Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Charlotte Ramotswe

The Cost of Reducing Carbon Emissions

By

‘MORE than $5.5 billion has been spent by federal governments during the past decade on climate change programs that are delivering only small reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. 

‘An analysis of government schemes designed to cut emissions by direct spending or regulatory intervention reveals they have cost an average $168 for each tonne of carbon dioxide abated.

‘While some have reduced emissions cost-effectively, many of the more expensive schemes are exorbitant ways of tackling climate change, costing far more for each tonne of carbon avoided than any mooted emissions trading scheme or carbon tax.

‘The worst offenders have included the Labor government’s rebates for rooftop solar panels, which cost $300 or more for every tonne of carbon abated, and the Howard government’s remote renewable power generation scheme, which paid up to $340 for each tonne of carbon.

‘By contrast, the proposed emissions trading scheme blocked by the Coalition and the Greens in the previous Parliament was expected to put a price on carbon of $20 to $25 a tonne in its early years…

Read more here: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-cash-goes-up-in-smoke-20110214-1atnh.html 

[Climate cash goes up in smoke, Mark Davis and Lenore Taylor, The Age]

Oh No! More Prescribed Climate Alarmism for Queensland

By

LATE last week, the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence released its second report**, which was tabled in parliament by Minister for Climate Change, Kate Jones.

The Centre receives substantial funding through the state-funded Office of Climate Change, headed by Premier Anna Bligh’s husband, Greg Withers. It is an open secret that re-election of a Queensland Labor government at the last two elections has only been achieved by pandering to phantasmagorical Green demands, which have included the creation of a climate change Office and Centre.

It is therefore no surprise that the Centre’s 2010 report adopts the same alarmist tone that is invariably favoured by Green global warming zealots, including those with PhDs. The message to Queenslanders is that unless they sell their SUVs, run their cars on ethanol, and accept a tripling in the cost of electricity and other sundry penalties, then:
• Queensland will get hotter, with rising sea-levels
• The iconic Great Barrier Reef will be destroyed
• Queensland will suffer more extreme weather events, such as cyclones and floods

[Read more…] about Oh No! More Prescribed Climate Alarmism for Queensland

Scaring Children with AGW

By

Folks,

 

Please shake your head with me in wonderment at the continuation of a pernicious technique that was pioneered (I think) by Oxfam last year. Why do we give access to our schools to these people?

 

 http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Wwf-Canada-970669.html

 http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14881/

 

And I suppose that it is just a coincidence that these two ventures should be launched in the same week on opposite sides of the Pacific, with their closing dates timed to ensure press attention in the lead up to Copenhagen.

 

Meanwhile, you will also doubtless be interested to hear that the summit of Everest is now being affected by global warming, leading to another WWF-led publicity stunt:

 

 http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200904051451.htm

 

What does an organisation have to do these days to become banned by the government?

 

It’s going to be a long six months until Copenhagen.

 

Cathy

Native Ants Kill Cane Toads

By

ECOLOGISTS in Australia have discovered that cane toads are susceptible to being killed and eaten by meat ants – and much more susceptible to the ants than are native Australian frogs.

They claim that their research – published in the British Ecological Society’s journal Functional Ecology – reveals a “chink in the cane toad’s armour” that could help control the spread of this alien invasive species in tropical Australia.

Professor Rick Shine and his colleagues Georgia Ward-Fear, Matt Greenlees and Greg Brown from the University of Sydney’s Team Bufo (from the Latin name for the toxic toad) compared habitat use and activity patterns in meat ants, metamorph cane toads and seven native Australian frog species. They found that, unlike the native frogs, cane toads are poorly equipped to escape the meat ants.

[Read more…] about Native Ants Kill Cane Toads

April Quadrant

By

Folks,

 

The April edition of Quadrant has published a written version of the talk that I gave at the Heartland-2 conference in New York, under the title “A New Policy Direction for Climate Change”. It can be accessed online at:

 

http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2009/4/a-new-policy-direction-for-climate-change

 

The same issue also contains an very useful analysis by Tom Quirk of the perils of computer modelling, though I can’t find an electronic copy posted (if anyone finds one, perhaps they could distribute the details).

 

Lastly, if anyone wants to become depressed then try a browse through some of the 122 and counting submissions to the Australian Senate enquiry into the draft emissions trading legislation, at:

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/economics_ctte/cprs_09/submissions/sublist.htm

 

Perhaps it’s just the ones that I’ve picked out to look at, but my God there’s a mountain of self-serving rubbish here. Amongst it, though, there are a few shining lights, including No. 28, from Viv Forbes and the Climate Science Coalition.

 

 

Cathy