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MEDIA RELEASE No cheap fix on offer for Aged Care crisis: Greens “The Australian Greens are extremely concerned that neither of the majorparties are showing any evidence of taking the emerging crisis in agedcare seriously,” said Greens Health and Ageing spokesperson SenatorRachel Siewert today. “Tony Abbott’s message that, he admits there is a serious problem, Continue Reading →
Scientists from two leading climate research centres publish ‘best evidence yet’ of rising long-term global temperatures
• Jeffrey Sachs: Obama must take a lead on climate change
A Pakistani boy cools off as temperatures reached 51C in a heatwave last month. Photograph: MK Chaudhry/EPA
Global temperatures in the first half of the year were the hottest since records began more than a century ago, according to two of the world’s leading climate research centres.
Scientists have also released what they described as the “best evidence yet” of rising long-term temperatures. The report is the first to collate 11 different indicators – from air and sea temperatures to melting ice – each one based on between three and seven data sets, dating back to between 1850 and the 1970s.
The newly released data follows months of scrutiny of climate science after sceptics claimed leaked emails from the University of East Anglia (UEA) suggested temperature records had been manipulated – a charge rejected by three inquiries.
Publishing the newly collated data in London, Peter Stott, the head of climate modelling at the UK Met Office, said despite variations between individual years, the evidence was unequivocal: “When you follow those decade-to-decade trends then you see clearly and unmistakably signs of a warming world”.
Palm oil giant accused of rainforest destruction caught ‘red-handed’ Ecologist 29th July, 2010 Indonesia’s largest palm oil and pulp group, Sinar Mas, is continuing to destroy rainforests and peatland despite promises to end the practice A major supplier of palm oil and pulp (paper) to multinationals, including food giant Cargill, has been caught clearing orang-utan Continue Reading →
One-third of U.S. counties may find themselves at “high or extreme risk,” according to the report prepared for the Natural Resources Defense Council by Tetra Tech, a California environmental consulting firm.
“It appears highly likely that climate change could have major impacts on the available precipitation and the sustainability of water withdrawals in future years under the business-as-usual scenario,” the study’s authors conclude. “This calculation indicates the increase in risk that affected counties face that water demand will outstrip supplies, if no other remedial actions are taken. To be clear, it is not intended as a prediction that water shortages will occur, but rather where they are more likely to occur.”
Those conclusions are based on climate modeling, predicted precipitation, historical drinking water consumption as well as water use by industry and for electrical generation.
London — In its latest analysis, the BTM Report discloses that despite the economic downturn and concerns that the subsidy-backed wind industry may founder with the failure of any significant outcomes at Copenhagen, the sector has continued to confound expectations by posting yet another record result.
Strong growth, record installations
After several years with strong political backing, the mood both of politicians and the public towards renewable energy changed significantly in 2009. First, and most obviously, came the economic downturn; belts were tightened, and investment became harder to find. Later in the year, in the run up to the much anticipated Copenhagen summit, public scepticism about climate change grew in the wake of the ‘Climategate’ leaked emails, and lobbying by various interests to weaken any outcome from the summit.
Wind energy has sometimes appeared to be dependent on such political backing, and often seen as something of a luxury when it comes to finance. Would 2009 turn out to be a year when the growth of the industry slowed down?
The answer from the latest annual BTM report: ‘International Wind Energy Development – World Market Update 2009; Forecast 2010-2014’ is an emphatic ‘no’. This industry benchmark document – produced and published by BTM Consult ApS of Denmark – reports new capacity installed in 2009 grew strongly with record installations of 38 GW worldwide; underlying this were some significant changes to the shape of the global wind industry, particularly with the rapid rise of Chinese manufacturing. Elsewhere, despite the absence of a comprehensive climate deal at Copenhagen, prospects for the industry in several different parts of the world look good, and the BTM report forecasts strong growth for the industry in the next five years and beyond.
Updated
Phytoplankton are important because they generate roughly half of all organic matter on the planet and produce half the world’s oxygen. (Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre)
A study published in the journal Nature finds a strong link between higher sea surface temperatures and a major decline in phytoplankton, which forms the base of the marine food chain.
The three-year study by Canadian scientists at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, reveals the crucial marine species is dying, which could significantly change the way humans live.
The study suggests phytoplankton have declined by roughly 40 per cent since 1950, most likely because of rising sea surface temperatures and changing ocean conditions.
Phytoplankton are important because they generate roughly half of all organic matter on the planet and produce half the world’s oxygen.