Greenpeace activists highlight Climate Change on Grounded Coal Carrier

Nobby's Beach, Newcastle, Australia — Greenpeace activists used laser lights projected onto the grounded coal carrier Pasha Bulker to protest the continued expansion of NSW's coal industry and its contribution to climate change. Messages beamed onto the side of the stranded ship included 'COAL CAUSES CLIMATE CHAOS', 'THIS IS WHAT CLIMATE CHANGE LOOKS LIKE', and 'LET'S EXPORT SOLAR PANELS INSTEAD'.

The Pasha Bulker ran aground on Nobbys Beach in Newcastle on the 8th June in the severe weather that recently hit NSW's coastline.

Steve Shallhorn, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Chief Executive said “We know burning coal causes climate change and, consequently, extreme weather impacts such as the fierce storms that lashed NSW causing the Pasha Bulker to run aground. Yet very few commentators have made the ironic link between the coal carrier and climate change.”

“Every tonne of coal we burn here in Australia or export will return as climate change impacts. We are already seeing such impacts; severe droughts, bushfires and storms. These are predicted to become more frequent and more intense unless we make deep cuts to our own CO2 emissions, at least 30% below 1990 levels by 2020, and this cannot be achieved if Australia continues its reliance on coal.” said Shallhorn.

The NSW state Labor government is planning to upgrade Newcastle's coal exporting facilities and to open new coal mines such as the Anvil Hill mine in the Hunter Valley recently approved. According to Greenpeace Australia this mine alone will contribute 27 million tonnes of CO2 each year - equivalent to doubling the number of cars on NSW roads.

“Every tonne of coal we burn here in Australia or export will return as climate change impacts,” Shallhorn said. “We are already seeing such impacts; severe droughts, bushfires and storms. These are predicted to become more frequent and more intense unless we make deep cuts to our own CO2 emissions, at least 30% below 1990 levels by 2020, and this cannot be achieved if Australia continues its reliance on coal.”

According to Greenpeace, insurance companies have estimated that the recent storms in NSW could cost the insurance sector up to $500 million.

Update: 2015: chart of rainfall showing 2007 spike

@ClimateSystem Ask and ye shall receive pic.twitter.com/3be4M5SZjF

— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) April 21, 2015

More Information:

* Greenpeace: More photos
* Stop the Newcastle Coal Export Terminal - Take the Pledge
* Rising Tide Australia
* Newcastle Street March! Tell the ALP: “Save the climate – say no to coal!” 31st June 2007

Sources:

* What climate change looks like Greenpeace Australia Pacific June 27, 2007
* Climate chaos beaches coal ship at Newcastle Rising Tide Newcastle

World Environment Day highlights global climate change

Did World Environment Day pass you by? A few people in Melbourne remembered and gathered on the steps of the old GPO in the Bourke Street Mall, to highlight the risks of inaction on climate change, or adopting ineffectual policies such as geo-sequestration or nuclear power instead of radically reducing emissions through renewable energy technologies and energy conservation.

World Environment Day - June 5 - was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Another resolution, adopted by the General Assembly the same day, led to the creation of UNEP.

In 2007 UNEP has highlighted climate change as a central issue with the statement "Melting ice - a hot topic?" prominently on its website.

The rally in Melbourne was addressed by several speakers including anti-nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney, Adrian Whitehead from the Zero Emissions Network, Marcus Greville from the Stop the War Coalition and Margarita Windisch from the Socialist Alliance.

I was interested in what Whitehead had to say, and so recorded his speech, although missed recording his introductory words. Here is a rough transcript of the second half of his 7 minute speech.

"If we don't start re-engineering our society and reorganising our society around to deal with these issues of climate change and oil peak which are simultaneously affecting us, the social disharmony and effects are going to be widespread and felt by everyone.

"We have a great opportunity here in Australia to use an amazing amount of intellectual resources that we have. We have fantastic scientists at many universities. But unfortunately they are not being funded to go ahead and develop their projects to commercialisation. Instead we see some of our best scientists heading overseas to countries like America and China where they are developing renewable technologies to commercialisation that were designed and instigated here in Australian universities. Unfortunately under this Federal government Australia is missing out on climate change solutions and the windfall development that will be associated with it.

"We are in danger of becoming a stranded economy, an economy based on old technology largely based on coal"

"If you look at the science, we are actually heading down a really disastrous track. Even though today it is nice and cold, we are seeing an average temperature 2 or 3 degrees above average this last autumn. If we continue down this track our environment want be sustainable. We will have a massive reduction in water availability, our forests and our natural systems. Our agriculture, in many cases already on marginal areas, will be forced off that land. And we may even suffer a major collapse of core agricultral land across Australia."

"We really need to get serious about this issue, and we really need to get serious about it now. And the only thing that is really going to make any difference is if we go for zero emissions. Zero Emissions is the goal we can actually implement. The solutions are there, the solutions aren't cheap but their there, the technologies developed, you can buy it off the shelf today. And if we don't go down this line now, every year that we wait, every year that we propose alternatives that might be carbon cap-and-trade or geo-sequestration, every year we talk about going down the nuclear path is one more year that we will have to play catch up. And the costs involved in catching up will be far more than it will cost us today in implementing on a large scale zero emissions technology, especially around renewable energy and the transport sector."

The gathering hovered between 60-80 people with a constant fluctuation of shoppers and city workers passing by, some stopping to listen for a little or to sign a petition before rushing to their appointments or journey home.

Organisers were expecting more, however the masses just didn't eventuate and the planned march up the street to BHP headquarters was thus cancelled.

Further Information:

* World Environment Day UNEP
* Zero Emission Network
* Nuclear Free Australia
* Carbon Equity

Australia: Activists confront NSW Premier over Doubling of Coal Exports

NSW Premier Morris Iemma has been confronted by climate change activists at the foot of of the world's biggest coal port this morning, about the Government's plans to double coal exports from Newcastle - massively increasing the state's contribution to global climate change. The Premier is campaigning in the NSW State Election to be held on 24 March.

The Premier's security team took to a group of climate change activists this morning during his visit to a Newcastle factory. The Premier was in his car being driven into Downer EDI to inspect new rail carriages being built by the company.

Several protesters, from climate action group, Rising Tide (http://risingtide.org.au) concerned over massive coal expansion in the region, jumped onto the Premier's' car.

Protesters were violently crash-tackled to the ground and put into headlock by the Premier's security team.

As the Premier's car arrived at the EDI rail sheds this morning, next to the Kooragang Coal Terminal, 9 climate change activists from Rising Tide Newcastle stood in front of the Premier's car, attempting to engage him about his government's plans to double Newcastle coal exports.

The Premier's vehicle drove through the demonstrators, tearing a large banner.

A spokesperson for the protesters, Georgina Woods, said "Newcastle coal exports are this state's biggest contribution to global climate change, producing more greenhouse pollution than every other activity in this state combined. If the Iemma government was serious about climate change, they would be developing a plan for Newcastle to move away from the coal industry. Instead, the Iemma Government is currently doubling Newcastle coal exports."

The demonstators rejected the Premier's claims that he was attacked. "At no stage did we attempt to grab or touch the Premier in any way. We simply wanted to get as close to him as possible to attempt to engage him on the issue of coal exports. Morris Iemma can no longer ignore this issue."

Ms Woods said the people were not trying to hurt the Premier. "We were just trying to get our point across that we can't afford to increase Newcastle's coal exports any further," she said. "We do feel really strongly about this issue and we were trying very hard to get the Premier's attention and he was totally ignoring us, but nobody was trying to attack anyone. All we needed to do was to make our point."

Rising Tide Newcastle has hit out at the Labor party for what it says is misleading and cowardly greenhouse emissions policy that will condemn NSW to accelerated climate change. Rising Tide say NSW is directly responsible for 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent entering the atmosphere every year. Carbon dioxide released from exported NSW coal which is burnt overseas, comes to an additional 220 million tonnes per year. Neither figure shows any indication of falling in the foreseeable future.

Rising Tide say: "The trajectory NSW is following is going to devastate the ecology of this state. The Labor Government’s plan does not cut emissions by anywhere near the degree necessary to avoid a 2ºC warming scenario, which will lead to nearly 80% loss in coral reef systems globally and an up to 70 per increase in forest fires in the coming decades..."

"The Labor Government is living in a fantasy land when it comes to climate change..." Currently Newcastle exports over 80 million tonnes of coal per year. Recent extensions have lifted capacity to over 100 million tonnes per year. Two separate projects are also awaiting decisions from the NSW Government - the proposed expansion of the Kooragang Coal Terminal, and the proposed construction of a new Coal Export Terminal next door, Rising Tide say in a communique.

Together, these two projects would lift the coal export capacity of Newcastle to 211 million tonnes per year. At that level, the greenhouse emissions from Newcastle coal exports would rival the emissions from every single source within Australia's borders - every coal plant, every steel mill, every vehicle, every land clearing operation...

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Recently a satirical website created by Rising Tide Newcastle was shut down by powerful coal industry lobby group, the NSW Minerals Council, before being relocated offshore. SEE: http://www.miningnsw.com.au/

In February, members of the environmental action group Rising Tide Newcastle built a plywood and 44-gallon drum obstacle to block the doors of NSW Labor's Sydney office. The activists placed a large wooden sign across the entrance of the ninth-floor offices of the NSW ALP shortly before 9am. One member locked herself to the barrier with a large metal bicycle lock. Police were called to the building shortly after 9am and, after negotiations, 10 of the 12 activists left the building voluntarily at 10.10am. Police cut the lock from Dean's neck and arrests were made.

SOURCES:
* Security scuffles with protesters as Iemma tours factory - ABC
* Labor party policy is condemning NSW to catastrophe - Rising Tide
* PERTH INDYMEDIA: Coal lobby censors climate change website
* Two arrests in coal protest - News Ltd: Feb 27, 07
* Iemma confronted over coal exports and climate change - RISING TIDE NSW
* perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=52498

* See photos and full report: http://risingtide.org.au/node/414

NASA Climatologist Predicts Disastrous Sea Level Rise

In an interview on Australian ABC Television program, The 7.30 Report, James Hansen, a prominent NASA climatologist, predicted the likelihood that the earth will pass a tipping point resulting in Sea Level Rise of up to a metre every 20 years. The trigger for this is an extra degree of global warming resulting in the runaway melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice sheets.

According to Hansen "the problem is that the climate system in general has a lot of inertia and that means that it takes time for the changes to begin to occur but then, once they do get under way, it becomes very difficult to stop them and that is true in spades for the ice sheets. If we once begin to disintegrate it will become very difficult, if not impossible, to stop them and we are beginning to see now on both Greenland and west Antarctica disintegration of those ice sheets. They're both losing ice at a rate of about 150 cubic kilometres per year and that's still not a huge sea level rise."

700,000 Australian buildings at risk from Sea Level Rise

An Insurance industry study in Australia has identified 700,000 buildings at risk nationwide from rising sea levels caused by human induced climate change. The study was done in 2006.



Karl Sullivan from the Insurance Council of Australia said "We're working closely with government to try to map and understand what those risks are as climate change starts, or what the exact details of climate change may be and how it may manifest." according to the ABC 7.30 Report.

Catastrophic Climate Change may be Inevitible unless Drastic Steps are Taken

A report by Friends of the Earth Australia warns that catastrophic climate change may be inevitable unless dramatic steps are taken to reduce emissions. While the scientific community have finally consensed that human induced climate change is an unequivical reality with the release of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific report on 2 February 2007, the survey of recent scientific research by FOE(Australia) indicates the IPCC climate change models may be very conservative and underestimate feedback effects of climate change.

The report was prepared by the Carbon Equity Project, and surveys climate data released by scientists in the last couple of years. Examining the risks and probabilities of catastrophic changes to the climate, the report concludes that annual greenhouse gas reductions of 4 to 5% a year must begin by the end of the decade if we are to have a reasonable chance of preventing disaster.

Global Warming: Rising Seas creates 70,000 Climate Refugees

Rising seas attributed to human induced global warming have submerged Lohachara island, once the home to 10,000 people. Unhinhabited Suparibhanga has also vanished, while the inhabited island of Ghoramara has lost two thirds of its area to the rising seas in the Bay of Bengal.

While we were all distracted by Christmas festivities, this sober news on the impact of climate change was published in The Independent (UK), about the inundation of various Sundarban islands in the Indian part of the delta region of the Ganges and Brahmaputra river, where they empty into the Bay of Bengal.

The region is considered remote and researchers at Calcutta's Jadavpur University discovered the submergence through examining satellite photos of the area. According to the report in the Independent, Dr Sugata Hazra, director of the university's School of Oceanographic Studies, said that there are now a dozen "vanishing islands" in India's part of the delta.

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.