“Ah ha! The New Guinea tree kangaroo! Are we missing something seminal here? Did Flannery discuss why those kangaroos live in trees? Were they forced up the trunks to avoid rising sea levels? How long has this been going on? Where do I apply for a research grant please?”
Questioned Con:
“Did, has, will, any journalist ask Flannery about the geothermal project at
Innamincka ?”
Brad doubled down with some Mark Twain:
“ ‘All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, then success is sure’.”
Steve sniffed:
“Everyone built desalination plants because he promised permanent drought! The problem Tim, is that people DID listen to you, and decided you were full of dud predictions.”
Randolph remembered:
“Listening to TF on the ABC during the last drought when he said the Murray River would be dry in months and never flow again! 12 months later it was in flood!”
John said:
“After his many pronouncements of armageddon, he purchased a property on the Hawkesbury River. He obviously wasn’t worried by his own predictions.”
Greg guffawed:
“The Hawkesbury is blessed. Global warming stops at Lion Island. I have seen it. Hallelujah!”
Ridicule from Robert:
“Tim, it’s very simple: It’s because all the stuff you have been preaching for the last 20 years is rubbish. Eg ‘picture an eight-storey building by a beach, then imagine waves lapping its roof”. Current sea level rise in Sydney Harbour over the last 100 years is … zero.”
Not so, said Wayne of the Glen:
“Robert, I’m not sure that’s true. I believe I read recently that it was actually 0.5mm over the last hundred years. At that rate, in a mere 6,000,000 years it will indeed be eight stories. So we need to take urgent action, or we will have a big problem in 6,000,000 years! There is no time to waste, we need to de large world socialism immediately!”
Corazon’s comment:
“Suggest young Greta reads this article & takes note of Flannery’s failures which will be mirrored by her prophecies.”
Forsooth, said Forne:
“I hate to say but I am thinking she will have the Nobel prize awarded too her and become a even bigger hero to her followers.”
But, said Bruce:
“Actually the desalination plants in NSW are now running at full capacity, and talk of expansion. Perhaps they should be pushing water into the inland to counter the periodic droughts that have plagued Australia for millennia?”
Erzsebet said:
“Yes Bruce, Green climate change funding should be directed to building much needed water pipeline infrastructure, running adjacent to the railway tracks.”
Paul pointed out:
“Don’t forget the devastating Brisbane floods. Wivenhoe Dam was kept over-full (no lee-way for flood storage) because ‘the science is in, it’s rock-solid, it’s guaranteed; There will only ever be diminishing rainfalls until there is no-more rain’ …”.
Jodi said:
“I remember watching Tim Flannery and John Doyle in a show called Two in the Top End. They were travelling around pointing out evidence of climate change which actually just looked like evidence of a drought, and I remember thinking how unscientific it all seemed.“
Simon said:
“Professor Flannery, apparently famously declared that Perth would have to be abandoned as rain would stop falling; well last year Perth had record rainfall!
“Professor Flannery reportedly predicted the end of Great Barrier Reef by 2020 — well latest reports suggest the Reef is in great shape!”
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Ace environmental reporter Graham Lloyd took up the challenge of deciphering Greta’s ‘How dare you’ address. Ross was ropeable:
“The people that allowed/orchestrated this should be brought to account.”
Mich mentioned:
“I do believe Thunberg is terrified but for world leaders to use and follow a girl who is in pain, looking extremely ill and vulnerable is an absolute disgrace.”
Peter’s position:
“Taken all together, the greening of the planet over the last two decades represents an increase in leaf area on plants and trees equivalent to the area covered by all the Amazon rainforests. “There are now more than two million square miles of extra green leaf area per year, compared to the early 2000s — a 5pc increase. Plants are converting the CO2 to oxygen to maintain the balance. The real issue on this planet is overpopulation not just for CO2 or oxygen but ultimately for fresh water supply. Each person contains approximately 33 litres of fresh water work that out for nearly 7 billion people and it probably explains drying of the atmosphere.”
Huffandpuff puffed:
“Shouldn’t Greta engage with Xi Jingping? China, after all, is one of the biggest polluters, and has a huge population that is still growing. See how she fares there.”
Kate’s World complained:
“I read this in a British publication yesterday. ‘Greta Thunberg is attempting to save the world for future generations.’ This is typical of the comments made by journalists who should know better. To save the world requires a lot more than lecturing and threatening people. Definitely more than making wild claims from a cheat sheet obviously prepared by someone else. It requires more than a 16 year old who is now being treated like a climate expert when she isn’t anything of the sort.
“But as a teenager Greta could lead a youth campaign and make a real difference but it would take personal sacrifices. She could encourage the youth of the world to destroy their mobile phones, iPads & laptops. Given the impact technology has on the environment that would be a worthwhile and a personal sacrifice the thousands who follow her could make.
“How about she’s calls for her teenage following to stop buying products made from palm oil? Or to ride bikes & walk to school instead of getting lifts with mummy & daddy. A call to arms to wear clothing made from sustainable resources and to stop buying make-up based on petroleum would be worthwhile and achievable. If she did that, we would soon see just how serious she and her many followers are about climate.
“Greta lectures world leaders on the sacrifices they must make to save her and future generations. Sacrifices that wreck the economies of countries and impact on the lives of millions of people. Greta mocks world leaders for not doing that. It’s time Greta and her followers proved they are willing to do something positives themselves.”
Christine said:
“My 16yo daughter is the only child in her school of 1000 who rides to school. She did her personal project looking at the reasons her school mates don’t also ride. Many excuses like ‘safety’, heavy bags etc. Many of those same kids who live closer to the school than we do attended the ‘climate strike’ rally last week.”
Louise lamented:
“This child is simply parroting the doomsday messages she’s been inculcated with. Overwrought and mentally fragile, she represents many youth who are experiencing anxiety over ‘climate’.
“I’ve no doubt we’ll have a whole cohort needing psychological help and it’s not what’s happening with our weather that’s the problem, but the psychologically abusive, constant drum-beating that the end-is-nigh. This kind of behaviour used to be the preserve of the street corner dweller, with a mad glint in their eye and wearing a sandwich-board.
“At some point from the 2000s it went mainstream and viral. Thunburg, and other kids like her, are the result. What must be reflected on is the role of media over the last 2 decades and those in education who have over-indulged in eco-catastrophism — every natural disaster from around the world put of replay 24 hrs and pitched as ‘unprecedented’. Governments who cynically financed (only) the climate doomster message so they could increase taxes or use this issue as a political weapon. Grant-troughing scientists who figured out early that pinning the label of catastrophic man-made climate change to their pet area of study guaranteed a steady stream of funding for junkets and excursions. They also need to hang their heads in shame.
“While for many this is simply a money spinner, the result is appalling. The integrity of science in this multi-disciplinary field has been corrupted, we have a programmed population who are historically ignorant and scientifically illiterate demanding the destruction of their economy, and traumatised kids.”
Last word to Michael:
“It is quite laughable that so many of the science deniers, who apparently think that their armchair expertise on atmospheric chemistry and natural systems has more validity than the global and national institutes of science also seem to promote baseless fantasies that there is a global conspiracy of science to overthrow what? Capitalism?
“So what’s the real story, what — a few plucky billionaires, a fearless dissenting media conglomerate and their oil major mates somehow save the planet from global centralised government who want to use a global network of tens of thousands of scientists to scare the population to do what exactly? Put solar panels on the roof and ride a bike to work? You can’t seriously believe that NASA and the BOM and the WMO and NOAA etc are all in on a conspiracy. That is just totally ridiculous.”
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Welcome to the column where you provide the content. In a week dominated by Greta Thunberg’s pilgrimage to the UN, the Mocker turned his sights on another of climate change’s self-styled prophets of loss: desalination buff and New Guinea tree kangaroo guru Tim Flannery. Howard harrumphed: