VIDEO and AUDIO Climate Council links NSW bushfires to climate change
“Of course, the link then to climate change is we now have a hotter climate in general than we had 50 years ago.
“There is more heat in the atmosphere because of the additional greenhouse gases that humans have put into the atmosphere. So that sort of link is really straightforward to make.
VIDEO and AUDIO Climate Council links NSW bushfires to climate change ABC Radio VIDEO: Professor Will Steffen speaks to the media (ABC News) AUDIO: Listen to the full story here (The World Today) The World Today By Simon Lauder and staff 25 Oct 2013, As the Federal Government continues to reject claims that recent bushfires are linked with 
climate change, a report by scientists has stirred the debate further by saying the two are indeed linked.
The Climate Council, which was called the Climate Commission before it was recently de-funded by the Coalition Government, says climate change is increasing the probability of extreme fire weather days and is lengthening the fire season.
When questioned about it this morning, Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said there was “no debate” about the science and he said it 
was unfortunate that some people have used the New South Wales bushfire situation to make a political point.
Climate scientists say facts must be put on the table
The group of climate scientists, including Professor Will Steffen from the Australian National University, says with a lot of misinformation about, the facts need to be put on the table.
Professor Steffen was part of the Climate Commission, which was set up by the former Labor government to provide scientific information about climate change.
It was dismantled by the Coalition, but its members sought public donations to continue their work and now call themselves the Climate Council.
Australia’s Prime Minister Abbott says climate-bushfire link is ‘complete hogwash’
Climate and fires link ‘hogwash’: PM HERALD SUN AAP OCTOBER 25, 2013 PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has described attempts to link the NSW bushfires with climate change as “complete hogwash”, as Australian scientists warn there is a clear connection between global warming and the probability of extreme fire days……
Mr Abbott ramped up the rhetoric on Friday, dismissing suggestions that climate change was behind the bushfire crisis.
“That is complete hogwash,” he told News Limited.
“I suppose, you might say, that they are desperate to find anything that they think might pass as ammunition for their cause.”
He said it was “bizarre” people were drawing parallels between the two, given there had been worse fires in Australian history, stretching back to the earliest days of European settlement. Mr Abbott said the longer the period of time, the greater the likelihood of extreme weather events, and broken records didn’t prove anything about climate change.
The prime minister earlier this week accused UN climate chief Christiana Figueres of “talking through her hat” by suggesting the fires were the result of global warming….
Greens leader Christine Milne said Mr Abbott was continuing to make a laughing stock of Australia on the world stage by ignoring the climate science. “It would be laughable if it were not so serious,” she said in a statement. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said he believed climate change was fundamentally linked to human activity, but didn’t want to speculate on the fires while people’s homes were still on the line. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/climate-and-fires-link-hogwash-pm/story-fni0xqi4-1226746632119
Important statement on radiation, by United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation
Radiation can pose bigger cancer risk for children – UN study http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/25/us-nuclear-radiation-children-idUKBRE99O0M820131025 VIENNA | Fri Oct 25, 2013 (Reuters) by Fredrik Dahl- Infants and children can be more at risk than adults of developing some cancers when exposed to radiation, for example from nuclear accidents, a U.N. scientific report said on Friday. Children were found to be more sensitive than adults for the development of 25 percent of tumor types including leukemia, and thyroid, brain and breast cancer, it said.
“The risk
can be significantly higher, depending on circumstances,” theUnited Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) added in a statement. UNSCEAR said it began working on the report in 2011, the same year as Japan‘s Fukushima nuclear accident, although the world’s worst such disaster in 25 years was not mentioned in the statement. The committee said in May that cancer rates were not expected to rise after the Fukushima accident.
Studies into the 1986 accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine have, however, linked thyroid cancer to radioactive iodine. The thyroid is the most exposed organ as radioactive iodine concentrates there. Children are deemed especially vulnerable.
Friday’s report, presented to the U.N. General Assembly, said children and adults should be considered separately following exposure in order to predict risk more accurately. Continue reading
France urged to reveal true state of Mururoa Atoll
Paris Urged To Release Information On Moruroa Atoll http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2013/October/10-25-08.htm
French Polynesia Greens want to know about risks of collapse WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Oct. 24, 2013) – The Greens in French Polynesia are urging Paris to give information about the risks of Moruroa atoll collapsing.
The former nuclear weapons test site is a no-go zone, which France has kept despite promising to return it to French Polynesia after the end of the testing regime in 1996.
France is refusing access to independent monitors while saying the chance of a collapse is practically nil.
A spokesperson for the Greens in Tahiti, Olivier Champion, says France has a record of lying about the tests and their effects, and many fear a Fukushima-like disaster is possible.”Transparency, of course, and another thing, a plan what to do in case of… if the reef barrier of Moruroa and Fangataufa is collapsing, what is the plan? What can we do? How can we react?”
Olivier Champion says the chain of command via France is so long that a possible tsunami would hit nearby atolls before a local warning is issued.
He says nuclear contamination could imperil the livelihood of vast areas of the Pacific. Radio New Zealand International: www.rnzi.com
The Age calls Tony Abbott and Greg Hunt ‘reckless’ about climate change
Age Editorial: Abbott and Hunt reckless on climate
The question is not whether to believe there is a problem, but what to do about it.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/abbott-and-hunt-reckless-on-climate-20131025-2w78a.html
John Coulter on who will be held responsible for bushfires and global warming
John Coulter: Bushfires and global warming: where the responsibility will lie
For more than thirty years scientists have been warning that one of the prominent features of climate change, apart from warming, will be increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15611
Solar households to be charged higher electricity costs? PETITION LAUNCHED!
Petition Against Potential Australian ‘Sun Tax’ Launched http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3997 25 Oct 13 Following news of a potential threat to Australian solar households in the form of higher electricity network charges; a petition has been launched to oppose any such move. Rumblings began earlier this week when a mainstream media outlet published what appeared to be an amped up translation of the AEMC’s latest report on strategic priorities for energy market development.
Regardless, even the potential of a so-called “sun tax” is sending ripples through the one-million plus strong ranks of solar households in this country.
“Yet again we see ordinary Australians who have invested hard earned money in going solar being scapegoated,” Lindsay Soutar, National Director of Solar Citizens says. “It is now widely understood that the main cost driver of energy price rises is over-investment in network poles and wires – not solar.”
Solar Citizens, a community campaign advocating for the rights of solar owners and supporters, launched the petition just a few hours ago. It has already gathered more than 2,500 signatures; with 1,253 of those occurring in just over the first hour.
Solar Citizens questions if the AEMC could be “bowing to big power companies who don’t want to see Australians take back power into their own hands.” “These power companies are crying blue murder over the rise of solar, while barely making a peep about other major drivers of prices increase – in particular the substantial take up of air conditioning,” says Ms. Soutar.
Ms. Soutar states any moves to tax the sun would be met with strong community resistance. While many would agree electricity pricing reform is an urgent issue for Australia, national solar provider Energy Matters believes solar is part of the solution and has offered a series of suggestions with regard to what it considers would constitute real and fair electricity pricing reform.
AUDIO: The role of Aboriginal fire management in preventiing bushfires
AUDIO: What role may traditional Indigenous methods of fire management have in preventing bushfires, and could they be applied across Australia? .http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/10/25/what-role-indigenous-methods-fire-management By Santilla Chingaipe and Andi Yu Source World News Australia Radio
Can traditional Indigenous methods of fire management help prevent catastrophic bushfires?
That’s an argument being raised again, as the bushfire season gets underway.
But there those cautioning that while traditional methods may be useful in some areas, they can’t be applied across Australia.
Santilla Chingaipe has more. Continue reading
Free renewable energy information night – Orange NSW October 30
Renewable energy growth explodes http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/story/1865178/renewable-energy-growth-explodes/?cs=102By Simon Wright Oct. 26, 2013
THE Central NSW Renewable Energy Co-op is holding a one hour information session next Wednesday at 7.30pm at the environmental learning facility at Orange Showgrounds.
They will discuss the economic, social and environmental benefits of renewable energy. Everyone is invited to attend, there is no cost and refreshments will be served. Continue reading
The plight of Fukushima’s “gypsy” radiation workers
Radiation, desperation and gangsters: Inside the hidden tragedy of Fukushima The Globe and Mail , 25 Oct 13 ANTONI SLODKOWSKI AND MARI SAITO IWAKI — Reuters , Oct. 25 2013 Tetsuya Hayashi went to Fukushima to take a job at ground zero of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. He lasted less than two weeks.
Hayashi, 41, says he was recruited for a job monitoring the radiation exposure of workers leaving the plant in the summer of 2012. Instead, when he turned up for work, he was handed off through a web of contractors and assigned, to his surprise, to one of Fukushima’s hottest radiation zones.
He was told he would have to wear an oxygen tank and a double-layer protective suit. Even then, his handlers told him, the radiation would be so high it could burn through his annual exposure limit in just under an hour.
“I felt cheated and entrapped,” Hayashi said. “I had not agreed to any of this.” Continue reading
VIDEO: Prime Minister Abbott sitting on a barbed wire fence, about climate change
PM a climate fence sitter? (11:06) http://media.theage.com.au/news/national-times/pm-a-climate-fence-sitter-4855111.html
Climate Institute chief John Connor sees Prime Minister Abbott as straddling a global warming ‘barbed wire fence’, after the PM dismissed claims of a link between bushfires and climate change.
New typhoon threat to stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant
TV: Powerful typhoon bearing down on Japan — Prolonged heavy rainfall for Fukushima, and “the tanks are full” — “Potentially devastating interaction” with Typhoon Lekima, now a Category 5 (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-powerful-typhoon-bearing-down-on-japan-prolonged-heavy-rainfall-for-fukushima-and-the-tanks-are-full-potentially-devastating-interaction-with-typhoon-lekima-now-a-category-5-v
NHK News Flash, , Oct. 23, 2013: The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is racing to secure storage space for tainted rainwater as another typhoon bears down on the Japanese archipelago SOURCE: Japan Meteorological Agency
Xinhua, Oct. 23, 2013: […] super typhoon named Francisco [is] following a similar trajectory to Wipha and likely to make landfall on Friday or Saturday. The JMA has issued official […] advisories for all areas along the east coast […] expert meteorologist Nobuaki Hiramatsu said Wednesday that Francisco […] remained “very strong” and its slow moving pace means that heavy rainfall is expected for a prolonged period of time, which will hamper the Fukushima nuclear power plant’s efforts to contain rainwater […] Hiramatsu said that Lekima […] could effect Francisco’s trajectory […] meteorologists expect the two typhoons to at least come into close proximity with each other if not merge in a potentially devastating interaction known as the “Fujiwara Effect.” The JMA said in a recent statement that Lekima underwent a rapid deepening into a category 5 typhoon […] the “Fujiwara Effect” is, if it occurs, likely to cause severe flooding in many parts of Japan, with tropical-storm force winds likely to easily top 170 km/h. Many parts of Japan will experience a significant increase in surf, rip currents, heavy rain, and gusty winds by the end of the week, the JMA said in its advisory […]
Typhoon Lekima, Oct.. 23 at 17:30 UTC
NHK World, Oct. 23, 2013: Fukushima plant struggles with typhoon threat […] another powerful typhoon approaches. [TEPCO] has begun moving the rainwater into underground pools once deemed too leaky. […] with Typhoon Francisco set to hit Japan’s mainland over the weekend, the tanks are full. Japan’s nuclear regulator has approved moving the tainted water to 3 underground pools. […] TEPCO stopped using the pools after similar models leaked in April. The utility now says it has no other option but to use them. The utility also says it found 140,000 becquerels per liter of Beta-ray emitting radioactivity in an onsite ditch on Wednesday. The radioactivity has doubled since the previous day. Watch the NHK broadcast here
AUDIO: Marshall Islands angry at Tony Abbott’s dismissal of climate change-bushfire link
AUDIO: Marshall Islands angered by Australian PM Tony Abbott’s dismissal of climate change link to bushfires http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/an-marshalls-bushfires/5044714 The Marshall Islands Government is unhappy at Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s dismissal of 
a link between the bushfires in New South Wales, and climate change……Senator Tony de Brum, the Minister in Assistance to the Marshall Islands President, said while it is difficult to tie any one event to climate change, his country is concerned at Mr Abbott’s dismissal of the issue…….”We’ve been watching the fires in Australia over the past few years and can say that we’ve been impressed with their ferocity and the threat that they project to our friends in that part of the world,” he told Pacific Beat.
“But I don’t think that we should just wave this thing off as something that is natural to Australia and is part of life in Australia and therefore not connected in any way to climate change.”
Senator de Brum said Australia should first be looking inward to what it is doing to fight against the impact of climate change.
“Just last month with the blessing of the new Environment Minister Greg Hunt, the Australian Government committed to being a climate leader by supporting the Majuro Declaration for climate leadership – this was the key outcome of the Pacific Island Forum,” he said.
“Australia should step up and be a leader in climate change and not be a laggard.”
AUDIO: Australia’s Prime Minister and Environment Minister talking through their hats on climate change?
Hunt disputes fire link to climate change http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/10/24/hunt-disputes-fire-link-climate-change
The federal government is continuing to play down claims of links between bushfires in Australia and climate change. By Santilla Chingaipe World News Australia Radio The federal government is continuing to play down claims of links between bushfires in Australia and climate change.
It comes amid international claims of such a link. But questions are also being asked whether the debate should be held amid the current New South Wales bushfire crisis.
Earlier this week, the United Nations climate chief, Christiana Figueres said it was clear bushfires were absolutely linked to climate change.
She told CNN, after watching footage of the New South Wales fires, it showed the need for action to combat climate change.
“The WMO, the World Meteorological Organisation, has not established the direct link between this wildfire and climate change yet. But what is absolutely clear is the science is telling us that there are increasing heat waves in Asia, Europe, and in Australia – that these will continue, that they will continue in their intensity, and in their frequency. So what we have just seen on the screen is an example of what we may be looking at unless we take actually vigorous action.”
Speaking to Melbourne’s 3AW, Prime Minister Tony Abbott accused Ms Figueres of talking through her hat.
Greg Hunt and what Wikipedia actually does say about climate change and bushfires
Greg Hunt uses Wikipedia research to dismiss links between climate change and bushfires October 23, 2013 Esther Han, Judith IrelandEnvironment Minister Greg Hunt has hosed down suggestions of a link between climate change and increased bushfire intensity, saying he had ”looked up what Wikipedia” said and it was clear that bushfires in Australia were frequent events that had occurred during hotter months since before European settlement.
Wildfires become more pervasive and dangerous
His comments come as scientists, environment groups and politicians have raised concerns, in the wake of massive bushfires in New South Wales, that the increasing extreme weather events are linked to climate change…..
The head of the UN’s climate change negotiations, Christiana Figueres, and former US vice-president and climate change activist Al Gore have this week both weighed into the debate, criticising the Abbott government over its moves to scrap the carbon price. They also said the evidence was clear that extreme weather would be more frequent as the planet warmed.
She noted that the World Meteorological Organisation had not yet established a direct link between the NSW fires and climate change. Mr Hunt and Ms Figueres spoke by telephone overnight after Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday rejected Ms Figueres’ assessment that a clear link existed between bushfires and climate change, saying she was ”talking through her hat”.
On Monday, Ms Figueres had told CNN that the Coalition government would pay a high political and financial price for its decision to scrap carbon pricing. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/greg-hunt-uses-wikipedia-research-to-dismiss-links-between-climate-change-and-bushfires-20131023-2w1w5.html#ixzz2ilagdbdT
AND WHAT WIKIPEDIA ACTUALLY DOES SAY
Climate change Australia’s climate has been trending toward more bushfire weather over the last 30 years.[18] The Climate Commission found that “The intensity and seasonality of large bushfires in south-east Australia appears to be changing, with climate change a possible contributing factor.”[19]
A 2006 report by the Bushfire CRC identified South Eastern Australia as one of the 3 most fire-prone areas in the world,[20] and concluded that an increase in fire-weather risk is likely at most sites over the next several decades, including the average number of days when the Forest Fire Danger Index rating is very high or extreme. It also found that the combined frequencies of days with very high and extreme FFDI ratings are likely to increase 4-25% by 2020 and 15-70% by 2050, and that the increase in fire-weather risk is generally largest inland.[21]
The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report due to be released in 2014 warns that Australia’s very high and extreme fire danger days will increase by up to 30% by 2020, and up to 100% by 2050.[22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 