Following from this morning’s unveilling of another draft Murray Darling Basin plan the Greens Shane Rattenbury is notably miffed that there are no painful lifestyle adjustments required by the people of Canberra.
But fear not, Shane has a plan for inflicting more pain on ourselves so we may feel righteous:
“People in Canberra want to help save the Murray Darling system so I think there will be many who are surprised that we are not being asked to do our bit”, Mr Rattenbury said.
“There was debate earlier this year about how many gigalitres of water the ACT should save and what was a fair amount to ask of the ACT. But today it has been proposed that we not have any new target and I don’t think that is what anyone anticipated.
“I encourage any Canberran who wants to do their bit to write to the Murray Darling Basin Authority and let them know they are ready and willing.
[Photo by istolethetv CC BY]
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justin heywood said :
+1
So true.
I encourage any Canberran who wants to do their bit to write to the Murray Darling Basin Authority and let them know they are ready and willing.
Hello Girls and Boys.
Are you worried that Canberra is not doing its bit to save the Basin? Do you feel the need to write to the MDBA? Well don’t. The good people at the Authority are mostly decent and conscientious and don’t deserve to be abused. Anyway; they’re about to be hit by a tsunami of submissions and they will be unable to differentiate you from all the other nutters.
Don’t Despair. There is an alternative. Direct Action! That’s right, with a few simple changes to your daily routines you can do your bit for the environment.
1. Remember the old rule about if it’s yellow let it mellow? Forget it, every time you flush you release 12L of water for the environment. Better still flush a second time to make sure. If your out shopping and need to use the facilities flush every cubicle, that way you make sure Corporate Australia is doing their bit.
2. Do you turn the tap off while brushing your teeth? Well don’t. Every minute you leave the tap on delivers another 5L to the environment. Better still leave the tap running while you’re out of the house.
3. Don’t shower with a friend and make sure you stay in for as long as possible.
4. Wash the car. Every day. On a impervious surface.
5. When using a sprinkler make sure you give the environment a cut by ensuring that the sprinkler is also watering impervious surfaces such as the street.
6. If your parents have installed a grey water recycling system or a water tank, then sabotage them. They are, after all, stealing water from the environment.
By following these simple suggestions you can do your bit to increase the flows leaving the ACT. As a bonus the water will cost your parents about $4700 a megalitre, which will ensure that the ACT government has more money to spend on important things like cultural festivals, cycling facilities, and public art.
poetix said :
Isn’t that the rat in the above initiation ceremony?
Antagonist said :
Perhaps we could set up a cam following him around to see how much water he saves. I think it would be quite an interesting venture. Maybe he wears adult nappies ?
nobody said :
….and attitudes like yours is why people like me are cynical about Rattenbury. All the complexities and competing interests involved in the Murray Darling issue is reduced to a paternalistic call for us to ‘do our bit’ or ‘make more effort’. For a Green True Believer, the rest of the population are just children to be lectured to.
The trouble with the Greens is that they generally don’t know, or aren’t interested in, the science (unless it suits them), don’t want to deal with the complexity and think everything can be reduced to a simplistic media release that will appeal to their support base (generally half educated undergrads and women of independent means, with exceptions).
nobody said :
Last three times I’ve been on the Murray it has flooded.
Barmah Forest, in fact, was really flooded. Good for the red gums as they need the water to regenerate.
Last year we had massive, and I mean seriously massive flooding. All of that water ended up in Lake Alexandrina which, for the first time in about ten years, opened up to the ocean.
The Murray is being deprived of water, but it’s not choking and it’s not dying. It has seen serious drought many times before and it will again.
Yes, yes, yes, everyone should do their bit to save the Murray Darling River System, except for us.
What if every city and town in the basin, every industry, each agricultural sector, every local government took the approach that everyone should save a bit more, except for them?
We all benefit from the Murray Darling River System, and we would all suffer greatly if the system choked and died, so a little less cynicism and a little more effort would be appropriate.
Grail said :
Hmmm Grial no fracking is occuring in the ACT but it is all part of the one river system you see. Apparently CSG has doubled its allocation elsewhere in the river system!
Ummmm, doesn’t most of Canberra’s water usage occur in domestic situations where it then goes to the LMWQCC, gets cleaned and put back in the MDB?
It is not like every single litre of water Canberra lets go doesn’t stop a couple of kms down stream in Burrinjuck to await the whim of the irrigators anyway.
justin heywood said :
If you understand science, why do you believe we should be able to extract even more water than we already do? Drawing too much water out of the river will kill the river: talk to the folks living on the Snowy River about that.
athena said :
Are the Greens responsible for Coal Seam Gas mining now? I missed that memo. Where is fracking happening in the ACT?
I suggest Rottenberry sticks his head under a slow leaking tap for a few days. Idiot.
Dear MDBA,
Following the excellent example shown by the esteemed Shane Rattenbury, I formally request that you ask the ACTW to turn off my water supply 3 days a week and send a representative round at weekends with a loud yapping dog to punish me for putting wee wee and poo in the toilet and sending it on its soiled way down to the Murray.
If required, I`m happy to be tied to a barrel and punished further. But on the condition that the Greens elect someone who not quite so boring as there current leader (my cat shot itself after listening to Mr Brown for 5 minutes last week!)
Guilty Canberran
PS. I`d happily sell my house and all its contents to help the MDBA. Please advise.
Per head of population we already use the LEAST amount of water for any urban area in the basin. And we spend the most of any urban area cleaning up the water before it goes back into the system.
What more to the tree huuggers want us to do???
If there were a monthly prize for the most disgusting image…
Wouldn’t a photo of Shane Rattenbury have been strong enough?
Says it all about the Greens really. They want the ACT Gov to spend millions of dollars of taxpayers money buying water from elsewhere so we can all feel good about ‘doing our bit.’ Meanwhile huge amounts of water have been allocated to coal seam gas for free. I thought that Shane Rattenbury was reasonable for a Green but this has really given me second thoughts. They are more about meaningless symbolism and sanctimonious grandstanding than achieving genuine environmental outcomes.
chewy14 said :
Well done – a much more couth way of expressing my own thoughts.
justin heywood said :
Excellent!
justin heywood said :
Fabulous.
“I [Rattenbury] encourage any Canberran who wants to do their bit to write to the Murray Darling Basin Authority and let them know they are ready and willing.”
What exactly should a ‘concerned’ Canberran write, Shane?
‘Dear MDBA, I am a white, middle class city dweller. I understand science, do not believe in mindless tokenism and I aspire to a reasonable standard of living.
Please punish me unmercifully.’
Yours etc.
Grail said :
We already get more than enough water through our territory and ACTEW are building a big ass pump station at Angle Crossing and a brand new dam.
Our Cap is already tiny, why would the Greens possibly want to limit us further?