Millions are being wasted on a commission dominated by pro-nuclear interests
Dennis Matthews 11 May 15 The energy and capital intensive, economically and environmentally disastrous, desalination plant fiasco (The Advertiser, 11/5/15) epitomises the mental bankruptcy of the South Australian Liberal-Labor duopoly.
Hard on the heels of the desalination disaster comes an equally desperate proposal by the Liberal-Labor duopoly – the expansion of the nuclear industry in South Australia. This capital intensive, environmentally and economically disastrous proposal comes at a time when South Australia could be capitalising on its natural advantage in renewable energy.
Millions are being wasted on a commission dominated by pro-nuclear interests whilst essential services such as regional hospitals are being closed thereby shifting health costs onto taxpayers in regional areas.
And amongst the ideas being discussed by the Scarce Commission is guess what – a nuclear powered desalination plant.
Talk about slow learners.
“Consensus”- a sneaky way of preventing action on climate change.
It sounds so good – so democratic and lovely – doesn’t it – CONSENSUS -?
In many circumstances, consensus IS good. However in science, it is not necessarily so.
What about medicine? If you are diagnosed with a particular disease – you might ask for a second, even third, medical opinion – but would you delay treatment until the whole of the general community agreed on diagnosis and treatment? If you did, you might well be dead before such agreement is reached.
All reputable scientific bodies world-wide accept that human-caused climate change is under way, and that action should be taken to limit this, and adapt to this threat to life on Earth. Surely it is prudent to heed their message?
But I am being churlish. For a long time, I have thought that the Earth is flat. I believe that I have the right to a University place on this – at least to have a Consensus Centre on this. I demand an equal hearing with the advocates of a spherical Earth.
University of Western Australia praised for ditching Bjorn Lomborg Consensus Centre
Students praise UWA for ditching controversial $4m Bjorn Lomborg Consensus Centre think tank ABC News 9 May 15 Students at the University of Western Australia (UWA) say the decision to can controversial Danish academic Bjorn Lomborg’s Australian Consensus Centre is a win for academic integrity and common sense.
The Australian Consensus Centre was going to be set up with the help of a $4 million Federal Government grant, but University Vice Chancellor Paul Johnson last night said the proposed centre was untenable and lacked academic support.
UWA student guild president Lizzy O’Shea said students were concerned about the impact the centre, inspired by self-proclaimed “sceptical environmentalist” Dr Lomborg, could have on the university’s reputation. “It’s a really good sign as far as community action goes that if enough people have mobilised against something, and don’t support it, that people will change their minds,” she said.
“The fact that we had international partners saying they wanted to pull out because of the association. So the reputational damage was probably the main complaint. Continue reading
Social media used by activists AND by corporate nuclear shills
Social media is a valuable start in environmental activism
a hashtag or a petition is a good start, but it must be followed up with engagement towards further action.
The hashtag crusaders, The Saturday Paper, MIKE SECCOMBE, 9 May 15 …….Should those concerned about effecting real progressive change worry that simple identity politics is supplanting real commitment?
Or have the means of expression simply changed? Maybe the hashtag is the digital age equivalent of the bumper sticker, and the online petition the equivalent of the street march. Maybe younger people are just as committed – in many cases marginally committed – as they ever were.
If that’s the case, the future for progressive change organisations is perhaps not so dire. Certainly more people respond to hashtags than ever put stickers on their cars. Proportionally, many more people have signed on to GetUp! petitions in Australia than rallied in Central Park in 1982.
“Change.org has 2.8 million people who have used their platform, so it’s not a small proportion of the population at all,” says Rebecca Wilson, deputy director of the Centre for Australian Progress, the organisation hosting the Melbourne conference……
On the other hand, she says: “Every organisation that has an email list will tell you their membership is heavily female and middle aged or older. So it’s partially true that it’s often older people engaging. But they have the time and the resources.”
The evidence is ambiguous. What is increasingly clear, though, is that while modern means of communication such as social media can be a powerful tool, they are not a substitute for more traditional means of activism. And those seeking change face the same old problem of turning short-term protest into long-term campaigning. Continue reading
New York worry after Explosion at Indian Point Power Plant
New York Nuclear Scare After Explosion at Indian Point Power Plant New Yorkers contemplated the pros and cons of nuclear energy again Sunday after an explosion at Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester. By: Hana Levi Julian, Jewish Press May 10th, 2015 “….The Indian Point nuclear power plant that provides 25 percent of the electric juice for the Big Apple and Westchester County went into “emergency response” late Saturday afternoon.
Billows of black smoke rose into the sky over the Indian Point nuclear power plant near Buchanan, New York.
A transformer failed, causing an explosion that ripped through the non-nuclear side of the plant. The blaze was just 200 yards away from the building in which the reactor was located.
Firefighters who rushed to the scene were able to extinguish the flames, Entergy spokesperson Jerry Nappi told CNN, adding that one of the plant’s two reactor units automatically shut down.
No one was injured in the fire and there was “no threat to the public safety at any time. All Indian Point emergency systems worked as designed,” the facility said in a tweet.
But the fire had to be extinguished twice, because the flames re-ignited. Even so, the fire was out within half an hour.
Governor Andrew Cuomo received a briefing on site and told reporters, “These situations we take very seriously. This is a nuclear powered plant; it’s nothing to be trifled with.”…….http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/new-york-nuclear-scare-after-explosion-at-indian-point-power-plant/2015/05/10/
France struggles to save AREVA from bankruptcy
Indebted French nuclear company Areva sacks workers, negotiates with Paris, Financial Review, 10 May 15 French nuclear group’s options narrow; Talks with EDF and state over costs of shake-up by Michael Stothard French nuclear group Areva is to cut 6,000 jobs over three years – 14 per cent of its global workforce – as options for a government-backed rescue package begin to narrow. Areva, which reported a €4.8bn loss last year, said it was also lowering wages for surviving staff in an attempt to deliver the bulk of a €1bn cost reduction target.
However, the state-controlled group, which has seen its equity capital fall to nearly zero after four years of losses, is continuing to negotiate a more radical restructuring plan with EDF and the French government.
People close to the discussions said that these talks now focus on just two remaining options, and a final decision will be made in the coming months.
Under a second, simpler, option – which people close to the talks say is preferred by the managements of Areva and EDF – only the smaller engineering business of Areva would be sold to EDF.This would keep Areva relatively intact. But with EDF paying only between €300m and €1bn, it would necessitate a much bigger capital contribution from the cash-strapped French government to Areva.
Desalination of water by cheap solar technology
Scientists are turning salt water into drinking water using solar power The world needs this. Science Alert BEC CREW 27 APR 2015 By inexpensively turning salt water into drinking water using sustainable solar power, a team from MIT in the US has not only come up with a portable desalination system for use anywhere in the world that needs it, but it’s just won the 2015 Desal Prize – a competition run by USAID to encourage better solutions to water shortages in developing countries.
In order to win the $140,000 prize, entries had to demonstrate how their invention not only works well, but is cost-effective, environmentally sustainable, and energy efficient. And the MIT researchers teamed up with US-based manufacturing company, Jain Irrigation Systems, to do just that.
The team’s invention works by using solar panels to charge a cache of batteries that power an electrodialysis machine that removes salt from the water and makes it perfectly drinkable. David L. Chandler explains for MIT News:………
They’re now hoping to expand their field tests to rural communities in developing countries, in the hopes that they can set them up as irrigation systems in small farms. “A solution with the potential to double recoverable water in an environment where water is becoming more precious by the day could have a huge impact,” environmental and civil engineer Susan Amrose from the University of California at Berkeley, who was not involved in the research, told MIT News. Sources: MIT News, Popular Science http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-turning-salt-water-into-drinking-water-using-solar-power?utm_content=buffer4a3b6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Christine Milne will continue her fight for action on climate change
I’m off to save planet, says Christine Milne
Christine Milne has shed more light on her resignation as leader of the Greens, revealing she believes there is no chance of immediate Australian action on climate change – her driving ambition – and that she must take the fight elsewhere….. (registered readers only)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/im-off-to-save-planet-says-christine-milne/story-e6frg6xf-1227347599830
New Study: 95% Renewable Power-Mix Cheaper Than Nuclear And Gas
#BustTheMyth – #RE_TOOL NOW !!! New Study: 95% Renewable Power-Mix Cheaper Than Nuclear And Gas http://rceezwhatsup.blogspot.com.au/2015/05/bustthemyth-retool-now-new-study-95.htmlThe cost to the consumer of the 100 % renewable scenario is more or less equal to a scenario close to today’s, with only 40 % renewables, a new French government study shows.
Dr Helen Caldicott’s dedicated campaign against the nuclear industry
The hashtag crusaders, The Saturday Paper MIKE SECCOMBE 9 May 15 How does ‘clicktivism’ stand up against the old-fashioned footslog of offline campaigning? Since she first set out on a course of social activism well over four decades ago, Helen Caldicott’s dedication to the anti-nuclear cause has taken her to some unusual places.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
