By Paul
Thanks to Luke Walker for alerting me to this story:
WESTERN EUROPE’S HIGHEST SUMMIT GETS TALLER
CHARMONIX, France, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) – Western Europe’s highest mountain Mont Blanc is taller than ever due to snow piled atop its summit, in what experts meeting in France Saturday described as a climate-change related phenomenon.
By Paul
From the Sunday Herald Sun:
THE award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the UN’s top climate panel on Friday has prompted a fresh chorus of criticism from global warming sceptics — with one dubbing the award “a political gimmick”.
By Paul
You lucky Aussies have more potential for domestic solar energy than us poor Brits stuck in the rather dull UK. With global warming hysteria at fever pitch, and the apparent belief that we can contol the weather or climate by attempting to reduce the UK’s 2 per cent contribution to global man-made CO2 emissions, from 1 per cent of the world’s population, we are now required to provide an Energy Performance Certificate as part of a Home Information Pack when we sell our home. Currently this only applies to homes with 3 or more bedrooms (Biggs Towers has 4), but will eventually be extended to cover all homes. There are 8 measures that are needed to secure a rating of A or B, as a opposed to a poor rating of F or G. My home was only built in 2000, so has modern energy saving features such as cavity wall insulation, thick fibreglass loft insulation, double glazed UPVC windows, and polystyrene slab under the downstairs concrete floors. I’ve used compact fluorescent bulbs since they came on the market quite a few years ago, in some of our light fittings.
Today’s Times (13th October) has an article featuring a study by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors about the cost of installing energy saving measures and the time taken to recoup the investment. Apparently, installing solar panels for water heating costs around £5,000 and would save only £24 per year on average. This means it could take up to 208 years to recoup the investment. Installing all 8 measures could cost over £23,000 and take 48 years to recoup.
The Times article is entitled ‘Saving energy at home could take 200 years to repay its cost.’ Thanks to Woody for pointing it out.
By jennifer
“An Indonesian court has thrown out a lawsuit brought by a mining executive against the New York Times over reports the firm dumped toxic waste into an Indonesian bay, lawyers said Thursday.
Richard Ness, an executive with US mining giant Newmont, sued the newspaper and one of its reporters for more than 64 million dollars for defamation over articles published in 2004.
The stories alleged Newmont polluted the bay with tonnes of waste from its now-defunct gold mine on the island of Sulawesi.
A three-judge panel said the Central Jakarta state court “does not have the authority to hear and judge this case,” according to Gani Djemat and Partners, the law firm representing the defendants…
The defence argued that the journalist was not an Indonesian national or a resident here, that The New York Times did not have a representative office in Indonesia and that it did not commit the alleged defamation in the country.
Read more here: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5imv8JHIGm6TK1Ky9bZZM-wI8nQXQ
There is a lot about the alleged pollution of Buyat Bay in the archives of this blog, click here and scroll down: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/cat_mining.html
By jennifer
Whether it’s throwing a fresh local prawn on the BBQ or dangling a line off the local jetty, fisheries resources are economically and socially important for many Australians. Australian fisheries have undergone significant management changes over the last decade and Australia is now recognised as a world leader.
This book is the first comprehensive analysis of fisheries management in Australia. It provides practical insight into the cross-disciplinary tools of fisheries management. It takes the reader away from the outdated notion of “managing the fish” to the reality of managing human behaviour. It does so without losing track of the fundamental need to consider the ecosystem and its components.
The book covers a diverse range of contemporary topics including: sharing fisheries resources between commercial and recreational fishers, marine park planning, current regulatory and policy environments, consultative and participatory frameworks, by-catch mitigation and fisheries habitat management. It is a must for tertiary students studying fisheries, fisheries management professionals, the fishing industry and anyone else with an interest in how our valuable but finite fisheries resources are managed.
… and the book will be released by Federation Press in January and retail for $66.
Congratulations to Daryl.
By jennifer
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.
Indications of changes in the earth’s future climate must be treated with the utmost seriousness, and with the precautionary principle uppermost in our minds. Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth’s resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world’s most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.
Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over one hundred countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. In the last few years, the connections have become even clearer and the consequences still more apparent.
Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world’s leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.
By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind. Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man’s control.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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