Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
Australian oil trade deficit forecast to double to $27bn by 2015: Geoscience Australia projections assuming US$50 oil price Using Geoscience Australia projections and assuming oil prices of US$50 a barrel, Australia will have a trade deficit in oil, condensate and other refinery feedstocks of as much as $12-$18 billion by 2015. Add to this a Continue Reading →
Human Rights First’s campaign, `Elect to End Torture ’08′ was launched on April 13 and 14 with an unprecedented gathering in Concord, N.H. at which nearly 20 retired generals and admirals met in separate sessions with candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Joe Biden, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich to discuss U.S. detention and interrogation policies. (Former Continue Reading →
Retail competition update: Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and ACT allow small customers to choose their supplier of both electricity and gas Customers can choose supplier: Prior to the commencement of the market reforms for electricity and gas, small customers had no choice regarding their preferred supplier of energy. Instead, energy customers were required Continue Reading →
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told the UN Security Council that, throughout human history, people and countries had fought over natural resources. (Reference: UN Security Council. SC/9000, 17 April 2007, Security Council 5663rd Meeting)
Steady supply of fuel, minerals "a key element of geopolitical considerations": From livestock, watering holes and fertile land, to trade routes, fish stocks, spices, sugar, oil, gold and other precious commodities. War had too often been the means to secure possession of scarce resources. Even today, the uninterrupted supply of fuel and minerals was a key element of geopolitical considerations.
Rush for resources could cause conflicts: Things were easier at times of plenty, when all could share in the abundance, even if to different degrees. “But, when resources are scarce — whether energy, water or arable land — our fragile ecosystems become strained, as do the coping mechanisms of groups and individuals,” he said, adding: “This can lead to a breakdown of established codes of conduct, and even outright conflict.”
Countries face internal clashes as climate changes: By example, he asked the Council members to consider some scenarios – “all alarming, though not alarmist” — among others, the adverse effects of changing weather patterns, such as floods and droughts, and related economic costs, including compensation for lost land, could risk polarizing society and marginalizing communities. That, in turn, could weaken the institutional capacity of States to resolve conflict through peaceful and democratic means, to ensure social cohesion and to safeguard human rights.
Migration streams could unsettle societies: Offering another sobering scenario, he asked the Council to consider that migration, driven by factors such as climate change, could deepen tensions and conflicts, particularly in regions with large numbers of internally displaced persons and refugees.
Scarcity to exacerbate tensions: Further, scarce resources, especially water and food, could help transform peaceful competition into violence. “Limited or threatened access to energy is already known to be a powerful driver of conflict. Our changing planet risks making it more so,” he said.
By David Fogarty
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Across the globe, chickens and pigs are doing their bit to curb global warming. But cows and sheep still have some catching up to do.
The farm animals produce lots of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide yet is at the heart of efforts to fight climate change.
Government policies and a U.N.-backed system of emission credits is proving a money-spinner for investors, farmers and big polluters such as power stations wanting to offset their own emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2).
The reason is simple: methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere and it is relatively simple to capture the gas from animal waste, landfills, coal mines or leaky natural gas pipes.
"A fifth of all greenhouse gas-induced global warming has been due to methane since pre-industrial times," said climate scientist Paul Fraser of Australia, where ruminant farm animals belch out vast amounts of the gas.
Methane concentrations have increased about 150 percent in the air since 1750 and now far exceed the natural range of the past 650,000 years, the U.N.’s climate panel says. And human activities are largely to blame.
The panel will be focusing on ways to curb methane and other greenhouse gas emissions when it releases a major report on mitigating the effects of climate change in Bangkok in early May.
"It’s been argued that the reductions from methane are potentially cheaper than from carbon dioxide," said Bill Hare, climate policy director for Greenpeace and a lead author of the mitigation report.
"A lot of policy discussion in the United States has focused on methane rather than more difficult problems such as CO2 from coal," he added.
This is because capturing methane from landfills, mines, or from fossil fuel production or natural gas lines is pretty straight forward and makes economic sense. Methane is a major component of natural gas and can be burned to generate power.
Agriculture was a greater challenge, Hare said.
Greens primary vote in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne near 30pc; but party fears sinking poll numbers amid Rudd-mania
The fast-evolving climate change debate was altering the role of activism, and leading the Greens to attempt to differentiate themselves from the Labor party, according to environment writer Matthew Warren in The Australian (28/4/2007, p.26).
Greens inch toward 30pc in Sydney, Melbourne electorates: Greens have pulled a primary vote approaching double digits federally and nearly 30 per cent in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne.
Liberals, Greens in political pantomime: Curiously, the Howard Government poses little threat to the Greens. If anything, the relationship between Prime Minister John Howard and the Greens is more symbiotic than rival: a political pantomime in which the Greens cast Howard as a moustache-twirling capitalist villain, while Howard this week happily described their 80 per cent target as crazy, then tried to bundle them ideologically with Labor.
Protest voters ditch Greens for Rudd’s ALP? Rather, it is the meteoric rise of Rudd and Labor that is doing most of the damage, pulling back disaffected protest voters who no longer feel the need to send a message by voting Greens. A series of Newspolls indicate the Greens’ primary vote is down to about 5 per cent, dangerously low this far out from the federal election.
Greens policy document hammers Labor differences: On Tuesday, senator Christine Milne launched the Greens’ clearest counter-strike to Labor. Their new policy document Re-energising Australia is lightweight by conventional standards but a tome for the Greens. The report is overtly focused on policies and objectives that differentiate the Greens from Labor, and in the process points out that Labor’s policy platform on climate change is much more threadbare than the party would care to admit.