Managing director of Ebono Institute and major sponsor of The Generator, Geoff Ebbs, is running against Kevin Rudd in the seat of Griffith at the next Federal election. By the expression on their faces in this candid shot it looks like a pretty dull campaign. Read on
The seas are creeping higher as the planet warms. But how high will they go? In Bermuda and the Bahamas, researchers have gone looking for answers; By pinpointing where shorelines stood during a warm period 400,000 years ago, they hope to narrow the range of projections. After correcting for apparent sinking of the islands, the authors of a new study estimate the seas rose 20 to 43 feet higher than today — far less than previous estimates, but still drastic.
Nearly four million Americans, occupying a combined area larger than the state of Maryland, find themselves at risk of severe flooding as sea levels rise in the coming century, new research suggests. Researchers say that with so many communities concentrated on US coasts, the odds for major storm damage get bigger every year.
the Age of Distrust OpEdNews The stark, dramatic images of the crippled reactors are hulking mountains of splintered shards forming a radioactive tomb. Videos and photographs of the tumultuous ruins are blatant messages about the dangers of nuclear power; the impacts of reported … See all stories on this topic »
Fukushima and the Chilling of Nuclear Power NewsClick It is now one year since the Fukushima disaster took place that saw 3 reactors in TEPCO’s Dai-ichi nuclear plant suffering core melt-downs and explosions. On 11th March 2011, an earthquake of 9.0 on Richter scale took place 130 kilometres off the coast … See all stories on this topic »
Fukushima Fall-out in San Diego and Japan OB Rag They stressed that Japanese authorities had not been forthcoming about the dangers of the nuclear melt-down, and several American speakers warned that in fact the Fukushima plant was not yet secure and was continuing to leak radiation. See all stories on this topic »
Climate change still a reality despite soggy summer, warns report
David Wroe
March 15, 2012
AUSTRALIA’S top climate advisory panel has warned strongly against letting the recent mild and wet weather encourage complacency about climate change, insisting the long-term trend remains as alarming as ever.
Following yesterday’s CSIRO report that warned greenhouse gas levels were the highest in 800,000 years, the Climate Commission – a scientific agency set up to inform Australians about global warming – expressed concern in a discussion paper that people were confusing weather patterns with long-term climate change.
The climate commissioner and Australian National University academic Will Steffen said 2011 had been dominated by La Nina, the weather effects produced by cool ocean surface temperatures around the equator in the eastern Pacific.
Advertisement: Story continues below
”After a couple of years, the dams are full, everything is green around you, the soil moisture is topped up,” Professor Steffen said. ”And you say, ‘This is looking pretty good. What happened to all the droughts and dry periods that we thought were associated with climate change? That’s a very common perception you hear. But these things are superimposed on a longer, underlying trend.”
La Nina produces cooler average temperatures and higher rainfall in Australia, particularly the east. Last year was the warmest La Nina year on record, even though the La Nina effect was particularly strong, the Climate Commission’s report states.
Although 2011 was cooler than all but two of the years between 2000 and 2010, it was still warmer than all but one of the years in the 20th century.
”It shows how rapidly things are actually warming,” Professor Steffen said. ”Last year was something we now consider cool. Yet just a decade ago … this would’ve been the second warmest year for 100 years.”
The effect of global warming on average rainfall was more difficult to predict, the commission’s report stated.
The two years of 2010 and 2011 set a record of 1409 millimetres of rain averaged over the whole country.
Even still, the two-year wet period has made up for only about a third of the rainfall deficit since 1997. ”We still require many years of wetter than average conditions before we can fully eliminate the rainfall deficit of the big dry,” it states.
The paper came as a separate report from the Climate Institute, an independently funded think tank, argued Australia could get more out of its carbon pricing scheme – including cheaper emissions cuts and greater environmental benefit – by focusing its carbon trading efforts on neighbours such as Indonesia rather than Europe.
The institute’s deputy chief executive, Erwin Jackson, said Australia should be using bilateral or regional trade deals as a model to set up carbon trading links with individual countries, especially developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Trading carbon with Indonesia’s energy sector, for example, would deliver Australia cheaper carbon abatement because Indonesia could cut its emissions relatively easily. At the same time, Australia would be leveraging more global action compared with linking to Europe, which already has a carbon scheme.
”By providing export opportunities to Indonesia, it would leverage even more significant action than is currently being contemplated while at the same time providing opportunities to Australian businesses to reduce emissions at lower cost.
”The key challenge for Australia is leveraging greater global ambition because we are very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Just linking with the EU, while important, doesn’t deliver that.”
Goulburn … the swollen Mulwaree River as seen on March 2 / Pic: Getty Images Source: The Daily Telegraph
THE nation’s largest insurer has admitted wrongly blaming a council for its decision to slug a flood-prone customer with an increase of more than 200 per cent.
Another at-risk customer – whose premium rose nearly 700 per cent – tells the same story. NRMA Insurance denies wrongdoing in that case. More on that later.
First, to Goulburn, where Maree Burns’s premium on $80,000 of contents has gone from $265 to $864. That’s a 226 per cent jump.
When an NRMA Insurance representative called Ms Burns he said the jump was due to a new council survey.
But Goulburn Mulwaree Council general manger Chris Berry told Public Defender it had not changed flood mapping for at least two years and the most recent survey was in 2005.
An NRMA Insurance spokeswoman conceded: “It’s human error. We placed far too much emphasis on a council flood study.”
She added that the flood insurance call centre team would be counselled over Ms Burns’ case.
Ms Burns said: “It’s a rort.”
She is looking for a new insurer, with Public Defender’s assistance.
AAMI said it could provide a higher level of cover for less than half NRMA’s charge.
Mr Berry said Goulburn experienced a one-in-50-years flood earlier this month.
It didn’t come anywhere near Ms Burns’s place.
Adrian Byrnes not only has a similar surname to Ms Burns, he has a similar story.
The difference is, the size of the increase Mr Byrnes faces is even bigger – a staggering 680 per cent.
And in his case, NRMA claims it really did receive fresh council information.
Mr Byrnes had been paying about $540 a year to cover $110,000 of contents at his Windsor property. That is set to rise to more than $3600.
“We are in a one-in-100-year flood area. We knew that when we bought here in 2010,” Mr Byrnes said.
“We told NRMA. They said it was no issue.”
Then, a week ago, an NRMA rep called to reveal the hike and claimed it was due to new flood data from Hawkesbury Council. The NRMA spokeswoman yesterday backed the rep, saying Hawkesbury Council had supplied fresh information.
Council general manager Peter Jackson said it had not.
As with Ms Burns, recent persistent heavy rains did not imperil Mr Byrnes’s home.
A quick Google search revealed NRMA has also sprung steep increases on supposedly flood-prone customers in Canberra, Penrith and Coffs Harbour. Three weeks ago the owner of the NRMA Insurance brand, IAG, revealed its premium revenue had grown faster than investors expected – and would keep doing so. Since then its shares have risen 18 per cent, adding about $1 billion to company’s worth.
You are receiving this email because you are a Green Light subscriber.
Click here if you do not wish to receive Green Light emails from the Guardian News and Media. Click here to find out about other Email Services from the Guardian.
Guardian News & Media Limited – a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396
Reply
