10 November 2010

Washington post: why acting on climate change is conservative

Good article, from Washington Post, which gets to its point about halfway down.

In fact, far from being conservative, the Republican stance on global warming shows a stunning appetite for risk. When faced with uncertainty and the possibility of costly outcomes, smart businessmen buy insurance, reduce their downside exposure and protect their assets. When confronted with a disease outbreak of unknown proportions, front-line public health workers get busy producing vaccines, pre-positioning supplies and tracking pathogens. And when military planners assess an enemy, they get ready for a worst-case encounter.

When it comes to climate change, conservatives are doing none of this. Instead, they are recklessly betting the farm on a single, best-case scenario: That the scientific consensus about global warming will turn out to be wrong. This is bad risk management and an irresponsible way to run anything, whether a business, an economy or a planet.

The great irony is that, should their high-stakes bet prove wrong, adapting to a destabilized climate would mean a far bigger, more intrusive government than would most of the "big government" solutions to our energy problems that have been discussed so far.

9 November 2010

I'm done with 2010

Really, it's been a year with no point. I mean, I guess there was an election and all wasn't there. We did get our first lady PM, but it was like a giant grudge match to get any kind of government at all. Now she's there hanging on by her lovely manicured nails, it seems a bit like old' Julia's been dished some instant karma of the "you like consultation so much, here, consult on everything with everyone just to get the basics of your job done" variety.

Oh, and that climate change thing that I've been working on for nearly a decade? Apperently not so much of an issue now. Its a big conspiracy cooked up by the same people that made tonnes of money out of Y2K or something. Not sure how that happened, the IPCC being discredited, and all, but oh well, guess I can move on and do something different.

Anyway this wasn't going to be about national or global politics. Just I'm fed up with 2010 and would like to put in application for 2011 to start now thanks. I think maybe there's nicer times waiting in that year. It looks better in print too (post code for Surry Hills by the way, which is a nice part of town).

6 November 2010

Spring Clean

Well, even though spring this year seems to be made up of torrential rain, wind and thunderstorms, there must be something in the circadian rythyms that says its time for a freshen up. I want to write and blog more, you see and this space seems a bit daggy. I like the wood background because it reminds me of hand-made things. This mustard colour template is still a bit drab, so more changes may be underway.

Note the delicious link list on the left, also need to update this a bit, but its quite a neat little bit of rss there I thought. I think there might be some posts coming up on the internet itself, social media, isolation and connection. Also grass rootsy marketing stuff, or possibilty just a list of links to cool facebook pages I like. Or maybe just random blather. Anway, how are you ladies? Anyone there is blog land? I'm working in parallel to update my work website and link up my other social media presence there, so perhaps a whole new professional blog will be born soon. I guess there's more than one type of conception, too.