Category: Archive

‘Western media biased against Arabs’

admin /1 February, 2006

Julia Day in Qatar
Wednesday February 1, 2006

Sourced – MediaGuardian.co.uk

Iemma Govt unavailable to publicly defend desalination decision

admin /31 January, 2006

The NSW Government is heads down in the trenches and refusing
opportunities to publicly debate and defend its controversial decision
to build a desalination plant on Kurnell peninsula in Sydney.

Repeated requests: The Daily Telegraph (30 January 2006, p.19) reported that the Running on Empty
series on The Weather Channel has repeatedly sought to provide
government ministers with the opportunity to put forward their side of
the desalination story.

Too busy? For two months, the channel has tried to get a
minister to appear on the desalination forum, which will feature water
experts, community leaders, environmentalists and community groups from
across the country. Yet no minister or State Government representative
would make themselves available for the debate.

You could do a lot else with the money: According to Ian Leslie, host of Running on Empty,
the aim of the forum is to encourage a higher level of public debate.
At stake in the proposed desalination plant is $1.3 billion of
taxpayers’ money.

Toxic water supply to Dept of Environment workplace a cruel irony

admin /31 January, 2006

No cases of lead poisoning have been found among Australian Greenhouse
Office staff after water in their Parkes building was found to contain
up to 16 times the acceptable level of lead, reported The Canberra Times (31 January 2006, p.2).

More than 160 staff tested: Greenhouse Office chief Howard
Bamsey, who is also Acting Secretary with the Department of the
Environment, said he was confident everything that could have been done
for staff had been done. More than 160 staff have undergone blood tests
and the department is still attempting to contact former employees to
allow them an opportunity to be tested.

Pregnant women at risk: About 20 pregnant or breastfeeding women
employed at the office had been identified as at risk after having
consumed water from a rainwater collection system. One of the women, as
reported in Saturday’s Canberra Times has suffered miscarriages and given birth prematurely.

Investigation continuing: The investigation being conducted by
Comcare, which is responsible for workplace safety, rehabilitation and
compensation for the Commonwealth, was expected to be completed in
about a month.

“Extraordinary” says Albanese: Opposition environment spokesman
Anthony Albanese said it was extraordinary that occupational health and
safety standards had been so easily breached. “If the Department of the
Environment can have a toxic workplace, what does that say about its
attitude towards the environment?” he said.

Green NASA director warned of “dire consequences” by Bush administration

admin /31 January, 2006

NASA’s chief climate scientist has claimed the Bush administration
tried to stop him from speaking out after he gave a lecture calling for
speedy reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, reported The Australian (30/1/2006, p.12).

NASA director ignores Bush restrictions: Dr James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told The New York Times in
an interview that the Bush administration “feel their job is to be this
censor of information going out to the public.” He added he would
ignore the restrictions. Hansen, a physicist who joined the space
agency in 1967 directs efforts to simulate the global climate on
computers at Manhattan’s Goddard Institute.

Preaching green is met with “dire consequences”: Hansen told the
paper that an effort began in early December to keep him from
publicising what he says are the clear-cut dangers of further delay in
curbing emissions of carbon dioxide. Hansen said the efforts to silence
him began after a lecture he gave on 6 December at the annual meeting
of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, in which he said
significant emission cuts could be achieved with existing technologies,
particularly in the case of motor vehicles. Dr Hansen said NASA
officials repeatedly phoned public affairs officers, who warned Hansen
of “dire consequences” if such statements continued.

Consumers save money using time-of-use electricity plan

admin /30 January, 2006

A survey of 3000 EnergyAustralia customers being billed under the new
time-of-use system has found the average saving was about 10 per cent,
reported The Sydney Morning Herald (28/1/2006, p.3).

Some save over 20pc: Almost 15 per cent were saving 20 per cent
or more on their bills. Those with higher bills used at least 50 per
cent more peak-time energy than the average customer, EnergyAustralia
said.

Peak use down 4pc: Under time-of-use pricing, the peak period is
between 2pm and 8pm on weekdays, when the cost of electricity is higher
than the traditional flat tariff. Of the 3000 customers surveyed, the
average residence consumed only 21 per cent of its electricity during
the peak period, compared with about 25 per cent for customers on a
flat tariff.

Money saved with small changes: “The feedback we have had from
customers is they have been able to save money with small changes to
their electricity use by simply using appliances like dishwashers,
washing machines, dryers and pool pumps when power is cheaper,”
EnergyAustralia’s managing director George Maltabarow said. “I don’t
make any apologies for mandating time-of-use across the system.”

New study on customer communications: The company is inviting
1300 customers to take part in a two and a half-year study to see how
they respond to new pricing and customer communications. Some of the
participants will have in-house displays showing how much power they
are using, its price and the greenhouse gases emitted due to that power
use.

Victorians switch over to solar hot water for rebate of up to $1,500

admin /30 January, 2006

If you have a gas water heater and are thinking of switching into solar
hot water, the Victorian Government’s Solar Hot Water Rebate could help
make your decision a lot easier, reported The Advertiser
(28 January 2006 p2). By making the switch, you can receive a rebate of
up to $1,500 on selected gas-boosted solar water heaters.

Save dollars and environment: Installing a solar water heater
can save you around $200 each year on your hot water bill – and will
help protect the environment. That’s because solar water heaters use
clean, renewable energy and produce less greenhouse pollution.