Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for April 7, 2006

Can Cut Emissions by 60% without Destroying Economy: Allens Consulting

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Hi Jennifer,

I thought some of your readers might find this interesting:

Those with an interest in the economics of mitigating climate change should take a look at this – recent work on impacts and economic costs by CSIRO and the Allens Consulting Group, commissioned by a roundtable of businesses including BP, Origin, Westpac and Visy, and the the Australian Conservation Foundation.

The media release here suggests that the work finds that emissions can be reduced in Australia while maintaining economic growth, and that any adverse economic impact of mitigating climate change will be worse if we delay action and try and implement quick solutions, instead of measured action starting early, and over a longer period.

http://www.acfonline.org.au/news.asp?news_id=755

Steve

And here’s a link to the report.

Minister Blocks Wind Farm for Parrot?

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Could saving an orange-bellied bird warm the planet?

That’s the subtitle of the editorial in today’s The Australian.

The piece begins:

“A LITTLE bird is causing big trouble in Victoria. At issue is the endangered orange-bellied parrot and the blocking of a $220 million Gippsland wind farm by federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell 580 days after it was approved by the Bracks Government. According to Senator Campbell, the 52-turbine wind farm planned at Gippsland’s Bald Hill is too near where the birds spend part of the year and might – again, might – kill one of them a year.

The piece finished with the comment:

“The conflict over the Gippsland wind farm is emblematic of a broader conflict within the environmental movement, one that stems from the inherent bias against human progress and towards NIMBY-ism that is at the philosophical heart of the greens. Environmentalists in Australia have used the threat of extinction to try to stop everything from gold mines to resorts to, most famously, logging operations in Tasmania. … Whether politically or ecologically minded, Senator Campbell’s decision was a poor one that deserves to be reversed immediately.”

So the Minister cares about parrots as well as whales?

And I wonder, how were we really going to benefit from the wind farm? Are wind farms in Australia really going to stop global warming?