By John Ballard
Australia is now in the middle of Summer. Americans tend to forget (if they ever knew) that the seasons are reversed in the Southern hemisphere. And those flood scenes from Australia are nothing like the flooding being shown for places in the US. The Australian floods cover an area bigger than Texas. And the consequences of Australia's floods have global implications.
About fifty-nine percent of seaborne metallurgical coal comes from Queensland, bound for steelmakers in Japan, India, and China. The price of metallurgical coal may surge by 33 percent to $300 a ton, a price not seen since before the global recession.�In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions,� Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in the flooded city of Bundaberg. �The extent of flooding being experienced by Queensland is unprecedented and requires a national and united response,� Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said. �Australia recorded its third-wettest year on record in 2010,� and the torrential rains are �set to last another three months.�
The record flooding is expected to cause Australia�s gross domestic product to fall by $2.5 billion.
The floods are powered by the hottest atmosphere and oceans in recorded history, which have been warmed by the very coal extracted from Australia�s mines. Although these rains are devastating on a national scale and have global repercussions, the shutdown of Queensland mines for a few months � and the 29 million tons of carbon dioxide that won�t be released � is only one one-thousandth of the 29 billions tons of carbon dioxide pollution produced globally each year.
My bold. More links at the Wonk Room. Those people do a great job.
I won't insult the reader by discussing global warming.
Ron's post covered that quite well.
Not to put too fine a point in it, that first link to the Australian Summer underscores the importance of warm ocean water.
The temperature in Australia changes with the seasons, but in general it ranges between highs of 50 degrees Celsius to lows of sub-zero temperatures. The lowest temperatures reached in Australia, however, are not comparable to the extreme lows experienced in other continents. This is partly because Australia lacks very high mountains and enjoys the presence of warming oceans around its coastal regions.
You won't insult the reader by discussing global warming but you'll insult American readers with a crack about the seasons in the Southern hemisphere? Consistency please! At least be insulting all the time, it could be funny...
ReplyDeleteGood point. The post was about climate change, not geography, and the seasons barb was intended for climate zombies, typically ignorant of both science and geography.
ReplyDeleteToo subtle, I see. Amusement depends on gradations of ignorance. I'll try to be more careful in future.