Weather expert explains: greenhouse gases, not solar flares, the major cause of global warming
solar changes have been far too small to explain the dramatic warming of the Arctic that has been observed.
Other patterns of change provide a means of distinguishing between solar warming and greenhouse warming…..Climate does vary naturally. We can’t stop the climate system changing, but we can avoid loading the dice heavily in favour of rapid warming of the climate system.
There’s always the sun: solar forcing and climate change, THE CONVERSATION, 20 July 2011, Karl Braganza, Manager, Climate Monitoring at The Bureau of Meteorology, “…..A popular argument against the enhanced greenhouse effect, or a human influence on climate, has emerged:
“We don’t doubt that climate changes, the climate is always changing”.
The climate always changes, especially when pushed
If climate is unstable, how does it follow that climate is insensitive to increasing carbon dioxide? Continue reading
Big Money Behind Australia’s Climate Change Denial
Ms Rinehart…. recently sponsored a speech by controversial UK climate-change sceptic Lord Christopher Monckton …Her speech at the Boao Forum for Asia business conference in Perth last week, where she arranged for climate-change sceptic Prof Ian Plimer to address the audience, highlighted her scepticism of man-made climate change…Ms Rinehart wrote a reference letter for former CSIRO nuclear physicist and Federal Coalition backbencher, Dr Dennis Jensens, backing his doubts that humans have caused global warming
Australia’s richest woman fumes over carbon tax, Russell Quinn Business Reporter : The Sunday Times , July 16, 2011 THE country’s richest woman, WA mining magnate Gina Rinehart, has demanded a referendum on Julia Gillard’s carbon tax.
Australia to get carbon tax, despite powerful pressure from polluters’ lobby
Australia’s right-wing Liberal Party speaks for the polluter community,…
The individual risks to those who bucked Australia’s huge coal industry are great, but borne with equanimity.”It’s not about me being re-elected, or who’s going to be the prime minister,” one Independent MP, Tony Windsor, told the BBC. “This is about the history of people, most of whom haven’t even been born yet. And if I’m sacked from politics because of that, well, I’ll remove myself with a smile on my face.”
Australia’s Climate Legislation Meets a Surprise Success, Clean Technica, Susan Kraemer, 12 July 11 After months of Tea Party-type astroturf attacks by the Australian coal industry, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has prevailed in introducing a comprehensive carbon tax on the top 500 polluters in the country to move the heavily coal-dependent Australian economy to a more sustainable future based on clean renewable energy, in the country’s most comprehensive economic reforms in a century. The support of the Green Party turned the tide, according to the Canberra Times. Continue reading
Carbon tax plan welcomed by Independents, Aboriginals, Western Australia, South Australia
“There is an enormous opportunity, particularly for rural Australia, that will lead to a cleaner environment,” Mr Windsor said….”It’s not about us, it’s not about the next election, it’s about the next generation,”
Independents hail carbon win for regional Australia, ABC News 11 July 11, Key independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor have praised fellow members of the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee for arriving at the carbon tax plan.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard day confirmed Australian households will be handed more than $15 billion in compensation to offset the impact of the new carbon tax, …http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/10/3265812.html
“The carbon market is the next big opportunity for Aboriginal people and puts us on a path to economic independence.”
Carbon tax vital reform – conservationists, 9 News Western Australia, 11 July“………..Kimberley Land Council (KLC) acting chief executive Nolan Hunter said the carbon package would also benefit indigenous Australians by giving Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley a chance to be involved in the carbon economy.
“This provides Aboriginal people with a real opportunity to stay on country, to utilise our knowledge of looking after the environment while benefiting economically through the creation of carbon businesses and jobs,”….http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/aap/8271510/carbon-tax-vital-reform-conservationists
Greens say carbon plan a win for SA, 9 News, 11 July 11— The Greens say South Australia will benefit from the $10 billion allocated to renewable energy projects as part of the federal government’s carbon pricing scheme….
“South Australia is already ahead of the rest of the country in renewable energy and this package will give industries the security and certainty they need to continue their investments in solar, wind and geothermal projects.
..state Greens MP Mark Parnell said ….. it was not a question of the “bulldozers coming in tomorrow”.
“What we’re talking about is a package of measures to transition Australia away from dirty fossil fuels that lead to climate change, that pollute the atmosphere, towards renewable energy,” he said…http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8271653/greens-say-carbon-plan-a-win-for-sa
renewable energy is set for a very bright future and WA is well placed to make the most of those opportunities.”…..WA-based wave, wind and solar power companies can now progress with confidence.
Carbon tax puts the heat on to shift to renewables, ABC News 11 July 11, A Federal Minister Chris Evans says Western Australia’s renewable energy sector is well placed to benefit from the carbon tax. The Federal Government plans to source 20 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Senator Evans says he expects to see a flurry of investment as a result.
“We’ve got enormous potential in solar and wind and wave which has been largely untapped and the impact of the carbon price will make them more competitive,” he said……
“I think renewable energy is set for a very bright future and WA is well placed to make the most of those opportunities.”….. Carnegie Wave Energy’s Michael Ottaviano says emerging WA-based wave, wind and solar power companies can now progress with confidence…..http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/11/3266920.htm
Julia Gillard delivers the goods for Australia’s renewable energy and carbon tax fairness
That need to unblock investment in emerging technologies seems to be the underlying reason behind the push by the Greens and environmental groups for two new statutory bodies, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Both bodies will be independent and will sit beyond ministerial interference.
Green light for renewables. Climate Spectator, Giles Parkinson 10 July 11, At a recent discussion in Sydney
about the prospect of nuclear energy in this country, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson reflected that Australia may have no choice but to go nuclear if it was unable to find a clean energy alternative.
It was a valid point. The trouble was that few in the renewable energy industry
were confident that Ferguson would want to invest enough money, and early enough, to give them the best chance of developing new technologies and getting the scale of deployment needed to reduce costs. Continue reading
Julia Gillard to reveal Australia’s carbon pricing package on July 10
Australia to unveil carbon price scheme on July 10, 04 Jul 2011,Source: Reuters
* Australian PM Gillard to unveil carbon package on July 10
* Scheme tipped to have a A$20 a tonne carbon price
* Carbon trading set for 2015, first scheme outside Europe, New Zealand
By Rob Taylor, CANBERRA, – Australia’s minority Labor government will unveil plans for the biggest national emissions trading scheme outside Europe on Sunday, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard staking her future on a carbon price already worrying voters and business.
Gillard said on Monday her cabinet, and a committee of government, Greens and independent lawmakers who have been working on the scheme, would finalise remaining details of the carbon tax later this week.
Concerns the plans to tackle climate change will push up prices have been hurting the minority government’s popularity, but Gillard said she was determined to push ahead with the plan, which is a make or break issue for her government.
The government is aiming to bring legislation for the scheme into the lower House of Representatives in August, with a vote in the Senate expected around October or November. (Additional reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Ed Davies and Yoko Nishikawa)
“A carbon price is an important reform that will create incentives to lower Australia’s carbon pollution at the lowest cost to the economy,” Gillard said in a statement, adding she would introduce the laws to parliament later this year…..http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/australia-to-unveil-carbon-price-scheme-on-july-10
Liberal Senator wants “balance” in teaching Climate Science
Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said she hoped the curriculum would reflect balance if there were a divergence of expert views on the subject of climate science.
Push to oust climate science from schools * Joe Kelly The Australian * June 14, 2011 SCHOOL Education Minister Peter Garrett has confirmed the Gillard government will not stop the teaching of climate science in the classroom following a move in Britain for the subject to be withdrawn from the national curriculum. Continue reading
Australia’s big polluters lobby against renewable energy schemes
End renewable schemes now: big emitters, THE AUSTRALIAN, Graham Lloyd, June 11, 2011 AUSTRALIA’S biggest carbon emitters have called for the immediate withdrawal of commonwealth and state renewable energy programs that the Productivity Commission has found cost billions of dollars for little result.
States that refused to wind back generous rooftop solar and other programs should be denied Grants Commission funds or GST payments, the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network said. The AIGN, which represents industries responsible for more than 90 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions in mining, manufacturing and energy production, has lobbied the federal government’s multi-party climate change committee for reform.
“It may be that punitive action needs to be taken through a reduced distribution of Grants Commission funds or GST revenues to states that fail to make the required reforms to existing programs or continue to adopt new ones,” the AIGN says in a letter to the multi-party committee…….
A Greens spokesman said the party was keen for complementary measures, but it had always been critical of the ad hoc approach. The Greens have said the state-based feed-in tariffs have been very poorly designed and they wanted to see a carbon price…http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/end-renewable-schemes-now-big-emitters/story-fn59niix-1226073269190
ERA’s hidden agenda for expanding Ranger uranium mine
Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) spokesman Dave Sweeney says ERA has its eyes on a bigger prize than just expanding its existing Ranger Uranium Mine operations.
“It wants to stay active and in the region and wear people down, and wait for times to change,” he said….
A new report prepared for the Federal Government shows climate change could damage mine infrastructure and pose challenges to its processing systems over the next 60 years.
Mr Sweeney says Ranger Uranium Mine’s location within the boundaries of Kakadu National Park makes it too risky to expand.
Critics turn up heat on uranium miner – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Lucy McNally, Jano Gibson and Rick Hind Jun 3, 2011 Environmental groups are warning Territorians to pay attention to a plan by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) to expand its uranium mine in Kakadu National Park.
They say they believe the ultimate goal of the company is still to mine Jabiluka. Continue reading
Rio Tinto’s ERA Ranger uranium mine doomed by Climate Change?
Today’s Australian newspaper covers the very drastic threat now posed to Kakadu National Park by by flooding and sea level rises.
These climate changes mean that Kakadu is further threatened by radioactive waste leaks from theRanger uranium mine.
ERA’s uranium mine is surely no longer viable, and it is high time that RioTinto closed it down permanently and stopped this charade of Northern Territory uranium mining having an economic future – Christina Macpherson
Kakadu treasures ‘at mercy’ of climate-change floods * Sid Maher : The Australian * June 03, 2011 KAKADU faces more flooding and a loss of freshwater flora and fauna as a result of sea-level rises caused by climate change.
A report released yesterday by the Climate Change Department predicts that over the next 20 to 60 years, there will be more large floods on the South Alligator River, which is in Kakadu National Park.
The predictions are based on models predicting 143mm of sea-level rise by 2030 and 700mm of sea-level rise by 2070…… Kakadu treasures ‘at mercy’ of climate-change floods | The Australian
Call for Rupert Murdoch to support carbon price
Murdoch’s papers here, especially The Australian, seem to have gone off the rails. …It seems it’s OK for Rupert to support a price on carbon with his $6 billion wealth but not for Cate….
Rupert Murdoch should lead climate change fight | Crikey Dick Smith: Rupert, come back to Oz, we need you 30 May “…….. Today I am asking Rupert Murdoch to come back to Australia and give us some much needed leadership.
Whilst most of my wealthy colleagues deny that humans can be affecting climate, this is what Rupert says:
“Climate change poses clear catastrophic threats. We may not agree on the extent, but we certainly can’t afford the risk of inaction. We must transform the way we use energy of course — and not only because of climate change.” Continue reading
Future rainfall will determine if Ranger uranium mine has any future
“This is highly dependent on future rainfall,” the company [ERA – subsidiary of Rio Tinto] said.
Leading Australian uranium mine remains suspended, Mineweb.com -The heavy rains that have kept much of N. Australia waterlogged for months have also resulted in the suspension of one of theworld’s largest uranium mines – Ranger Ross Louthean , 14 Apr 2011 PERTH – Continue reading
Australia’s Climate Commission warns on need for urgent action
Climate jury finds dire need for action to slow warming, Sydney Morning Herald, Ben Cubby, May 23, 2011 THE evidence for global warming is now ”exceptionally strong and beyond doubt” and actions this decade will determine the impact of climate change for the rest of the century, according to the first big report produced by Australia’s Climate Commission. Continue reading
Rooftop protesters challeng Australia’s Minister for Coal, er – Climate Change
“Every dollar that goes back to the billionaire coal companies is a dollar that doesn’t go to ordinary Australians or into renewable energy projects.”
Protesters scale climate minister’s roof, Sydney Morning Herald, 
May 16, 2011 Environmental activists have scaled the roof of Climate Change Minister Greg Combet’s electorate office to protest the federal government’s carbon tax policy. Continue reading
How Australia’s carbon tax could be used for the public good
Let’s give the money into the greening of the economy, the jobs creation, which in Germany they had legislation like this because of the Greens a decade ago and they’ve created 350,000 jobs….put it into local business, put it into the renewable energy business – that includes in rural and regional Australia, create the jobs in this country and keep the profits in this country. And at the same time clean up our economy. Now – so it can compete with the rest of the world
Bob Brown joins Lateline, ABC, Ali Moore, 04/04/2011..……..the Greens’ position is that the compensation should go to householders, not to the polluters as Tony Abbott would do. And let me just make this important observation here: his policy would rip $10 billion out of the taxpayers’ money pool and give it across to the big polluters for a voluntary scheme. You know, it’s not going to work. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 