Climate poses conflict threat in South Asia

Posted on June 5, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

South Asia.. 4% of world’s land area and 1.7 Billion people.. 20% of global population, is one of the most environmentally-challenged areas on Earth…also one of the most politically unstable.. with regional rivalries – particularly between India and Pakistan – threatening to lead to military conflict…unless there is regional co-operation to tackle impacts of climate change, conflict could break out…suffering for tens of millions of people…April temperatureswere up to 5°C above long-term average… hundreds of people have died, and more than 300 million enduring serious drought…India and Pakistan to demilitarise the glaciers in the Himalayas. Every year, both countries spend millions of dollars maintaining military installations and troops in the mountains – activities that are leading to ecological degradation.

<Imagine military cooperation for peace instead of hanging back until conflict? Lets not forget that climate change is key trigger to war/refugees in all of Middle East >

>more> Climate News Network

>more> also India applies real, not pretend Green Army, for forest rehab

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100% Renewables is doable, but when will we see it done?

Posted on June 5, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

..note acceleration of uptake of new product lines over time; smart phones being steepest… <Problem> is not just government attacks .. big three power retailers capital strike against RE … Power Purchasing Agreements (PPA)…paper that make wind farms bankable locking down a fixed capacity and/or price for power over the 20 years a project needs to provide a financial return…There’s a moral imperative and urgency that says we all must do as much as we can to save what’s left of a safe climate. In a democracy, our governments in particular don’t get a pass for ensuring we deploy RE “as soon as policy measures can deliver it”. The invisible hand of our energy market is what’s hindering the rapid deployment of solar and wind power. If it’s not government’s job to fix this failing, then whose?

<when indeed?

>more> MediumCorporation

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China encourages citizens to eat less meat

Posted on June 5, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

Australian meat sales to China surged six-fold in three years to a record $917 million in 2015..volume of beef rose more than 4 times … while the price 37% in the past 12 months..meat consumption alone comes to about 62 kg per capita annually, while dietary guidelines would limit it to just over 27 kilograms…However environmentalists argue if the reductions recommended by the guidelines were to actually occur, it could be a major win for the environment. Agriculture is one of the primary contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, and the meat industry – and particularly beef production – is one of the biggest culprits. In addition to huge amounts of land, water and food required to raise livestock, cattle are infamous for belching large quantities of methane into the atmosphere. And cattle raising, in particular, is known for being a major contributor to deforestation, which also drives up global carbon emissions.

<also 800,000 poddy calves slaughtered each year, to keep our dairy farmers in(or out!) of business chasing export business for Murray Goulburn and Fonterra>

>more> TheAge

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Launch of Investment offer for Lismore Community Solarfarm

Posted on June 4, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

There are two solar projects being launched at the same time. Each community company (see below for more details) will release a private investment offer to raise funds to lend to Lismore City Council who in turn will build and operate the solarfarms.

<How about this for a breakthrough? Much needed in VIC>

>more> Farming the Sun

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EV train – batteries included!

Posted on June 4, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

After a gap of more than 50 years, battery-powered train technology has returned to Britain’s rail network. Between Jan 2015 and mid February the new vehicle, known as the Independently Powered Electric Multiple Unit (IPEMU), will run in a weekday timetable service between Harwich International and Manningtree stations in Essex.

train1

A number of tramway manufacturers are offering battery railcars that combine the traction battery with a super capacitor, which enables very rapid charge at each stop. The main motivation for the usage of battery-powered tramways is to avoid overhead wires across a city. Using boost charging at each stop allows to lower the size of the required traction battery.

more> TheEngineerUK
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Climate Catastrophe will hit Tropics around 2020, rest of World around 2047

Posted on June 3, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

Study soon be published in the scientific journal Nature…explains reason is that countries near the equator have far less variability in their weather than do the moderate-climate countries, and so the species that constitute the ecosystems there cannot tolerate temperatures outside their narrow range, which has existed within that narrow range for thousands of years. Consequently, species-extinctions will soar there much faster and earlier than here. The existing impoverished economies, within around 2,500 miles of the equator (where average per-capita incomes are less than 10% of the average in the moderate-latitude countries such as ours), will become unliveable.  From now on, efforts to reduce climate-change will be efforts to reduce the extent of the catastrophe, not to prevent the catastrophe.

>more> HuffingtonPost

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Temperature Spiral Update – Not Pretty.

Posted on June 3, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

Expanded to 2100 based on current projectionsImage of simulated global temperature change

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Legal petition pushes President Obama to declare climate emergency

Posted on June 3, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

The petition filing comes two days before the landmark climate agreement reached last year is signed in New York. The president signed an omnibus bill lifting the 40-year-old export ban in December, less than a week after agreeing to the Paris climate accord.

>more> ClimateEmergencyDeclaration

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Bizzaro World: Science Committee Pushing Exxon Agenda

Posted on June 3, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

The operative memes are “first amendment”, and “free speech” – the perverse application of which we saw when Tobacco industry executives defended their right to lie under oath to Congress – an interpretation that the energy industry defended at the time. – perhaps anticipating a time like this.
In this fun-house version of the constitution, telling people the poison you’re selling them is perfectly safe – is “free speech” – and lying to legal authorities about it is “protected”.

<Of course, Australia had ex-Attorney General Brandis proclaim bigotry as Ok but USA is surely the leader on legalised porkies>

>more> ClimateCrocks

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Renewable energy versus nuclear: dispelling the myths

Posted on June 2, 2016 by groundswellbasscoast

Highly recommended analysis by Mark Diesndorf UNSW – This article, a sequel to one busting the myth that we need base-load power stations such as nuclear or coal, examines critically some of the other myths about nuclear energy and RE. It offers a resource for those who wish to question these myths. The myths discussed here have been drawn from comments by nuclear proponents and RE opponents in the media, articles, blogs and on-line comments… Not one Generation 4 power reactor – e.g. fast breeder, integral fast reactor (IFR), small modular reactor – is commercially available. (World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2015) So it can be argued that modern nuclear energy is not ready… Not one high-level waste permanent repository is operating in the world. Development of the proposed US repository at Yucca Mountain in the USA was terminated after expenditure of $13.5 billion..wind of 10–20 g/kWh and for natural gas 500–600 g/kWh… As ore-grade inevitably declines, fossil fuel used to mine (with diesel fuel) and mill uranium increases and so do the resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Lenzen calculates that, when low-grade uranium ore is used, the life-cycle GHG emissions will increase to 131 g/kWh…Most of the RE technologies are commercially available, affordable and environmentally sound. There is no fundamental technical or economic reason for delaying the transition.

>more> RenewEconomy

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