|
|
The Shire Green Web Connecting people & places . .
|
|
|
Pages |
National & Global articles . . . (also click HERE for Planet Ark's daily Reuters World Environment News) |
|
|
PM Puts Faith in Nuclear Power Back to the top "The Melbourne Age," Katharine
Murphy, Canberra,
PRIME Minister John Howard has stepped up
the case for nuclear power, telling reporters the
Government would be "crazy in the extreme" if it blocked
the development of nuclear energy in Australia.
Indeed, Mr Howard would not object to a nuclear plant being built next door to his Sydney home. "I wouldn't have any objection, none whatsoever. I'm serious, quite serious," Mr Howard said when asked if he would want a reactor next door. Continued here:- http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/pm-puts-faith-in-nuclear-power/2006/12/29/1166895479257.html Giant
ice island breaks off Arctic shelf,
Staff and agencies,
Friday December 29, 2006 The ice island is 37 metres (120ft) thick and measures 9 miles by 3 miles, according to the CanWest News Service. It broke clear from Ellesmere island, about 500 miles south of the North Pole, 16 months ago, triggering tremors so powerful they were picked up by earthquake monitors 155 miles away. Continued here:- http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1979937,00.html Back to the top Global warming, local initiatives, Los Angeles Times Back to the top
Unhappy with federal resistance to world
standards, communities are curbing their energy use and emissions.
Search Engine Aids Rights Workers, BBC Back to the top Human rights groups around the world are creating a search engine to help co-ordinate campaigns against abuse. The database behind the search system pools data about dissidents, the abuse they have suffered, and campaigns that highlight when freedoms are restricted Continued here:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6198244.stm Back to the top An interview with Michael Meacher MP (UK Minister for the Environment 1997 - 2003) by Rob Hopkins, of Transition Culture, 21 Nov 2006 How do you see the results
of peak oil manifesting around us in our daily lives? How will we
observe that we are nearing that point?
Continued here:- http://transitionculture.org/2006/11/21/an-interview-with-michael-meacher-mp/ Back to the top Climate change hits hard in the Australian outback Back to the top
| Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
BOURKE, AUSTRALIA
– The once mighty Darling
River, Australia's longest waterway, is dwindling by the day beneath a
blazing blue sky, its sluggish waters an unhealthy shade of pea-green.
The Darling is the lifeblood of Bourke, one of Australia's most celebrated outback towns. Located in the parched west of New South Wales state, the expression "back o' Bourke" is understood by all Australians to mean in the middle of nowhere. But the town's legendary resilience has been pushed to a breaking point by six years of drought, the worst "big dry" since the British settlement of Australia in 1788. Continued here:- http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1120/p01s04-woap.html Back to the top At stake is nothing less than the survival of human civilisation Back to the top By Al Gore, the former American Vice President Last Updated: 12:28am GMT 19/11/2006, The Daily Telegraph, UK We have the opportunity to become the Greatest Generation, responding to our climate debate – but only if we take urgent action to limit global warming. Continued here:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/19/nclim19.xml&page=1 Back to the top Energy Descent Scenarios: Integrating Climate Change & Peak Oil Back to the top David Holmgren, Energy Bulletin, 19 Nov 2006 Extract:- "The imminent peak of global oil supply and the severe consequences that are likely to follow have the potential to totally discredit this state planning process." Full article here:- http://www.energybulletin.net/22674.html Back to the top Head for the Hills - the New Survivalists Back to the top by Mark Whittaker, The Weekend Australian, 18 Nov 2006 So what do you do when you're pretty sure that the end of the world as we know it is coming soon, but your girlfriend doesn't believe you? Sure, she might nod her head when you confront her with some of the gloomier facts, but then she shrugs and goes back to her pursuit of modern pleasures. She doesn't like it when you talk about it to other people, either. No one likes being told their hopes and dreams are about to turn to dust Continued here:- http://www.energybulletin.net/22852.html Back to the top The truth? 'Nuclear is not the answer' Back to the top Leon Gettler,
NUCLEAR energy is not the panacea for
tackling global warming, says one of the world's most
celebrated climate change campaigners, former US
vice-president Al Gore.
Mr Gore also shrugged off Prime Minister John Howard's recent claim that his film An Inconvenient Truth showed "a degree of the peeved politician". Continued here:- http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-truth-nuclear-is-not-the-answer/2006/11/16/1163266712885.html Back to the top How to Prepare for Peak Oil and Climate Change Back to the top By Tim Winton, Permaforest Trust, 17 Nov 2006 Declining energy availability and changes to global climate patterns are now starting to be felt around the world. Preventing the effects of these two trends and a host of related challenges is no longer entirely possible: your approach to sustainability must now include preparations for life in a fundamentally different world. The good news is that great crisis can lead to great change. In this article you will learn seven important factors that you can use personally in transforming global challenges into the emergence of an ecologically stable and economically sound planetary society. Continued here:- http://www.permaforesttrust.org.au/blog/how-to-prepare-for-peak-oil-and-climate-change Back to the top The cost of climate change Back to the top (11-15) 04:00 PST Nairobi -- Steve Howard, my driver and host, seems like an unlikely soul to save the planet. Tall and thin, effusively polite and British, Howard describes how his Ph.D. research here in Kenya more than a decade ago led him to tackle climate change. Howard, the CEO of the Climate Group, a London-based nonprofit, studied the effects of small changes in temperature and rainfall on forests and plant life. We assume, he says, that trees and plants are very resilient. In fact, they are not, he explains. Nor is the planet. Howard is one of more than 5,000 scientists, governmental representatives and other participants who have traveled here to Kenya to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. Like Howard, most of those attending the conference are already convinced that our continued use of fossil fuels is overheating the Earth and bound to lead to dire consequences, not just for our grandchildren, but for us -- and in a very short time. Continued here:- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/15/EDG6ELJ3MQ1.DTL Back to the top Wheat imports loom as drought bites Back to the top Deborah Cameron in
Tokyo -
AUSTRALIA will import grain to offset a national wheat shortage due to crop failure and for the first time in 10 years faces buying wheat on the international market to honour massive export contracts. Continued here:-
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/wheat-imports-loom-as-drought-bites/2006/11/14/1163266550301.html A bigger economy doesn't always buy happiness Back to the top The U.S. should think about a general wellness index alongside GDP to gauge the country's true health. By Eric Weiner, ERIC WEINER is the author of the book "The Geography of Bliss," to be published by TWELVE in 2008. Nov 13, 2006 - Los Angeles Times
A QUICK QUIZ. What do the following have
in common? The war in Iraq. Sales of cigarettes. The recent fires in
Southern California. Continued here Back to the top PM's windy rhetoric denounced as a scare tactic Back to the top
Richard Macey - Sydney
Morning Herald
A SCIENTIST has accused the Prime Minister of frightening the public to undermine wind power's potential. Continued here:- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/11/12/1163266413050.html Back to the top French PM proposes taxing states that shun Kyoto Back to the top
Source: Reuters
PARIS, Nov 13 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin proposed on Monday introducing punitive taxes on imports from countries that refused to sign the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, which is aimed at curbing global warming. Continued here:- http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13183460.htm Back to the top Drought to hit dinner table Back to the top Sydney Morning Herald - 12 Nov 2006
NSW residents are being warned to tighten
their purse-strings and prepare for further food price hikes
with almost the entire state now in the grip of drought.
New figures released today showed the long-running drought's hold on NSW was worsening, with 93.6 per cent of the state now drought declared compared to 89.3 per cent last month. Continued here:- http://www.smh.com.au/news/scorchedearth/drought-to-hit-dinner-table/2006/11/12/1163266401232.html Back to the top Australia suffers worst drought in 1,000 years Back to the top
Depleted reservoirs, failed crops and arid farmland spark
global warming tussle Australia's blistering summer has only just begun but reservoir levels are dropping fast, crop forecasts have been slashed, and great swaths of the continent are entering what scientists yesterday called a "one in a thousand years drought". Continued here:- http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,1941942,00.html Back to the top
Extract:- "So what is going on? Why after 10 years, would Howard suddenly appear to get the ‘vision’ about nuclear power? And what, if anything, connects the speeches of Downer and Bush to the demand by the Prime Minister for a nuclear debate? The short answer is, a lot has been going on behind the scenes, and it is not John Howard who suddenly got the nuclear vision, but his friend George W Bush." Full article here:- http://www.newmatilda.com/home/articledetailmagazine.asp?ArticleID=1913&HomepageID=168 Back to the top Snowy storages reach all-time November low Back to the top ABC News on-line - 7 Nov 2006 As national leaders meet in Canberra today for urgent talks on the water crisis in the Murray Darling system, Snowy Hydro has revealed its storages are at their lowest November level on record. Lake Eucumbene can hold nine times the volume of water in Sydney Harbour when full, but it is now less than 20 per cent full. Full article here:- http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1782685.htm Back to the top Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide levels highest on record Back to the top Geneva, 3 November 2006 (WMO) – In 2005, globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere reached their highest levels ever recorded. The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) 2005 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, published today, says quantities of CO2 were measured at 379.1 parts per million (ppm), up 0.53 per cent from 377.1 ppm in 2004. Full article here:- http://www.wmo.int/web/arep/gaw/ghg/PR_762_E.doc Back to the top Solar Powered Air Conditioners a Must for Greenhouse Attack Back to the top Media Release 31 Oct 2006, Archicentre Archicentre, the building advisory service of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects today called call for the Federal and State Governments to immediately pursue the development and commercialisation of air conditioners which run on solar energy in Australia as a major part of the climate change strategy. Continued in full here:- http://www.archicentre.com.au/media/200631OCTWASolarRC.htm Back to the top ABARE cuts production forecast again Back to the top ABC Lateline - 27 Oct 2006 MAXINE MCKEW: The latest report from a government forecasting body has described the nation's key winter crops of being in the grip of a severe drought, one which will whip more than $6 billion off farm production, and the bureau of agricultural and resource economics has made another substantial cut in its estimates of production from the nation's major crops of wheat, barley and canola, only one month after its last forecast. Helen Brown has the story. Full transcript here:- http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1775676.htm Back to the top
|
Also, daily environmental news updates can be found on Energy BulletinPM Puts Faith in Nuclear Power - Melbourne Age, 30 Dec 2006 Giant ice island breaks off Arctic shelf - 29 Dec 2006Global warming, local initiatives - Los Angeles Times 10 Dec 2006Search Engine Aids Rights Workers, BBC - 1 Dec 2006An interview with Michael Meacher MP (UK Minister for the Environment 1997 - 2003) - 21 Nov 2006Climate change hits hard in the Australian outback - 20 Nov 2006At stake is nothing less than the survival of human civilisation - 19 Nov 2006Energy Descent Scenarios: Integrating Climate Change & Peak Oil - 19 Nov 2006 Head for the Hills - the New Survivalists - 18 Nov 2006 The truth? 'Nuclear is not the answer' - 17 Nov 2006 How to Prepare for Peak Oil and Climate Change - 17 Nov 2006 The cost of climate change - 15 Nov 2006 Wheat imports loom as drought bites - 15 Nov 2006 A bigger economy doesn't always buy happiness - 13 Nov 2006 PM's windy rhetoric denounced as a scare tactic - 13 Nov 2006 French PM proposes taxing states that shun Kyoto - 13 Nov 2006 Drought to hit dinner table - 12 Nov 2006 Australia suffers worst drought in 1,000 years - 8 Nov 2006 Nuclear Debate: Part One: The Plan - 8 Nov 2006 Snowy storages reach all-time November low - 7 Nov 2006 Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide levels highest on record - 3 Nov 2006 Solar Powered Air Conditioners a Must for Greenhouse Attack - 31 Oct 2006 ABARE cuts production forecast again - 27 Oct 2006
|
