Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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The Climate Crisis as a Morale Builder?

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“Whatever it costs will be minimal compared to our overall revenues, and we’ll get that back many times over, by running a more efficient company and by growing morale among our employees. This program is a huge morale builder…

“From what we see within our own company and from reading polls, the younger generation gets the issue of climate change completely. I think it will grow our appeal to younger audiences and bond our programming to them.”

That is Rupert Murdoch on embracing a carbon neutral empire and activism journalism. You can read the complete interview here:
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2007/05/16/murdoch/index.html

A Brisbane Brushtail Possum

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Sometimes, in the middle of the night, it sounds like a horse is galloping across my tin roof. But having lived in Brisbane for a few years now, I know it is probably only a couple of brushtail possums.

This one came onto my back verandah last night in search of something to eat.

possums blog.jpg

Talking GM with Pollies in Melbourne

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“THREE years ago Labor backbencher Luke Donnellan voted for a four-year ban on genetically modified crops in Victoria. Last week Mr Donnellan invited his Labor colleagues to attend a pro-GM meeting at Parliament House sponsored by the Institute of Public Affairs …

ALP insiders say that senior ministers, especially Treasurer John Brumby and Premier Steve Bracks, regard the ban as running counter to the aim of making Victoria an international hub for biotechnology.

Read the complete article from The Age newspaper here: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/now-for-the-hard-sell-on-modified-foods/2007/05/19/1179497342307.html

I will be speaking along with Rick Roush, the dean of land and food resources at Melbourne University, and Chris Kelly, a Mallee grain grower.

I will probably reiterate what I said in my The Land column of a couple of weeks ago, the text is here: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/articles.php?id=127

New York Times to Defend Indonesian Mining Lawsuit

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“Jakarta (ANTARA News) – The New York Times said Thursday it would “vigorously” defend legal action against the newspaper lodged this week in an Indonesian court by [Richard Ness] an executive of the US mining giant Newmont…

“Over the past few years, The Times has devoted significant resources to covering the social, political and environmental impact of large-scale mining by Newmont and other companies around the world,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.

“We think this is an important global story for our readers, and our coverage of Newmont has been fair and accurate. We plan to defend the suit vigorously,” it said.

Read the complete article here: http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/5/18/new-york-times-to-defend-indonesian-mining-lawsuit/

I haven’t seen The New York Times acknowledge the law suit in its own paper – yet?

Whaling Continues Because Activists Pushed Too Hard?

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Existing rules and regulations can sometimes be impossible to understand without an understanding of the history of the issue. I’ve only followed ‘whaling’ as an issue for a few years and have never felt I really understood the determination of the Japanese whalers to exploit every loop hole to keep whaling, including through their ‘scientific whaling programme’.

This morning I was sent a link to an article by Richard Black entitled ‘Did Greens help kill the whale?’ with a potted history of the environmental campaign against whaling going back to the early 1980s. Black suggests that, “the environmental movement pushed too hard; that its strident calls helped to alienate Japan at the very point where it was prepared to abandon whaling.”

There is also mention of Japanese resentment that they were being blamed for bringing some whales close to extinction when the UK and USA had historically caught far greater numbers and the push by US fishermen in the late 1980s to exclude the Japanese from access to US waters.

Read the complete article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6659401.stm

Climatologist Fired for Exposing Warming Myths

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“University of Washington climate scientist Mark Albright was dismissed from his position as associate state climatologist, just weeks after exposing false claims of shrinking glaciers in the Cascade Mountains.

“Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels had asserted in a February 7 Seattle Times editorial, “the average snow pack in the Cascades has declined 50 percent since 1950 and will be cut in half again in 30 years if we don’t start addressing the problems of climate change now.”

“Albright knew from his research that the Cascade Mountains snow pack had not declined anywhere near what Nickels asserted, and that the snow pack has actually been growing in recent years.

Read the complete article by James Taylor at the Heartland Institute website: http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=21207