Comments on: Human Health Endangered by Australian Drought

By: Susan Kraemer

Susan Kraemer — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:57:08 +0000

I agree with Robin. Especially as Australia is preceding most of us in the Southwest US into our own future climate (per the regional predictions) of ever increasing heat and drought, we would do well to see how others are coping with this particular horror.

Australia has had worsening drought for the last 12 years.

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:17:25 +0000

I agree with Pilo. It is all about water management, with irrigation still pulling too much water upstream, to the detriment of the lower lakes. But the anomoly is that Lake Eyre has filled for the 2nd? time in living memory, and the north of the country is experiencing record floods. This is nothing new. There is so much mis-information about so-called climate change.

By: yimji wills

yimji wills — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:10:53 +0000

News of the Australian drought may not be in the mainstream news, but anyone relying on mainstream ‘news’ can’t think they are adequately informed on any issue, can they?
There was a rather good article about the Australian drought recently in National Geographic.
Since scientists are in 100% agreement on global warming, apparently the only place one will find ‘the debate’ is in the spinning of the mainstream news.
As in all of life, we need to identify problems and figure out a way to address them. The time for sitting around and hoping things will improve is over in Australia. As Australians turn their attention to taking measures to deal with the climate situation there, the rest of us would do well to watch and learn, and follow suit.

By: pilo

pilo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:31:51 +0000

The problems described in the article are caused by the long term mismanagement of the river system and overallocation of its resources to irrigators and other river water users. The recent drought is exacerbating the problem of not enough flows in the river, so that the naturally freshwater lakes are being starved of water. Climate change may or not be causing the current drought, but severe droughts have always been part of the Australian climate and the river needs to be managed so that it can cope when such droughts occur.

By: T J J

T J J — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:16:58 +0000

Fact: With or without mankind, climate change is continuous and has always been continuous and will always be continuous.
Her are 4 questions to help us get a clearer picture.
1)Is it possible that the higher acid level is caused by the lower flow of water and at the bottom of the streams is a layer of acidic deposits?
2)What exactly is the pH level?
3)How many times in the last 500 years have the water reached the low level it is at now.
4)If this is not part of the normal ten year drought cycle that Australia normally faces, are there more users pulling water from the streams?

By: Robin

Robin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:42:51 +0000

I’m absolutely amazed by the length and magnitude of the Australian drought. What also surprises me is how we hear nothing in the USA’s main-stream media about it. Or if they are talking about it, it sure isn’t often enough.