Former Cairns zookeeper Tim Husband heads Indonesian project to turn elephant poo into paper

CRAPPY JOB: Tim Husband with Nasri the elephant and some of the paper made from elephant 'deposits'. The park is recycling poo to make paper for a variety of products including the parks brochures. Picture: Brian Cassey

ELEPHANT poo paper is the brainchild of a push to save nearly 30 giant beasts on death row in Bali.

Former Cairns zookeeper Tim Husband heads the project in Indonesia turning hundreds of tonnes of highly-fibrous elephant dung into paper, the Courier-Mail reported.
Most of the 33 elephants at Bali's Safari and Marine Park had to be rescued at the behest of the Government after they were slated for slaughter.
Under the scheme, villagers are employed to cut the grass for the elephants and collect their poo.
"One elephant eats about 180kg of grass every day," said Mr Husband, curator at the park, 40 minutes out of Kuta. "And it produces 100kg of dung a day."
Mr Husband said the pachyderm poo paper was proving to be a big hit with tourists. "This is a way of making work at both ends of the elephant for villagers. And it makes a novel gift for visitors," he said.
One pile of dung makes about 15 sheets of high-quality hand-made paper.
"It is a s---ty job but someone has got to do it," said Mr Husband.
"It saves trees, saves the elephants, and helps the locals."

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/features/environment/former-cairns-zookeeper-tim-husband-heads-indonesian-project-to-turn-elephant-poo-into-paper/story-e6frflp0-1226231499461#ixzz1i49krXOJ

Cane toads. Next stop? Perth.

Stop the Toad Foundation (STTF)
The second toad in less than a year has been found in Bayswater, one of Perth's eastern suburbs. The Stop the Toad Foundation wants to know just how many toads need to be found in Perth before the State Government will realize we have an environmental disaster on our hands.
STTF is urging the State Government to act before it is too late and toads are found in large numbers in the State's capital city. The Foundation, based in Western Australia, has been trying to limit toad movements into WA for the past six years, but has not received much support from the WA State Government.
"We have been requesting support from the WA Government to trial fencing to keep toads out of certain areas within WA. Unfortunately, the WA Government doesn't seem interested," said STTF Campaign Manager Kim Hands.
STTF has erected numerous permanent fences around Kununurra, in the east Kimberley, to keep toads out of certain areas, including domestic properties, pool areas at local tourist destinations and even a 2km fence around the iconic Emma Gorge on El Questro Station.
"We have found the fencing to be a great way to keep areas cane toad free. It is very cost-effective, simple to erect and can be easily monitored for toads."
"The fencing strategy presents a management tool for the WA Government to control toads in Perth. It could be easily applied around freight yards to control any hitchhiker toads like the recent one found in Bayswater. The fencing would ensure toads don't reach nearby wetlands, such as the Baigup wetlands, south-west of Bayswater, and harm native animals such as the frog populations."
"We have the control tool and willing volunteers to erect fences around Perth. We just need the support of the WA Government."
Fact file
• Toads were introduced into Australia in 1935 in an effort to control beetles eating the sugar cane.
• Toads produce toxins that are deadly to a range of endangered Australian wildlife including northern quolls, goannas, snakes and freshwater crocodiles. They also compete with native wildlife for habitat and food.
• The western frontline of toads is moving at least 40 km a year and toads are now well and truly into The Kimberley.
• Each female toad can lay 35000 eggs. The first rains indicate to the toads it is time to breed.
• STTF is a non-profit, non-government organization established in 2005. There is one staff member, who divides her time between Perth and Kununurra.
• STTF has held The Great Toad Muster for the past 5 years. A total of 200,000 toads have been removed with the help of hundreds of volunteers around Australia.
• STTF uses temporary and permanent fencing to control toads.
• The Emma gorge fence is the first toad proof fence to be erected in the East Kimberley. It is 2km long and took 18 days to build. The total cost was just over $4K.

Source: http://www.ecovoice.com.au/eco-news/7803-cane-toads-next-stop-perth

Cheap Solar Home Systems Bringing Light, New Opportunities to Millions in Rural Bangladesh

By Andrew Burger

Graphic courtesy Grameen Shakti

Solar home systems are bringing the benefits of electrical power to millions in rural Bangladesh, a testament to the numerous and varied benefits access to cheap, clean and renewable distributed solar PV can have in developing countries. Microfinance provider Grameen Shakti’s efforts to market and sell solar home systems (SHS) in rural areas across the country that lack grid access have proved extremely successful.

More than 500,000 SHS systems have been installed cumulatively as of year-end 2010, according to Grameen Shakti. The SHS home energy package includes one or more solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries, a power regulator, and a set of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and LED lights.

Best Investment I’ve Ever Made

It’s the best investment he’s ever made, Nizamuddin Sheikh, the owner of a small restaurant in rural Bangladesh, told Inter Press News Service’s (IPS) Naimul Haq. Sheikh’s doubled his income since signing up for a Grameen Shakti SHS plan that enables him to pay for the solar power system with a small down payment and affordable monthly installments.

Sheikh pad the Bangladeshi Taka equivalent of $24 up-front for an SHS system comprising a 20-Watt solar PV panel, battery, regulator, CFLs and LEDs. He’ll pay another $5 month over the next 36 months to pay off the total cost.

Grameen Shakti’s most popular SHS system provides about 10W of clean, renewable electric power for a total cost of $124. That ranges up to the most expensive system, which provides 135W of uninterrupted power for four four hours at a total cost of $925.

Grameen Shakti’s SHS systems are cheaper than the fossil fuels, such as kerosene, rural Bangladeshis have come to rely on, but the benefits extend far beyond that.

Solar Home Systems Delivering Myriad Benefits

“SHS units are in demand due to many advantages, but especially because it is far cheaper than conventional fuels like kerosene and diesel and has no maintenance expenses,” acting managing director Abser Kamal told IPS. “In the villages solar power provides extended working hours for students, shopkeepers and housewives. Now they can do things like conveniently charge mobile phones – which have already been changing lives.”

Adding to the benefits are zero CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions, and significantly improved health and safety conditions as compared to traditional fossil fuel alternatives. Using the solar home systems is also yielding substantial social benefits. Besides enabling small business owners such as Sheikh to stay open longer, thereby significantly increasing their incomes, the artificial light they bring enables students to study in the evening with better quality light. It also lifts some of the burden of running a household carried by Bangladeshi women.

On top of all this, installation of the solar home energy systems is quick, safe and relatively simple. Just 41% of Bangladesh’s 142-million people have access to the national electricity grid. The solar home energy systems can be installed in a day.

“Without solar power many villagers would probably have had to wait years to get electricity from the national grid,” Kamal told IPS’s Haq. “Solar is transforming their lives – this is quick social and economical development.”

 http://cleantechnica.com/2011/12/30/cheap-solar-home-systems-bringing-light-new-opportunities-to-millions-in-rural-bangladesh/

The Glaciers are Shrinking and the Water is Disappearing

Glaciers across the planet are shrinking at a remarkable rate, a rate that is expected to increase as the years continue to pass by. However, conversely, water runoff from glaciers will not continue to increase, and is in fact expected to decrease over the coming decades.

The new research is courtesy of research done in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca by McGill University doctoral student Michel Baraer, in collaboration with Prof. Bryan Mark, at the Ohio State University, and Prof. Jeffrey McKenzie, at McGill.
They have found that glaciers are currently shrinking by about one percent a year, and that the percentage is likely increase steadily.
However, this accelerated glacial shrinking does not mean that the water from glaciers will increase. For the first time, the researchers noted that the volume of water draining from the glacier in the Rio Santa in Northern Peru has started to decrease dramatically. They calculate that during the dry season water levels could decrease by as much as 30 percent below current levels.
“When a glacier starts to retreat, at some point you reach a plateau and from this point onwards, you have a decrease in the discharge of meltwater from the glacier,” explained Baraer.
“Where scientists once believed that they had 10 to 20 years to adapt to reduced runoff, that time is now up,” said Baraer. “For almost all the watersheds we have studied, we have good evidence that we have passed peak water.”
The implications are clear. Millions of people who have heretofore depended on the glacial runoff for electricity, agriculture and, most importantly, drinking water, could soon see a massive drop in the availability of water.

Source: http://planetsave.com/2011/12/30/the-glaciers-are-shrinking-and-the-water-is-disappearing/

Mexico shuts down 'world's biggest garbage dump

Authorities Monday shut down Mexico's -- and possibly the world's -- biggest garbage dump and said they would invite bids to exploit methane gas generated by the decomposing waste.
Waste Management Commission chief Fernando Menendez called the closing "historic" as "it is the world's largest (truck-filled open-air) dump."
The Bordo Poniente dump for years saw 200-250 trucks a day cast off their waste -- up to 6,000 tons a day at its peak. Dumping had slid recently to some 2,800 tons a day, as it neared capacity.
Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard was on hand for closing day, and insisted that using the methane gas offset was key.
"A statement was published today that will allow us to open up bidding internationally," said Ebrard. "If the gas is not used, our goal is not achieved, which is to reduce gases being emitted into the atmosphere."
The dump, thought to hold millions of tons of compressed waste, towers over 17 meters high.
                     
Source: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Mexico_shuts_down_worlds_biggest_garbage_dump_999.html

Flood our land: graziers offer to help rivers' health

David Wroe

December 23, 2011

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"So far they have nearly 400,000 hectares signed up - roughly a third of the size of Sydney - and expect to have several times this by early next year." Photo: John Woudstra

FLOODPLAIN graziers are offering the government a Christmas present in the form of a legal right to flood their properties, a gesture that could help solve the intractable dispute over the Murray-Darling Basin.
Nearly 400,000 hectares have already been signed up to voluntary ''flood easements'', which environmentally-minded livestock farmers hope will let the government pump more water back into the system than the 2750 billion litres being discussed under the controversial Murray-Darling Basin draft plan.
The Environment Minister, Tony Burke, told the Herald that the offer could make ''a significant difference'' to the hitherto bruising talks on the draft plan to restore the health of the river system.

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The Australian Floodplain Association, which represents graziers and environmentalists, has brought together property owners across the basin who are prepared to waive their right to sue the government if it floods their land - removing a key obstacle the government has cited for not boosting the amount of water it will push down the river system.
So far they have nearly 400,000 hectares signed up - roughly a third of the size of Sydney - and expect to have several times this by early next year.
''It looks to me in the basin plan that the government is baulking at returning enough water to the system and they're saying that they can't go flooding private land,'' said Mark Etheridge, a sheep grazier and president of the Australian Floodplain Association. ''We're saying, 'Yes please, flood us and we'll indemnify you by creating voluntary easements.' We can't be flooded enough.''
He said floodplain pastures became about 20 times more productive after a flood, which was a natural part of the river cycle. The association is working with Friends of the Earth and the law firm Baker McKenzie, which is working pro bono.
Environmentalists and graziers are unhappy with the 2750 billion litre figure in the draft plan, arguing that at least 4000 billion litres is needed to flush salt through the Murray mouth and restore floodplains and wetlands.
Mr Burke and the independent Murray-Darling Basin Authority has argued that the basin is now a man-made environment with farms, towns, bridges, canals and other infrastructure that pose limits or ''constraints'' on how much water can flow through the system. If water managers cause a river to overflow, surrounding property-owners could sue the government.
Mr Burke told the Herald that the graziers' gesture could make a big difference, though the government needed to consider other factors, including the economic impact on irrigation communities.
A spokesman for Friends of the Earth, Jonathan La Nauze, said: ''This case also busts open the myth that there's only one kind of farmer out there. In fact 69 per cent of farmers in the basin are not irrigators and … many of them are only too willing to facilitate an increase in environmental flows.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/water-issues/flood-our-land-graziers-offer-to-help-rivers-health-20111222-1p77n.html#ixzz1hvAmWnbU

Can “Pollution Glue” Clean Up London’s Dirty Air?

By Rav Casley Gera

London is one of Europe’s dirtiest cities in terms of air quality. Despite the UK capital’s innovative congestion charging scheme, it remains extremely busy with vehicle traffic. A recent study by campaign group Clean Air in London found that 13 schools in the city are situated near roads that carry more than 100,000 cars a day. And, of course, that’s set to increase significantly while the city hosts the Summer Olympics and Paralympics next year. Already, London frequently breaches European Regulations on the level of pollutant particulates, or PM10, allowed in the air.

Now, London’s city government is taking an unusual step to try to reduce the flow of pollutants into the city’s air — coating the busiest roads with “pollution glue” designed to absorb dangerous chemicals out of the air and ‘glue’ them to the tarmac. Transport for London, the agency that runs London’s famous Underground and buses, but also manages its roads, is to trial the use of ‘dust suppressants’ in 15 locations across the city. A solution of calcium magnesium acetate is applied to the roads using a specially-built vehicle with a sprinkler system attached. Calcium magnesium acetate has the effect of attracting fine dust particles in the air and binding them to the road, where they can be picked up by car tires or washed away by rain.

The new scheme expands on trials carried out on two locations in Central London last year. TfL says the previous trials showed dust suppressants could reduce the levels of particulates in their air by 10% in severely polluted areas. The new phase mostly targets roads in industrial areas, but the technology is likely to be extended to areas where pollution comes largely from heavy traffic. “Dust has been a real problem in the area and although it’s early days, indications are that these measures together are having a beneficial effect,” said Susan Wise, a councillor in Lewisham, one of the London boroughs involved in last year’s trial.

But as is often the case with such slightly sci-fi responses to pollution, the ‘dust glue’ plan has been criticized by green groups, who see it as a poor substitute for more muscular action to clean up air quality in the capital. “Suppressants may achieve compliance in localised areas near monitoring stations and avoid further action from the European Commission, but they address the symptoms and not the causes of the problem,” Alan Andrews of environmental law group Client Earth said in August. A better response is London’s Low Emissions Zone, which requires drivers of high-polluting vehicles such as lorries to pay a daily fee to enter the capital. After several postponements, the LEZ is being extended to larger vans and minibuses in January.

Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2011/12/28/can-pollution-glue-clean-up-londons-dirty-air/

Speed Of Evolution: Salmon Changed In A Single Generation

The impact of hatcheries on salmonids is so profound that in just one generation traits are selected that allow fish to survive and prosper in the hatchery environment, at the cost of their ability to thrive and reproduce in a wild environment.

Credit: Oregon State University

The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show a speed of evolution and natural selection that surprised researchers.

They confirmed that a primary impact of hatcheries is a change in fish genetics, as opposed to a temporary environmental effect.

“We’ve known for some time that hatchery-born fish are less successful at survival and reproduction in the wild,” said Michael Blouin, a professor of zoology at Oregon State University. “However, until now, it wasn’t clear why. What this study shows is that intense evolutionary pressures in the hatchery rapidly select for fish that excel there, at the expense of their reproductive success in the wild.”

Hatcheries are efficient at producing fish for harvest, the researchers said, but this and other studies continue to raise concerns about the genetic impacts that hatchery fish may have when they interbreed with wild salmon and steelhead, and whether or not they will help wild salmonid runs to recover.

These findings were based on a 19-year genetic analysis of steelhead in Oregon’s Hood River. It examined why hatchery fish struggle to reproduce in wild river conditions, a fact that has been made clear in previous research. Some of the possible causes explored were environmental effects of captive rearing, inbreeding among close relatives, and unintentional “domestication selection,” or the ability of some fish to adapt to the unique hatchery environment.

The study confirmed that domestication selection was at work.

When thousands of smolts are born in the artificial environment of a hatchery, those that survive best are the ones that can deal, for whatever reason, with hatchery conditions. But the same traits that help them in the hatchery backfire when they return to a wild river, where their ability to produce surviving offspring is much reduced.

“We expected to see some of these changes after multiple generations,” said Mark Christie, an OSU post-doctoral research associate and lead author on the study. “To see these changes happen in a single generation was amazing. Evolutionary change doesn’t always take thousands of years.”

It’s not clear exactly what traits are being selected for among the thousands of smolts born in hatcheries, the scientists said, but one of the leading candidates is the ability to tolerate extreme crowding. If research can determine exactly what aspect of hatchery operations is selecting for fish with less fitness in the wild, it could be possible to make changes that would help address the problem, they said.

Historically, hatchery managers preferred to use fish born in hatcheries as brood stock to create future generations, because whatever trait they had that allowed them to succeed in the hatchery helped produce thousands of apparently healthy young salmon. But they later found that when those same fish were released they had a survival and reproductive success that was far lower than those born in the wild.

Billions of captive-reared salmon are intentionally released into the wild each year in order to increase fishery yields and bolster declining populations. The steelhead studied in this research are, in fact, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and part of their recovery plan includes supplementation with hatchery fish.

“It remains to be seen whether results from this one study on steelhead generalize to other hatcheries or salmon species,” Blouin said.

“Nevertheless, this shows that hatcheries can produce fish that are genetically different from wild fish, and that it can happen extraordinarily fast,” he said. “The challenge now is to identify the traits under selection to see if we can slow that rate of domestication.”

Source:  http://nanopatentsandinnovations.blogspot.com/2011/12/speed-of-evolution-salmon-changed-in.html

Floods, heat, migration: How extreme weather will transform cities

By George Webster, for CNN
23 December 2011
When Tropical Storm Washi ripped through the southern Philippine city of Cagayan de Oro last weekend, it dumped in one day more than the city's entire average rainfall for the month of December.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, a total of 181 millimeters of rainfall was recorded in the area last Friday, compared to the expected 99.9 millimeters for the whole month.
The devastating flash floods, which have so far claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, arrived just weeks after a report from the UK's Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Change indicated that climate change has significantly increased the number of people at risk from flooding globally.
The report, Climate: Observations, projections and impacts, examined how climate change will modify the weather in 24 countries around the world.
While findings vary from region to region, it forecasts an overall increase in this century of coastal and river floods, extreme weather events, and a global temperature rise of between 3-5C, if emissions are left unchecked.
According to climate change experts, cities from New York in the U.S. to Dhaka in Bangladesh are likely to be heavily affected.
Simon Reddy, executive director of the C40 Cities network, which promotes sustainable development among local city authorities around the world says this could be a catalyst for migration into urban areas.
"If the forecast temperature rise is accurate, then entire countries could be irrevocably damaged in certain parts of the world -- and their inhabitants will have to find somewhere else to live," he said.
To illustrate his point, Reddy says that a third of flood-prone Bangladesh, in South Asia, could be made uninhabitable by a two-foot (60 cm) rise in regional sea-levels.

 Source: http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2011/12/floods-heat-migration-how-extreme.html

Koala habitat may halt Qld coal mine

Wednesday, December 28, 2011 

 

 

Opponents of a proposed Brisbane coal mine have argued it will devastate a koala population.

Opponents of a coal mine proposed for an area west of Brisbane have launched legal action to have it stopped, arguing it will devastate a koala population.
Singapore-based OGL Resources Limited plans to reopen the 675ha Ebenezer Coal Mine near Rosewood, west of Ipswich, next year.
The company has a licence to mine a further 9202ha of privately owned land, known as the Bremer View Coal Project. Opponents believe this would devastate the region and its koala population.
They have filed a Supreme Court action to stop the mine, with a directions hearing set down for January 20.
Heading the fight is Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner, who also owns a resort in the Lockyer Valley, near the proposed new mine.
He is astonished the government would allow the mine to open in a well-known koala habitat corridor.
'Reopening an open-cut coal mine so close to the Rosewood community and the possibility of a new mine further west of the area is a devastating development for the local community and the environment,' Mr Turner said.
More than 200 properties would be directly affected by the mine, proposed for a spot eight kilometres east of Rosewood, and another 200 would be indirectly affected, Mr Turner said.
Ipswich councillor and Rosewood resident David Pahlke wants a no-mining ban enforced between Toowoomba and the coast.
'Too often it's all about the dollars and not about the impact these sorts of projects have on people and their lifestyles,' he said.

Source:  http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/12/28/Koala_habitat_may_halt_Qld_coal_mine_701308.html

Access to freshwater resources has always been a critical need for human and all forms of life on Earth. With a world population estimated at just shy of 7 billion and growing, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says agricultural production will need to increase 70% by 2050. As agriculture takes up most of human water use, that’s going to put vastly greater demands and strains on our water resources at a time when climate change is changing temperature and precipitation levels and patterns in ways that cannot be predicted at local levels but are likely to make this even more difficult to achieve.
One thing that has been determined is that groundwater levels have dropped in many places around the world in the past nine years, including across key agricultural areas, such as southern Argentina, western Australia and the western US, according to a pair of studies of satellite gravity monitoring data conducted by researchers at the University of California Center for Hydrologic Modeling in Irvine, Science News reports.
The GRACE Project
Groundwater depletion is especially pronounced beneath parts of California, India, the Middle East and China. Besides showing that water is being pumped out of underground groundwater aquifers faster than it’s being replenished, the results raise concerns that farming in particular is the primary cause, according to the Science News report.

“Groundwater is being depleted at a rapid clip in virtually of all of the major aquifers in the world’s arid and semiarid regions,” cautioned UC Center hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, whose team presented the results at a Dec. 6 meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), conducted jointly by NASA and the German Aerospace Center, has been taking monthly snapshots of global groundwater used in the two studies since 2002. GRACE data is especially useful in accumulating data across countries where governments do not maintain extensive networks of groundwater monitoring wells. While the US maintains an extensive nationwide network of such wells, countries, such as China, do not.
Nicknamed Tom and Jerry, GRACE’s two satellites are pulled apart and pushed together by variations in the gravitational pull of the areas of the earth they pass over. While mountains and other large concentrations of mass have large, steady impacts on earth’s gravitational pull on the areas where they’re found, water moves over time and creates small fluctuations that the two satellites sense.
Isolating groundwater changes
To isolate the effects of groundwater in particular, researchers have to subtract the effects of snow pack, rivers, lakes and soil moisture, the Science Times article explains. Doing so, they can detect changes in groundwater levels greater than one centimeter (~0.4 inches) over an area about the size of Illinois.
Results of analyzing the data obtained in the two UC Center studies shows that China’s been underestimating groundwater use. GRACE’s measurements indicate that water levels have been dropping 6 or 7 centimeters per year beneath the country’s northeast plains.
Short-term variability in climate is also taking its toll on groundwater levels. having suffered recent droughts, aquifers in Patagonia and the southeastern US now store less groundwater than they did in 2002.
Farming is almost certainly the largest contributing factor, however. Booming agriculture in northern India, takes some 18 cubic kilometers of water out of the ground every year, more than enough to fill 7 million Olympic-size swimming pools, according to Science News.
Farmers in California’s Central Valley, which accounts for nearly 1/6 of irrigated land in the entire country, pump nearly 4 cubic kilometers of water per year out from underground. The valley has been sinking for decades as more wells have been drilled and water pumped out, land subsidence that’s also been occurring and causing increasing concerns, and costly remediation efforts, in Mexico City.
Aquifers in arid and desert areas with fast-growing populations, such as the Middle East, are also being depleted. The “fossil water” that fell millions of years ago and is now stored in the Arabian aquifer beneath Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries is being pumped out faster than it’s being replenished.
Just how much water is there?
Climate change only makes the problem more acute, according to UC Center’s Famiglietti. Precipitation patterns are becoming more extreme, with the severity of droughts increasing. Wet areas are becoming wetters and dry areas drier, Science News reports, and that may accelerate groundwater depletion in some areas.
A big question remains unanswered, however, as hydrologists don’t really know just how large these aquifers are and just how much water is left in them. That’s because GRACE can only show changes in aquifer levels, not their total volume.
Yet while they lack reliable estimates for the total amount of groundwater stored in the world’s aquifers, it’s become clear to hydrologists studying them that water use has become unsustainable in many areas. Better irrigation systems would help reduce water usage, as could channeling water runoff into aquifers during wet periods.

“There are too many areas in the world where groundwater development far exceeds a sustainable level,” US Geological Survey hydrogeologist Leonard Konikow, was quoted as saying. “Something will have to change.”

Source: Global Warming is Real (http://s.tt/150tA)

White paper warns of power price hit on households

Brian Robins

December 14, 2011

Shock ... a government study has found NSW electricity costs would jump if the Loy Yang A power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley were to be closed. Photo: Simon O'Dwyer

NSW households would face electricity price rises of 13.35 per cent if a heavily polluting power station was closed, a federal government study has found.
The report, commissioned as part of the government's white paper on energy, which was released yesterday, said the sudden loss of the Loy Yang A power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley would trigger a near-doubling of wholesale electricity prices with an immediate flow on to household power prices.
Wholesale power prices would surge by nearly 80 per cent in Victoria and by more than 45 per cent in NSW.

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Launching the long-awaited policy paper, the Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, also signalled the government has dumped an election promise to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants.
He said the proposed emissions standards - which the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said would end the building of ''dirty'' coal power plants - had become redundant given Australia was introducing a carbon price.
In the white paper, the government sought to pressure NSW and Queensland to sell all the remaining state-owned power industry assets, including the ''poles and wires'', to offset rising power prices, although the NSW government immediately rejected the move.
''It is not for the federal government to determine the sale of the state's assets,'' the NSW Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher, said.
The paper forecast new investment of $240 billion would be required by 2030, in part to deliver cleaner energy with the launch of the carbon tax. ''The magnitude of required investment means current energy cost pressures are likely to continue,'' it noted.
The federal government has set up a fund to retire heavily polluting power stations, with some of Victoria's brown coal power stations most likely to close.
There is no suggestion of the Loy Yang A power station being withdrawn suddenly, the report noted, but if it was, wholesale electricity prices in NSW would hit $94.44 a megawatt hour, from $65.08, a 45.1 per cent increase, but trailing a 79 per cent rise to $125.80 forecast in Victoria.
Eventually, gas-fired power stations would be built to offset the loss of Loy Yang A, although this would produce electricity at a higher cost, due to the more expensive fuel source.
The price rises would be more acute once the carbon tax - $23 a tonne in 2012, rising 2.5 per cent a year subsequently - was taken into account.
The impact of the carbon price is already being factored into future electricity prices traded through the sharemarket, which have reached $61 for futures contracts for supply in 2014, up from about $45 for contracts for supply next year.
The white paper discussed nuclear power only briefly, but Mr Ferguson said the debate would intensify if other clean energy technologies failed to develop.
The paper - delayed by two years as Labor attempted to pass a carbon price - declares that the Gillard government ''unambiguously'' does not support nuclear, but it could not be assumed a future government would have the same view.
It says if new low-emissions technologies do not become commercial quickly enough to meet proposed emissions cuts, nuclear may become a competitive ''backstop'' baseload option, but warns investment decisions would need to made late this decade if it was to be rolled out by 2030.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/white-paper-warns-of-power-price-hit-on-households-20111213-1ot6k.html#ixzz1h8oHiALV

Coalmine a 'threat to global warming target'

THE development of coal ''mega-mines'' in central Queensland such as the massive China First project will destroy the world's chance of keeping global warming to 2 degrees, Greenpeace says.
In its submission tomorrow to the federal government on the environmental impact of mining magnate Clive Palmer's $7.5 billion China First mine, the environmental group will say that this and other big projects in Queensland's Galilee Basin will lock in huge coal exploitation for decades to come.
''If this goes ahead, it will destroy our chances of keeping global warming to 2 degrees,'' Greenpeace campaigner John Hepburn said.

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The International Energy Agency recently reported that the world needed to make ''urgent and radical policy changes'' if it was to stick to the internationally agreed goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees by the end of the century. The agency drew up a ''carbon budget'' that would allow the world to meet that target.
Calculations made by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, on behalf of Greenpeace show that if the proposed mega-mines in the Galilee Basin run at full pace, by 2035 they would be eating up 4 per cent of the world's carbon budget and 9 per cent of the emissions set aside for coal.
The claims follow the release last Thursday of the economic impact statement for China First, which found it would exacerbate the two-speed economy by pushing up the dollar, creating labour shortages and driving up wages.
Several large projects are being planned for the Galilee Basin with an estimated capacity of 375 million tonnes of coal a year.
China First, which is being planned by Mr Palmer's firm Waratah Coal, would produce 40 million tonnes a year, easily making it Australia's largest mine. It would create 6000 direct jobs during construction and 1500 during operation.
A statement from Waratah Coal said the project was dependent on approval of its environmental impact statement and the company would ''ensure that the project has the highest integrity and meets all environmental requirements''.
The chief executive of the Australian Coal Association, Nikki Williams, said it was ''nonsensical in the extreme'' to oppose a mine in Queensland when coal was mined in more than 100 countries and demand was being driven by the need for cheap energy.
''This is of paramount importance in developing economies where hundreds of millions of people currently live without the most basic necessities of life,'' Ms Williams said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/coalmine-a-threat-to-global-warming-target-20111218-1p0sv.html#ixzz1h8o5WoIr

China scathing of Canada's Kyoto withdrawal

Updated December 14, 2011 00:47:22

 

Photo: China is the world's biggest emitter of carbon (Reuters: David Gray )

Canada's historic decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol has provoked heavy criticism from China, with Beijing saying the move went against international efforts to combat climate change.

Canada on Monday became the first country to formally withdraw from the protocol, saying the pact on cutting carbon emissions was preventing the world from effectively tackling climate change.
The move is "against the efforts of the international community and is regrettable," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a regular media briefing.
"We hope Canada will face up to its responsibilities and obligations, honour its commitments and actively participate in relevant international cooperation against climate change."
China is the world's biggest emitter of carbon but has always insisted that as a developing country it should be exempt from binding obligations on emissions.
But Australia's Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, has defended Canada's withdrawal, insisting the country is still committed to reducing pollution.
"The Canadian decision to withdraw from the protocol should not be used to suggest Canada does not intend to play its part in global efforts to tackle climate change," a spokesman said in a statement.
"In Durban, Canada made clear it supports a new international climate change agreement that includes commitments from all major emitters."

Read More: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-13/china-hits-out-at-canada27s-kyoto-withdrawal/3729740

Solar3D Projects 25% Efficiency in New Silicon 3-Dimensional Solar Cell

Test results indicate that the company’s breakthrough design will produce conversion efficiency far in excess of current solar technology

 

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solar3D, Inc. (OTCBB: SLTD), the developer of a breakthrough 3-dimensional solar cell technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity, today announced the results of a simulated test of its new solar cell design that projects the conversion efficiency to be in excess of 25%. The test results indicate that the company’s innovative design will produce conversion efficiency far in excess of current solar technology.

“Increasing conversion efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs will ultimately drive solar to economic parity with the low cost alternatives”

“We are very encouraged by these test results,” said Jim Nelson, President and CEO of Solar3D. “We are now evaluating various methods of fabricating a prototype. If the results of our tests hold up in fabrication, as we expect, then our product’s performance will be among the very highest conversion efficiencies achieved by silicon solar cells.”
After completion of its prototype, the company’s management plans to seek a manufacturing partner that will participate in bringing its 3-dimensional solar cell to market. Likely manufacturing partners include some of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers.
Nelson continued, “These test results are very exciting and give us a great deal of confidence in the development path we have chosen. We think that our novel 3-dimensional solar cell has the potential to dramatically change the economics of solar power. A high efficiency solar cell manufactured with low cost silicon could result in the lowest cost per watt in the industry.”
“Increasing conversion efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs will ultimately drive solar to economic parity with the low cost alternatives,” said Nelson. “With the increased efficiency that comes from our new design, we take a giant step in that direction.”
About Solar3D, Inc.
Solar3D, Inc. is developing a breakthrough 3-dimensional solar cell technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Up to 30% of incident sunlight is currently reflected off the surface of conventional solar cells, and more is lost inside the solar cell materials. Inspired by light management techniques used in fiber optic devices, our innovative solar cell technology utilizes a 3-dimensional design to trap sunlight inside micro-photovoltaic structures where photons bounce around until they are converted into electrons. This next generation solar cell will be dramatically more efficient, resulting in a lower cost per watt that will make solar power affordable for the world. To learn more about Solar3D, please visit our website at http://www.Solar3D.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, product, and distributor performance, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently; and other factors detailed in reports filed by the Company.

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111213005854/en/Solar3D-Projects-25-Efficiency-Silicon-3-Dimensional-Solar

NZ releases last big group of penguins

Friday, December 16, 2011 

 

 

 

About 40 little blue penguins have been cleaned and treated for oil damage caused by the Rena in NZ.

A group of around 40 little blue penguins, cleaned and treated for oil damage caused by the stricken container ship, Rena, was released on Mount Maunganui beach in the city of Tauranga, New Zealand on Thursday (December 15).
According to Reuters, large crowd gathered to watch the event, with the penguins transported to the beach in coloured boxes.
The birds had previously been covered in oil that was spilled by the Rena, which became grounded on a nearby reef on October 5.
They had been recuperating at the Wildlife Recovery Centre at Tauranga, where they were washed and scrubbed, and held until their beach habitat was cleared of most of the spilled oil.
'It's the last of the penguins from Mount Maunganui. There are a few birds with some foot issues that are being held back, and there are some birds from Motiti Island that are still to go out, but this is the last big release of penguins from Mount Maunganui. So, this is a huge relief to our whole team to get these birds back out again. It's fabulous,' said the head of the oiled wildlife centre, Dr Brett Gartrell.
Before the release, wildlife experts ensured that the birds' feathers were waterproof to protect them from the cold water.
At the peak of the oil spill, around 360 birds were being held at the centre.
The operation required around 100 staff to care for the birds, with each of the penguins needing a meal prepared twice a day.
Source:http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/12/16/NZ_releases_last_big_group_of_penguins_697192.html

Gulf irrigation plan 'sustainable'

Friday, December 16, 2011

 

The Qld govt says the $10m irrigation trial in the Gulf country is feasible, despite vehement opposition.

The Queensland government says the $10 million irrigation trial in the Gulf country is feasible, despite vehement opposition from conservationists.
The federal and state governments will fund the $10 million irrigation trial on the Flinders and Gilbert rivers in the state's Gulf country, beginning next month.
Farming groups and the federal opposition have welcomed the move, but The Wilderness Society spokesman Gavan McFadzean said it made little sense.
'In 2010 an expert panel called the Northern Taskforce investigated the development potential of northern Australia,' Mr McFadzean said on Friday.
'It found that due to remoteness, poor soils and lack of infrastructure the economics of new dams don't add up. The geology is unsuitable, the climate hostile and evaporation in water storages extreme.'
Labor, the coalition and independent MP Bob Katter were now engaged in an 'environmentally destructive, economically irresponsible and intellectually bankrupt race to the bottom', he said.
But Agriculture Minister Tim Mulherin said the state government had a proven track record on environmental issues.
'We've protected iconic rivers through the Wild Rivers laws, but the Flinders and the Gilbert have the opportunity for mosaic irrigation farming,' he told AAP.
'There are tremendous soils - beautiful, rich, dark soils at least 20 feet (six metres) deep.
'This has the huge potential of diversifying the economic base of the entire region.'
Premier Anna Bligh said the scheme had not been entered into lightly.
'It has been the subject of extensive scientific tests,' she told reporters in Brisbane.
'What those tests show is there are an initial 15,000 hectares of great soil quality and 80,000 megalitres of water that could be made available out of this river system.'
The rivers' massive floodwaters were currently flowing out to sea, Ms Bligh said.
Carpentaria Shire Mayor Fred Pascoe said irrigation schemes could be made to work in the region.
'There are already people up here who are doing it off their own bat,' Mr Pascoe told AAP.
'The key is to listen to what they have done and learn about what systems will work.
'We're not the Murray-Darling Basin, and we don't plan to be, but we can certainly expand the agriculture sector up here.'

Source:  http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/12/16/Gulf_irrigation_plan_sustainable_697436.html

Monsanto Declared Worst Company of the Year

Another proud moment for Monsanto; the company has been given the Worst Company of 2011 Award for its numerous crimes against protecting human health and the environment. The award was given by NaturalSociety after thousands of readers voted Monsanto the worst company of 2011.
“Considering the fact that Monsanto’s global GMO push has threatened environmental and human health alike, I think NaturalSociety labeling them Worst Company of 2011 is very suiting,” said Sayer Ji, President of GreenMedInfo.com.
The award is intended to bring awareness to these environmental issues, which are continually being recognized by nations worldwide.

Source: Monsanto Declared Worst Company of the Year | Sustainability Ninja

Nations set path for 2015 climate pact

Monday, December 12, 2011 » 07:52am

A marathon UN climate conference has approved a roadmap towards an accord that for the first time will bring all major greenhouse-gas emitters under a single legal roof.
If approved as scheduled in 2015, the pact will be operational from 2020 and become the prime weapon in the fight against climate change.
Greenpeace, however, lamented the deal as a victory for polluters over people.
It was reached after nearly 14 days of talks under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The forum also launched a Green Climate Fund to help channel up to $US100 billion ($A99 billion) a year in aid to poor, vulnerable countries by 2020, an initiative born under the 2009 Copenhagen Summit.
'I believe that what we have achieved in Durban will play a central role in saving tomorrow, today,' declared South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who chaired the talks.
Approval came after two and a half days of round-the-clock wrangling among 194 nations.
The talks should have ended on Friday but wrapped up in the dawn light of Sunday amid scenes of exhaustion and shredded nerves.
And the often-stormy exchanges reflected concerns among many countries over the cost of making energy efficiencies and switching to clean renewable sources at a time of belt-tightening.
UNFCCC chief Christiana Figueres was exultant.
Citing the words of Nelson Mandela, she said on Twitter: 'In honour of Mandela: It always seems impossible until it is done. And it is done!
'I think in the end it ended up quite well,' said US chief negotiator Todd Stern.
'The first time you will see developing countries agreeing, essentially, to be bound by a legal agreement.'
The European Union hailed the outcome as a 'historic breakthrough'
'Where the (1997) Kyoto (protocol) divides the world into two categories, we will now get a system that reflects the reality of today's mutually interdependent world,' Connie Hedegaard, the EU commissioner for climate action, said in the statement.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed what he called the 'significant' breakthrough that 'will guide global efforts to address the causes and impacts of climate change'.
French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bernard Valero said the deal was an 'important compromise that saves our ambitions for a global and effective agreement against climate warming'.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff pronounced herself 'satisfied'.
The environmental group Greenpeace was anything but satisfied.
'The grim news is that the blockers led by the US have succeeded in inserting a vital get-out clause that could easily prevent the next big climate deal being legally binding. If that loophole is exploited it could be a disaster,' said Greenpeace director Kumi Naidoo.
'Right now the global climate regime amounts to nothing more than a voluntary deal that's put off for a decade.'
In the run-up to the conference, scientists pounded out loud warnings, saying future generations would pay the bill for foot-dragging.
Current measures to tackle carbon emissions are falling far short of the goal of limiting warming to 2C.
According to research presented by German scientists, the world is on track for a 3.5C rise, spelling worsening droughts, floods, storms and rising sea levels for tens of millions of people.
The European Union (EU) led the charge in Durban, pushing for the 'roadmap' in exchange for renewing its pledges to the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty deemed iconic by developing countries but increasingly dismissed by rich ones as out of date.
Kyoto's first roster of legally-binding carbon curbs expires at the end of 2012.
The EU will sign up for fresh commitments taking effect from 2013, although this will be little more than symbolic, translating into the UN framework its existing plan for reducing European greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 over 1990 levels.
New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland and others are joining it, said European diplomats. The duration of the post-2013 commitments will be either five or eight years. Negotiations on this will take place next year.
The EU made the pledge to help assemble a coalition of developing and small island states, together accounting for nearly two-thirds of the world's nations, that lobbied China, the United States and India to support the quest.
China and India have become huge emitters of carbon over the last half-dozen years but do not have Kyoto constraints as they are developing countries.
The United States, the world's number two source of man-made carbon, also has no legal curbs as it refused in 2001 to ratify Kyoto.

The key to the Durban deal lay in overcoming the opposition of the Big Three by crafting a vague text about what the pact will be, essentially reassuring them that the price will not be unaffordable.
The final text said parties would 'develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force'.
That compromise averted the use of 'legally binding', likely to trigger a backlash among the conservative right in the United States during a presidential election year.
Observers say the talks for the 2015 pact will be arduous.
The thorny issues include determining the agreement's exact legal status and apportioning carbon constraints among rich and poor countries.

Source: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/12/12/Nations_set_path_for_2015_climate_pact_695650.html

Telehouse London switches to 100% renewable energy

Last week data centre company Telehouse announced that it's London Docklands data centre site ‘now purchases 100% renewable energy’ from UK provider SmartestEnergy. The data centre houses the IT infrastructure of almost 500 major international organisations.
SmartestEnergy is the UK’s leading purchaser and supplier of electricity from independent generators. The renewable energy it provides to Telehouse comes from projects throughout the UK using a variety of sources including wind, solar, hydropower and anaerobic digestion.
It’s a further step for Telehouse in its commitment to reduce its carbon footprint. The Telehouse London sites have already been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard, which certifies that an organisation has measured, managed and reduced its carbon emissions across its own operations and is committed to further reductions in the future.
Tokuji Mitsui, managing director of Telehouse and KDDI Europe, pointed out that "The majority of electricity supplied to us is utilised by our clients, therefore it is integral that we take on initiatives such as the 100% green energy supply, which in turn benefits our customer's credentials by reducing their carbon footprint. We intend to roll out this green partnership initiative with SmartestEnergy to all our European sites in the near future."

Well the press release is not absolutely clear. Some energy may be 100% renewable (in the UK ‘green’ energy is sometimes only that with a high renewable proportion), but it may not mean that all your energy comes from renewable sources. In this case, though, it does seem that Telehouse London now only uses renewable energy.
It will certainly make it easier for customers to assess their ICT carbon footprint with the knowledge that there are no Scope 3 (indirect) emissions from this part of their external service delivery. Among the sort of customers that Telehouse has, the question about supplier emissions will certainly have started to be asked.

Source: http://www.thegreenitreview.com/2011/12/telehouse-london-switches-to-100.html

Humpback whales' record breeding

Monday, December 12, 2011 » 03:54am

Australian wildlife experts are celebrating after what is believed to be the best humpback whale breeding season for 50 years.
Hundreds of mothers with newborn calves have been spotted migrating south past Australia to the cooler waters of Antarctica.
Geoff Ross, from the National Parks And Wildlife Service in New South Wales, told Sky News: 'It's been a really cracking year.
'The season used to go from June to just after July, but it is now going on for much longer and we have seen many calves.'
Earlier in the year 2,202 whales were counted during daylight hours passing Sydney's Cape Solander as they headed north to breed.
Now the humpbacks are returning south, with skippers on whale-watching boats as well as crews on commercial ships all saying there has been a definite increase in numbers, especially of juveniles.
The humpback and southern right whale populations off Australia's coast are slowly recovering after commercial whaling ended in the 1960s.
'It is excellent news,' said Mr Ross, adding 'the migration is longer, they are swimming more slowly, they are almost carefree.'
The population is growing by about 10% each year, but in Antarctica whales are still at risk from humans.
Activists have left Australia and are also heading south to try and disrupt Japanese whalers, who mainly hunt minke whales in Antarctic waters.
Last season, Japan cut short its annual whale hunt after it was obstructed on the water by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
This year, Japan plans to send a patrol ship to protect its whaling crews.
Andrea Gordon from Sea Shepherd said: 'The Japanese whaling fleet just got an infusion of an extra $30m to continue their whaling programme and Sea Shepherd has a volunteer crew funded by donations.
'We would be more than happy to step aside if the Australian government would send a fleet down to enforce international law.'
Australia has condemned Japan's decision to continue whaling, but Tokyo claims Sea Shepherd's activities are illegal harassment.
Japan introduced 'scientific whaling' to skirt a commercial ban on hunting the animals.
Last year, Australia filed a complaint against Japan at the world court in The Hague to stop scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean.
The decision is expected to come in 2013 at the earliest.
Source: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/12/12/Humpback_whales_record_breeding_695582.html

Report details climate change in Pacific

Updated December 07, 2011 21:42:55

Photo: Tuvaluans fear rising sea levels will render their Polynesian archipelago uninhabitable. (Torsten Blackwood: AFP)

A new report shows for the first time detailed projections of the effects of climate change on the Pacific's 15 small island states.

The three-year study by Australia's CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology predicts increased air and sea temperatures, more extreme rainfall days, a more acidic ocean and rising sea levels
It is the first time the island states have received an official climate change projection.
Dr Gillian Chambers from the CSIRO says the Pacific islands are facing major challenges.
"We're looking at air and sea surface temperatures which are going to continue to rise over this century," she said.
"In particular there's going to be large increases in the number of very hot days and warmer nights as well.
"If we're looking at rainfall, generally we see that basically there's going to be an increase in rainfall over the region and perhaps what's most significant is that there's going to be more of the really heavy rainfall events."
Dr Chambers warns the changes will lead to an increase in ocean acidification and rising sea levels.
And she says there is likely to be fewer tropical cyclones, but "the ones we do get will be more intense".

Audio: Pacific islanders facing dramatic change (The World Today)

Dr Chambers says Pacific island states are especially vulnerable because they rely on the sea for the livelihoods.
"Particularly if we're looking at the oceans, then a large percentage of the populations in the Pacific islands, they depend on what we call subsistence farming, a subsistence style of living, which is very much dependent on the land and the resources and to the sea and its resources as well," she said.
"So there's already a very delicate balance between what they take and what's available on land and in the sea and many of the changes we're seeing in the climate and the ocean, it's sort of tipping that balance, certainly not in the favour of the Pacific islanders."

Gradual process

The idea is that the report will empower the island states to adapt to the effects of climate change. Considering the size of their economies it will be difficult, but Dr Chambers says they have time.
"What the Pacific climate change science program has done is really provide them with the sound scientific information, the best that we have now, as to what's going to happen around 2030, around the middle of the century and around the end of the century," she said.
"That information then has to be translated into how this is going to affect the Pacific - say a taro crop or a banana crop or an orange crop.
"So there's a lot more steps that have to be taken by the Pacific island nations in order to build these projected climate changes into their future development."
She says the report's results are generally in line with global projections and will help island nations adapt to climate change.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-07/report-details-climate-change-in-pacific/3717694

Last decade equals warmest on record: UN

Thirteen of the warmest years recorded have occurred within the last decade and a half, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said.

The year 2011 caps a decade that ties the record as the hottest ever measured, the WMO said in its annual report on climate trends and extreme weather events, unveiled at UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa.
"Our science is solid and it proves unequivocally that the world is warming and that this warming is due to human activities," WMO secretary-general Michel Jarraud said in a statement, adding policy makers should take note of the findings.
"Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached new highs and are very rapidly approaching levels consistent with a two to 2.4 Celsius rise in average global temperatures."
Scientists believe any rise above the 2.0 threshold could trigger far-reaching and irreversible changes on Earth over land and in the seas.
The 2002-2011 period equals 2001-2010 as the warmest decade since 1850, the report said.
2011 ranks as the 10th warmest year since 1850, when accurate measurements began.
This was true despite a La Nina event - one of the strongest in 60 years - that developed in the tropical Pacific in the second half of 2010 and continued until May 2011.
The report noted that the cyclical climate phenomenon, which strikes every three to seven years, helped drive extreme weather events, including drought in east Africa, islands in the central equatorial Pacific and the southern United States.
It also aggravated flooding in southern Africa, eastern Australia and southern Asia.
While La Nina and its meteorological cousin El Nino are not caused by climate change, rising ocean temperatures caused by global warming may affect their intensity and frequency, scientists say.
Delegates from almost 200 nations have gathered in Durban for the UN Climate Change Conference.
Countries are expected to make a last effort to save the dying Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005.
The talks are the last chance to set another round of targets before the first commitment period ends in 2012.
The European Union is willing to sign up for a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol but other signatories, including Russia, Japan and Canada, are not.
The United States - the world's second biggest emitter after China - never ratified the protocol.
Major developing nations with surging economies, such as China and India, were not covered in the first commitment period as they were classified as emerging economies.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-29/past-15-years-warmest3a-un/3702564

Tackling hunger and climate change: from farm to fork

On the third annual Agriculture and Rural Development Day taking place in Durban, South Africa on December 3rd, governments will be grappling with an apparently unsolvable conundrum; how to feed a world that recently crossed the seven billion population mark, while reducing the contribution of agriculture to global climate change?
The recent price drop of wheat, maize and other grains offers a much needed relief in a food crisis that has been going on for too long, and has left many people hungry or starving. However, in many countries, the price of some of our basic staples such as bread, rice, flour, milk and meat has continued to rise. And around the world, continuously unstable food prices are making it impossible to predict how much food will cost from one month to the next.
Many of the factors that contribute to hunger and unstable food prices are intimately linked to those that make the world’s farming systems ecologically unsustainable.
One big factor is oil. The industrial farming methods that are used to grow much of the world’s food are highly dependent on oil, not only for fuelling machinery but also to manufacture the chemical fertilisers and pesticides used to maintain high crop yields.
The use of oil in agriculture undermines soil health, pollutes local water systems and erodes biodiversity. Clearing land to make room for agricultural production replaces diverse natural vegetation with farms that grow just one crop. The oil that is needed to run farm machinery contributes, together with the inefficient use of fertilisers and animal feed production, to global greenhouse gas emissions and thus to climate change. Industrial agriculture also ties the cost of farming and hence food prices closely to changes in the price of oil, which have risen sharply over the past few years.
Food production has become increasingly globalised, and the road from farm to fork stretches around the world, with transport and refrigeration adding to increased levels of emissions. With a handful of corporations exerting a stranglehold over the entire supply chain, local communities are losing control over their food and farming systems, driving both hunger and environmental degradation.
In much of the developing world, governments and farmers are pressured by corporations and institutions like the World Bank into growing crops for export instead of for local consumption, usually using intensive farming methods that damage the local environment. With decreasing soil quality, rising costs of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and giant corporations taking over the food market, small-scale food producers in poor countries are being hit with a double whammy of falling incomes and unpredictable food prices
The COP17 UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa, provides an urgently needed opportunity for governments to find a way forward. On 3 December, the focus of the conference will be on the contribution of agriculture to greenhouse gas emissions; as well as on the urgent need to help the world’s food producers adapt to the impacts of climate change. The simple fact is that the UN conference should focus on changing the way food is produced. There is overwhelming scientific and field evidence[i] demonstrating that farms that grow a mixture of crops while using ecological fertilisation and pest control methods can cut greenhouse gas emissions and produce more food. These ecological farming methods also reduce the dependency on oil, take good care of soil and water systems, and cut farming households’ costs while providing them with more food.
It’s basically a no-brainer. But the powerful corporate interests that benefit from the current system are trying hard to prevent changes to public subsidies, tax systems and agricultural research and outreach needed to foster the transition from intensive to ecological farming systems.
Greenpeace is campaigning hard in Durban and beyond to ensure governments start listening to sense when it comes to food and farming; for the good of people, as well as the good of the planet.  
Dr Julian Oram is a senior political advisor for Greenpeace International

Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/tackling-hunger-and-climate-change-from-farm-/blog/38166/

Mobile company introduces a biodegradable SIM card

French mobile phone company SFR is introducing a ‘paper’ SIM card which is biodegradable and recyclable. Developed by Oberthur Technologies, a French chip card company, apart from the microcontroller itself it consists entirely of natural wood fibres.
Apparently the card performs in the same way as the usually plastic-based versions, but being wood-based has a reduced environmental impact. Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions are 30% less, according to research from SFR.
The card was launched on November 17 with a pilot involving 10,000 cards for new or renewing SFR customers.

Last year the company introduced biodegradable plant-based plastic for its SIM cards, made from a renewable material derived from corn, sugarcane or potato starch. Now it seems to have gone one stage further. The new card apparently only saves about six grams of CO₂e per customer (according to greenIT.fr), equivalent to 132 tonnes of CO₂e across all SFR customers. But, as they say, every little counts.

Source: http://www.thegreenitreview.com/2011/12/mobile-company-introduces-biodegradable.html

China Has No Plans to Limit Carbon Emissions

by Brian McGraw on December 7, 2011

There have been a few news stories out of Durban suggesting that China (the worlds largest CO2 emitter) has turned a corner on carbon emissions and has tentatively agreed to limit them, with Bloomberg running an article titled “China Climate Plan Makes ‘Excited Buzz’ as U.S. Lags: UN Envoy.” What did China actually say?
Ron Bailey, Reason magazine science correspondent reports:

So here’s what China apparently wants the rest of the world to do: (1) agree that China’s greenhouse gas targets can be different from those imposed on rich countries, (2) agree that for the next 9 years rich countries will continue to cut their greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol while China’s continue to grow, (3) agree that no negotiations take place on targets until a scientific review is finished in 2015, and (4) agree that rich countries begin showering poor countries with $100 billion in climate reparations annually. If the rich countries will just do that, China will consent to begin negotiating some kind of “legally binding” treaty after 2020. Frankly, with these preconditions, it seems that China’s current position actually remains pretty much what it has always been: It will accept legally binding limits on its greenhouse gas emissions when Hell freezes over.

China’s best offer is to consider limiting emissions after 2020, still almost a decade away, and only if all the other countries continue to play this game until then. Who can blame them — they are rapidly industrializing and getting wealthier, which requires massive amounts of fossil fuels.
What if future negotiations aren’t successful? China is currently ‘negotiating’ with other countries regarding their annual emissions, it just so happens they are offering zero emissions reductions. Where is the evidence that they will agree to anything sufficient in 2020, when their per capita incomes will still be markedly lower than other developed countries?

Source: http://www.globalwarming.org/2011/12/07/china-has-no-plans-to-limit-carbon-emissions/

Print Email Facebook Twitter More Global warming rate could be less than feared

High levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may have less of an impact on the rate of global warming than feared, a new study suggests.

The authors of the study stress that global warming is real and that increases in atmospheric CO2, which has doubled from pre-industrial standards, will have multiple serious impacts.
But more severe estimates that predict temperatures could rise up to an average of 10 degrees Celsius are unlikely, the researchers report in the journal Science.
The 2007 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report estimates that surface temperatures could rise by as much as an average of 3 degrees with a doubling of atmospheric CO2 from pre-industrial standards.
The new study suggests temperatures will rise on average 2.3 degrees under the same conditions.
"When you reconstruct sea and land surface temperatures from the peak of the last ice age 21,000 years ago - which is referred to as the Last Glacial Maximum - and compare it with climate model simulations of that period, you get a much different picture," said lead author Andreas Schmittner, from Oregon State University.
"If these palaeoclimatic constraints apply to the future, as predicted by our model, the results imply less probability of extreme climatic change than previously thought."
Scientists have long struggled to quantify climate sensitivity, or how the Earth will respond to projected increases in carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Global scale

Associate Professor Schmittner notes that many previous studies only looked at periods spanning from 1850 to today, thus not taking into account a fully integrated palaeoclimate data on a global scale.
The researchers based their study on ice age land and ocean surface temperature obtained by examining ices cores, bore holes, seafloor sediments and other factors.
When they first looked at the palaeoclimatic data, the researchers only found very small differences in ocean temperatures then compared to now.
"Yet the planet was completely different - huge ice sheets over North America and northern Europe, more sea ice and snow, different vegetation, lower sea levels and more dust in the air," Associate Professor Schmittner said.
"It shows that even very small changes in the ocean's surface temperature can have an enormous impact elsewhere, particularly over land areas at mid to high latitudes."
He warned that continued, unabated use of fossil fuels could lead to similar warming of sea surfaces today.

Solid foundation

Professor Colin Prentice from Macquarie University says he is not surprised by the results.
Professor Prentice, who was not involved in the study, says the new paper is based on a careful compilation of data and addresses an issue that is "absolutely central".
"What it means is we can be a bit more sure about the sort of range of temperature changes that will result from the given change in the amount of fossil fuel and CO2 and other greenhouse gases," he said.
"The key point is that there has been ongoing buzz about the possibility that the climate sensitivity may be way, way higher than in mainstream climate models.
"So for very technical reasons with data just from contemporary observations and observations from the recent historical period, you just haven't got enough information to really rule out those numbers.
"What [this study] has shown is that those very high values are ruled out.
"So it means we still have a major issue about climate change, but it is much better quantified, much better pinned down."
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-25/global-warming-rate-could-be-less-than-feared/3694896

The winters of 2009-10 and 2010-11 were marked extremes, a recent study from the American Geophysical Union reports. We mostly heard of the cold. More defining, but apparently not as newsworthy, our planet experienced many extreme warm spells in recent winters. The recent research examined daily wintertime temperature extremes since 1948. It also found that “warm extremes were much more severe and widespread than the cold extremes during the northern hemisphere winters of 2009-10 (which featured an extreme snowfall episode on the East Coast dubbed “snowmaggedon”) and 2010-11.”
Natural Climate variation due to North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) explains cyclical cold spells. However,…
the long-term extreme warmth trend was left unexplained,… or, rather, just as one would expect in a period of accelerating global warming.
Kristen Guirguis explains:
“We investigated the relationships between prominent natural climate modes and extreme temperatures, both warm and cold. Natural climate variability explained the cold extremes; the observed warmth was consistent with a long-term warming trend.” As Guirguss is a postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC-San Diego and lead author of the study, which is set to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (a publication of the American Geophysical Union), is telling us this, one must stop to consider this as a well-informed, accurate recent analysis of our planet and it’s patterns.
But, to clarify, here’s more from a piece on Climates Progress, “Last Two Winters’ Warm Extremes More Severe Than Their Cold Snaps, Study Finds, from Scripps climate researcher Alexander Gershunov, a report co-author: “Over the last couple of years, natural variability seemed to produce the cold extremes, while the warm extremes kept trending just as one would expect in a period of accelerating global warming.”

Top Photo Credit: B.G. Johnson.
Bottom Image via Climate Progress/American Geophysical Union

Source: Planetsave (http://s.tt/14nTS)

The winters of 2009-10 and 2010-11 were marked extremes, a recent study from the American Geophysical Union reports. We mostly heard of the cold. More defining, but apparently not as newsworthy, our planet experienced many extreme warm spells in recent winters. The recent research examined daily wintertime temperature extremes since 1948. It also found that “warm extremes were much more severe and widespread than the cold extremes during the northern hemisphere winters of 2009-10 (which featured an extreme snowfall episode on the East Coast dubbed “snowmaggedon”) and 2010-11.”
Natural Climate variation due to North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) explains cyclical cold spells. However,…
the long-term extreme warmth trend was left unexplained,… or, rather, just as one would expect in a period of accelerating global warming.
Kristen Guirguis explains:
“We investigated the relationships between prominent natural climate modes and extreme temperatures, both warm and cold. Natural climate variability explained the cold extremes; the observed warmth was consistent with a long-term warming trend.” As Guirguss is a postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC-San Diego and lead author of the study, which is set to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (a publication of the American Geophysical Union), is telling us this, one must stop to consider this as a well-informed, accurate recent analysis of our planet and it’s patterns.
But, to clarify, here’s more from a piece on Climates Progress, “Last Two Winters’ Warm Extremes More Severe Than Their Cold Snaps, Study Finds, from Scripps climate researcher Alexander Gershunov, a report co-author: “Over the last couple of years, natural variability seemed to produce the cold extremes, while the warm extremes kept trending just as one would expect in a period of accelerating global warming.”

Top Photo Credit: B.G. Johnson.
Bottom Image via Climate Progress/American Geophysical Union

Source: Planetsave (http://s.tt/14nTS)

The winters of 2009-10 and 2010-11 were marked extremes, a recent study from the American Geophysical Union reports. We mostly heard of the cold. More defining, but apparently not as newsworthy, our planet experienced many extreme warm spells in recent winters. The recent research examined daily wintertime temperature extremes since 1948. It also found that “warm extremes were much more severe and widespread than the cold extremes during the northern hemisphere winters of 2009-10 (which featured an extreme snowfall episode on the East Coast dubbed “snowmaggedon”) and 2010-11.”
Natural Climate variation due to North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) explains cyclical cold spells. However,…
the long-term extreme warmth trend was left unexplained,… or, rather, just as one would expect in a period of accelerating global warming.
Kristen Guirguis explains:
“We investigated the relationships between prominent natural climate modes and extreme temperatures, both warm and cold. Natural climate variability explained the cold extremes; the observed warmth was consistent with a long-term warming trend.” As Guirguss is a postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC-San Diego and lead author of the study, which is set to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (a publication of the American Geophysical Union), is telling us this, one must stop to consider this as a well-informed, accurate recent analysis of our planet and it’s patterns.
But, to clarify, here’s more from a piece on Climates Progress, “Last Two Winters’ Warm Extremes More Severe Than Their Cold Snaps, Study Finds, from Scripps climate researcher Alexander Gershunov, a report co-author: “Over the last couple of years, natural variability seemed to produce the cold extremes, while the warm extremes kept trending just as one would expect in a period of accelerating global warming.”

Top Photo Credit: B.G. Johnson.
Bottom Image via Climate Progress/American Geophysical Union

Source: Planetsave (http://s.tt/14nTS)v