[Catalist] Prince Charles’ Comment

[Leon Harris]

As I drive out towards my apiary in Karnup, I cross a sharp boundary 
just along the eastern edge of lake Cooloongup. The country comes alive 
after this point, with suddenly many species of Banksia, at least 3 more 
species of Eucalypt/Corymbia and a very interesting understorey. At the 
same time, the soil changes from 7000 year old wind-swept sand (the 
Quindalup dunes) to the rich yellow sand that the early farming families 
of the colonial times sought out.
At this point, we are standing on the 100 000 year old shoreline of the 
Indian (literally not far away at that time) Ocean. 40 000 years ago, 
and you would have to walk out to the other side of Rottnest to wet your 
feet in the ocean.

The climate is always changing, has changed and will continue to do so. 
The rate of change is what is significant. 10 meters of sea level rise 
will wipe out most of Perth residential suburbs. After only a couple, my 
house will be lost. If that happens over 10000 years, the loss can be 
amortized, and is not an issue for society. As old houses decay, they 
can be rebuilt further from the shore - every house gets its 100 years 
of use and "pays for itself".

People think that when a number, such as 1cm every year, is quoted to 
them that this is like watching your child grow - get out the ruler, and 
yep, another cm - where did 2020 go?

Indigenous oral traditions, which are accurate for verifiable events 
such as inundations and volcanoes, suggest the contrary, that there is a 
dramatic change of state. The legends describing the inundation of the 
plain out to Rottnest, or Hindmarsh Island in SA, suggest rapid events. 
You can easily imagine this; a big chunk of West Antarctica falls into 
the sea and then the waters quickly rise, over a period of weeks. We 
would do well to try to limit our effect on this, such a rapid rise in 
sea levels would be devastating to much of the world.

HRH Charles sentiment, if not his terminology is correct in this - slow 
the rate, try to mitigate both the increase of carbon dioxide in the air 
(in the hope that it will delay warming which is expected to release the 
arctic methane deposits which are really scary) and re-vegetate 
terrestrial systems to give some buffer capacity.

Mike it is good to see you back on Catalist, I've certainly missed you.

Cheers,
Leon

On 12/01/2021 10:03 am, Mike McGarry wrote:
> Sky News has reported that Prince Charles has urged that business leaders should fight Global Climate Change.
> Perhaps you should ask your students what is the error in Earth science evident  within the comment from Prince Charles?
> Your students should know that Prince Charles is actually referring to anthropogenic Global Warming.
>
> Best Wishes,
> Mike McGarry
>
> PS: I typed this email lying on my back in bed as I will never walk again owing to Diabetes Type 2.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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