Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for July 2013

How Abbott Must Recast Coalition Climate Policy

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KEVIN Rudd took over as Australian Prime Minister replacing Julia Gillard on June 26, 2013. Since then, with the announcement by Mr Rudd that he now intends to bring forward the transition from a strict carbon tax to an emissions trading scheme, the politics of climate change and carbon taxing have changed dramatically. If the Opposition, led by Tony Abbott, is to stay competitive, and become relevant, it urgently needs a proper alternative plan to address climate change.

The answer is to introduce a new climate policy based upon preparation for, and adaptation to, all weather and climate related events whether they be of natural or of potentially human causation. Such a policy could be practical, cost-effective and efficacious, which is why it has been recommended by so many independent commentators and expert scientists over the last five years. This adaptive policy is well summarized in the last chapter of Bob Carter’s new book, ‘Taxing Air: Facts and Fallacies About Climate Change’ [1]. Tax Air book

Yes, Professor Carter, like Mr Rudd does believe in climate change and the need for a national climate policy.

The advantage of Carter’s plan, however, over anything that Mr Rudd is currently proposing is that it is open to the possibility of global cooling, as well as global warming.

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Chinese Academy of Science Open to Skepticism

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IN Australia and other so-called developed Western nations there is very little tolerance of contrary opinion when it comes to one of the biggest contested scientific issues of our time – climate change. Indeed the mainstream research community is closed to skeptics and skepticism. Climate Change Reconsidered

Not so in China, however, where on Saturday June 15, 2013 an International Workshop was held in Beijing to launch the publication of a Chinese edition of Climate Change Reconsidered. This is an abridged version of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change’s (NIPCC) 2009 and 2011 reports.
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Murray Darling Basin Authority Rewriting History – Yet Again

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IAN Rowan lives on the shores of Lake Alexandrina and he is fed-up with the nonsense from the Murray Darling Basin Authority. In an open letter to the Authority following the recent publication of the ‘2013-2014 Basin Annual Environmental Watering Priorities’ he states:

“If the Murray Darling Basin Authority et al cannot even get recent events correct then how can we rely on them for future predictions and the proper management of the system?”

He has reason to be angry. On page 79 of the document that will set priorities for the distribution of billions of dollars worth of water, the history of water management at the Lower Lakes during the recent prolonged Millennium drought is fabricated.

According to the Murray Darling Basin Authority:

“In an attempt to maintain the water levels in the Lower Lakes above critical acidification levels the barrages were closed from 2007 to 2010. Even with this action, acidification occurred in some of the exposed fringing habitats of the Lower Lakes as the water level dropped well below 0.0m (Australian Height Datum) AHD and much of the lake bed was exposed.”

Mr Rowan writes:

“This statement is clearly nonsense and inconsistent with actual events as the possibility of acidification was only ‘discovered’ 12 months after the barrages were closed.”

Of course the entire problem of acidification and hypersalinisation at the Lower Lakes could have been avoided by simply opening the barrages to the Southern Ocean: by letting the Southern Ocean roll in, by letting the Southern Ocean fill the Lower Lakes.

Boat at Goolwa High and Dry, 2007

Yet, the Murray Darling Basin Authority with their Orwellian approach to the truth, suggest that by closing the barrages that lake water levels could be maintained!

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Japan Attacks Aussie Moralising on Whaling

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JAPAN has told the UN’s top court that Australia’s anti-whaling stance is part of a ‘civilising mission and moral crusade’ that is totally out of place in the modern world.raw whale

That’s according to Sky News, and I couldn’t agree more. The article continues…

Tokyo didn’t hold back in its opening submission to the 16 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Tuesday…

‘In a world with diverse civilisations and traditions, international law cannot become an instrument for imposing the cultural preference of some at the expense of others.’

The deputy foreign minister argued Japan had long lived in harmony with nature and it would be the last country to misuse marine resources.

‘Australia can’t impose its will on other nations nor change the International Whaling Commission (IWC) into an organisation opposed to whaling,’ he said.

Tokyo argues killing 850 minke whales in the Southern Ocean each year under JARPA won’t endanger stocks.

Professor Akhavan on Tuesday said Japan stood unfairly accused of 30 years of defiance and deception, but Australia’s position was based on a belief ‘that whales are unique, sacred, charismatic mammals that should never be killed’.

Indeed, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was established in 1948 at the initiative of the United States to establish a new world order in whaling. Initially 15 governments were party to the IWC with Japan at the time under occupation and without the right to join.

The Commission’s objectives included safeguarding the great natural resources represented by whale stocks and providing for the “orderly development of the whaling industry” recognising that whale stocks will increase if whaling is properly regulated.

But by the 1960s an anti-whaling movement had emerged in the West and the IWC focus started to change. In 1972, at the United Nations Human Environmental Conference held in Stockholm, the United States lobbied for a moratorium on commercial whaling; a moratorium that came into effect ten years later.

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