Opposition emissions trading spokesman Andrew Robb said yesterday:

It would be irresponsible to rush this deeply flawed scheme through parliament by the end of June. We can have the debate after the Copenhagen meeting at the end of the year, with all the information on the table, without affecting Mr Rudd’s new start

The Governmenthas 32 senators in the 76-seat upper house and as such requires the support of all seven minor-party or independent senators to pass legislation when the Coalition is opposed.

Greens deputy leader Christine Milne said:

passing the carbon pollution reduction scheme as it stands is no way to convince the global community that Australia is serious about climate change.

She adds that:

In fact, it would be better to go to Copenhagen with it still being negotiated than with a legislatively locked-in upper limit on our negotiating range.

The SMH reported on May 24 that the Environment ‘can wait for vote on ETS. According to oppositon frontbencher Tony Abbott  the environment can afford to wait an extra year for an emissions trading scheme (ETS).

He told ABC television that:

For all the environmental problems we’ve faced we have managed to get by for some time and I don’t think whether this legislation comes in the next month or the next year is ultimately going to be absolutely critical.

http://watersecretsblog.com/archives/2008/01/scientists_pred.html

A feature story published in the SMH  on May 7 quoted director-general of the World Health Organisation, Margaret Chan:

Climate change will affect, in profoundly adverse ways, some of the most fundamental determinants of health: food, air, water.

The reporter Ainslie Macgibbon, breaks the environmental factors effecting health into caterogies that inlcude: heatwaves, food and water, menatal helath, mosquito-bourne diseaser and air quality.

She insists environmental health and individual health are inextricably linked. With the suggestion of a ‘carbon intensive’ lifestyle, quotes Progessor Michael Kidd who says:

The steps everyone can take to reduce the negative impact on our environment are actually good for our health, too.

A story in Bloomberg Press  on May 14 suggested that:

Global warming is the biggest public health threat of the 21st century, eclipsing infectious diseases, water shortages and poverty, a team of medical and climate-change researchers concluded.

The report makes the claim that:

A warmer planet will flood cities, leading to mass migration of coastal-dwelling residents and triggering wars as resources such as food and water become scarcer, the researchers said. Rising temperatures will spread diseases like malaria and increase deaths from flooding, drought and more intense storms.

A report on ABC Rural also focused on this issue.  According to the ABC climate change will have a massive impact on the public health system unless carbon emissions are reduced soon.

Liz Hanna, from the Australian National University says while the effect on food production is well known, people aren’t aware how damaging climate change will be to their physical and mental health. She says:

Climate change is the biggest public health threat facing us in the 21st century.

and later adds:

Because, with extra heat and water issues, we’re having more vector-borne diseases, more infectious diseases, food-borne diseases, a lot of mental health issues, and with the heat waves there’s the cardiac things.

The UK Telegraph on May 20, took these claims to the next level, suggesting that:

Global temperatures could rise by more than 7C this century killing billions of people and leaving the world on the brink of total collapse, according to new research.

Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Tom Picken said:

A 7.4C rise would mean severe ecosystem collapse worldwide, with total economic collapse in many parts of the world.

and later:

The planet would face resource wars between people, and you can safely say many, many hundred of millions of people would die.

According to this story climate change has emerged as a potent threat to livelihoods of the pastoral communities in Kenya. The report claims that it is taking a toll on both human populations and livestock

The artilce quotes Brian Otiende- a Programme Officer on Climate Change for Oxfam Great Britain, who says:

[D]rylands in East and the Horn of Africa region contribute immensely to the countries` gross domestic product and food security.

According to the article, lack of investment in climate change adaptation measures, as well as poverty and negligible policy attention to the arid regions, has exposed pastoralism’s to severe impacts of floods, droughts and famine.

Otiende says that:

climate change is intensifying environmental challenges in dry areas hence an increase in migration and land degradation.

Climate cahngea daptation measures should tap the potential in the indigenous knowledge, while strengthening natural resources conservation at the local level, to militate against droughts, famine and floods.

The Green Kenya blogger says:

Traditionally, we are in the middle of the long rains. For as long as I can remember, March to May of every year has been the long rains season.

That has however changed and the rains are not as reliable as they used to be. The global temperatures keep rising, the winters get colder and dry spells more severe. In his TED Talk, Mark Bittman noted that a hectare no longer produces as much as it did.

image courtesy of the Green Kenya

The environment efforts follow a warning by scientists that climate change is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of drought and famine.

Abebe Tadege of the Kenyan IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre said that “such experiences and research could help vulnerable communities elsewhere in Africa”.

 Our interactive website, www.africa-adapt.net, our events, specialised radio broadcasts and support for innovation will help us share knowledge on how to reduce climate change impact in Kenya with researchers and vulnerable communities across the continent.

Charles A Dana, a famous editor once said that if a dog bites a man, that’s not news, but if a man bights a dog, that’s news!

A story is often newsworthy just because it is a little different.

An example of this, is the story that featured on the SMH environment website, about a car powered by chocolate.

picture from SMH

British scientists hope chocolate will help power one of the world’s fast biofuel vehicles

The story is about a formular one car, powered by waste from chocolate factories. It is hoped the car will reach speeds of 145/mph.

The project manager said their model shows that it is possible to build a fast, efficient, environmentally friendly car.

The car, named the WorldFirst Formula 3 racing car, will go on display at several races including the European Grand Prix and Britain’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

This story, although a novelty, fits nicely with the types of news stories regrading the environment currently featuring in the news.

It relates to bigger issues, such as carbon emissions and global warming, yet the story is framed positively about a solution to these problems, with the suggestion of environmentally friendly cars.

Follow up stories could report on the car’s success at the Grand Prix and whether the proposed speed was achieved. A story might also compare the possibility of a chocolate powered car to more realistic environmentally friendly cars.

photo: BBC

The news at present is dominated by discussion regarding the cutting of carbon emissions.

The BBCreported on the 17th April, “Obama to regulate ‘pollutant’ CO2 “.

The US government is to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, having decided that it and five other greenhouse gases may endanger human health and well-being.

This statement correlates with the news values of ’impact’, because the consequence to human health and well being are significant and important to readers, especially as environmental awareness increases.  The article goes on to say:

The decision marks a major change from the Bush presidency, when the EPA argued it could not regulate CO2 because the gas was not a pollutant.

This aspect of the report adds conflict of opposing opinions and the prominence of former/current world leaders in Bush and Obama.

On the same day the SMH reported  that Climate Adviser Professor Ross Garnaut has suggested the Federal Government’s emissions trading scheme is be too compromised in its current form to be even worth pursuing.  It was reported that he  urged senators to make significant changes to the system. The article said:

He had previously voiced displeasure at the extent of largesse directed towards industries exposed to a carbon trading system, but yesterday went further and said he had been agonising about whether the Government’s plan was preferable to starting again.

and later

The Government’s proposed strategy for dealing with climate change faces a vexed passage through the Senate. The Greens say it is not robust enough and the Coalition warns that it will destroy jobs.

This story has proximity as it relates to the politics of Australia. The conflict aspect comes hand-in-hand with politics as there is always opposition of ideas and policies.

The Australian also reported on this story: ‘Try again on carbon emissions trading scheme: Ross Garnaut’.

CLIMATE change adviser Ross Garnaut says it could be better for the Senate to vote down the Rudd Government’s emissions trading scheme so Australia could “have another crack” at getting it right later – a view a majority of senators have now said they share.

ABC radio program ‘The World Today, interviewed the Minister For Climate Change Penny Wong, who said:

Look, we understand there are a range of views about the best way forward when it comes to climate change but let’s understand this, that if we continue to debate and delay, all that will occur is we will increase business uncertainty at a time when we need to give business the right incentives to invest in clean energy and we will simply ensure that Australia’s emissions continue to rise.

Going overseas to China, SINA, a leading online media company for China, reported on April 17 that ‘Shanghai district to pilot carbon credit trading plan’:

BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) — Polluters in Shanghai’s Pudong district will soon be able to start trading their “carbon credits” as part of a pilot program to help offset emissions.

The environmental bureau of the city is to try Pollution Discharge Right Trade this year, with more than 300 companies using the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange (SEEE) as a trading platform.

Within China, this story has proximty, impact and currency.

To conclude this post I’ll return to the BBC, who reported in January this year that  “World ‘needs radical cuts’ on CO2″:

More carbon dioxide needs to be absorbed than emitted by 2050 in order to prevent catastrophic climate change.

That is the conclusion of a report by the Worldwatch Institute which urges bigger cuts in greenhouse emissions.

The article mentions that in December 2009, government representatives from 170 countries will meet to create a global climate agreement.

The president of the Worldwatch Institute, Christopher Flavin, said: “The outcome of this meeting will be written in the history books – and in the lasting composition of the world’s atmosphere.”

Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour Now a global event began in Sydney, and was organized by WWF, held on the last Saturday of March annually.

It involved households and businesses turning off their lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

The WWF and Sydney Morning Herald conceived it in 2007, though in 2008 and again this year, many cities around the world adopted the event. As such, I thought it might be interesting to take note on how Earth Hour was reported domestically and worldwide.

The SMH reported on the 30th of March that:

ABOUT one person in every seven around the world is believed to have followed Sydney’s lead and switched off lights on Saturday night to call for stronger action against climate change.

The Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, said yesterday that Australia will join international talks organised by the US President, Barack Obama, next month to try to reach a common position on climate change before the Copenhagen talks at the end of this year.

In Australia, where Earth Hour started, it evidently enjoys strong support from politicians, celebrities, corporate backers and the public. The efforts this Saturday certainly will be well-intentioned. Many of us worry about global warming and would like to be part of the solution. Unfortunately, this event – as with many public proposals on climate change – is an entirely symbolic gesture that creates the mistaken impression that there are easy, quick fixes to climate change.

CHICAGO (AP) — From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt to the Empire State Building in New York and the Sears Tower in Chicago, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

Landmarks across China joined in. Beijing’s Olympic icons- the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube- went dark for an hour.

It added:

For environmental activists, the message was clear: Earth Hour was a huge success. Now they say nations have a mandate to tackle climate change.

Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower, goes dark for Earth Hour. Photo China Daily

He has a passion for all things green and demonstrates this by detailing environmental issues throughout Kenya, Africa.

This blog stood out to me because i have a strong interest regarding the politics and news of Third World countries and would like to learn more. 

Reading up on Earth Hour i found an article in the SMH-’Out in Africa: lights off for Kenya’s capital’. the story is about Kenyan Kimunya Mugo, who was working to  single-handedly convince some of his country’s biggest companies to sign up to Earth Hour.

The main issue for Africa, Mr Mugo says, is adaptation to energy needs as a result of climate change. “For example, if you’re going to have green energy, solar or wind power, it’s very expensive for us.

I think it would be interesting to note how environmental news in reported in countries where there is little money to spend on renewable energy sources. 

If implemented, theses laws could allow Australia’s biggest greenhouse polluters to shift the burden of their emissions to poorer countries.

SMH quotes Jason Johnston, from law firm Freehills:

“A firm could discharge its entire obligation under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme by the surrender of so-called eligible international emissions units.”

The proposed plan was defended by the Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong, although Senator Wong

“did not dispute that the proposed laws allowed companies scope to invest in carbon credits in poor countries.”

The SMH reported  that an article in Quarterly Essay by Guy Pearse, argues that the 

“proposed  laws would in theory allow Australia to make almost all its greenhouse emissions cuts by paying poorer countries to do so.”

The environment in a sense is made up of four core elements…

Earth, fire, wind and water.

Each member of our group shall follow the coverage of the environment by looking one element.

I’ll be tracking the ‘WIND’…

I will follow issues in the news such as air pollution, carbon emissions, global warming, ozone depletion,renewable energy sources and climate change.

This blog will track the issues associated will these aspects of environmental news as the world turns, the green beat goes on.