The week that has been, in climate and nuclear news – Australia
Media freedom now under grave threat, as USA aims to gaol Julian Assange for life.
Journalism should awaken the world to the looming climate catastrophe. Link between global warming and war. Despite misogyny, women continue to fight the reckless spending on nuclear weapons. Carbon dioxide soars to record-breaking levels not seen in 800,000 years. Climate crisis – the Impact of Ocean Acidification? A fight for the future as climate change school strikes grow for fourth month running.
AUSTRALIA
US charges Julian Assange with 17 counts under Espionage Act. (He’s an Australian citizen. Does the government or anyone care?) Gross injustice! Ecuador to hand over Assange’s entire legal defense to the United States .
CLIMATE . ‘We have lost Australia for now,’ warns climate scientist in wake of election. Australia can be a global leader on combating climate change, and rejecting nuclear. Mass protest in Melbourne, demanding action on climate change. Australian courts will consider the risks of climate change to be foreseeable, thereby creating further responsibilities for companies and directors.
Torres Strait lodges case at UN against Australia on human rights as climate change issue.
Prime Minister dumps Melissa Price from Environment Ministry, even though she had done exactly what the Liberal COALition wanted, on Adani coal mine. Divisions in Labor Party over climate change policy. The Australian Labor Party wavers about the Adani coal project, but the anti-coal activists are not giving up. There are still serious obstacles to Adani’s coal mine expansion. Queensland government hits panic button on Carmichael coal mine approvals. Adani coal mine approvals could be granted within weeks as Queensland Premier Palaszczuk sets deadline.
Albo [new Labor leader Anthony Albanese] and the Green New Deal: Great name for a band, but is it good policy? BHP sees early end for thermal coal, plugs in to electric future.
NUCLEAR –
Support for nuclear power is support for coal: John Quiggin refutes the arguments of Australia’s pro nuclear shills. Corruption in the Australian uranium industry.
Rare Earths. Need for awareness on what Lynas will do with its rare earths radioactive trash. Lynas plans rare earths “upstream” processing in Australia and “downstream” processing in USA and Malaysia. It’s not clear what will be done about Lynas’ radioactive wastes in Malaysia, as Lynas plans rare earths processing also in Texas.
RENEWABLE ENERGY. Western Australia taps into boom for raw materials for EV and storage batteries . How serious is Queensland about its 50 per cent renewable energy target? Twin Creek wind farm and Australia’s biggest battery edge closer to approval. Electric Landcruiser conversion – made for Australian mining – goes viral .
Coal industry tightens embrace with Coalition as ex minister becomes MCA chair — RenewEconomy
The links between the Coalition and the coal lobby grow ever tighter, as new Minerals Council chair Helen Coonan seeks to fast-track new coal mine approvals. The post Coal industry tightens embrace with Coalition as ex minister becomes MCA chair appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Coal industry tightens embrace with Coalition as ex minister becomes MCA chair — RenewEconomy
Climate scientists alarmed as unusually wide tornadoes hit swathes of USA
Tornadoes Cut Across Unusually Wide Swaths of US, Raising Alarm for Climate Scientistshttps://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/27/tornadoes-cut-across-unusually-wide-swaths-us-raising-alarm-climate-scientists “There’s reason to believe major outbreak days are getting worse.” by Julia Conley, staff writer,
As the death toll in Oklahoma rose to six Monday amid an outbreak of nearly 200 tornadoes across the Midwest in recent days—as well as in areas far less accustomed to them—climate scientists said such patterns may carry warnings about the climate crisis and its many implications for extreme weather events.
In Oklahoma, tornadoes touched down in at least two cities, including El Reno and Sapulpa, over the weekend, injuring dozens and leveling a number of homes. The tornado that hit El Reno, a suburb of Oklahoma City, was given an EF3 rating, with wind speeds up to 165 miles per hour. Only about five percent of tornadoes are given an EF3 rating or higher.
Outside the Midwest, at least one twister touched down near Washington, D.C., with reports of tornadoes in Texas and Colorado, and Chicago facing a tornado watch on Monday.
While tornadoes have long been a fixture in the Midwest, meteorologist Eric Holthaus tweeted last week that there is “reason to believe major outbreak days…are getting worse,” while climate scientists are examining links between the storms and the climate crisis.
The so-called “Tornado Alley,” which covers parts of Texas and Kansas as well as Oklahoma, appears to be growing, according to a study published in Nature last year—making tornadoes more frequent in states that rarely saw them previously including Arkansas, Mississippi, and eastern Missouri.
“What all the studies have shown is that this particular part of the U.S. has been having more tornado activity and more tornado outbreaks than it has had in decades before,” Mike Tippett, a mathematician who studies the climate at Columbia University told PBS Newshour earlier this year.
As the Kansas City Star reported on Sunday, scientists believe the warming of the globe—fueled by human activities like fossil fuel extraction—is contributing to higher amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere, causing heavier rainfalls which can spawn tornadoes.
The increase in destructive tornadoes across wider swaths of the country than in previous decades “may be suggestive of climate change effects,” Purdue University researcher Ernest Agee told the Star. And the unusual occurrence of tornadoes in far more densely-populated areas than those that frequently see such weather events has led to concerns that tornadoes will become more deadly and destructive than they’ve been in the past
Vancouver holding international “clean” energy summit – but – taken over by nuclear greenwash?
|
At Vancouver’s Clean Energy Summit, Nuclear Is Making a Play https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2019/05/27/Nuclear-Making-Play-Clean-Energy-Summit/ Note to ministers from 25 nations: Prepare to be dangerously greenwashed. By Tanya Glafenhein and M.V. RamanaTanya Glafenhein is an undergraduate political science major at UBC focused on ecological sustainability, and environmental and social justice.
M.V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at UBC, and the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India, Penguin Books, New Delhi (2012). This week Vancouver is host to a summit of ministers from over 25 countries gathered “to accelerate progress toward a clean energy future. Created in 2010, the Clean Energy Ministerial describes itself as a “high-level global forum to promote policies that advance clean energy technology” and “to encourage the transition towards a global clean energy economy.” As we face massive environmental challenges, a transition is clearly needed. The problem is that one significant focus of the CEM is to find ways of preserving the existing energy infrastructure while greenwashing it. Case in point: the cleverly termed NICE Future, which stands for Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future, that was set up in 2018 by the CEM initiative. Its stated aim is “to initiate a dialogue on the role that clean and reliable nuclear energy can play in bolstering economic growth, energy security and access, and environmental stewardship.” But nuclear energy is not clean except in some narrow definition, and our experience over the decades with this technology has shown that it cannot “bolster” any of the other goals. Dirty truths about ‘clean energy’ Before going further, it would help to beVanctter understand the term clean energy. For years now, there is an open and growing preference for renewable energy among the public around the world. This was a problem for the large private and public sector organizations that owned other forms of electricity generation technologies, particularly coal, nuclear, or natural gas. One of the strategies that these large organizations, and supportive politicians and government officials, have been undertaking is to sweep these, or slight variants thereof, under the term clean energy. The key word is clean, and its use has been promoted by multiple fossil fuel and other industry groups. In the mid-2000s, dozens of coal and utility companies formed something called the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. It then spent tens of millions of dollars on advertisement campaigns about “clean coal” being a solution to global warming. Continue reading |
May 27 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “At Vancouver’s Clean Energy Summit, Nuclear Is Making a Play” • As we face massive environmental challenges, a transition is clearly needed. The problem is that one significant focus of the global forum “Clean Energy Ministerial” is to find ways of preserving the existing energy infrastructure while greenwashing it. [TheTyee.ca] ¶ “Turbines Arrive […]
Australia could fund 100% renewables by 2030 with 7.7% of super savings — RenewEconomy
Phasing out fossil fuels from retirement savings could be a good investment and a great move for the climate – a Future Super report suggests The post Australia could fund 100% renewables by 2030 with 7.7% of super savings appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Australia could fund 100% renewables by 2030 with 7.7% of super savings — RenewEconomy
AEMO says W.A. grid at risk if regulations fail to keep up with renewable transition — RenewEconomy
Market operator says energy transition happening at stunning pace in the west, and unless regulators keep up and design rules to encourage needed technologies, grid security is at risk. The post AEMO says W.A. grid at risk if regulations fail to keep up with renewable transition appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via AEMO says W.A. grid at risk if regulations fail to keep up with renewable transition — RenewEconomy
Victoria delivers on solar homes, arms “energy cop” with budget funding — RenewEconomy
Victorian government establishes dedicated energy cop to catch price gouging energy companies while extending zero-interest solar loan program to renters. The post Victoria delivers on solar homes, arms “energy cop” with budget funding appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Victoria delivers on solar homes, arms “energy cop” with budget funding — RenewEconomy
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 