Don’t worry, just a little bump - $70 is just around the corner. Short traders just keep making those margin calls, mortgage the house if you have to. Fortunes await you! PO is for pansies and doomers. At $70 short some more ..... it is going back to $22 .... the world is awash with oil ........ reality has nothing to do with it, its all in those charts!!!!!!!!!!
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 5:02 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Ferretlover wrote:
Is anything regarding desalination being done?
Call me silly, but that movie, "On The Beach," has stuck with me all these years since I first saw it, and I am reminded of it whenever I hear about Australia. I don't Want bad things to happen there.........
Perth in WA is getting big into desalination. But it is a very energy intense way to produce water for agriculture. And much of the wheat and cattle land in Australia is pretty far from the coast. Its only really "cost effective" for cities water I think.
Perhaps they would be better off building a small pipe system to bring fresh water into houses and regig the domestic sewars to run on sea water. It would be energy inensive to get the water pressure but it would bring a huge load of off the fresh water system. The enormous drawback is alot of industry uses the freshwater system for purposes that brine cant sustitute, but flushing and washing in brine would with only a couple of drinking water taps would be a massive load of the Murray/ Darling and other systems.
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:59 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
At least on satellite (I don't live in Oz) Australia has appeared, overall, very dry this Winter. Can't seem to squeeze any significant rains out over the continent. I imagine things must be getting dire.
Joined: Dec 09, 2005 Posts: 18 Location: Australia
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:57 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Doly wrote:
What do farmers plan to do if the dry weather continues in the long term? Because I imagine some people are already thinking that droughts may be here to stay.
Around here they will switch back to grazing rather than cropping. Historically this area was a producer of sheep and cattle from 1870 - 1950, which was a much drier time than the period from 1950 - 2000 when everybody switched to growing wheat and barley.
There is not as much money in growing meat as there is in growing wheat but if the water isn't there they will have no choice. Land for cropping around here is worth roughly AUS$3000 an acre, if you go 200km's further west the price drops to around AUS$300 an acre as it is basically the edge of the desert and only good for grazing. Which seems to be what the country round here is turning into.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:46 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Jarred Diamond has a bit about Australia in his book Collapse. He suggests that agriculture is unsustainable over much of Australia due to cyclic severe droughts.
Australia will be the first western country to really feel the effects of climate change yet, conversly, due to its marginal and variable climate, we will not be able to positively state that changes are due to climate change.
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:09 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
More bad news delivered by the CSIRO.
Sydney could face an annual temperature rise of up to 4.3 degrees by 2070, and a tripling of the number of days a year when the thermometer soars above 35 degrees, if global greenhouse gas emissions are not cut steeply, a new report has found.
It is too late for the city to avoid a warming of about 1 degree by 2030 as well as a 3 per cent reduction in annual rainfall because of polluting gases already in the atmosphere.
More droughts, fires, and severe weather events, and less rain and snow across the country are also on the horizon, according to the report, Climate Change in Australia, which contains the most detailed and up-to-date climate projections produced by the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology.
Its findings, released at the Greenhouse 2007 conference in Sydney this morning, include projections of up to 20 per cent more drought months over most of Australia by 2030.
By 2070 this could rise to 40 per cent more drought months in eastern Australia and 80 per cent more in south western Australia.
Joined: Nov 20, 2006 Posts: 120 Location: Tasmania
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:14 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
The Australian government has warned that food prices here could quadruple over this coming summer. This is not simply due to the problems the grain farmers are having, but the continuing drought has meant that it is almost certain now that the Murray Darling Basin, which accounts for some 40% of Australia's food supply, will have its irrigation water turned off within the next few weeks in order to assure supply for major towns which depend on the Murray Darling river system, and big cities like Adelaide. That's 40% less food give or take a few percentage points.
It is a crisis. I can't imagine what will happen.
And it is so grossly stupid. Australia is a country which can well feed itself, yet now our Prime Minister is saying, "whoops, we can't, we'll have to import food."
Many people I know are starting gardens driven by a quiet desperation. A word passed from an Australian environmental scientist said we have 3 years in which to do whatever travel we want, and 3 years to get our food gardens established, because after that it will be too late.
Bill Mollison is apparently pulling together the Permaculture People's Party, and they are chasing 500 members to register. Bill is happy to talk to anyone regarding the party, and can be contacted at Tagari, northern NSW. Attached is the form that needs to be filled out and sent to 31 Rulla Road, Sisters Creek, Tasmania 7325. Permaculture Party form 10/07/2007,13:02 102.16 Kb
_________________ I am a sarcastic cynic. Some say I'm an asshole. Now that we have that out of the way ...
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 5410 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 9:20 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Cornelian wrote:
Many people I know are starting gardens driven by a quiet desperation. A word passed from an Australian environmental scientist said we have 3 years in which to do whatever travel we want, and 3 years to get our food gardens established, because after that it will be too late.
The sitaution sounds dire. Is this scientist predicting drought aftre 2010, so gardens would be useless?
Here in many parts of the Northeast and Southeast US, we have experienced very little rain for the last six weeks. It's amazing how fast gardens wilt and insect pests destroy foliage without regular rainfall.
US Drought Monitor _________________ It's already over, now it's just a matter of adjusting.
Joined: Sep 08, 2005 Posts: 572 Location: Atlanta, GA
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 10:30 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Cornelian wrote:
The Australian government has warned that food prices here could quadruple over this coming summer. This is not simply due to the problems the grain farmers are having, but the continuing drought has meant that it is almost certain now that the Murray Darling Basin, which accounts for some 40% of Australia's food supply, will have its irrigation water turned off within the next few weeks in order to assure supply for major towns which depend on the Murray Darling river system, and big cities like Adelaide. That's 40% less food give or take a few percentage points.
It is a crisis. I can't imagine what will happen.
And it is so grossly stupid. Australia is a country which can well feed itself, yet now our Prime Minister is saying, "whoops, we can't, we'll have to import food."
Many people I know are starting gardens driven by a quiet desperation. A word passed from an Australian environmental scientist said we have 3 years in which to do whatever travel we want, and 3 years to get our food gardens established, because after that it will be too late.
What I would like to know if Australia is taking the steps it should be taking to keep the farms watered. I'm talking about drastic, but effective measures such as the closing of golf courses, car washes, commercial nurseries and other industries that use vast amounts of water. Sure, this would hurt the economy, but growing food *is* more important than the "rights" of certain water-hogging businesses, am I right?
What galls me about our political situation here in Georgia is that they're not even considering implementing a building moratorium, which is essential to keeping our rampant population growth in check in the face of the biggest drought of all time. Oh, wait, I forgot that our political leaders are addicted to "growth" like hopeless drug users are addicted to crack.
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Byron100 wrote:
What galls me about our political situation here in Georgia is that they're not even considering implementing a building moratorium, which is essential to keeping our rampant population growth in check in the face of the biggest drought of all time. Oh, wait, I forgot that our political leaders are addicted to "growth" like hopeless drug users are addicted to crack.
Don't worry the market will solve it. If people want water bad enough then they will pay for it or they can vote with their feet.
Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 1610 Location: Springsteen Country (NJ)
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 6:34 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
ohanian wrote:
Byron100 wrote:
What galls me about our political situation here in Georgia is that they're not even considering implementing a building moratorium, which is essential to keeping our rampant population growth in check in the face of the biggest drought of all time. Oh, wait, I forgot that our political leaders are addicted to "growth" like hopeless drug users are addicted to crack.
Don't worry the market will solve it. If people want water bad enough then they will pay for it or they can vote with their feet.
That's not their only options either. They can die of thirst so the demand will be reduced to more in line with the supply. Then the prices can come down!
Isn't economics wonderful? _________________ Joe P. United Political Debate
"Only when the last tree is cut; only when the last river is polluted; only when the last fish is caught; only then will they realize that you cannot eat money." - Cree Indian Proverb
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 9:06 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
It sounds really bad in Australia. What does that mean, that you only have three years to travel? And the gardens, do they need irrigation? Where will you get that from? These are desperate times indeed. We wish you luck.
Joined: Jun 14, 2007 Posts: 125 Location: SE Qld Australia
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 9:45 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Things here in Australia are evolving on two fronts.
Front 1: Business as usual. It will rain and everythging will be allright (won't it?) Sure it'll rain.
Front 2: Climate change is here, its now. Get a grip and get to work.
The nations leaders were part of front 1. Our Prime Minister as alte as last year claimed he was a climate change sceptic. Now his solution is to pray for rain and play politics with half arsed solutions (we will look into it)
The Aust public seem to be waking up wbut still have yet to implement any real long term solutions. There are lots of talk around to be cliamte smart. Buy a water tank. Use long term light bulbs, etc.
Then life goes on. We go to our supermarket and only see in passing the rise in food prices. There is a feeling of disconnection from the reality of climate change. People talk about it in abstarct theoretical terms. This is Brisbane and other major cities/towns where food and water is simply delivered to them.
We need to fundamentally change what we do and why. Making money and economic growth should not be part of the new equation. Jared Diamond says it best: "there is race being run between the effects of climate change and peoples undrestanding of what needs to be done to reduce the fallout" (or words to that effect)
Australia may well be the climate change laboratory for the rest of the world.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
