Category: Archive

ABC News Online, 7/4/06

The Australian Financial Review, 6/4/2006, p. 21

Source: Erisk Net 

The Age, 5/4/2006, p. B1

Source: Erisk Net  

Telstra, Cisco helped: With Telstra and Cisco, Ergon quickly
made available additional bandwidth to both locations, building a
network to connect teams of laptop-enabled staff, as well as a voice
over internet protocol system for use on its private network.

Email essential: Access to email was critical for co-ordination
of Ergon’s internal resources and to co-ordinate company requests to
the civilian management authority run by General Peter Cosgrove, as
well as with the Defence personnel who were moved to the region. The
network was also needed to run Ergon’s fault management software.

Call centre capacity augmented: As Cyclone Larry loomed on the
horizon, Ergon had beefed up its call centre capability. It received
about 7000 calls daily in the aftermath – about double the average it
would normally get for a severe storm.

QFRS wireless voice system utilised: To help restore
communications, the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service also
participated in the work, having recently equipped itself with a
wireless voice over internet protocol command system from Cisco. Power
outages and phone system problems are not unusual in a cyclone, and
Queensland Fire Service district inspector Wayne Waltisbuhl says the
mobile VoIP gave it access to portable voice and data services to share
and forward strategic and tactical information for the response.

Tactical information sharing capability: “The portable system
allows fire officers to access and share tactical information such as
incident plans, front-line status reports, maps and weather reports
downloaded from the Bureau of Meteorology,” Waltisbuhl says.

The Australian, 4/4/2006

Source: Erisk Net

Harsher regime than for the US: The move means China’s use of
Australian uranium will face tougher inspections than those faced by
the US, which takes almost 40 per cent of this country’s exported
uranium.

Rogues gallery of customers: China is believed to have breached
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992 through its dealings with
Pakistan when it also constructed that country’s unsafeguarded Khushab
reactor. “China has been a major supplier of nuclear technology to
Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and Libya,” Medical Association for the
Prevention of War spokesman Tilman Ruff said.

The Australian, 4/4/2006

Source: Erisk Net  

Grim picture: Addressing the two-day forum’s main topic – the
feasibility of sustainable development for billions of people worldwide
– Sachs painted a grim picture of systemic environmental collapse,
coupled with war, famine and pandemic disease.

Burden beyond what world can carry: He said the astonishing pace
of economic growth in Asia and the increasing demands of development in
the industrialised world would impose a burden in a few decades far
beyond what the world was already woefully failing to carry.

All major ecological systems under stress: “It is the central
challenge we face on the planet,” he said. “Every single major
ecological system we have is already under profound stress.”

Not an esoteric issue for scientists: While highlighting climate
change, deforestation, oceanic degradation and population growth,
Sachs, who is also director of the Earth Institute at Columbia
University, warned against viewing the problems associated with
unsustainable development as an esoteric issue for scientists.

White House needs subscription to Scientific American:
“Politics is central,” he said, condemning what he called the
“scientifically antagonistic” policies of the current US administration
under President Bush. “We’re fighting all the wrong wars in this
country,” Sachs said, adding that what the White House really needed
was a subscription to Scientific American magazine.

Reference: Digest of latest news reported on website of Climate
Change Secretariat of United Nations Framework on Climate Change
Control (UNFCCC). 29 March 2006. Address: PO Box 260 124, D-53153 Bonn.
Germany. Phone: : (49-228) 815-1005, Fax: (49-228) 815-1999. Email: press@unfccc.int
http://www.unfccc.int

Erisk Net, 5/4/2006