A Victorian view of climate change and energy resources
A few weeks ago I attended a meeting of the local branch of IPENZ. The speaker was Bryan Leyland, a consultant in the energy sector with very strong views on a number of global issues. Then the May/June issue of Engineering Insight contained an opinion piece by Leyland covering similar ground. In his view, for example:
- The world has plentiful resources (fossil fuels, food).
- Man-made CO2 does not cause global warming.
- Nuclear power is safe and should be widely adopted.
His presentation certainly was thought provoking. I found it disturbing, not because I disagreed with many of his views (even though I do), but because of his certainty and the way he used data to support his arguments. I thought I’d share some of my reactions.
66th Cawthron Lecture
On Friday night I attended a public lecture, the 66th in a series which started back in 1917! The venue was the Nelson School of Music where that 1917 lecture was held. It was full (around 350 people), it had been booked out for weeks.
The event commemorates Nelson benefactor Thomas Cawthron, who when he died in 1915 left almost quarter of a million pounds to set up what is now the Cawthron Institute.