We’ve seen nothing yet: NB4 flooding in Qld & NSW

William P. Hall on February 28, 2022

Plus long-hot summer in WA. Continued global warming will make weather ever more extreme and lethal. LNP still shoveling coal on the fire.

As I write this, there are already 7 weather-related deaths in Queensland with flood levels still rising and at least one in northern NSW where the deluge is expected to continue at least until tonight. Flooding in Gympie and Lismore has reached NB4 levels, exceeded all-time records with flood defences in Lismore over-topped. As shown in the image above, the Bureau of Meteorology weather stations upstream from Lismore show 24 hour rainfall readings to 9:00 am this morning from 1/3 of a meter to more than 3/4 — with most around 1/2 of a meter! — i.e., an unimaginable layer water 50 cm deep on every point of the landscape that is now running down hill into the stream catchments.

Heavy flooding has already inundated the Lismore CBD, which is now off limits to all pedestrian and vehicular traffic, police said. (9News)

by Ciccharelli et al, 7:35am Feb 28, 2022 in 9 News

Lismore flooding exceeds 48-year record as search for missing man resumes

Emergency services are continuing to search for a missing man in Lismore floodwaters amid what is potentially the city’s worst ever flood disaster.Efforts have been underway to evacuate the entire town as flood waters rise, but hundreds of people are trapped in their homes.The city’s main road, Bruxner Highway, is underwater, with cars completely submerged.LIVE COVERAGE:Flood emergency gripping Queensland and northern NSW

Read the complete article….
Severe floodwaters are continuing to hit the Queensland town of Gympie, with evacuation centres already reaching capacity. (9News)

Chanel Zagon, 8:15pm Feb 27, 2022, in 9 News

Gympie smashed by largest flood in more than a century

The Queensland city of Gympie has been hit by the largest flood in more than 100 years, with more than 1000 properties submerged in floodwaters.The Mary River peaked at 22.8 metres on Sunday morning, the highest level since 1893.

Hundreds have been forced to abandon their homes and seek refuge in an evacuation centre after the region was deemed a disaster declaration area from the life-threatening floods.

Read the complete article….

Climate scientists have warned us for years that this was coming. If we had begun reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases and developing other mitigation strategies then, by now we might have already stopped and begun to reverse the warming process.

The fact is our governments, and especially the present LNP COALition Government in Canberra, instead of working to mitigate the climate emergency, have continuously promoted and protected the fossil fuel industry to help them to continue digging up and burning carbon at an ever increasing rate. This claim is not some wild claim off the top of my head, but demonstrated almost daily by COALition members in their own words standing before Parliament and the press. It is worth noting that this effort is often led by rural MPs from Queensland and NSW – the states that have at least suffered most from the increasingly extreme ‘weather’ events: bushfires, floods, droughts, and winds.

The puppets show and tell
Captain Humbug showing the parliamentary puppet troop what it is all about. ““Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared, it won’t hurt you. It’s coal.” With these words Australia’s Treasurer Scott Morrison taunted the Opposition, attempting to ridicule its commitment to renewable energy.” – The Conversation (15-02-2017)
Fossil fuel donations keep puppets in government.
See also Katherine Murphy in The Guardian on 09/02/2017 for the live video — “Scott Morrison brings coal to question time: what fresh idiocy is this? What a bunch of clowns, hamming it up – while out in the real world an ominous and oppressive heat just won’t let up.”

So far, the constant denial, misrepresentation, blocking, distraction and continuous humbuggery and bulldust has successfully prevented any effective government action to shut down carbon emissions and has disrupted most state and private efforts to do this. We cannot yet jail these fools, knaves and puppets for the crime of ecocide, but we can at least remove the blockers from Parliament and replace them with trustworthy candidates who have committed themselves to put action against the climate emergency as their first order of business.

To do this we have to accept the facts that are enough to make any sane person panic. However, in the incredibly wise words of a 16 year old autistic child, Greta Thunberg, we need to recognize that the panic can be answered with prompt action.

greta-act-as-if-the-house-was-on-fire
Listen to Greta’s speech live at the World Economic forum in Davos 2019. Except for her reliance on the IPCC’s overoptimistic emissions budget, everything she says is spot on that even she, as a child, can understand the alternatives and what has to happen.

In other words, wake up, smell the smoke, see the reality, and fight the fire that is burning up our only planet so we can give our offspring a hopeful future. This is the only issue that matters. All Capt. Humbug and his troop of wooden-headed puppets are doing is rearranging the furniture in the burning house to be incinerated along with anything and everyone we may care about. In Greta’s words, “even a small child can understand [this]”. People hope for their children’s futures. She doesn’t want your hope. She wants you to panic enough to wake up and fight the fire…. so our offspring can have some hope for their future. Vote Climate One’s Traffic Light Voting System will help you use your preferential votes wisely on behalf of our offsprings’ future.

Help give them the bright future they hope for!

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Interesting: green power can avoid winter blackouts

William P. Hall on February 24, 2022

Washington Post analyzes last winter’s Texas Blackout to show renewable energy networks can cope better than fossil fuel based systems

by Kasha Patel, 21/02/2022 in The Washington Post
A year after Texas cold spell, study shows renewable energy could help prevent blackouts

Electricity blackouts could be avoided across the nation by switching to solar, wind and water energy sources, the report argues

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

A take on American evidence for global warming

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

We live in an interesting time where established trends and NB4 events pointing to global collapse seem almost ordinary.

by Thomas Neuberger, 10/02/2022
In the Climate World, Everything New Is Old Again: We live in an interesting time, tucked between the start of a world-historical collapse and stories about it so old they sound not special at all.

…. Isn’t There a Game On?

It’s an interesting time we live in — tucked between the start of a world-historical global collapse and stories about it that are so old they sound, well, almost ordinary, almost not special at all.

The next phase of this interesting time, of course, will get everyone’s attention, since it involves a scale of suffering that even the comfortable can’t escape. But that’s for later, of course — after it really will be too late for anyone to escape at all.

For now, though, simply note the contradiction. If it weren’t so tragic, it would be the stuff of farce. But please don’t dwell on this too long — you might miss the game.

Read the complete article….
Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.