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The Waiting Game

My mother's legs were edemic (swollen) last night. I am not sure what to do at the moment. I would like her to have additional Bumetadine (a diuretic) but must wait for the doctor's approval. I hope things go well and that this is not the first indication of a new downturn.

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Below is an interesting article from the "The Age (Australia)":

Climate an Economic Time Bomb


James Button, Jewel Topsfield and Katharine Murphy


CLIMATE change could push the world into the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, with many countries facing economic ruin, a comprehensive British report on the effects of global warming will warn next week.

The report, written by former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern and commissioned by the British Treasury, seeks to overturn conventional wisdom by insisting that fighting climate change will save, not cost, governments money.

The report's contents have been kept secret, but Sir Nicholas briefed environment and energy ministers from the world's top 20 greenhouse gas-emitting nations, including Industry, Tourism and Resources Minister Ian McFarlane, in Mexico this month.

Britain's chief scientist, Sir David King, told The Guardian the report indicated "that if we don't take global action … we will be faced with the kind of downturn that has not been seen since the Great Depression and the two world wars.

"If you look at sea level rises alone and the impact that will have on global economies where cities are becoming inundated by flooding … this will cause the displacement of hundreds of millions of people."

Sir David described the Stern report as the most detailed economic analysis yet conducted and said it would "surprise many people in terms of the relatively small cost of action".

However, he told a climate change conference in Birmingham that achieving global consensus would be very hard.

"In my view this is the biggest challenge our global political system has ever been faced with. We've never been faced with a decision where collective decision making is required by all major countries … around risks to their populations that are well outside the time period of any electoral process."

The United States and Australia have refused to join the Kyoto Protocol — the international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions — because US President George Bush and Prime Minister John Howard have argued that it would harm their countries' economies.

The Stern report comes as the Howard Government is signalling a shift in its attitude to climate change. Environment Minister Ian Campbell told The Age yesterday governments needed to invest more in emission reduction technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

"Some of these technologies do need to be fast-tracked and there needs to be higher levels of public sector investment to achieve that," he said.

Treasurer Peter Costello moved yesterday to guarantee that Canberra would continue to offer Australian households a rebate if they installed solar power panels, after concerns the program would be discontinued.

He said the Government was also examining ways to make solar power less expensive.

"We can make solar power; the problem is the price at which we can make it is too high for households generally at the moment, and it is a question of bringing that price down."

But the chief economist of the British Government-backed Carbon Trust, Michael Grubb, yesterday slammed Canberra's policy response on climate change as "unrealistic" and "hard to understand, because it is so clearly not a position which can lead to any credible solutions".

Professor Grubb questioned the Federal Government's continuing opposition to carbon pricing and trading schemes, which would reward businesses that switched to lower carbon-emission operations.

"I must say, coming to Australia, in terms of (inaction) … at the federal level, it feels like going back in time because so little generally seems to have been done on the ground here," he said.

Sir Nicholas will argue that tackling climate change may not prove as economically painful as some predict. Investment in low-carbon technologies could stimulate the global economy.

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So, wish me well. I do not know what my day will now entail. Please hope and pray for my mother.

PipeTobacco