groups of committed lobbyists, scientists, environmentalists and politicians who began saying the IPCC report was too conservative almost the day it was published. The evidence they bring forward for that claim is nowhere near as robust as the science referenced by the IPCC.
They are scaring people to death. How many more lives will be blighted or destroyed before they understand that their propaganda has real world effects?
It’s hard to work up too much sympathy for Mr. Lee–he took hostages, threatened to detonate an explosive device, and pretty much guaranteed his fate. And his worries weren’t confined to global warming. He was equally concerned with overpopulation, another scare story put out by some of the same people pumping hysteria over global warming.
At any rate, what these people are doing is despicable, if not murderous.
Sea levels are not going to rise by 20 feet. Or 10. Or five. There is not going to be a climatic tipping point that pushes our planet into a spiral of ever-increasing temperatures. Global warming is not going to cause the extinction of half the species on this planet, or even 1%.
And it is long past time that respected members of the scientific community publicly acknowledge those facts and helped bring this debate back within the realm of reality.
My father met Jim Jones briefly before he moved to Guyana with his flock, and described him as intelligent and persuasive, able to talk reasonably about a multitude of subjects. We don’t need more smooth talkers preaching the language of despair. We can now see the results. In their zeal to communicate their fears of the effects of global warming that go far beyond the predictions of mainstream science, those who Anthony called ‘warmistas’ in his blog title and who I call alarmists and sometimes hysterics have created a library of disturbing words and images that can influence the vulnerable.
Are these people responsible for the tragedies in Argentina and Maryland? No. But did they act responsibly, caveating their predictions as personal fears instead of the verdict of science. No. They were trying to scare you. They succeeded too well.
It’s time to stop the hysteria.
Thomas Fuller http://www.redbubble.com/people/hfuller
All of this over a rise in “global” temperature since the Little Ice Age ended ca 1850. A rise of 0.6 * C. in 150 years. And which has flattened out since 1999, to the extent that with the present Solar Minimum and the PDO and ENSO being affected by the coming La nina, we are experiencing falling temperatures, and a possibly 30 year cooling period again.
And whoever decided that the world should only warm up to 15*C? The average high temp is 22*C, at which stage the oceans take over as a gigantic heat engine, and shift the heat by evaporation, and deflect incoming Solar radiation by increasing cloud cover.
Google “The Thermostat Hypothesis” by Willis Eschenbach, then sit down and think about it all.
And write to John Key and tell him that the ETS scheme is a fraud.
Saturday 4th September
I’m almost over my rant from last night, although it doesn’t take much to get me going whenever anyone mentions AGW. Especially living here where the school kids are being fed AGW hysteria from the time they start school. The British High Commission here put together a dvd that is doing the rounds of the schools. I haven’t seen it yet, I’m hoping to get a copy and find out exactly what is in it, I can use the Environmental Discussions I’m doing around the schools as a reason for wanting a copy.
Until I’ve seen it I don’t want to get involved in an argument over it, but the publicity that the High Commission put out about it states it shows rising sea levels, heat waves, drought and flooded Islands, so I take that to mean it is no better than Al Gores comedic masterpiece.
I’ve decided to apply for an extension for next year. I know I’m going to have all the same frustrations again, but the good part is that the nursery will actually be working, and I will be training people, instead of dealing with stupid bloody minded people in various Govt Depts.
I’ll take another month off next year to catch up with everyone, Al and I were hoping to do a tour of NZ but I won’t have the time available for it. 2012 it will have to be now.
It’s settled into the Dry season here, high dry temperatures, 35*C most days now, and only 40 – 50 % humidity. Although we are getting impressive thunder storms a couple of times a week now as the thunderclouds build up over the mountains. We’ve had predominately south easterly winds lately, which push the rain clouds over West Guadacanal from the Weather Coast, and Central and East Guadacanal have been missing the rain.
We had a busy couple of days at the nursery Thursday and Friday. The guys have been steadily catching up with the compost, and Sheron and I managed to get 12 Archontophoenix palms bagged into 75 litre bags for growing on for next year to plant at City Centre once they are above head and car height. As well as 15 Jacaranda seedlings bagged into 5 litre, and a lot of seeds started, silverbeet (Chard), Canterbury bells, Digitalis rubea, Cordyline australis, Tamarillo.
A few of the last lot of Cordyline did sprout, I get the feeling the potting mix wasn’t the best, but we have a few that grew, including a red tinged leaf which I was hoping for. The seeds came from one of my Cordylines I grew at Tokoroa and planted at Mums. And those seeds came from the plant at the house in Tokoroa which threw up a wide range of colours from green to brown and khaki, plus striped leaves. Hopefully the latest lot of seeds produce better.
I’m glad the Jacaranda grew, apart from the seed coming from the one in Mums garden. Tiff said there used to be two in Honiara, but both got cut down for firewood during the civil war, so we can replace them now. As soon as we can be sure they can have a good place to be planted where they will survive the bush knife attacks and drunken drivers.
We lost another 5 palms over the week to drunken drivers and a couple of bush knife attacks. I’d write another letter to the Sol Star, but I’m on a promise not to get involved or get contentious stuff into the paper again.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Wednesday 1st September
Other than work, it’s been a quiet week so far, I’ve missed getting the paper for 2 days in a row, so I’m a little behind the news as far as politics go. I’ll have to read online tomorrow, there was a bit about SEB and the Childrens Park at Rove in todays paper, and how much we’ve improved it, so that would make a nice addition to a resume.
We had the EU sign over of the truck today at Rove, as many of the crew that I could convince to come, and Tiff and I. It’s a bit sad that that was the high point of the day, it’s just been work for the most part.
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I’m trying to find, still, online distance courses for Level II, III and IV horticulture from any TAFE in Australia. The ones that do have courses, all seem to vary in pricing, requirements etc, so I’ve written to as many as I think are suitable, and will have to sort through them once I hear back. We still haven’t a classroom, toilets, office, but the nursery is slowly being put together. By the time it is finished in a couple of weeks, the potting mix will be ready for full scale production, thanks to the guys who have been working really well in the compost bins for a week now trying to get ahead of the supply of raw material.
I wrote to Rover Ind. Australia last week about a bigger mulcher, and they sent back a brochure with their recommendation, no price though, so I’m waiting for that. Rover model 464E, I wish I’d known about it last year.
Really grunty looking machine, 7.5 hp, and the sales rep reckons it will handle more than we can throw at it. As if I believe a sales rep, been there, done that, anything to get a sale. Now I have to work out how to justify the expense after buying the other one last year. Still, we could hire the other one out to ex-pats for their gardens, even sending one of the crew along to run it would generate some income off it.
I’ll work on how to justify it somehow.
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Pic of Rose
We had the EU sign over of the truck today at Rove, as many of the crew that I could convince to come, and Tiff and I. It’s a bit sad that that was the high point of the day, it’s just been work for the most part.
.jpg)
I’m trying to find, still, online distance courses for Level II, III and IV horticulture from any TAFE in Australia. The ones that do have courses, all seem to vary in pricing, requirements etc, so I’ve written to as many as I think are suitable, and will have to sort through them once I hear back. We still haven’t a classroom, toilets, office, but the nursery is slowly being put together. By the time it is finished in a couple of weeks, the potting mix will be ready for full scale production, thanks to the guys who have been working really well in the compost bins for a week now trying to get ahead of the supply of raw material.
I wrote to Rover Ind. Australia last week about a bigger mulcher, and they sent back a brochure with their recommendation, no price though, so I’m waiting for that. Rover model 464E, I wish I’d known about it last year.
Really grunty looking machine, 7.5 hp, and the sales rep reckons it will handle more than we can throw at it. As if I believe a sales rep, been there, done that, anything to get a sale. Now I have to work out how to justify the expense after buying the other one last year. Still, we could hire the other one out to ex-pats for their gardens, even sending one of the crew along to run it would generate some income off it.
I’ll work on how to justify it somehow.
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Pic of Rose
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday 30th August
I’ve mentioned Solomon Island politics occasionally, usually to the detriment of it. We’ve just had an election, that went off without any major trouble, no riots in the streets, houses and shops burnt out, so everyone has been thinking “Wow”
We ended up with 50 MPs elected, 24 of them brand new to politics, which is about normal here. They all meet up in Honiara, and the different factions then camp out in various hotels around Honiara, Heritage, Honiara Hotel, Pacific Casino, until enough wheeling and dealing and promises have been made to give one group 26 MPs. This group then goes to the Governor General, informs him they have sufficient MPs to form a government, he then calls for an election to be held by the MPs for the Prime Ministers Position.
Which we had last week, and Danny Phillips won by a couple of votes. Danny then has the job of allocating various Ministerial portfolios to his group, in return for their commitment to his group. Fine so far. Till one MP who has coveted the Finance Ministers position was refused the portfolio, upon which he has switched sides and joined the opposition, another of Danny Phillips group had a heart attack and died at the victory dinner, so he now has only 24 members, and the opposition group are now calling for Parliament to sit so they can push a vote of no confidence through, and have another election.
At the same time, members of the opposition are also talking of leaving the opposition and joining with Danny, as they think they will get a better deal or position with him than with Steve Abana. For those in the USA, sorry but Chicago has nothing on politics here. At least in Chicago, if you bought someone they usually stayed bought, a bit like Charles Haughey in Ireland. Here? If there is a better offer elsewhere, they’re away.
So it looks like another week or so of dealing till Parliament will be called, and all the usual name calling and innuendo in the newspaper. This is when it could get interesting, as the various faction supporters start to get worked up by the propaganda put out by each group.
Other than that, it’s been a quiet weekend, a bit of rain, a lot of sunshine, I’m not going to mention work or compost heaps.
I’ve mentioned the dogs around the neighbourhood, this is what they are like. They have the most amazing collection of skin diseases, from mange, to what appears to be psoriasis (sp?) and measles, chicken pox, scurvy, rheumy eyes, malnourishment, foot rot, tail droop, and congenital idiocy. I must admit that the dog Adrian rescued from the drain as a pup and has looked after is an absolutely gorgeous dog, but he is fed, trained, and looked after. All the rest here are just strays and feed by scavenging.
We ended up with 50 MPs elected, 24 of them brand new to politics, which is about normal here. They all meet up in Honiara, and the different factions then camp out in various hotels around Honiara, Heritage, Honiara Hotel, Pacific Casino, until enough wheeling and dealing and promises have been made to give one group 26 MPs. This group then goes to the Governor General, informs him they have sufficient MPs to form a government, he then calls for an election to be held by the MPs for the Prime Ministers Position.
Which we had last week, and Danny Phillips won by a couple of votes. Danny then has the job of allocating various Ministerial portfolios to his group, in return for their commitment to his group. Fine so far. Till one MP who has coveted the Finance Ministers position was refused the portfolio, upon which he has switched sides and joined the opposition, another of Danny Phillips group had a heart attack and died at the victory dinner, so he now has only 24 members, and the opposition group are now calling for Parliament to sit so they can push a vote of no confidence through, and have another election.
At the same time, members of the opposition are also talking of leaving the opposition and joining with Danny, as they think they will get a better deal or position with him than with Steve Abana. For those in the USA, sorry but Chicago has nothing on politics here. At least in Chicago, if you bought someone they usually stayed bought, a bit like Charles Haughey in Ireland. Here? If there is a better offer elsewhere, they’re away.
So it looks like another week or so of dealing till Parliament will be called, and all the usual name calling and innuendo in the newspaper. This is when it could get interesting, as the various faction supporters start to get worked up by the propaganda put out by each group.
Other than that, it’s been a quiet weekend, a bit of rain, a lot of sunshine, I’m not going to mention work or compost heaps.
I’ve mentioned the dogs around the neighbourhood, this is what they are like. They have the most amazing collection of skin diseases, from mange, to what appears to be psoriasis (sp?) and measles, chicken pox, scurvy, rheumy eyes, malnourishment, foot rot, tail droop, and congenital idiocy. I must admit that the dog Adrian rescued from the drain as a pup and has looked after is an absolutely gorgeous dog, but he is fed, trained, and looked after. All the rest here are just strays and feed by scavenging.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday 26th August.
Oh Jeez Warren, not another post about compost??????????
Hey, it’s the first bit of success I’ve had in 18 months give me a break here. I promise not another compost post for at least a month, well, couple of weeks, ok?
And I’ll keep it brief as well.
Finally go the last of the first heap turned today, ready for mulching, the guys were painting the truck with rust coat grey, so I wandered down the paddock with a shovel and started playing with the heaps. The blended heap was well on its way to being a small furnace, just a few inches in had steam coming out, so I dug a fair bit out of the centre and turned it over, then started turning the last half of heap one.
Phillip ended up deciding painting the truck wasn’t his idea of a good time, so he grabbed a shovel and came down the field to help, then Kamaki and Ryan arrived to help.
It looked a little like the pits in Mordor for a while, as we broke into the heap the steam would gush out, which sent me back across the paddock for the camera. It looked like a really good pic, and the guys seemed to be enjoying themselves, or at least they stayed until the entire heap was turned.
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Tiff figures we’ll easily get $100 a bag for the blended, and $60 a bag for the turned compost, which makes me happy. That will cover the wages and the machine running and replacement costs, so long as we sell 10 bags a week.
I’m finally pleased to see something actually being done though, I’ve been talking about this for 18 months now, and it’s not been the easiest thing to stay positive about the whole plan.
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And a couple of pics of the mushrooms, I think they're edible, but they don't last long once they open.Anyone know if they are edible? or hallucogenic? or anything?
Hey, it’s the first bit of success I’ve had in 18 months give me a break here. I promise not another compost post for at least a month, well, couple of weeks, ok?
And I’ll keep it brief as well.
Finally go the last of the first heap turned today, ready for mulching, the guys were painting the truck with rust coat grey, so I wandered down the paddock with a shovel and started playing with the heaps. The blended heap was well on its way to being a small furnace, just a few inches in had steam coming out, so I dug a fair bit out of the centre and turned it over, then started turning the last half of heap one.
Phillip ended up deciding painting the truck wasn’t his idea of a good time, so he grabbed a shovel and came down the field to help, then Kamaki and Ryan arrived to help.
It looked a little like the pits in Mordor for a while, as we broke into the heap the steam would gush out, which sent me back across the paddock for the camera. It looked like a really good pic, and the guys seemed to be enjoying themselves, or at least they stayed until the entire heap was turned.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Tiff figures we’ll easily get $100 a bag for the blended, and $60 a bag for the turned compost, which makes me happy. That will cover the wages and the machine running and replacement costs, so long as we sell 10 bags a week.
I’m finally pleased to see something actually being done though, I’ve been talking about this for 18 months now, and it’s not been the easiest thing to stay positive about the whole plan.
.jpg)
And a couple of pics of the mushrooms, I think they're edible, but they don't last long once they open.Anyone know if they are edible? or hallucogenic? or anything?
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