Category: Archive

Gens don’t want the water: There are some problems with that, of course, which the government acknowledges. Where is the business case for this idea? Where are the financials in relation to this? Where is the commercial reality that is supposed to underpin all of this? How is it supposed to be paid for? How is it supposed to work? Apart from anything else, the government has a problem because the generators do not want the water. The generators are presently being supplied with water and are perfectly happy with the existing arrangements. The generators do not want this mickey mouse idea on behalf of the government because they are very concerned that if they do this it may well damage the equipment which is essential to the generation of power in Victoria. They are very worried about it.

‘Mickey Mouse’ idea: Apart from anything else, 60 per cent of Melbourne’s water is presently supplied from Gippsland. Those great Gippslanders, who forever come to this Parliament and are part of it, those Gippslanders – young and old – who come to the Parliament of Victoria. Yesterday when I put a question to the Premier about the actual cost of energy being used for these Mickey Mouse schemes the government is contemplating, he had no idea. We know – Powercor tells us – that to pump the water from Shepparton across to Bendigo, which is the shortest of these propositions, is going to take more energy than is consumed by all the residents.

Reference: Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Assembly Daily Hansard, Wednesday, 23 May 2007. p.18

Erisk Net, 23/5/2007

Duly noted: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute noted the increased Australian involvement in the nuclear cycle, including the report of the Prime Minister’s uranium and nuclear taskforce headed by Dr Ziggy Switkowski which found that 25 nuclear power reactors could supply one-third of Australia’s electric power by 2050. The institute also noted Australian developments in uranium enrichment where the Sydney-based comany Silex was working on a laser enrichment process. This process, officially classified by the United States and Australian governments in June 2001, brought it formally under their security and regulatory protocols.

Nuke-market concerns: The Silex development, funded by General Electric in the United States, is currently in its third and final stage. A test loop is being built at General Electrics’ nuclear facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, to verify peformance and reliability data for full-scale facilities. The institute noted claims that the Silex process had the potential to change the international enrichment market and the statement by Silex head, Dr Michael Goldsworthy, that if Australia was to fully capitalise on the value of its uranium it should develop a nuclear fuel industry which included uranium conversion uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication services. The study expressed concern about countries’ nuclear involvement for a wide variety of reasons.

The Canberra Times, 2/5/2007, p.1

To employ 30-35 staff: “Once the plant is operational it will employ 30 to 35 staff. Some jobs will be highly skilled and others should be filled by local people,” Campbell said.

The lure of tapping water produced: The booming coal seam gas industry in the region had also enabled an ethanol plant to be established because of the water produced when the gas was extracted. “Currently, the water is just evaporating and we will have access to that water, which has been a major factor in making the project possible,” Campbell said.

Access to gas and market for byproducts: The plant would also have access to low-pressure gas due to its geographical location to the gas pipeline. Western Downs Ethanol was also currently talking with local feedlots to make use of the byproduct cattle feed of an ethanol production process.

Plant to be ready by 2010: Construction of the plant was expected to begin in the next 18 months, with completion by 2010. At present, NSW’s fuel would have to contain two percent ethanol from September and Queensland’s State Government said it would like to see 5 per cent by 2010.

Queensland Country Life, 24/5/2007, p. 39

Reporting by Roddy Scheer

Unilever’s decision to go sustainable could benefit millions of tea growers.

© Getty Images

International consumer products conglomerate Unilever, which owns and operates the world’s two leading tea brands (Lipton in the U.S. and PG Tips in Great Britain), announced last week that it plans to shift sourcing of its entire tea supply to sustainable producers. The companies will certify the process according to standards set by the Rainforest Alliance, a leading nonprofit engaged in using market-based tools to preserve biodiversity across the world’s vanishing tropical rainforest ecosystems.

Unilever will kick-off the initiative by seeking certification for its tea producers in East Africa, and expects to start offering certified tea in Europe within a few months. By 2015, all tea the company sells will come from certified sustainable tea farms.

“We are delighted to be working with a company that understands the value of putting sustainability at the heart of its business,” says Tensie Whelan, the executive director of the Rainforest Alliance, which was instrumental in crafting the agreement. “By bringing Rainforest Alliance certification to its tea supply, Unilever has taken an unprecedented step that could eventually benefit millions of tea growers globally,” she says.

While the Unilever announcement represents a first for the tea industry, the Rainforest Alliance has been instrumental in setting up similar certification programs for coffee, cocoa, bananas and other crops, as well as in forestry and tourism. Whelan adds that certified producers in all of these other product sectors have been able to charge higher prices and improve their communities’ standards of living accordingly.

Sources: Rainforest Alliance: Planet Ark/Sustainable Teas

Who is the most significant environmental figure of our time?

Certainly not any politicians that I know of. According to the media, the most significant environmental figures are actors. I personally believe that the honey bee is the most significant environmental symbol of our time. Their disappearing numbers are sending us the sternest and most dire warning ever although few are paying attention.

Are you a vegetarian? Why or why not?

 

Running fuel and diesel-burning ships like the Farley Mowat is Watson’s biggest environmental no-no, but by sinking whaling and poaching boats, he engages in “carbon trading.”

© www.indymedia.org

You cannot be an environmentalist and a conservationist if you support the meat and fishing industry. My ships are run as vegetarian/vegan vessels. We take campaigns to the coast of Antarctica to fight Japanese whalers and we do so without meat, fish, or dairy products and everyone is healthy and strong. The meat industry is a major consumer of fish meal and because of this we have turned the cow into the largest aquatic predator on the planet. The amount of water and resources utilized to raise domestic animals for food is irresponsibly high. Yes I am a vegetarian and I think vegetarianism is an essential requirement of anyone calling him or herself an environmentalist.

What non-planet-friendly thing do you continue to do?

I am a major offender because we operate large ocean-going ships to chase down whalers, sealers and poachers. This means that we use probably 500 tons of diesel fuel and 50 barrels of oil a year. Unfortunately it is the only way that I can catch the poachers. There are tens of thousands of fishing vessels consuming vast quantities of fuel in pursuit of plundering the oceans. We admit to using fuel in our efforts to stop them. However we have sunk and disabled a number of ships. That ended their careers, meaning they do not burn fuel anymore. This is our way of doing carbon trading. We are burning the fuel that the whalers and poachers are no longer burning because we shut them down. Overall it’s a net positive gain as we are using less fuel than they collectively did.

Who could be the environmental movement’s most unlikely allies?

Corporations and governments usually become allies when it is in their economic interest to do so. Even Chevron and Shell give out environmental awards. However, corporations and governments never solve social problems. They never have and they never will. They cause the problems. The solutions come from the passion and the dedicated courage of individuals and small grassroots organizations.

Which environmental group do you most admire?

I’m not a big fan of large environmental organizations. As a co-founder of Greenpeace, I feel like Dr. Frankenstein having helped to create that big green feel-good machine. As a former director of the Sierra Club I saw firsthand the insanity of bureaucratic environmentalism. Personally, I like the Wildlands Project, Rainforest Action Network, Earth Island Institute and of course the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. But more importantly I respect and admire all those free-floating individual activists who walk the walk, sit in the trees, obstruct whaling boats and blockade roads.

What is your greatest environmental fear?

No species can survive on this planet without respecting the three basic laws of ecology. (1) The law of biodiversity—that the strength of an eco-system is dependent upon the diversity of species within it. (2) The law of interdependence—that these species must be interdependent to support a strong eco-system and (3) the law of finite resources—that there is a limit to growth. Growing human numbers utilized vast amounts of resources and steal carrying capacity from other species resulting in the collapse of diversity. The greatest fear is not something in the future but something happening now. We are in the midst of a mass extinction event and thus in danger of radically altering the entire biosphere.

Which green trend do you most distrust?

Corporate environmentalism. The co-opting of the movement by mega green organizations that spew out direct mail by the millions, operate large phone solicitation schemes, and pose as the saviors of our planet while collecting large salaries and benefits without taking risks as volunteers around the world scramble in the trenches without the benefit of the same resources.

What’s your favorite Earth-friendly mode of transportation?

Sails. I would like to see the seas return to the glory days of sailing, the return of the clippers, the most efficient, environmentally friendly ships ever built. We need to remove the engine-driven vessels from our seas and restore the peace and quiet for the whales.

CONTACTS: The Farley Mowat Institute; Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Demonstrations

Meanwhile, German police used water cannon and tear gas against demonstrators protesting against the G8 summit as leaders arrived for the meeting, a police spokesman says.

"Water cannon and tear gas were used after protesters began throwing stones," the spokesman said.

The demonstrators had approached the 12-kilometre-long fence around the luxury hotel on the Baltic Sea where the summit is being held.

Thousands of other protesters tried to block roads leading from the nearby city of Rostock to Heiligendamm in an effort to prevent officials from reaching the meeting.

Violence flared at a demonstration against the summit in Rostock on Saturday when hundreds of police were injured in clashes with masked and hooded protesters.

About 16,000 police were on duty for the summit.

The leaders of the G8 nations – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States – gathered in Heiligendamm for three days of talks focusing on climate change and development aid to Africa.

– AFP