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
From The Land
Heatwave temperatures across southern NSW, Victoria and South Australia are burning hopes for a successful wine vintage and fruit crop this year.
Winemakers have been forced this year, to start harvesting earlier than usual.
After near-perfect conditions in the south earlier this season, temperatures now reaching in the 40+ degrees are playing havoc with fruit still on vines.
Australians can expect to experience longer periods of extreme heat as global warming forces temperatures higher, a weather expert warned today.
David Jones, the acting head of the National Climate Centre, says the recent heatwave conditions in south-eastern Australia, are related to climate change.
“People will need to get used to these sorts of heatwaves,” he says.
From The Guardian
Environmentalists have strongly criticised attempts to “strong arm” developing countries such as India into a binding commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions after the United Nations secretary general asked poorer nations to “get on board” with the industrialised world to find solutions to the climate crisis.
Ban Ki-moon told the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit that although “Brazil has been taking a quite proactive role in the implementation of biofuel and forestation policies. China and India have also taken steps. But that is not enough, they have to do more.”
Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) says it has identified six landfills in Melbourne’s south-east that are emitting methane gas. The EPA audited about 260 former and current sites, after dangerous levels of methane gas leaked from a landfill into a Cranbourne housing estate last year. The six sites are in Lyndhurst, Clayton South and Springvale Continue Reading →
The price of European Union allowances under the second phase of the ETS has plunged to €10.15 (£8.8) per tonne compared with highs of more than €30 in July last year.
Analysts at Barclays Capital warned the price could fall further to €9 while Utilyx, the carbon information provider, said: “There seems to be no bottom to carbon prices at the moment.”
From The Land
Victoria and South Australia on Wednesday sweltered in a heatwave which is developing into one of the worst in 100 years.
Adelaide by midday had already exceeded its forecast 44deg.
It hit a peak of 45.7deg during the early afternoon.
SA country centres, all the way from the Mid-North across the farming areas to the South-East corner, copped equivalent heatwave temperatures.