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.
NSW minister quits, Keneally faces another reshuffle ABC June 4, 2010, 12:20PM The New South Wales Premier is facing another cabinet reshuffle with today’s resignation of the Juvenile Justice Minister, Graham West. A spokesman for the Minister says Mr West has become frustrated with political process and the daily commute from Campbelltown has also Continue Reading →
No disaster declaration for storm AAP June 3, 2010, 5:00 pm Related Links Gallery: Tornado damage Storm victims in northern NSW are being told to contact their insurers, with the state government unlikely to declare it a natural disaster area. Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan said agencies were in the process of assessing Continue Reading →
Oslo conference attended by 52 nations produces first concrete sign of global action on climate change since Copenhagen
Illegally logged timber is floated down the Guam river after being confiscated in northeastern Brazil. Photograph: Paulo Santos/Reuters
Rich and poor countries today agreed on guidelines for releasing aid to save forests, in the first concrete sign of global action on climate change since Copenhagen.
Norway, which chaired this week’s climate conference, said aid pledges to save forests had risen by $500m (£345m) since the UN climate conference in Copenhagen last December.
But this is less than was expected just weeks ago – showing the limits of more state funding amid economic crises and unrest in the financial markets.
Some experts say the modest increase in state aid for forests, whose conservation is seen as the cheapest way of lowering carbon emissions, underlines the need for private sector engagement.
See, I have a Decider pose tooCourtesy White HouseNow we’re getting somewhere on the offshore drilling problem. Some progress from the top:
Mr. Obama ordered a further six-month moratorium on new permits for new deepwater oil and gas wells; suspended the planned exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the coast of Alaska; canceled a planned August lease sale in the western Gulf of Mexico; and canceled a proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia. Environmentalists who had opposed the Alaska and Virginia projects hailed the decisions.
Mr. Obama said further moves will be made to strengthen oversight of the drilling industry and enhance safety as a commission he is appointing opens its own six-month inquiry.
(Side note to New York Times: Self-identified “environmentalists” aren’t the only people opposed to putting major marine ecosystems, fisheries, coastal economies, beaches, and rig workers at risk. More Americans now oppose increased offshore drilling than support it.)
Better still, Obama used a White House press conference today to personally stump for clean-energy legislation as a response to the Gulf spill — something we’ve been begging and pleading for.
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued is final statement for its “tailoring rule” that outlines how the agency will regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) under the Clean Air Act. The “tailoring rule” determines which polluters will be required to account of their greenhouse gas emissions when the EPA begins to formally regulate the gases beginning in January 2011. The ruling did not exempt biomass-fueled power producers from GHG permitting requirements, which came as a surprise to many in the biomass industry. The reasoning behind exempting biomass from these requirements is because the combustion of biomass is widely considered “carbon neutral,” in regulation and policy in the United States and abroad. For example, when wood waste is combusted for energy, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which the trees had already adsorbed from the atmosphere when the trees grew. The assumption is that this released carbon dioxide will be reabsorbed by new trees as they grow naturally. This carbon neutral consideration is why biomass power plants assume net CO2 emissions of zero.
Gillard content to play waiting game
JULIA Gillard won’t be challenging Kevin Rudd for the Labor leadership before the next election, even though she most likely already has the numbers to do so.
Any successful challenge would see her lead a divided party six months out from an election. The words poisoned and chalice come to mind.
It is near universally accepted in the Labor Party, commentariat and wider public that Gillard is the Labor leader in waiting. Recently her preferred prime minister numbers have lifted to a comparable level to that of Rudd.
She is therefore in no rush to depose Rudd, even though his personal popularity continues to drip away, strengthening her alternative leadership stocks.
If Gillard did challenge and happened to fall short – there are one or two variables that could make that happen that I’ll look at later – she would give up her right to take over unopposed. Contenders such as Wayne Swan and Lindsay Tanner would start circling, as could longer-term aspirants such as Tony Burke and Bill Shorten.