EcoRadio

Category: Sustainable Settlement and Agriculture

The Generator is founded on the simple premise that we should leave the world in better condition than we found it. The news items in this category outline the attempts people have made to do this. They are mainly concerned with our food supply and settlement patterns. The impact that the human race has on the planet.

  • Diamond compares G20 to Easter Island

    Related article from Mike Adams in Natural News

    Jared Diamond is no doom-and-gloomer; he’s a Pulitzer Prize winning author of thoughtful, carefully researched books about the rise and fall of societies. Diamond is best known for Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, both of which are among my top-recommended books of all time.

    When you read these books, you’ll quickly realize that Diamond is perhaps the world’s top expert on what might be called the “holistic, interdependent nature of complex societies.” Rather than limiting his perspective to immediate, short-term actions and consequences (as most national leaders and corporations do), Diamond intelligently examines the long-term, interdependent factors that lead to any society’s success or failure.

    I’ve personally read both of Diamond’s books mentioned above, and they have strongly influenced my own views about the future (or lack thereof) of western civilization. What Diamond and I both agree on is that complex civilizations are quite fragile, and short-terming thinking can easily doom a society or civilization to irreversible collapse. (Another interesting book to read on this subject, although it’s quite technical and a bit older, is The Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph Tainter.)

    Collapse can come from many vectors. Many collapses are environmental, such as the collapse of the Anasazi Indians in North America or the collapse of the Tiwanaku in South America.

    Other causes of collapse include man-made accelerations of environmental change; the classic example being the rampant deforestation of Easter Island by its inhabitants.

    It is the Easter Island example that perhaps most closely resembles the short-sightedness of modern western civilization. At the expense of future generations, today’s CEOs, bankers and politicians are destroying our future in so many ways (financial, chemical, environmental, plundering of fossil fuels, etc.) that it is a challenge to imagine a scenario where western civilization even survives in its current form.

    Jared Diamond, in fact, has publicly declared he sees only a 51 percent chance of western civilization surviving. You can hear this from his own mouth in this video interview.

    About the author: Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health. Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org

  • Mercury faces international ban

    The White House said it would press hard for a legally binding treaty when negotiations get under way later this year.

    “The United States will play a leading role in working with other nations to craft a global, legally binding agreement that will prevent the spread of mercury into the environment,” said Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House council on environmental quality.

    The Bush administration had blocked international efforts to limit mercury – although such protections are in place in America.

    Mercury, which can travel thousands of miles from its original source, damages the central nervous system, and is especially dangerous to pregnant women and babies.

    The treaty will include measures to reduce the supply of mercury and its use in products, such as thermomenters, and processes, like paper making. It will also seek to cut back on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, which are responsible for about half of the world’s mercury pollution.

    The new-found consensus in Nairobi, which saw the US, India and China lifting their resistance to a binding global mercury treaty, raised hopes for progress later this year at the crucial UN meeting in Copenhagen on an international climate change deal.

    “There was a seismic shift from the American government from its previous position,” said Nick Nuttall, the spokesman for the UN environment programme. “It was clear from the beginning of this week that the US negotiators had been given a clear line from Washington, and indeed the White House, to come together with the rest of the world and do something.”

    “The US has taken a leadership role that will chart a new course on mercury protections around the world. We have set a strong example that is already influencing others to do the same,” said Susan Egan Keane, an analyst at the US National Resources Defence Council.

    Barack Obama had earlier taken a number of steps at home to break with the George Bush legacy on the environment – most notably restoring the power of government agencies to regulate carbon dioxide from power plants.

    The strong push from the US side in Nairobi this week evidently helped wear down resistance from governments such as China and India. China is heavily dependent on coal-fired power plants, while Indian manufacturers still use many processes that depend on the metal.

    The eight-point plan agreed on Friday calls for reduction in mercury emissions from power plants, and in its use in thermometers and other household products, as well as in plastics production and paper-making. It would cut down on the use of mercury in gold panning, a process that results in huge quantities of the heavy metal being washed into streams.

    Mercury is a naturally occurring element, but pollution has caused levels to rise sharply in many fish species, increasing the danger to humans that eat them.

    “Today the world’s environment ministers, armed with the full facts and full choices, decided the time for talking was over – the time for action on this pollution is now,” said Unep’s director, Achim Steiner.

    Formal treaty negotiations will get underway later this year, with a view to reaching a final agreement in 2013.

  • The Australian Senate Condemns Japanese Violence

    Senator Siewert:

    I move:

    That the Senate-

    (a) notes that:

    (i) on 25 November 2008, the Senate urged the Australian Government to set a timeline for legal proceedings in an international court to stop illegal Japanese whaling if Japan does not commit to stop whaling by 8 December 2008, (ii) Japanese whaling operations continued past this deadline, and (iii)no such legal action has been undertaken by the Government;

    (b)urges the Government to:

    (i)strongly oppose the proposal in the document, ‘The Future of the IWC’, currently before the International Whaling Commission, which seeks to legitimise Japanese whaling operations, and

    (ii)explain why it has not yet commenced international legal action to stop illegal Japanese whaling; and

    (c)condemns the violent actions of the Japanese whaling fleet, who have reportedly thrown metal balls at environmental activists, and used acoustic weapons to send out painful high frequency waves.

    Question agreed to.

    Senator Ludwig

    I seek leave to make a short statement about the motion.

    Leave granted.

    The Australian government’s position on the issue of commercial whaling, including so-called scientific whaling, is clear: we remain absolutely opposed to it and have taken unprecedented steps to see it end, including through high-level diplomatic engagement and advancing reform proposals through the International Whaling Commission. The chairs of the International Whaling commission released a document this week entitled “Chairs’ suggestions on the future of the IWC”. As the chairs make clear, this document represents their suggestions on how to make progress at the commission. It is not a proposal for action and it does not reflect any agreement between those nations involved in discussions, including Australia.

    The Australian government will continue to pursue our objectives diplomatically as we head towards the IWC annual meeting this June. We will continue to review progress, including through the IWC, and maintain the act of consideration of potential international legal action. The government calls on all vessels in the Southern Ocean to exercise restraint and conduct their activities peaceably and responsibly in accordance with the decisions of the International Whaling Commission and relevant domestic and international law.

  • Australian government betrays Sea Shepherd

    From Sea Shepherd

    The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin arrived in Hobart, Tasmania at 1700 Hours on February 20th. The ship was met at dockside by a party of Federal Australian Police officers who boarded the Steve Irwin with a warrant.

    The warrant authorized the seizing of “all edited and raw video footage, all edited and raw audio recordings, all still photographs, producer’s notes, interview transcripts, production meeting minutes, post production meeting minutes as well as the ship’s log books, global positioning system records, automatic radar plotting aid, purchase records, receipts, financial transaction records, voyage information and navigational plotted charts.”

    The Animal Planet series Whale Wars was very embarrassing to the Japanese government and the Japanese whaling industry in 2008. Japan does not wish to see the airing of the second season of Whale Wars and is putting as much diplomatic pressure on Australia as they possibly can to prevent further exposure of their illegal whaling operations in the Southern Ocean.

    “I wish that the Australian government would apply the same “diplomatic” pressure on Japan to end their illegal whaling operations,” said Captain Paul Watson. “The Rudd government was elected on a promise to take the Japanese whaling industry to court for their illegal whaling activities. Now they seem to be more interested in taking Sea Shepherd to court for our efforts to intervene against illegal whaling operations.”

    Captain Paul Watson said he would welcome a trial.

    “We have to start somewhere so it may as well be by taking me to court. Let us get the evidence on the table and although a trial against Sea Shepherd and myself may not allow the introduction of evidence about Japan’s illegal whaling operations, it at least will give us the forum to present our evidence. Let’s see the Australian government bring the Japanese whale killers to Australia to bear witness against Sea Shepherd and Animal Planet and let’s see them appear as witnesses for the government of Australia that professes to be against whaling.”

    “It’s a very one-sided affair,” continued Captain Watson. “The Japanese ships have not been boarded by the Australian Federal Police; they have not had their video and navigational data confiscated. They have not been questioned nor will they be, yet they violently attacked my ship and crew in the Southern Ocean. Does the law only go to bat for those who destroy nature’s creation? Are we about to see the ultimate kangaroo court where Sea Shepherd will be legally crucified because the Australian government has not lived up to their promise of taking the whale killers to court? The truth is that we would not have to be in the Southern Ocean defending the whales if the governments of the world would simply enforce the international conservation treaties they once so proudly signed into law. Without enforcement there is no law – just ecological anarchy.”

    Captain Watson said he had no complaints about the Australian Federal Police.

    “They were very professional and polite and they were doing their job in carrying out the orders of the government.”

    “We have quite the year ahead of us,” continued Captain Watson. “We need to repair damages to the Steve Irwin, we need to secure a second and faster vessel, and we need to be prepared to return to the Southern Ocean again at the end of the year to defend whales. If need be we will be in court to answer to charges of defending endangered whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and to this we proudly plead guilty.”

  • Farmer cops big fine for destroying wetlands

    A FARMER has been fined more than $400,000 for bulldozing a wetland near Moree that was a breeding ground for rare birds.

    In one of the state’s biggest land-clearing cases, John Hudson was found guilty of clearing 486 hectares on his property, Yarrol Station, in 2006 and 2007. The site, one of a handful of places in NSW where rare species of ibis, herons, ducks and egrets could breed, was flattened by bulldozers linked by chains.

    The offence was “self-evidently done for the purpose of making more land available for agriculture”, Justice David Lloyd found in a decision handed down in the Land and Environment Court yesterday.

    “The penalty should properly reflect the deliberate nature of the offence, which was committed despite the express instructions given to Mr Hudson that native trees were not to be cleared.

    “The clearing was carried out as part of the agricultural activities on the land and in that sense the offence was part of a commercial operation – that is, it was motivated by commercial considerations.”

    The offence fell within “the upper range of seriousness”, Justice Lloyd said.

    According to the judgment, Hudson’s case was based on the belief that legislation to protect native vegetation was unconstitutional and that, because he and his wife owned the land, “the trees were their trees”.

    Hudson had also claimed he had received permission to bulldoze the wetland area from the Catchment Management Authority, but the court decided this was not the case. A local catchment officer had written to Hudson in 2004 forbidding him from clearing “native trees and shrubs of greater than 10 years of age”.

    Hudson, who now lives in Queensland, did not attend the court and could not be contacted for comment yesterday. He had argued that he was clearing the land of invasive lippia weed.

    The land clearance could have a big impact on breeding, an expert from the University of NSW, Professor Richard Kingsford, said. “What’s critical about this particular area is that the birds went there in their tens of thousands. It was an optimal site. The impact is much greater than just clearing part of the flood plain because we don’t know if these birds are coming back if it floods, and if they do, they won’t have any nesting areas to go back to.”

    The wetland was a rookery for straw-necked ibis, night herons, royal spoonbills and various rare duck species, options for which are limited. The Hudson property was part of the Gwydir wetland, one of the largest inland wetlands in NSW, which has declined by 90 per cent in recent decades.

    The judgment, with fines totalling $408,000, was a warning to people engaged in land clearing, the NSW Government said.

    “It shows that the system has teeth,” a spokesman for the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, John Dengate, said. “The Government has said it aims to close down broad-scale land clearing, and this case demonstrates that.”

  • Farmers warn miners to keep their mitts off

    From Queensland Country Life

    There’s increased urgency about ramping up the simmering mining versus agriculture debate, with a Queensland state election in the offing.

    That’s about to start a debate of national interest – especially in NSW and WA, where the same issue has been simmering, too.

    FutureFood Queensland is being formed this week ‘to strike the balance’ between mining and food production capability.

    It’s been formed to protect high-value farmland in danger of being swamped by new mining developments.

    “We are not an anti-mining group but some prime farmland simply should not be mined,” the venture’s co-chairs farmers Geoff Hewitt and Charlie Wilson said today.

    “It defies logic that a farm capable of producing premium food for thousands of years into the future, would be permanently destroyed to allow for 20 years of coal mining.”

    Both major parties contending this year’s state election campaign will be targetted by the new lobby group which says it wants to see all political parties introduce “a proper planning” process.

    Environmental and Landcare groups from Central Queensland, remain concerned about the impact of “inappropriate” mining in Queensland.

    “If they don’t listen to us about food security, we’ll have a humanitarian disaster that puts the Murray Darling crisis in the shade.”