Australia to cop it most in Climate Change
Predictions Australia will be hardest hit by climate change http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-17/predictions-australia-will-be-hardest-hit-by-climate-change/4695718 A national conference on mining and coal seam gas in the Hunter Valley this weekend will hear the world is past the point of preventing climate change.
Community leaders and experts in energy policy, health and renewables are gathering for the three day forum in Kurri Kurri this weekend.
Ian Dunlop is a former senior Executive of Royal Dutch Shell and a former chair of the Australian Coal Association. He says the coal industry has known since the 1980’s climate concerns will limit its primacy.
He says the world has already left it too late to prevent the onset of major climate change, pointing to the ominous milestone reached in the last week that saw the atmospheric concentration for carbon dioxide surpassing levels not seen in millions of years. The conference will hear from community groups that have successfully opposed coal and CSG developments in NSW, Queensland and the United States.
Mr Dunlop, who’s now with the Association for the study of Peak Oil and Gas, says Australia will be one of the hardest hit by a rise in global temperatures.
“I mean this is what people don’t seam to get, you cannot continue to operate businesses of any kind in a world where the average temperature has gone up 4 degrees, it’s just not feasible for people to work in those conditions,” he said.
“We’re one of the driest continents on the earth and the effects on Australia will be more severe than elsewhere.”
Mr Dunlop says climate change will also have a negative impact on Australia’s agricultural industry.
“The much longer term problems of the sustainability of things like agriculture because if we keep on going where we’re going large parts of the country are either going to be moving back into deserts or alternatively they’ll end up subject to extreme flooding and conditions that aren’t particularly conducive to agriculture anyway,” he said.
Tony Abbott’s determination to destroy action on climate chnage
Liberals’ plan to dismantle carbon laws BY:GRAHAM LLOYD, ENVIRONMENT EDITOR The Australian May 18, 2013 TONY Abbott would prepare for a double-dissolution election within five months of taking office if parliament blocked the repeal of the carbon tax, under a 12-month action blueprint to transform the nation’s environmental laws….( subscribers only) http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/liberals-plan-to-dismantle-carbon-laws/story-fn59niix-1226645695162
Northern Territory uranium miners no longer to claim tax costs for offices in foreign countries
Mining miners for a little extra cash NT News, ALISON BEVEGE | May 15th, 2013 THE NT Government has moved to close two tax loopholes to gain an additional $10.6 million out of mining companies.
It’s the only revenue-raising move in this year’s savings-based Budget. Mineral production was forecast to be worth $2.7 billion in 2013-14 but mining royalties are expected to raise $113.3 million, for a recovery rate of 4.2 per cent.
The first new Budget measure is a cap on the amount mining companies can claim as a transfer price for a mineral set at 5.5 per cent of its value……
The second measure would put a cap on the amount corporations can claim on tax for administrative costs for a foreign head office. Mr Tollner said they had been claiming expenses as NT costs……. http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/05/15/320899_nt-business.html
Australia launches clean energy map
http://www.cleanenergymap.gov.au/ Clean Energy Future – Australian Government
REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson 17 May 2013
The map can be searched by postcode or technology, and includes projects being carried out under measures such as the Renewable Energy Target, Solar Cities, Energy Efficiency Information Grants, the Carbon Farming Initiative and the Clean Technology Programs…. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/mixed-greens-australian-launches-clean-energy-map-29422
Busting the false promises of the nuclear lobby
PANDORA’S FALSE PROMISES BUSTING THE PRO-NUCLEAR PROPAGANDA A Beyond Nuclear Report ❒ (Download the full report here http://www.beyondnuclear.org/ ) TWO-PAGE SUMMARY, 18 May 13Coalition parties anti-wind energy, hypocritical about renewabl eenergy
Coalition dances around renewables commitment – again REneweconomy, Giles Parkinson 18 May 13, Joe Hockey refuses to endorse support for renewable energy, saying he had only just received the Budget Papers. Meanwhile, Coalition politicians are said to have signed up to speak at an anti-wind rally outside Parliament House. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/coalition-dances-around-renewables-commitment-again-84662
Hear this: Australian resources companies putting it over Aborigines?
AUDIO Miners falling short on Indigenous consultation: Oxfam http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-17/miners-falling-short-on-indigenous-consultation/4696040 By national resources reporter Sue Lannin May 17, 2013
A study by Oxfam Australia found that only one of the 53 biggest miners on the Australian stock exchange had a public commitment to the United Nation’s principles of informed consent for Indigenous people.
Oxfam Australia chief executive, Helen Szoke, says Australian mining companies need to do better.
“We looked at the policies of companies specifically within the context of how they dealt with the issue of consent of Indigenous peoples to use their land,” she said.
“Disturbingly what we found is that the majority of companies don’t have any transparent policies about how they gain that consent and how they go about negotiating with local Indigenous communities.”
One woman’s campaign for the animals of Fukushima
PROMETHEUS TRAP/ The disaster and animals (8): Woman repeatedly rescued pets in the Fukushima off-limits zone Asahi Shimbun May 08, 2013 By MISUZU TSUKUE/ Staff Writer
Editor’s note: This is the eighth part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with how pets and livestock fared in the evacuation zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The series will appear on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
After the government on April 22, 2011, banned entry into a 20-kilometer radius from the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, declaring it to be an evacuation zone, many people still began to enter the area illegally to rescue pets left behind.
One of them was Mieko Yoshida, a 63-year-old cram school teacher who lived in Odaka Ward in the city of Minami-soma…….
Yoshida started a one-woman campaign for the rescue and protection of pets left behind in the no-go zone. When she stood in front of the city office, carrying a placard reading, “Give me back my family,” many pet owners approached her, saying, “The same here.”
Yoshida compiled a list of some 80 houses in the off-limits zone where pets had been left behind. She secretly went to these houses to feed and rescue the animals. Her concern for the lives of these vulnerable animals outweighed her fear of radiation.
Police kept bolstering the barricades erected to keep people from entering the zone, but that didn’t deter Yoshida from her stealth animal rescue mission…… http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/life_and_death/AJ201305080006
Tony Abbott’s claims about scrapping carbon tax – need scrutiny
Fact check: will scrapping the carbon price lower electricity prices? Fact check: will scrapping the carbon price lower electricity prices? The Conversation, Dylan McConnell, 18 May 13, Tony Abbott has said he will scrap the carbon “tax”, leading to a fall in electricity prices.
In his budget reply speech he stated: We will abolish the carbon tax – because that’s the quickest way to reduce power prices and take the pressure off cost of living and job security.
But will removing the carbon price really lower electricity prices, and if so, by how much?…….
wholesale costs only account for around 37% of retail electricity prices. Other major components of retail prices are transmission costs,
distribution costs (“poles and wires”), and retail costs (which include costs like the Renewable Energy Target).
Over the same period transmission costs went up 27%, distribution by 11% and retail costs by 17%. These components are independent of the carbon price, and account for the majority of hikes in retail electricity prices.
It’s worth remembering too that even without the carbon price, electricity prices are predicted to rise. Climate Change Authority
research suggests that without the carbon price, the rise would with be slightly smaller, with retail electricity prices just 6% lower. .http://theconversation.com/fact-check-will-scrapping-the-carbon-price-lower-electricity-prices-14408
Tony Abbott’s doubtful claim about axing Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation
Clean energy head disputes Abbott’s ‘green savings’ BY:LAUREN WILSON, The Australian May 18, 2013 A ROW has erupted over whether the Coalition could save money by axing the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, with the head of the green bank disputing Tony Abbott’s claims that about $400 million a year could be banked by abolishing the fund.
The opposition committed the Coalition, if elected in September, to scrapping the $10 billion CEFC, which provides commercial and concessional loans for companies investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs…..subscribers only http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/bank-head-disputes-abbotts-green-savings/story-e6frg9df-1226645636342
Obama’s 31,541,507 readers learn about Climate Change from Australian John Cook – of SKEPTICAL SCIENCE
http://www.skepticalscience.com/
Obama gives Aussie researcher 31,541,507 reasons to celebrate, SMH, May 17, 2013 Peter Hannam It’s the social media equivalent of hitting the jackpot: having your study tweeted by US President Barack Obama.
Australian researcher John Cook, an expert in climate change communication, was inundated with requests for interviews by US media outlets after Obama took to Twitter to endorse his project’s final report….. A survey of scientific papers by a team led by Mr Cook and published by Fairfax Media this week found more than 97 per cent of researchers endorsed the view that humans are to blame for global warming. The peer-reviewed outcome flies in the face of public perception in countries such as the US or Australia that scientists are divided on the issue.
“One of the highest predictors of how important people think climate change is, is cues from political leaders,” Mr Cook said. “So if the leaders don’t seem to care, people don’t care either. “A cue from Obama is a big step,” he said. “The fact it goes to more than 31 million followers, it just raises the awareness of consensus.”
That’s 31,541,507 followers, to be precise. Retweets recently stood at 1,746 with Twitter carrying a long stream of comments…….
Mr Cook’s timing was fortuitous. The Obama administration is battling Republicans in Senate who are opposed to the president’s nomination of Gina McCarthy to lead the country’s Environmental Protection Agency.
Without sufficient Congressional support for a price on carbon, Mr Obama has used the EPA as his main tool for trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for warming the planet.
Mr Cook said reports on the scientific consensus linking humans to climate change “tend to bounce around the echo chamber”.“Something like what Obama did really helps in getting that information out into the general public,” he said.
Bullying
While most of the interest has been positive, Mr Cook expects some negative attention from those who reject the scientific consensus – something that some academics have found to their dismay.
“Generally the level of hate you get is in proportion to the impact you have,” he said.
“There’s an increase in academic bullying where climate deniers are sending complaints to journals or the university … and this actually works. “I’ve have anecdotal examples of academics who are scared of that kind of reaction and who are playing things close to their chest – which is a real shame,” he said.: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/obama-gives-aussie-researcher-31541507-reasons-to-celebrate-20130517-2jqrh.html#ixzz2TgUixcG8
1 This month
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
– go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
Antinuclear 