Research to benefit the Giant Cuttlefish, or the Giant Non Australian BHP Billiton?
In South Australia, a Flinders University team is doing the USA’s bidding, as Professor Pam Sykes pushes U.S. funded research into making low level ionising radiation look good.
Now we have another research team in South Australia,, funded by Australian governments, investigating the giant cuttlefish. We must wonder to what extent this research is geared at truly studying this unique and beautiful animal, and its specialised habitat. This is a species that will be lost to the world, made extinct by a change in the salt/freshwater balance in the upper Spencer Gulf.
The proposed desalinationn plant – needed for BHP Billiton’s expansion of Olympic Damn uranium mine – would make that change, and make that extinction of an iconic Australian species.
Will the new research study really lead to the protection of the giant cuttlefish, or the protection of the giant Non Australia – BHP Billiton? – Christina Macpherson
Federal and state funds for cuttlefish research, ABC News, September 15, 2011 Research into giant cuttlefish in South Australia’s upper Spencer Gulf will receive $105,000 in federal and state funding.
SA Fisheries Minister Michael O’Brien says a monitoring and evaluation program will look at population biomass, water quality and habitat. There has been some recent concern that fewer cuttlefish are in the upper Gulf.
Concern also has been expressed about the possible effects of discharge if a desalination plant is built in the area. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-15/giant-cuttlefish-research-funding/2900668
Worldwide majority of people oppose nuclear power
the glue that has so long bound the French population to its unwavering belief in the virtues of atomic energy has begun to come unstuck. Even the country’s nuclear security authorities concede that there is no way of ruling out a serious accident at home…..
New power plants are unprofitable Even if reactors were 100 percent safe, experts have long warned of the economic risks they pose.
Fukushima spoils world appetite for nuclear power, Deutsche Welle, : Gero Ruter, 15 Sept 2011, In the six months since the Fukushima disaster, a global survey has detected mounting opposition to nuclear energy, especially in Asia. Yet Germany remains the only country to abandon the technology to date.
Several months after the nuclear disaster in Japan, market research company Ipsos asked citizens in 24 countries how they feel about atomic energy. Continue reading
Australia – the Groucho Marx of Climate Change action?
the economic case for action is equally compelling. The world is acting. …
Let’s get the facts on the table: right now, 34 countries and 27 cities, states, or provinces around the world have an emissions trading scheme operating or under development. Nine countries have a carbon tax, and two more are discussing it – plus India has a tax on coal. Eighty six countries have legislated or planned for renewable energy targets…….
It’s time to create a climate of opportunity, Sydney Morning Herald, John Brumby, September 16, 2011, Groucho Marx once said: ‘Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?’ I believe that unless we want our country to become the Groucho Marx of international climate action, we must act now to take our place in the emerging, global, clean energy economy.
That’s why I support the Gillard government’s plan to put a price on carbon.
I have long argued that the best way to respond to the threat of climate change is to create a climate of opportunity – that is, to build an economic environment in which Australian individuals and businesses are rewarded for applying their talents to creating the new technologies and solutions that a carbon constrained world will demand. That way, the jobs of the future will come to Australia. That way, our kids will have the opportunities to succeed in a global economy that is inexorably moving – even if in fits and starts – to a low emissions model. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 