John Butler talks about Fracking.

John Butler talks about Fracking.

Canberra 2014

John discusses the methods behind fracking and how this fracking can give more than just coal seam gas.

This practice is ruining your environment. Stop fracking now.

Cloud Formation in an Inversion

I was able to capture, in time lapse, this interesting atmospheric condition.
It seems that a layer of cooler air had trapped moist, warm, air beneath it.
This is called an "inversion".
This was all happening at the base of a small mountain range with the cooler breeze racing overhead.
As the warm air gained enough momentum upwards, shown by the clouds boiling beneath, it eventually broke through the layer above to disperse clouds in the breeze.
A most interesting phenomenon, and one I hope you enjoy viewing.

One small step

Well it has been 40 years since mankind, within the setting of a cold war , set off for the moon.
I remember being woken when the landing took place, being told that history was being made.
Sleepily I watched those first steps and went back to bed. It wasn't through lack of interest, though through lack of age.
It seems that I wasn't the only one( at the time) with a lack of interest in space travel.



"Everything we do ought to really be tied in to getting on to the moon ahead of the Russians [...] otherwise we shouldn't be spending that kind of money, because I'm not interested in space [...] The only justification for [the cost] is because we hope to beat [the USSR] to demonstrate that instead of being behind by a couple of years, by God, we passed them." said John F Kennedy to James E Webb ( head of NASA at the time). source

Many projects were proposed to prove American superiority over the Russians and going to the moon was chosen.
An alternative idea for the funds was to apply massive irrigation projects to the third world.

Dont get me wrong.
Many amazing discoveries and applications we use today have come from that program.
Those programs should be taken to the next step. It's just so expensive.
The costs should be shared, among all nations, along with the benefits.
I propose the time has come for a world space organization.
This, of course, requires a previously unknown degree of international cooperation which may spill over into the environmental field of play on good old mother earth as some big projects, with big scientific/material rewards, are completed.
Rewarded cooperation breeds a more stable future together.

The push into space is, I believe, an intergral piece of the puzzle we need to solve if we are to pull ourselves together as a species so as to maintain a healthy environment here at home.

Are we grown up enough to stop trying to beat each other to the toys in this little blue/green nursery of ours?



Or is this the case?

High charge Lows

Last night a low pressure system, accompanied by a trough, passed over NSW.

I observed what looked like summer lightning, an occurrence that sees the sky lit by sheets of lightning without clouds...discharges atmospheric as charges balance out.

Then the clouds rolled in.

They were slow moving and, initially, undetectable in a starry sky.

The following shot with stars visible...

Then the show got started.

The next shot of cloud that rolled in.

It was multi layered, with many cloud forms present at many levels.

The real dark ones on the RHS foreground were very low and very dense.

Quite ominous in their slow roll across the land.

The next day was sunny to start with, though a smaller second trough passed over around 8am giving some rain and this nice double rainbow.

Rip, Bust and Tear

The world is a sad place indeed when concession to green groups is feared and denied.
Especially when the content of the concession is not an issue.

I have borrowed this text and following photo from Denis's site to illustrate:

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"The farmers of NSW who were threatened by coal mining had little choice in going with the Greens - even though they might not be regarded as natural Greens constituents. Many would surely be more naturally regarded as either "old-money Liberals" or Nationals supporters (remember when they were the Country Party?). However, only Lee Rhiannon (the sponsor of this Bill) and the other Greens had shown much interest at all in opposing coal mining under prime agricultural land. When the Greens proposed this Bill, it seemed the farmers' only hope of gaining Legislative support. So, naturally they supported the Bill.

But the Bill was defeated precisely because it was sponsored by The Greens.

UPDATE: Hansard Extract - part of Speech by Rev'd the Hon Fred Nile, MLC:
"That is why I cannot support this bill. It is not because of the content; it is because the bill will give the Greens greater ability to blow their trumpets and claim a great victory in this State, and give them further political oxygen. During my time in this Parliament I have been working hard to deny political oxygen to the Greens." Fred Nile - 4 May 2009.
You may go to the Hansard link above to read the full debate."
(Extract and photo courtesy of Denis Wilson)

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Do greenies make a dollar from preserving wilderness or farmland from mining giants?
Who benefits from the food grown, or the clean air we breathe?
What is an economy when it ultimately leads, in its present state, to a wasteland of body, soul and mind?
These, and other, questions have been raised in Gaye's and Denis's sites this week.
Both make a thought provoking read.

Environmental Changes afoot

This post is in reply to a comment made by Denis Wilson recently, which raises the subject of shifting environmental patterns - a subject of interest to me, as I have moved to a new set of climatic conditions of late.

The section of his comment bearing relevance to this post is:

"........Its still dry in Robbo (well, mists, but no rain. Hillsides around Roboo have gone brown, would you believe it?
So too dry for much fungal activity here. You must have caught some local thunderstorm activity. Dry to the south (Victoria) and to the north. Interesting." Denis Wilson

I feel it is very interesting also.
Please look at the map provided below.
It comes from the D.T. Brown seed company (hey,I'm using their image..A free add for their seeds is no problem).

Look at the climatic "interchange" on the NSW / Vict East coast ( purple/blue).



It is my belief that this interchange existed, some 30 years ago, around Wollongong.
I believe it to exist around Batemans Bay at the present time.

This interchange does not rely on geographic situations to manifest itself, it relies on weather patterns involving subtleties including, though not limited to, ice sheet sizes in Antarctica and coastal water temperatures.

One important piece of evidence to support this idea, of a shifted interchange, is the spectacular event known as a "Southerly Buster" - a wave of cloud, moving at incredible speeds from South to North, bringing cool air and relief from high temperatures.
It has been 30 years since I have seen a good one in the Wollongong area...whereas, in my new location south of Batemans bay, I have seen 2 good ones in a 6 month period and a handful of smaller events.
Another event sadly missing north of me is the afternoon thunder storm.
As a child in Wollongong you could expect that a huge, though short lived, thunderstorm would give a cooling end to a hot sunny day...not as regular any more, though still a regular event down south.

Why do I believe this interchange to be situated around Batemans Bay?
Move south of there and early summer can be raging NE winds...not so further north.
Observed cloud patterns on BOM showing interchange events.
Temp differences noticeable North and south of that area.
I would even suggest that rainfall in the Batemans Bay area, on average, has decreased less over the last 30 years in relation to areas further north, keeping in mind that rainfall has been decreasing statewide for many years.

There is a red section on the map (in SA and WA)..this is a different climatic condition again.
I believe it to have spread across southern Victoria providing the hotter, drier conditions experienced there of late.

So, what does it all mean?

Climatic changes and less stability within those climates.
Adapt or perish cry the evolutionists.
Sadly much will perish.
New environments are being created all over the world within lifetimes.
With new climatic conditions must come new solutions.
Oh to live in interesting times.

UPDATE (16.02.09):
Recently Robertson, and surrounding areas got some rain (see Post by Denis Wilson)
I was able to monitor this activity, courtesy of the BOM website located here.
I have included a few shots, taken over nearly a 3 hour period, of the storm.
I found it interesting that the activity was limited to a little north of Batemans Bay and that the storm remained basically stationary during that time.
Also look at the way the storm moved at its South Western end.
It seems that an air flow drove the storm, at that point, to the east while the rest of the storm remained stationary. This looks to me like a classic "eddy" with a flow of air to the south, around Batemans Bay, helping to contain the storm within the area.
I would suggest that a similar situation existed above the storm north of Port Macquarie.
Credit, and thanks, to the BOM for the following shots.



I will monitor this area for the proposed interchange event I have suggested and make additions to this post as material supporting this theory presents itself.

Sea waves, Sand waves and Light waves

Last year around June the world powerboat circumnavigation record was broken
by the vessel pictured below. Earthrace.



Built from Carbon fibre, it is designed as a wave piercing trimaran.
Cutting through the waves, the windscreen designed to withstand 7M of water above it, it runs on bio diesel, and is extremely enviro friendly ( and an exiting ride).
Arriving as it did on Jan 19Th this year in Bermagui provided for some interesting shots and discussions with the crew.
It has been touring the world, with over 150,000 visitors on board to date, promoting enviro design through development of ideas.

The following waves are quite different.
The Ant lions trap, pictured in the following 3 shots, is constructed at an angle to allow passing insects to be drawn to the bottom of the funnel through the action of sand flicked at the prey by the Ant lion below.







And yet another type of waves.
The light waves returning from this orchid are no doubt registering in the ultra violet to signal potential pollinators.
It is very attractive in the visual spectrum also.



Does any one know the pollinator?