Comments on: Pokies, clubs and local government http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/27/pokies-clubs-and-local-government/ now with extra source Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:34:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jonathan Maddox http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/27/pokies-clubs-and-local-government/#comment-27759 Jonathan Maddox Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:34:17 +0000 http://www.crikey.com.au/?p=61702#comment-27759 Hi Ken, Growing plants is a great way to mop up gaseous carbon dioxide; certainly cheaper and more useful than burying the stuff. Bubbling flue gases into ponds may indeed be useful for fertilising algae; but for most plants CO2 is not a growth limiter so raising CO2 levels has next to no impact on fertility. Only with near-perfect soil and light conditions can you expect plants to grow significantly better with enhanced CO2. The only really cost-effective way to enhance biological binding of carbon is to halt deforestation world-wide and embark instead on a massive afforestation program. Green the brown pastures of Africa and Australia with vast forests! Even that would be rather expensive compared with converting (and if necessary relocating) existing coal-fired electricity infrastructure to make use of solar or geothermal heat instead. Hi Ken,

Growing plants is a great way to mop up gaseous carbon dioxide; certainly cheaper and more useful than burying the stuff. Bubbling flue gases into ponds may indeed be useful for fertilising algae; but for most plants CO2 is not a growth limiter so raising CO2 levels has next to no impact on fertility. Only with near-perfect soil and light conditions can you expect plants to grow significantly better with enhanced CO2.

The only really cost-effective way to enhance biological binding of carbon is to halt deforestation world-wide and embark instead on a massive afforestation program. Green the brown pastures of Africa and Australia with vast forests!

Even that would be rather expensive compared with converting (and if necessary relocating) existing coal-fired electricity infrastructure to make use of solar or geothermal heat instead.

]]> By: kathleen hughes http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/27/pokies-clubs-and-local-government/#comment-27427 kathleen hughes Wed, 27 May 2009 07:20:19 +0000 http://www.crikey.com.au/?p=61702#comment-27427 Gee, it's good to know young people have a sense of proportion and understand what's important. Georgia Webster's "Mu-um it's not fair!!' whining (re how the extreme youth of the new editor of The Monthly mustn't be mentioned), is not just irritating it's offensive. Black people , Asians, women, frail elderly people and other marginalised groups in Australia, who really do know what suffering is about, are fundamentally different from people who are just young Georgia, because THEY WON'T GROW OUT OF being black, Asian, women, elderly etc!! You will grow up if you live long enough. Equally, we haven't all been black, women, Chinese etc BUT WE HAVE ALL BEEN YOUNG! I am really tired of this generation of boring ickle crybabies and their tedious self-absorption. Youth really is wasted on the young when it's turned into yet another opportunity for thios sort of mindless grizzling, and self-dramatisation; pore li'l me, I'm not a middle-class student with heaven-sent opportunities, I'm young so I'm a victim of ageism; and, and, and that means I'm just the same as a Somalian rape victim or Afghani asylum seeker. I hope this editor guy is going to be a bit tougher and more imaginative than his friend, it doesn't bode well if he's going to burst into tears because people have, understandably, been worried about whether his unavoidable inexperience will mean he's not up to the job. Gee, it’s good to know young people have a sense of proportion and understand what’s important. Georgia Webster’s “Mu-um it’s not fair!!’ whining (re how the extreme youth of the new editor of The Monthly mustn’t be mentioned), is not just irritating it’s offensive. Black people , Asians, women, frail elderly people and other marginalised groups in Australia, who really do know what suffering is about, are fundamentally different from people who are just young Georgia, because THEY WON’T GROW OUT OF being black, Asian, women, elderly etc!! You will grow up if you live long enough. Equally, we haven’t all been black, women, Chinese etc BUT WE HAVE ALL BEEN YOUNG! I am really tired of this generation of boring ickle crybabies and their tedious self-absorption. Youth really is wasted on the young when it’s turned into yet another opportunity for thios sort of mindless grizzling, and self-dramatisation; pore li’l me, I’m not a middle-class student with heaven-sent opportunities, I’m young so I’m a victim of ageism; and, and, and that means I’m just the same as a Somalian rape victim or Afghani asylum seeker. I hope this editor guy is going to be a bit tougher and more imaginative than his friend, it doesn’t bode well if he’s going to burst into tears because people have, understandably, been worried about whether his unavoidable inexperience will mean he’s not up to the job.

]]> By: stephen martin http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/27/pokies-clubs-and-local-government/#comment-27392 stephen martin Wed, 27 May 2009 04:14:37 +0000 http://www.crikey.com.au/?p=61702#comment-27392 I am not going to enter the climate change debate, I have better things to do than debate with people who have closed minds on both sides of the debate; but I must take issue with Adam Rope. You can't ignore record figures just because you claim that they distort the record. After all el Nino events occur every seven years or so on average. The record of climate change must include all years so that you can assess the trend in temperature rise, or fall whichever the case may be. I am not going to enter the climate change debate, I have better things to do than debate with people who have closed minds on both sides of the debate; but I must take issue with Adam Rope.
You can’t ignore record figures just because you claim that they distort the record. After all el Nino events occur every seven years or so on average. The record of climate change must include all years so that you can assess the trend in temperature rise, or fall whichever the case may be.

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