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The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
As well as Giovanni’s articles it picks up the most pertinent articles from a range of other news services. You can publish the news feed on your website using RSS, free of charge.
 

  • Plight of the Penguins

     

     

    Plight of the penguins            Neville Gillmore

    Already threatened by global warming, harvesting krill to supply omega-3 oil means danger for Antarctica’s penguins.

    Fifty years ago, delegates from 12 nations – including the United States, Norway and Japan – gathered in Washington DC to discuss how to protect Antarctica, the only continent without a native human population. The result was a treaty system that ensures Antarctica will continue to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and not become an object of international discord.

    Yet as nations gather again to celebrate the Antarctic treaty system’s 50th anniversary this spring, new scientific research indicates that many species of penguins, some of the Antarctic’s most iconic residents, are in deep trouble.

    While the plight of the polar bear may be better known, emperor penguins are also going to be hit hard by the effects of global warming. Made famous by the documentary March of the Penguins, these flightless birds use the Antarctic’s sea ice as a breeding ground and base for feeding on krill, fish and squid. But projected changes in Antarctic sea ice due to global warming will dramatically change the environment for these penguins and countless other species.

    Indeed, a 2008 study by a number of leading penguin experts warned that “50% of Emperor colonies … and 75% of Adelie colonies … that currently exist at latitudes north of 70 degrees S are in jeopardy of marked decline or disappearance, largely because of severe decreases in pack-ice coverage.”

    Making matters worse, these penguins increasingly must compete with man for their principal food: a small, yet invaluable shrimp-like animal known as Antarctic krill. Measuring only five to six centimetres in size, krill comprise the largest biomass in the Southern Ocean. These tiny creatures, rich in the omega-3 oils used in health supplements, are seen by some corporations as a potential source of big profits.

    The Norwegian-based firm Aker Biomarine, one of the globe’s leading krill fishing companies, recently applied to have its Antarctic krill fishery certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The council attempts to provide market-based tools to promote sustainably caught fish. To accomplish this, the MSC works with fisheries, seafood companies, scientists, conservation groups and the public to promote the best “environmental choice” in seafood. Yet while the council’s mission is important, certifying the krill fishery would stymie further efforts to more effectively conserve and manage Antarctic resources.

    Certifying a fishery like Antarctic krill is far more complex than it may seem. Although overall catches appear relatively low as compared to total krill abundance, uncertainties exist about the local impact of fishing operations since they often overlap with the feeding areas of krill predators.

    When it comes to krill and other forage species, MSC’s standards fall far short of achieving its goal of sustainability. In certifying a fishery, the council considers the sustainability of fish stocks – seeking to minimize environmental impacts and maximize effective management. The problem is that it measures mortality rates as though the animals were in an aquarium without predators. In reality, krill are part of a living system where there are many pressures apart from fishing. Yet, the MSC’s process to assess potential krill certification does not take adequate account of the role that krill serve in anchoring the Antarctic food chain.

    Furthermore, according to a recently published study by the National Science Foundation’s Long Term Ecological Research Programme, “Over the past 50 years, winter temperatures on the [Antarctic] Peninsula have risen five times faster than the global average.” Krill are sensitive to warmer waters and thus less abundant there. Nonetheless, climate change and the complexity of ecosystem interactions are not adequately accounted for in the current management process.

    Governments, acting jointly through administrative bodies of the Antarctic treaty system (such as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) need to impose precautionary fishery management measures sufficient to ensure that enough krill are left to meet the needs of penguins and other predators. In the meantime, however, the MSC can do the right thing by agreeing not to certify the Antarctic krill fishery until the international community can enact proper protective measures.

    As the world prepares to celebrate 50 years of cooperation on Antarctic research and resources management, we shouldn’t stand idly by as the combination of careless fishing practices and unchecked global warming emissions speed the emperor penguins’ march to extinction.

  • Hundreds of millions will be hurt by climate change

     

     

    Hundreds of millions will be hurt by climate change, Oxfam warns.

    April 21, 2009       Neville Gillmore

    Article from:  Agence France-Presse

    HUNDREDS of millions of people will become victims of climate change-related disasters over the next six years, Oxfam said today, urging governments to change the way they respond to such events.

    The British-based aid and development charity estimated the number of people affected by climatic disasters would rise by 54 per cent to 375 million people a year on average by 2015, based on data on similar disasters since 1980.

    In a new report, it warned that humanitarian aid spending and the way it was allocated was far from prepared to meet the challenge.

    “The response is often fickle – too little, too late and not good enough,” said Oxfam chief executive Barbara Stocking.

    “The system can barely cope with the current levels of disasters and could be overwhelmed by a substantial increase in numbers of people affected. There must be a fundamental reform of the system.”

    The report, “The Right to Survive”, says governments can take action to mitigate the effect of climatic disasters, citing investment by Bangladesh in cyclone protection measures which has reduced the death toll from storms.

    “While there has been a steady increase in climate-related events, it is poverty and political indifference that make a storm a disaster,” Stocking said.

    Oxfam is also launching a new campaign urging rich countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 to tackle the source of global warming.

    Oxfam analysed data from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at Louvain University in Belgium, which covered more than 6,500 climate-related disasters since 1980 and the numbers of people affected.

    It defines people “affected” by a disaster as those suffering physical injury or illness, those made homeless or who required immediate assistance.

  • Superweeds cripple Roundup Ready farms
    GM protesters demonstrate near the French town of Toulouse in March 2008.

    How has this happened? Farmers over-relied on Monsanto’s revolutionary and controversial combination of a single “round up” herbicide and a high-tech seed with a built-in resistance to glyphosate, scientists say. 

    Today, 100,000 acres in Georgia are severely infested with pigweed and 29 counties have now confirmed resistance to glyphosate, according to weed specialist Stanley Culpepper from the University of Georgia.

    “Farmers are taking this threat very seriously. It took us two years to make them understand how serious it was. But once they understood, they started taking a very aggressive approach to the weed,” Culpepper told FRANCE 24.

    “Just to illustrate how aggressive we are, last year we hand-weeded 45% of our severely infested fields,” said Culpepper, adding that the fight involved “spending a lot of money.”

    In 2007, 10,000 acres of land were abandoned in Macon country, the epicentre of the superweed explosion, North Carolina State University’s Alan York told local media.

    The perfect weed

    Had Monsanto wanted to design a deadlier weed, they probably could not have done better. Resistant pigweed is the most feared superweed, alongside horseweed, ragweed and waterhemp.

    “Palmer pigweed is the one pest you don’t want, it is so dominating,” says Culpepper. Pigweed can produce 10,000 seeds at a time, is drought-resistant, and has very diverse genetics. It can grow to three metres high and easily smother young cotton plants.

    Today, farmers are struggling to find an effective herbicide they can safely use over cotton plants

     
    Controversial solutions

    In an interview with FRANCE 24, Monsanto’s technical development manager, Rick Cole, said he believed superweeds were manageable. “The problem of weeds that have developed a resistance to Roundup crops is real and [Monsanto] doesn’t deny that, however the problem is manageable,” he said.

    Cole encourages farmers to alternate crops and use different makes of herbicides.

    Indeed, according to Monsanto press releases, company sales representatives are encouraging farmers to mix glyphosate and older herbicides such as 2,4-D, a herbicide which was banned in Sweden, Denmark and Norway over its links to cancer, reproductive harm and mental impairment. 2,4-D is also well-known for being a component of Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide which was used in chemical warfare in Vietnam in the 1960s.

    FRANCE 24 report: French scientist Eric Seralini says research shows Roundup herbicide is highly toxic to human beings.   

    Questioned on the environmental impact and toxicity of such mixtures, Monsanto’s public affairs director, Janice Person, said that “they didn’t recommend any mixtures that were not approved by the EPA,” she said, referring to the US federal Environmental Protection Agency.

    According to the UK-based Soil Association, which campaigns for and certifies organic food, Monsanto was well aware of the risk of superweeds as early as 2001 and took out a patent on mixtures of glyphosate and herbicide targeting glyphosate-resistant weeds.

    “The patent will enable the company to profit from a problem that its products had created in the first place,” says a 2002 Soil Association report.

    Returning to conventional crops

    In the face of the weed explosion in cotton and soybean crops, some farmers are even considering moving back to non-GM seeds. “It’s good for us to go back, people have overdone the Roundup seeds,” Alan Rowland, a soybean seed producer based in Dudley, Missouri, told FRANCE 24. He used to sell 80% Monsanto “Roundup Ready” soybeans and now has gone back to traditional crops, in a market overwhelmingly dominated by Monsanto.

    According to a number of agricultural specialists, farmers are considering moving back to conventional crops. But it’s all down to economics, they say. GM crops are becoming expensive, growers say.

    While farmers and specialists are reluctant to blame Monsanto, Rowland says he’s started to “see people rebelling against the higher costs.”

  • Farmers back climate denier

    NFF President David Crombie added: “We’ve heard ad nauseam from those scientists convinced that climate change will ruin us all and, seemingly, hell-bent on making grim doomsday predictions. But we’ve heard precious little from those experts for whom the jury is still out, or, in the case of Professor Plimer, say their research shows extreme climate change predictions are over-stated.

    “Now, before I’m carted to a stake for public torching, I’m not saying Professor Plimer is right, nor that his colleagues with differing views are wrong. Just that it’s about time we had a balanced, informed discussion and debate… free from vilification of those who dare to question conventional wisdom.

    “We know that not all scientists agree on climate change or the cause and effect theories that underpin it. In his book, Prof Plimer claims that every scientific argument ever used to show that humans change climate is wrong and cites over 2,300 scientific references in support of his claims.

    “It’s food for thought. That’s why Prof Plimer will be a key speaker at our upcoming National Congress in Brisbane this June – so Australian farmers, agribusiness leaders, government officials and other delegates can make up their own minds.

    “You would be hard pressed to find any organisation that has been more proactive on the need to mitigate the potential risks of climate change than the NFF. We’ve been on the front foot in doing so for all my three years as President.

    “But, as Prof Plimer says: “If Government decisions, taxation and emissions trading are to be based on science that is demonstrably wrong, then primary industry in Australia will be destroyed”, then we must consider all possibilities, alternate information and counter-views so we can make informed decisions and choices.

    “As farmers, we have no way of knowing who is right, wrong or kind-of-in-the-ballpark on the scientific research and the judgements therein, but no-one was ever hurt by being exposed to all the facts on any given topic. Rigour underpins getting the science right… Prof Plimer is part of the mix.”

    More information the NFF’s 2009 National Congress, including all speakers and topics, is available from the National Congress website at: http://congress.nff.org.au.

     

  • 1500 Indian farmers commit suicide

    MORE than 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure.

    The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.

    “Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well,” Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine.

    Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.

    In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer. His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.

    “The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds,” said Lakhnu’s friend Santosh. “There were no rains at all. That’s why Lakhnu left even before harvesting the crop. There is nothing left to harvest in his land this time. He is worried how he will repay these loans.”

    Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, said: “Farmers’ suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death.”

    Mr Prakash added that the government ought to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.

    “Development should be for all. The government blames us for being against development. Forest area is depleting and dams are constructed without proper planning. All this contributes to dipping water levels.

    “Farmers should be taken into consideration when planning policies,” he said.

     

  • World’s poor polluters too

    The conversation around climate largely focuses on carbon dioxide, the invisible greenhouse gas building in the atmosphere mainly from the burning of fuels and forests. But there’s another emission from human activities that would be easier to curb in the short run – and that also contributes to enormous conventional pollution problems as well as the warming of the climate.

    From the New York Times

    It’s good old fashioned black carbon soot – a visible pollutant with measurable effects on human health both in poor places, where it comes from cooking or heating using coal, firewood or dung, and rich countries, where it is produced mainly through the combustion of diesel and similar fuels and from some industries.

    James E. Hansen of NASA first drew attention to soot as a climate influence in 2000. He and others have also proposed that soot, by darkening Arctic ice and snow, could be accelerating the boreal melt well beyond what would happen only under natural climate variability or the growing warming influence from greenhouse gases.

    Now a new study by V. Ramanathan of the University of California, San Diego, published online this week in Nature Geoscience, finds that soot may be more than twice as potent a warming influence as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated last year. The study, co-authored by Greg Carmichael of the University of Iowa, also proposes that regional emissions of dark carbon particulates in south Asia could be contributing to the melting of the ice locked in the Himalayas.

    One reason for black carbon’s potent warming effect, according to the paper, is that most of it is forming vast “brown clouds” around the tropics where the sun is also at its strongest.

    Dr. Ramanathan, like Dr. Hansen, has said that carbon dioxide remains the dominant concern because it can persist in the atmosphere for centuries once emitted. But cutting sooty pollution can have an immediate payoff, both in limiting climate risks and improving public health, the new study said.

    One way or the other, it’s pretty clear that cooking on dried dung and firewood, the norm for about 2 billion people, will be hard to sustain as populations in south Asia and Africa climb.

    The climate impact of these energy sources pales beside the direct impact on the lives of the people — mainly women and their children — who spend a significant portion of the day gathering the fuels or breathing the smoke. International development agencies estimate that more than 1.5 million people die young each year from avoidable respiratory ailments associated with cooking.

    cooking fire
    Soot from cooking fires is a health threat and warming the climate. Gita Devi cooked dinner on a small wood-fueled fire by the light of a small can of kerosene in the courtyard of her home in the village of Chakai Haat in the state of Bihar. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)

    Still, the climate benefits from shifting away from such energy options count, too, Dr. Hansen said in an email. “And we need every bit of help we can get,” he said.

    There’s more here on black carbon and climate, and how the issue roiled politics and environmental campaigns and science in 2000.