Australian Government Gagging Climate Refugee Issue

Friends of the Earth Australia have called on the Australian Government to recognise climate refugees and hold an investigation to prove the issue is not being silenced by the “greenhouse mafia”, as reported on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) program Four Corners.

The Four Corners program, The Greenhouse Mafia, also contained allegations of censorship against scientists speaking out on issues where their views were counter to Government policy on climate change.

More Info:
* ABC: Four Corners: The Greenhouse Mafia
* ABC: News in Science: Censorship 'just tip of iceberg'
* Friends of the Earth Australia Climate Justice Campaign
* Citizens Guide to Climate Refugees

Greenland Ice Sheet melting faster than expected

Scientists have measured a significant decrease in the mass of the Greenland ice cap, using data from satellites that measures movement in Earth's mass. A team led by Dr. Isabella Velicogna of the University of Colorado, Boulder, found that Greenland's ice sheet decreased by 162 (plus or minus 22) cubic kilometers a year between 2002 and 2005. This is higher than all previously published estimates, and it represents a change of about 0.4 millimeters (.016 inches) per year to global sea level rise.

The first direct, comprehensive mass survey of the entire Greenland ice sheet updates findings published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Data was collected from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite.

Soaring temperatures set new Melbourne and Victorian record

Melbourne had its warmest ever month of December with an average temperature of 27.7 degrees. The previous record was 27.3 degrees set in 1873. On December 31 people in Melbourne sweltered with a record temperature for New Year's Eve of 42.9 degrees at 5.15pm (AEDT). The temperature eclipsed the previous record of 41.7 degrees for December 31 set in 1862.

About 50 cyclists braved clear skies and high temperatures for the monthly Critical Mass bicycle ride in Melbourne on Friday 30 December. Quite a number of the cyclists cooled themselves by riding through the fountain at Southbank outside Crown Casino. The ride ended at Mountain Goat Brewery in Richmond where some parched throats were satisfied by some famed Mountain Goat beer.

The Temperature is Rising

The World Meteorological Organisation released a statement on the status of the Global Climate on 15th December that 2005 will be the second hottest year on record, globally. The last 10 years (1996-2005), with the exception of 1996, are the warmest years on record.

The statement says that "For Australia, preliminary data indicate that 2005 will be the hottest year since records commenced in 1910, with around 97 per cent of the continent experiencing above-average mean temperatures. During the January-May period, the hottest maximum temperatures on record exacerbated the exceptionally dry conditions. Nationwide temperatures during the first five months of the year were 1.75oC above normal, surpassing the previous record by a substantial 0.57oC." See also Australian Bureau of Meteorology:
http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/ho/20051114.shtml
http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1531576.htm

Scientist warns of Global warming impact on Ocean Circulation

Global warming could halt ocean circulation, with harmful results warns an atmospheric scientist. “This is a dangerous, human-induced climate change,” said Michael Schlesinger, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “The shutdown of the thermohaline circulation has been characterized as a high-consequence, low-probability event. Our analysis, including the uncertainties in the problem, indicates it is a high-consequence, high-probability event.”

Schlesinger presented his warnings at a talk at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal on December 8, 2005.

Rising Sea Levels Create first Climate Change Refugees

As the world awaits the beginnings of the first meeting of the parties of the Kyoto Protocol in Montreal, the Carteret Islanders of the Pacific have already lost their battle to stay on their islands. This is the first instance of an entire cultural group forcibly displaced by climate change due to sea level rise doubling in the last 150 years caused by global warming. According to Norman Myers in A Citizens Guide to Climate Refugees, up to 200 million people may be displaced because of climate change by 2050. Many more islands and low level coastal areas are facing a crisis.

In conjunction with the Montreal meeting, an international day of action will occur on December 3, and also the launch of Climate Indymedia, bringing together the latest activist news and reports on climate change, and an alternative to the obfuscation of the mainstream media and corporate public relations.

Nuclear Power PR campaign debunked by report

Anti-nuclear activists replied to advocates of nuclear power with a comprehensive damning report 'Nuclear Power - No Solution to Climate Change'. Fifty people attended the launch held at Northcote Town Hall organised by Friends of the Earth. Speakers included report author, Dr Jim Green, physicist Dr Alan Roberts, and President of the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, Dr Tilmin Ruff.



Jim Green gave a comprehensive summary of the report, and bedunked the current pro-nuclear marketing that nuclear power is a necessary method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report says that a doubling of nuclear power output by 2050 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by just five per cent,while increasing the hazards of potential nuclear accidents, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation, and the still unsolved problem of waste storage. The report outlines that the solutions to greenhouse gas emissions from power generation lie in energy efficiency and renewable energy generation such as in wind, bioenergy, solar, and tidal power.

Green made the point that only a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from power generation, with the majority caused by the burning of oil as petrol in automobiles.

Dr Alan Roberts is a retired physicist from Monash University who stated up front that he can't see the nuclear energy campaign succedding. "This bubble is going to burst" he said. He then proceeded to outline the background to the nuclear industry public relations campaign, which started with background briefings to the media in the United Kingdom in May 2004. This was a marketing campaign with several prominent Public Relations firms involved, including the involvement of a former British Minister for Energy. The campaign has stressed that nuclear energy is needed for diversification of energy supply, and that nuclear power generation does not contribute any green house gasses. Dr Roberts said that the marketing ignored the fact that substantial green house gas emissions are caused in the total nuclear cycle from mining and extration of uranium, transportation, building reactors, transport of waste, and decommissioning nuclear reactors.

Dr Roberts does not subscribe to neoliberalism, but he said competition and a true free market would kill nuclear power: "nuclear power is not able to compete without subsidies".

The nuclear industry does not want a full and open debate on nuclear power, according to Dr Roberts. He told an anecdote of a chance meeting with an official of the Uranium Information Bureau several years ago. When Alan Roberts asked why they had not debated the subject recently the official said "we decided we would not engage in any debates. We found it counterproductive."

The third speaker was Dr Tilman Ruff, President of the Medical Association for the Prevention of War. Dr Ruff outlined the dangers in radiation, in the threat of nuclear terrorism and nuclear war, and said "this is not a solution to global warming" and that it "delays us getting on with real solutions".

After the speakers several questions were asked. It was revealed that up to half the existing nuclear power reactors need decommissioning in the next 10 years. The British parliament has recently allocated 56 billion pounds just for decommissioning nuclear plants in the near future. The storage of waste was raised, with still no foolproof solution found. Even the Synroc solution trumpeted for the last fifteen years, is still not in use. Most high level waste is currently stored on site with the nuclear reactors. Dr Jim Green referred any detailed enquiries on nuclear waste to the website http://radwaste.org

With BHP taking over Western Mining Corporation and the Olympic Dam Mine at Roxby Downs, several ethical investment schemes have been reassessing opposition and investment in companies involved with uranium mining, a member of the audience said. The size of BHP means it is seven per cent of the Australian stock market, and many fund managers belief it is an important stock to have. The questioner posed that most people were members of superannuation funds and should pressure their funds not to invest in companies involved in uranium mining, or to choose ethical funds which explicitly opposed uranium mining.

The meeting was held in Northcote because the Federal member for the seat of Batman is Labor member Martin Ferguson, who has been pushing very strongly for the expansion of uranium mining and export of uranium to China. There were calls for Martin Ferguson, a shadow minister, should be speaking ALP policy, rather than pushing his own agenda. Members of the audience called for Martin Ferguson to publically debate uranium mining and nuclear power with his electors.

It was announced that Nuclear Free Australia is having an anti-nuclear tour of the city on Tuesday October 11, meeting at 12.30pm GPO Bourke Street Mall.

The meeting wound up with a spokesperson from the Friends of the Earth Anti-uranium Collective, Michaela Stubbs, outlining some grassroots activities that people coud do. The Anti-uranium Collective holds weekly meetings at FOE, 312 Smith Street, each Wednesday night at 6.30pm.

The chair of the meeting, Dimity Hawkins from MAPW, gave details of an intriguing invitation from the US Consulate to the MAPW to attend a briefing on how Iran is breaching non-proliferation conditions in their nuclear program. Something to ponder about in regard to preparing public relations for a possible US attack on Iran?

The report is available for download at:
http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/documents.htm

Wonthaggi turns on Wind power

For more than 30 years myself and many other environmentalists, have advocated the necessity for research and development of alternative renewable energy systems. While the Federal Government poured millions of dollars into the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and the HIFAR reactor at Lucas Heights near Sutherland in Sydney, funding for renewable energy systems was largely ignored.



With global warming accelerating caused by the release of greenhouse gases by coal fired power stations and the internal combustion engine, it is time to assess what the Federal Government has been doing. Companies specialising in alternative energy research and development are still chronically underfunded.

Guest Post: Katrina was environmental and social blowback

This article by Eli Greig, published on Melbourne Indymedia on Hurricane Katrina, was promoted as a story feature on the front page. I was an editor at Melbourne Indymedia at the time, although the decision to promote would have been a collective one. Although it doesn't mention climate change or global warming, it raises important questions about disaster response and adaptation very relevant for today. Eli Greig was Social Justice & Environmental Projects Officer at Monash University Student Association. I am republishing it in the lead up to the 10th anniversary of Katrina. - John Englart 12 July 2015

What has happened and is happening in New Orleans poses critical questions to our assumptions about the great traditions of western thought and social progress.

The first and most important question that must be answered is, was the cause of the levies breaking simply a lack of investment in old, yet critical infrastructure or is it a fundamental question on the failure of a market economy and the subjugation of civil society to neo-classical economics?

If you believe that the levies broke through a mere lack of engineering and that the solution lies in more engineering, then you may as well not read on. Just ask yourself one question: What assumptions and what ideological fabric underpin the drastic reduction of funds from federal grants for levee maintenance, and their subsequent redirection to war making?

Why did the Bush administration divert $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corp of Engineers, a 44% cut? With the loss of Federal funds plans to upgrade pumps and fortify levees were mothballed.

Global Warming major factor in Drought increasing globally

Image Label: This depiction of linear trends in the Palmer Drought Severity Index from 1948 to 2002 shows drying (reds and pinks) across much of Canada, Europe, Asia, and Africa and moistening (green) across parts of the United States, Argentina, Scandinavia, and western Australia. (Illustration courtesy Aiguo Dai and the American Meteorological Society.)

According to a new analysis by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the USA the percentage of Earth's land area stricken by serious drought more than doubled from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Iguo Dai, lead author of the study, said that rising global temperatures appear to be a major factor. Widespread drying occurred over much of Europe and Asia, Canada, western and southern Africa, and eastern Australia.