Artificial Intelligence
Another year has passed, 2025 wFor all the doomsaying, I quite like AI. I had a fair idea of what a demagogue was but thought I should check. Google’s munchkins came up with: “Political leaders who bypass logic and critical thinking to ignite feelings of outrage, nostalgia, or victimisation. They direct frustrations toward specific out-groups or elites, blaming them for the people’s hardships. They frequently use exaggerations, half-truths, or lies to manipulate public sentiment” My thoughts immediately focussed on the letters page of the Bellingen Shire News. This is how it starts, people – today Darkwood, tomorrow the World!
Michael Trist, Urunga
60 Years of Give and Take
Certainly, a change in the political colour via the Pauline Hanson revival, but at home never seen the valley as green, almost the end of June, mid-winter and the grass is still growing, and the lawn mowers are still flat out. There is some strange stuff happening with the weather, my mango tree is flowering and noticed other trees and shrubs completely out of whack. The river up here is now the clearest since the fires in 2019 and the biggest rise to date this year has been 400ml.
Cattle prices have jumped up since the rain out west, but China has just imposed a 55% tariff on our beef which could result in a price
reversal. For myself looking ahead to the next time round a beautiful outdoor job in the public service. I listened to Albo claiming one of his achievements has been same job same pay, which in fact reduces the incentive to work harder and be compensated for performance. A simple example picking fruit Fred picks 100 boxes and Bill picks 10 both by law must be paid the same. Fred soon gets the message and cuts back to 10 boxes, and to a degree this is what is happening throughout the country. Incentive to strive to achieve a higher goal, via work and taking a punt now penalised. Little wonder productivity has collapsed and for far too many, welfare and rorting the system now the end goal. Now in a nonphysical world the old family unit is very different, both mum dad both employed and subsidised childcare plugging the gap and many kids being the losers, and also an increase in divisions within many relationships. For a grin reading a recent comment on marriage, the claim that marriage consists of 3 rings the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the suffering. Depending on what conclusion one might reach marriage is a double-edged sword, hence the old saying, no gain without pain, success is achieved via give and take.
On a more sombre note, hopefully not, but very concerned for the outbreak of bird flu now confirmed on our southern shores.
Darcy Browning , Thora
Sea Level Rise
I would like to acknowledge that I do not have a Bachelor of Marine and Antarctic Science (with a major in Oceans, Ice, and Climate) or Earth and Environmental Sciences, or Oceanography. I can and do read regularly about Climate Change and the effects it is having on our Earth.
Sea level rise is a major issue for many who live close to the sea around the world.
It is one of many indicators that indicate the effects humans are having on this beautiful planet Earth, and we all need to make ourselves aware and act to reduce the effects of Climate Change.
What’s the difference between global and local sea level?
Global sea level trends and relative sea level trends are different measurements. Just as the surface of the Earth is not flat, the surface of the ocean is also not flat—in other words, the sea surface is not changing at the same rate globally. Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average due to many local factors: subsidence, upstream flood control, erosion, regional ocean currents, variations in land height, and whether the land is still rebounding from the compressive weight of Ice Age glaciers.
Here are some examples:
New York
Like many coastal cities around the world, New York is at immediate and growing risk from rising sea levels. The 520 miles of shoreline of their city of islands include working waterfronts, beachfront communities built right up to the Atlantic Ocean, and neighborhoods built on landfill and historic marshlands.
New York the sea level has risen 8 inches since 1970, and the city has spent $ billions on mitigation works. Reading articles and talking with a neighbour whose daughter lives in New York some cannot use the basement or ground floor areas of their apartments because of seas level rise. The city has a budget on Climate Change mitigation stating investments made today will shape New Yorkers’ lives for decades to come. The New York City Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is charged with ensuring that the city’s $115.1 billion expense budget (Fiscal Year 2026) and planned capital funding of $196.7 billion (Fiscal Years 2025-2035) are managed responsibly and effectively so the city has the resources to meet its needs now and in the future.
Papua and New Guinea
10,000’s of people displaced because of sea level rise.
Two years ago fisher Siri James lived on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea, in a small village near Pariva beach. But as the tides continued to rise, James was forced to move further in from the shore.
“It’s not easy moving inland, I was born and raised by the seas, I am a fisherman. I know the flow of tides and currents, I know when the wind will come strongly and when it will rain – but now I don’t understand why everything is changing,” says James, who is in his early 40s.
He says the tides “seem to be growing every day”.
Oceans around the Papua and New Guinea are rising rapidly. Current modeling projects an increase of 15 cm by 2030, with estimates soaring between 20 to 60 cm by 2090, depending on global emission.
Extreme natural fluctuations tied to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) severely exacerbate these rates. During El Niño events, temporary localized sea level changes can spike by up to 30 mm per year.
High ocean temperatures are melting ice sheets, intensifying storms, and causing king tides to swallow low-lying atolls and islands.
Sir David Attenborough has warned that rising sea levels and ocean warming present catastrophic threats to coastal cities and marine ecosystems globally.
Colin Hutton, Thora