Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Ad blitz behind bounce on carbon tax: Nationals

A poll suggesting voters are warming to Labor's carbon tax is the result of a taxpayer-funded advertising blitz, the federal opposition says.
The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian, shows support for the tax rose six percentage points to 36 per cent in the two weeks since the details were unveiled.
Opposition fell from 59 per cent to 53 per cent.
Nationals leader Warren Truss said the bounce was temporary.
"If the government didn't get some kind of kick ... after spending $25 million of taxpayers' money on an advertising campaign they should sack the advertising agency," Mr Truss said today.
He said opposition to the tax would rise again when people fully understood the implications for employment and the cost of living.

Tourist town despairs as 'hungry' ocean swallows beach

Washed away: Rocks and rusting steel is all that now remains of the once beautiful sandy beach at Kingscliff.

Washed away: Rocks and rusting steel are all that now remains of the once beautiful sandy beach at Kingscliff. Photo: Michael Bryant

Residents of Kingscliff have compared the ocean to a "ravenous beast" slowly devouring their coastal town.
In the past two weeks the beach and foreshore of Kingscliff, 15 minutes from the Gold Coast in northern New South Wales, has been eroded by a rising tide.
The parkland has joined the beach and crumbled into the ocean as the pandanus and casuarina trees that once lined the foreshore were uprooted and dragged out to sea.

Kinscliff in 2008 before erosion destroyed the beach.

Kingscliff in 2008 before erosion destroyed the beach. Photo: Michael Bryant

On Saturday, another 15 metres of sand and soil disappeared into the water, exposing the rock wall protecting the Kingscliff Surf Club.
The relentless ocean now threatens to claim the Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park, where the council was forced to relocate seven cabins at risk of collapsing into the sea last week.
Towering banks of large sandbags are currently the town's only defence against the tide.

A 2009 photo of waves undermining the Kingscliff breakwall. Photo: Michael Bryant

The dramatic collapse of the beach and foreshore has unfolded before the eyes of radio operator Helena Sweeney in the Volunteer Coast Guard tower.
"It's horrendous," she said.
"The ocean has taken huge gouges out of the coastline.

"It came to a stage where we thought [our tower] would be surrounded by a moat."
It is not the first time Kingscliff has been plagued by erosion.
Tweed Shire Council carried out $600,000 in emergency works to restore the beach in March this year ahead of the New South Wales Surf Life Saving Championships.

Wind turbines make us sick - farmers

For the prime minister, wind farms are the stars of Australia's clean energy future, but health problems from the turbine noise are forcing some neighbouring residents off the land.
At the opening of the Gunning Wind Farm in southern NSW last week, Prime Minister Julia Gillard championed the environmental benefits, job creation and economic benefits that would flow from getting on the wind power bandwagon.
Currently, wind farms power two per cent of Australia's energy needs, with the federal government eyeing a total renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020.
It could mean 3200 new wind turbines for Australia.
At Gunning, Ms Gillard brushed off concerns about health risks and said she had not received any advice about their dangers.

Read More: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/07/26/Wind_turbines_make_us_sick_-_farmers_642607.html

Dirty Dozen pollutants enter air - study

'Dirty Dozen' chemicals, including the notoriously toxic DDT, are being freed from Arctic sea ice and snow through global warming, a study suggests.
The 'Dirty Dozen' - formally known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) - were widely used as insecticides and pesticides before being outlawed in 2001.
They are extremely tough molecules that take decades to break down in nature. They also bio-accumulate, meaning that as they pass up the food chain, concentrations rise, posing a fertility threat to higher species.
In addition, they are insoluble in water and easily revolatilise, so can swiftly transit from soil and water to the atmosphere in response to higher temperatures.
The study, published on Sunday in the scientific journal, Nature Climate Change, looked at atmospheric concentrations of three chemicals - DDT, HCH and cis-chlordane - monitored between 1993 and 2009 at a station in Norway's Svalbard Islands and at another in the Canadian Arctic.

Read More: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/07/25/Dirty_Dozen_pollutants_enter_air_-_study_642334.html

Scientists create carbon sponge

Scientists in the United States have created an entirely new porous material which has a high capacity for capturing carbon dioxide.

The procedure is usually expensive and energy intensive, but this time scientists say it is relatively low cost and it may be useful to capture emissions from coal-fired power stations.
Australian experts say it is a fundamental advance but is still many years away from practical application.
Dr Kai Landskron and his colleagues at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania have created the new kind of porous material that has a high capacity to take up carbon dioxide.
"We can make this material also in a pretty simple way, actually simpler than most other materials can be made," he said.

Read More: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-20/scientists-create-carbon-sponge/2802170

Friday, 22 July 2011

Call to boycott carbon tax foes

THE City of Sydney should boycott companies and industry groups funding anti-carbon price advertisements unless such companies publicly disavow that position, the Greens argue.
Three months after his counterparts on Marrickville Council were forced to abandon a proposed boycott of Israeli goods, the Greens councillor Chris Harris will call for the council not to purchase goods or accept tenders from companies that directly or indirectly fund the unfolding campaigns against the federal government's plan to put a price on carbon.

Turnbull backs climate change scientists

Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull has called on people to take scientists seriously and not to listen to people like climate change sceptic Viscount Christopher Monckton, who dispute known facts backed by peer reviews.
The federal opposition's spokesman for communications and the broadband, says in the age of the internet, it's possible to find an argument for any cause and support for every view.
But, he says it's unlikely that people would seek to have an operation on their own body performed by someone who informed himself on the internet, but would seek help from a health professional who bases his actions on science.
Mr Turnbull says Liberals have a responsibility to look beyond the horizon on climate change.
His call to rally for the planet's health, comes as the United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon warns climate change is generating an unholy brew of extreme weather events that threaten global security.

Source: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/07/22/Turnbull_backs_climate_change_scientists_641037.html

Rate of change key to reef survival

The predicted global-scale collapse of coral reefs within the next few decades due to climate change overestimates the speed of the decline and fails to adequately account for their potential for adaptation, say Australian researchers. However Professor John Pandolfi, of the University of Queensland's School of Biological Sciences, and colleagues say evolutionary adaptation can only happen if human impacts on reefs are reduced and carbon emissions dramatically reduced.
In a review article published in today's Science, Pandolfi says latest research shows climate change remains the greatest threat to the world's reefs.
However, he adds recent research shows there is great variation worldwide in reef organisms' ability to evolve and adapt to changes in sea surface temperature, ocean acidification, sea level and mineral saturation state.
"In the past when there have been dramatic changes in temperature or CO2 levels ... these are situations when reefs have responded in a very negative way," the chief investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies says.
Pandolfi says shallow water tropical reef organisms existed throughout the past 540 million years of the Phanerozoic through periods when temperatures were more than 7°C higher than today and CO2 was more than 20 times greater than pre-industrial levels.
"[But] the overall evidence from the fossil record indicates that rates of change are crucial for determining ecological outcomes.
"We can't find any time in the geological past when the rate of CO2 rise is equivalent to that of today," he says.

Read More: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/07/22/3273983.htm

Polar Bears on Thin Ice

Polar Bears

A male polar bear investigates a whale backbone

On Thin Ice

The Arctic is warming so fast that by 2050 it may be largely ice free in summer. Without their frozen hunting platform, how will polar bears survive?

By Susan McGrath

Photograph by Florian Schulz

In August 1881 the naturalist John Muir was sailing off Alaska aboard the steamer Thomas Corwin, searching for three vessels that had gone missing in the Arctic. Off Point Barrow he spotted three polar bears, "magnificent fellows, fat and hearty, rejoicing in their strength out here in the bosom of the icy wilderness."
Were Muir to sail off Point Barrow in August today, any polar bears he'd see would not be living in a wilderness of ice but swimming through open water, burning precious fat reserves. That's because the bears' sea-ice habitat is disappearing. And it's going fast.
Polar bears ply the Arctic niche where air, ice, and water intersect. Superbly adapted to this harsh environment, most spend their entire lives on the sea ice, hunting year-round, visiting land only to build maternal birthing dens. They prey mainly on ringed and bearded seals (it's been said that they can smell a seal's breathing hole from more than a mile away) but sometimes catch walruses and even beluga whales.
Sea ice is the foundation of the Arctic marine environment. Vital organisms live underneath and within the ice itself, which is not solid but pierced with channels and tunnels large, small, and smaller. Trillions of diatoms, zooplankton, and crustaceans pepper the ice column. In spring, sunlight penetrates the ice, triggering algal blooms. The algae sink to the bottom, and in shallow continental shelf areas they sustain a food web that includes clams, sea stars, arctic cod, seals, walruses—and polar bears.
Experts estimate the world's polar bear numbers at 20,000 to 25,000, in 19 subpopulations. Bears in Svalbard (the Norwegian archipelago where Florian Schulz made most of these photographs), the Beaufort Sea, and Hudson Bay have been studied the longest. It was in western Hudson Bay, where ice melts in the summer and freezes back to shore in the fall, that the creatures' predicament first came to light.

Read More: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/polar-bears/mcgrath-text

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Industry backs carbon capture

Industry in Western Australia's south west has welcomed federal funding for what could be the state's first on-shore carbon capture and storage facility.

The government has allocated $52 million to the Collie facility which would capture CO2 from nearby industry and store it underground, cutting the state's carbon dioxide emissions by up to 10 per cent.
The funding will be used to pay for a detailed feasibility study.
Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers plans to establish a $3.5 billion dollar urea plant in the area and is one of six companies which would contribute to the total cost of the project.
Perdaman's Andreas Walewski says industry in the region acknowledges it needs to act to reduce its emissions.
"I think we all accept that carbon emissions are an issue and we have to do something about it so this is a very good solution both technically and commercially going forward," he said.
"It takes at least four or five years before this will be up and running but you have to look long term, so ultimately it will enable us to reduce our emissions and there's a cost on emissions, we all know that."

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-11/industry-backs-carbon-capture/2755022

Recycling, trees to reduce carbon - Oppn

Innovative businesses will find ways to reduce the nation's emissions by five per cent by 2020 without a carbon tax, under the coalition's direct action plan, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.
After telling a Gold Coast forum it was 'crazy' to reduce emissions by the coalition's target of five per cent by 2020 when China was planning to increase its emissions, Mr Abbott on Wednesday re-cast his statement.
After visiting a Geelong factory he said it was the government's carbon tax policy that was 'crazy'.
He said he did want to reduce emissions by five per cent by using sensible practices such as reducing energy use, recycling, planting more trees, putting more carbon into soil and using smart technology.

Read more: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/07/19/Recycling_trees_to_reduce_carbon_-_Oppn_639987.html

No need to wait before acting on climate: UN expert

The key facts on global warming are already known and leaders should not wait for the next edition of the UN climate panel's report to step up action, the body's top scientist says.
The 4th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released in 2007, "is very clear," Rajendra Pachauri told AFP in Paris, before a five-day meeting of the body in Brest, France.
The fifth multi-volume assessment, which summarises peer-reviewed science to help policy makers make decisions, is due out in 2013/14.
"We have enough evidence, enough scientific findings which should convince people that action has to be taken," he said after a round-table discussion with French Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet.
"Based on observation, we know that there will be more floods, more drought, more heat waves and more extreme precipitation events. These things are happening," Pachauri said.

When Large Animals Disappear, Ecosystems are Hit Hard

What’s the News: The loss of large animals is wreaking havoc on Earth’s ecosystems, according to a scientific review published in Science on Friday, causing food chains to fall into disarray, clearing the way for invasive species, and even triggering the transmission of infectious diseases. The decline and disappearance of these large animals, due in large part to human factors such as hunting and habitat loss, has such strong and wide-ranging effects that the review’s authors say it may well be “humankind’s most pervasive influence on nature.” How the Heck:

The researchers reviewed data from recent studies investigating the loss of so called “apex consumers,” large predators and megaherbivores, from terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems around the world.
Whether on land or at sea, the researchers found, the result was the same: Remove the apex consumer and the whole ecosystem suffers, as the initial loss sets off a cascade of changes all the way down the food chain. “Predators have a huge structuring influence,” ecologist Stuart Sandin, one of the researchers, told LiveScience. “When you remove them you change the biology, which is typically profound and complex. And in many cases it’s not necessarily predictable.” While removing an ecosystem’s top dog—or shark, or wolf, or elephant—is bound to have a big impact, just what that impact will be varies widely.

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

To Curb Driving, Cities Cut Down on Car Parking

AWU backs Gillard's carbon tax

The country's largest union says it will support the federal government's plan to put a price on carbon.
The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) today said it believes the government has developed a package that "ensures that jobs won't be lost in emissions intensive, trade-exposed industries as we make the transition to a low carbon future".
AWU national secretary Paul Howes told reporters: "We said quite rightly and quite proudly that our union would not support a price on carbon that costs the jobs of our members. We hold that position today.
"But we believe that the government has delivered a package which addressed the concerns we have."
The AWU made the announcement after its national leadership met in Sydney to hear reports and formulate a response to the government's carbon price plan.

China plans carbon trading pilot scheme

China will introduce a pilot scheme for carbon emissions trading and gradually develop a national market as the world's largest polluter seeks to reduce emissions and save energy, state media said.
China will promote the market's development through 'punitive' electricity tariffs on power-intensive industries and other new policies, Xie Zhenhua, a top climate official, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
The report gave no timetable or other specifics on how the system would work.
However, China has said previously it hoped to introduce a pilot scheme in a handful of major cities by 2013 and expand it nationally in 2015.
Faced with severe pollution, a predicted surge in urbanisation and a struggle to ensure adequate energy supplies to fuel its rapid growth, China has outlined plans to reduce carbon emissions in its latest five-year economic plan.
Carbon trading typically involves the setting of absolute limits on how much carbon dioxide emitters such as industrial enterprises can produce.
Once those are reached they can then purchase the unused emission allowances of other parties who have come in under their limits.
Environmental analysts have said China is keen to get a functioning carbon trading market up and running soon, especially with the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol looming in 2012.
China and other developing nations have not been bound by the protocol to reduce emissions of the gases blamed for global warming and climate change.
But it remains unclear what a future new protocol would call for with China under pressure to rein in emissions growth since it surpassed the United States as the world's largest greenhouse gas source in recent years.
As part of the carbon-trading push, China will promote development of green technologies and products through means such as preferential taxation policies, Xie, a vice minister with China's top economic planning agency, was quoted saying.
It also would 'manage growth in energy-intensive industries', he said.
China has pledged to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced per unit of gross domestic product by 40 to 45 per cent by the end of 2020 -- essentially a pledge to slow emissions growth, but not a cut.

Source: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/07/18/China_plans_carbon_trading_pilot_scheme_639483.html

7,500 earthquakes hit shattered NZ

Seismologists have recorded 7,500 earthquakes in New Zealand's second-largest city since the first big one struck Christchurch in September.
The September 4 quake didn't cause widespread destruction because it was centred 50km west of the city.
But it helped trigger at least two new quakes on different fault lines in February and June. The one in February killed 181 people and devastated the downtown.
Each quake has its own pattern of aftershocks. The constant rumblings are rattling the psyche of the still-battered city. Some people have left town entirely. Yet many have proven resilient, and some now see a reconstruction boom on the horizon.

Read More: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/07/18/7500_earthquakes_hit_shattered_NZ_639484.html

Saturday, 16 July 2011

Giant Undersea Volcanoes Found Off Antarctica

A chain of giant, undersea volcanoes has been found off Antarctica, scientists say.

A rendering shows new-found undersea volcanoes.

Newfound undersea volcanoes around the South Sandwich Islands are seen in a 3-D sonar image.

Image courtesy British Antarctic Survey

All told a dozen previously unknown peaks were discovered beneath the waves—some up to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) tall, according to the British Antarctic Survey.

The volcanoes were found near the U.K. territories of the South Georgia Islands and South Sandwich Islands (see map) during a monthlong mapping expedition, which used multibeam sonar to fill in a 370-mile (600-kilometer) by 90-mile (150-kilometer) gap in existing seabed maps.

"It was amazing finding them," said Phil Leat, a geologist volcanologist with the survey. "There were so many of these volcanoes we had no idea about."

Photo Gallery: Antarctica Warming

Photo: Satellite image of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica

Larsen B Ice Shelf Breakup

Photograph courtesy NASA

Over a 35-day period in early 2002, Antarctica's Larsen B ice shelf lost a total of about 1,255 square miles, one of the largest shelf retreats ever recorded. This image, captured by NASA's MODIS satellite sensor on February 23, shows the shelf mid-disintegration, spewing a cloud of icebergs adrift in the Weddell Sea. In December 2007, a team of National Geographic explorers will begin a five-week expedition across the continent's Larsen ice shelf to study how global warming is changing the topography of Antarctica.

Source: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/antarctica-gallery/

How does planting trees help?

Carbon trading, environmental footprints, offsets... these terms are often used to describe environmental efforts and programs. A common element in many of these is tree planting. And here’s why.
Among other things, World Vision's One Earth program includes projects that involve tree-planting and revegetation of barren land. Tree planting is one of the simplest and most effective ways of tackling climate change caused by greenhouse gas.

As trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), a major greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. By planting trees, we hope to reduce the impacts of climate change on communities around the world; impacts which include poverty, hunger, economic disadvantage, displacement and homelessness.

Of course, tree planting – no matter where it is in the world – must take a number of factors into consideration, including available water supplies and suitability to the area. In almost all cases, indigenous trees will be the first choice for new planting, though sometimes, hardy exotic species will be introduced.

One Earth ensures that trees are planted in the height of the rainy season and when there is already moisture in the soil, giving the trees the best chance of survival.

In Ethiopia, World Vision plants indigenous trees - such as Erythrina and Podocarpus - in highland areas. In countries like Senegal native Baobab and Bauhinia species are planted and regenerated.

Though new tree planting is carried out in lots of areas, in some locations it is more beneficial to work with communities to regenerate degraded trees or vegetation. In most cases, natural regeneration is a quicker and cheaper process to grow trees because of the already established root systems.

Source: http://www.worldvision.com.au/Issues/Climate_Change/What_is_this_about_/How_does_planting_trees_help_.aspx

Forests soak up third of emissions: study

Forests play a larger role in the earth's climate system than previously suspected for both the risks from deforestation and the potential gains from regrowth, a benchmark study has shown.
The study, published in Science on Thursday, provides the most accurate measure so far of the amount of greenhouse gases absorbed from the atmosphere by tropical, temperate and boreal forests, researchers said.
"This is the first complete and global evidence of the overwhelming role of forests in removing anthropogenic carbon dioxide," said co-author Josep Canadell, a scientist at CSIRO, Australia's national climate research centre in Canberra.
"If you were to stop deforestation tomorrow, the world's established and regrowing forests would remove half of fossil fuel emissions," he told AFP, describing the findings as both "incredible" and "unexpected".

Farmers reject Abbott sums

FARMERS say the Coalition is dramatically underestimating the cost of greenhouse reductions from soil carbon, which makes up 60 per cent of its direct action plan to cut emissions.
Alongside warnings the Coalition could need to pay up to $500 million a year to subsidise power prices, the new estimates raise questions about whether the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, could achieve a 5 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 within his capped $10.5 billion budget for the direct action plan.

Friday, 15 July 2011

Arctic may be ice-free within 30 years

Arctic ice is melting at a record pace, suggesting the region may be ice-free during summer within 30 years. Photograph: Alexandra Kobalenko/Getty

Sea ice in the Arctic is melting at a record pace this year, suggesting warming at the north pole is speeding up and a largely ice-free Arctic can be expected in summer months within 30 years.
The area of the Arctic ocean at least 15% covered in ice is this week about 8.5m sq kilometres – lower than the previous record low set in 2007 – according to satellite monitoring by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado. In addition, new data from the University of Washington Polar Science Centre, shows that the thickness of Arctic ice this year is also the lowest on record.
In the past 10 days, the Arctic ocean has been losing as much as 150,000 square kilometres of sea a day, said Mark Serreze, director of the NSIDC.
"The extent [of the ice cover] is going down, but it is also thinning. So a weather pattern that formerly would melt some ice, now gets rid of much more. There will be ups and downs, but we are on track to see an ice-free summer by 2030. It is an overall downward spiral."
Global warming has been melting Arctic sea ice for the past 30 years at a rate of about 3% per decade on average. But the two new data sets suggest that, if current trends continue, a largely ice-free Arctic in summer months is likely within 30 years. That is up to 40 years earlier than was anticipated in the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report.

Read More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/11/arctic-ice-free

Indonesia's Mount Lokon Erupts - Right on Schedule!

Mount Lokon, a volcano in central Indonesia, erupted in fury late Thursday, scattering nearby residents and wreaking havoc. But, because volcanologists have become so skilled at predicting eruptions, there were no fatalities. And none are expected.

For more than a week the mountain has been rumbling and scientists warned that an eruption was imminent. In the past such warnings may have gone unheeded until it was too late.
But because geologists now have such advanced prediction equipment at their disposal, and because of vast experience in other parts of the world, this time local officials were able to evacuate the area long before the mountaintop was blown away by the massive explosion.
The last eruption occurred in 1991 and killed a Swiss hiker. Thousands in the area were caught by surprise and hurriedly evacuated. In the latest eruption, advanced seismology equipment alerted seismologists that the volcano was beginning to build up again.
They have been predicting for days now that the volcano, one of nearly 150 in Indonesia, part of an area known as "The Ring of Fire," was about to erupt. The amazing thing is that they were absolutely right.
This means that volcanic eruptions around the world may be predicted with more accuracy and with less false alarms. It's a tremendous success, amidst terrible destruction, and means that many lives may be saved in the future. Lives that, until now, were doomed to end in catastrophe.

Source: http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979636267

11 million Africans face worst drought

More than 11 million people in the Horn of Africa are confronting the worst drought in decades and need urgent assistance to stay alive, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
He urged donors on Tuesday to immediately support the $US1.6 billion ($A1.52 billion) appeal by UN agencies to pay for life-saving programs in the region, saying only half that amount has been received so far.

Read More: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2011/07/13/11_million_Africans_face_worst_drought_637525.html

Earthquake strikes in middle of Channel

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 has struck in the middle of the Channel. Residents in parts of West Sussex reported buildings shaking for a few seconds at around 8am on Thursday.
The British Geological Survey said the quake had a depth of 10km and its epicentre was south of Portsmouth, Hampshire. Official measurements showed it happened at 7.59am BST.

Read More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/14/earthquake-channel-west-sussex

Swarming Nanoparticles Communicate to Boost Drug Concentrations Near Tumors

Like swarming insects drawing crowds to a food source, a system of nanoparticles and engineered proteins can communicate with one another to raise the concentration of systemically administered drugs at the site of a tumor, a team of scientists from the University of California, San Diego, MIT, and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute has demonstrated.

Read More: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/20110620Nanoparticles.asp

Climate Change Reducing Ocean’s Carbon Dioxide Uptake

“The ocean is taking up less carbon because of the warming caused by the carbon in the atmosphere,” says [Galen] McKinley, an assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and a member of the Center for Climatic Research….

Read More: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/07/12/267277/climate-change-reducing-oceans-carbon-dioxide-uptake/

Acidifying oceans could hit California mussels, a key species

Ocean acidification, a consequence of climate change, could weaken the shells of California mussels and diminish their body mass, with serious implications for coastal ecosystems, UC Davis researchers will report July 15 in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Read More: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-acidifying-oceans-california-mussels-key.html

Climate plan has global effect: Garnaut

Key government climate change adviser Ross Garnaut says the carbon pricing scheme is not only good for the Australian community but will have global implications.
Professor Garnaut earlier this year updated his landmark 2008 review of climate action and has been advising the multi-party climate change committee.
In a statement issued after the launch of the Clean Energy Future plan by Prime Minister Julia Gillard today, Professor Garnaut said he was particularly happy with the plan for the Australian scheme to link in with global carbon trading and abatement programs.

Thursday, 14 July 2011

5 Top Tips For A Greener Home

Green is the new black, in this day and age we’re being encouraged to be as environmentally friendly as possible and everything we do has to have the benefits of the planet in mind. Ten years ago when no one had heard of the term ‘carbon footprint’ and we horded supermarket carrier bags like they were going out of fashion it was only hippies that cared about the planet, now it’s everyone’s responsibility to make our planet as clean and green as possible for future generations.
What can you do in your home to make it greener?

Read More: http://talkingaboutgreen.com/5-top-tips-for-a-greener-home/

Wind farms paid £900,000 to switch off for one night

The payments, worth up to 20 times the value of the power they would have produced, raises serious concerns about such subsidies, which are paid for by the customer.

The six Scottish wind farms were asked to stop producing electricity on a particularly windy night last month as the National Grid was overloaded.

Their transition cables do not have the capacity to transfer the power to England and so they were switched off and the operators received compensation. One operator received £312,000, while another benefited by £263,000.

Read More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/8486449/Wind-farms-paid-900000-to-switch-off-for-one-night.html

Judge me when you've lived the regime, Gillard tells voters

JULIA GILLARD has urged a hostile electorate to reserve its judgment on the carbon tax until the 2013 election, by when people would have had a ''lived experience'' of the new regime.
Acknowledging she was being punished in the opinion polls for breaking her promise to not introduce a carbon tax, Ms Gillard said that had she stuck to that promise, ''absolutely nothing'' would have been done about climate change for another three years.

Carbon Pricing Explained

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/climate-change/pricing-explained/

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme

Under the National Waste Policy: Less waste, more resources, the Australian Government agreed to develop and enact national legislation to support voluntary, co-regulatory and mandatory product stewardship and extended producer responsibility schemes.
Following extensive consultation and consideration of a regulation impact statement, in 2009 all Australian governments agreed that televisions and computers would be the first products regulated under the proposed product stewardship legislation.
The department is preparing Regulations to underpin arrangements for collecting and recycling televisions and computers under the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme. A consultation paper on the proposed Regulations was released on 8 March 2011 and submissions are now closed.

Climate Change Reducing Ocean’s Carbon Dioxide Uptake

Phosphate: A Critical Resource Misused and Now Running Low

Phosphate has been essential to feeding the world since the Green Revolution, but its excessive use as a fertilizer has led to widespread pollution and eutrophication. Now, many of the world’s remaining reserves are starting to be depleted.

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

Takeover proves coal's safe with me: Gillard

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has seized on news of Australia's biggest-ever bid for a coal mining company as proof that the industry is not under threat from the carbon price.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/12/3267115.htm

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