A Massive Field Of Frozen Greenhouse Gas Is Thawing Out
Smithsonian (blog)
The cause of this sharp spike in greenhouse gas concentrations, some researchers say, was a sudden release of methane from rocky stores deep below the ocean waves. And though other researchers call this idea into question, the presumed threat of stored …
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Author: admin
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A Massive Field Of Frozen Greenhouse Gas Is Thawing Out
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Packer’s Pokies Palace GET-UP
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Dear NevilleThis week the NSW government received proposal from James Packer’s Crown Group to build a second casino in Sydney at Barangaroo. The NSW Government has supported the proposal on the condition that the casino contains no poker machines. There’s good reason for the exclusion: we know that poker machines are incredibly damaging to our community, and far more addictive than other forms of gambling.1 But if the ban on poker machines isn’t in legislation, it can be reversed overnight at the whim of the Premier of the day. And there is good reason to think that it could be.
Packer’s Crown seem to be running a classic thin edge of the wedge strategy. Step 1: Get approval for the casino by agreeing to a ban on poker machines. Step 2: build the casino at a cost of $1 billion. Step 3: once the casino is built and the money invested, cajole the State Government into lifting the ban by saying that the casino has to have poker machines to make the business profitable.
Prevention is better than cure, and to stop a new blight of pokies in NSW, it’s crucial that this pokies ban be set in legislation; not just planning documents that can be changed at the stroke of a Ministerial pen. Use your voice – contact the NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell to demand a legal ban on poker machines at a new Sydney Casino.
http://www.getup.org.au/packers-pokies-palace
Yesterday, campaign research took me to the gaming floor in the Crown Casino, Melbourne. From where I stood in the middle of that vast space, poker machines and gaming tables stretched on so far that I couldn’t see where the building ended on my left or right. You could get lost following the twisted paths between banks of machines and clusters of tables that seem to go on forever.
The electronic music and flashing lights made me feel disoriented, both stimulated and empty. At lunch time on a Wednesday, the place was packed. I watched as a mesmerised patron perched on a stool fed fifty dollar notes into the poker machine in front of her, barely pausing in her play to register the result of each spin. It made me think of the whistleblowers who have come to GetUp to tell how teams of psychologists have spent years designing nasty tricks to make these machines more engrossing, more addictive and more dangerous. Sydney doesn’t need a place like that.
GetUp members have campaigned against dangerous poker machines by calling for Federal reform and by demanding change from companies like Coles and Woolworths who own and operate poker machines. We’ve pushed government and industry to be accountable for the damage caused by problem gambling. But it will be two steps forward and one back, if a massive Packer-owned Casino were allowed to operate poker machines in a few years time.
Don’t let Packer’s Crown group get away with building another poker machine palace in Sydney. Let’s contact Premier Barry O’Farrell now to demand that the ban on pokies goes into legislation.
http://www.getup.org.au/packers-pokies-palace
Thanks for all that you do.
Carl, for the GetUp Team.PS – So far Barry O’Farrell hasn’t made any public commitment around poker machines at a new casino. While a legal ban on machines would be the best outcome, pushing the Premier to make a public commitment that the casino won’t contain poker machines would also make a big difference. Use your voice and contact the Premier now.
1 Productivity Commission 2010, Gambling, Report no. 50, Canberra.
GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you’d like to contribute to help fund GetUp’s work, please donate now! If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.getup.org.au. To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here. Authorised by Sam Mclean, Level 2, 104 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010.
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Green news roundup: The Guardian
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24 hours that shifted the world. 350 org
24 hours that shifted the world.
Inboxx 
Will Bates – 350.org organizers@350.org7:11 AM (2 hours ago)
to meDear friends,
It’s not often you get to feel the world shift a little bit — but three years ago, that’s exactly what happened.
On October 24 2009, 350.org’s first ever day of action took the world by storm, with over 5,000 events in 181 countries. The International Day of Climate Action helped put the 350 movement on the map in every corner of the globe.
It’s hard to describe it in words, so take two minutes to watch this video — and consider chipping in to support our work moving forward:
CNN called the event “the most widespread day of political action in our planet’s history.” Foreign Policy magazine called it “the largest ever global coordinated rally of any kind.” For 24 hours, the global climate movement was the top story on Google News.
But it isn’t the media attention that inspires me most — it’s everything that has happened since.
In the last three years, a truly global movement has risen up to fight the climate crisis. Millions of people have participated in 350 campaigns, trainings, and mass mobilizations. We’ve launched and won critical climate battles all over the world — and we’re just getting started.
Our most important work is ahead of us — we’re planning a landmark global convergence, embarking upon an educational road-tour, and launching hard-hitting campaigns in countries all around the world.
We’re working with local groups and partners in India, the Philippines, and Australia to scale up campaigns to move beyond coal and shift to renewable energy. Our friends in France and Indonesia are carrying on the fight to #EndFossilFuelSubsidies and cut off corporate polluters from public handouts. And so it goes around the world — everywhere we’re able, we’re working with incredible grassroots activists to push for the solutions that the planet and its people so desperately need.
Whether you joined us three years ago, or just found out about 350.org yesterday, thank you for all that you do to build this movement.
Let’s keep shifting the world. Together.
Onwards,
Will Bates for the 350.org team
P.S. If you think this work is important, please do chip in to support it. You can donate (and watch the video) right here: www.350.org/three-years
350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email alerts. You can help power our work by getting involved locally, sharing your story, and donating here.
To stop receiving emails from 350.org, click here.
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SA ‘delighted’ by extra water for Murray
SA ‘delighted’ by extra water for Murray
AAPUpdated October 26, 2012, 9:24 amThe federal government is to unveil ambitious plans to find billions of litres of extra water to restore health to the Murray-Darling Basin and appease a disgruntled South Australia.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be in the state on Friday, where she is expected to announce the government will put an extra 450 billion litres into the system from 2019.
The extra water will be sourced from farms, where an additional $1.7 billion in government funding will improve infrastructure and water efficiency, so there’s more left over for the environment.
The move has delighted South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, who has withdrawn his threat of a High Court challenge to the previous plan.
Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke says the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s (MDBA) draft plan, released in August, just didn’t deliver sufficient ecological benefits to the environment.
“I did believe we could be more ambitious than what the authority was putting forward,” he told ABC radio on Friday.
The commonwealth will push ahead with the authority’s original proposal to recover 2750 gigalitres (GL) per year from irrigators and return the flows to the environment.
But from 2019, an extra 450GL sourced from farm improvements will be added, meaning a total 3200GL – 3200 billion litres – will be given back to the environment every year.
The trade-off is that the deadline for the plan will be extended from 2019 to 2024.
The new approach will target on-farm programs instead of just buying back water from irrigators, a strategy staunchly opposed by many in NSW and Victoria.
Mr Burke said he hoped the announcement would appease irrigators worried their water allocations for farmland would be diverted to the environment.
Opposition water spokesman Barnaby Joyce, who has questioned what impact any plan will have on farming communities, is sceptical about the announcement.
“Where’s the money, that’s what you’ve got to ask,” he told ABC radio.
“If you haven’t got the money then this is just a wonderful idea and if you say a little prayer every night then it might happen.”
Mr Weatherill thanked South Australians, who stood firm in their opposition to the lesser 2750GL flow.
“This is a significant win for South Australia with the federal government committing to that extra water,” he told ABC television.
The benefits for the environment from the extra water would be “massive” and help prevent salinity and acid build up in the Lower Lakes, he said.
Of the extra funding, $200 million will be used to remove river constraints such as low-lying bridges and undersized dam outlets that limit water flow back into the system.
The cash will be sourced through a special account and an advance of future funds to ensure there is enough money to see the plan through to 2024.
Ms Gillard’s announcement, plus further proposals, will be financially met from existing government resources and funds set aside in this week’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Legislation to set up the special account and the future funds is expected to be introduced to parliament by the end of the year.
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India’s Secret Weapon: Its Young Population
Can Japan’s Elderly Become Its Growth Engine?
CNBC.com
Japan’s huge gray population is putting a strain on its public finances at a time when the country’s debt is ballooning and the economy is struggling to gain momentum. A shrinking workforce, falling exports and global economic uncertainty are all …
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CNBC.comHome Sales Rising to Two-Year High Spur US Growth: Economy
Bloomberg
Population growth and mortgage rates pushed to record lows by Federal Reserve purchases of housing debt are generating sales for builders like Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL) and spurring the three-year economic recovery. Housing starts in September jumped 15 …
See all stories on this topic »Researchers show predominant importance of the correlation between climate …
Phys.Org
The McGill-trained ecologist and fellow researchers have been using modeling techniques similar to those used to define the ecological niche for plant and animal species to explore the correlation between climate patterns and population growth in the …
See all stories on this topic »Why Urban Growth Needs Smart Planning
AllAfrica.com
In Africa where the combined urban population is expected to double from about 300 million in 2000 to 750 million in 2030, the next two decades will be immensely challenging. With rapid population growth and a history of low-density settlement, the …
See all stories on this topic »San Ramon’s population has exploded over the past decade
San Jose Mercury News
In 1984, when San Ramon became a city, its population was 23,444, and nearly all residents were white. Since then, the population has exploded to 72,148. The greatest growth occurred from 2000 to 2010, when the population jumped 61 percent. Driscoll’s …
See all stories on this topic »India’s Secret Weapon: Its Young Population
CNBC.com
“Two hundred and fifty million people are set to join India’s workforce by 2030. As a big chunk of the population shifts into the working age group, the offshoot of that is an increase in disposable incomes and conspicuous consumption. This is the most …
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CNBC.comCensus data shed more light on growth in Austin suburbs
Austin American-Statesman
New census data released Thursday illuminates a continuing and familiar story in Central Texas: Robust population growth is extending into the new decade, and in the Austin region it is occurring not only in the capital, but in suburbs such as …
See all stories on this topic »Governments Organize Matchmaking as Asia’s Birth Rates Fall
CNBC.com
Take the case of Japan, which has the largest number of people above the age of 65 in the world; these older people make up 25 percent of its 128 million-strong population. This is increasing the burden on its public finances as economic growth stagnates.
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CNBC.comPopulation Experts Appeal to the Media for Coverage
AllAfrica.com
The country’s population growth rate, currently at 3.3 percent, has also been steadily above Africa’s average, except for the period of peak prevalence in HIV/AIDS in early 2000s. The 2002 census reports that about half the population is under the age …
See all stories on this topic »Mississauga to province: Put your transit money where the growth is
Toronto Star
“We’re willing to take that density,” Councillor Nando Iannicca said, addressing the province’s high expectations for population growth in Peel. “But you’re building our GO Train stations, right? We know this is where growth belongs, but we have to say …
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