The atmosphere is to the earth as a layer of varnish is to a desktop globe. It is thin, fragile and essential for preserving the items on the surface.150 years of burning fossil fuel have overloaded the atmosphere to the point where the earth is ill. It now has a fever. Read the detailed article, Soothing Gaia’s Fever for an evocative account of that analogy. The items listed here detail progress on coordinating 6.5 billion people in the most critical project undertaken by humanity.Â
One of Australia’s most eminent economists says the Federal Government’s planned emissions trading scheme is like a ‘GST from hell’ that is bound to fail economically and environmentally.
Geoff Carmody, a co-founder of Access Economics, says the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme should target consumers, not producers.
Exports: AM has been told the Government has at least another $500 million in reserve for the coal industry (ABC TV News – file image)
In an effort to apply maximum pressure on the Coalition over emissions trading, the Government has warned industry the compensation package on the table is as good as it gets.
But AM has been told the Government has a reserve pool of funds – at least another $500 million – available to entice some of the scheme’s staunchest critics, coal exporters, to get on side.
The Government is not commenting other than to say the assistance currently being offered is substantial and appropriate.
Few doubt the science of climate change – but its impact on the world’s poor is largely ignored
Science is now unequivocal as to the reality of climate change. However, one facet – its human face – has been dangerously neglected. Until now. Given what the science tells us about global warming, how many people around the world will be affected, in what way, and at what cost?
These are the questions that a major new report attempts to answer for the first time. Its findings indicate that hundreds of millions of people are already permanently or temporarily affected, and half a billion are at extreme risk now. Because of climate change, each year hundreds of thousands lose their lives. All these figures are set to increase rapidly in as little as 10-20 years.
Date: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 11:06 AM
Rudd’s target slammed at global meeting
Hobart, Tuesday 2 June 2009
The Rudd Government has been awarded a “Fossil of the Day” award at the
UN Climate meeting in Bonn for its “obnoxious” conditions for moving to
a still “inadequate” emissions reduction target.
“It is clear that nobody who wants an effective outcome from global
talks is impressed by the Rudd Government’s inadequate emissions
reduction offer,” Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine
Milne said.
“If Australia goes to Copenhagen having legislatively locked out the
option of accepting a target stronger than 24%, it can only lower the
level of ambition from other countries and undermine the chances of a
strong global agreement.
Asa Wahlquist, Rural writer | June 02, 2009
VICTORIA was parched, Perth was bone dry, southeast Queensland and northern NSW were soaking wet, and almost everywhere experienced a warmer autumn than normal.
But the dry, warm season came with a warning, as meteorologists forecast that another drought-producing El Nino was on the horizon.
The Bureau of Meteorology yesterday predicted that the predominantly dry conditions experienced in autumn would probably extend through winter, further exacerbating drought conditions across large swathes of Australia.
The bureau’s Blair Trewin said most of the models of the Pacific Ocean, “both ours and the international ones, are predicting substantial warming into the second half of the year”.
Climate change solutions cannot be created by unfettered markets, despite what business leaders think
When Sir Crispin Tickell had the temerity to suggest that “the business community needs to re-examine the fundamentals of economics” at the recent World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, his discordant tone was drowned out by a chorus of more than 800 delegates singing the praises of unfettered markets as a means to tackle climate change.
The commitment to carry on with business as usual took an almost surreal form at times. Indra Nooyi, the chief executive officer of PepsiCo, proudly proclaimed: “The fact that I flew here for 1 1/2 hours to sit on a panel them I’m flying straight back to the US is an example of our commitment to environmental sustainability.”
More worryingly, plans for low-carbon technology give the expansion of high-carbon coal power pride of place. The promotional rhetoric is of Carbon Capture and Storage [CCS background guide], yet those from the power sector are blunt about its shortcomings. “One of the plants we are building is CCS ready, although to be quite frank no one really knows what that is at the moment,” claimed Steve Lennon, managing director of South Africa’s Eskom.