What is precious to me?
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My family;
Truth; The natural world, our planet Earth; The advance of science (and the fight against ignorance and superstition); Philosophy – including especially moral philosophy (ethics); The arts; Friends; Freedom. |
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Science has much in common with truth; it is a method of discovering the truth. The scientific method is probably the greatest discovery of Mankind. Science has shown us how the Universe works and has brought us most of what is good about our present civilisation; it has brought us knowledge. But science is under attack from those who do not like what it is showing us; in particular those religious people who deny evolution and from climate science deniers.
Philosophy teaches us to evaluate arguments and to critically look at all beliefs and opinions. Moral philosophy, ethics, informs us of how we should live. Philosophy places everything, including science and truth, into context.
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- Music: I could list hundreds of pieces here –
- Borodin Nocturne from String Quartet No. 2 in D Major;
- Dvorak Part six of his Stabat Mater; Tenore solo, Coro. Andante con moto (Fac me vere tecum flere);
- Sibelius Finlandia;
- Pachelbel Canon;
- Handel Messiah; Ombra mai fu;
- Jeffes Music for a found Harmonium;
- Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending;
- Ennio Morricone & Chiara Ferrau Nella Fantasia;
- And how could I miss Beethoven, particularly for his ninth symphony.
- Painting: A very rough selection of a few of my favourite painters
in no particular order –
- Hans Heysen (Australian; particularly known for his paintings of gum trees and the Flinders Ranges);
- Rembrandt;
- J. M. W. Turner;
- John Constable;
- H. J. Johnstone (I am in love with a single work of his: "Evening Shadows – Backwaters of the Murray" in the Art Gallery of South Australia)
- The Heidelberg School; particularly:
- Tom Roberts;
- Frederick McCubbin;
- Arthur Streeton;
Islam's antipathy to the arts is one reason I loathe and fear that religion.
Friends; I don't have a lot. I haven't met many people who think like me. Those I have are precious. A Walk for Solar Power in 2012 and the Climate Walk, two years later, significantly increased the number of people I know who think like me, and, I would like to think, the number of my friends.
Freedom; The freedom to do whatever one wants to do, within ethical limits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of belief, freedom of the media (under threat as I write in Australia and elsewhere), freedom to pursue knowledge; freedom from institutionalised misinformation as exists in places like China, North Korea and increasingly in the USA and Australia; freedom from discrimination; the freedom to die if and when I want to.
Freedom cannot exist under a theocratic government as in Iran and some other countries and states under the yoke of the Islamic delusion. Freedom did not exist in Europe while Christianity dominated thought there.
What is loathsome to me?
- Anti-science
- Lies
- Delusion, self-deception and superstition
- Ignorance
- Greed
- Corrupt government
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Lies from people who cannot support their arguments with valid and rational evidence, or who simply don't bother trying to discover the truth. I hold that those in a position of power who lie (rather than make false statements through ignorance) in order to support the fossil fuel industry or to hold back climate change action are among the greatest criminals in history.
Delusion and superstition; the beliefs held without supporting evidence; including minor delusions such as divination and that great delusion, religion. (Of course there are many very good people who are deluded; but they are good in spite of their delusions rather than because of them.) There is little difference between self deception and delusion.
Ignorance allows the anti-science forces and the liars to get away with their activities. "Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse." African proverb
Greed; the greed of those who can never have enough money (and the power that comes with wealth) is doing great harm to the world. Society should condemn such people, instead there seems to be a twisted form of hero-worship. Governments should be working toward redistributing the wealth that is in so few hands; instead they seem content to allow the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer. (I've written pages on corporate greed and contribution to society.)
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Why do I write these pages?
Since about 1985 I've been writing letters to the editors of local, state, and Australian national newspapers because I felt an obligation to at least try to dispel lies, delusions and self-deception, and to make the world a better place.
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- "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
- Edmund Burke
- "I aimed to make the Earth a better place – and failed miserably"
- Professor Harry Messell (However, the world might have been a better place for his having lived.)
In 2002 I wrote a page on 'The Real USA' because the pandering to the US by Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal, sickened me. I wanted to show that much of what various US administrations had been up to was far from honourable. This was for a few years one of the most visited of my pages. With the election of Donald Trump the USA has certainly deteriorated further than its position in 2002. In 2020 Australian governments continue their shameful pandering to the USA.
Early in 2004 I started writing the pages that have become "Wind in the Bush"; my Net pages on wind power. (I had followed the development of wind and solar power with interest since before the construction of Australia's first wind farm at Esperance in 1987.) The aim of these particular pages is to give the facts, and make an effort to dispel the myths, about wind power. I am convinced that the greatest single threat facing the world in the early twenty-first century is climate change and one thing we can do to greatly slow climate change is to replace fossil fuel electricity generation with renewable energy as quickly as possible. In terms of achievement, I suspect that spreading the facts about wind power is the best thing I've ever done.
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Many of those who are opposed to wind power also deny climate science because they see that climate change demands moving away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. To oppose wind power is to support the coal industry by default; air pollution from the mining, transport and particularly the burning of coal kills millions of people world wide each year.
People like Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones and Ian Plimer who make a very lucrative (although hardly a respectable) living out of opposing action on climate change, probably don't believe much of what they write and say; they are simply cynically working for the fossil fuel industry and pandering to the ignorant. I believe that it is necessary to show that much of what they claim is false by giving the evidence behind the truth.
On 'the same side' as Jones, Bolt and Plimer (perhaps the employers of Jones, Bolt and Plimer, in a sense) are Gina Rinehart, Clive Palmer and Gautam Adani, who are probably only interested in the money that they can make out of anything at all, it just happens that they have chosen coal; they are motivated by greed, they simply don't care about the future of the planet. Similarly, Rupert Murdoch has done enormous damage to the world by his purveying of lies about climate change, fossil fuels and renewable energy.
A paraphrasing of Mark 8:36 is appropriate here:
"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world if it means forfeiting his self respect and earning the contempt of decent people."
Then there are the well meaning, but deluded people, like (ex Dr) Sarah Laurie, who believe most of what they say, but do a great deal of harm. Their claims need to be debunked.
Finally there are the many who are best characterised as ignorant, ill-informed and/or selfish and those who are simply undecided but open-minded. I have no expectation of changing the ways of the Bolts and Joneses of this world, I write in the hope of getting through to at least a few of those whose minds are not closed.
- "A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open."
- Frank Zappa
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My Internet pages serve me as a reference, I often look back at things I've written to fill in some detail I had forgotten, or check on where the information came from. They have helped me, by allowing me to put thoughts into writing, decide what I believe to be right and wrong, reasonable and unreasonable; and decide on 'my view of the world'.
Whether my pages are useful to others is something I know little about, but writing them is very important to me for several reasons:
- It allows me to record and organise my thoughts and opinions and discover deficiencies and possible delusions;
- I can refer to my earlier writing to remind me of past studies;
- It forces me to study and think about each subject as I write about it;
- It helps me to integrate my ideas, to make sure that there are no contradictions;
- I can update, correct, or improve past writings as I come across more information.
The Internet is an ideal tool for doing this, it is ideal for spreading different subjects on different pages, it is easily searchable and one can use hyperlinks to provide connectivity.
The fact that the Internet makes my thoughts public concerns me little. The fact that it might be useful to others provides added incentive for writing.
It is interesting that something I wrote years earlier generally fits with my current knowledge and beliefs. This could mean that I make few mistakes, or is it more likely that it means I am old and fixed in my ideas?
- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
- George Bernard Shaw
- "If you think you are too small to make a difference, you've never been in
a room with a mosquito."
- Annita Roddick
- "Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse"
- African proverb
It seems that the world is run by madmen (in January 2010, when the stresses that Mankind is placing on this planet should be obvious to all, the leaders of the two dominant political parties in Australia have both said that they believe Australia needs substantially more people, and quickly. Perhaps it is more than coincidence that these two men, Rudd and Abbott, are deeply religious.)
The election of Donald Trump as President of the USA in 2016 greatly strengthened the impression that the world is run by madmen; and that many voters were remarkably stupid.
My writing talents are ordinary, my intelligence likewise, my public speaking abilities nil; but if, by these pages, I can influence half a dozen people to give up superstition or try a bit harder to move the world away from its present race to environmental disaster, or even just to examine the world from a more rational or less selfish point of view, all the writing might have been worth-while. I feel I must try anyway; I dream of a better world.
A disability:
Why write and not speak publicly?
I have never been a good speaker.
I have always hated public speaking and always have trouble thinking of the
words that I need at the time I need them.
When I am debating something I often think of what I should have said about
ten minutes after I needed to say it.
Consequently, I avoid radio interviews and making public statements at inquiries, etc.
I suspect that this limitation is sufficient to be called a mild disability.
(Maybe it's more than a mild disability; maybe many people have the same
disability?)
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My background
I was born in the mid 1940s near Adelaide in South Australia. For eight years after leaving school (I loathed high school) at age 15 I worked on the family dairy farm; where I educated myself (a very patchy education) from a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica (one of my best ever investments), taught myself some general science, some mineralogy and the qualitative chemical analysis of minerals, lapidary and astronomy and a little mathematics.
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Travelling overseas for eight months, returning from Europe by the overland rout via Yugoslavia (as it was then), Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore was another once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The last thirty years of my 'working' life was in the hydrogeology (groundwater) field for the South Australian public service.
I married at the age of 32; my wife and I soon after had two children. We have been a close family ever since. (As of 2020 I have three grandchildren, aged 9, 7 and 4.)
Hobbies in this time included cutting and polishing gemstones (including faceting), making silver (and a little gold) jewellery, building telescopes (first a 200mm diameter reflector, followed by a 300mm and finally a 400mm), and establishing and running the Bowman Park Astronomical Association.
In this period I taught myself computer programming, first in BASIC and then Pascal; applied this to hydrogeology and wrote two books in Elsevier's Developments in Groundwater Science series: "Microcomputer Programs for Groundwater Studies" and "Groundwater Discharge Tests: Simulation and Analysis".
The Public Service in South Australia at that time discouraged technical officers in hydrogeology from computer programming; computer specialists were employed to do that. (Of course they new nothing about hydrogeology and would have been quite incapable of doing the more important of the work that I did. Such is the public service.) However, I was lucky enough to have encouragement from several superiors (who I have listed under Influences).
Since 'retiring' most of my time is taken up with gardening and looking after the family property, Elysium, and working on this Internet site, especially the wind energy pages.
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Since September 2013 I've also been removing rubbish from roadsides. (The dumping of rubbish on roadsides is similar to the dumping of waste – greenhouse gasses – into the atmosphere.)
In June 2017, after being blocked from posting on a Facebook page opposing a local wind farm, I started a page explaining why I supported the project.
For a short time starting in March 2018 campaigned to make cafes more responsible in handing out 'disposable' cups, that often finish up littering roadsides.
In mid 2019 I started revegetating Crystal Brook's Central Park. I've written a little more on this elsewhere on this page.
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My greatest concerns
I believe that our civilisation is quite unsustainable and is heading toward a catastrophic collapse due to climate change (together with the closely related problems of ocean acidification, sea level rise and the air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, coal in particular, that kills millions of people each year) or by one or a combination of those unsustainability problems listed by Jared Diamond in his book Collapse and repeated on my Compare Disasters page (I have added more to Diamonds list here). Such a collapse would probably include terrible wars, mass migrations, famines, and losses to our culture; at worst I can imagine a fall back to barbarism or a world dominated by religious hierarchies.Of course it is not only humanity that will suffer due to the errors of humanity; climate change will cause the extinction of many species; not, I suspect, including humanity.
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Two long walks
The first long walk
One great experience I had was to walk from Port Augusta to Adelaide in support of a solar thermal power station for Pt. Augusta – to replace the coal-fired power stations that are there now. This took place during the second half of September 2012, from 2012/09/16 to 2012/09/30. One of the best things about it was the people I met. Most of them were young; late teens to early twenties, but there were six others who like me, were in their sixties.
| All the over-50s who did the walk |
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| From left to right: Margaret Hender (of CORENA), Pete Gorton, John Bowman, Marty O'Hare, Gaby Jung, Me (Dave Clarke), Bill Gresham, Les Webb. More than two years later I am still in touch with all of them. Note the smoke plume from the Port Augusta coal-fired power station on the left. |
I don't have many close friends; I have come across very few people who think like me. The oldies on the walk did think like me! To meet six people who (are roughly my age and) think like me in a group of 60 or so was a revelation! They wanted to see the planet run on ethical principles! They wanted to see serious action on climate change!
The walkers came from all over Australia. There seemed about as many from NSW or Victoria as there were from SA. Others came from WA, Queensland and Tasmania.
How did I handle the walk? (By the way, I was the oldest by about six months.) The first day was only 16km, while the average day was around 23km. I walked the first day with no problems. On the next three days I drove a support car (I was one of the few to have my own car and trailer on the walk) about half the day and walked half the day. From then on I walked all day every day. Raised a couple of blisters on about the ninth day, but apart from that had no problems. Many of the younger people had big problems with blisters and had to take days off.
We met (State) Minister (Energy and Infrastructure?) Tom Coutsantonus on the road. He was very positive about agreeing with our aims, but said that a solar power station at Pt. A. was too big a project for the State Government; money would have to come from the Feds.
There was a lot of media coverage before, during and after the walk. Everyone in SA who had any interest in renewable energy, or in the Port Augusta area, would have heard about it. After two weeks we arrived in Adelaide and there was a rally that started in Rundle Park (Dr Karl Krusetnitski as the main speaker), from there to the steps of Parliament House, then on to Victoria Square. Again, a big media presence.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and it showed me that I am not
alone in caring about the world!
The second long walk
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A fortunate life
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- I was born into a loving family and my parents were intelligent and reasonably well off financially;
- I was born at a time when science and free thought had largely displaced superstition and religious dogmatism;
- I was born in one of the more economically progressive, and least religious countries in the world (Australia);
- I was born in a progressive and wealthy age;
- I was born before the great concentration of wealth into the hands of a few had corrupted the government of many nations, including my own;
- I was born before Mankind's impact on the world had caused the enormous harm that we are facing now;
- I had the good fortune to learn to question everything – to take nothing at face value. I don't think I can really take credit for this – it just happened;
- I have a wonderful family;
- While I have never been wealthy, neither have I ever been poor; I've always had enough income to cover my – and my family's – needs, with enough left over for a few luxuries such as an occasional dinner out and an annual holiday;
- I have never been a sheep – never cared much about following fashion, always sought to develop my own 'philosophy';
- I have been lucky enough to not become an alcoholic, not take up smoking, have quite good general health.
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Elysium
| Early morning mist, winter, Elysium |
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The family property, 'Elysium', in the Clare Valley of 'Mid North' South Australia has a total area of 46ha. We bought it in 1993, when, apart from a small pine forest, it had on it about 50 gum trees and nothing else of note.
It now includes 2ha of shiraz wine-grape vines, about 5ha of olive trees, several plantations of closely spaced eucalypt hardwood trees, and a number of fruit and nut trees. Most of the remainder is now covered with open woodland that I have planted; there would have to be over a thousand gums in total. When these trees mature they will begin to be sustainably harvested for firewood. In 2012 I have noticed for the first time that there is quite a lot of natural propagation of 'my trees' happening. The area beneath and between the trees will be available for grazing animals.
There are several photos of Elysium elsewhere on this site. Clare trees is a page I have written detailing my efforts at tree growing on Elysium.
| Tyres floating on my dam to reduce evaporation |
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This photo was taken on a frosty morning in July 2012 before the dam filled. |
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The environment and me
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My approach to the environment
First I should say that I owe more than I can ever repay to my wife, Denece, for her never ending support and help.Climate change and the related ocean acidification are the greatest disasters Man has ever faced. Most Australians seem not to care enough to change their greenhouse gas producing habits. I must admit that in the past I have been content to do more about reducing CO2 emissions than most other people; partly due to Monbiot's statement mentioned above I have come to believe that being a little more responsible than most is not enough, one should do as much as one can.
I would like the Earth of the future to be not greatly inferior to the one that I know and love.
The list below I compiled partly because I wanted to make a list for my
own interest, and partly in the hope that it might give others some ideas
that they may not have already thought of.
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My efforts to become more environmentally responsible
I have listed many actions that governments, industry, and individuals can take to limit their greenhouse impact in my page on What should be done? Of course I try to follow my own suggestions.- Trees
Trees take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.- Trees on roadsides With help from family and friends, I have planted trees on all available roadsides within several kilometres of my home. (Photo at right)
- Woodlot I am planting trees on the family property, ' Elysium'
- Controlling feral plants I have killed most of the feral pepper trees along the creek at
Bowman Park and some other areas around Crystal Brook to allow native trees to recover.
- Cellar I had a cellar built at Elysium in July 2006. This used a large amount of concrete which is not environmentally friendly, but the energy savings in the long term, due to there being no need to heat or cool the cellar, will outweigh the initial environmental cost.
- Transport
There are a number of things that can be done to minimise ones greenhouse impact.- Minimise car use I try to only use a car when there is no reasonable alternative and walk or ride a bicycle when I can.
- Use a small car rather than a big car Use a trailer when the car is not big enough. (Photo at right)
- Use public transport When walking or cycling is impractical and when available. (There is very little public transport in my area.)
- Avoid flying Not one of my strong points!
- Electricity
- We used to buy our electricity from AGL, but since they, like the other two big electricity retailers (Energy Australia and Origin), lobby the government against renewables, we changed to Diamond Energy;
- I try to be conscious of minimising our use of electricity all the time.
- Solar water heater We have had a solar water heater on our house for about 30 years, and have more recently installed one at Elysium. They have not only saved lots of carbon dioxide, but have saved us a bucket of money. (Photos at right)
- Solar photovoltaics We installed 1 kW of panels at our home on 2006/02/08 (either the second or third PV in Crystal Brook, photo at right), another 1.5 kW at Elysium on 2011/01/18, paid for 5 kW more to be installed on our daughter's house on 2011/01/25, paid for about 3.4 kW on our son's flat in April 2011, and put another 5.2 kW on Elysium on 2014/02/18 (a total of 16 kW).
- Green electricity We buy 100% green electricity.
- Heating/cooling
- Wood fire heating We rarely use any other form of space heating.
- Evaporative air conditioning We only use the more energy consuming heat-pump (reverse cycle) air conditioning at the rare times when it is hot and the humidity is too high for the evaporative air conditioning to work.
- Use natural heating/cooling We try to minimise the need for home heating and cooling by using passive methods of temperature control, such as insulation and opening and closing windows at appropriate times. In winter we open the house at the warmest time of day; in summer we open the house in the coolest time of day.
- Rain water We catch most of the rain that falls on our roof. This saves a little water from the over-taxed Murray river.
- An effort to change the World
A citizen's participation in democracy should not be limited to voting.
I have heard advice that there is no use
worrying yourself over things that you cannot change; this is good advice, but
it should not stop you from trying to change those things that are very
difficult to change. If you want something done, do it yourself. If you
try you may fail, if you do not try you will certainly achieve nothing.
If you are unwilling to try, why should others do so?
- Letters to newspapers
- Letters to politicians
- I have stood for parliament twice
- Maintaining this Internet site, which is largely devoted to environmental matters, particularly wind power
- Participating in a 320km walk from Port Augusta to Adelaide in support of a solar-thermal power station at Port Augusta
- Participating in a 740km walk from Melbourne to Canberra to press for action on climate change from our federal government
- Ethical investments We are careful to place our savings where they will be used ethically. For example, we took most of our cash savings from the ANZ bank, because it was loaning money to coal miners, and placed them with the People's Choice Credit Union.
- Cleanup I am trying to get the message out about climate change at the same time as cleaning up local roadsides.
- Refrigerator/freezer A minor thing, but everything counts – we replaced an old refrigerator and freezer with modern and more energy-efficient ones. Not only has this reduced our greenhouse footprint, but it will save us money in the long term.
Total energy consumption
Peter Seligman, in his book "Australian Sustainable Energy – by the numbers" gives total energy use in Australia as 200 kWh per person per day. Of this 42% is electricity (84 kWh/p/d).My wife and I use a total of about 12 kWh/day electricity (three meters, figures for 2010); this is 100% green power so would equate to about 13 kWh/day at the generators (wind or hydro) allowing for transmission losses. (If we used fossil fuel generated power then the total energy in the fossil fuels burned to supply our 12 kWh/day would be about 53 kWh/day (12 × 1.1 / 0.25, allowing for transmission losses of 10% and conversion efficiency of 25%).
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CO2 production calculation
I have used my Greenhouse impact calculator to calculate how much CO2 I expect my wife and I to be responsible for releasing into the atmosphere in 2006. This section was written in February 2006 and updated in August 2006.I recommend this exercise to everyone. I learned a lot from doing it. (Most of the figures are at least to some extent estimates; of course now [December 2012] they are dated.)
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| Activity | kg CO2 | ||
| Holiday in Vietnam | Air travel | 4600 | |
| Internal travel | 1000 | Vietnam total 5600 | |
| Holiday in Western Australia | Air travel | 840 | |
| Car travel | 720 | WA total 1560 | |
| Use of cars | Toyota Corona | 500 | |
| Mazda 121 | 1800 | Vehicles total 2300 | |
| Electricity consumption | At home | 2900 | |
| At Elysium | 1100 | Elec. consumption total 4000 | |
| Building concrete cellar | Cement | 4500 | |
| Steel | 1000 | Cellar total 5500 | |
| Miscellaneous | (Guess) | 500 | |
| Gross total | 19 460 | ||
| Renewable electricity credits | Photovoltaic panels | -1825 | |
| AGL green electricity | -3450 | Elec. credit total -5275 | |
| Net total | 14 185 | =14.2 tonnes | |
This table shows how much impact holidays involving air travel have on one's greenhouse gas production. The holiday in Vietnam for two people, at 5600kg of CO2, is 29% of our gross greenhouse gas production for 2006!
Note on the cellar, above. We built a large
cellar based on a buried
concrete tank in 2006. Producing the cement and steel for the cellar released
something like five and a half tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
My page on
Wind power problems discusses the
CO2 implications of cement manufacture a bit more and contains some
references.
This is a big, one-off, boost to our greenhouse gas
production, but should cut our annual greenhouse production from now on by
reducing the need for air conditioning. It will also provide a large cool
storage space that will not require energy and therefore will not be
responsible for producing CO2 for many years.
There is more on this cellar in the
Australian section of this site.
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| Activity | kg CO2 | ||
| Use of cars | Honda Jazz | 1800 | |
| Mazda 121 | 600 | Vehicles total 2400 | |
| Electricity consumption | At home | 2900 | |
| At Elysium | 1100 | Elec. consumption total 4000 | |
| Miscellaneous | (Guess) | 500 | |
| Gross total | 6 900 | ||
| Renewable electricity credits | Photovoltaic panels | -1800 | |
| AGL green electricity | -3500 | Elec. credit total -5300 | |
| Net total | 1 600 | =1.6 tonnes | |
| Since writing this, it has been pointed out to me that the amount of the generation of the photovoltaic panels should not have been subtracted from the total. | |||
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I have only considered the CO2 that my wife and I are more
directly responsible for here.
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CO2 abatement calculation
I have used my Greenhouse impact calculator to calculate the abatement from the tree plantings on our family property, Elysium. This calculation was done in February 2006.
| Plantation | No. trees | Ave. mass | Annual % increase | kg CO2 |
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| Bore | 150 | 100 | 40 | 5500 |
| One Hectare | 600 | 40 | 40 | 8800 |
| Bog | 100 | 60 | 40 | 2200 |
| Dam paddock | 150 | 5 | 200 | 1375 |
| 25 | 300 | 40 | 2750 | |
| New paddock | 300 | 1 | 250 | 690 |
| Open Woodland | 400 | 1 | 250 | 920 |
| 80 | 300 | 40 | 8800 | |
| Totals | 1805 | 31 035 |
Notes on the table
I have calculated that the native eucalypts that I have planted increase in mass by about 200% per year from the end of the first year to about year 5, then increase by about 100% per year to year 10. Where I have used the relatively low 40% annual increase rate the trees are close enough together to compete fairly heavily. These figures are obviously approximations.These calculation do not include trees and shrubs that I have planted on roadsides; nor the feral pepper trees that I have killed (they will release CO2 to the atmosphere as they rot, but then they will eventually be replaced by native trees).
The CO2 absorbed by the 'Open Woodland' planting will increase quickly as more
trees are planted and their average mass increases. These trees are spread
over about 35ha.
What I have learned out of this exercise
It has surprised me that the 1800 trees I have planted at Elysium are probably only taking twice as much CO2 from the atmosphere as my wife and I will be putting into the atmosphere in 2006. A lot of land, time and expense has been devoted to these trees. This shows how hard it can be to balance one's greenhouse gas impact and convinces me more than ever that our society should be taking greenhouse/climate change much more seriously.Buying 'green electricity'
I have also been surprised at how much my personal greenhouse impact was reduced by subscribing to green electricity. Buying 630 kWh of electricity (at Elysium, from AGL) at 5.5c/hWh, a total of $34.65, reduces my annual CO2 production by 700kg. This would have to be by far the cheapest reduction that I have managed.|
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Influences
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- My parents
- My father and mother instilled in me a basic feel for justice, good, decency, honesty, etc. My mother tried to make me religious (Methodist), it didn't work; but my parents tempered their religion with ethics. I was fortunate in having parents who always, at least so it seems to me now, considered my interests and needs at least on a par with their own.
- My wife Denece, my son Ken, and daughter Julia
- I owe Denece more than I can say. Ken is one of the few people I feel I can argue a moral, scientific or philosophical issue with. Julia helps to keep me in touch with some big sections of society and ways of thinking that I might otherwise neglect.
- Socrates, Plato, the ancient Greek philosophers in general
- The first recorded reasoned thoughts about ethics.
Every thinking person in the West is influenced by these people, I was
especially impressed by an early reading of Plato's Republic.
Down the last big hill on the Tumbarumba road to Tumut
Melbourne to Canberra walk - Walking companions
- I walked from Port Augusta to Adelaide in support of solar thermal power in 2012 and from Melbourne to Canberra for climate change action in 2014. The wonderfull people with whom I walked have all influenced me; several have remained good friends. (I don't want to list any here because I don't know where I should stop on the list.)
- Ian Roberts and Des Menz
- Two Clare locals who are inspirational in their environmental and social efforts.
- Sandy Dodds
- A friend with whom I have had many interesting discussions on ethics, general philosophy, science, government, and other subjects.
- Zac Sibenaler, Don Armstrong, Bob Read and Mike Cobb
- I was privileged to work with these honest, intelligent, ethical and kind men. At one time or another they were all my bosses. They didn't go very high in the public service because they held honesty and loyalty to the people below them more important than sycophancy and ambition.
- Richard Dawkins
- Through his books: The God Delusion, The Blind Watchmaker and The Greatest Show on Earth.
- Christoper Hitchens
- Through his book, God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
- Bertrand Russell
- Mainly through his book, A history of Western philosophy, but also though humanitarianism and his example in pacifism.
- Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma 'Great-Souled')
- Through his example, his 'civil disobedience' and peaceful protest, his way of achieving great things without hurting anyone. If only politicians tried to follow Gandhi's example in getting things changed without blood-shed.
- Peter Singer
- Through his books: Animal rights, How ethical is Australia, How are we to live?, One World: the ethics of globalisation, Practical Ethics, The Most Good You Can Do.
- The Dalia Lama, Bstan-'dzin-rgya-mtsho
- Through his book, The Art of Happiness. He seems to have thoroughly developed the Buddhist art of dispassionate analysis of life.
- Howard Zinn
- Through his book, A People's History of the United States (highly recommended).
- Paul Robeson
- Through his long and courageous stand for civil rights for his people
and for what he believed to be right and his use of patient, peaceful protest.
Danang kids 
How many kids like these were killed in the Vietnam War? - Le Cao Dai
- Through his book: 'Memoirs of War: The Central Highlands, A North Vietnamese Journal of Life on the Ho Chi Minh Trail 1965 – 1973'; (which I would highly recommend to anyone wanting a glimpse into the Vietnam War from 'the other side'.)
- Jared Diamond
- Through his books: 'Guns, germs and steel' and Collapse; every thinking person should read Collapse because of its applicability to the present times.
- Jesus
- He had some great ideas. Anyone raised as a Christian in a predominantly Christian country cannot help being influenced by Jesus. Christianity and its successor, Islam, were largely disasters; they stopped people from thinking clearly and freely and they lead to many wars and enormous cruelty and injustice, but Jesus should not be held responsible for this.
- Saint Francis of Assisi
- For his early (for the West) realisation that other animals are our brothers
- Catherine Ingram
- Through her book, 'In the Footsteps of Gandhi', which discusses a number of people who have adopted Gandhi's methods of non-violence to bring about change.
- The great early scientists, and science in general
- Too many to name; where would we be without them, and it? They had a lot to do with saving us from the dictatorship of monolithic Christianity.
- Charles Darwin
- By explaining organic evolution so well that no reasonable person could doubt its truth he helped to free the world from the God delusion. (God was no longer needed to explain life on earth.)
- Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha, Buddhism)
- Like all the great religions, Buddhism includes a lot that is nonsensical, however there is a lot that is admirable in Buddhism.
- Terry Lane
- An exceptionally insightful, well informed, and intelligent ABC radio interviewer; now retired
- George Monbiot
- A journalist dedicated to honesty, truth and a future for the Earth. Writes for the UK Bulletin and keeps an excellent Internet site.
- Jonathan Neale
- Through his expose in A People's History of the Vietnam War; one of the great crimes against humanity of recent years.
- Hitler, Stalin, George Walker Bush, John Winston Howard, Anthony John "Tony" Abbott
- Negative influences: twisted men who believed that power and wealth are sufficient for greatness, that war can be good, that governments can limit freedom of speech and the press when they choose, that people can be locked up indefinitely without trial if that is convenient, that immoral means can be justified by the end (which may never be achieved), and that the only value the environment has is the wealth that can be got from it. They were willing to damage the world for what they saw as the short term 'good' of their classes or for their own glory.
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My affiliations
I write these pages with a completely free hand. I am not beholden to any company, lobby group, political party or government; however as of August 2011 I did have the following affiliations:- Life member Trees For Life, South Australia;
- I have financially supported the Australian Greens and was for many years a member of the Australian Democrats;
- I have given donations to, and continue to support, various environmental conservation groups as well as general charities;
- I am a supporter of 'Death with dignity';
- I have sold limited rights to some photos, including to wind farm operators;
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Books
Many of the books that have influenced my way of thinking are noted above under Influences; others are below...
- Ethics in Practice: An Anthology
- Edited by Hugh LaFollette, Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies
- His Dark Materials
- A trilogy novel written by Philip Pullman: apart from being a
very good read, it gives a fascinating and novel interpretation of the
Judaeo-Christian mythology.
It is the only story I've ever come across that explored the possibilities in
the concept of the overthrowing of God.
Published by Scholastic Children's Books.
(Had it been written about Islam rather than Judaeo-Christianity it would probably have resulted in the burning of many embassies.)
- The Prince
- Niccolo Machiavelli explored the possibility of divorcing
politics from ethics; John Howard and Kevin Rudd
could have taught Machiavelli a thing or two.
- The Coming Famine: The global food crisis and what we can do to avoid it
- Julian Cribb; one of the aspects of the
end of the current civilisation is the
unsustainability of present farming methods and the increasing demand for
higher quality food.
- Philosophy (Beginners Guides)
- Peter Cave; Forces questioning of most of the things that one thinks one knows.
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Revegetation
About 1988 I started planting native trees along roadsides around my home town, Crystal Brook.Crystal Brook area
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Other roads planted were Nurom Road between the creek and highway, Frith Road, Darbon Terrace, (and the apparently unnamed road on the western side of town that run between Greig Road and Darbon Darbon Terrace), parts of Huddleston Road east of the cemetery, Bowman Park Road, Gadd Avenue south-west of town, and Brook Park Lane.
In the first year I planted Australian native trees that were mainly
endemic to Western Australia (along the south-western side of Greig Road); after that I only planted species that were endemic to the local area.
Feral pepper trees
Starting about 2002 I began trying to remove feral pepper trees along the Crystal Brook. At first I cut and swabbed trees upstream of Lions Park, not very successfully. Someone else later did more work on these trees.In August 2003 I started killing pepper trees along the Crystal Brook at Bowman Park. I kept the local council (Port Pirie Regional Council) fully informed of what I was doing. To say the least, Council has not been supportive, although they have agreed that the pepper trees should be removed. I have discussed this in my blog. I intend to continue this project until all the pepper trees along the creek in Bowman Park are dead.
When the pepper trees are gone the native red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) will be able to take their place. Many red gums along the Crystal Brook have suffered greatly from a lack of water in recent years. Killing the pepper trees will make many thousands of litres of groundwater available to the gum trees each year.
The method I have used to kill the pepper trees is drilling and
injecting
with Garlon. This is done by drilling 6mm diameter holes at least to the
cambium layer at about 5cm spacing around the trunk of the tree and then
immediately filling the holes with neat Garlon. The holes should slope
downward and should be as close to the base of the tree as possible.
I have been informed that glyphosate is just as effective as Garlon, but
have not yet tested this.
Clare area
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In early 2005 I got permission from the Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council to begin removing feral trees and revegetating with natives along a length of the Clare to Blyth road. The section I am working on runs from the top of the hill overlooking Blyth (Lat. S33.84039, Long. E138.55978) about a kilometre down the hill (to Lat. S33.83981, Long. E138.54965).
Blyth Road east of this point is crowded with ferrel trees, mainly aleppo pines, but also olive trees and others; there is very little native roadside vegetation remaining between Scobie Road and the top of the hill. There is a lot of native vegetation remaining along the section that I'm working on, but there is also many ferrels: mainly aleppo pines, olives and briars.
As of April 2006 I have killed most of the aleppo pines. They are easy to kill. The smallest are easiest handled by pulling them out, larger ones can be cut off at ground level, and the biggest can be ring-barked.
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Gleeson Wetlands
| A small part of the Gleeson Wetlands |
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Starting in June 2014 the Clare Lions Club took part responsibility for looking after the Gleeson Wetlands. I have spent many hours, and obtained great satisfaction, working at killing weeds, planting, mulching and generally looking after the gardens at the Wetlands.
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A purpose
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Yet it seems to be human nature to crave a purpose, so what purpose can one give to one's life? Apart from the day-to-day necessities of living, can we feel that we have some value? How can we have any self-respect if we see our existence as useless and pointless?
In the first few decades of our lives we are occupied with our education, finding our place in life, and probably finding a partner. Once we have children (supposing we are among those who do have children) we have a purpose in giving them the best possible start in life that we can. (Abraham Maslow produced a hierarchy of needs, which is very relevant to this subject, but too complicated for me to go into on this page.)
But when our children have left home and become independent, and supposing that we are sufficiently financially secure that our immediate needs are taken care of, what purpose remains to life?
My musings on ethics and compassion have convinced me that I can and should make an effort to do what little I can to make the world a better place in my remaining years. (I have written at some length about my general background elsewhere on this page.)
I am convinced that climate change and ocean acidification are the greatest threats to the future of life on Earth and also that humanity could greatly reduce the harm that we are doing to the planet with relatively little effort. Yet we are not making that required effort, and the Earth continues to suffer from our misuse. So I feel that my primary purpose at this point of my life (2017) is to do what I can to try to get action on greenhouse emissions. At the same time I will do what I can to try to improve my local environment.
It happens that the region in which I live is well suited for wind farms, which reduce greenhouse emissions by displacing fossil fuel generated electricity. Some of the local wind farms that are present have been built with little or no opposition, others have had determined and vocal opposition. Many of the arguments put forward by the opponents are either ill-informed, dishonest, or misleading. No one else in my region, apart for those who are building the wind farms, have made much effort to try to counter the misinformation from the wind farm opponents, so I have found a purpose in doing so myself as an independent voice. On other pages on this site I have written about wind power in Australia, have discussed why I support a proposed local wind farm which is suffering from selfish, short-sighted opposition and mused on the contrast between the opposition movements to wind and to coal.
I have largely concentrated on the problems relating to climate change; one can't do everything, one must choose one's battles, but I try not to loose sight of the great many other problems and injustices that we see all around us.
Apart from action on climate change, in recent years (up to mid 2020 at least) much of my spare time has been put into improving
Gleeson Wetlands in Clare, Crystal Brook's
Bowman Park and
Central Park and
cleaning up rubbish on roadsides.
The best thing I've done?
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Where I have had a significant impact is in providing factual information about wind power and exposing the lies of those who have dishonestly opposed its development.
Being independent of the wind industry gave my writing more credibility than the information provided by the industry, because that could be perceived as being biased. An Internet search on many subjects relating to wind power will find one or another of my pages. Not only have my pages given the public access to facts, but they have given opponents an incentive to take more care in their claims, or be exposed as liars.
By showing wind power to be generally environmentally friendly, harmless to health and welfare, and effective in reducing greenhouse emissions, I feel I have achieved something in the fight to limit anthropogenic climate change.
Having good intentions and trying to do good is great, but to feel that you have achieved some significant good is very satisfying.
Another project
In mid 2019 I started revegetating an area of neglected land in the middle of Crystal Brook. This had to fit in with my continuing efforts to look after Bowman Park, near Crystal Brook and Gleeson Wetlands in Clare.The land in the middle of Crystal Brook had for many years been under the control of the body that controlled the railway line that runs through it. More recently it has come under the state Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. Both organisations have provided some resistance to the improvement of the land, but I have made progress in spite of this.
Until very recently I have called the land the 'railway reserve'. I intend calling it in future Crystal Brook's Central Park.
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Achievement
I think that for most of my life I have aimed at achieving something or other rather than just passing the time. That has not been a continuous thing, I don't think anyone could say that I am obsessed with achievement (although there probably were times when I did become obsessed - for example when I was writing my books), but there was usually something that I was trying to get done, whether it was building a boat, building a shed, building one or another astronomical telescope, learning to facet gemstones, getting native trees established on roadsides, exposing the lies of people who don't want wind farms, combatting those who oppose action on climate change, or whatever.This continues in my old age. When I work at the Gleeson Wetlands or Crystal Brook's Central Park the work that I decide to do is based on what seems to be the work that will achieve the most for the amount of time and effort available. Perhaps the drive to achieve has even increased in my old age; I feel the need to use the time and energy left to me productively rather than wastefully. If I didn't contribute something to society in my declining years I would feel that I was useless.
Certainly the drive for achievement does not occupy my mind all the time, when I am tired in the evening I usually relax in front of the television. Like most people I enjoy a relaxing touring holiday.
The end
My wishes regarding the tail end of my life might as well be recorded here as elsewhere.If I ever mentally deteriorate, or suffer an injury which causes loss of mental function, to the point that I am no longer recognisably the same person, I want to be euthanised. If that is not legal, I do not want to be kept alive by any means whatever; if I am not capable of feeding and looking after myself, I want to be allowed to die.
I do not want or intend to go into a nursing home. If I become incapable of looking after myself I intend to kill myself. My current thinking is that I will do this by placing a plastic bag over my head and injecting into this bag a flow of an inert gas (such as argon or helium). I believe that the inert gas works to displace the carbon dioxide which would otherwise build up and cause the feeling of suffocation. Anyone killing themselves by this means, I believe, will slip into unconsciousness in a very few minutes and die shortly after.
In October 2012 I signed a form donating my body to science by the University of Adelaide.
Funeral Instructions, apologies to Martin Jabez Leese –
"No fuss or bother. Above all, minimal cost. If you can get away with digging a shallow hole in the garden at Elysium then do so, I might do the plants some good. Alternatively, have me stuffed and placed in your living room as a conversation piece. (If I am holding a tray, people can put things on me.)"From Pithy sayings; there is great wisdom on that page.