Bernie Fraser calls for political consensus on the inevitable costs of global warming
Climate change chairman attacks policy ‘flip-flopping’ and lack of consensus, Katharine Murphy deputy political editor theguardian.com, Wednesday 30 October 2013 Bernie Fraser criticises Abbott’s ‘extreme’ position and says policy reversals create uncertainty for investors Climate Change Authority chairman and former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser has criticised the lack of political consensus over climate change, arguing that rolling contention and policy “flip-flopping” is impeding Australia’s ability to deal with the inevitable costs and consequences of global warming.
Fraser told a briefing of reporters on Wednesday there was no current political consensus in Australia that the science of climate change was real, and he said policy reversals would only create uncertainty for private investors, who must do most of the “heavy lifting” in terms of investing in clean technology.
The Climate Change Authority on Wednesday concluded that Australia’s current 5% emissions reduction target was not credible, and proposed two potential alternatives: 15% or 25%. Fraser said the conclusions were not “doomsday scenarios”, they were an effort to point out that with such a slow start, Australia would not contribute a fair share to the global effort to reduce carbon pollution.
He also argued that the Abbott government’s current policy, to rely on domestic emissions reduction alone and not to purchase international carbon credits where that alternative was economically efficient, represented an “extreme” position.
Fraser said he did not intend his remarks to be provocative. He said the Climate Change Authority had no agenda beyond fulfilling its duty statement in “an objective and independent way”, and he said he anticipated a deal of community discussion about the findings and recommendations published on Wednesday.
“We are trying to provide independent advice in an objective way on what we think are important issues for the government and the community to be aware of,” he said…… http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/30/climate-change-chairman-attacks-flip-flopping
Need to scrutinise the World Health Organisation’s reports on Iraqi birth defects
It is shocking to see this report declare “no clear evidence” for any abnormality in rates of “spontaneous abortions”, “stillbirths”, or “congenital birth defects” anywhere in Iraq.
from “damning evidence” to “no clear evidence” – extensive data manipulation must have taken place. How and why the data was manipulated to render such drastically different results remains unknown to us.
The ultimate question to be answered is, how can this analysis, these results, and these conclusions be believed? In March, the same MoH reported “damning evidence” of a rise in Iraq birth defects. Now in September, this new report must be viewed with extreme caution if not with suspicion and disbelief.
‘No clear evidence’ for rise in Iraqi birth defects http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/09/2013915141726303111.html A March finding of ‘damning evidence’ in the increase in cancers and other health issues was reversed by a new report. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani 16 Oct 13,
This joint investigation was initiated following widespread public alarm over unusual increases in poor reproductive and birth outcomes in Iraq after the US-led invasion. Across Iraq, increasing numbers of birth defects appear to be surfacing, including in Mosul, Al-Ramadi, Najaf, Fallujah, Basra, Hawijah, and Baghdad. In some provinces, cancers also are rising. Sterility, repeated miscarriages, stillbirths and severe birth defects – some not found in any medical books – are reported widely.
This explains why many public health scientists awaited the release of the WHO/MoH report on birth defects in Iraq.
‘Damning evidence’ In a BBC documentary which aired in March 2013, “Born under a bad sign”, a senior official of the MoH speaking on camera, said, “All studies done by the Ministry of Health prove with damning evidence that there has been a rise in birth defects and cancers” in Iraq.
During the same interview, two other MoH researchers confirmed that the situation with cancers and birth defects constitute a “big crisis” for the “next generation” of Iraqi children. In fact one researcher, pointing to a colour bar chart, said that cancers and birth defects are increasing simultaneously in three areas. As she pointed to the peaks in the figure, she named these areas “Nineveh, Anbar and Najaf”. Continue reading
Fact checking Tony Abbott on his claims about power costs
- The claim: Tony Abbott says electricity and gas prices will drop by 9 per cent and 7 per cent once the carbon tax is abolished.
- The verdict: It is impossible to predict with precision. Many factors determine electricity and gas prices other than the carbon tax.
The precise figures Mr Abbott used in his claim are pure speculation.
Will abolishing the carbon tax reduce power bills? ABC News FACT CHECK, 31 Oct 13 After a three-year campaign to scrap the carbon tax, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has wasted no time in preparing legislation for its final destruction. He’s demanding that the Senate pass it by Christmas. To do that, Mr Abbott needs Labor’s support and that remains unclear. Continue reading
Climate change message from West Coast of USA and Canada
Climate change pact sends a message SF Gate, , October 29, 2013 Climate change may still be a taboo topic in Congress. But the West Coast of the United States – and Canada – is leading the charge to tackle the issue. The landmark climate change pact signed by the governors of California, Oregon and Washington, along with a representative of the premier of the province of British Columbia, may matter more as a political statement than hard policy statement.
But it’s an important statement nonetheless, and it lays the groundwork for the region to create the kind of tough policy that we’ll need to create in order to have an impact on global warming.
Crucially, it also lays the groundwork for regional policy – the kind of coordinated effort in which the U.S. has proved unwilling to join at the global level. This region is no slouch at the global level, either – combined, these three states and British Columbia represent the fifth largest economy in the world, with 53 million people and a combined annual GDP of $2.8 trillion. Under the Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy, the four governments have agreed to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions. They’ve also agreed to use similar rules for encouraging the adoption of electric cars and the development of alternative fuels. Sea acidification, another symptom of rising carbon dioxide levels, will also be studied and addressed……… If the region is successful in overcoming political obstacles and making a serious, sustained effort against climate change, that will inspire others to do the same. The impact of this plan would then become exponentially greater. http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Climate-change-pact-sends-a-message-4937510.php
Britain plans to subsidise nuclear power with very high cost to UK tax-payer
With the guaranteed price already well above what solar and wind power cost (and their costs continuously declining), the taxpayer commitment for this power plant is so crazily high that it seems this story should be coming from The Onion rather than reality.
The UK’s move to subsidize nuclear power to such an insane degree is simply astonishing.
Hinkley C Nuclear Power Plant To Get Twice The Rate As Solar PV From UK Government Clean Technica 30 Oct 13, In a demonstration of how out of touch the UK government is with public opinion, it intends to pay approximately twice as much for electricity from the proposed Hinkley C nuclear power plant near Bristol than is paid for electricity from solar power in Europe. With high public support for solar PV and low support for nuclear, that’s quite absurd. It’s also very absurd from an economic standpoint.
Dr David Toke of the University of Aberdeen writes: “Looming large over the UK Government’s EU state aid application for Hinkley C is the charge that this deal will distort the EU’s internal market, in particular to undercut solar pv arrays in Germany over 10 MW in size. Such arrays are no longer eligible to receive premium prices under the German feed-in tariff system. Such plant will only receive the wholesale electricity price, which is less than half the rates to be paid to Hinkley C.” Continue reading
Germany’s electricity utility moves from coal and nuclear to renewable energy
RWE’s “business of renewable energy will provide stable value contributions and remain the only area for growth 
investments”
Germany’s RWE looks for renewable energy push Eco News, 30 Oct 13 Germany’s major power producer RWE recently surprised by revealing it was departing from its traditional business model and would “create value by leading the transition to the future energy world”.
Now, RWE is looking for new ways to boost its renewable power business, including partnerships with investors, according to an internal document seen by Reuters Newsagency. Continue reading
Radioactive cesium in the oceans has been ignored for too long
“In terms of the ocean, this is definitely an environmental catastrophe, and it’s still ongoing,”
“though contamination in the most seriously affected areas has been worse than a lot of things that have gone in the past, conscientious testing of seafood can help prevent it from becoming a human health disaster as well.”
“It also shows us that we have to redouble our efforts to fully understand the health consequences of the testing period, because that will help us prepare for the future consequences of Fukushima.”
This article has a misleading title. The author does not “downplay” Fukushima radiation hazards. On the contrary, he is pointing out the seriousness of radioactive matter in the oceans, and how this has been ignored in the past
Scientists downplay Fukushima radiation hazards DW 25.10.2013 Julian Ryall, Tokyo Experts agree that the radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant is an “environmental catastrophe,” but it is only a fraction of the fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests carried out in the 1950s and 1960s, they say…….
Tokyo Electric Power Co. confirmed Tuesday that radioactive cesium had again been detected about one kilometer offshore from the Fukushima nuclear plant, crippled in March 2011 by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami that it triggered……
People forget that the world we live in already has a lot of cesium-137 in the environment,” Dr. Mitsuo Aoyama, senior scientist in the Oceanography and Geochemistry Department of the Japan Meteorological Research Institute, told DW…….
Dr. Aoyama’s studies show that by 1970, an estimated 290 petabecquerels – an alarming 29 followed by 15 zeroes – of cesium fallout was in the north Pacific ocean from atmospheric weapons tests……
an ongoing study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, based in Massachusetts, shows that in 1990 the rate in the Black Sea stood at 52 becquerels per cubic meter, at 55 in the Irish Sea – a legacy of problems at Britain’s Sellafield nuclear plant – and at 125 in the Baltic. Continue reading
Western Australia’s Liberal government over-rides City of Fremantle’s effort to limit plastic bags
Liberals and Nationals join forces to strike out law banning use of non degradable plastic bags http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-30/plastic-bags-legislation-fails-to-pass/5058188 30 Oct 2013, Liberal and Nationals MPs have joined forces in the Upper House to strike out a City of Fremantle law which bans the use of non degradable plastic bags in shops.
Fremantle Council passed the law, which bans single-use plastic shopping bags, in January but had been waiting on advice before implementing it.The Upper House last night debated whether it was appropriate for the council to impose such a ban, and National and Liberal MPs voted against it.
Fremantle MP Simone McGurk says it is a lost opportunity. “It’s disappointing that the Upper House of the State Parliament has voted to disallow this initiative by the City of Fremantle to limit plastic bags within its boundaries,” she said.
“What it also would have done is given us a good trial to see how that would have worked in Western Australia.”
Labor and the Greens voted to keep the local law.
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