Recycled water or renewable energy - which is truly sustainable?

And yes I do understand these climate models, and unlike the so-called climate scientists who promote their 'simple' model predictions, I have observed, measured, monitored, analysed and even modelled (as a last resort usually) the impacts that have occurred on the water cycle in both rural and urban environments. I, unlike most climate change cultists, have read the original 1956 paper (and many more) that first proposed the potential theory of carbon dioxide's role on the "Greenhouse Effect", and understand its limitations. It's still an unproven theory and indeed, while rarely exposed, these "super dooper" climate models can only run, when their master's manipulate the real-world data before it is fed to these highly complex and inherently unstable climate models.

Our lives are busy, what with the pressure of work, family, bills, social media. It's too easy just to accept what the environmental studies teacher feeds your kids at school, what David Attenborough et al entertain us with between dinner and bed and what the politically correct media present to us "24/7/365".

Hey, and if a 16-year-old girl on the autism spectrum with a "how dare you" attitude is confirming the "end of days" which is the older generation's fault, it's all just too hard. Well I would say it's not too hard, and in the long run, like most easy options, it will end up costing you dearly. Step back, do a bit of "balanced reading/investigation", talk to people who have different opinions. But please don't accept the dogma of elitist bullies such as the Greens, IPCC, Greta et al and most definitely not Extinction Rebellion.

I started this article with a mundane story about two wide-eyed, enthusiastic and naive young 23-year olds. We are now approaching 60,  ie middle age! I am glad for having chosen a career focused on understanding and managing water cycles. If I had chosen renewable energy, I might have been wealthier, but would be dissatisfied at being involved in a very destructive and ultimately unworthy industry. That's not to say solar and wind is not valuable, but rather that it has, like climate change cultism, not served the world fairly or equitably.

Over the last 20 years I have focused on the need for water recycling and, in particular, potable water recycling. Yes, treating wastewater to drinking water standards (and beyond). "Catchment to tap", "Toilet to tap" and "Yuck Factor" are all terms I deal with on a daily basis. Media, bureaucrats, vested interests and politicians routinely squirm at the thought, and nearly all recoil when you offer them a drink of purified water in a glass, even though it may be 100-1000 times purer than 1^st world tap drinking water in their own homes! At the beginning of the 2000s, the NSW Government Minister for water proudly shouted (Greta style) to the media that "the people of Sydney will not drink sewage", in the middle of what was colloquially known as the 'millennial drought'. In 2004, the Premier of NSW had been lauded by the Greens for damning desalinated water as "bottled electricity", that would cost the climate dearly! A year later the Minister signed a contract for a $3.2 billion desalination plant that sat idle (costing $200m per annum in maintenance fees to deliver no water!) for over 10 years until 2019.

For those of you with an interest in the future of this planet, please consider doing something constructive. Protest, violence and the inevitable descent into eco-terrorism that often follows is not going to save the planet. Only hard work, examination and thoughtful deliberation will do that, and don't accept anyone's opinion when it's tainted with catchphrases like "the science is settled". That is the opposite of good science and if we were to accept that catchphrase, then we would still believe the earth is flat and the moon made of cheese.