Global Warming? Why am I so dang cold?

Ok – I’ll admit right up front that:

1. I am not a climatologist, and
2. I am a sceptic – about global warming and many other things.

Some people say that unles I am 1 above and not 2 above I have no right to have an opinion on global warming (hereafter GW). I do not subscribe to that view. I actually criticised  the police for shooting someone shooting up the East Perth Station with a shotgun in front of a cop. He said that until I was in those cops’ position I had no right to criticise. While I am not entirely unsympathetic to that view – by this standard only  ops could judge other cops, only politicians could judge other politicians, only judges could judge other judges (oh, hang on a sec’).

Ok – back to GW. Is the world getting hotter? I am reliably told that it is and I can accept that. Has the earth been both hotter and colder than it is today? Again, I am reliably told yes – and I accept that. Is the current temperature outside the normal range of temperatures over a reasonable period (I would have liked a long term, say the habitable lifespan of the earth)? I don’t know this one – I have heard both yes and no. If the increase in temperature is out of the ordinary, is it caused by humans? Again, this one could go either way. It is only really on the last two questions that I am sceptical. And much of this scepticism comes from my innate distrust of doomsayers and my contrarian nature.

So, about the big GW. What’s my position, I hear you all asking… I don’t really think it matters whether you believe in anthropogenic GW – we all have an obligation to look after our home. I am of the view that we don’t have the right to mess up our planet simply because we can. I believe our planet has been given to us in a sacred trust and we have an obligation to use it with care and not abuse it. I think our occupation of the earth is a form of stewardship where we have it for a short period, then pass it to the next generation in a state hopefully not significantly worse than how we found it and hopefully better.

Of course, we all need to live and that involves consumption etc. But we should be careful to ensure our footprints are smaller rather than bigger and we use resources with care.

Now, I ain’t no greenie, tree-hugger, touchy-feely type – but I try to do my bit. I recycle, I compost food and garden waste, I have a bore and am on septic. I have a dual flush toilet and a low-flow shower head. I use instant gas for my water heating. Ok – sure I could be better, but who couldn’t?

Real estate blues

Ok, I bought my house a few years ago. It is located in an ok suburb not too far from the city. It has glimpses of the river from the front yard and is a stone’s throw from Curtin University here in Perth. It is also on a reasonable sized block.

It quite a nice little house and has been our home for some important years in my young family’s life. Unfortunately, it is only a three bedroom one bathroom and is now clearly too small for my expanding family.

I (like I suppose several other families) thought when I bought my little house that in a few years’ time I would keep that house, use the equity I had built up in it, rent it out, and buy a bigger house slightly further out from the city. I was reasonably confident that, in my chosen suburb, I would see moderate capital growth and would never struggle for renters.

What I experienced instead was massive capital growth – but this growth has been spread across the entire Perth metro area. So, while my house has increased in value by approx 400% so has every other bleeding house in Perth.

This means there is no way I can possibly keep my existing house – no-one I know could afford the repayments on the type of mortgage I would need to take out if I tried. I have to sell my house and use the equity to buy back into the market. Now, I have a good job and my pay certainly isn’t bad – my wife is a stay-at-home mum to our four children (ages 18 months to 7 1/2), but our income would only pay for less than half the borrowings we’d need.

Now I am thinking about moving and have been looking around. For the price I could get for selling my house I simply can’t find anything that I could live in.

I am perfectly prepared to move slightly further out but not to the boondocks and not to a hovel. Why can’t I trade in my small-ish but well situated home for a slightly bigger house further out??? Maybe I’m too fussy. Maybe I need to lower my expectations or move further out or maybe just push the finances and borrow more, or maybe send my wife back to work and let strangers raise my children… Is that what I need to do?

At least we’re in the real estate roundabout. I worry what my children will do – will incomes have caught up (or prices fallen) by the time they’re old enough to worry about it?