Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
It is known as the Little Ice Age. Bitter winters blighted much of the northern hemisphere for decades in the second half of the 17th century. The French army used frozen rivers as thoroughfares to invade the Netherlands. New Yorkers walked from Manhattan to Staten Island across the frozen harbour. Sea ice surrounded Iceland for Continue Reading →
BANGKOK (AFP) – A demand by China, India and Brazil that rich nations accept they are mainly responsible for global warming has held up progress at a key UN climate change conference here, delegates said Wednesday.
The three nations’ insistence since the talks started on Monday that the developed world recognise their dominant role in climate change has stolen precious time meant for debate on how best to tackle global warming, they said.
"Progress is slow," one delegate from a European nation, who asked not to be identified, told AFP.
"Brazil, India and China are trying to put on the shoulders of industrialised nations the historic responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, in order to clear their own emissions (of blame) and to protect themselves in any discussion."
Well known solar thermal activist and speaker, ANU engineer Dr Keith Lovegrove was yesterday rewarded with Federal Government funds to get his solar thermal plant running. Well known to Ebono listeners and readers, he has developed a system of capturing thermal energy from the sun to generate electricity using standard steam turbines. His approach Continue Reading →
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The first week of April saw farmers and communities throughout Asia united in their stance against genetically engineered (GE) rice as they joined for a Week of Rice Action (WORA). The week, which included events in 13 Asian countries, was organised by the Pesticide Action Network of the Asia and Pacific (PAN AP).
Farmers, farm workers, and other rural peoples expressed collective anger over the corporate control of agriculture, particularly rice. Rice is the staple food and source of livelihood for millions of farmers in Asia.
Men, women, and children alike joined the protests to highlight the social, health and environmental problems associated with chemical-dependent rice farming and GE rice. As a part of WORA, groups staged rallies, seminars, art competitions and youth education workshops. The week also saw the launch of a petition against GE rice. The petition will be presented to policy makers, with the goal being to collect a million or more signatures.
Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today criticised Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull for hiding the detail of Australia’s greenhouse emissions, releasing topline figures to the media without revealing the state of energy and transport emissions.
“The real Australian greenhouse story is that our energy and transport emissions have for years been skyrocketing out of control with absolutely no plan to rein them in. One off benefits in reducing land-clearing have disguised that trend, but continuing to rely on offsetting emissions is no strategy to deal with climate change.
“Malcolm Turnbull is trying to bury the release of Australia’s full greenhouse gas inventory, releasing topline figures to the media overnight and giving no indication of the underlying trend in energy and transport emissions. He’s obviously hoping that the story will have run its course before this detail becomes public.
Growing at around 25 per cent per annum, Certified Organics was following trends in the US, UK Europe and Asia, making it one of the fastest growing agricultural sectors in Australia, according to Biological Farmers of Australia.
Number of food processors grows 32pc: Organic food processing was the fastest growing sub-sector of industry with the number of licensed processors increasing by around 32 per cent in 2006.
Players achieve high growth: Recent entrant into organic retail and well known marketing entity Pierce Cody of Macro Wholefoods will present on retail and marketing. In just two years Macro Wholefoods had expanded from two to eight stores, with four being located in Melbourne. "We wish to help this industry to grow and encourage existing certified growers to convert more land to organic and conventional farmers to make the switch to organic. This is our number one priority,” said Cody.
Ample opportunities for new entrants: Opportunity exists for new entrants into the industry as increased demand for organic products, including through retail in major supermarket chains, saw the need for increased production and greater development of the supply chain.
Environmental benefits of organics: Apart from providing a growing market opportunity, organic production had many other benefits. With reports of water supplies continuing to decline and the effects of climate changes to bear in future, organic land practices could provide increased moisture retention, resistance to disease in plants and animals, decreased input costs and a generally consistent market premium over most produce and product lines.
Addresses climate change: Long-term research also revealed that organic production is one of our best measures for assisting the deceleration of climate change.