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Historical records going back a century showed a strong link between the sun’s activity and droughts in eastern Australia, said University of New England associate professor Robert Baker, reported in The Courier-Mail (13 July 2006 p17).

Sun’s magnetic flip: Dr Baker said there appeared to be a correlation between dry spells and a 22-year-long pattern called the Hale Cycle, in which the sun’s magnetic field flipped between its north and south poles.

Droughts conincidental with phasing of solar activity: When the Hale Cycle was in a phase where the south pole was positive, as a few years ago or in the early 1980s, droughts often blighted the east coast. The droughts were particularly severe if the Hale Cycle coincided with periods when sunspot activity was low, or when the cycle was in step with long-term solar patterns lasting 1500 years or more.

Sunspots indicators of magnetic disruption: Sunspots are violent disturbances in the magnetic field on the sun’s surface which look black because they are cooler than surrounding areas.

Stargazing concerns: "The 1902-1903 and 1922-1923 droughts, which were particularly severe in Queensland, occurred during times when the solar minimum (the least intense part of the sunspot cycle) coincided with a stable part of this 1500-year cycle," Dr Baker said. Dr Baker said it was concerning that the sun was now entering a 500-year period of lower activity.

The Courier Mail, 13/7/2006, p. 17

Source: Erisk Net  

The UK Environment minister, David Miliband, floated the idea of a personal carbon trading scheme working across the UK.

"Imagine a country where carbon becomes a new currency. We carry bank cards that store both pounds and carbon points," he told the Audit Commission this week.

"When we buy electricity, gas and fuel, we use our carbon points, as well as pounds. To help reduce carbon emissions, the Government would set limits on the amount of carbon that could be used," he said.

The UK government is struggling against a Conservative Party that has successfully aligned concern about the environment with other conservative values, such as community, economic independence and protection for small business.

The story has received wide coverage in the UK press. See the Guardian article .

A team of researchers at Melbourne’s Monash University is already on the case, reports The Australian (19 July 2006 p27). Academics at the Institute for Sustainable Water Resources have won a $90,000 Australian Research Council linkage grant, for joint university-industry projects, to study the efficacy of porous pavement for city surfaces.

Aussie product: They will study an Australian product, PermaPave. ISWR deputy director Aria Deletic told the HES that low-use areas, such as car parks, residential streets and pedestrian areas, were most suitable.

Already in UK: Porous paving, used widely in Britain, is made in modular blocks laid with gaps in between or as a monolithic, a bound aggregate such as porous asphalt.

Clogging tests: “In Australia, porous pavements are rarely used, mainly due to perceptions that they are prone to clogging,” Dr Deletic said. “Assessing whether clogging is a problem, as well as the treatment efficiency of PermaPave, is the [focus] of our research.”

Acts as litter filter: Rain that falls on impervious surfaces runs into streams, stormwater channels, bays and the ocean, picking up litter and other pollutants. But Dr Deletic said rain that fell on porous surfaces would percolate through to pipes laid underneath for harvesting and treatment. “Only in the case of extremely large storms will it run off the pavement,” she said.

Choices available for harvested water: “While going through porous pavements, water gets treated to some extent. The water then could be either treated further, stored and reused or discharged.”

Urban run-off roughly equivalent to urban use: It was impossible to replace all impervious paving with porous surfaces, Dr Deletic said. A 1999 study showed that the average annual volume of urban stormwater run-off in Australian cities was almost equal to the average annual urban water use.

Minimal stormwater harvesting currently practised in Aust: But harvesting of stormwater was minimal in one of the driest countries. “It is still not widely practised in Australia. Stormwater is particularly neglected; only 8 per cent of rainwater is used,” Dr Deletic said, quoting CSIRO figures from 2003, although in Melbourne, “recycling of waste water is now very high on the agenda”.

Melbourne on the trail of overseas greenfield projects: “Melbourne Water recycles 11.3 per cent of its treated waste water,” Dr Deletic said. Porous paving was “one of the most popular water-sensitive urban drainage measures in retrofit and greenfield developments in the UK, Sweden, Japan and the US”, Dr Deletic said.

The Australian, 19/7/2006, p. 27

Source: Erisk Net  

There’s something in the water on the Far North Coast of NSW and it is not fluoride, suggests The Sydney Morning Herald (19 July 2006 p3).

Hate campaign removes White smile: Since calling for the fluoridation of water supplies for Lismore City, Richmond Valley, Ballina Shire and Byron Shire councils last year, an Australian Dental Association representative, Brendan White, has become the target of a hate campaign.

Physical threats: Angry residents have thrown rocks at his house and made abusive, anonymous phone calls to his family. So heated has the matter become that in the latest incident, a woman urinated on the doorstep of his Lismore dental practice.

Ballina has second thoughts: The first three councils have resolved to introduce fluoride into the water system, although a group of councillors at Ballina recently lodged a motion to rescind the resolution.

NSW close on heels of Tas: After Tasmania, where 91 per cent of the population has fluoridated drinking water, NSW has the second highest rate of fluoridated water, figures from NSW Health show.

Qld not keen: By contrast, less than 5 per cent of Queenslanders have fluoridated water.

Health stats indicate good for kids: Since 2003, more than 10 NSW councils have started to fluoridate their water. A 10-year study in the Blue Mountains, where fluoride was introduced in 1993, revealed a 75 per cent reduction in tooth decay for nine- to 11-year-olds and a 73 per cent reduction for six- to eight-year-olds.

Maybe a bit of fluoride wouldn’t be a bad thing? The Far North Coast of NSW has the state’s worst rate of dental decay for 12-year-olds and the second worst for five year-olds, said the NSW Health oral health project manager, John Irving.

If Byron holds out, costs will inflate: Rous Water, which supplies water to the four coastal councils, will meet on 19 July to discuss the next step in the fluoridation process. Because Byron Shire has excluded itself, the set-up costs are likely to rise from about $500,000 to $1 million.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 19/7/2006, p. 3

Source: Erisk Net