Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for May 10, 2008

We Live in an Electric Universe (Part 1) by Louis Hissink

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One of the basic working rules in empirical science is the Donald Duck Factor, that when something novel looks, waddles and sounds like a duck, then in all probability it might also be a duck, or at least of the same species. And when a similar structure or shape is found in two disparate phenomena, there is a good chance that both might be formed by a similar process. Such might be in the case of tropical cyclones and spiral galaxies.

Cyclone Nargis.jpg
cyclone Nargis

spiral galaxy 1.jpg
spiral galaxy

It is cyclone season in the northern hemisphere of the equatorial regions and yet again humanity has discovered how puny it is in the face of a tropical cyclone when Cyclone Nargis devastated parts of Burma recently. However tropical cyclones, or hurricanes, are not well understood weather phenomena and the formation of tropical cyclones is the topic of extensive ongoing research.

A spiral galaxy is a one belonging to one of the three main classes of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work “The Realm of the Nebulae” and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence. Spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk of stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as the bulge. These are surrounded by a much fainter halo of stars, many of which reside in globular clusters.

The origin of the spiral arms in galaxies is not as easy to identify as one may first think. After all, whatever it is that creates the spiral arms must be able to account for a wide variety of spiral structures. Some galaxies have a well-organised spiral structure (grand design spirals), while others are patchy (flocculent spirals). The arms may be wound tightly around the galaxy or may be more open. Some spiral arms originate at the end of bars, others directly from the galactic bulge.

Louis Hissink
Perth

Why the Propaganda Campaign for International Intervention in Burma? by Peter Symonds

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The catastrophe wrought by Cyclone Nargis on the Burmese people has provoked an extraordinary campaign by the US and allied powers, and in the international media, demanding that the military junta open its borders to aid and aid officials as well as to American military aircraft, troops and warships. Once again an attempt is being made to stampede public opinion with heartrending images of desperate survivors and devastated towns, accompanied by an incessant drumbeat condemning the Burmese regime for its inadequate aid efforts, its insularity, and its failure to accept international, especially American, aid.

One should immediately pause and recall the outcome of similar “humanitarian” exercises. In 1999, the plight of Kosovan refugees was exploited by the US and its allies to wage war against Serbia and transform the province into a NATO protectorate largely “cleansed” of its Serbian minority. In the same year, Australia, with the backing of the US, used the violence of Indonesian-backed militias to justify a military intervention into East Timor to install a regime sympathetic to Canberra’s economic and strategic interests. After nearly a decade the local populations in both countries continue to live in appalling conditions, with none of their fundamental needs having been met.

Read more at the World Socialist Web Site: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/burm-m10.shtml

New Website on the Tasmanian Pulp Mill: A Note from Alan Ashbarry

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Last year the Tasmanian Parliament and the Australian Government approved the pulp mill for the Tamar Valley.

They did so after the developer, Gunns Limited, published an Integrated Impact Statement comprising 7,500 pages of social, environmental and economic analysis representing a planning investment of more than $11 million and in excess of 350,000 hours of research, study, modeling and reporting.

A report that was debated examined and generated even more studies, reports and media attention.

Yet despite this, the general public throughout Australia is being asked to oppose the mill.

The latest campaign is to rally against the ANZ bank because the pulp mill will “be a disaster for climate change, It will be 80% native forest-based”.

This is despite the IIS and the shed full of additional information showing that the majority of timber used during the mill’s life will be from plantations (64%) and that the reports detail that over 1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions will be saved each year in reduced shipping and the generation of renewable power.

With the passage of time, much of the information is hard to find, so a new web site has been started to look at the claims being made in the Media and to get to the facts behind the headlines. The Web site will link to a range of reports and information on the Mill and Tasmania’s sustainable forest management.

You are invited to bookmark my new web site http://www.tasmaniapulpmill.info/home and visit it regularly as it will be updated frequently. If you have a question or issue that you want more detail, there is a contact section.

Alan Ashbarry
Hobart.