Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Opinion

Why the ETS will not Succeed: Peter Lang

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JUSTIFICATION for Australia’s carbon-pricing scheme assumes there will be a global carbon pricing system with our ETS a part of it. This assumption is probably wrong. It is unlikely a global carbon pricing system will be implemented, let alone sustained for the decades or even centuries that would be required. Abatement cost Medium

Without a global carbon-pricing system, national or regional carbon-pricing schemes would be prohibitively expensive if they are to achieve the projected benefits and, therefore, would not be sustainable. The high cost means that a scheme like the one Australia has legislated is not viable, and even regional carbon pricing schemes like the European ETS will not last. The ‘ball-park’ analysis presented here suggests Australia’s ETS would cost $12 for every $1 of projected benefit, to 2050.

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Open Thread

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“Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds, which follows from the advance of science.”  Charles Robert DarwinJen with Darwin

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The image/picture is of a fellow pretending to be Mr Darwin with the real Jen, taken in the British Museum of Natural History a few months ago.

Open Thread

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I encourage you to share links to breaking news and interesting information at this thread. sausages barbecue

I intend to post more in the future about the need for Australia to have a comprehensive climate policy. In the meantime get informed by reading Bob Carter’s new book entitled ‘Taxing Air’. Electronic copies available on Amazon for instant download for $8.

http://www.amazon.com/Taxing-Air-ebook/dp/B00CY1EOZA

Dumping the Carbon Tax without Dumping Anything

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THE Coalition’s attacks on the carbon tax have been more about broken promises than policy, allowing Kevin Rudd to ‘dump the tax’ without actually dumping anything, writes Chris Berg…

“WHEN Julia Gillard promised in 2010 that there would be no carbon tax under a government she led – but that her government would pursue an emissions trading scheme – she probably thought it would defuse a toxic debate and help secure victory.

Like so many of Labor’s ploys in that election, it was far too clever by half. Tony Abbott dined off Gillard’s no-tax promise for three years.

Now it’s Kevin Rudd’s time to dine. On Sunday we learned that he wants to transition from a fixed-price carbon tax to a full-blown floating-price emissions trading scheme one year ahead of schedule. Kevin Rudd laughs

Here’s the riddle: why?

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Fishing Lobby Trumps Murray Cod Recovery (The Native Fish Strategy for the Murray Darling Ten Years On: Part 3)

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THE key recommendation in the Native Fish Strategy for the Murray Darling Basin 2003-2013 – a document developed by the Murray Darling Basin Commission, (MDBC) and adopted by the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) – was the need to address the issue of cold water pollution in particular from the Hume dam.

The strategy, published ten years ago, includes comment that cold-water pollution abatement is a “clearly definable, tangible, cost-effective intervention” that can be completed for the major storages in the Murray Darling Basin within ten years, through a combination of engineering and operating changes. The strategy was to run from 2003 to 2013 with the objective of returning native fish to 60 per cent of their pre-European levels.

Hume Dam, like most of the dams throughout the Murray Darling, have outlets for irrigation positioned at depth, so water release occurs as a jet of cold water. Releases are typically made in spring and this is the same time Murray cod and other native fish like to spawn. Murray Cod Wikipedia

[Read more…] about Fishing Lobby Trumps Murray Cod Recovery (The Native Fish Strategy for the Murray Darling Ten Years On: Part 3)

Open Thread

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Black-headed Gull

Photograph of the Black-headed gull taken in Lymington, England about a month ago.