<< NOW DARKNESS IS GOOD ~ MAIN ~ AUSCHWITZ WAS CARBON NEUTRAL >>
MAUDE THE FRAUD
Canadian Maude Barlow - not merely a Canadian; she heads the all-powerful Council of Canadians - warns Sydney:
Sydney’s dwindling water supplies could be limited to drinking only within three years, a Canadian expert has warned.
Water advocate [ed: !!!!!] Maude Barlow says she believes Sydney is in the running with Mexico City and Beijing to be the first city in the world to run out of water.
“My guess is that Sydney is going to hit the water wall in three to five years,” she told the Seven Network.
“That doesn’t mean there won’t be any water but I think it will be reserved for drinking.
“I want to say to people in Australia you have a limited amount of time before you’re going to have to evacuate your country. I mean that.”
Naturally, Maude has a compassionate head tilt on her like a giraffe in a centrifuge:
Caring Maude made those comments last December. Since then Sydney has had the odd spot of rain. Perhaps she should ask Tim Flannery about it.
(Via Liam B.)
UPDATE. Julian emails: “Looks like Maude has been listening to UFO expert and climate change scaremonger Art Bell. Art says we’re going to evacuate 11 million people to China.” He means it.
Why doesn’t she write about the most serious problem in Canada? Due to Global Warming, Canadians will no longer be able to use dogsleds as their normal mode of transportation.
Posted by Mystery Meat on 2007 10 06 at 01:13 PM • permalinkNoteworthy water quotes from renowned American hydrologist W.C. Fields:
I never drink water. I’m afraid it will become habit-forming.
I never drink water; that is the stuff that rusts pipes.
And my personal favorite,
I never drink water because fish fuck in it.
Posted by Mystery Meat on 2007 10 06 at 01:20 PM • permalinkWhile you’re measuring head-tilt, don’t neglect the simpering, self-satisfied half-smile. Right there’s the bland face of fascism.
Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2007 10 06 at 01:29 PM • permalinkJeepers, do y’all have an evacuation plan? Post-Viet Nam, I was ready and willing to embrace all for whom the lesser of two ghastly choices was crossing the Pacific in a rickety wooden boat. Could we, should we do less for our most steadfast of mates fleeing a bone-dry Down Under? I think not. Hope that helps.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 10 06 at 02:19 PM • permalinkNeed water? Invade New Zealand, they have plenty!
Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2007 10 06 at 03:01 PM • permalinkMaude Barlow’s roots are in a leafy, middle-class neighbourhood in Ottawa. She had a happy, very traditional childhood - but it was her father, Bill McGrath, who would shape her into a social activist.
In the seventies Maude Barlow was a nice, middle-class housewife who got caught up in the women’s movement, the revolutionary social current of her time. “This was a fabulous time to be in on the ground floor of what was just the most exciting movement of its time.”
Happy Thanksgiving, anyway ...
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 10 06 at 03:13 PM • permalinkMaude is odd. For seemingly all my life, she has been screeching about the grave dangers in selling Canada’s water to the US. It’s her thing, and every reporter in the country will call her up if news gets out that there’s a chance that an American might have a chance to sip imported water.
Canada is a huge country that is blessed with more of this renewable resource than anywhere else in the world. The amount of freshwater that flows from our rivers to the ocean each day is unimaginable. But, man, try to sell a few bottles of it to those folks that live to the south, and you’ll have to deal with Maude and all her nutty supporters. It’s a job, I suppose.
Posted by autonomoussource on 2007 10 06 at 03:29 PM • permalinkLast year an environmentalist told me that other countries have water shortages and some people in other countries have a lack of potable water and so therefore I need to conserve water. I tried to ask how more water in an aquafer in the US will help people in Africa but I think because of my convulsive laughter she didn’t take the question seriously
Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 10 06 at 03:38 PM • permalink“A giraffe in a centerfuge.” Holy shit, that’s funny!
Posted by bugscuffle on 2007 10 06 at 03:39 PM • permalink“I want to say to people in Australia you have a limited amount of time before you’re going to have to evacuate your country. I mean that.”
WTF?!? Ohferchrissakes, this woman is batshit crazy! She probably believes the Goracle’s profitably convenient fairy story is understating the “threat”.
Carl Sagan was right, we ARE living in a demon-haunted world, just not the way he thought.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 10 06 at 04:05 PM • permalinkWill we have lifeboat drills first? that would be so cool, all of us heading to designated beaches wearing life preservers on a given signal to prepare to abandon Aust.
Posted by Harry Buttle on 2007 10 06 at 04:13 PM • permalinkYes, a “giraffe in a centrifuge”.
I’ll wait a week before stealing it. I do have some standards.
Hmm, giraffe in a test tube? Footlocker?
Guess I should leave this to the professionals.
SMG
Posted by SMGalbraith on 2007 10 06 at 04:29 PM • permalinkMystery Meat—Actually, the sled dogs will be sitting there, saying, “See? Wheels! Was that so fucking hard?”
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 10 06 at 04:32 PM • permalinkSpeaking of compassionate head tilts, here’s a salute to the third anniversary of Tim’s seminal post.
Posted by Billy Hollis on 2007 10 06 at 04:57 PM • permalinkNaturally, Maude has a compassionate head tilt on her like a giraffe in a centrifuge:
Disagree. Not quite a deliberate head tilt. Bad posing.
The shooter has her shoulders at a 45 degree angle to the camera, a proper start in that it helps avoid the subject looking fatter in the compressed 2D image. The subject naturally cocks his/her head back for balance, thus exposing too much neck surface and looking like an unnatural tilt. The photog should then grasp the head and force it back the other way, making the subject most uncomfortable but creating the illusion that he/she/it is seated comfortably, casually, also minimizing the exposed turkey neck. This would also make her look like she has only one chin. Lean back a bit for a feminine aspect, lean forward for a more masculine, aggressive look. Relax the shoulders. straighten the blouse. Ugh. This shot has the quality and feel of a “school photo” session from the ‘70s. I don’t find a credit. Too embarrassed, perhaps. Maude needs to find a professional to redo her head shot.
(Sorry, was a photographer in another lifetime. Sloppy work still makes cring.)
Posted by nofixedabode on 2007 10 06 at 05:28 PM • permalinkIn claiming that Sydney will be the first to run out of water, Maude has obviously not heard of Brisbane with its dams at 20%.
Should we tell her that we SEQ-ers are now on Level 6 restrictions?
Slightly O/T: This week, State Health has stopped Gold Coast City using recycled water to wash down the the streets of Surfers Paradise. Its use was declared a health hazard and drinking water must now be used to wash the roads.The Council of Canadians - something to else for which to blame them.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 10 06 at 05:46 PM • permalinkHey, you Aussies are lucky - you don’t have to see this woman on the news every couple of weeks. (On the other hand, you do have Philip Adams and Michael Leunig, so maybe it’s a draw. Then again, we also inflicted Naomi Klein upon the world. We could go back and forth like this for a while.)
I remember ol’ Maude being interviewed on CBC Radio during the ‘Battle in Seattle’ in 1999, when brave activists from all over the world stood up to the reckless march of global capitalism. (Translation: a bunch of smelly idiots broke windows.) The interviewer asked Barlow why, if globalization was going to hurt poor countries so much, their leaders were so anxious to be part of it. She responded by yelping, “because the Americans will kill them if they don’t!”
My glass is half empty. I stare at it, paralyzed by fear, because I have absolutely no idea what to do once all the liquid is gone. No idea.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 10 06 at 06:08 PM • permalinkHoly crap - who let someone from the Council of Canadians into Australia?
Call some troops back from Afghanistan, there is urgent work to be done.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 10 06 at 06:13 PM • permalinkAnd the sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Maude Barlow made the comments last December. Hmmm.
Then is she responsible for that bloody desalination plant that the NSW government announced around that time is going to go ahead, over almost everyone’s objections, at a cost of billions of dollars?
Although I don’t understand why we have to continue with the construction of the plant if we have to evacuate the country anyway.
Tim, you shouldn’t really give the Maudes of this world any blog space at all. It gives them a credibility they don’t deserve.
Romeo, it’s either that or learn to crap in a hole and wipe with your bare left hand.
;->=
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 10 06 at 08:07 PM • permalinkI just read the news article and still had no idea who on earth this Maude Barlow was, so I just googled. Seems she’s written a bunch of books and columns about it. And she’s quite expert in setting up committees, etc.
Doesn’t seem to have any actual scientific experience, though. Funny that.
The Aussie drought is quite a handy piece of propaganda for the doom-merchants. Repeated bad news, and farmers and country towns that find themselves fallen on tough times because of water restrictions, makes for an Australia that is anxious and emotionally vulnerable about water. So along come the doom-merchants and play on these fears.
This coming summer, I predict:
- Tim Flannery will hit the ABC with another quote like, “Our climate change nightmare has just begun.”
- Clive Hamilton will do the same.
- Kevin Rudd will attempt to get elected on a climate change platform.
- News sources all over the country will use the phrases ‘Hottest day since…’, ‘In yet more worrying evidence of climate change’, ‘And CSIRO scientists say there’s worse to come…’ , etc, etc, etc.
Should be fun!
Somehow, I would not be surprised to learn that ol’ Maude owns stock in a company that produces waterless bathing products for the health care industry.
Posted by Blue State Sil on 2007 10 06 at 08:37 PM • permalinkIt’s more likely that Melbourne will run out of water. Being stuck with a worthless green-blackmailed Labor government, we’ve had no action in constructing a new dam. Not that Kennett did anything either, but the need was less obvious back then.
The last dam we built was the Thompson in the 60s, which was meant to drought-proof the city for 40 years. Surprise, surprise - we’re running out of water now.
It has nothing to do with globabl warming, and everything to do with town planning. You can’t keep growing a city without growing its infrastructure.
I concur with South Park:
Sharon: Should we blame the government?
Liane: Or blame society?
Dads: Or should we blame the images on TV?
Sheila: No, blame Canada
Everyone: Blame Canada
Sheila: With all their beady little eyes
And flapping heads so full of lies
Everyone: Blame Canada
Blame Canada
Sheila: We need to form a full assault
Everyone: It’s Canada’s fault!I prefer to read that Barlow dingbat’s pronunciamentos about not letting the eeevil Yanks have our good Canucki water while…at my BC cabin on the banks of the Kootenay river, a major tributary of the Columbia. Which dumps hundreds of billions of litres of water every year into the USA.
Barlow wants to reverse the slope of the North American continent or possibly the law of gravity and for sure the laws of supply and demand.
She is batshit crazy and I am quite proud of her. Our Canucki lunatics are much more interesting than your tame, sniveling pale, weak chested Australian lunatics. And Naomi Klein is a bit of a babe too, not like the ugly, hairy leftists of a certain antipode.
#41
It has nothing to do with globabl warming, and everything to do with town planning. You can’t keep growing a city without growing its infrastructure.
Your are right on target Craig, and this is exactly true of not just Melbourne, but of all the Australian cities now running short of water.
The fact that SEQ is now accepting that water restrictions will continue to apply — even after rainfalls return to “normal” — is all the evidence we need to prove the inadequacies of our present water storage infrastructure.
The future requirements will take even more fixing.This Maude woman sounds like a raving nationalist to me. How dare she advocate the hoarding of the most important of Mother Gaia’s resources? If Canada somehow came to have an over-abundance of this life sustaining resource, then they are obligated to share it with those people who do not have enough. She warns that Australia will have to be evacuated. The most obvious destination is Canada. In fact, all of the water deprived people should march on Canada! Preferably the Frenchy part, of course.
Posted by Furry Lewis on 2007 10 06 at 10:13 PM • permalinkSo, is this the first time in your history you’ve experienced drought conditions, Oz?
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 10 06 at 10:21 PM • permalink#26—She responded by yelping, “because the Americans will kill them if they don’t!”
And we will too.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 10 06 at 10:32 PM • permalinkWAIT WAIT WAIT THIS IS MINE!
I know Maude. I formed the COC (Council of Canadians) with my first ex and Mel Hurtig. It was a narrow, nationalist, leftist organization, mainly opposed to free trade. OK Mea Culpa.
However, this lady, who has taken over the organization, is just a champagne socialist. I was round her house, when she used to live at #Y on XXXX street, a very cosy little row-house project for the wealthy, close to the West bound entrance to the Queensway for King Edward.
Her organisation now is just a bunch of liberal party supporters, of the left wing, admittedly, who ponce around displaying their
complete lack of seriousconcern about issues. Water being one of them.Now, you’d think that Canada does not have a water shortage problem, having all that snow and ice and those Great Lakes; but Maud dear is very concerned that we should not sell our water, even though, according to her, it is something the rest of the world wants.
Dunno, beats me! She’s a twat with a twat (pronunciation assistance may be required for our American friends).
Why is this tea-spoon thinker given the time of day by the rugged Ozzies?
Spits venom and moves on…..
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 10 06 at 10:57 PM • permalink#51
Ooops, I have just realised that I have given away enough information for the assiduous researcher to uncover my secret identity.
I will supply a bottle of Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial for the first to e-mail me the secret
(delivered by an assassin to keep it seceret :^)Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 10 06 at 11:03 PM • permalink#13 Autowhatever…
The amount of freshwater that flows from our rivers to the ocean each day is NOT unimaginable.
It is quantifiable, but very large, which is the point I think you wanted to make.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 10 06 at 11:11 PM • permalink#30 ann j,
Hey, as long as it is a General Electric desalination plant, that’s OK.
BTW My company was taken over by GE recently.
BTWBTW Wot’s wrong wiht desalination?
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 10 06 at 11:30 PM • permalink#39 TimT,
Is Rudd going to run on a campain of making Australia colder ?
brrr.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 10 06 at 11:36 PM • permalink56 Hi, Wimpy! You may be sorry you asked, but there’s nothing wrong with desalination except in Sydney:
•Construction of the plant was originally to be only an “extreme drought” response.(The state government promised that it would not go ahead with the plant unless water levels went as low as 30% - they’re currently at around 60%.)
•The cost is estimated at A$1.7 billion+, but it rises almost weekly.
•Despite what Maude Barlow says, Sydney has plenty of rainfall - but almost none of it is harvested and most runs off into the sea.•This particular plant will be constructed in the middle of a suburb of Sydney whose residents don’t want it, and it is going to disrupt for years nearby suburbs as pipelines are laid through even more residential areas.
•The salty run-off and chemicals used to treat the water will be pumped into the nearby sea - where there are sea grass beds, a wide range of marine life and where whales pass through twice a year on their annual migration.
•Water bills will be substantially increased.
•The plant will use enormous amounts of electricity.
•Most Sydneysiders genuinely believe that water recycling is the way to go (current recycling represents less than 10% of Sydney’s water usage).
Given that NSW currently has one of the most incompetent governments in the history of mankind, we know that the cost will blow out enormously and that the plant itself will be yet another white elephant.
Charge $500 a head for this and you too can be AlGore.
Posted by dean martin on 2007 10 07 at 05:21 AM • permalink#61, 62:
California would have to have a slot in the next run at worst ever government.
The tards that run this state can actually manage to complain about the feds doing nothing to relive the “price shock” on a gallon of gasoline, and in the same paragraph, tell us peasants that they want to add another tax to gas per gallon for our own good.
This is the state that has nearly made it illegal to develop any power grid infrastructure and then tries to sue other states for selling us electricity.
And, finally, it is almost a crime here to admit being an American citizen.
Oh, and I forgot to add, about that water thing…
My neighborhood is an older, established, all small lot residential. Water is billed by the gallon of use. Water bill here can be anywhere from $50 a month in winter to $150 in the summer due watering the yard and such.
Across town, there are newer, large lot neighborhoods (3/4 acre lots) zoned for personal live stock. I grew up there. We kept our own beef and poultry food stock. Water is flat rate monthly, $25.
The per gallon rates are due to the “water shortages” that were all the rage a few decades ago.
Once they get you, they got you. Once got, you never get loose again.
Good thing we’re all evacuating, as I’ve just read that Australia is “firming as the destination of choice for what are becoming known as climate change refugees”. This is because “Europe is at risk of a new ice age as a result of global warming.” Of course.
ABC news link
Posted by ErnestBludger on 2007 10 07 at 05:50 AM • permalink#39 my prediction is that this summer will be wetter than summers the last twenty years or so. You heard it hear first.
I would be completely confident, but that the waters off Northern Australia are still colder than normal , like they have been for most of the last twenty years.it will all be due to Australia confessing its sins and electing a Rudd Guvmint.
“I want to say to people in Australia you have a limited amount of time before you’re going to have to evacuate your country. I mean that.”
It’s a pity she said “I mean that” at the end. What’s she going to do when her apocalyse doesn’t come to pass? Now the “I didn’t mean that when I said it” defense is completely screwed.
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 10 07 at 08:44 AM • permalinkSYDNEY’S dwindling water supplies could be limited to drinking only within three years, a Canadian expert has warned.
Water advocate Maude Barlow says she believes Sydney is in the running with Mexico City and Beijing to be the first city in the world to run out of water.
“My guess is that Sydney is going to hit the water wall in three to five years,” she told the Seven Network.
News articles reporting the opinions or factual conclusions of experts are a good thing. Unless they’re advocates. As a general rule, shouldn’t articles—those that are trying to treat an issue objectively—leave out any utterings by “advocates”? Who can trust what an advocate will say? They have both an agenda and a stake in how society perceives and acts on an issue. At the very least, the article should put that out, maybe by saying “be aware you can’t believe a fucking word this dip shit says”. Or something similar.
Posted by wronwright on 2007 10 07 at 08:56 AM • permalinkRe, #13. W.C. in #53 is correct, but the rest is spot on.
I also checked out this “Council of Canadians”. I guess the CoC hasn’t realized that much of the Canadian watersheds eventually drain into the United States (e.g., the Great Lakes and Columbia River), so “bulk shipments of water” won’t have that much of an impact on their water supplies. Unless they build a new river into the United States…..which is hardly likely.
Frankly, going through that site, Maude seems to be the Canadian version of Saint Cindy Sheehan of the Ditch. Just as screechy and stupid, and clearly milking the media for all of the attention she can get.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 10 07 at 10:54 AM • permalinkAustralians, feel free to evacuate by invading and conquering Canada. I’m pretty sure they don’t even have a military anymore.
“They’re not even a real country anyway!”
Posted by Shaky Barnes on 2007 10 07 at 11:08 AM • permalinkHelp! Maude Barlow and her All-Powerful Council of Canadians has just taken over Canada. I’m forced to write this in candlelight from an old bomb shelter (an EBay triumph). Their first decree was to ban beer and comic books. If that doesn’t terrify you, consider this: they are thinking about jamming U.S. sit-coms. It’s the end, the END.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
Fortunately, I see there is no shortage of water on the brain.