Category: Climate chaos

Hansen begs Obama to follow through

admin /3 January, 2009

NASA climate scientist, James Hansen, has written an open letter to US President Obama describing existing approaches to addressing climate change as ineffectual. He specifically criticises cap and trade schemes as protecting polluters. The three key elements in his proposal are a moratorium on coal fired power generation, a carbon tax that is distributed among the population not collected by the government and investment in power generators that use nuclear waste, rather than mined uranium. Hansen has been speaking publicly about climate change since the 80s and was featured in Al Gore’s award winning movie, An Inconvenient Truth. He complimented President Obama on his election rhetoric about a ‘planet in preil’ but noted that his actions in office will prove critical in reducing the peril facing the planet.

Developed countries lead on carbon negotiations

admin /27 December, 2008

Despite a lack of progress on agreements between rich and poor countries over carbon dioxide targets at the Poznan conference last month, a great deal of background work was done by major emitters in the developing world. The Guardian reports that Brazil promised to avoid almost 5billion tonnes of CO2 by halving its deforestation rate in the next decade. Mexico pledged to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 205 and South Africa presented a detailed plan to peak their country’s emissions by 2020. Even China aims to reduce its energy intensity 20 percent by 2010. In 2007 alone, China closed over 1,000 inefficient factories. Together, these nations are responsible for nearly a quarter of global emissions. The announcement is expected to silence critics of global negotiations on the basis that developing countries must do their bit to reduce their emissions, roughly half of all global greenhouse gases and growing fast. Developed nations are now expected to commit to large targets in the next twelve months.

Disaster headed for South East Asian hot spots

admin /27 December, 2008

The Australian and Indonesian governments launched a joint disaster recovery training and research centre last week in an attempt to avoid rolling disasters predicted for the Asia Pacific basin. In June, Australian GeoScience released a report showing that natural disasters from climate change related extreme weather, earthquakes and volcanoes will result in a major disaster killing more than 10,000 people in the region every few years over the next three decades. The report was handed to the governments in Peru in November and last week’s announcement is the first part of the governments’ response. The report indicates that China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines are the most vulnerable nations because of the combination of high population in low lying areas.

UK policy boosts investment in renewables

admin /27 December, 2008

Energy Secretary of the United Kingdom, Ed Milibrand,  told the Financial Times on December 21st that the government would not ban new coal fired power stations if such a ban threatened the energy security of the island nation. The UK Climate Change Act 2008 commits the nation to a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gas Continue Reading →

Barrier Reef to suffer this summer

admin /21 December, 2008

Australia’s Great Barrier reef will almost certainly suffer a major bleaching event this summer according to the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The temperature stress analysis carried out by the agency on a regular basis shows major rises in sea temperature for the Coral Sea off north eastern Australia and for the Carribean. As well as causing extreme weather, the rise in acidity and hotter temperatures call permanent damage to coral. In 1998 more than ten percent of the Great Barrier Reef was permanently damaged in the first major bleaching event in living memory. Large stretches of the reef remain a white skeleton, reminding divers and tourists of the dramatic impact of global warming.

St Kevin breaks the faith

admin /21 December, 2008

Article from:  The Australian

KEVIN Rudd has bookended his first two Christmases as Prime Minister by visiting Australian troops in Afghanistan and addressing the issue of homelessness. It’s part of his determination to meet his promises and the public’s expectations.