Tony Abbott’s political opponents have seized on confirmation that 2013 was Australia’s hottest year on record, arguing it should compel the prime minister to abandon his plans to scrap the nation’s carbon pricing laws.

Labor and the Greens used the latest Bureau of Meteorology records to demand the Abbott government rethink its policies on climate change. The acting Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, branded Abbott a “reckless ideologue who ignores the science and is intent on listening to people who are part of the tinfoil hat brigade”.

Abbott went to the election in September with a promise to scrap the carbon tax and replace it with his “direct action” policy – including tree planting and an emissions reduction fund to provide incentives for cutting greenhouse gas output.

Labor and the Greens have refused to support the carbon price repeal bills in the upper house, making it likely Abbott will have to wait until the new Senate composition takes effect in July to pass the laws. Labor maintains its support for an emissions trading scheme and advocates moving from the current fixed carbon price to a lower, floating price this July – a year earlier than legislated by the Gillard government.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/03/abbott-urged-to-rethink-climate-policy

The scorching heatwave gripping much of Queensland will be felt in Brisbane tomorrow, with residents set to roast in temperatures of up to 41 degrees Celsius.

Queensland's interior has been sweltering through record-breaking heat in recent days, along with parts of Central Australia and north-western New South Wales.

The heatwave comes as a Bureau of Meteorology report reveals 2013 was the hottest year on record in Australia.

The mass of hot air causing the extreme weather again led to searing temperatures in central and western Queensland on Friday.

St George topped the temperature list with 47.2C, while Winton and Longreach also had scorchers at 46.4C and 46.3C respectively.

Charleville followed on 46.1C, while Blackall, Roma and Thargomindah all recorded temperatures just above 45C.

Brisbane's top for Friday was 34.3C, but the mercury is predicted to reach 41C tomorrow as northerly winds push the heatwave south.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-03/brisbane-set-to-roast-as-heatwave-continues/5184242

Under the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, Australia could be forced to pay foreign corporations not to dig up or destroy its coastline or native forests, writes Tom Warne-Smith.

What would you do if an international company decided to stick a toxic waste dump next to your house? Lodging an objection with your council is a good start - but what if the company could claim millions of dollars in damages if the council said no?

That's exactly what happened in Mexico when the municipality of Guadalcazar refused to issue a permit to build a waste dump because of the impact on the 800 surrounding residents and $16.6 million in 'compensation' was awarded to the dump's US owners.

Get ready, because the laws that let this happen are coming to Australia too.

A range of experts have recently highlighted the alarming potential consequences of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). This 'free trade' agreement between countries will more than likely contain secretive Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses, allowing foreign companies to sue national governments when changes to domestic laws affect the company's investments, and so limiting governments in the regulations they can make to protect the public.

A lot has already been said about the disastrous effects of these clauses on public health initiatives, like plain packaging for cigarettes. While the thought of paying Philip Morris so Australia can have a law to protect the health of Australians is bad enough, the effects on our environment could also be devastating.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-09/warne-smith-the-environment-will-pay-for-free-trade/5192156

Meanwhile:

Though anti-smoking campaigns have seen significant successes in many countries, including the United States, the sheer number of tobacco smokers worldwide has actually increased, according to a new study from the University of Washington.

Between 1980 and 2012, the rate of smoking globally decreased from 26% to 18.7%, but the total number of smokers actually increased to nearly 1 billion, the study says. The increase in the number of smokers worldwide is due to population growth—overall, fewer people smoke today (31% of men, for example) than smoked in 1980 (41% of men). The rate of smoking in the U.S. has plummeted from 42% in 1980 to 18% in 2012, and the total number of smokers has fallen over the same period from 52 million to 38 million. But in some large countries, including Indonesia and China, the number of smokers is increasing.

Gus: Anyone who follows my weather prediction would know that back in November I predicted at least four massive destructive storms for the UK. These predictions are not based on chooks entrails but on careful study of weather charts, weather dynamics and global warming. So far my predictions have been more than accurate.

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One man is dead and more than a 100,000 people are without power as storms and high winds batter Britain, bringing more misery to already flooded areas and causing widespread travel chaos.

Gusts of more than 160 kilometres per hour lashed western England and Wales on Thursday, Britain's Met Office said, while severe flood warnings remained in place for much of the south and west of Britain.

A man in his 70s died in a suspected electrocution after a tree brought down cables in Wiltshire, police said, while the Energy Networks Association, which represents energy companies, reported that about 130,000 customers had been left without power late on Wednesday (local time).

Parts of south-west England have been under water for weeks after the country's wettest January in nearly 250 years, and areas around the River Thames to the west of London have also been hit by flooding.

Emergency services say they have rescued more than 850 people from their homes along the Thames in Surrey since Sunday as the river rises to its highest level in places for more than 60 years.

The severe weather has led to major travel disruption with motorways and bridges closed, and many rail services cancelled.

"All customers to abandon travel #Ukstorm," Virgin Trains, which runs services to north-west England, wrote on its Twitter website on Wednesday night.

Prime minister David Cameron has promised that "money was no object" in the relief effort, with fears that there was more bad weather to come.

The British army officer leading the flood recovery efforts has described it as "an almost unparalleled natural crisis".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-13/one-dead-as-storms-batter-flooded-britain/5258850

MEANWHILE:

A huge winter storm is affecting the densely populated US north-east, after wreaking havoc in the South.

Across the typically mild South, more than half a million homes and businesses lack power, and thousands of flights have been cancelled.

The mammoth storm has affected people in about 22 states from Texas to Maine and caused at least 12 deaths.

The most crowded swathe of the US - between Washington DC and Boston - is braced for up to 8in (20cm) of snow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26165335

This winter storm (the third one this year) in the east of America is deemed of "historical proportion" like the one in Britain... Idiots won't realise that these two capers including the heat waves in Australia are related to increase in global warming. Scientists won't say so openly because "it is impossible to prove" yet... But scientists know the intensity of "historical storms" and their increased frequency is in line with climate change predictions from computer models of global warming. 

Meanwhile, doing the email rounds and twitter,  a chart of Britain flooded in 2100 lifted a few eye brows... The chart of course was made with sea levels having risen one hundred metres which is not out of the question by 2650 considering the amount of extra CO2 released in the atmosphere by human activity... The sea level rise predicted by 2100 by most computer models is between 45 and 90 centimetres... This prediction is made on present calculations, which for Uncle Gus are far too conservative, especially when comparing with the record.

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere (now more than 400 ppm) has not been seen for several million years and the consequences of such amount are dire. The "plateau" (there has been a slower rise of world temperatures in the last decade though most of the warmest years are in that decade) is not unusual in global warming scenario — even in the record of the last 500,000 years. This record shows that the fluctuation of temperature can appear to stabilise but then shoot through the roof, catching up with the CO2 interference. This is likely to happen in 2014-15, in 2020 and especially in 2032. . . 

GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC. 

Tasmania is a land of "dregs, bogans and third-generation morons", according to well-known Australian cultural identity Leo Schofield, who said a decade spent living in the state left him feeling bitter and depressed.

Mr Schofield, a longtime restaurant critic and festival curator, was speaking to ABC News after an article published in Fairfax Media today quoted him as saying his experience in Tasmania "was probably the unhappiest episode of my life".

"I think I came very close to either a nervous breakdown or suicide. I just started to fall apart," he told Fairfax.

The 79-year-old, who set up a Baroque festival in Hobart, said Tasmanians had no respect for their heritage buildings or the environment.

He finally decided to return to New South Wales after the Tasmanian Government cut the festival's funding by 25 per cent, to an offer of $300,000.

He had been looking for a significant increase for the 2014 festival from the $400,000 the Government had previously provided.

The Baroque festival has since moved to Brisbane after a group of arts organisations offered additional cash to secure the event for the city.

He said the rejection hit him hard and his daughters convinced him to return to Sydney.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-04/tasmanians-are-dregs-bogans-morons-says-leo-schofield/6370896

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Ah, the power of cash for culturality... One could imagine Leo doing some candlelight suppers alla Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) of "Keeping Up Appearances" in his Tasmanian mansion where no-one would come, since it was in the middle of nowhere... with an ordinary view of a 1960s brick cottage across the road... Not even a neighbour to bother with some singing...

This information of course is coming from my German mate Gunter Ratingaher (read article at top) who took the following pictures of what may have been Leo's retreat in Tassie...:

A controversial luxury eco-tourism project deep in Tasmania’s untouched world heritage wilderness is a step closer after its developer overcame a court challenge.

The Wilderness Society failed to block the fly-in/fly-out resort, slated to be built on Halls Island at Lake Malbena in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.

The environmental group and other appellants argued developer Wild Drake should not have been granted a planning permit for the project, comprising several huts to be visited by up to 240 helicopter flights a year.

They are worried about the camp’s environmental impact and had argued Tasmania’s Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal improperly delegated assessment of the project to the state’s Parks and Wildlife Service.

But a Supreme Court of Tasmania judgment, handed down on Monday, dismissed the appeal, finding “no error” in the tribunal outcome.

“While we are disappointed with this decision, in the coming weeks we will explore our options,” Wilderness Society campaign manager Tom Allen said in a statement.

“The integrity of Tasmania’s world heritage wilderness is worth fighting for.”
The luxury camp is awaiting approval from federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley.

“We call on her to decide that the proposal should be subject to a detailed and transparent environmental impact assessment that specifically considers the wilderness impacts of this proposal,” Mr Allen said.

The Wilderness Society has 21 days to decide whether to appeal the judgment.

The Lake Malbena project has faced several approval-related legal challenges and rallies have been held against the plan.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/travel/2020/07/07/tasmania-wilderness-re...

Read from top.

More German forest died in 2020 than any other year — even if spared the wildfires now blazing through southern Europe. Experts are debating solutions.

In 2018, German forests burnt at around four times the rate they had in previous years, especially in the northern state of Brandenburg. But wildfires are not the problem for monoculture spruce conifer forests that dominate the wooded area covering one-third of Germany. These forests are instead falling victim to bark beetle plagues thriving in the dryer and hotter weather induced by global heating.

Germany's second national forest summit, appropriately titled "Waldsterben 2.0" (Forest Dieback), explores how to manage the German woods back to health in the midst of a climate crisis. Here are three suggestions that are on the table.

One of the key themes at the second national forest summit being hosted at the Wohlleben Forest Academy in western Germany is forest restructuring and ecological forest management.

German woods have almost no old growth, and very little biodiversity. That makes them extremely vulnerable to climate change. This is due to poor forest management, say some of the experts attending the summit.

The prime target for reformation is "artificial" conifer forests that were largely planted after the war because they were fast-growing and could provide wood for reconstruction. Making up 25% of German forests today, the predominant spruce tree is an Alpine species that requires wet and cold conditions. Now they are badly struggling in non-native areas as they age, a process exacerbated by climate change.

"Our forests are not natural forests," said Christopher Reyer, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and national forest summit participant.

Planted with very few other species, and containing very little biodiversity, these historical forest management "legacy effects" are being compounded by "unprecedented climate impacts on these types of trees," Reyer told DW.

Peter Wohlleben, forester, founder of the Wohlleben Forest Academy, and author of the bestseller, The Hidden Life of Trees, said that 50% or more of German forests could die in the next decade "because of bad management."

"My suggestion is to leave the forest alone," he said. "Natural forests can create their own local climate, whereas plantations get drier and hotter and cause their own problems," he added.

Climate impacts on forests are compounded by invasive timber harvesting, which also compacts the soil and limits its ability to retain water. On the first day of the summit, Wohlleben described a healthy native beech forest very close to his academy which had virtually no water runoff during the heavy rains that flooded nearby regions. 

But the problem is not going away as the German timber industry continues to export much of its product to China and the US for construction, notes Judith Reise, a researcher at Germany's Oeko-Institut. 

"Timber harvesting is not ecologically sustainable," she said, adding that removing all the dead and fallen wood from forests — not just for timber harvesting but also as part of the aesthetic cleaning forests for recreation purposes — has also depleted the microbial processes that are essential to biodiversity. This might increase fire risk in the short term, but the nurturing of old growth will ultimately increase the climate resilience of all forests, especially in terms of remaining cool and wet.

"Don't harvest trees that have biodiversity attached to them," suggested Sebastian Kirppu, a Swedish forest conservationist, during the summit. 

Kirppu said that in terms of biodiversity, forests in "Europe and Russia are the worst in the world."

He added that Red Listed species in these forests has increased significantly in recent years. In spite of sustainable forest certification for timber products, very few species are coming off the list, and more and more are being added.

"Biodiversity protection must be the basis for whatever we do," said Judith Reise. But so far only 2.8% of German forests are protected for biodiversity, well short of a 2020 target of 5%.

There are no easy solutions to Germany's forest crisis. While conservationists are calling for the forests to be left alone, low carbon timber products can also help fight global heating — especially as an alternative to CO2-heavy construction materials like steel and concrete.

"If we can use wood products in the best possible way, with the best possible life cycle, and the best possible recycling and upcycling strategy. If we rethink the way we use this wood, then it's a very powerful solution," said Reyer of the climate benefits.

"It's not that harvesting is always bad," he added, even if he agrees there should be less timber cutting, and that there should be more protected old growth. "But compared to all the other land uses, forestry is an area where we can have a quite a natural ecosystem and still create useful products."

This forest design will be one of the key issues at the forest summit when deciding how to spend the €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) promised by the federal government in 2020 to support municipal and private forest owners for reforestation, among other measures.

One strategy, as a forester from Lübeck in northern Germany said at the summit, will be to shift from clear-felling to single-tree cutting to create "an ecological system in forestry."

Whatever the solutions, they will need to holistically encompass German forest health, climate resilience and productivity. 

Read more:

https://www.dw.com/en/german-forest-summit-3-ways-to-revive-dying-woods/a-58782039

Read from top.

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