Latest extreme weather in Oregon and Africa as well as Iran. How about this for PM Abbott’s never ending campaign peddling “fear”?
>more> ClimateCrocks
PV Tech is reporting that Saudi Electric Company has agreed to build a 50MW solar PV power project under a power purchase agreement paying a rate per kWh or US$49 per megawatt-hour (MWh) without any additional subsidy…companies are already co-operating on another 40 MW solar project as part of a desalination plant…The projects forms part of a broader $145 billion push by the Saudi Government to invest in solar power to free-up more oil for the more lucrative export market instead of domestic power generation.
Accustomed to seeing 30 odd cents/kWh on our electricity bills, solar here is 4.9cents!!
>more> ClimateSpectator
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More detail about this really inspirational presentation. Such an unlikely story was explained by sequence of events:
– big recruitment campaign, mass gathering email addresses, during 2009 International Climate Change Day
-investigation, leading to successful prepay, delivery and install of 50,000 solar PV systems
– proceeds enabled other activities, exploration of legal angles being just one
– conventional wisdom judged it a “hopeless case” but winning case was that, much as we expect that even our toothless EPA can enforce The Law, to protect Citizens from seriously polluting excesses of big business, in exactly the same way, The Law protects us, from excesses and recalcitrance, outranking Policies of government of the day.
– Exact penalties are yet to be determined but currently serving politicians and civil servants are liable if it can be demonstrated that their conduct was inadequate, and/or guilty of “wilful blindness”, disregarding current science, international legal precedents and other data leading to future catastrophe caused by climate change.
– following the win, almost immediately, RET for Nederlands increased from 4 to 25% by 2020.
At Q&A time, one local government councillor asked the panel if, other than a citizen group, a local government body, might have equal or stronger status against State or Federal government? Another, especially in apprehension of ISID powers of impending TPP, asked if attention is needed, sooner rather than later, to foreign owned power stations paying royalty more sensible than less than $1/tonne brown coal.
Environmental Justice Australia and Melbourne University Law School Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law are pleased to present a seminar with Ms Marjan Minnesma, the Director of The Urgenda Foundation. Ms Minnesma’s piece ‘Australia; Leader or Laggard?’ will also include information on Dutch organisation Urgenda’s recent landmark climate change case in the Netherlands.
Co-founder and director of Urgenda, Marjan Minnesma has been named ‘most influential person in the field of sustainability’ in the Netherlands in three consecutive years (2011-2013) by newspaper Trouw. Marjan has worked in the business and NGO world, as well as for leading Dutch universities, amongst others as the director of the Institute for Transitions at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
Urgenda’s climate case forced the Dutch government to adopt more stringent climate policies, requiring them to take more effective climate action to reduce the Netherlands’ share of global emissions. This is the first time a court has ordered a state to take precautions against climate change.
>more> Envirojustice
At ALP National Conference, it was a big crowd, especially in support of Bill Shorten announcing 50% renewable by 2030. Did you register promise to adopt EU emission regulations for cars? Now how about following the lead of others, up to and including China, about recycling cars on 5th birthday? The Yes 2 Renewables sign, up behind Mr Albanese is held by Bernie.
The Victorian Government is asking the community what climate laws they want for Victoria. Environmental Justice Australia, in conjunction with Australian Conservation Foundation, Environment Victoria and Friends of the Earth, is proposing a Victorian Climate Charter…proposed Climate Charter sets up a legal framework to ensure Victoria is proactively addressing climate change. The framework will make Victoria a world leader on climate change. It will ensure Victoria can significantly reduce its emissions, and make its best effort to adapt to unavoidable climate impacts…Charter includes emission reduction targets which the Government is legally required to meet, a ‘climate test’ which prevents Government from ignoring the target, and power for Victorian citizens to take the Government to court if it doesn’t comply with its own climate laws.
View the Proposal for a Victorian Climate Charter (PDF, 575KB)
…steps the Victorian government should take to deliver that leadership:
>more> Report download from Environment Vic
“Numbers numb, while stories sell.”…“We don’t deal well with numbers, it tends to suspend our sense of emotion, but we respond very, very well to stories,” Maibach continued. “Individual stories will almost always trump a litany of statistics.”..“My hope is that today is an important milestone in public health communication,” he said, “to help people understand that climate change is a major threat to our health and a major opportunity for us to build a better America and better world where we can all live in better health.”
>more> ThinkProgress
“Coal mining is really important, but we know these huge, dirty eyesores can have a pretty significant impact on the landscape. So I want to reassure those of you living in the area that your new mine will not feature any of them; not a single wind turbine,” Mr Hunt said.
>more> The Shovel
How about one of these for Victoria, to be able to quote exact wind power, to prove potential sites?
How Indonesia’s mangroves, some of which grow to 50 metres in height, store 3.14 billion tonnes of carbon…one-third of the carbon stored in Earth’s coastal ecosystems.. ..threat…last 30 years, 40% of these coastal forests have gone, and annual rate of loss now about 52,000 hectares…current rate of destruction means 190 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) emitted annually…42% of world’s annual emissions from the destruction of coastal ecosystem services − marshes, mangroves and sea grasses…within mangrove forest, channels become shallower through organic matter, from trees and sediment trapping (caused by mangroves), and sea bed begins to rise…modelling sea level rise, ability of mangrove forest to create a buffer between sea and land occurs even when the area is subjected to potential sea level rises of up to 0.5mm per year.
>more> ClimateNewsNetwork
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