Happy New Year and welcome to the January newsletter & 2011 – International Year of the Forests.
Sustainable fish
The good fish Fish has much lower emissions than beef or lamb (if it’s locally caught) but we need to protect our fish stocks and the ocean they are in. The Australian Marine Conservation Society has launched Australia’s first online sustainability guide for seafood. www.sustainableseafood.org.au
Global Issues: CARBON CAPTURE & STORAGE
Reports are saying that a CCS project for enhanced oil recovery project in Canada is seeing leakage of CO2 through the cap rock to the surface. This may well be the first incident of a CCS leak caused from an actual project. In 2009 Greenpeace raised concerns about how CO2 behaves once stored. This could be a huge blow for the proponents of CCS, raising issues once again of safety, reliability and liability.
See the link at:
There was a story on the ABC’s AM program on 21 January which said that 2010 was one of 3 hottest years on record & the wettest year on record. Particular mention was made of the recent Pakistan floods. For more details check the ABC website : abc.net.au
Australian Issues: No New Coal
The coal industry is the largest contributor to greenhouse gases in Australia. ANZ Bank is the biggest investor in this industry for both coal mining & energy production. There is a current national campaign to highlight these issues & we have recently picketed outside the Gladesville & Top Ryde branches of the ANZ Bank.
Here’s the link to the YouTube video which shows the power of local community advocates (once you know that this guy basically single-handedly shifted US$110m out of Bank of America and into local banks & credit unions).
Floods:
Recent scientific advice to the Queensland Government warned that the state would be threatened by higher flood levels from intense torrential downpours brought on by climate change. In 2010 the Scientific Advisory Group to the Queensland Government’s Inland Flooding Study advised that “an increase in rainfall intensity is likely” and “the available scientific literature indicates this increased rainfall intensity to be in the range of 3–10 per cent per degree of global warming”.
http://www.acfonline.org.au/uploads/res/Flooding_fact_sheet_12-1-11.pdf
There is also an article in Crikey which relates to the Queensland floods.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/01/18/climate-change-where-it-fits-into-the-queensland-disaster/
To view this whole article you will need to be a subscriber to Crikey.
Local Issues
A local chemical engineer Yash Divekar was selected from hundreds of applicants to attend Al Gore’s annual Climate Project in Jakarta 8-10 January. It is encouraging to see a young local resident participating in such a positive way & helping to spread the word. To see the full article in the NDT 5 January, 2011.
On Now:
Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition is now showing at the Australian Museum until 13 March, 2011. This is an annual exhibition of animals in their native environment – a fantastic family day out. See
http://australianmuseum.net.au/event/Wildlife-Photographer-of-the-Year-2010
Next meeting:
Monday 14 February, 2011 at 7.30 pm. Call Pamela on 9816 5672 or Jo on 0414 375 149 for details.