‘Scottish langoustines are to be sent on a 17,000-mile round trip to Thailand for processing before being sold in the UK as scampi, in a move dismissed as "environmental madness" by critics.

"Very little could better sum up the environmental madness of modern globalisation than the nearly 17,000-mile round trip that will be taken by Young's scampi before it even arrives at the supermarket distribution depot" - Duncan McLaren, Friends of the Earth Scotland chief executive

Young's Seafood said it was cutting 120 jobs at its Scottish factory as part of plans to send 120,000 tonnes of langoustines - caught in Scottish waters - across the world, where they will be hand-peeled by cheap labour, re-packed and then shipped back to Scotland.

Unions reacted with anger yesterday at the threatened loss of jobs to Bangkok, where workers will be paid as little as 25p per hour, while environmentalists hit out at the cost to the environment of the unnecessary transport. It is estimated the scampi trade will produce 47,500 tonnes of CO2 based on the fuel consumed by an average freighter.

The cost of "offsetting" this with a carbon-trading scheme, which would fund renewable energy schemes, tree planting or other environmental improvements, would be about £350,000, but environmentalists said the real cost of the damage caused to the environment would be more like between £2 million and £2.5 million a year.’

The 17,000-Mile Round Trip That Costs The Earth

10 bloody degrees in Sydney today at midday... and it's the middle of November 2006...
In the middle of October 2006, we had 38 degrees....
It's snowing in woop woop. It's bad storming in Southeast Queensland...

One could decide that global "warming" is baloney when one is freezing one's butt off in November... Even cooler than in the middle of winter!

SURE IS... Global warming has opened the door of the fridge... Antarctica is melting and our whisky is being cooled — till a point at which there will be not enough ice to cool a larger warmer whisky... The temperatures will shoot through the roof. One of the complexities in these calculation is the low pressure systems/high pressure systems boundary which move more and more erratically under the new circumstances, creating more extreme shifts of weather. Hold on to your hats and your seats... The wild ride has not even started...

Most of the rhetoric on Global Warming is based on reduction of emission but the URGENT problem is also in what is there already... the concentration of CO2 presently being at an 800,000 years high-— a concentration, the effect of which is not fully felt as yet

EVEN IF WE "REDUCE" EMISSIONS we are still adding to these "HIGH" levels in more ways than one. as we also remove natural carbon sinks, such as forests...

‘In a thinly veiled attack on the US and Australia, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, said today that a "frightening lack of leadership" was hindering the fight against global warming.

Speaking at the start of the main session of the UN climate change conference in Nairobi, Mr Annan described the build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases that are raising the planet's temperature as an "all-encompassing threat" to the world.

He said that the Kyoto protocol, under which industrialised countries agreed to limit their harmful emissions to pre-1990 levels by 2012, was a key step in tackling the problem. The US and Australia refused to sign the protocol, claiming it would unfairly hurt their economies as it does not commit developing nations such as China and India to binding targets.

"If they [the US and Australia] don't sign Kyoto, they have to be in step with the rest of the industrialised world," Mr Annan said. "They have a responsibility to their citizens and to the rest of the world."

In another comment that appeared aimed firmly at the US president, George Bush, whose Republican party fared badly in last week's mid-term elections, Mr Annan called on leaders to stop being "economically defensive". "[They] must show courage and know that if they do, the people and the voters will be with them."’

Annan Criticizes US Over Global Warming

‘President Bush and his administration have faced especially harsh criticism at the conference. Over the weekend, Kenyan children led a march through Nairobi and called on industrialized nations to do more to fight climate change. One man carried a poster of President Bush reading: "Wanted - For Crimes Against the Planet."’

USA: Wanted For Crimes Against The Planet

‘Texas toast is that super-sized slab of unwholesome white bread that you get with your eggs and bacon at diners in Texas and other red states. Texas toast is also a good name for what power generators want to do in the Lone Star State as they order up a giant helping of new, dirty coal-fired plants.

In October 2005, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita drove up natural gas prices, and after a meeting with power giant TXU, Texas governor Rick Perry issued an executive order fast-tracking new power generation that uses Texas natural resources for "energy diversity." Although Texas has plenty of solar and wind power potential, power companies like TXU had only one alternative in mind: coal.

Coal is cheap. Cheaper than natural gas and a whole lot dirtier. With Governor Perry's order in hand, TXU applied for permits for eleven new giant coal power plants. Several other power companies and utilities put projects in the pipeline too, but TXU's plants are way ahead in the process. That might have something to do with its generous campaign contributions to the Governor. The Dallas Morning News reported in October 2006 that since Perry signed the executive order, TXU and its associates had contributed $87,000.

Coal may be cheap to TXU, but it's not cheap for people or the planet. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, TXU's eleven proposed plants, totaling more than 9,000 megawatts, will produce about 78 million tons of CO2 per year. EDF says that's equivalent to the annual emissions of 10 million Cadillacs and more than the annual emissions of the entire country of Denmark.

Texas is already the number one CO2 polluter in the United States, which is the number one CO2 polluter in the world. If Texas were a separate country, it would rank as the world's tenth largest greenhouse gas emitter. But TXU could care less about that. When the company pitched its plans to municipal leaders last summer, it was happy to point out that CO2 is not a regulated pollutant. Expensive measures to control the gas would not be required.

Clearly, TXU is rushing to complete these cheap and dirty plants before any federal CO2 regulations can be enacted, thereby locking Texas and the planet into increased CO2 emissions for the 50 year life of the plants.’

Power Companies Order Up Texas Toast

From our trusted ABC

 CO2 emissions accelerating, scientists warn
Atmospheric scientists have warned that carbon dioxide emissions are increasing more rapidly, despite international efforts to curb the use of fossil fuels.

They have found the amount of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere has doubled in the past 20 years.

CSIRO scientists have found global carbon dioxide emissions reached almost eight billion tonnes last year.

New data from the Cape Grim air pollution monitoring station in north-west Tasmania shows carbon dioxide emissions have increased by 2.5 per cent each year for the past five years.

Atmospheric scientist Paul Fraser says the increase in carbon dioxide comes mostly from developing countries and temperatures will continue to rise.

"Over the last 20 or so years the rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has almost doubled," he said.

"It started off 20 odd years ago at one part per million per year and it's now up to two.

"Once we start reducing emissions, just what level of greenhouse gases the atmosphere will stabilise at is difficult to say.

"But I'm afraid it will be relatively high, which means something like a two degree warming over the next 100 years."

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Gus: see cartoon at the head do this line of blog... It's not a cartoon. The cut-off point was back in 1996...

Law changes won't solve climate change: Campbell
Federal Environment Minister Senator Ian Campbell says a proposed amendment to federal environment laws to reflect a New South Wales Environment Court ruling is not a solution to climate change.

The court yesterday ruled that Centennial Coal failed to adequately assess the environmental impact of its proposed Anvil Hill coal mine in the Hunter Valley.

It said the company should have taken the mine's affect on climate change into account in the development application.

But despite the ruling, Centennial Coal remains confident the project will go.

The Greens, however, will move an amendment in the Senate this week to change environment laws to reflect the ruling.

The Greens want the court's decision enshrined in federal law.

But the federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, has rejected the idea, saying changes to federal laws will not solve the problem of greenhouse gas emissions.

He has accused the Greens of trying to close down Australia's coal industry.

"The Anvil decision is nothing more and nothing less than a decision to stop coal mining because someone's going to buy that coal overseas and burn it," he said.

"The solution to greenhouse gases is to stop carbon going into the atmosphere from burning coal, not stopping coal mines.

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Gus: would Minister Campbell stop farting around and see global warming as a major reality not just a pastime for retired greenies? New coal mines should not be considered ever again. All industries and commerce should NOW be engaged in making sure ALL production and products minimise CO2 emission and promote safe clean energy, including travel for pleasure which should be scaled down. Nuclear energy does not do that... We need more bicycles, less consumption, more smart energy via individual supplies of solar and wind, rather than large grids of power which contribute to more problems now and later on... And this event has to be worldwide! The US has to cut its contribution to the heat by 90 per cent within six months. If these actions to be taken seem drastic, it's because the problem is more dangerous that we are led to believe... Has nobody in the government awaken yet that global warming is a major onslaught that has not even been see by our forefathers at the end of the last ice age? The shift has already happened and is gaining momentum... Stop farting around, minister!

EU embarks on tough carbon cuts

The EU has set tough carbon limits under the European Trading Scheme's second phase, to the consternation of some of the 10 states involved.To make the scheme effective in tackling climate change, the EU has cut member states' carbon permits by 7% on average from 2008-2012.
Germany, a major polluter, said the stricter limits were unacceptable and would push electricity prices up.
Critics have accused nations of making carbon allowance levels too high.
The European Trading Scheme (ETS) aims to cut emissions by 8% of 1990 levels.
'Level playing field'

"Today's decisions send a strong signal that Europe is fully committed to achieving the Kyoto target and making the ETS a success," said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

This view was echoed by Michael Grubb, head economist of the UK's Carbon Trust: "They have done a lot to create a level playing field."

Britain was the only nation to see its planned carbon limit accepted by the EU.

Meanwhile reactions from member states, whose proposed limits were rejected was less positive.

Lithuania, which has been told to reduce its emissions by half, was "very upset" by the limits while Slovakia thought its new cap was too low.

The White House opposes plans by European nations to require airlines to curb greenhouse gas emissions, saying that it would unfairly disadvantage US carriers. "We are strongly opposed to the imposition of a tax. We think this will violate trade rules," said James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

New Report Finds Exxon Spent US$16Million To 'Manufacture’ Uncertainty About Global Warming ……

Exxon "gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in an effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming," a new Union of Concerned Scientists report finds.

The company, according to the report, "has adopted the tobacco industry's disinformation tactics, as well as some of the same organizations and personnel, to cloud the scientific understanding of climate change and delay action on the issue."

Harvard professor Dr. James McCarthy said Exxon has tried to "create the illusion of a vigorous debate" about global warming.

A few of the other tactics the oil giant used are listed in the report: "funded an array of front organizations to create the appearance of a broad platform for a tight-knit group of vocal climate change contrarians who misrepresent peer-reviewed scientific findings; attempted to portray its opposition to action as a positive quest for 'sound science' rather than business self-interest; used its access to the Bush administration to block federal policies and shape government communications on global warming."

"A modest but effective investment has allowed the oil giant to fuel doubt about global warming to delay government action just as Big Tobacco did for over 40 years," said Alden Meyer, the Union of Concerned Scientists' Director of Strategy and Policy.

 

Mark Fiore’s Warming Of Mass Destruction

Surge in carbon levels raises fears of runaway warming

· Figures show higher than expected rise in CO2
· Scientists warn earth may be absorbing less gas

David Adam Environment correspondent
Friday January 19, 2007
The Guardian
 
Carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere much faster than scientists expected, raising fears that humankind may have less time to tackle climate change than previously thought.

New figures from dozens of measuring stations across the world reveal that concentrations of CO2, the main greenhouse gas, rose at record levels during 2006 - the fourth year in the last five to show a sharp increase. Experts are puzzled because the spike, which follows decades of more modest annual rises, does not appear to match the pattern of steady increases in human emissions.

 -----------

Gus: see illustration at top of this line of blogs... I would suggest that the CO2 from human activity appears presently in pockets (not all measured) rather than being fully spread around the globe, but slowly the CO2 is spreading across, according to weather patterns, while more is added by the billions of tons — despite our willingness to do nothing much about it... We need about 40,000 stations across the globe to do proper measuring of the problem... Then we all go solar, wind and geothermic. No nuclear (to avoid a greater problem, like "nucular" war and waste disposal...

And they lived solar-happy ever after. 

From our ABC

Glaciers melting at increasing speed: UN

New data shows the melting of mountain glaciers worldwide is accelerating, a clear sign that climate change is also picking up, the UN environmental agency and scientists say.

Thirty reference glaciers, monitored by the Swiss-based World Glacier Monitoring Service, lost about 66 centimetres in thickness on average in 2005, the UN Environment Programme said in a statement.

"The new data confirms the trend in accelerated loss during the past two and half decades," it added.

The set of glaciers located around the world have thinned by about 10.5 metres on average since 1980, according to the data supplied by the Monitoring Service in Zurich.

They melted on average about 1.6 times faster annually this decade compared with the 1990s, and about six times faster than in the 1980s.

-------------------------

Gus: we should buy an air conditioning unit and a bigger car with a bar fridge... As mentioned before here, on this site by Gus, with the Earth population growth, with the "economic" growth, with the desire by all and sundry to have more and bigger things, no matter how we excite ourselves with illusions of reductions of CO2 using nuke power, EVEN IF WE WERE ALL CARBON EMISSION NEUTRAL NOW, the task is beyond our able imagination.

There is no two ways but:

a) shut down all our petrol consumption worldwide

b) reduce world population

c) use BASIC solar energy (letting the light in rather than use electric lights during day time).

d) arrest all non essential travel of goods and persons...

e) minimise waste of anything... stop work.

f) hope nature can fix what we've mucked up...

g) see illustration at the beginning of this line of blogs... and become a non farting veggie growing vegan... until we go back in our tree...