News
Monday, 16 May 2011
 “INPEX’s Ichthys Gas Project is expected to unnecessarily condemn the Northern Territory to a sentence of a 30% p.a. increase in greenhouse gas emissions for the next 40 years (approximately 5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year).” said Michael Cauce, Coordinator of Climate Action Darwin.
“That’s the equivalent of dumping over one million cars (1,162,800) worth of pollution onto the Territory every year.”
Sunday, 17 April 2011
 The big polluters warn a carbon tax would be a disaster - jobs would go offshore, and so could whole industries. But is it true, or a giant con?
". . . no listed company had a carbon cost greater than 5 per cent of pre-tax earnings . . . "
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
 The environmental movement in Australia was the first in the world to become a political movement and Australia was home to the world's first Green Party. Australian public opinion and policies have been swayed in the past on crucial issues such as land conservation and nuclear power, but what about climate change?
Thursday, 3 March 2011
 By YCAN Convenor Pablo Brait (www.ycan.org.au)
The Multi-Party Climate Change Committee (MPCCC) made up of Labor, Greens and independents has just released the framework for a carbon price. There are very few details other than the starting date of 1 July 2012 and the notion that it will be a fixed price (essentially a carbon tax) for the first three to five years before shifting to a cap-and-trade scheme. Agriculture will be excluded but all other sectors are potentially included.
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
 With the military on the job and perhaps the post-1945 Marshall Plan on her mind, Queensland premier Anna Bligh has designated recovery from the floods “a reconstruction task of postwar proportions.”
The words are deliberate: ‘”I want people to understand how big it is, and how long it might take,” because the machinery of government needs to be reshaped.
Friday, 22 October 2010
" People know we have not placed a price on carbon pollution and that, until we do, Australia will struggle to meet even moderate targets...."
The climate negotiations came to a close last week in China. This was the final meeting before the crucial conference in Cancun, Mexico. The closing plenary of the talks was not without drama. Delayed for over an hour head negotiators huddled around the hall desperately seeking common ground. Puzzled faces around the room were asking — is this Copenhagen all over again?
Thursday, 14 October 2010
 While the global population's set to top nine billion by mid-century, non-human life is dying at rates not seen in 60 million years. Scientists are calling it the sixth great extinction, a catastrophic drop in the number of the world's plant and animal species. The UN's holding a major biodiversity meeting in Japan . . .
The figures are staggering. UN scientists estimate that the world is losing 200 species every day - that's every day. And here's another one for you: the total number of vertebrates on the planet - that's mammals, reptiles, fish, birds and amphibians - plummeted by a third between 1970 and 2006.
And while Australia has one of the richest and most unique range of species, we also have one of the highest extinction rates. But because most of us live in cities, isolated from the rhythms of nature, we don't seem to notice the carnage. It may be the International Year of Biodiversity, but research shows that most people don't know what biodiversity is or why it's important.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
 On May 2010, Christopher Monckton testified to the U.S. Congress, where he argued there was no need to take quick action to address climate change. Monckton made a number of assertions about CO2 warming, the benefits of elevated CO2, ocean acidification, temperature trends and climate sensitivity. Recently, a group of 5 scientists solicited responses to Monckton's testimony from more than 20 world-class climate scientists. Each climate scientist examined the part of Monckton's testimony related to their particular area of expertise and summarised their responses in the report Climate Scientists Respond. The result is thorough, methodical and devastating. Monckton’s assertions are shown to be without merit, demonstrating a number of obvious and elementary errors and based on a thorough misunderstanding of the science.
Monday, 16 August 2010
Some of the nation's top scientists have united in a new climate statement which issues fresh warnings about the dangers of global warming.
The statement released by the Australian Academy of Science is a first for the organisation and details the key evidence identified globally by climate scientists.
It also says global emissions must peak within a decade and decline rapidly if dangerous climate change is to be avoided.
Friday, 9 July 2010
 By now, Julia Gillard has been well warned of the perils of ignoring climate change. So far, her comments have been carefully crafted to obscure her intentions and to push the issue beyond the election. However, after years of overwhelming public support for action on climate change, it is odd for her to be speaking of the need to “build consensus”.
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
 A new national report shows if governments act now to shift Australia from a pollution dependent economy to a cleaner economy it will create 3.7 million new jobs across the country by 2030. Creating Jobs - Cutting Pollution: the roadmap for a cleaner, stronger economy, released today by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), is based on the most extensive economic modelling to date of costs and benefits across all Australian regions of taking strong action to cut greenhouse pollution by 25 per cent.
Friday, 7 May 2010
 THE chief scientist, Penny Sackett, says Australia is moving too slowly to bring its greenhouse gas emissions under control, exposing the nation to high risks and financial costs, after the federal government's decision to shelve its emissions trading scheme.
The warning came as a leading Chinese government adviser criticised Australia's lack of action on climate change, saying the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, had reduced the chance that the world could curb global warming before it was too late.
Friday, 30 April 2010
 No point mourning the premature death of ETS at the hands of the Rudd Government. As First Dog pointed out in his cartoon, its fate was doomed a long time before Wednesday’s announcement. The pressing question climate campaigners are asking themselves is: where do we go now that politics have failed us miserably?
The 100% Renewable Community Campaign has started the ball rolling by calling on all concerned citizens and disappointed voters to demonstrate their support for a carbon neutral future this Sunday 2nd May.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
 The problem with performing a political backflip of such spectacularly high degrees of difficulty as Kevin Rudd shakily negotiated today is the haunting rhetoric which can come back to bite you in the ass.
In dumping Labor’s commitment to introduce an emissions trading scheme (ETS) this term, various media reports have pinned Rudd to comments he made in a speech to the Lowy Institute for International Policy last November. It’s worth republishing his remarks at length . . .
Monday, 15 March 2010
 Three hundred climate advocates from across the country have concluded their national climate summit in Canberra vowing to put climate on the election agenda.
Delegates to the summit represented a range of climate groups from every state and territory, and joined with officials from union, religious, and community organisations at Australian National University.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
 ‘Baseload’ solar power; once a distant dream, is now a reality. While solar electricity was once limited to when the sun was shining, solar thermal energy can now operate 24 hours a day, even at night, with an ingenious and cheap storage method utilising molten salt.
“There are plants in Spain operating with energy storage right now, providing electricity all night long” Matthew Wright, Beyond Zero Emissions Executive Director said.
“Most Australians are not aware of this technology, even though it has the capacity to revolutionise the way we produce electricity and eliminate global warming pollution from coal”.
Saturday, 19 December 2009
 After two weeks of around the clock negotiations and the participation of over a hundred world leaders, the Copenhagen climate change summit has ended in failure, producing a flimsy political agreement far weaker than even the most pessimistic observers expected at the start of the talks.
The agreement – hastily cobbled together on the last day of the talks by 28 nations, including host Denmark, the US and Australia – drew fierce criticism by developing countries left out of the meetings, claiming rich countries had staged a “coup détat” of the UN process.
Monday, 14 December 2009
 Talks have resumed at the international climate change summit in Copenhagen after a walkout by developing countries.
The protest was led by African nations, which accused rich countries of trying to wreck the existing UN Kyoto Protocol.
The G-77 group of developing nations want talks on a second period of commitment to Kyoto to be given priority over broader discussions on a long-term vision for co-operative action.
Monday, 14 December 2009
 When the draft texts were presented in Copenhagen last Friday with proposed emissions reductions of between 30-45%, you could almost feel the wave of panic juddering through the delegates of the Annex 1 countries.
Cut emissions in line with the science? That would be insane. We might actually have to take action to cut our industrial pollution.
Almost immediately, the ‘umbrella group’ led by Australia rolled out the sadly predictable ‘blame China’ strategy. ‘Wong’s message for Beijing: Heat on China,’ bellowed The Australian’s front-page headline.
Image/Info: www.aph.gov.au/library/Pubs/BN/sci/KyotoAccRules.htm
Saturday, 12 December 2009
 Exclusive to Crikey – Possibly the greatest Scandal of this decade “Carbongate” – the theft of billions of dollars in Carbon Credits.
" . . . The Howard Government . . . set about having the Carr and Beattie State Labor Governments introduce Vegetation Management laws that effectively locked up 109 million hectares of privately owned land into the world’s largest privately owned carbon sink. The “trick’ is with the Native Vegetation laws being passed by State Governments. Under the Constitution the State Governments have no obligation to pay private landholders compensation. Brilliant, they’d created the world’s largest carbon sink – at no cost to the Commonwealth. . . . . "
Monday, 7 December 2009
 This editorial calling for action from world leaders on climate change is published today by 56 newspapers around the world in 20 languages.
"Today (7/12/09) 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.
Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year's inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world's response has been feeble and half-hearted."
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