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08.09.10 7:02 am
Wood fiber costs for the global pulp industry fell in the 2Q/10 after having increased for 18 months, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly
The global pulp industry benefited from lower wood fiber costs and higher product prices in the 2Q/10. Wood chip and pulpwood prices fell the most in the US, Sweden, Finland, Australia and Eastern Canada. Both the softwood and hardwood wood fiber price indices (SFPI and HFPI) fell for the first time since early 2009, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly.
The full article can be found in the attached PDF file…..
FPMU_Global_pulpwood_prices_2Q_2010.pdf
Politics | Local | National | State | Forestry | Gunns | Economy | Environment
06.09.10 3:34 pm
This water filter was given to me by a friend who thought I would appreciate the label.
Too right, I think it must have been the special Tasmanian model. It does appear that the water suppliers must have problems elsewhere in Australia as well.
I am not able to use it at my place unfortuately because I only have filthy dirty tank water that has not had pesticides, lead, aluminium and Nitrates added. As far as I know anyway.
It is beyond me why we can only use chemical enhanced Municipally suplied water in a filter, maybe they don’t think that other water needs filtering?
Under fire from industry, scientific panel is ‘gutted’
via Isla
31.08.10 7:56 am
By Amy Standen Center for Investigative Reporting 30 August 2010
Five out of nine members of a scientific panel that advises California on toxic chemicals have been fired in recent weeks, following disputes with the chemical industry and a conservative group that targets environmental laws.
While the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants is not well known outside of regulatory circles, its work carries clout in state environmental policy. Since its inception in 1983, the panel has evaluated more than 300 chemicals - everything from pesticides to secondhand smoke - and advised the state on how these chemicals should be regulated.
For anyone working on environmental health science who wonders why policy decisions don’t always reflect scientific findings, this is an insightful article It’s about one of the biggest funding sources that opposes environmental regulations based on philosophical commitments to libertarian beliefs. Toward the end there is a section on formaldehyde and cancer. But there is much much more.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer Covert operations. The Koch brothers are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry - especially environmental regulation. And they are putting their enormous wealth behind their beliefs.
http://www.newyorker.com/ New Yorker. 25 August 2010
Lemmings, heading for the cliffs
Elizabeth
30.08.10 10:49 am
We really are like lemmings heading for the cliffs! When are we going to start caring for our home, the planet? It’s the only one we have got! As a country girl I understand all too well that if you mess with nature, eventually it will kick back. We can’t do much about what happens in Pakistan, but we can do something about what happens in Australia. I did not know about the deforestation of Pakistan, so assume at least some of you did not know either.
Elizabeth.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/a-land-left-to-drown-by-the-timber-mafia-1.1051230
A land left to drown by the ‘timber mafia’
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/a-land-left-to-drown-by-the-timber-mafia-1.1051230
Herald Scotland
“These forests used to absorb the ferocity of the floodwaters,” said Tahir Qureshi, a Pakistan-based forestry expert for the International Union for the ...
Mercury
26.08.10 9:34 am
Possum cull worries Greens
TASMANIAN possums must be killed and trapped humanly, the Tasmanian Greens have urged.
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Possum cull worries Greens
DAMIEN BROWN | August 26, 2010 12.01am
TASMANIAN possums that may soon feature on menus and fashion catwalks around the world must be killed and trapped in the most humane and sustainable way possible, the Tasmanian Greens have urged.
The Federal Government is considering a draft management plan for the commercial harvest and export of more than 100,000 Tasmanian brushtail possums.
The proposal has outraged animal rights groups, who say it is exploiting a native animal.
But it has been welcomed by farmers who are sick of possums destroying crops.
As well as using the skins for clothing and hats for a growing market in New Zealand, a market for possum meat has also emerged in China.
Greens Cabinet Secretary Cassy O’Connor yesterday called on Environment Minister David O’Byrne to ensure the final draft plan for the commercial harvest of possums addressed animal welfare concerns.
Picture: Picture: HERE
Politics | State | EnvironmentOld Hack
24.08.10 11:34 am
``It never occurred to me that you could call it a job. Other people did jobs. Journalists had fun. Then they went for a jar. Then they had more fun.’‘
Media | Quote
17.08.10 3:15 pm
Says Crikey:
Yeah, we know this is an advertisement for booze, but rarely is such an ad constructed so elegantly. Go for a stroll with actor Robert Carlyle as he narrates the story of Johnnie Walker in this beautifully shot and immaculately rehearsed single-take commercial.
BloggingDJ
17.08.10 9:24 am
Hi all, two interesting articles worth reading ...
1) Seems the last tassie tiger was not seen in the thirties but much later, just as gunns started poisoning which is probally why theres not much of a mention anywhere
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/18503625?searchTerm=“tasmanian+wolf”
2) If anybody is as unimpressed with the major political parties as I am this link might be worth a look http://senatoronline.org.au/
enjoy your day..D.J
Politics | Local | National | State | Forestry | Gunns | EnvironmentPaulaX
16.08.10 12:02 am
Even though Irish singer Tommy Fleming recently underwent major back surgery for prolonged and bothersome back pain, that was later discovered to be a ruptured disc, he will still be making the long journey to Australia for his October concert tour.
The literary critic in me can’t help but see the irony of the fact that with the literal backbone or rather ruptured disc, on the mend the figurative backbone is, like his voice, as strong as ever. Australian’s have the chance of seeing again, one of Ireland’s greatest singers with the moniker ’the voice of Ireland’.
Tommy was born and lives, in Sligo in the west of Ireland, the place Yeats called ‘country of the heart’. Other famous Sligo personages include Spike Milligan, Harpist Mary O’Hara and in these days when the vampire franchise is culturally cool, Sligo was also the birthplace of the mother of the father, of the world’s most famous vampire, Dracula! It was the ghost stories surrounding the city’s abbey that had a strong influence on a young Bram Stoker.
From this mix of excellence in poetry, literature, humour, and beautiful music comes a man with an incredibly emotive voice.
When I asked Tommy what song he hadn’t but would like to record he cited ’No Frontiers’ made famous by Mary Black. Tommy is (a bit humble and) hesitant in recording it himself because he believes Mary’s version a definitive one.
Record it or not, and without sounding too corny the feel of the song fits in well with some of the events of Tommy’s life.
There have been no borders for Tommy, no border or barrier effecting his recovery after a frightening car accident which left him wearing a corrective brace called a Jerome halo for an extended period of time, and no barrier preventing Tommy in shark diving in South Africa and desiring to do the same in South Australia, and no barrier preventing him from bringing care and compassion as a field officer in Sudan and of course no musical borders for a man that can sing the whole gamut of musical genres.
As his musical director, piano player and friend, musician David Hayes describes Tommy:
“My line on him is that he could make the naffest Irish ballad sound un-naff he has 700 years of downtrodden underdog pain in his voice and it really seems to strike a chord with people”.
That is some compliment but anyone who has heard Tommy sing would agree with its accuracy. Yet, Tommy has much more than just a beautiful and expressive voice.
Just when things were starting to move in regards to Tommy’s singing career he was involved in a terrible accident which he literally walked away from with a broken neck requiring the employment of a Jerome Halo. It is by all accounts a very constricting contraption which holds in place for mending, the broken bones. After reflective recovery and with his singing career back on track it was then time for Tommy to wear a different kind of halo, the one of care and compassion.
And it was in this other role away from music that I was first drawn to Tommy.
Tommy was approached by Irish aid agency ‘Goal’ http://www.goal.ie/ to spend six months in Sudan and take part in a documentary of the humanitarian and famine relief agency’s work. Tommy gained much from his time in Sudan and said he would return at the drop of a hat. He spoke of things that I have long attempted to fathom, the smiling faces of those in crisis, hunger and sickness. The incredible strength and positive attitude displayed by people living through difficult times or as Tommy sings in another of his songs ‘Hard Times’.
The Irish themselves (and perhaps this is some of what David Hayes was referring to as the ‘700 years of downtrodden pain’ in Tommy’s voice) are no strangers to hunger. Indeed a famine monument stands in Sligo town as a reminder of this terrible part of Irish history.
Tommy cites his time in Sudan as a life changing.
In an extraordinary time Tommy was a field worker taking part in food drops, feeding 2,000 children a week with a maize mixture and assisting those with Malaria and AIDS. Why was his time in Sudan such a treasured time? … As Tommy said himself ‘because it was about other people’ and given the time in what is now a busy schedule as a singer he would like to do it all again, perhaps the fact Tommy cites one of his songs ‘Jubilee’ as his present favourite (although like all of us, his favoured songs change depending on where he is at and what he is experiencing in life) is indicative of Tommy’s attitude to life.
He likes Jubilee because it is a positive uplifting song that talks about seeing the glass half full rather than half empty. The kind of attitude we see almost daily in our immigrants from Sudan and other countries.
If Tommy hadn’t been discovered by Irish singer Phil Coulter perhaps he would have been working for GOAL in another capacity as doctor! Tommy says his long time ambition up to when he completed his university entry requirements was to study medicine. However, he has carried his power for healing into his music.
I should mention that I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Tommy is a very strong supporter of Irish as the national language of Ireland, even if he is a bit rusty : )
Tommy has collaborated with many people in his career so far but cites Barbra Streisand as someone he would like to work with as well as Australia’s own John Farnham.
This will be the third year in a row that Tommy is visiting Australia so it must be almost like a second home to him! Previous to that he was in Australia with Irish group De Dannan. Now with a successful solo career and with a national tour coming up in October it is a good opportunity to introduce Tommy to the Tasmanian public. There is no tour date for Tasmania yet because as is the catch 22 case with many overseas acts, an audience must be established for them to tour.
You can visit Tommy’s site to hear and see a sample of his music and his guestbook to leave a comment if you would like to see him include Tasmania in his upcoming tour
Arts | What's On
15.08.10 8:41 am
Wood fiber costs for the global pulp industry fell in the 2Q/10 after having increased for 18 months, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly
The global pulp industry benefited from lower wood fiber costs and higher product prices in the 2Q/10. Wood chip and pulpwood prices fell the most in the US, Sweden, Finland, Australia and Eastern Canada. Both the softwood and hardwood wood fiber price indices (SFPI and HFPI) fell for the first time since early 2009, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly.
The full article can be found in the attached PDF file…..
FPMU_Global_pulpwood_prices_2Q_2010.pdf
Global trade of softwood logs has increased in 2010 after having fallen 30 percent in two years, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly
Higher worldwide demand for forest products has increased global shipments of softwood logs by 20 percent in 2010, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. This year may be a turning point for global log trade, which had fallen 30 percent between 2007 and 2009.
The full article can be found in the attached PDF file…..
FPMU_Global_sawlog_trade_2Q_2010.pdf
Politics | Forestry | EconomyA Looming Oxygen Crisis and Its Impact on World’s Oceans
From Jon Sumby
11.08.10 8:59 am
Unless we find a way to rein in our carbon emissions very soon, a low-oxygen ocean may become an inescapable feature of our planet. A team of Danish researchers published a particularly sobering study last year. They wondered how long oxygen levels would drop if we could somehow reduce our carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2100. They determined that over the next few thousand years oxygen levels would continue to fall, until they declined by 30 percent. The oxygen would slowly return to the oceans, but even 100,000 years from now they will not have fully recovered. If they’re right, fish will be gasping and squid will be panting for a long time to come.
A Looming Oxygen Crisis and
Its Impact on World’s Oceans
As warming intensifies, scientists warn, the oxygen content of oceans across the planet could be more and more diminished, with serious consequences for the future of fish and other sea life.
BY CARL ZIMMER 05 AUG 2010
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is overshadowing another catastrophe that’s also unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico this summer: The oxygen dissolved in the Gulf waters is disappearing. In some places, the oxygen is getting so scarce that fish and other animals cannot survive. They can either leave the oxygen-free waters or die. The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium reported this week that this year’s so-called “dead zone” covers 7,722 square miles.
Unlike the Deepwater Horizon disaster, this summer’s dead zone is not a new phenomenon in the Gulf. It first appeared in the 1970s, and each summer it has returned, growing bigger as the years have passed. Its expansion reflects the rising level of fertilizers that farmers in the U.S. Midwest have spread across their fields. Rain carries much of that fertilizer into the Mississippi River, which then delivers it to the sea. Once the fertilizer reaches the Gulf, it spurs algae to grow, providing a feast for bacteria, which grow so fast they use up all the oxygen in their neighborhood. The same phenomenon is repeating itself along many coastlines around the world. This summer, a 377,000-square-kilometer (145,000-square-mile) dead zone appeared in the Baltic Sea. In 2008, scientists reported that new dead zones have been popping up at an alarming rate for the past 50 years. There are now more than 400 coastal dead zones around the world.
As serious as these dead zones are, however, they may be just a foreshadowing of a much more severe crisis to come. Agricultural runoff can only strip oxygen from the ocean around the mouths of fertilizer-rich rivers. But global warming has the potential to reduce the ocean’s oxygen content across the entire planet. Combined with acidification —another global impact of our carbon emissions — the loss of oxygen could have a major impact on marine life.
Scientists point to two reasons to expect a worldwide drop in ocean oxygen. One is the simple fact that as water gets warmer, it can hold less dissolved oxygen. The other reason is subtler. The entire ocean gets its oxygen from the surface — either from the atmosphere, or from photosynthesizing algae floating at the top of the sea. The oxygen then spreads to the deep ocean as the surface waters slowly sink.
Global warming is expected to reduce the mixing of the ocean by making surface seawater lighter. That’s because in a warmer world we can expect more rainfall and more melting of glaciers, icebergs, and ice sheets. Since freshwater is less dense than salt water, the water at the ocean’s surface will become lighter. The extra heat from the warming atmosphere will also make surface waters expand — and thus make them lighter still. The light surface water will be less likely to sink — and thus the deep ocean will get less oxygen. Instead, more of the oxygen will linger near the surface, where it will be used up by oxygen-breathing organisms.
The prospect that global warming could reduce the ocean’s oxygen has led some scientists to wonder if the predicted decline has already begun. It’s a maddeningly hard thing to determine, however. We can be very confident that humans have driven up the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because scientists have recorded a steady increase over the course of decades. The signal of human-produced carbon dioxide is stronger than the noise of nature’s ups and downs.
Fluctuations in oxygen levels, on the other hand, are a lot noisier. As ocean currents oscillate naturally, upwellings of deep-ocean water can deliver nutrients to coastal waters, triggering an explosion of growth and driving down oxygen levels. Volcanoes can alter oxygen levels, too, by creating a haze that blocks sunlight, thus temporarily cooling the ocean’s surface and allowing more oxygen to dissolve into the water.
In recent years some worrying signals have started to emerge from the noise. In 2006, for example, oxygen levels off the coast of Oregon dropped to record lows. Reefs that had been packed with rockfish and other animals suddenly became ecological ghost towns. Instead of agricultural run-off, studies on the Oregon dead zone suggest that global warming was partly responsible. Higher temperatures have reduced the oxygen in the ocean currents that deliver water to the Oregon coast.
It’s much harder for scientists to figure out what’s happening in the open ocean than along the coastlines, because the records are far spottier. But some recent studies have also offered cause for worry. In April, for example, Lothar Stramma of the University of Kiel and his colleagues published a study in Deep Sea Research in which they compared records of oxygen levels in the tropical ocean from two periods: from 1960 to 1974 and from 1990 to 2008. In some regions, the oxygen levels have gone up, the scientists found, but in most places they’ve gone down. In fact, the area of the global ocean without enough oxygen for animals to survive (less than 70 micromoles per kilogram to be exact) expanded by 4.5 million square kilometers (1.7 million square miles). That’s an area about half the size of the United States.
Because the records of oxygen levels in the past are so incomplete, many scientists are calling for a push for more research. An international collaboration started in 1995, the Climate Variability and Predictability Repeat Hydrography Program — CLIVAR for short — is beginning to gather better data. But in the latest issue of Annual Review of Marine Science, Ralph Keeling of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and his colleagues warn that the CLIVAR program may need 20 to 30 years to establish long-term trends of oxygen levels. To speed up the process, they call for a global network of floating sensors known as Argo to be brought into the effort. If scientists put oxygen sensors on a few hundred of the 3,000 Argo floats, Keeling and his colleagues predict that a clear pattern would emerge in as little as five years. Keeling and his colleagues believe that it’s urgent to speed up this research, because the deoxygenation of the oceans could have a major impact on marine life.
In order to project how global warming will alter oxygen in the oceans, climate scientists are developing a new generation of computer models. The models are still too crude to capture some important features of the real world, such as the way winds can change how deep water rises in upwellings. But the models are good enough to replicate some of the changes in oxygen levels that have already been recorded. And they all predict that the oxygen in the world’s oceans will drop; depending on the model, the next century will see a drop of between 1 and 7 percent.
That could be enough to have a profound effect on life in the ocean, according to Daniel Pauly, a fisheries biologist at the University of British Columbia. In his new book, Gasping Fish and Panting Squids: Oxygen, Temperature and the Growth of Water-Breathing Animals, Pauly argues that getting oxygen is the most important constraint on the growth of fishes and many other marine animals. That’s because it takes a lot of energy to extract oxygen from water, and the bigger animals get, the more energy they have to invest.
Pauly and his colleagues are working on computer models to project how global warming will affect the world’s fisheries. Many species of fishes will shift their ranges away from water that’s too warm for them. But this flight from heat may force them into regions of the ocean with low levels of oxygen, where their growth will be limited. Pauly and his colleagues predict that the drop in the ocean’s oxygen and pH levels will together reduce the world’s fish catch by 20 to 30 percent by 2050.
While fishes and other animals with high oxygen demands suffer, jellyfish may thrive. Jellyfish can tolerate lower oxygen levels than fish, in part because they can store reserves of the gas in their jelly. Free from competition and predators, jellyfish will be able to feast on the microscopic animals and protozoans that feed on algae. They may thus leave more food for bacteria, spurring a further drop in oxygen levels.
A drop in oxygen may also cause the ocean’s bacteria to change. Bacteria that need oxygen will no longer be able to thrive in oxygen-free zones of the ocean. But these dead zones will foster the growth of many species of bacteria for whom oxygen is toxic. Some of these oxygen-hating microbes produce nitrogen compounds that are among the most potent greenhouse gases ever measured. In other words, a drop in oxygen levels could further intensify global warming.
Unless we find a way to rein in our carbon emissions very soon, a low-oxygen ocean may become an inescapable feature of our planet. A team of Danish researchers published a particularly sobering study last year. They wondered how long oxygen levels would drop if we could somehow reduce our carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2100. They determined that over the next few thousand years oxygen levels would continue to fall, until they declined by 30 percent. The oxygen would slowly return to the oceans, but even 100,000 years from now they will not have fully recovered. If they’re right, fish will be gasping and squid will be panting for a long time to come.
From: http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2301
Politics | Environment | SocietyHigher Temperatures to Slow Asian Rice Production
phill Parsons
11.08.10 8:46 am
Here is one of the many subtle connections between human society and its environment. Abbott plans to halt the flow of asylum seekers but not address the major long term underlying root cause driving people to seek asylum, the failure of their local environment to support them. It’s a brilliant strategy bound to continue well into the future support by the xenophobes and racist elements that drive the argument about addressing refugee flows. One thing we can hope is that it an accidental convergence driven by a basic ignorance behind the Liberal Party attitude to the environment’s relationship to society and thus the economy. The longer the Liberals delay addressing the human impact on the climate in a comprehensive, effective and timely way the greater the danger to Australia and the costs that will be incurred as Australians realize action needs to be taken and demand it regardless of its adequacy. Delay is extremely dangerous and the more of it there is the more extreme the danger. It is why a vote for the Liberals above the bottom of the ticket in the coming Federal election should not be considered by anyone. Unfortunately voters, just like those seeking election, do not have to pass a test of scientific competence before nominating.
Higher Temperatures to Slow Asian Rice Production
ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — Production of rice—the world’s most important crop for ensuring food security and addressing poverty—will be thwarted as temperatures increase in rice-growing areas with continued climate change, according to a new study by an international team of scientists.
________________________________________
The research team found evidence that the net impact of projected temperature increases will be to slow the growth of rice production in Asia. Rising temperatures during the past 25 years have already cut the yield growth rate by 10-20 percent in several locations.
Published in the online early edition the week of Aug. 9, 2010 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the report analyzed six years of data from 227 irrigated rice farms in six major rice-growing countries in Asia, which produces more than 90 percent of the world’s rice.
“We found that as the daily minimum temperature increases, or as nights get hotter, rice yields drop,” said Jarrod Welch, lead author of the report and graduate student of economics at the University of California, San Diego.
This is the first study to assess the impact of both daily maximum and minimum temperatures on irrigated rice production in farmer-managed rice fields in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia.
“Our study is unique because it uses data collected in farmers’ fields, under real-world conditions,” said Welch. “This is an important addition to what we already know from controlled experiments.”
“Farmers can be expected to adapt to changing conditions, so real-world circumstances, and therefore outcomes, might differ from those in controlled experimental settings,” he added.
Around three billion people eat rice every day, and more than 60 percent of the world’s one billion poorest and undernourished people who live in Asia depend on rice as their staple food. A decline in rice production will mean more people will slip into poverty and hunger, the researchers said.
“Up to a point, higher day-time temperatures can increase rice yield, but future yield losses caused by higher night-time temperatures will likely outweigh any such gains because temperatures are rising faster at night,” said Welch. “And if day-time temperatures get too high, they too start to restrict rice yields, causing an additional loss in production.”
“If we cannot change our rice production methods or develop new rice strains that can withstand higher temperatures, there will be a loss in rice production over the next few decades as days and nights get hotter. This will get increasingly worse as temperatures rise further towards the middle of the century,” he added.
In addition to Welch, other members of the research team are Professors Jeffrey Vincent of Duke University and Maximilian Auffhammer of the University of California, Berkeley; Ms. Piedad Moya and Dr. Achim Dobermann of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI); and Dr. David Dawe of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Rick Pilkington’s Rogues Gallery ...
04.08.10 7:00 am
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
A Child poisoned every 9 days in mine town Mount Isa - A sobering tale about the impacts of heavy industry and corporate greed on public health - Take note Premier Bartlett.
This story is shocking. The results of a study just published in the Medical Journal of Australia, whilst not surprising, show that in Mt Isa a public health tragedy is unfolding which has the potential to go down as one of the worst industrial disasters in Australian history.
The article ( on my blog HERE ) from The OZ reports the damning findings of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia which has found that a child develops lead poisoning every nine days in Mount Isa.
…
Politics | Local | National | State | Forestry | Gunns | Blogging | Economy | Environment | Personal | Society
Global trade of softwood logs has increased
Hakan Ekstrom, Wood Resource Quarterly
03.08.10 5:10 am
Global trade of softwood logs has increased in 2010 after having fallen 30 percent in two years, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly
Higher worldwide demand for forest products has increased global shipments of softwood logs by 20 percent in 2010, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. This year may be a turning point for global log trade, which had fallen 30 percent between 2007 and 2009.
The full article can be found in the attached PDF file…..
FPMU_Global_sawlog_trade_2Q_2010.pdf
ForestrySurfline
02.08.10 8:12 pm
Black Carbon Implicated in Global Warming
via phill Parsons
02.08.10 9:10 am
ScienceDaily (July 30, 2010) — Increasing the ratio of black carbon to sulphate in the atmosphere increases climate warming, suggests a study conducted by a University of Iowa professor and his colleagues and published in the July 25 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.
Black carbons—arising from such sources as diesel engine exhaust and cooking fires—are widely considered a factor in global warming and are an important component of air pollution around the world, according to Greg Carmichael, Karl Kammermeyer Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the UI College of Engineering and co-director of the UI’s Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research. Sulfates occur in the atmosphere largely as a result of various industrial processes.
Carmichael’s colleagues in the study were V. Ramanathan and Y. Feng of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif.; S-C. Yoon and S-W. Kim of Seoul National University, South Korea; and J. J. Schauer of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
In order to conduct their study, the researchers made ground-level studies of air samples at Cheju Island, South Korea, and then sampled the air at altitudes between 100 and 15,000 feet above the ground using unmanned aircrafts (UAVs).
They found that the amount of solar radiation absorbed increased as the black carbon to sulphate ratio rose. Also, black carbon plumes derived from fossil fuels were 100 percent more efficient at warming than were plumes arising from biomass burning.
“These results had been indicated by theory but not verified by observations before this work,” Carmichael said. “There is currently great interest in developing strategies to reduce black carbon as it offers the opportunity to reduce air pollution and global warming at the same time.”
The authors suggest that climate mitigation policies should aim to reduce the ratio of black carbon to sulphate in emissions, as well as the total amount of black carbon released.
In a paper published in May 2008 in Nature Geoscience, Carmichael and Ramanathan found that black carbon soot from diesel engine exhaust and cooking fires—widely used in Asia—may play a larger role than previously thought in global warming. They said that coal and cow dung-fueled cooking fires in China and India produce about one-third of black carbon; the rest is largely due to diesel exhaust in Europe and other regions relying on diesel transport. The paper also noted that soot and other forms of black carbon could equal up to 60 percent of the current global warming effect of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas.
Carmichael is chair of the scientific advisory group for the World Meteorological Organization’s GURME (Global atmospheric watch Urban Research Meteorology and Environment) project and chair of the scientific advisory group for the Shanghai Expo pilot project on air quality forecasting. He has worked with Shanghai authorities for three years to help develop an early warning system for air quality problems and heat waves.
The study was funded by National Science Foundation.
Reforestation Projects Capture More Carbon Than Industrial Plantations, New Research Reveals
via phill Parsons
01.08.10 3:36 pm
ScienceDaily (July 30, 2010) — Australian scientists researching environmental restoration projects have found that the reforestation of damaged rainforests is more efficient at capturing carbon than controversial softwood monoculture plantations. The research, published in Ecological Management & Restoration, challenges traditional views on the efficiency of industrial monoculture plantations.
“Carbon markets have become a potential source of funding for restoration projects as countries and corporations seek the cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions,” said Dr John Kanowski from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. “However, there is a concern that this funding will encourage single species monoculture plantations instead of diverse reforestation projects, due to the widely held belief that monocultures capture more carbon.”
Softwood monoculture plantations are grown for industrial purposes and are used as a cheap and abundant source of resources such as timber and rubber. However the plantations are highly controversial, with some ecologists describing the lack of diversity as a ‘green desert’.
The team sought to test the belief that monoculture plantations would capture more carbon by studying three types of projects in north-eastern Australia: monoculture plantations of native conifers, mixed species plantations and rainforest restoration projects, comprised of a diverse range of rainforest trees.
“We found that restoration planting stored significantly more carbon in above-ground biomass than the monoculture plantations of native conifers and tended to store more than mixed species timber plantations,” said Kanowski. “Compared to the monoculture plantations reforestation projects were more densely stocked, there were more large trees and the trees which were used had a higher wood density then the conifers at the plantation.”
These findings challenge the existing view of monoculture plantations. For example the Australian Government’s National Carbon Accounting Tool Box predicts that monoculture plantations would sequester 40% more carbon then restoration plantings in northern Australia, yet this study demonstrated that carbon stocks were higher in restoration plantings then in either mixed-species plantations or monoculture plantations.
The research also suggests that restoration plantings store more carbon over time. However, as restoration projects are more expensive then monoculture plantations it is unlikely that carbon markets will favour restoration.
“In order to be an attractive prospect for the markets new reforestation techniques and designs are going to be required,” concluded Kanowski. “New designs will have to ensure that restoration can provide a habitat for rainforest life and store carbon at a cost comparable to industrial monoculture.”
Economy | Environment
Striking Global Changes at the Base of the Marine Food Web
phill Parsons
31.07.10 8:32 am
Marine Phytoplankton Declining: Striking Global Changes at the Base of the Marine Food Web Linked to Rising Ocean Temperatures
ScienceDaily (July 28, 2010) — A new article published in the 29 July issue of the journal Nature reveals for the first time that microscopic marine algae known as “phytoplankton” have been declining globally over the 20th century. Phytoplankton forms the basis of the marine food chain and sustains diverse assemblages of species ranging from tiny zooplankton to large marine mammals, seabirds, and fish. Says lead author Daniel Boyce, “Phytoplankton is the fuel on which marine ecosystems run. A decline of phytoplankton affects everything up the food chain, including humans.”
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Using an unprecedented collection of historical and recent oceanographic data, a team from Canada’s Dalhousie University documented phytoplankton declines of about 1% of the global average per year. This trend is particularly well documented in the Northern Hemisphere and after 1950, and would translate into a decline of approximately 40% since 1950. The scientists found that long-term phytoplankton declines were negatively correlated with rising sea surface temperatures and changing oceanographic conditions.
The goal of the three-year analysis was to resolve one of the most pressing issues in oceanography, namely to answer the seemingly simple question of whether the ocean is becoming more (or less) „green’ with algae. Previous analyses had been limited to more recent satellite data (consistently available since 1997) and have yielded variable results. To extend the record into the past, the authors analysed a unique compilation of historical measurements of ocean transparency going back to the very beginning of quantitative oceanography in the late 1800s, and combined these with additional samples of phytoplankton pigment (chlorophyll) from ocean-going research vessels. The end result was a database of just under half a million observations which enabled the scientists to estimate phytoplankton trends over the entire globe going back to the year 1899.
The scientists report that most phytoplankton declines occurred in polar and tropical regions and in the open oceans where most phytoplankton production occurs. Rising sea surface temperatures were negatively correlated with phytoplankton growth over most of the globe, especially close to the equator. Phytoplankton need both sunlight and nutrients to grow; warm oceans are strongly stratified, which limits the amount of nutrients that are delivered from deeper waters to the surface ocean. Rising temperatures may contribute to making the tropical oceans even more stratified, leading to increasing nutrient limitation and phytoplankton declines. The scientists also found that large-scale climate fluctuations, such as the El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), affect phytoplankton on a year-to-year basis, by changing short-term oceanographic conditions.
The findings contribute to a growing body of scientific evidence indicating that global warming is altering the fundamentals of marine ecosystems. Says co-author Marlon Lewis, “Climate-driven phytoplankton declines are another important dimension of global change in the oceans, which are already stressed by the effects of fishing and pollution. Better observational tools and scientific understanding are needed to enable accurate forecasts of the future health of the ocean.” Explains co-author Boris Worm, “Phytoplankton are a critical part of our planetary life support system. They produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO2, and ultimately support all of our fisheries. An ocean with less phytoplankton will function differently, and this has to be accounted for in our management efforts.”
And,
Marine Biodiversity Strongly Linked to Ocean Temperature
ScienceDaily (July 29, 2010) — In an unprecedented effort that will be published online on the 28th of July by the international journal Nature, a team of scientists mapped and analyzed global biodiversity patterns for over 11,000 marine species ranging from tiny zooplankton to sharks and whales. The researchers found striking similarities among the distribution patterns, with temperature strongly linked to biodiversity for all thirteen groups studied. These results imply that future changes in ocean temperature, such as those due to climate change, may greatly affect the distribution of life in the sea.
________________________________________
The scientists also found a high overlap between areas of high human impact and hotspots of marine diversity.
Much research has been conducted on diversity patterns on land, but our knowledge of the distribution of marine life has been more limited. This has changed through the decade-long efforts of the Census of Marine Life, upon which the current paper builds. The authors synthesized global diversity patterns for major species groups including corals, fishes, whales, seals, sharks, mangroves, seagrasses, and zooplankton. In the process, the global diversity of all coastal fish species has been mapped for the first time.
The researchers were interested in whether there are consistent “biodiversity hotspots”—areas of especially high numbers of species for many different types of marine organisms simultaneously. They found that the distribution of marine life showed two fundamental patterns: coastal species such as corals and coastal fishes tended to peak in diversity around Southeast Asia, whereas open-ocean creatures such as tunas and whales showed much broader hotspots across the mid-latitude oceans.
The scientists also tested whether these global patterns could be consistently explained by one or more environmental factors. Temperature was the only factor found to be linked with the distribution of all species groups, with the availability of habitat also playing a role.
Says lead author Derek Tittensor of Dalhousie University, “it was striking how consistently temperature was linked with marine diversity. This relationship suggests that ocean warming, such as that due to climate change, may rearrange the distribution of oceanic life.” Co-author Walter Jetz of Yale University notes “while we are increasingly aware of global gradients in diversity and their associated environmental factors, our knowledge of patterns in the ocean has lagged behind that of patterns on land. Our study attempts to help overcome this disparity.”
The study also assessed the overlap between hotspots of marine diversity and human impacts, i.e. the combined effects of fishing, habitat alteration, climate change and pollution. Human impacts were found to be particularly concentrated in areas of high diversity, suggesting the potential for severe species losses in these regions. Says co-author Camilo Mora of Dalhousie University, “the combined effects of exploitation, habitat alteration, pollution and climate change are threatening the diversity of life in the global ocean. Our research provides further evidence that limiting ocean warming and other human impacts will be particularly important in securing these hotspots of marine biodiversity into the future.”
Co-author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University also highlights the need to maintain biodiversity in the face of these impacts: “biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems are often tightly coupled, with highly diverse ecosystems providing more goods and services that benefit human beings, as well as being more resilient in the face of disturbance, than less diverse ecosystems. The observed concentration of human impacts in our richest marine areas is a worrying indication of our growing footprint in the oceans.”
Many of the data used for this study come from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, (OBIS) a public database created by the Census of Marine Life. Says Edward Vanden Berghe of Rutgers University, co-author of the paper and executive director of OBIS: “with OBIS we’ve created a framework for sharing and re-using data, which makes this type of global, all-encompassing science possible.”
And,
Signs of Reversal of Arctic Cooling: Rapid Temperature Rise in the Coldest Region of Mainland Europe
ScienceDaily (July 29, 2010) — Parts of the Arctic have cooled over the past century, but temperatures have been rising steeply since 1990. This is the finding of a summer temperature reconstruction for the past 400 years produced on the base of tree rings from regions beyond the Arctic Circle.
________________________________________
German and Russian researchers analysed tree growth using ring width of pine from Russia’s Kola Peninsula and compared their findings with similar studies from other parts of the Arctic. For the past 400 years since AD 1600, the reconstructed summer temperature on Kola in the months of July and August has varied between 10.4°C (1709) and 14.7°C (1957), with a mean of 12.2°C. Afterwards, after a cooling phase, a ongoing warming can be observed from 1990 onwards.
Researchers from the Institute of Geography in Moscow, Hohenheim University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) report in journal Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research: “The data indicate that solar activity may have been one of the major driving factors of summer temperatures, but this has been overlaid by other factors since 1990.”
The researchers used for this study wood samples from a total of 69 Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) from the Khibiny Mountains on the Kola Peninsula, situated between the Arctic Circle and the ocean port of Murmansk, not far from the Finnish border. The investigated region is a transition zone between Scandinavia, which is strongly affected by the gulf stream resp. North Atlantic Current, and the continental regions Eurasia. This makes the region particularly interesting for climatological studies.
Kola has a cold-temperate climate with long, moderately cold winters and cool, humid summers. In this part of the Arctic, the mean temperature fluctuates between -12°C in January and +13°C in July, with a growing season of just 60 to 80 days. The northern taiga vegetation is dominated by spruce, pine and birch. The samples came from three locations in the Khibiny Mountains close to recent altitudinal timberline at altitudes of between 250 and 450 m above sea level. The geographical northern timberline lies approximately 100 km further north.
In earlier studies, researchers led by Tatjana Böttger from the UFZ were able to show that pine forests on the Kola Peninsula expanded between 7000 and 3500 years ago to about 50 km north of their present-day limit.
However, for this study, they used trees from the altitudinal timberline, since they respond very sensitively to temperature fluctuations and provide particularly useful information, as demonstrated by US researchers in November 2009 in the journal PNAS when they used a long-lived species of pine in California and Nevada to show that these trees had grown particularly fast over the last 50 of the past 3500 years because of higher temperatures.
In the Tree-Ring-Laboratory at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart the German researchers measured the width of the individual tree rings. The calibration of these data with the help of meteorological records for the last 127 years and the interpretation of results occurred together with Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Halle. “Besides of temperature, growth is also strongly influenced by non-climatic factors like light, nutrients, water supply and competition from other trees. So it is vital to isolate these trends to obtain a climate signal as pure as possible,” explains Yury M. Kononov from the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
Following the summer temperature reconstruction on the Kola Peninsula, the researchers compared their results with similar tree-ring studies from Swedish Lapland and from the Yamal and Taimyr Peninsulas in Russian Siberia, which had been published in Holocene in 2002. The reconstructed summer temperatures of the last four centuries from Lapland and the Kola and Taimyr Peninsulas are similar in that all three data series display a temperature peak in the middle of the twentieth century, followed by a cooling of one or two degrees. Only the data series from the Yamal Peninsula differed, reaching its peak later, around 1990. What stands out in the data from the Kola Peninsula is that the highest temperatures were found in the period around 1935 and 1955, and that by 1990 the curve had fallen to the 1870 level, which corresponds to the start of the Industrial Age.
Since 1990, however, temperatures have increased again evidently. What is conspicuous about the new data is that the reconstructed minimum temperatures coincide exactly with times of low solar activity. The researchers therefore assume that in the past, solar activity was a significant factor contributing to summer temperature fluctuations in the Arctic. However, this correlation is only visible until 1970, after which time other—possibly regional—factors gain the upper hand. “One thing is certain: this part of the Arctic warmed up after the end of the Little Ice Age around 250 years ago, cooled down from the middle of the last century and has been warming up again since 1990,” says Dr Tatjana Böttger, a paleoclimatologist at the UFZ.
In September 2009, another international team presented model calculations showing that the Arctic had gradually cooled down by around 0.2 °C per thousand years over the last two millennia to the start of the Industrial Age. They attributed this to a gradual decline in solar radiation in the summer. However, the last decade was the warmest of the Common Era and was 1.4 °C above the forecasts, report Darrell S. Kaufman and his colleagues in Science. The new data produced by Kononov, Friedrich and Böttger support the thesis that solar activity seems to be a significant factor influencing summer temperatures in the Arctic, but that its influence has weakened considerably over the past few decades.
American Cancer Society names atrazine as a concern
Panups 23 July 2010, via Dr Alison Bleaney
27.07.10 8:40 am
Despite assurances from the pesticide industry and the EPA that there’s nothing to worry about, questions remain about atrazine’s ability to cause cancer. In May, the President’s Cancer Panel released a landmark report that used atrazine as an example of a pesticide linked to cancer, and this week the American Cancer Society included the profitable herbicide in its list of 19 “suspected carcinogens whose potential to cause cancer is as yet unresolved.” According to ACS’s Elizabeth Ward, chemicals were included on the list “based on evidence of widespread human exposures and potential carcinogenicity in animals or humans.” More than 75 million lbs of atrazine are used annually in the U.S., and it is the most common pesticide detected in water, found in 93.9% of drinking water samples recently tested by the USDA.
According to this week’s report, which was a collaboration between the ACS, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the National Cancer Institute, atrazine is known to cause cancer in lab animals, but evidence for carcinogenicity in humans is inadequate. The report suggests several studies for nailing down atrazine’s cancer-causing potential.
“Historically, the ACS has been quite conservative when it comes to naming specific chemicals, so the fact that they’ve done this—and that Syngenta’s atrazine is on the list—is significant,” commented Pesticide Action Network staff scientist Karl Tupper. “This listing underscores the need for a precautionary approach. We’re don’t know for sure whether atrazine causes cancer, and it will take years of additional research to answer that question definitively. But in the meantime, unless something changes, millions of Americans drink and bathe in atrazine-contaminated water, and hundreds of thousands of farmers and farmworkers are exposed to it as they work the land.”
Politics | Local | National | State | Forestry | Economy | Environment
David Leigh
17.07.10 10:17 am
David Leigh has just read and signed the petition: Stop Destroying Tasmania’s Forests
You can view this petition at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/tell-a-friend/7509462
Message from David Leigh:
——-
Hi, I signed the petition “Stop Destroying Tasmania’s Forests”. I’m asking you to sign this petition to help us reach our goal of 1,000 signatures. I care deeply about this cause, and I hope you will support our efforts.
——-
ThePetitionSite.com provides tools and empowers individuals to make a difference and effect positive change through online activism. Get connected with the causes you care about, take action to make the world a better place, and start your own petition at http://www.ThePetitionSite.com!
ThePetitionSite.com is powered by Care2, the largest and most trusted information and action site for people who care to make a difference in their lives and the world. http://www.care2.com
FSC and Gunns: It’s not too late…
Anne
17.07.10 9:46 am
As most of you probably know market forces have forced Gunns to apply for Forest Stewardship Council accreditation - something they’ve previously dismissed as being unnecessary, arguably because they knew their preferred methods of operating would in no way meet stringent FSC demands.
An FSC audit team was in Tasmania this week holding public meetings. Community approval through a ‘social licence’ is an important, and crucial, aspect of FSC certification. Without it accreditation will not be awarded.
It’s probably fair to say the audit team were left with a pretty clear impression of community feeling in respect of Gunns, but if you were unable to attend the meetings don’t think it’s too late to have your say. In fact the FSC facilitator Michael Spencer repeatedly said at Tuesday’s meeting in Launceston, the auditors are keen to hear from concerned stakeholders, and that includes members of the broader Tasmanian community. So tell them about all those issues of concern: aerial spraying, water contamination, poisoning wildlife, plantations being established on prime farmland, impacts on health, etc. As well as the appalling approval process for their deeply flawed pulp mill that was deemed ‘critically non-compliant’ by the RPDC. A planning process Gunns were swift to withdraw from when they realised they weren’t going to get the answer they expected. It’s essential FSC assessors know your opinion about Gunns’ less-than-ecologically-sustainable business practices, and their arrogant and dismissive attitudes towards the community in which they operate. In other words advising exactly why Gunns are not in any position to receive the accreditation they so desperately want in order to continue to sell their products in the global market. More information can be found at: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/forestry/documents/gunnslimitedstakenotif101.pdf
But submissions must be received before 27th July 2010
Contact:
Graham Lea, SmartWood FM country representative for Australia/Audit team member
Mobile: 042 972 0013 Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Irwan Gunawan
Forestry Service Manager, Rainforest Alliance, Asia Pacific Region/Audit team member
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Remember submissions must be received before 27th July 2010.
Make sure that your voice is heard in 2010
13.07.10 9:03 am
Sarah Hanson Young
Dear Friend,
There is a simple truth about our system of government. Every Parliament - Territory, State or Federal - starts with the casting of a single vote.
That vote could be yours, but only if you are on the Electoral Roll.
It’s time to make sure that your voice is heard in 2010.
Under current rules, the Electoral Roll could close at 8pm on the same day a Federal Election is called.
This means that if you haven’t already lodged your enrolment, you may only have a matter of hours to get your act together once you hear the news that an election is on. According to the Auditor-General’s report on the 2007 election, there are 1.4 million eligible voters currently not on the roll. The AEC also reports that 70 per cent of voters missing from the roll are aged 18-39.
In 2007, more than 100,000 voters missed out because they weren’t on the roll or had changed their address.
These 100,000 people had no chance to take part, no chance to let politicians know what their priorities were.
It doesn’t matter what issues you are passionate about – whether it’s health, education, the environment, asylum-seekers, the economy, industrial relations, or something else - there is only one way to send a message to the people who make the decisions. You have to make your vote count!
Don’t put it off, thinking that you’ll sort it out next week or next month. It’s possible that a Federal Election could be called this week or next. There’s no time to lose.
Don’t miss out – confirm your enrolment now!
Best wishes,
Sarah
sarah-hanson-young.greensmps.org.au
Authorised by Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young,
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT 2600
Australia
sarah-hanson-young.greensmps.org.au/
Politics | NationalEnergy companies in Europe show increased interest in sourcing biomass
Hakan Ekstrom, Wood Resource Quarterly
13.07.10 8:36 am
Energy companies in Europe show increased interest in sourcing biomass from the US South, reports the North American Wood Fiber Review
Woody biomass in the US South is attracting interest from European energy companies in their search for long-term, reliable and competitively priced supply sources, reports the North American Wood Fiber Review. The increased competition for wood fiber has pushed pine pulpwood prices upward in the Southeastern states this past year.
The full article can be found in the attached PDF file…..
FPMU_US_South_biomass_June_2010.pdf
Great Things Happening in the State’s North
Geoff Smedley, Northern Tattler
11.07.10 8:04 am
Exciting times in Launceston with serious undertakings underway, it can be reported that movement on the flood levies is advancing and has rapidly reached the new Council “boat shed” on the attractive banks of the North-Esk River which passes through the old township of Launceston.
The first part of the floodwalls can be described as perhaps a grand entrance to the lavish “boat shed” but very prudently put in place in the unlikely event that Launceston’s Mayor and of course along with a fresh manager’s dash to the bank in Canberra seeking an extra $50-60 million to enable the responsible work to continue. To this stage common sums have bugged most projects aligned to the Tamar, $3.5 million simply disappeared into the mud during the “boat shed” piling incident and no evidence can be found of its where- a-bouts causing anguish and embarrassment to Council and advisors alike ...
Levy simulator or grand entrance for a “Boathouse”?
Prudently clever manipulation.
It has been reported that since that time it has been the policy of council to total all numbers (figures) a minimum of 3 (three) times before any finality can be given to a project but failures still happen on a regular basis with a discrepancy of $20 million on the costing levies which was not to be unexpected as new policies do take some time to reach expediency.
It has been generally reported during the week, a notice of Tasmania’s Biggest Survey has appeared in letterboxes urging all Fellow Tasmanians to have their say about local issues, perhaps it is not so much of a concern to the north of the state where the attention level is so high, but confusion is a problem with the Southern State Government and should not be associated with the North’s long experienced local leaders. Most Launceston people would appreciate Senator Abetz’ image of the iconic Tamar Basin depicted in the survey brochure clearly displaying the rapid development work carried out on the photograph, the immaculate beaches of Royal Park and the return of water to the basin; it really is a credit to all concerned and even though so much detail work already lavished on the area, even more studies are being undertaken which employing what must be recognised to be the to finest technology and scientific brains Tasmania has to offer.
Original photo from the Abetz collection
Finally the announcement of a proposed Helipad to be built on the Tamar. The Helipad which is intended to be constructed on the prime area of the South Esk River adjacent to the new beaches near Royal Park to allow tourist and others to take in the full beauty of this whole area. It is expected Council will welcome this unique innovation as it would fit comfortably with other worthy achievements that have now brought Launceston to a level never once expected as prudence was by far the overriding factor over progress and today that has been turned on its head. Launceston is the football capital of Tasmania, has perhaps the largest study field on rivers in the southern hemisphere, and perhaps the biggest advantage our city can boast is a tolerance to living in our own excrement along with the follies of others.
Excitement, Excitement, Excitement, Excitement, Excitement, Excitement
WOW !!
It seems the Northern township of Launceston is entering a new era, with dykes replacing the old painted flood poles of Invermay allowing residents perhaps a greater level of comfort previously experienced and on top of all this it has been suggested that people residing in the flood threat areas (behind the levy walls only) be offered complementary family swimming instruction course at the new Council Baths. This is another example of extreme benefit of facilities that previously been treated with some avoidance.
Politics | Local | State | Economy | EnvironmentAlderman Jeremy Ball
10.07.10 8:29 am
Dear All
For the last 12 months I have been working to try and get a tip shop back and operating in Launceston (remember EcoSalv???) and now there is going to be a public forum where residents can come and support the idea.
If you ever went to EcoSalv or support the idea of resource recovery, please put the date below in your diary (Monday July 19, 6pm - Town Hall) and come along and have your say, or why not make a submission (can be just a few paragraphs) and email it to the address below (details below as well)
The more voices we have supporting the push for a tip shop the better our chances of seeing one open soon.
I’ll see you there!
Cheers, Jeremy
Alderman Jeremy Ball
c/ Town Hall
PO Box 396
Launceston TAS 7250
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Have your say on the future of waste in Launceston
Do you have ideas about resource recovery in Launceston? Then we would like to hear from you!
Launceston City Council recently commissioned a review of the strategies used for resource recovery at the Launceston Waste Centre and the options for the future. This report is now available for public comment.
The report will be presented at a Community Workshop on Monday 19 July from 6.00pm in the Reception Room, Town Hall. This will be followed by an expert panel question and answer session which the community are invited to participate in.
Launceston City Council Director of Infrastructure Services, Harry Galea said “We’re all aware of the importance of reducing our impact on the world. Although there is a great deal of recycling and recovery happening at the Launceston Waste Centre, since the retirement of EcoSalv there are many in the community seeking a ‘Tip Shop’. This report was commissioned to enable Council to find, and implement, the best options for resource recovery.”
The report is available from the Council’s website at http://www.launceston.tas.gov.au <http://www.launceston.tas.gov.au> or by contacting Council’s Customer Service Centre on 6323 3000.
Submissions can be made by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) <mailto:council@launceston.tas.gov.au> or by writing to Launceston City Council, PO Box 396, Launceston TAS 7250 by 6 August 2010.
So if you would like to see a tip shop return to Launceston, then please come along to the meeting!
The Australia Institute
10.07.10 8:20 am
Reading Between the Lines this week:
1. Putting the cart before the horse
2. The return of the dog whistle
3. Political donations
If you’ve enjoyed reading Between the Lines, please consider making a donation to our Research Fund. All donations of $2 and above are tax-deductible and will go towards more ‘Research that matters’. To donate, click here.
Full URL: https://www.tai.org.au/index.php?q=civicrm/contribute/transact&reset=1&id=4
1. PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE
Much has been made of the potential for climate-change policies to create green jobs. But it is inconceivable that you could make a significant investment in renewable energy and not create a lot of jobs. The question is, would they be green jobs? What, in fact, is a green job? And should we really care?
If the jobs of people who build wind turbines are defined as green, what does that mean for those who manufacture the steel and aluminium from which the turbines are made? Are some mining and manufacturing jobs green and some brown?
Surely, people who clean up the environment can be defined as having green jobs? But if that’s so, BP’s oil spill will have been responsible for a massive increase in green-job creation in the US.
The only way out of this definitional pea-and-thimble trick is to keep your eye on the thing that really matters—the environmental outcome. If we introduce good environmental policies they will inevitably create new jobs, but we should always evaluate the policy primarily in terms of what it delivers for the environment.
Imagine if there are two ways to build wind turbines, a cheap way using cranes and concrete mixers and an expensive way using lots of people with lots of ladders and lots of shovels. The latter would create more green jobs but the former would be a more efficient way to tackle climate change.
One of the least understood ironies of the Rudd Government’s CPRS was that while its supporters enthused about the number of green jobs it would create, the reality was that most green-job creation would actually have been exported. This is because the scheme allowed polluters to import an unlimited number of offset permits, which granted them the option to simply keep on polluting while meeting their targets by importing the permits from developing countries. This meant that there was little need to invest in renewable energy or energy efficiency here in Australia.
Indeed, in our latest report, Green jobs: what are they and do we need them?, we estimate that the importing of offset permits under the CPRS would have cost the creation of 114,000 jobs in the construction and maintenance of renewable energy.
Tackling climate change will create lots of jobs, but creating lots of ‘green jobs’, whatever they are, won’t necessarily mean that we tackle climate change. Those interested in addressing climate change should focus on what policies will do to reduce emissions rather than become distracted with spurious claims about jobs. It’s not rocket science—we simply need to keep our eye on the emissions pea and ignore those who want to show us their new thimbles.
2. THE RETURN OF THE DOG WHISTLE?
In the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, The Australia Institute published Under the Radar: Dog-Whistle Politics in Australia. In that paper, we documented the contortions of language that politicians engage in to send different messages to different groups of voters.
A dog whistle, a coded or implicit message that when taken literally appears to be conveying something else entirely, is a peculiar form of political communication in that it should be plausibly deniable: the dog-whistler can say that their comments were harmless, and that other people (for example the media) are reading too much into them.
The master of this dark art was former prime minister, John Howard. When Pauline Hanson first came to prominence in 1996, Howard refused to publicly distance himself from her views for many weeks. When he finally commented on Ms Hanson’s views, this is what he said:
“One of the great changes that have come over Australia in the last six months is that people do feel free to speak a little more freely and a little more openly about what they feel. In a sense the pall of censorship on certain issues has been lifted.”
In 2001, Mr Howard made the following statement on the issue of asylum seekers:
“I don’t find any racism in the Australian public. I find constant references to racism in articles and news commentary and in the utterances of my critics on the policy. I don’t find, as I move around the community, people expressing racist sentiments about the illegal immigrants at all. It is not a racially based policy. We would apply the same approach irrespective of where the people were coming from.”
In response to Prime Minister Gillard’s comments this week on asylum seekers, many commentators have remarked on the return of the dog whistle to federal politics. Here are her comments; you can judge whether the Prime Minister said one thing but meant another.
“I think on a debate like asylum seekers people should feel free to say what they feel. And for people to say they’re anxious about border security doesn’t make them intolerant. It certainly doesn’t make them a racist. It means that they’re expressing a genuine view that they’re anxious about border security. By the same token, people who express concern about children being in detention, that doesn’t mean they’re soft on border protection. It just means they’re expressing a real, human concern. So I’d like to sweep away any sense that people should close down any debate, including this debate, through a sense of self-censorship or political correctness. People should say what they feel. And my view is many people in the community feel anxious when they see asylum seeker boats. And obviously, we as a Government want to manage our borders.”
3. POLITICAL DONATIONS
One of Australia’s richest miners, Clive Palmer, has been a major donor to the Coalition parties in recent years. During the four-year period from mid-2005 through mid-2009, Mr Palmer and the companies he is related to have given almost $1.8 million to the Coalition. His contributions to Labor, a more modest $65,000 over the same period, have gone only to the Western Australian division of the party.
Mr Palmer has been very outspoken in his opposition to the proposed mining tax, and continues to fight it even after the biggest mining companies have agreed to settle their dispute with the government. So he must be relieved to hear that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott remains resolute in his determination to block this tax.
Of course, Mr Palmer’s donations are all completely legal under the present system. But should they be?
Some western democracies such as Canada have introduced major reforms dramatically limiting the amount individuals can donate to political parties each year and banning donations from corporations. These reforms limit the perception that some people can ‘buy’ access to politicians. Such changes are urgently required in Australia. In a healthy democracy, all policy decisions must be made in the interests of the nation, not in the financial interests of political parties.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
• C Eren, R Denniss and D Richardson, Green jobs: what are they are do we need them?, 7 July 2010. Click here.
RECENT MEDIA
• ‘The poison fed to our babies’, The Daily Telegraph, 4 July 2010. Click here.
• ‘Green jobs just muddy the climate-change waters’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 July 2010. Click here.
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Turnoff Thetelly
09.07.10 9:33 am
Hi to the Editor
Would it be possible to create a link to the photo of the runaway piglets in the Mercury today and just have the following headline:
SOS - Jan Cameron: these little piglets need your help!
They are just adorable - their expressions are priceless.
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/07/08/157531_tasmania-news.html
Cheers
Turnoff
Please consider supporting the following where, when & how you can ...
Anne
09.07.10 9:27 am
Peter Cundall
Hi Everyone,
FYI - & please consider supporting the following where, when & how you can.
Website: http://www.tapvision.info
______________________________
Public Meetings for FSC Pre-assessment of Gunns Limited
The SmartWood Program of the Rainforest Alliance is conducting a pre-assessment of Gunns Limited forest management in Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia under the forest management standards established by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Please note that this is an FSC pre-assessment or gap analysis.
It will not result in an FSC certificate being issued to Gunns.
SmartWood auditors will be in Hobart and Launceston, Tasmania and will welcome your participation in the following public meetings regarding this pre-assessment.
We are interested in your comments.
The meetings are as follows:
Hobart, Tasmania, MONDAY, JULY 12
Location: MERCURE HOBART
156 Bathurst Street Hobart TAS 7000
Open House: 430 to 600 pm
Public Meeting: 700 to 900 pm
Launceston, Tasmania, TUESDAY, JULY 13
Location: MERCURE LAUNCESTON
3 Earl Street, Launceston, TAS, 7250
Open House: 430 to 600
Public Meeting: 700 to 900
More information about the meetings or your opportunity to provide comments to the audit team can be obtained from:
Graham Lea
SmartWood FM country representative for Australia/Audit team member
Mobile: 042 972 0013 Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Irwan Gunawan
Forestry Service Manager, Rainforest Alliance, Asia Pacific Region/Audit team member
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
More information about SmartWood and the pre-assessment of Gunns can be obtained at http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/forestry/documents/gunnslimitedstakenotif101.pdf.
Dear Friend
Attached for your information is the initial response from Drs Bleaney and Scammell to the George River Water Quality Report. We believe that there are many unresolved problems with the plantation timber industry, of which the potential for water toxicity is only one. Now We the People (Tasmania) is planning to pursue the issue of plantations further, and we shall be producing a paper on the subject in the near future. Any thoughts you have on the matter will be welcome if emailed to us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Yours in the hope of a better Tasmania
Tim Thorne
Convener
Now We the People (Tasmania) an initiative of the SEARCH Foundation
____________________________________________
PULP THE MILL FUNDRAISER
Dear Friends,
As you may be aware, Pulp the Mill has had three successful actions during the past year. There was national media coverage highlighting the corrupt approval process, particularly with Celebrity Gardening Guru and Pulp Mill activist Peter Cundall’s participation in our most recent action outside Parliament House in Hobart, and has contributed significantly to the overall campaign to stop the pulp mill.
To keep up energy and momentum over the winter months, and as you would be aware, the legal costs gained through the process of going through the courts is considerable, so we are having an exciting fundraiser and would like to invite you:
“PEACEFUL PEOPLE WITH PASSION”
Dinner with guest speakers Peter Cundall, Richard Flanagan, pulp mill campaign update from Paul Oosting, and “Warrior of Peace” dance performance by Lucy Landon-Lane.
There will be an auction with works by Michael Leunig and Max Angus and others, plus delicious wines from the Tamar Valley, organic food hampers and more.
The event is at Siren’s Vegetarian Restaurant, 6 Victoria St, Hobart on Saturday July 24. Tickets cost $85.00 per person; (limited number of early bird tickets for $65.00). Cash/cheque only.
For that you will receive a complementary glass of Tamar Valley wine upon arrival, a delicious 3 course vegetarian meal, and some stirring speeches, important updates and an evening of entertainment!
Doors open at 5:30 pm for a 6pm start
Pre-sales only - Tickets numbers limited and available now from:
The Wilderness Society Hobart Shop
Shop 8 Galleria
33 Salamanca Place,
Hobart, Tas, 7000
Phone: 03 6234 9370
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The Wilderness Society Launceston Shop
174 Charles Street,
Launceston, TAS, 7250
Phone: (03) 6331 7488
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
If you are unable to come but would like to donate to our legal challenge fund please transfer directly to:
Pulp the Mill Legal Challenge Fund
Bendigo Bank: BSB 633-000, account #138361738 (no receipt available)
or send a cheque to:
PO Box 153
Hobart 7001 (if you send us your address we will post you a receipt)
Valentino
08.07.10 10:16 am
Just got this email ... why is the Lord Mayor spruiking for Skype?
Subject: Rob Valentine wants to talk to you for free using Skype. Give me a call!
Skype
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Rob Valentine (Skype Name: rhfvalentine) wants to talk to you for free using Skype. Give me a call!
Come join me on Skype so we can make free Skype-to-Skype video and voice calls. Simply download Skype - it’s totally free - and you can make and receive free video and voice calls to and from anyone else with Skype. You can also make cut-price calls to landlines and mobiles, and great rate text messages too.
Best regards,
The people at Skype
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Anne
08.07.10 7:27 am
The latest on the Penola mill ... still looking for finance
It seems pulp mills are just as unpopular in South Australia as they are in Tasmania. The parallels are scarily similar, and it looks like the suits proposing these inappropriate developments will face the same kind of opposition as Gunns and the state/federal government face here. Are they slow learners or what?
