Global Warming is becoming more of a political issue - as people see that a government's lack of response can be a contributing factor. People expect leadership out of leaders/legislators - people who are in a position to make Kyoto type agreements, require better gas mileage from manufacturers, provide funding and incentives for alternative, cleaner energy systems, etc. Not that citizens aren't doing things individually - but when global warming is understood to be caused by people - that requires that large groups of people make changes. We don't need leaders who are making it worse - causing more harm with no solutions, no incentives, no requirements or expectations from themselves, from industry or from the public at large.
Australia calls drought summit as economy threatened
Australian Prime Minister John Howard Sunday called an emergency drought summit as climate change and rising interest rates threaten a 10-year economic boom -- and his grip on power.
Shaping up as the worst drought since white settlement more than 200 years ago, the "big dry" is likely to cut agricultural output by 20 percent and GDP by around 0.7 percent, government officials say.
"The prolonged drought is having a terrible impact on farming communities across Australia," Howard said...
With an electorate increasingly ready to blame the drought on global warming, Howard has abandoned his previously sceptical response to the idea that pollution is driving climate change and has announced a series of "clean energy" initiatives.
Howard's announcement of a drought summit came as statistics showed that the country's most significant river system, in the Murray-Darling Basin, was at historic lows after six years of drought.
About 30 rivers and hundreds of tributaries run across the basin, which provides for about 70 percent of Australia's irrigated farmlands....
Update 11/7
Drought declared 'worst in millennium'
The drought has been declared the worst in a thousand years, but a crisis summit on the Murray-Darling Basin delivered little help for the parched river system.
Inflows to the river this year - already the lowest on record - were 54 per cent below the previous minimum, Mr Dreverman said.
"It's more typical of a one in a thousand year (drought), or possibly even drier, than it is of a one in a hundred year event," he told AAP....
"I made the comment trying to get the message that what we're going through is not just the driest we've ever had, this year - in the five months to the end of October - it's the driest we've ever had by about 54 per cent."
"What we're seeing with this drought is a frightening glimpse of the future with global warming," he said....
Further update:
Australian Farmers Commit Suicide as Hope Evaporates :(
One Australian farmer commits suicide every four days, defeated by the country's worst drought in 100 years which has left them with dust-bowl paddocks and a mountain of debt, says a national mental health body.
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