Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Norwegian Fishermen’s Union: NGOs a Threat to the World’s Food Resources – A Note From Ann Novek

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“This due to their campaigns against whaling and sealing. Their campaigns are against a reasonable and sustainable harvesting of marine resources,” states the Head of the Norwegian Fishermen’s Union, Reidar Nilsen, yesterday in paper, Fiskeribladet Fiskaren.

His reply was a response to WWF Norway that had made statements that the fishermen overfished the marine resources and thus were a threat to the world’s food resources, but Nilsen said the NGOs are a bigger threat to the world’s food resources through their anti whaling and anti sealing actions. According to Nilsen, it was in the fishermen’s own interest to conserve and harvest marine resources in a responsible way.

It seems as well that Mr. Nilsen’s statement has not as much to do with eating whale and seal meat but again as an “whales eat too much fish” argument. Nilson states that the whales are consuming 4 or 5 times as much fish than the fishermen are harvesting.

According to Norwegian animal welfare organisation, Dyrebeskyttelsen, It’s wrong to make scapegoats of the whales. They state, “The whales belong in the eco system, and that the fish the whales are eating are brought back to the eco system. Humans on the contrary are removing both fish and marine mammals from the system.”

We have also heard that the Norwegian IWC Commissioner, Mr. Klepsvik , has stated that the Norwegians are managing their marine resources in a holistic approach, meaning if they take out fish from the seas, they must also harvest whales.

Cheers,
Ann
Sweden

Carbon dioxide and Methane Levels rise in 2007

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THE amount of two key greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere rose sharply in 2007, and carbon dioxide levels this year are literally off the chart, the US government reported today.

In its annual index of greenhouse gas emissions, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found atmospheric carbon dioxide rose by 0.6 per cent, or 19 billion tonnes last year.

The amount of methane increased by 0.5 per cent, or 27 million tonnes, after nearly a decade of little or no change, according preliminary figures to scientists at the government’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Colorado.

News.com.au:Carbon dioxide levels ‘off the chart’

Adelaide Professor: Scientists Must Confront Climate Sceptics

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AN Adelaide professor says scientists must do more to stand up to “anti-intellectual” climate change deniers, by explaining the difference between good science and spin.

University of Adelaide Professor Barry Brook, director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability, said in climate science and policy there were still a few apparently well-educated people who continued to deny the vast body of scientific knowledge and analysis.

The original Australasian Science article is here:

Make a Stand for Good Science

The Adelaide Now article is here.

Professor Brook feels the need to quote alarmist blogger Joe Romm who has recently made science policy expert Roger Pielke Jr the focus of repeated attacks, calling him a ‘delayer.’

Of ‘deniers’ he said, “They are hard to pin down because they don’t want a serious scientific debate.”

That’s odd – I thought the debate was over. He also stoops to the tired old tobacco and oil smears.

I think I’d sum up Professor Brook’s article as lacking substance and a severe case of ‘pot calling the kettle black.’

Wildlife Accidents Part 2 – A Note From Ann Novek

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1) In Sweden there’s an old pagan custom with big bonfires on April 30, called the Walpurgis Night.

Unfortunately, many hedgehogs have been hiding out in the stacks /piles of old trees and branches that will be lit during the night and many fatal accidents happen with hedgehogs.

Here’s a picture of a hedgehog that was badly burnt, but saved by a person from the fire. Wounds healed well, but new spikes didn’t grow up. The animal was released into a protected enclosure as it now didn’t have a complete defence from badgers and dogs.

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2) Picture number 2, the balloon hedgehog. No reasons have been found for this condition but possibly damage to the respiratory system has allowed inspired air to escape and fill the subcutaneous cavity. Relief is provided by using a needle and syringe to release air and using antibiotics.

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This is a quite common disease among hedgehogs. The animal in the picture was rehabilitated successfully and released.

EU Renewables Plan to Cost £160 per Household

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EU plans call for the UK to increase its use of renewables in the energy mix from the current 5% to 15% by 2020. An independent British government commissioned report for BERR, the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, shows that these plans will cost between EURO 5 and 6 billion annually. On a per household basis, this could increase the average energy bill for every household in Britain by £160 a year — and that’s on top of increases driven by mainstream energy prices, says East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer.

Protesting against the proposals, Helmer argues that in any case many of the renewables initiatives are set to do more harm than good. There is increasing evidence that biofuels save little CO2, but they are driving up world food prices, and putting huge new pressure on rainforests and natural habitats, threatening species with extinction. Wind farms provide limited benefit, especially when placed in peaty heath-land environments. Many of Britain’s new wind-farm development proposals, especially in Scotland, are on soils of this type, where the disturbance of ancient peat deposits for foundations, roads and other infrastructure can release more CO2 than the turbines would save in their lifetimes.

Commenting on the developments, Helmer said “There is no point in agonising over fuel poverty, then agreeing plans which will hugely add to energy costs — especially when those plans will fail to deliver the CO2 reductions envisaged. This is a typical example of EU integration allowing bureaucrats to make mistakes on an heroic scale”.

PRESS RELEASE ENDS

Notes to editors

POYRY REPORT: Poyry is a well-reputed energy research and consultancy company, commissioned by the British government (BERR) to do the cost analysis, which despite their insistence on confidentiality has somehow emerged on the BERR website at http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file45238.pdf

ROGER HELMER MEP
www.rogerhelmer.com

“While the US Constitution is chiefly about the rights of the individual, the EU Constitution is chiefly about the power of the state.”

Australia’s Emissions Trading System to Cost Business $22 Billion

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THE Rudd Government’s planned carbon trading system will cost business between $14billion and $22billion a year and will have to be considered in a review of the taxation system.

Taxation Institute director Michael Dirkis yesterday said that the money generated by the emissions trading system would be equivalent to more than 40 per cent of company tax revenue.

“You cannot design a system that impacts on business and brings in that level of government revenue without dealing with tax,” he said.

The Australian: Carbon plan ‘to cost business $22bn’

Of course, the effect on climate will be a big fat zero.