Here's some background information: The Darling River at Menindee (the town mentioned in the article) dried up 48 times between 1885 and 1960.
But how many times did it dry up between 1960 and 2019?
Australia’s Darling River is running dry
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Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#12Meanwhile we're still voting in governments that don't believe in climate change and which fight tooth and nail to destroy any chance of addressing the problem. No worries giving endless buckets of taxpayer money to climate-denying farmers and coal plants, though.
That will continue to happen as long as voting/politics remains ideology based rather than issue based.
Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#13If only it was somehow possible to charge more for water, so that people would use less.
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Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#14This article is a perfect example of why the climate change issue is so polarized - it's just so full of propaganda and lies that the important truth it talks about is glossed over with mistrust.
"Reduced to a string of stagnant mustard-coloured pools, fouled in places with pesticide runoff and stinking with the rotting carcasses of cattle and fish, the Darling River is running dry."
This river runs dry regularly and has even before the industrial revolution. Guess what happens when rivers run dry? You get stagnant mustard colored pools. The sentence is trying to pull on emotional heart strings with nonsense. You know what else you find naturally in dried up rivers? Dead fish and animals. You know what you find in every body of water around the world today? Pesticides from farm runoff. Does it matter? Sometimes.
In short, just untrustworthy nonsense. I personally am concerned about my impact on the environment, but I consistently vote against collective action because articles like this make me really afraid of how crazy people are and what nonsense they'll believe.
Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#15If only it was somehow possible to charge more for water, so that people would use less.
It's agriculture and industry that use the water up stream, for this particular issue. Drought in other areas not on the river can be an issue of local water management. Charging people in cities more for water for example, doesn't solve the problem. But for people in smaller, non-metro towns, drought policies are important because they often don't have external supplies.
Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#16Here's some background information: The Darling River at Menindee (the town mentioned in the article) dried up 48 times between 1885 and 1960.
Doesn't include the increase in pesticide usage getting into the water way or the declining water quality. This is a man made disaster.
Edit: Also doesn't cover the fact that they diverted water from the lakes that supply the river in low water times. This leaves no water for dry times.
Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#17Here's some background information: The Darling River at Menindee (the town mentioned in the article) dried up 48 times between 1885 and 1960.
Are you driving towards the conclusion that we don't need to be concerned about management of water resources because this happens naturally? That sounds close to the argument that we shouldn't do anything about climate change since the Earth naturally warms and cools.
> Are you driving towards the conclusion that we don't need to be concerned about management of water resources because this happens naturally?
Not at all. My point is that if this is taken as an example of climate change it does a terrible disservice to real climate science, because this is something that has been happening on a regular basis for as long as we have records.
Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#18Here's some background information: The Darling River at Menindee (the town mentioned in the article) dried up 48 times between 1885 and 1960.
Did it dry up during the "dry" season as could be reasonably expected for a river in a desert region? What is the current situation? Is it dry during the "wet" season?
These are questions you'd expect the article about the river to answer.
Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#19If only it was somehow possible to charge more for water, so that people would use less.
It's agriculture and industry that use the water up stream, for this particular issue. Drought in other areas not on the river can be an issue of local water management. Charging people in cities more for water for example, doesn't solve the problem. But for people in smaller, non-metro towns, drought policies are important because they often don't have external supplies.
Yes, so charge agriculture and industry more.
Re: Australia’s Darling River is running dry
#20This article is a perfect example of why the climate change issue is so polarized - it's just so full of propaganda and lies that the important truth it talks about is glossed over with mistrust. "Reduced to a string of stagnant mustard-coloured pools, fouled in places with pesticide runoff and stinking with the rotting carcasses of cattle and fish, the Darling River is running dry." This river runs dry regularly and…
1) It would be better if this article recognised that Australia is a naturally dry country and that the Murray Darling basis is prone to seasonal dry conditions.
2) It would be even better if Australian farmers also recognised that and didn't grow water intensive crops there.
3) The "climate change issue" is not polarised.