Comments on: Godwin Grech at Gringott’s Bank?

By: John McCombe

John McCombe — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:07:41 +0000

Kim Lockwood, I usually fancy a couple of pints of Guinnae, especially before a test match.

By: Jonathan Maddox

Jonathan Maddox — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:41:26 +0000

Viv Forbes writes: “In the past, CO2 levels were five to 10 times higher than now and there was no tipping point.”

There certainly were tipping points, and mass extinctions to go with them. CO2 levels were ‘five to 10 times higher’ not in the lifespan of the human race or even the whole evolutionary history of order Primates.

She continues: “Therefore CO2 cannot cause runaway warming. Past experience has proved it.”

Let’s leave aside the meaning of “runaway warming”. Earth won’t turn into Venus, but “past experience” would include the possibility of Earth becoming more like the Earth of 60 million years ago than anything human beings have ever experienced. We’re not talking about some good wine vintages in the 15th century here — we’re talking about a return to the conditions under which the dinosaurs lived.

Past experience has proved that the Earth can physically tolerate vastly different climates and sudden climate changes, and that life has not yet been altogether extinguished by the changes.

Past experience has not demonstrated anything about the ability of a civilisation composed of 6 billion human beings, dependent on agriculture in fixed locations, to survive a sudden change in climate.

I daresay the human race itself would not become extinct even if the gravest predictions of serious climate change came to pass. But a large fraction of our population probably would.

That’s a disaster.

By: Hugh (Charlie) McColl

Hugh (Charlie) McColl — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:59:36 +0000

A couple of years ago I went to Venice in Italy and saw for the first time the canals and the houses with the sea water lapping at, and over, the door step. Apparently it’s getting worse almost every day - although there are still plenty of tourists there and another bridge (the fifth) went over the canal the day we were leaving. At the time I thought about climate change and sea level rise and wondered - how much longer can the Italians pretend that Venice can ride out this disaster? What happens when the ground floors are simply flooded and knee-deep? Won’t that be some sort of tipping point?

By: Fran Kirby

Fran Kirby — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:52:22 +0000

” Utegate: Is Turnbull telling the truth? ” As a niece of Lewis Bandt, the inventor of the Ute, I grew up with the story of it being designed to carry the wife to Church on Sunday and the pigs to market on Monday. And now it’s the rich and powerful pigs being taken for a ride.

By: Harry Lewis

Harry Lewis — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:43:59 +0000

Kim Lockwood writes: I assume your sole subscriber has noticed the plug at the top of each day’s email for “ABC Fora”, the website that links listeners and viewers to Aunty’s, er, forums. After Fairfax’s Don Churchill recently wrote about the amalgamation of “bureaux”, we now have this god-awful homage to Latin plurals from our premier broadcaster. Will the ABC now treat us to aquaria, photo alba, condominia, fulcra, rostra, vacua and the like? How about the other Latin borrowings? Will we be served corneae, retinae and, yes! echidnae? We could go on: agapanthi, hibisci, uteri … Oh, the stigmae, Aunty, the stigmae.

Sorry Kim: stigmata! (Some Latin, but somewhat less Greek, available?)