Climate Change Actions

mysteron347

Ah - the holy statistics based on "the record".

Fact is that reliable records have only been kept for the past century or so - so we're only looking at a tiny portion of a cycle that may be many thousands of years long.

Let's take a few facts from history. The Great Fire of London in 1666 was supposed to have happened in an exceptionally hot summer - before the invention of the thermometer. About 100 years later, it's recorded that there was a "little ice age" when the River Thames was frozen with ice so thick that fairs were held on its surface. Had the records been kept from 1600 rather than 1900 (and I'm not going to argue about a couple of decades either way here) then we'd be worried about the coming Ice Age. A hundred years later and we'd have been warned of Global Warming as the 1750s passed into history.

Having said that, there's really no reason to continue on our destructive course. Of course, reduce pollution and gas emissions if practicable. But also realise that the big-stick approach with legislation isn't ideal. We have the "authorities" in control of electricity production for instance who at first opposed Solar power. They threatened producers because they were producing electricity when the state had a legislated monopoly. Can't let the solar power systems be attached to the grid - then simply oppose and regulate it. Every possible obstacle - they could have left the existing metering regime in place, but that would cause home-produced energy to be the same rip-off rate that they charge, so you have to have a new meter installed (at your own expense, although THEY own the meter). Then they pay you the wholesale rate for returned energy (~7c/KWh) but charge you 24c/KWh for supply in the hours of darkness.

And of course, the political machinations - the NSW government offering unrealistic rebate rates for returned energy (like 60c/KWh) to ingratiate themselves with the gullible public for instance - and locking that rate into a contract to make it impossible for a succeeding government to revise. Or on federal level, the system introduced by one party (effectively a 50% subsidy to encourage Solar energy use) which then gets used by their replacements as some sort of magic dollar amount which allowed them in turn to offer the systems "for free" as the wholesale price of an installation dropped - even to the point that the installers maintained an inflated price to make greater profits after system costs fell even further.

So why should I assist the government (which makes political capital from these schemes)? Oh - because of "the future" and "the children".

Well, the government (of each tribe) has done absolutely nothing to assist me in finding work since I became unemployed in 2001. No dole for me as I'd saved and invested my money rather than squandering it on self-indulgence and self-entertainment. Not that I wanted the dole - much rather have a job, but if you're not getting the dole, the "recruiters" have no interest in placing you as they get paid a handsome bonus for taking people OFF of the dole. Then the recruiters want to "represent" you if they find you a position - IOW, a commission which can be more than 50% of the charge to the employer. And then, the better you are, the more likely you are to have your contract extended - so the recruiter gets even more for LESS work.

Even then, they're not satisfied. They can bring in "graduates" from third-world countries to fill the demand. Well - no criticism of the candidates attracted in. They're only looking after their own families, after all. They are however routinely underpaid by local standards (as the recruiter further inflates profits) and unfortunately are "green" - have academic qualifications, but no experience and no knowledge of local law or business practice. And of course, the recruiters and the politicians who support them, can rely on the empty barrels' cacophony to accuse anyone opposing this abusive practice as "racist".

So - after 17 years of at-best grudging support, I really no longer give a damn. I have no family but have the spectre of a future government policy to be to tax what I have saved from my own prudence. I'll do what suits me - not them, their supporters and their children.