A Coming Flood !

The amount of water on planet Earth is constant.  It is the same now as it was a thousand years ago - or ten thousand years - or a hundred thousand.   The only thing  that changes is the actual composition of that water.  Where more is locked away in the form of ice, the world sea level falls. When the ice melts, the sea level rises.

Just stand in front of a world map and a very evident feature is clear.  A massive amount of the world land mass is north of the equator and in the northern hemisphere.  In comparison the southern hemisphere contains about two thirds of South America, about a third of Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and a  scattering of Pacific ocean islands.  A huge amount of the world population lives north of the equator.

Another of Earth's peculiarities are the polar regions.   There is not a continent resting under the north pole in contrast to the massive land mass under the south pole.   If that ice at both ends of the poles melts we will have a massive rise in sea levels and that is what the global warming people are frantically warning us is about to happen.

The planet is warming because our use of fossil fuels is releasing more carbon dioxide into the air and this is creating a " greenhouse effect ".   As a result, the world weather is changing and many parts of the world with bountiful rainfall are suffering drought.  The other peculiarity is that when other parts of the world do get rain it is often in the form of a destructive flood.   Such an event is now afflicting both India and Spain.

Mother Nature has provided a very efficient recycling system to manage the world's water.  The heat of the tropics cause it to evaporate and form clouds which are moved about the globe by the jet streams.  Eventually, this falls back as rain and that nourishes the food production centres which allow about seven billion people to live on this planet.  Unfortunately, this " greenhouse effect " has changed the weather patterns and our weather is now less predictable.

Australia has always suffered cyclical droughts - and floods.   The present drought has decimated the eastern states and has greatly reduced the grain crops for several years.   This drought will eventually end because that is the nature of things, but somewhere in this water cycle we can be assured that water on the planet will find its equilibrium.   In the near future we face the prospect of a massive flood.

That coming flood represents opportunity - if we are wise and implement plans to retain water to sustain the population growth that is inevitable.  It would be negligent to simply let this bountiful water run to waste into the ocean and be lost.   We can not drought proof Australia against future lack of rain, but we can assure residents of cities and country towns that they will have adequate access to drinking water.

That is the absolute certainty that Australia will face a massive flood some time after this drought ends.