Australian government very wrong to gut ARENA – climate change has health consequences
Fossil fuels are also the main drivers of climate change, which is already causing multiple health consequences, including deaths from heat stroke, dehydration, bushfires, floods, typhoons, storm surges, vector borne diseases, cardio-pulmonary diseases and allergies. All of these problems will worsen if we fail to curb global warming.
Comment: Gutting ARENA is just sick – renewable energy saves lives and health costs, The Australian Renewable Energy Agency will be gutted by a funding cut of $500 million. But it’s at odds with the government’s claims to be innovative and support jobs and growth. By David Shearman, SBS World News, 16 Sept 16
The Coalition, as expected, at best doesn’t understand the gravity of the need to transition to renewable energy, or at worst is being destructive, in line with the view of the new head of the Coalition’s environment and energy committee who has attacked subsidies for solar energy.
Labor’s position is also disappointing. It too either doesn’t understand the urgency of a transition or is giving in to political expediency given that renewables are the main plank of its policy.
ARENA is one of the most important mechanisms to aid Australia’s transition from fossil fuels and should be protected.
The mining, transport, and combustion of coal are contributors to air pollution which causes 3000 deaths a year in Australia from cardio respiratory diseases. This death toll is greater than that from road accidents.
Thousands suffer from illness due to the pollution afflicting our cities, ranging from asthma in children to obstructive airways disease in adults.
As doctors, it distresses us to see such suffering in our patients, even more so because the causes are preventable. It distresses us to see the re-emergence of Black Lung disease in young men in their quest to serve an industry that has to be replaced.
Findings indicate at best that coal-fired power generation has no economic value to the community. At worst the industry is a huge economic burden.
William Nordhaus, one of the most respected economists in the US, did a study of full cost accounting of the coal industry in the USA which was published in 2011 in the American Economic Review, the leading economics publication.
Coal-fired power generation was found to produce damages from 0.8 to 5.6 times its value added. In other words, the damage caused is worth at best 80 per cent of the net value of the industry and at worst 5.6 times greater.
The costs that make the industry an economic burden in the US are health costs. Those studies carried out in Australia show a similar picture.
Fossil fuels are also the main drivers of climate change, which is already causing multiple health consequences, including deaths from heat stroke, dehydration, bushfires, floods, typhoons, storm surges, vector borne diseases, cardio-pulmonary diseases and allergies. All of these problems will worsen if we fail to curb global warming. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/09/16/comment-gutting-arena-just-sick-renewable-energy-saves-lives-and-health-costs
Billionaire Twiggy Forrest fights uranium exploration on his cattle station land
Forrest appeals uranium bid
Billionaire Andrew Forrest has launched a battle to stop a junior uranium player exploring on his family cattle station…. (subscribers only)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/forrest-appeals-uranium-bid-at-family-cattle-station/news-story/50862f76c6e419b91345487d790e9fe8
Australian economy will still double with gradual phaseout of coal production
By Peter Ryan, 16 Sept 16 Australia’s economy would not be hurt by a gradual phasing out of coal production across the country, research suggests.The Australia Institute-commissioned study found there would be minimal economic impact if the Government imposed a moratorium on new coal mines or the expansion of existing ones.
It also concluded that the managed winding back of coal production as existing mines are depleted would be an economic blip, given the industry’s share of employment which represents 0.04 per cent of the Australian workforce.
It estimated the economy would grow regardless of a phasing out, with a difference of just 0.06 per cent in 2040.
Professor Philip Adams, who led the research at Victoria University’s Centre of Policy Studies, told the ABC’s AM program environmental policies to put a tax on carbon were effectively a tax on the use of coal.
“The world outlook for coal is fairly bleak. We don’t see much likelihood of strong market conditions for coal over the longer term,” Professor Adams said.
“Look the end of coal is nigh. The question is whether it’s nigh enough,” Mr Dennis told AM.
“The effect is a rounding error — it’s trivial. The Australian economy will still double in size in the coming decades…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-16/coal-death-would-not-kill-economy/7851260?section=environment
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 