22.1 C
Byron Shire
March 28, 2024

Floods are not random

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Those of us trying to escape from floods up and down the east coast can testify that climate change is not a looming threat – it is an immediate reality. The latest IPCC report last week stated that the world faces ‘unavoidable multiple climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5°C.’

With the world’s governments dithering between taking action and ingratiating themselves with their polluting donors, it is up to each of us to take action. Animal agriculture – the practice of breeding and raising animals for food or clothing – is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, but it’s also the easiest to tackle. A new report from Stanford University states that a worldwide phase out of animal agriculture, combined with a global switch to a plant-based diet, would effectively halt the increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases, giving us time to tackle other sources of carbon emissions.

The situation is life and death. It’s time to go vegan – for your kids’ future and to save billions of animals from appalling lives and terrifying deaths.

Desmond Bellamy, PETA, Byron Bay

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22 COMMENTS

  1. Desmond what are you doing as a individual regarding carbon footprint on earth ?
    And when was the last time you enjoyed a Hydrocarbon free day ?

  2. Barrow what Desmond is doing personally has no bearing on the validity of the claims he is making. Please stop going everywhere except to the central argument.

    Btw, I’d suggest that modifying his diet to eliminate meat consumption, and working towards reduction of meat consumption is making a significant contribution to personal carbon footprint production. That means even your ad hominem distraction misses the mark.

    No living thing can avoid leaving a carbon footprint and it’s been ever thus. What is being advocated is sustainability.

      • Joachim the practice of breeding animal’s
        for food or clothing is one of the biggest
        Contributing factors to greenhouse emissions
        Really ? In that case why has NZ and that
        Global Warming climate change alarmist
        Ms Ardern excluded the dairy industry
        From the Paris Agreement ? Considering
        This industry is NZ’s biggest Polluter…

  3. I am a vegetarian for 30 years.

    I am also a scientist past career for 25+ years

    Linking veganism / eating meat to this flood is beyond ridiculous, its an ideological statement, just the same as some conservative with opposite ideological views, how does this help the scientific discussion on climate change?

    Firstly, human induced climate change is definitely real however this recent flood is also potentially just a very large flood, we live in a flood prone environment, there are geological and topographic landscape markers for even larger floods in history, I have spoken to indigenous persons they say that they know of these mega floods in Lismore in their verbal history. Climate change may well have increased this flood, to what degree is debatable, or it may not have impacted it at all.

    Secondly, if everyone turned vegan today, that would not solve the issue of climate change, its not as simple as one solution, I am a vegetarian for various reasons however making this ridiculous statement blows my scientific brain!

    • Of course it is not as simple Mick, as suggesting that if we all stopped eating meat there would be no more floods like the one we have just witnessed – and those of us questioning what events like these are telling us about climate change are not simpletons.

      Of course no one single event can be unequivocally linked to climate change nor should we need reminders like this to convince us that we need to take action – there is ample evidence of warming, independent of single events. It would be rather foolish though surely to look at the pattern of “unprecedenteds” we are seeing both at home and globally – especially since this has what has been predicted by the science – and not take stock.

      Of course this flood could just be part of some ancient climate cycle, but if it’s due to the warming oceans creating more severe La Niña events – just as likely – then it is not at all ridiculous to link it to meat production. As a scientist, I am sure you would be familiar with its greater output of greenhouse gasses.

      • Liz levy .. take action? yes we should hold the real polluters to account.. whilst China
        Russia, India are not part of any conversation regarding climate change
        Then why bother…Liz i did bring to attention
        NZs lack of action on global warming
        Because it excluded the largest polluter
        From the paris agreement the dairy industry
        Yet the mainstream alarmist just go quite
        Why ? Well Ms Ardern is from the far left
        how dare you raise this double standard
        Hypocrisy…

    • Barrow, when you deal adequately with having your views questioned – rather than being lectured at as you suggest – then you can challenge me on these pages.

      Of course you agree with Mick, he has used similar diversionary tactics to yours. Who on earth ever suggested that meat production was the only driver of climate change? He made a nice try at condescension though!

  4. Hi Mick, before you blow your mind, perhaps you open your mind and read the referenced link. There is more to this story then you allow yourself to think. Have a great day.

    • yes yes have you looked at the model? its a basic model looking at one aspect of a huge complicated open natural system.

      IT IS NOT A PEER REVIEWED SCIENCE PUBLICATION, oh but they are from Stanford, they must be right!

      “Brown is also the founder and CEO of Impossible Foods, a company developing alternatives to animals in food production. Eisen is an advisor to the company. Both Brown and Eisen stand to benefit financially from the reduction of animal agriculture”

      you can get a model to work however you want it to work if you tune it the right way. there are models for everything out there, and you can plug what ever parameters you want into them to argue a pre-determined synopsis.

      Eg. if we all went vegan, but we increased mining of oil, coal etc, can you please explain to me how that would solve the climate crisis ? do actually believe we could still keep mining oil, coal, gas and become carbon neutral ?

      • But Mick wasn’t it your basic premise that, “Linking veganism/eating meat to this flood is beyond ridiculous …” ?

        No one can really disagree much with what follows but it fails to elucidate your opening gambit.

  5. Okay . . . & learn to say – ‘one way or another I’m following in carbon
    footprints’ & Alok is spot on.

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