Is Australia screwed?

[Mycroft]

As I said before.

A large part of the business of Australia is farming. Desalination won't cater to anything like the scale of water we need for that. Desalination won't help the flora and fauna.

Your Australian farmers should check out what the Israelis are doing in the Gaza Strip. They've got these really cool hydroponic farms going that use very little water, don't have any salienation problems, and because they're indoors, don't need any pesticides. They've got a lot of new technologies and techniques that could help Australians conserve water.

 

[a_unique_person]

Economies can live without agriculture. Japan does.

We won't all be dead tomorrow, and Singapore exists on even less than Japan. Australia will be able to feed itself, but the business impact of the large export industries will be significant.

What is worrying is that the forecast is for an El Nino, which is associated with droughts, being on the way. The reserves of ground moisture, which often carry prudent farmers through the droughts, are already very low.

 

[peptoabysmal]

Hmm..
I suppose you COULD pray for rain....
Or, you know, do something sensible like set up windfarms in the outback and purify the water, as per Darat..

I think I know what will yield fresh water first.....

That's a lot of money for a country that is about to see an economic downturn due to this condition. Maybe if all of us fat Americans leaned in the same direction at once we could bring Australia up from the bottom of the planet where they could get some rain? I'm about tired of the rain in California this year, anyway.

 

[Drooper]

Shock horror.

Most arid continent on the planet suffers a drought!!

Stop the presses.

 

[Zep]

Shock horror.

Most arid continent on the planet suffers a drought!!

Stop the presses.

Actually, if my geography teacher was right, the most arid continent is Antarctica. People often forget that it is down there!

Antarctica is the highest, windiest (katabatic winds), coldest and most arid continent on earth.

http://mstecker.com/pages/antarctica_fp.htm

 

[Kiless]

http://www.watercorporation.com.au/water/water_sources_desalination.cfm - a focus in the news recently where I am.

And some fellow Aussies might have caught this on ABC's Catalyst.

 

[a_unique_person]

Shock horror.

Most arid continent on the planet suffers a drought!!

Stop the presses.

Not just a drought, eight years of drought, and the hottest April on record. With the forcast for more drought this year, bringing it up to nine years.

 

[a_unique_person]

Your Australian farmers should check out what the Israelis are doing in the Gaza Strip. They've got these really cool hydroponic farms going that use very little water, don't have any salienation problems, and because they're indoors, don't need any pesticides. They've got a lot of new technologies and techniques that could help Australians conserve water.

You are comparing apples and oranges. Australia's largest cattle station, for example, is Anna Creek , at 34,000 sq Kms, it is bigger than Israel, which is only Total 20,770 SQ KM, (according to Google).

Much of it is inland, away from even any salt water.

 

[a_unique_person]

http://www.watercorporation.com.au/water/water_sources_desalination.cfm - a focus in the news recently where I am.

And some fellow Aussies might have caught this on ABC's Catalyst.

Yes, but once again, the kangaroos are not up to harnessing this kind of technology yet.

 

[Kiless]

Yes, but once again, the kangaroos are not up to harnessing this kind of technology yet.

Already happening. Minus roos.

 

[Drooper]

Actually, if my geography teacher was right, the most arid continent is Antarctica. People often forget that it is down there!
http://mstecker.com/pages/antarctica_fp.htm

Well met sir.

 

[a_unique_person]

Shock horror.

Most arid continent on the planet suffers a drought!!

Stop the presses.

Governments should stop "throwing money" at farmers and find a dignified way to get some to leave their properties, a land and water expert said yesterday.

As federal cabinet was putting the final touches to a multimillion-dollar drought rescue package for farmers, Professor Peter Cullen, a top water adviser to the Victorian Government, said some areas of Australia were looking like "basket cases" and should no longer be farmed.

"We should stop hoping for rain in these areas and realise that with climate change it is just going to get tougher," said Professor Cullen, the Prime Minister's 2001 Environmentalist of the Year and a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.

He said up to 10 per cent of farming land was now unsustainable. "It is no point throwing money at people," he said. "We need to work out how to get them off the land with dignity."

The former head of the CSIRO's land and water division, John Williams, also criticised government drought policy yesterday. He said the Federal Government was not interested in long-term strategies to reduce the impacts of drought and climate change.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Drought/Get-some-farmers-off-land-expert/2005/05/23/1116700650533.html

 

[CapelDodger]

Governments should stop "throwing money" at farmers and find a dignified way to get some to leave their properties, a land and water expert said yesterday.

They could search the historical record for examples of farmers leaving their land in a dignified manner, but I don't think it'll help. It's always an ugly process.

 

[WildCat]

You are comparing apples and oranges. Australia's largest cattle station, for example, is Anna Creek , at 34,000 sq Kms, it is bigger than Israel, which is only Total 20,770 SQ KM, (according to Google).

Much of it is inland, away from even any salt water.

From your link:

Presently, Anna Creek Station is carrying 13,000 head of cattle due to the drought back in 1999. Heavy recent rains over the Outback of South Australia has meant that they can now restock the station with up to 18,000 head. The rains have brought additional feed for the cattle.
There are 15 people living on the station with another 6 on the outstation – Peake.

Call me crazy, but 6 million acres to support 21 people and, at best, 18,000 cattle seems like an enormous waste of resources. Perhaps you'd be better off developing a taste for camel meat?

 

[a_unique_person]

I don't know that anyone eats camel meat, and they are apparently becoming a serious pest now. Once they were used for transport in the desert areas, and set free when the car turned up.

The land is very marginal, which is why they are in theory only carrying as much cattle as the land will support.

 

[SezMe]

My hometown in southern California relies primarily on one reservoir that, during the last sustained drought was little more than a mud flat. So we, on an emergency basis, built the largest desal plant in the USA. Before it was finished, we experienced the "March Miracle" (March being the last month of the rainy season). The reservoir went from mud to overflowing. The desal plant was turned on for ~3 months for final testing so the contractor could get paid, then it went idle. Then the city had financial problems and the plant was gutted and the parts sold to Saudi Arabia.

But the drought will be back and we will basically have to rebuild the damn thing all over.

The long-term takes the hindmost every time.

 

[WildCat]

I don't know that anyone eats camel meat, and they are apparently becoming a serious pest now.

Sure they do... but you have to stuff them for best results!

Stuffed Camel

1 whole camel, medium size
1 whole lamb, large size
20 whole chickens, medium size
60 eggs
12 kilos rice
2 kilos pine nuts
2 kilos almonds
1 kilo pistachio nuts
110 gallons water
5 pounds black pepper
Salt to taste

Skin, trim and clean camel (once you get over the hump), lamb and chicken. Boil until tender. Cook rice until fluffy. Fry nuts until brown and mix with rice. Hard boil eggs and peel. Stuff cooked chickens with hard boiled eggs and rice. Stuff the cooked lamb with stuffed chickens. Add more rice. Stuff the camel with the stuffed lamb and add rest of rice. Broil over large charcoal pit until brown. Spread any remaining rice on large tray and place camel on top of rice. Decorate with boiled eggs and nuts. Serves friendly crowd of 80-100.

Shararazod Eboli Home Economist, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Now, stop drooling all over your keyboard!

 

[Ed]

Sure they do... but you have to Stuffed Camel

1 whole camel, medium size
1 whole lamb, large size
20 whole chickens, medium size
60 eggs
12 kilos rice
2 kilos pine nuts
2 kilos almonds
1 kilo pistachio nuts
110 gallons water
5 pounds black pepper
Salt to taste

Skin, trim and clean camel (once you get over the hump), lamb and chicken. Boil until tender. Cook rice until fluffy. Fry nuts until brown and mix with rice. Hard boil eggs and peel. Stuff cooked chickens with hard boiled eggs and rice. Stuff the cooked lamb with stuffed chickens. Add more rice. Stuff the camel with the stuffed lamb and add rest of rice. Broil over large charcoal pit until brown. Spread any remaining rice on large tray and place camel on top of rice. Decorate with boiled eggs and nuts. Serves friendly crowd of 80-100.

Shararazod Eboli Home Economist, Dammam, Saudi Arabia stuff them[/url] for best results!

Now, stop drooling all over your keyboard!

Ummm, have you been paying attention? All they could make is Camel jerky.... not so yum.

 

[a_unique_person]

Shock horror.

Most arid continent on the planet suffers a drought!!

Stop the presses.

Horsham Council mayor Roslyn MacInnes said the drought had escalated over the past decade.

"We've had other dry seasons, but there's only been one or two or even three in a row. But to have nine in a row - we haven't been here before, certainly in white man's history," she said.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Natio...r/2005/05/24/1116700692559.html?oneclick=true

That is, it's not just a drought, but the longest sustained drought and coming on top of it, the hottest April on record.

 

[The Fool]

I don't know that anyone eats camel meat, and they are apparently becoming a serious pest now. Once they were used for transport in the desert areas, and set free when the car turned up.

The land is very marginal, which is why they are in theory only carrying as much cattle as the land will support.

Here is a good story. The money earned by star racing camels in the gulf is Huge. Even more than western horse racing. Now the problem is there are no more wild Camels in The Gulf country. They have all been long domesticated. Australia, yes...Australia is the last place on earth with large herds of wild Camels.

Wild Camels are much better racers than Camels from long domesticated bloodlines so wealthy arabs are paying a fortune to Australians who specialise in catching fast wild camels.

yes folks...we sell Camels to Arabs....beat that.