This could form the basis of an important worker-environmentalist
alliance, especially at a time of mass job losses.

TT

****************************************************

By *Don Fitz*

May 30, 2009 -- With millions of jobs lost during the first part of
2009, who is calling for a shorter work week to spread the work around?
Not the Republicans. Not even the Democrats. But why is there nary a
peep from unions?

In the US, the vehicle industry sets the pace for organised labour. The
only discussion at the top levels of the United Auto Workers Union (UAW)
is how quickly the gains won during the last 50 years can be given back.
Does the UAW have no memory of the 1930s and 1940s when a shorter work
week was at centre of organising demands?

Full article at http://links.org.au/node/1077

Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

Peter, thanks for this link.

My guess is 6 degrees. and targets set for 2050 are pie in the sky.
Targets need to be set for 1970!

:)
Bob

--------------------------------------------------
Dr Bob Rich
http://bobswriting.com
http://anxietyanddepression-help.com
http://mudsmith.net
Commit random acts of kindness
---------------------------------------------------





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ecoficial:
http://www.ecoficial.com/dreams-of-carbon-storage-face-a-tough-reality-check-493\
/

Tasmanian Times
<http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/weblog/article/global-warming-must\
-stay-below-2c-or-world-faces-ruin-scientists-declare/>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

"A website for reform in democracy, environment, population, land use
planning and energy policy ... "

We Can Do Better <http://candobetter.org/tracker>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

little time today... but over 20 years ago when i worked as a Secretary for the
Supply and Planning Dpt of Ampol Petroleum Limited, one of my bosses, their
Senior Supply Analyst, Dr John Heike, did a very in depth study on bio-fuel (in
particular - sugar) as an alternative for crude oil. He found it to have too
much variability and volatility in supply, due to climatic factors. That was WAY
before Climate Change/Global Warming was a even twinkle in Al Gore's eyes.

With the information we now have to hand, it is reasonable to assume that we all
know that our climate has not stabilised in any way, that's for sure.

What of a big crop of fuel (of which transportation for the populous has become
dependent) that gets drown in a flood, burnt in a wildfire, or lacks adequate
rainfall?

Let alone the land requirement in exchange for farming for food.

Of course that still leaves out CO2 released in the transportation, farming care
and processing factors. But then, if you are a denier, that does not need to
even enter the equation. So let's just leave that one in the too hard basket and
plant food for oil. Hrmm....
No need to worry about climatic volatility either... even though it was as clear
as the nose on John's face over twenty years ago. Double Hrmmm....

Bio-fuel has always been a no brainer, and things will only get worse if you are
a believer in climate change/global warming. With climate change disasters
happening before our very eyes, improved CLEAN public (AND FOOD) transportation
systems MUST be in place before crude oil becomes any more scarce than it was -
way back then.

Cheers
Anne

--- In ClimateChangeAction@..., "Peter Bright" <hobart_elf@...>
wrote:
>
> The problems is ... Man.
>
> He's as lost as a ghost in a snowstorm.
>
>
> --- In ClimateChangeAction@..., glparramatta
> <glparramatta@> wrote:
> >
> > May 21, 2009 -- Sometimes you have to hand it to capitalism. It's
> sheer
> > magic the way the system takes promising concepts, steeps them in the
> > transformative power of the market � and turns them into howling
> social
> > and environmental disasters.
> >
> > Take biofuels, for example. With fossil fuels warming the planet, why
> > not, indeed, take advantage of the fact that plants use carbon dioxide
> > from the atmosphere to produce sugars and oils that can be turned into
> > substitutes for petrol and diesel?
> >
> > We all know where that finished up. A big chunk of the US corn crop
> was
> > distilled into grain ethanol. Corn prices soared on the extra demand,
> > increasing costs for a broad range of food production. Anyone unable
> to
> > pay went hungry. When US drivers filled up with bio-ethanol, they were
> > in effect burning the /tortillas/ of the Mexican poor.
> >
> > But is the technology the problem? Or the system?
> >
> > http://links.org.au/node/1060
> >
> > Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at
> > http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373
> >
> > You can also follow Links on Twitter at
> http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism
> >
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

x published @ http://globalclimatechangeaction.org/4changedeniers

I was recently made aware of an extensive list of Scientists who refute Global
Warming/Climate Change. I am currently sourcing that document and will provide a
link as soon as it becomes available.

In the meantime, I have replied to them below:

I am not a scientist and my first glimmer of climate change came in 1998 when
there was a really big heat wave. The shallow waters of Picnic Bay on Magnetic
Island was too hot to walk into without burning your feet. I lived in the
tropics of Qld, Australia, on an island surrounded by incredibly beautiful and
diverse inshore coral reefs. Over the next two years many of these inshore reefs
began to bleach and crumble. Then algae took hold. What was left (particularly
in the shallower waters) was quickly suffocated by a forest of seaweed and
turned into a muddy slush when the seaweed that fed off it ran out of fuel and
was washed away by a minor cyclone. Said seaweed was then washed ashore and
protected the trees roots (before it was cleaned up) which were badly exposed by
the disappearing sand lines.

These sand lines continue to disappear on every beach I have visited in Qld over
the last ten years or so. I don’t know where the sand is going, but it is
rather amusing to watch the bulldozers attempt to put it all back year after
year while the tides continue to grow higher and ever higher…

I watch this happening with my own eyes and try and understand why it is
happening. It is very sad to witness first hand. It is not confined to any one
particular beach but all of the beaches I have visited (even the ones with no
continual human occupation).

I began to learn back in 1998 about global warming and climate change. Now, I do
not dispute it. I just hope that there is time left for humanity to make the
changes needed in order to survive as a species. Many have already lost their
lives. I feel great sadness for their loss. Many more will perish in the not too
distant future, particularly if we continue to deny what is happening before our
very eyes.
see: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25555143-1702,00.html

I want a future for my children. I would like to ask those who remain in denial,
what harm is there to TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION NOW?

Natural or man made...does it matter?

What harm (apart from loss of income to multi-national corporations) will become
this planet we all share, if we move AWAY from polluting industries and INTO a
clean energy future? Whether the climate change/global warming scientists
"preachers" are all full of hot air, or the others are “big industry” paid
liars, there will be A LOT LESS HARM DONE to humanity and the home we all share
if we clean up our act now.

Might I add that it is also ignorant and foolish to ignore the impact of
multi-national corporations on our planet. Their retrenched employees (often
paid off with the minimum possible) which has been ... to date... to ensure
their shareholders get a nice, fat, continual return on investment and control
of market share, is ensured by the fattest and most heartless.

Take a look now at what is now happening to those same shareholders... their
retirement funds not up in smoke but lining the pockets of a small handful of
CEO's and crooked politicians.

Time is here and now to get out of bed with multi-nationals, crooked politicians
and their reckless behaviours of despoiling our planet for a quick buck ... it
just makes the thin starve and fat obese... whilst continuously ignoring the
fate of our children's futures.

No matter who or what you believe, cleaning up our act can do us no harm.

With the permission of *John Bellamy Foster* and Monthly Review Press,
/Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ is publishing an
exclusive excerpt from Foster's latest book, /The Ecological Revolution:
Making Peace with the Planet/.

The roots of the present ecological crisis, John Bellamy Foster argues
in /The Ecological Revolution/, lie in capital�s rapacious expansion,
which has now achieved unprecedented heights of irrationality across the
globe. Foster compellingly demonstrates that the only possible answer
for humanity is an ecological revolution: a struggle to make peace with
the planet.

* * *

�In this time of growing ecological and economic crisis, John Bellamy
Foster�s voice stands out like no other. In his new book, /The
Ecological Revolution/, he demonstrates that questions of ecology cannot
be separated from questions of economics, and that building a truly
sustainable future means putting people and the planet before profit.�/

�* Howard Zinn.
author of A People�s History of the United States

Full excerpt at http://links.org.au/node/1066

Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

Top  Stories  1 . The world's meteorologists  report from the frontline
of climate change
Freelance journalist Amanda Gearing writes:



Climate  change is wreaking havoc in many countries as severe weather
events cause mass  death and wipe out staple food crops, meteorologists
have told a world climate  conference in Queensland this week. The World
Meteorological Organisation  conference of meteorologists and
climatologists representing 187 countries  showcased the latest
communication tools being used to help countries protect  people and
food supplies threatened by climate change.

Staple  food crop failures in developing countries are causing mass
starvation, extreme  rainfall is causing deadly floods, Pacific Islands
are being completely  submerged with people clinging to palm trees until
storm surges subside, and  France's wine growing regions may have to
move north. The WMO gathering is held  once every four years to assess
global agricultural meteorology and recommend  areas for future research
in order to maintain sustainable global food  supplies.

WMO agro  meteorology division chief Dr Mannava Sivakumar said the world
population was  projected to exceed 9 billion by 2025. "Even without
climate change, to produce  the extra food for the growing population is
a major challenge so what climate  change does is put an additional
stress on what is already a major problem."

"Because  of the reduced rainfall, soils are going to be prone to
erosion and degradation,  crops may not be able to withstand higher
temperatures or get enough water. It's  a double whammy that you
have two big problems on your hands at the same time.  The world has to
look at it really seriously."

Sivakumar  said the international conference was vital to assist
countries to provide  farmers with timely, accurate forecasts to reduce
the adverse risks posed by  severe climate events.



I  interviewed representatives from the USA, Russia, India, France,
Brazil,  Australia, New Zealand, Korea, the Philippines, Ethiopia,
Tanzania, Fiji, Samoa,  the Solomon Islands and the Cook Islands and
asked them if they were already  seeing impacts of climate change in
their country and what threats these impacts  posed to the people and
agriculture. I also asked them how the country was  helping the people
to mitigate the risk of climate change threats:

INDIA:  Rising temperatures over the last ten years had caused more
frequent heat waves  over 46 degrees C leading to hundreds of human
deaths among tribal people as  well as animal deaths. Extreme weather
events such as floods are causing human  catastrophes, with villagers
being drowned in floodwaters.

Indian  Meteorological Department head of agro-meteorology Dr Laxman
Singh Rathore said  food supplies were secure now because monsoon season
crops were not affected by  higher temperatures but winter wheat crop
yields in some years are reduced by  warmer winter temperatures in
northern India. The Indian Government is setting  up internet services
in India's 600,000 villages which will provide weather and  climate
forecasts and information to the country's 600 million farmers.

Information  centres with internet, television and radio communications
and local print media  have been set up in 25,000 villages in the past
two years.

USA:  The USA has had more extreme events such as hurricanes, flooding,
drought,  record high temperatures and cold outbreaks in recent years.
US Department of  Agriculture World crop weather analyst, meteorologist
Dr Harlan Shannon said it  was unclear yet whether the events were
caused by variability or climate change.  He said the USA was monitoring
crop production around the world including  Russia, Australia, China,
India, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina using WMO  data and satellite
imaging of weather systems to help US economists assist  American
farmers in assessing marketing opportunities.

RUSSIA:  More frequent and intense forest fires and more droughts are
occurring. However  warmer temperatures in future would have positive
impacts on Russia because  warmer weather would increase the area
available for growing summer and winter  wheat crops and other cereals.

Warmer  temperatures would enable Russia to grow cotton in the south of
the country.  Director of the National Agro-meteorological institute,
Agro-meteorologist  Alexander Kleshchenko, said if soils that were
normally frozen thawed building  foundations could be threatened. He
said Russia was expecting droughts would be  more frequent in future and
drinking water supplies were being monitored.

FRANCE:  Climate data shows varying increases in minimum and maximum
temperatures  in different regions of France. Frost days during winter
are decreasing but  in the next decade vineyards may have to move north.
Meteo France end-user  services manager Philippe Frayssinet said England
could become a place to  produce good wine.

"If  Champagne would not be the right place to produce Champagne it
would be a real  problem for the economy of the region -- the same for
Burgundy and Bordeaux. The  sensibility to the climate is very
high."

He said  there was an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme
events such as  forest fires, heat waves and floods causing crop
failures and reducing export  income. France has a colour-coded warning
system with green indicating no risks,  ranging through yellow for minor
risk, orange for medium risk to red indicating  an extreme event. France
has also stationed hundreds of meteorologists around  the world in its
overseas territories to monitor weather and climate data  including 150
meteorology staff in the French West Indies, 50 in Martinique and  50 in
French Guyana.

BRAZIL:  Minimum air temperatures have increased almost 2 degrees C in
the past 40 years.  Rainy seasons have changed with more frequent heavy
rains causing deaths,  infrastructure damage and crop failures in soya
beans, coconuts, grain and rice  crops. Frequency of frosts have fallen,
affecting citrus crops.

San Paulo  state Meteorology Institute agro-meteorology head Olivaldo
Brunini said burning  of the Amazon forests was being reduced and
farmers in the forest were turning  to raising beef cattle and grain
farming.

AUSTRALIA:  Water allocations to irrigation farmers have fallen by more
than 90 per cent in  the Murray-Darling Basin. Australia's rice crop
is down more than 90 percent to  less than 100,000 tonnes a year since
production peaked in 2004 at 2 million  tones. Cotton production is down
by almost 80 percent. Corn production in the  Murray-Darling Basin is
down by 60-70 per cent and corn production is moving to  northern
Australia. Lost crop production is estimated at 1.5 billion a year and
threatens Australia's food security.

Peanut  Company of Australia managing director Bob Hansen is spending
$50 million to buy  land and water rights to move some of his farming
and processing operations from  Queensland to the Northern Territory.

NEW  ZEALAND: Temperature rises were first detected in New Zealand and
the  surrounding region in the mid 1970s. Temperatures have now risen by
about 1  degree C, reducing the number of frost days by a third to a
half.

World  Meteorological Organisation commission for agricultural
meteorology president Dr  Jim Salinger discovered the temperature trend
in the mid 1970s and his  publication of a journal article sparked
global research which found global  temperatures were rising.

Dr  Salinger said the main threat of climate change globally was to food
security.  Hundreds of millions of subsistence farmers in India, Africa
and China needed  help to manage climate change effects on their farming
systems.

Lower food  production will mostly impact the semi arid sub tropics
including Africa, the  Mediterranean basin, the southern half of
Australia, the south of South America  and major cropping areas of the
USA. By 2030 world food supply will need to  increase by about 50
percent to feed the estimated 9 billion global population.  Food prices
were likely to rise, he said. Already one billion people were on the
brink of starvation.

Dr  Salinger said New Zealand would warm more slowly than continents
such as Europe  or North America because it was an island and water
temperatures warmed more  slowly than land and air temperatures.
However, permanent snow and ice including  glaciers in the south island
have retreated by 55 per cent from 100 cubic  kilometres of permanent
snow and ice cover 100 years ago to 45 cubic km of  permanent ice now.
Eastern New Zealand is predicted to receive lower rainfall  with serious
droughts becoming four times more frequent. New Zealand's eastern
wine-growing areas will be able to introduce warmer wine styles.
Existing Kiwi  fruit and apple-growing areas will no longer be ideal
growing areas.

KOREA:  Temperature rises threaten the country's staple rice crop.
Orchards have  moved to the north of the country to cooler regions.
Korea's National Institute  of Meteorological Research senior
research scientist Kyu Rang Kim said typhoons  had increased in
frequency and intensity causing floods which have destroyed  rice crops
at harvest time. Korea imports most of its food apart from rice.

PHILIPPINES:  Increasing minimum and maximum temperatures have been
recorded as  have increasingly intense cyclones. Philippines weather
services chief of the  Philippines atmospheric, geophysical and
astronomical services administration  Flaviana Hilario said the country
had recently recorded the most severe cyclone  ever to hit the country.

"In 2006  we recorded the highest wind speed due to tropical
cyclone, 320kp/h. So far this  is the highest. We will see whether in
the future this will be the norm or if  this was a single event,"
she said.

During the  2006 cyclone season 2700 people died and cyclones caused $36
billion damage in  the Philippines. The Philippines is replacing fossil
fuels with bio-fuels and  geothermal energy sourced from volcanoes.

ETHIOPIA:  Failures of rain were shortening growing seasons causing
reduced crop yields in  the south of the country and causing shortages
of staple crops such as teff,  maize, sorghum, barley and drinking
water. Floods have increased in  intensity in the eastern parts of the
country, causing deaths of people and  stock and destroying houses.

Ethiopian  National Meteorological Agency research meteorologist Almaz
Demessie said people  were moving livestock in search of water and
pasture and food were having to be  bought from other areas when crops
failed or people were leaving to find work so  they could buy food.

TANZANIA:  More rainfall seasons have been failing since the 1980s,
severely affecting  food supplies of people who are mostly subsistence
farmers on small farms.

"If (the  short rains) fail it means their survival is threatened and
this becomes worse  when the second rain fails because it means the
whole year is a total failure  and we've had the government
intervening more often to give food assistance to  the people,"
Tanzanian principal agro-meteorologist Deusdedit Kashasha said.  "They
produce on small farms which may not be enough for a year in a good
season  so if they don't even have that small amount produced it
becomes pretty  dire."

FIJI:  Air temperatures have increased by 0.6 degrees in the past 50
years which is  reducing sugar crop yields because sugar cane needs cool
nights to concentrate  the sugar. Sugar is Fiji's major export crop.
Fiji Meteorological Service  principal scientific officer Simon McGree
said sea level rises were a  major problem for the population of 850,000
people scattered on isolated  islands. Sea level rises were also causing
sugar crops on coastal flats to be  flooded, destroying crops and
salinifying the land. Sugar plantations are having  to move inland,
reducing the available cropping area.

SAMOA:  Cyclones have increased in frequency and intensity in the last
ten years  threatening the population of 180,000 living on four main
islands in the Samoan  Islands group. Sea level rises have also caused
coastal erosion. Samoan  Meteorological Division Climate and Ozone
Services principal scientific officer  Sunny Seuseu said Samoa was
researching ways to reduce greenhouse emissions by  reducing fossil
fuels and exploring renewable energy sources including wind,  geothermal
and solar power.

SOLOMON  ISLANDS: Sea level rises have been recorded and king tides have
washed over  an atoll island in the north of the island group,
destroying houses and local  crops.  Solomon Islands Meteorological
Service principal climate officer  Lloyd Tahani said the government was
making plans to evacuate people from  low-lying islands in cases of
climatic emergency and had established a team of  climate scientists to
work in the Solomon Islands to establish early warning  systems.

COOK  ISLANDS: Tide gauges installed in 1992 show sea levels have risen
marginally  but tropical cyclones are becoming more frequent and more
intense. In 2004-2005,  the Cook Islands had five category five cyclones
in five weeks lashing the 15  islands scattered over 240 square
kilometres located 3000km north east of New  Zealand with a population
of 14,000 people. In 2004-2005 season some islands  were submerged and
people had to climb coconut trees and rise the storm out.  Local farmers
then had to use boats and dive two to three metres to harvest  their
taro crops.

Cook  Islands Meteorological Service director Aruna Ngari said islands
had been  partially submerged before not this was the first time they
had been completely  submerged. He said some islanders were abandoning
low-lying islands and moving  to larger islands.

Send  your tips to boss@... <mailto:boss@...>  or
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Back to Index <#top>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The problems is ... Man.

He's as lost as a ghost in a snowstorm.


--- In ClimateChangeAction@..., glparramatta
<glparramatta@...> wrote:
>
> May 21, 2009 -- Sometimes you have to hand it to capitalism. It's
sheer
> magic the way the system takes promising concepts, steeps them in the
> transformative power of the market � and turns them into howling
social
> and environmental disasters.
>
> Take biofuels, for example. With fossil fuels warming the planet, why
> not, indeed, take advantage of the fact that plants use carbon dioxide
> from the atmosphere to produce sugars and oils that can be turned into
> substitutes for petrol and diesel?
>
> We all know where that finished up. A big chunk of the US corn crop
was
> distilled into grain ethanol. Corn prices soared on the extra demand,
> increasing costs for a broad range of food production. Anyone unable
to
> pay went hungry. When US drivers filled up with bio-ethanol, they were
> in effect burning the /tortillas/ of the Mexican poor.
>
> But is the technology the problem? Or the system?
>
> http://links.org.au/node/1060
>
> Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at
> http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373
>
> You can also follow Links on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

May 21, 2009 -- Sometimes you have to hand it to capitalism. It�s sheer
magic the way the system takes promising concepts, steeps them in the
transformative power of the market � and turns them into howling social
and environmental disasters.

Take biofuels, for example. With fossil fuels warming the planet, why
not, indeed, take advantage of the fact that plants use carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere to produce sugars and oils that can be turned into
substitutes for petrol and diesel?

We all know where that finished up. A big chunk of the US corn crop was
distilled into grain ethanol. Corn prices soared on the extra demand,
increasing costs for a broad range of food production. Anyone unable to
pay went hungry. When US drivers filled up with bio-ethanol, they were
in effect burning the /tortillas/ of the Mexican poor.

But is the technology the problem? Or the system?

http://links.org.au/node/1060

Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

via GreensMPs -->
Calling Australia's women: 1 million women climate campaign launched

The '1 million women' campaign for climate action was launched in Sydney today,
with Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, as one of the
ambassadors for the campaign.
http://greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/calling-australias-women-1-million\
-women-climate-campaign-launched

website to register: http://www.1millionwomen.com.au

Facebook Fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/1-Million-Women-Campaign/211657000392

I has certainly been a big week for Climate Change Issues!
Below is a great summary found on the Climate Emergency Network =
climateemergencynetwork@yahoogroups.com
Posted by David Spratt

Climate change media to 19 May 2009
A weekly service of CarbonEquity and the Climate Action Centre Melbourne
www.carbonequity.info

To subscribe to this list (one email per week) send blank email to
carbonequityproject-subscribe@...

PICKS OF THE WEEK �������
���� The Global Warming Debate
A Layman's Guide to the Science and Controversy
http://cce.890m.com/
AND
Skeptical Science
http://www.skepticalscience.com

���� Action needed on zero carbon targets: ACT Liberals
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/12/2568407.htm
ABC News, 12 May 2009
The ACT Liberals say the Government should be focussing on cutting
carbon emissions in the short term, instead of setting long term
targets.

���� Voluntary Actions and the Rudd Government's changes to its
proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction System
http://bravenewclimate.com/2009/05/15/voluntary-actions-cprs-changes
Tim Kelly, Brave New Climate, 15 May 2009
The Federal Government has not fully understood the problems of
voluntary actions under its CPRS, and its proposed mechanisms for
voluntary action are unrealistic, contradictory (therefore self
cancelling), unfair and ineffective.

���� Fears of collapse as coral reefs feel the heat
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/fears-of-collapse-as-coral-reef\
s-feel-the-heat-20090512-b1u3.html
Marian Wilkinson, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 2009
THE most spectacular stretch of coral reefs on the planet is in danger
of collapse from climate change, overfishing and pollution, according
to a report being presented today at the World Oceans Conference in
Indonesia.

���� Climate change: biggest health risk of 21st century
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242266/climate-change-biggest-\
health
James Murray, BusinessGreen, 14 May 2009
Lancet report warns that increased incidence of tropical diseases,
food shortages, natural disasters and heatwaves threaten global
humanitarian and economic disaster

ENERGY AND INNOVATION-------------------

Transport for all need not cost $600b: expert
http://www.smh.com.au/national/transport-for-all-need-not-cost-600b-expert-20090\
515-b62n.html
Andrew West, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 May 2009
A sweeping, multibillion-dollar transport plan, to be unveiled next
week, would link almost every home, office and university in Sydney to
upgraded train, tram and bus services within 30 years.

'Rebound effects' of energy efficiency could halve carbon savings,
says study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/14/rebound-effects-energy-efficie\
ncy
Alok Jha, The Guardian, 14 May 2009
Research urges governments and climate policymakers to look beyond
simple energy solutions and consider the indirect and economy-wide
effects when forming legislation.

Throwing good money after bad energy
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25476356-5017909,00.html
Olga Galacho, Herald-Sun, 14 May 2009
Will Martin Ferguson ever pull his head out of the coal pit and see
the light?

A potential breakthrough in harnessing the Sun's energy
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8887
David Bielle, Online Opinion, 13 May 2009
In the high desert of southern Spain, not far from Granada, the
Mediterranean sun bounces off large arrays of precisely curved mirrors
that cover an area as large as 70 soccer fields.

Growth of Renewables Transforms Global Energy Picture
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2009/2009-05-13-01.asp
ENS, 13 May 2009
In 2008 for the first time, more renewable energy than conventional
power capacity was added in both the European Union and United States,
showing a "fundamental transition" of the world's energy markets
towards renewable energy, finds a report released today by REN21, a
global renewable energy policy network based in Paris

CPRS/CARBON TRADING DEBATE------------------------

From a theory to a consensus on emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/us/politics/17cap.html
John M. Broder. New Yprk Times, 16 May 2009
How did cap and trade become the policy of choice in the debate over
how to slow the heating of the planet? And how did it come to eclipse
the idea of simply slapping a tax on energy consumption?

Climate protest over Kevin Rudd's ETS halts Sydney traffic
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25491732-2702,00.html
The Australian, 16 May 2009
About 200 climate change activists rallied in central Sydneytoday to
protest against the Rudd Government's emissions trading scheme

Scientists back climate bill despite target doubts
http://www.theage.com.au/national/scientists-back-climate-bill-despite-target-do\
ubts-20090513-b3a0.html
Adam Morton, The Age, 14 May 2009
Australia's leading climate scientists believe the Federal Government
is not doing enough to cut greenhouse emissions. But they want its
climate legislation quickly passed in Parliament anyway.

Protesters scale Parliament
http://media.smh.com.au/national/breaking-news/protesters-scale-parliament-51693\
8.html

POLITICS AND POLICY------------------------

China will have to help save the planet
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/china-will-have-to-help-save-the-planet-2009051\
7-b7ay.html
Paul Krugman, The Age, 18 May 2009
It is unfair to expect China to live within constraints that we didn't
have to face when our own economy was on its way up. But that
unfairness doesn't change the fact that letting China match the West's
past profligacy would doom the planet as we know it.

The public deserves the full picture on climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/may/14/nasa-scientist-clima\
te-change
Gavin Schmidt, The Guardian, 14 May 2009
Simplistic stories and clich� pictures of polar bears have failed to
engage people in the true debate, says Nasa scientist

Crowd spells out feeling about climate change
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/crowd-spells-out-feeling-about-climate-chan\
ge-20090517-b7dc.html
Adam Morton, The Age, 18 May 2009
Protest organisers said 5000 people gathered on St Kilda beach to
spell out their frustration with the Federal Government's climate
change policies.

Treating climate change as a security threat
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-13-military-global-warming/
Geoffrey Lean, Gristmill, 13 May 2009
Old soldiers, as they say, never die�and at 97 the legendary
Vietnamese Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap seems intent on proving the point.

Earth to Exxon: "Be a Mammal, not a Dinosaur"
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/blog/2009/05/earth-to-exxon-be-a-mammal-not.\
html
Graham Cogley, 11 May 2009
Why don't they get the message? Environmentalists take different
approaches to putting the message across. Some have allowed
distinguished careers to evolve into activism.

Climate change items in the 2009 Federal Budget
http://bravenewclimate.com/2009/05/13/climate-change-items-i-the-2009-federal-bu\
dget/
Posted by Barry Brook on 13 May 2009
So, the Australian 2009-2010 Federal Budget is delivered. `Clean
energy' stands as one of the infrastructure centrepieces � an
investment that is hoped to both pull the economy out of recession and
get us on the pathway to a low carbon economy.

Environmentalists Attack House Global Warming Deal
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1898896,00.html
Michael Weisskopf, Time, 16 May 2009
If it's this hard for Democrats to agree on tough global warming
curbs, polar icecaps beware.

Gore talks about politics, polls and protests
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/05/15/15climatewire-gore-talks-about-politics-\
polls-and-protests-12208.html
Christa Marshall, New York Times, 15 May 2009
Former Vice President Al Gore has "not ruled out" engaging in civil
disobedience against new coal plants.

SCIENCE AND IMPACTS----------------------

Deep CO2 Cuts May Be Last Hope for Acid Oceans
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46869
Stephen Leahy, IPS, 15 May 2009
Ocean acidification offers the clearest evidence of dangers of climate
change.

Land clearances turned up the heat on Australian climate
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227084.700-land-clearances-turned-up-the\
-heat-on-australian-climate.html
New Scientist, 16 May 2009
DEFORESTATION by European settlers may be to blame for making
Australia's drought longer, hotter and dryer than it would be otherwise.

New Insight Into Decline Of Arctic Sea Ice Cover
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090514083753.htm
ScienceDaily, 15 May 2009
The mechanical behavior of the Arctic sea ice cover appears to favor
its rapid decline. Scientists from INSU-CNRS, Universit� J. Fourier
and Universit� de Savoie have analyzed the trajectories of drifting
buoys anchored in the ice and found that the mean drift rate and
deformation rate of Arctic sea ice has strongly increased over the
last three decades.

Drought and floods cut rice harvest back to 5pc
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25459210-30417,00.html
Asa Wahlquist, The Australian, 11 May 11, 2009
The rice harvest has been ravaged by both drought and flooding, with
the NSW Riverina expected to deliver just 5 per cent of its normal
output.

Huge Bolivian glacier disappears
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8046540.stm
James Painter, BBC News, 12 May 2009
Scientists in Bolivia say that one of the country's most famous
glaciers has almost disappeared as a result of climate change. The
Chacaltaya glacier, 5,300m up in the Andes, used to be the world's
highest ski run. But it has been reduced to just a few small pieces of
ice.

All dry on the western front
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25468050-30417,00.html
Cheryl Jones, The Australian, 13 May 2009
It has been labelled the cousin of El Nino, the Indian Ocean's
equivalent of the climatic engine in the Pacific that drives the cycle
of droughts and floods in Australia's southeast

If W. Antarctic Ice Sheet melts, how high will sea levels rise?
http://features.csmonitor.com/discoveries/2009/05/15/if-w-antarctic-ice-sheet-me\
lts-how-high-will-sea-levels-rise/
Pete Spotts, Christian Science Monitor, 15 May 2009
Jonathan Bamber scans his audience � a mix of young scientists-in-
training and graybeards � and asks: "If I melted the West Antarctic
Ice Sheet tomorrow, how much would sea level rise?

BOOKS-----------

The Carbon Diaries 2015
http://ecolibris.blogspot.com/2009/05/fridays-green-book-carbon-diaries-2015.htm\
l

Stern advice for Copenhagen
http://www.nature.com/climate/2009/0905/full/climate.2009.34.html

De-bunking Ian Plimer---
Kurt Lambeck president of the Australian Academy of Science and
professor of Geophysics at ANU
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/bst_20090427_0752.mp3
Prof Barry Brook's blog review:
http://bravenewclimate.com/2009/04/23/ian-plimer-heaven-and-earth/
Ian Enting from Melbourne Uni's refutation
http://bravenewclimate.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/plimer1a1.pdf
Tim Lambert's debunking at Deltoid
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/04/the_science_is_missing_from_ia.php
Ian Plimer lies about source of his figure 3
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/05/ian_plimer_lies_about_source_o.php

IN PICTURES------------------

Endangered Indonesian coral reefs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/may/13/marine-life-coral?pict\
ure=347327418

Scroll down to the Vodcast titled "Coal industry faces uncertain future [mp4]
[wmv] (19/05/2009)"
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/vodcast.htm

my sincere apologies to glp...

by *Richard York, Brett Clark* and *John Bellamy Foster*



In a recent essay, �Economics Needs a Scientific Revolution�, in one of

the leading scientific journals, /Nature/, physicist Jean-Philippe

Bouchaud, a researcher for an investment management company, asked

rhetorically, �What is the flagship achievement of economics?�

Bouchaud�s answer: �Only its recurrent inability to predict and avert

crises�.[1]



Although his discussion is focused on the current worldwide financial

crisis, his comment applies equally well to mainstream economic

approaches to the environment � where, for example, ancient forests are

seen as non-performing assets to be liquidated, and clean air and water

are luxury goods for the affluent to purchase at their discretion. The

field of economics in the United States has long been dominated by

thinkers who unquestioningly accept the capitalist status quo and,

accordingly, value the natural world only in terms of how much

short-term profit can be generated by its exploitation. As a result, the

inability of received economics to cope with or even perceive the global

ecological crisis is alarming in its scope and implications.



http://links.org.au/node/1053



Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at

http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373



You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism


_________________________________________________________________
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Unfortunately economists are so blinkered they have not yet grasped
the fact that the economy is a subset of the environment - namely no
environment = no economy


rainbird@...




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Kofi :-)

The link you supplied took me to an excellent article:
http://wwwghanapolitics.blogspot.com/2009/04/let-us-preserve-atewa-range-rain-fo\
rest.html very good blog, well done and thank you.

Unfortunately the petition noted at the end of the article:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-ghanas-atewa-forest
is now closed.
What a shame, I would have been happy to cross promote it. If it is your
petition can you extend/re-open it? Otherwise, perhaps you would like to start a
new petition using some of the words from your blog?
I would be happy to share such a petition with my internet friends.
I wish you success in this worthy campaign to save the rainforests of your
region.

Cheers
Anne


--- In ClimateChangeAction@..., "Kofi Thompson"
<peakofithompson@...> wrote:
>
> Hello Anne and List,
>
> Many thanks to you, Anne. Hello List - I am sharing this with you, in the hope
that we might get some ideas that we could work with here, in our still
largely-pristine little and forested corner, of the planet Earth! :)
>
>
>
> " Dear Kofi,
> I suggest you post your message directly to the group. Your membership has
been approved ... welcome :-)
> Warm regards
> Anne
>
> ________________________________________
> Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 19:32:50 +0000
> From: peakofithompson@...
> Subject: Re: Yahoo! Groups: Welcome to ClimateChangeAction. Visit today!
> To: ClimateChangeAction-owner@...
> CC: marian@...; kaadam@...; wbonsu@...
> Dear Moderator,
>
> Many thanks for approving our request to join your global climate change
action group. Our family has farmed in parts of the Eastern Region of Ghana
since 1914 from the British colonial era, when our grandfather bought his first
farm (at Ntchawra, near Adukrom-Akwapim).
>
> At the moment, we are desperate to find a way to get the fringe forest
community at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, which lies at the foothills of the Atiwa
mountain range, to see the benefits of conservation, at a time of global climate
change. The rain forest there (where one of the only two uplands evergreen
forest reserves in Ghana is located) is under threat from illegal loggers, and
more ominously, recently, from renewed surface gold mining.
>
> Many farmers at Akim Abuakwa Juaso have sold their land to the mining company
(Solar Mining) operating in the area, mainly because they are so desperately
poor. Consequently, we are keen to find a way of leveraging some of the schemes
that pay landowners for conservation and for eco-systems services � so that they
can see that it can benefit them financially to hold on to their farmland and
conserve the rain forest at Juaso. Perhaps you and the members of the list can
help us � by giving us some ideas as to how to proceed?
>
> You can read an article in my blog about the current situation prevailing at
our section of the Atiwa range rain forest:
http://wwwghanapolitics.blogspot.com/2009/04/let-us-preserve-atewa-range-rain-fo\
rest.html
>
> Thank you once again for allowing us to join your list - and regards.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Kofi."
>

Really brilliant...
http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/ClimateChangeAction/photos/album/1639542808/pic\
/list
thanks and acknowledgement to http://www.aerofoto.com.au
View complete set of pix from:
http://www.live.org.au/

Contact:
info@...

If you have thought of taking action on climate change, now is the time.
Drought, bush fires, floods and rising seas are already hitting hard. It's an
emergency and we need emergency action.

We can tackle the recession and climate change together. Direct investment in
renewable energy will create jobs, stimulate the economy and begin to create the
carbon-free economy of the future.

Rally demands:
--100% renewable energy by 2020--
Australia must make the shift from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy from
wind, solar and other available technologies.

--Green collar jobs not job cuts--
We can renew our economy by creating hundreds of thousands of 'green jobs' and
supporting workers to make a fair and just transition to sustainable industries.

-- Don't pass the Carbon Pollution law--
We need climate policies that make the big polluters pay and not allow big
companies to go on polluting. The CPRS won't reduce Australia's greenhouse
pollution.

--Protect Australia's Forests--
Logging and clearing vegetation are major contributors to climate change as
forests and woodlands are important carbon stores.

Only a strong and growing movement for change will make a difference.

Come with your friends and family to the Rally on June 13th. Help promote the
rally in your community

For more information:
http://www.climaterally.org/

To download the poster (to email/print):
http://www.climateactioncentre.org/sites/default/files/MelbRallyJune13.pdf

To donate to rally organising costs:
http://foe.org.au/donate/product_info.php?products_id=49&osCsid=mg8uj2f1b1ibof8a\
pmou9suc42

Hello Anne and List,

Many thanks to you, Anne. Hello List - I am sharing this with you, in the hope
that we might get some ideas that we could work with here, in our still
largely-pristine little and forested corner, of the planet Earth! :)



" Dear Kofi,
I suggest you post your message directly to the group. Your membership has been
approved ... welcome :-)
Warm regards
Anne

________________________________________
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 19:32:50 +0000
From: peakofithompson@...
Subject: Re: Yahoo! Groups: Welcome to ClimateChangeAction. Visit today!
To: ClimateChangeAction-owner@...
CC: marian@...; kaadam@...; wbonsu@...
Dear Moderator,

Many thanks for approving our request to join your global climate change action
group. Our family has farmed in parts of the Eastern Region of Ghana since 1914
from the British colonial era, when our grandfather bought his first farm (at
Ntchawra, near Adukrom-Akwapim).

At the moment, we are desperate to find a way to get the fringe forest community
at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, which lies at the foothills of the Atiwa mountain range,
to see the benefits of conservation, at a time of global climate change. The
rain forest there (where one of the only two uplands evergreen forest reserves
in Ghana is located) is under threat from illegal loggers, and more ominously,
recently, from renewed surface gold mining.

Many farmers at Akim Abuakwa Juaso have sold their land to the mining company
(Solar Mining) operating in the area, mainly because they are so desperately
poor. Consequently, we are keen to find a way of leveraging some of the schemes
that pay landowners for conservation and for eco-systems services � so that they
can see that it can benefit them financially to hold on to their farmland and
conserve the rain forest at Juaso. Perhaps you and the members of the list can
help us � by giving us some ideas as to how to proceed?

You can read an article in my blog about the current situation prevailing at our
section of the Atiwa range rain forest:
http://wwwghanapolitics.blogspot.com/2009/04/let-us-preserve-atewa-range-rain-fo\
rest.html

Thank you once again for allowing us to join your list - and regards.

Best wishes,

Kofi."

Thanks to Mira Wroblewski
http://globalclimatechangeaction.org/SydneyRally

- URGENT RALLY:
> It's time to stand up to big polluters
> 10am, Saturday 16 May
> Sydney Town Hall
>
> IT'S TIME to:
> * Stop handouts to big polluters
> * End the influence of the fossil fuel lobby
> * Fast-track clean, renewable energy
> * Create green jobs and protect the climate

Public Forum...

When: 6.30 pm - 8.30 pm, Friday 15 May 2009
Where: Ferguson Hall, St Stephens Uniting Church, Macquarie St Sydney

Senator Bob Brown, Leader of Australian Greens: climate change & the political
will to transform the economy

Cate Faehrmann, Executive Director, Nature Conservation Council of NSW:
harnessing community action to create the political will

Geoff Evans, University of Newcastle: ensuring a just transition for workers

Hosted by: Ian Cohen MLC. All welcome.

RSVP: jocelyn.howden@...

URGENT RALLY:
It's time to stand up to big polluters
10am, Saturday 16 May
Sydney Town Hall

IT'S TIME to:
* Stop handouts to big polluters
* End the influence of the fossil fuel lobby
* Fast-track clean, renewable energy
* Create green jobs and protect the climate

Join this peaceful community protest to oppose the Federal Government's recent
moves to weaken the already inadequate Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

Speakers include Cate Faehrmann (Nature Conservation Council of NSW), Senator
Bob Brown (The Greens), Simon Sheikh (GetUp!), Graham Brown (ex-Hunter Valley
coal miner and climate change activist) and more.

Enough is Enough when it comes to the undue influence of big polluters over
decisions being made on climate change.

For more information see climatemovement.org.au or call (02) 9279 2466.

Can you help out on 16 May? Please contact Jonathan Boys on (02) 9279 2466 or
email: jboys@...

Getup Campaign to tell the ALP to GET REAL on climate solutions.... please spare
a minute to add your name -
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/ClimateActionNow&id=638?dc=719%2C528995%2C2

"Invest more in renewable energy than you hand out to big polluters."

By *David Spratt *

May 5, 2009 -- Kevin Rudd's announced changes to the proposed Carbon
Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) has again split the climate movement,
and this time it's very serious, with three large, rusted-on-to-Labor
[Party] groups running cover for an appalling policy that won't
guarantee a reduction in Australian emissions for decades.

The grassroots movement which gathered in Canberra in January 2009, with
500 people and 150 groups, for the first national Climate Action Summit
and unanimously opposed the CPRS legislation, appears uniformly angry.
Sixty-six climate action groups have written to the Prime Minister Kevin
Rudd saying that: �We believe that you have abandoned your duty of care
to protect the Australian people as well as our species and habitats
from dangerous climate change.�

Full article at http://links.org.au/node/1035

Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

Submission by *Republic of Bolivia *to the Ad Hoc Working Group on
Long-term Cooperative Action under the [UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change] (AWG-LCA)

The climate debt of developed countries must be repaid, and this payment
must begin with the outcomes to be agreed in Copenhagen.
Developing countries are not seeking economic handouts to solve a
problem we did not cause. What we call for is full payment of the debt
owed to us by developed countries for threatening the integrity of the
Earth�s climate system, for over-consuming a shared resource that
belongs fairly and equally to all people, and for maintaining lifestyles
that continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of the poor majority
of the planet�s population. This debt must be repaid by freeing up
environmental space for developing countries and particular the poorest
communities.
There is no viable solution to climate change that is effective without
being equitable. Deep emission reductions by developed countries are a
necessary condition for stabilising the Earth�s climate. So too are
profoundly larger transfers of technologies and financial resources than
so far considered, if emissions are to be curbed in developing countries
and they are also to realise their right to development and achieve
their overriding priorities of poverty eradication and economic and
social development. Any solution that does not ensure an equitable
distribution of the Earth�s limited capacity to absorb greenhouse gases,
as well as the costs of mitigating and adapting to climate change, is
destined to fail.

Full article at http://links.org.au/node/1022

Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

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Dear Friends,
 
Greetings from Water Initiatives Orissa !
 
As you are kindly aware, Water Initiatives Orissa(WIO) and the Indian River
Network(IRN) organsied the Odisha River Conference during 18 - 20 April 2009 at
Sambalpur, Odisha.  Participated by about 75 participants which included
activists, environmentalists, journalists, acamedicians, researchers and civil
society representatives from across the country, the Conference has just
concluded with a "Sambalpur Declaration" that calls for saving the rivers from
the current fate of high rate of degradation and giving communities their
traditional rights over the rivers, among other strong resolutions. 
 
We are pasting below the Declaration that calls for urgent attention to save the
rivers from further decaying.  We need your support to strenghen the network
and the activities envisaged in the Declaration. 
 
Looking forward to your support and cooperation.
 
With thanks and regards,
Sincerely,
 
Ranjan K Panda
Convenor, Water Initiatives Orissa

====================

Let the rivers flow….
Lets culture the habit of living with floods and coping to disasters, again !

 Let the rivers flow for them who love and live with (on) them
Key Resolutions of the Odisha River Conference
18-20 of April 2009
Sambalpur
==========
·         To conduct further studies to understand the importance of
rivers of Orissa – especially the socio-economic, ecological and cultural
dependence of the people of Orissa on the rivers.  And, to disseminate these
information among the communities and all concerned for the conservation of
rivers.
 
·         To establish a network of people and institutions so as to
work as a support system for conservation of rivers of Orissa and establish
people’s right over it, emphasizing riparian rights.
 
·         To document people’s institutions of water governance;
people’s knowledge on river management and work towards integrating those in
river basin planning and management.  To do this, initiate processes towards
community based and ecologically viable river basin governance that builds up
from below and where the traditional/customary as well as new panchayati raj
institutions also have a proper stake.
 
·         To pressurize the policy makers to have a fresh
water/ecological impact assessment of all dams and industrial projects that are
affecting the river systems and work towards advocating decommissioning of dams
and such industrial projects if necessary for maintaining and sustaining the
ecological health of the rivers and socio-economic-cultural benefit of
communities dependent on the same. 
 
·         To advocate for non-allocation of river and reservoir water
to industries and for allocation of the same to drinking water and irrigation.
 
·         To study pollution of rivers due to industrialization,
urbanization and other such reasons and work towards raising more awareness on
such negative impacts at the community level.  Also, to advocate for non
establishment of mineral and water intensive industries near the river systems
and at the cost of ecology. 
 
·         To work towards conserving the river eco-systems and their
catchments and promote basin based development approach.
 
·         To endeavour to revive the traditional water harvesting and
management systems and practices; for making policies that promote small
irrigation structures and rain water harvesting systems.
 
·         To study new threats like climate change and work towards
creating large scale awareness and community based adaptation systems.  In
this, working like a support organization that facilitates synergy between
people, experts and other such people and institutions concerned towards
conservation of the river ecology and sustainable living of the people dependent
on these. 
 
·         To study/monitor the role of and impact by grants/loan of
multi lateral finance institutions like the World Bank and ADB on the river
systems of Odisha and take the same to all sections of the society to be able to
properly generate public opinion and action to modify/stop such projects.
 
·         To propagate for management of flood rather than controlling
the same. Work towards developing the culture of living with floods.  In the
process call for increasing the number of small water reservoirs/bodies and link
them to the flood flow for proper cushioning.  Also promote suitable
ecologically sustainable agricultural practices.
 
·         To work towards combating drought and other disasters in
approaches where the communities take the lead and ecology is used as an
enabling and ever increasing factor rather than being degraded in the process. 
 
·         To establish link with all other such networks in the state
and outside; to initiate all such actions and advocacy efforts from time to time
that are required to save the rivers of Odisha from further degradation; to
revive the dying rivers and to conserve and river eco-systems. 
For further information, please contact:
 
Ranjan K Panda
Convenor, Water Initiatives Orissa
Cell: 09437050103
E-mail: ranjanpanda@...
 
Arttabandhu Mishra
Chairperson, Indian River Network



--
Ranjan K Panda
Dhanupali, Sambalpur 768005, Orissa, INDIA
Mobile:




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Letter sent to info@... (Anna Bligh) & http://www.kevinpm.com.au/
(Kevin Rudd contact form)

Please write a note of encouragement.

Dear Prime Minister Rudd

I read that the ALP is considering walking away from using our taxes to continue
funding research into clean coal, an unproven technology. I would applaud such a
decision particularly if said funds went into clean energy solutions such as
solar, wind and geothermal. Below is some information on Geothermal Energy, a
proven (clean) base load energy supply.

Geothermal Report @ April 23, 2009

What is Geothermal Power?
1. http://www.nevadageothermal.com/i/pdf/what_is_geothermal_power_feb_09.pdf
2. http://geothermal.marin.org/geoenergy.html

What's the latest?
1. Western Australia - Panax Geothermal Project:
http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/minerals/press_and_events/news_releases/sa_govt_welcome\
s_panax_geothermal_project
2.
http://www.nevadageothermal.com/s/News.asp?ReportID=342560&_Type=News&_Title=Com\
pletes-Successful-Production-Well-Drilling-for-Blue-Mountain-Faulkner-1-...
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4846574.stm
4. http://hotrock.anu.edu.au/
5.
http://alt-energystocks.com/blog/2008/08/07/geothermal-leases-up-400-in-blm-auct\
ion-start-up-corp-captures-35/

Show me some proven Geothermal plants:
1. In Iceland 17% of all electricity is generated from geothermal energy.
Further info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Iceland
2. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/las_vegas_does_1.php
3.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/HotSpringsAndGeothermalEnergy/Geothermal\
Energy/3/en

Strategic Plan for Geothermal Energy:
International Energy Agency: Geothermal Implementation Agreement
GIA Strategic Plan 2007-2012
http://www.iea-gia.org/documents/StrategicPlan2007-2012Final16Nov06secure.doc"
\t "_blank"

Other important publications on Geothermal Energy from the International Energy
Agency website:
http://www.iea-gia.org/publications.asp

Finally, I read here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/energy_and_environment/ a
"Use it or Lose It" Policy approach to existing oil and gas leases (Energy &
Environment Policy - the White House). Geothermal Land Leases (and freeholds)
should be under the same scrutiny.

I thank you for your time and look forward to hearing back on the outcome of
this important decision.

CO2 to Methanol <http://www.physorg.com/news159098987.html>



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Weaning China off coal
<http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/137299/can_china%27s_wind_pow\
er_save_the_planet_/>



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