Outside of the exclusion zone, Shirakawa city, Fukushima: 1-3 µSv/h
Aug 17th, 017. From Mrs. Hiroko Tsuzuki:
“Shirakawa City. Fukushima Prefecture. All over my hometown, former residence, public school, High School, Bus Stops. 1-3 µSv/h.”
97.1 km from Fukushima Daiichi. Way outside of the “evacuation zone” so they have no recourse.
As climate change intensifies, Australia’s farmers will be hard hit
Climate change will hit our farmers harder and hotter https://www.qt.com.au/news/climate-change-will-hit-our-farmers-harder-and-hot/3216205/ Geoff Egan | 25th Aug 2017 A LEADING commodity trader has warned increasingly common extreme and volatile weather conditions will cause havoc for Queensland’s agricultural producers.
Commodities trader Jonathan Barratt has warned record wet and dry periods will become more common as climate change intensifies and will dramatically impact primary producers.
Mr Barratt said July 2017 was the driest July in 118 years – and as a result of climate change similar records were being set more often.
“The volatility we have experienced in the climate in the last three years has been unprecedented. I have been predicting that climate change will shift regional weather patterns and that adverse events not only occur but be more frequent. Now it’s happening,” he said.
“The combined deficits of rain and higher than normal temperatures in some areas this season have sapped what moisture profiles farmers had and, as some growers close the chequebook on crops, others are contemplating if it is worth adding another layer of costs to an already thirsty crop.”
Mr Barratt’s warning comes just days after University of NSW research found farmland would get drier and cities flood more often under climate change.
The research paper found as global temperatures rise more evaporation would occur from moist soils in farming lands, drying them out quickly. In contrast, urban areas with more limited exposed expanses of soil would retain the moisture and become vulnerable to intense rain events.
UNSW researcher Conrad Wasko said the change was a “double whammy”.
“People are increasingly migrating to cities, where flooding is getting worse. At the same time, we need adequate flows in rural areas to sustain the agriculture to supply these burgeoning urban populations,” he said.
Why climate change’s 2 degrees Celsius of warming limit is important
Why is climate change’s 2 degrees Celsius of warming limit so important? The Conversation, Professor of Practice in Meteorology, Professor of International Affairs & Director Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, Pennsylvania State University, August 23, 2017
If you read or listen to almost any article about climate change, it’s likely the story refers in some way to the “2 degrees Celsius limit.” The story often mentions greatly increased risks if the climate exceeds 2°C and even “catastrophic” impacts to our world if we warm more than the target.
Recently a series of scientific papers have come out and stated that we have a 5 percent chance of limiting warming to 2°C, and only one chance in a hundred of keeping man-made global warming to 1.5°C, the aspirational goal of the 2015 Paris United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference. Additionally, recent research shows that we may have already locked in 1.5°C of warming even if we magically reduced our carbon footprint to zero today………
This short history makes it clear that the goal evolved from the qualitative but reasonable desire to keep changes to the climate within certain bounds: namely, within what the world had experienced in the relatively recent geological past to avoid catastrophically disrupting both human civilization and natural ecosystems.
Climate scientists subsequently began supporting the idea of a limit of 1°C or 2°C starting over three decades ago. They showed the likely risks increase with temperatures over 1°C, and those risks grow substantially with additional warming.
And if we miss the target?
Perhaps the most powerful aspect about the 2°C threshold is not its scientific veracity, but its simplicity as an organizing principle.
The climate system is vast and has more dynamics, parameters and variations in space and time than is possible to quickly and simply convey. What the 2°C threshold lacks in nuance and depth, it more than makes up as a goal that is understandable, measurable and may still be achievable, although our actions will need to change quickly. Goals and goal-setting are very powerful instruments in effecting change.
While the 2°C threshold is a blunt instrument that has many faults, similar to attempting to judge a quarterback’s value to his team solely by his rating, its ability to rally 195 countries to sign an agreement should not be discounted
Ultimately, what should we do if we cannot make the 1.5°C or 2°C limit? The most current IPCC report shows the risks, parsed by continent, of a 2°C world, and how they are part of a continuum of risk extending from today’s climate to a 4°C.
Most of these risks are assessed by the IPCC to increase in steady fashion. That is, for most aspects of climate impacts we do not “fall off a cliff” at 2°C, although considerable damage to coral reefs and even agriculture may increase significantly around this threshold.
Like any goal, the 2°C limit should be ambitious but achievable. However, if it is not met, we should do everything we can to meet a 2¼°C or 2.5°C goal.
These goals can be compared to the speed limits for trucks we see on a mountain descent. The speed limit (say 30 mph) will allow trucks of any type to descend with a safety margin to spare. We know that coming down the hill at 70 mph likely results in a crash at the bottom.
In between those two numbers? The risk increases – and that’s where we are with climate change. If we can’t come down the hill at 30 mph, let’s try for 35 or 40 mph. Because we know that at 70 mph – or business as usual – we will have a very bad outcome, and nobody wants that. https://theconversation.com/why-is-climate-changes-2-degrees-celsius-of-warming-limit-so-important-82058
Western Australia Shire of Leonora keen to make money by hosting radioactive trash
Leonora lobbies for nuclear waste dump in its backyard ABC Goldfields By Jarrod Lucas 18 Aug 17 Leonora in WA’s northern Goldfields is putting together a bid for an outback repository to store radioactive waste.
The Federal Government’s decade-long search for a national radioactive waste management facility appears far from over.
This has provided a window of opportunity for the Shire of Leonora to press its case again to host a national repository for waste arising from medical, industrial and scientific use.
Leonora looked to have missed its chance in November 2015 when it was left off a short-list of six sites, five of which have since been ruled out by the government.
On that occasion, the Shire put together a last-minute bid, nominating about 81 hectares of freehold land owned by Councillor Glenn Baker.
An application for an exploration license for a new site, north-west of Leonora, is currently being assessed by multiple State Government departments.
Shire of Leonora president Peter Craig conceded there were no guarantees the new site would receive state approval.
But he said the Council believed the waste dump was an opportunity worth pursuing.
“It’s a long-term prospect – we’re certainly putting ourselves out there there’s no doubt about that,” Mr Craig said. “We feel going forward there’s a lot of opportunities, money to be made.”
….He said the repository would be built underground and the Goldfields mining industry is perfectly placed to build it.
“We’re probably going to have some opposition from the State Government I would imagine, but at the end of the day, the Federal government would more than likely overrule it if the land is in a location which is suitable.”…… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-18/remote-wa-town-wants-radioactive-waste-dump-in-its-backyard/8821240
Top-secret base Pine Gap might involve Australians in drone strikes on innocent civilians
Fear Pine Gap role could lead to Australian war crime prosecutions, 9 News, By Richard Wood Aug 21, 2017 Australians directing US-led drone strikes from the top-secret base Pine Gap base, near Alice Springs, could face war crime prosecution if innocent civilians are killed.
Climate change and infectious diseases
The pathogen with the highest sensitivity to climate factors was Vibrio cholera, the microbe that causes the serious, and often deadly, diarrheal disease, cholera. Cholera had nine climate drivers, indicating high volatility in the face of climate change.
These Infections Are Likely to Get Worse as the Climate Changes, Invisiverse, BY CYNTHIA WALLENTINE, 08/23/2017
When the climate changes, so do all the things that rely on the climate, including people, plants, and pathogens. A European study recently took a broad look at what kind of microorganisms are most likely to be affected as climate change heats, cools, dries, and wets the world around us.
In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, a research team from the University of Liverpool performed a broad assessment of how factors of climate change impact pathogens that make humans and animals sick. By understanding which microorganisms are more sensitive to environmental change, we have a better idea of how infection rates might change as the environment grows progressively less stable.
What Are Climate Drivers?
Exxon Mobil Corp deliberately misled public on climate change
Exxon accused by Harvard researchers of misleading public on climate change, ABC News 24 Aug 17 Two Harvard University researchers say they have collected data proving Exxon Mobil Corp made “explicit factual misrepresentations” in newspaper ads it purchased to convey its views on the oil industry and climate science.
In an article in the journal Environmental Research Letters, researchers Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes said they examined 187 documents, including internal memos, peer-reviewed papers by Exxon scientists and “advertorials” that ran in The New York Times — paid advertisements in the style of opinion pieces.
The researchers said they used a social science analysis method to turn statements in the documents into data points that could be counted and compared to each other.
Exxon ‘consistently asserted doubt’ on climate change
Mr Supran and Ms Oreskes said as early as 1979, Exxon scientists acknowledged burning fossil fuels was adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and causing global temperatures to rise, but they said the company’s position in newspaper ads remained significantly different by consistently asserting doubt about climate science.
The study was funded by the Rockefeller family philanthropies, which previously supported a campaign to prove Exxon knew more than it publicly admitted about climate change.
That campaign used the slogan #ExxonKnew…..
Ms Oreskes said the Rockefeller family funding did not affect the study’s outcome.
She said the impetus for the study came from Exxon’s responses to reports in InsideClimate News and The Los Angeles Times in September 2015 and October 2015, respectively, that Exxon’s scientists had long known of the dangers fossil fuels posed to the earth’s climate…..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-24/exxon-climate-change-misled-public-harvard-researchers-say/8837894
Climate change really IS serious – it’s affecting the supply of WINE!
Climate change is real. Maybe once it comes for our vino, more people will get on board with trying to slow it.
Climate change is about to mess with your wine supply, so yes, things are very serious http://hellogiggles.com/climate-change-is-about-to-mess-with-your-wine-supply/Karen Fratti August 24, 2017 Most of us know that climate change is an ongoing problem, but it can be hard to see the direct effects of it in our daily lives. Unless you study the populations of animals that are suffering due to it or are a farmer, the change is definitely incremental enough to ignore. But climate change is already affecting wine production, so maybe more people will notice what is going on a little sooner than expected. Because whether you can experience the effects of climate change or not, it’s happening.
A reality check on the situation of North Korea
North Korea also has the collective memory of the horror wrought by the US in the three year conflict on a country then with a population of just 9.6 million souls. US General Curtis Lemay in the aftermath stated: “After destroying North Korea’s seventy eight cities and thousands of her villages, and killing countless numbers of her civilians … Over a period of three years or so we killed off – what – twenty percent of the population.”
North Korea, An Aggressor? A Reality Check http://www.globalresearch.ca/north-korea-an-aggressor-a-reality-check/5605534, By Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, August 24, 2017
“ … war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children.”(Howard Zinn, 1922-2010.)
“All war represents a failure of diplomacy.” (Tony Benn, MP. 1925-2014.)
“No country too poor, too small, too far away, not to be threat, a threat to the American way of life.” (William Blum, “Rogue State.”)
The mention of one tiny country appears to strike at the rationality and sanity of those who should know far better. On Sunday, 6th August, for example, The Guardian headed an editorial: “The Guardian view on sanctions: an essential tool.” Clearly the average of five thousands souls a month, the majority children, dying of “embargo related causes” in Iraq, year after grinding year – genocide in the name of the UN – for over a decade has long been forgotten by the broadsheet of the left.
This time of course, the target is North Korea upon whom the United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to freeze, strangulate and deny essentials, normality, humanity. Diplomacy as ever, not even a consideration. The Guardian, however, incredibly, declared the decimating sanctions: “A rare triumph of diplomacy …” (Guardian 6th August 2017.)
As US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, the US’ top “diplomat” and his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho headed for the annual Ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Manila on 5th August, a State Department spokesperson said of Tillerson:
“The Secretary has no plans to meet the North Korean Foreign Minister in Manila, and I don’t expect to see that happen”
Pathetic. In April, approaching his hundredth day in office, Trump said of North Korea:
“We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult.”
No it is not. Talk, walk in the other’s psychological shoes. Then, there they were at the same venue but the Trump Administration clearly does not alone live in a land of missed opportunities, but of opportunities deliberately buried in landfill miles deep. This in spite of his having said in the same statement:
“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely.”
A bit of perspective: 27th July 2017 marked sixty four years since the armistice agreement that ended the devastating three year Korean war, however there has never been a peace treaty, thus technically the Korean war has never ended. Given that and American’s penchant for wiping out countries with small populations which pose them no threat (think most recently, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya) no wonder North Korea wishes to look as if it has some heavy protective gear behind the front door, so to speak. Continue reading
Australia’s religious leaders unite to oppose Adani coal mine expansion
The Adani coalmine will hasten a climate catastrophe. As faith leaders, we must act
A Buddhist leader has told environment minister Josh Frydenberg he would stand in front of machinery if digging started. All people of faith should join him, Guardian, Jonathan Keren-Black and Tejopala Rawls, 23 Aug 17
Earlier in August, six faith leaders met Australia’s environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg. Our group included Bishop Philip Huggins, the president of the National Council of Churches, a Uniting Church reverend, a rabbi, a Catholic nun and an ordained Buddhist. This is not the start of a joke, but a polite and serious exchange.
It might seem that religion has little to do with the environment or energy. Yet each of us at the meeting wanted to raise a matter that, when we consider the deepest values of our respective traditions, is of grave moral concern: the proposed Adani coalmine. We were there to ask the minister to revoke its environmental licence.
The delegation reminded the minister that a number of faith leaders from across Australia wrote him an open letter about it on 5 May, to which he had not yet replied.
Around the world a great many people of faith are deeply concerned about the climate crisis. Continue reading
Little hope for humanity with Trump at the wheel in USA
What hope is there for humanity? The answer must be: none, Canberra Times, Julian Cribb, 25 Aug 17, The day foreseen by US journalist HL Mencken when the White House is ‘adorned by a downright moron’ seems, on the face of the accumulating evidence, to have dawned. Regrettably this person has his finger on a certain button.
Why Americans are not more alarmed about this can only be attributed to the very poor level of scientific literacy in what is, to all intents and purposes, the world’s foremost scientific society. How Americans can be so great at science yet, in aggregate, understand so little about it, is a question for the Ages. Unfortunately, the Ages will probably not have the leisure to debate it.
The missing bit of information is that a nuclear war, even a small one, could eliminate most of civilisation, Americans (even those with well-stocked fallout shelters) included.
It is still an obscure historical detail that all-out nuclear Armageddon between the USSR and USA was avoided, in the 1980s, by some rather brave scientists sticking out their necks to warn Reagan and Gorbachev that their calculations had revealed that “a nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought”, as Reagan summarised it in his Address to the Nation (1984).
These scientists had worked out that – regardless of fireball, blast and radiation – the amount of dust and smoke thrown into the atmosphere by the unleashing of multiple nuclear warheads would chill the planet by several degrees for several years, causing massive crop-killing frosts which would destroy the food supply for just about everyone worldwide.
But, to be brutally frank, how many of the countries are run by someone who is completely sane, and doesn’t suffer from some wild, obsessional hatred for some other branch of humanity?
Thus, the real problem emerges. There are, and will be, innumerable idiots with their finger on a button potent enough to destroy all or most of the 7.5 billion human inhabitants of Earth. The conjunction between nuclear firepower and mental incapacity is unavoidable.
Trump alone, we are told, commands the potential first-strike launch of 900 nuclear weapons – 9-18 times enough to eliminate civilisation. Then he has another 6000 nukes in varying states of readiness to support his initial misjudgement. So the Donald, if he has a bad night’s viewing, can – in theory at least – take out human civilisation 50 times over…
The New York Times recently published a mocking article contrasting Trump with the mad Roman Emperor Caligula, unfavourably to Trump. But Caligula, whatever his bloodlust, never wielded the power to eliminate civilisation, not even his own. Americans, in their naivety, have awarded that power to their present chief…..
like Americans, a third of the world’s countries simply do not grasp the remorseless scientific logic of human extinction. Their education, imagination or simple common sense, does not encompass it. They have no intuition of what global famine, societal disintegration, mass cannibalism and infanticide might look like. So, they block out the issue.
This, alack, does not abolish it.
Only wisdom can do that.
Ban all nukes, their materials and technology. Ban them now. Ban them everywhere. Ban them forever.
Julian Cribb is an Australian science writer and author of Surviving the 21st Century (Springer 2017) http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/what-hope-is-there-for-humanity-the-answer-must-be-none-20170822-gy1b1i.html
Economists find the Finkel Clean Energy Target plan ‘better than nothing’
Finkel’s Clean Energy Target plan ‘better than nothing’: economists poll The Conversation, Director, Carbon and Energy Markets., Victoria University, August 25, 2017 Few topics have attracted as much political attention in Australia over the past decade as emissions reduction policy.Amid mounting concern over electricity price increases across Australia and coinciding with blackouts in South Australia and near-misses in New South Wales, the Australian government asked Chief Scientist Alan Finkel to provide a blueprint for reform of the electricity industry, in a context in which emissions reduction policy was an underlying drumbeat.
In a new poll of the ESA Monash Forum of leading economists, a majority said that Finkel’s suggested Clean Energy Target was not necessarily a better option than previously suggested policies such as an emissions trading scheme. But many added that doing nothing would be worse still.
Read more: The Finkel Review: finally, a sensible and solid footing for the electricity sector.
The Finkel Review’s terms of reference explicitly precluded it from advising on economy-wide emissions reduction policy, and implicitly required it also to reject emission reduction policies such as an emissions tax or cap and trade scheme.
One of the Finkel Review’s major recommendations was a Clean Energy Target (CET). This is effectively an extension of the existing Renewable Energy Target to cover power generation which has a greenhouse gas emissions intensity below a defined hurdle. Such generation can sell certificates which electricity retailers (and directly connected large customers) will be required to buy.
The ESA Monash Forum panel was asked to consider whether this approach was “preferable” to an emission tax or cap and trade scheme. As usual, responses could range from strong disagreement to strong agreement with an option to neither agree nor disagree. Twenty-five members of the 53-member panel voted, and most added commentary to their response – you can see a summary of their verdicts below [on original], and their detailed comments at the end of this article.
A headline result from the survey is that a large majority of the panel does not think the CET is preferable to a tax or cap and trade scheme. None strongly agreed that the CET was preferable, whereas 16 either disagreed or strongly disagreed, and four agreed……..https://theconversation.com/finkels-clean-energy-target-plan-better-than-nothing-economists-poll-82066
The “Trump” States, Southeastern USA will be hit with the highest climate change costs
New study finds that climate change costs will hit Trump country hardest
In the USA, the southeastern states are most vulnerable to the costly impacts from human-caused climate change, Guardian, John Abraham 24 Aug 17, “….. The costs are not uniformly distributed. Some regions will suffer more and other regions will suffer less. In fact, some regions will actually benefit in a warming climate. We understand that the world is interconnected and costs will inevitably be shared to some extent. But it is clear we won’t all suffer the same.
It is also clear that the natural biosystems won’t suffer the same. Some areas are more susceptible to climate change, others less so. Coastal areas and tropical areas are great examples. We know that sea level rise and ocean acidification will impact coastal regions much more than where I live (Minnesota, USA). But tropical zones that experience a very small climate variation throughout the year (there is no winter, for instance, in the tropics) have biosystems that have evolved to survive in very tight climate ranges. The plants and animals just are not used to systematic changes to the climate.
In my opinion, the most interesting research deals with answering just these questions.
Fortunately, a really important paper just came out in Science titled Estimating Economic Damage from Climate Change in the United States. Granted, this paper focused on the United States, but the analysis method and lessons can be applied elsewhere.
So what did they find? First, even in a single country like the United States, the losses will be very uneven. In general, the more southern states will suffer most. In the figure below, counties are colored by economic consequences from climate change under a business as usual scenario. The time period associated with the image is 2080–2099. Yellow, orange and red colors correspond to climate costs. Green colors are areas where climate change benefits will be seen…..
Coal in decline: an industry on life support. Where does this leave Adani project?
Australia now exports about 200m tonnes. Adani project is, by any measure, a massive expansion that could push the world measurably closer to breaching the goals of the Paris climate agreement……
“The [Adani Carmichael coal] project is not on the radar, not expected to happen, immaterial for India’s energy plans given the progressive move away from imported thermal coal and just unbankable for Indian banks given excessive Adani group debt.”
Coal in decline: Adani in question and Australia out of step Special report: India and China are shifting away from coal imports and coal-fired power while a mega-mine is planned for Queensland. Where does this leave coal in Australia?
Coal in decline: an industry on life support, Guardian, by Adam Morton , 24 Aug 17, The Paris-based International Energy Agency ……suggested investment in new coal power across the globe has peaked and is on the verge of a steep decline. In a coinciding media briefing, the IEA chief economist, Laszlo Varro, declared the “century of coal” that started in 2000 – evident in the extraordinary wave of investment by emerging Asian nations – may already be over.
Energy Minister Frydenberg stalling on decision about $110m Port Augusta solar thermal funds?
Frydenberg calls for advice on $110m Port Augusta solar thermal funds, REneweconomy
In a statement late Thursday, Frydenberg said he had written to SolarReserve asking for details about the proposal to spend $650 million building a 150MW solar tower plant with molten salt storage near the shuttered coal plants outside of Port Augusta.
“Solar thermal plants operate in a similar way to traditional fossil fuel power plants with steam spinning a conventional turbine, which means they can contribute to network stability and reliability when coupled with built-in storage,” Frydenberg noted.
A contract signed between SolarReserve and the South Australian government promises a price cap of $78/MWh for all the state government’s electricity needs, but the price is dependent on SolarReserve accessing the cheap equity on offer from the federal government.
That offer – made by both mainstream parties in the lead up to the last election – was reinforced in the federal budget by the Turnbull government as part of a tax policy deal with Senator Nick Xenophon.
However, the funds had yet to be allocated to any project. ARENA was tasked with seeking expressions of interest on the solar thermal funding for Port Augusta, but did not call for detailed proposals…..
“ARENA and the CEFC have a strong track record in supporting the commercialisation of emerging technologies and will use that expertise to take solar thermal to the next level in Australia,” he said in a statement.
The IPFA advises the Federal government on funding and financing solutions for nationally significant infrastructure across all sectors, including energy. http://reneweconomy.com.au/frydenberg-calls-for-advice-on-110m-port-augusta-solar-thermal-funds-54190/
1.This month.
Zoom webinar – “Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange.”
April 7th at 11:30 am PST / 2:30 pm EST
Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange”
Join us for an informative webinar with renowned atmospheric scientist, Professor Brian Toon, as he discusses the environmental risks and global impacts of a nuclear war. Despite the potential damage caused by the blast from even small nuclear weapons, many countries continue to invest in and expand nuclear arsenals. Professor Toon will provide a scientific assessment of civilian fatalities, agricultural failures, climate concerns, and complications with food supply that would follow any international nuclear conflict. We need to plan how to prevent nuclear conflict and avoid catastrophe. Politicians and military planners must be made aware of global climate and agricultural complications that would ensue. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from, and engage in, this vital conversation
The Road to War brings a sharp focus to why it is not in Australia’s best interest to be dragged into a war with China which will almost inevitably go nuclear very quickly. The filmmaker has interviewed some of Australia’s senior foreign policy analysts who have vast experience behind them in analysing what really is going on here as the United States rattles its sabres with China. And sets us up to be its proxy, like the poor Ukranians have been fed into the Meatgrinder. So America can remain the Top Dog. The Road to War reveals how the United States through its spy base at Pine Gap and by stationing six nuclear capable B52 bombers in the Top End (without permission from the traditional owners) is making Australia a prime nuclear target if the current war of words suddenly melts down into full scale war.
The Road to War shows the implicit connection between Carbon emissions (the US military uses a whopping 70% of America’s annual petroleum to move its armies and vast War Machine around the globe to its 800+ military bases..but under a loophole wangled at Kyoto, the US military does not have to report its C02 annual emissions). The Road to War starts screening at selected cities and regional centres in March. See the trailer end for details.
Antinuclear 