Climate Media Summary
Climate change media summary to 28 July 2010
A weekly service of CarbonEquity and the Victorian Climate Action Centre
To subscribe to this list (one email per week) send blank email to
carbonequityproject-subscribe@topica.com
PICKS OF THE WEEK •••••••
••••• You wouldn't read about it: climate scientists right
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/you-wouldnt-read-about...
Rodney Tiffem, SMH, 26 July 2010
Chances are, you have not heard much about Climategate lately, but last November it dominated the media.
••••• Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100728_stateoftheclimate.html
NOAA, 28 July 2010
The 2009 State of the Climate report released today draws on data for 10 key climate indicators that all point to the same finding: the scientific evidence that our world is warming is unmistakable.
••••• Scientists warn of global warming threat to marine food chain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/28/phytoplankton-decline-...
Juliette Jowit, guardian.co.uk, 28 July 2010
Numbers of phytoplankton - the microscopic organisms that sustain the marine food chain - are plummeting as sea surface temperatures rise
••••• Great procrastinator takes reins of inaction on climate change
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/great-procrastinator-takes-reins-...
Peter Harcher, SMH, 24 July 2010
The biggest policy disagreement between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd was over the emissions trading scheme.
••••• Gillard abandons leadership on climate change
http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/07/23/citizen-gillard-abandons-basic-leade...
Bernard Keane, Crikey, 23 July 2010
It’s hard to describe just how truly wretched Labor’s new climate change policy is. It makes the CPRS, its dog of an emissions trading scheme, look like a model of best practice. It is a spectacular failure of leadership.
••••• 15 new power stations wait in the wings
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/15-new-power-stations-wait-in-the...
Lenore Taylor, SMH, 24 July 2010
Up to 15 new coal-fired power stations, generating the equivalent of half NSW's electricity needs, could still go ahead under the Labor policy the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, says will ensure we ''never again have a dirty power station built''.
ENERGY & INNOVATION
Hazelwood owners want closure
http://www.environmentvictoria.org.au/media/hazelwood-owners-want-closure
Australian Financial Review, 28 July 2010
International Power, owners of Hazelwood Power Station have claimed that they would rather close down the entire power station than just the two turbines that would likely be closed under Victorian Premier Brumby's climate plan.
Zero carbon plan better idea than zero credibility
http://www.theage.com.au/business/zero-carbon-plan-better-idea-than-zero...
Paddy Manning, The Age, July 24, 2010
Both major parties missing in action on climate change.
The world's first molten salt concentrating solar power plant
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/22/first-molten-salt-sola...
Carlo Ombello, Guardian Environment Network, 22 July 2010
'Archimede' demonstration solar plant in Sicily becomes the first to use molten salts to store energy overnight.
Greens unveil 2050 renewable energy plan
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/24/2963182.htm
ABC News, 24 July 2010
The Australian Greens have developed a plan for the country to rely on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050.
Australian solar industry 'dumbfounded' at funding cuts
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2010/2963869.htm
ABC RN Breakfast, 26 July 2010
Australia's solar energy industry says it's been 'dudded' by the Labor government's winding back key solar energy programs.
Engineers race to design world's biggest offshore wind turbines
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/43348
27 July 2010
British, American and Norwegian engineers are in a race to design and build the holy grail of wind turbines – giant, 10MW offshore machines twice the size and power of anything seen before – that could transform the global energy market because of their economies of scale.
UK government energy policy calculator
http://2050-calculator-tool.decc.gov.uk
POLITICS & POLICY
Solar plan raided to pay for guzzlers
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/solar-plan-raided-to-pay-for-g...
Melissa Fyfe and Mark Metherell, Sunday Age, 25 July 2010
Ausyralia's renewable energy industry was reeling yesterday after discovering a $520million budget cut to low-emissions technology in the fine print of Julia Gillard’s ‘‘cash-for-clunkers’’ announcement.
AND
Look under the bonnet, and 'cash for clunkers' is a lemon
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/look-under-the-bonnet-and-cash...
The clunker we need to scrap is Hazelwood
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-clunker-we-need-to-scrap-i...
Mark Wakeham, The Age, 28 July 2010
Prime Minister Julia Gillard's $394 million ''cash for clunkers'' policy — designed to get polluting cars off the road — is aimed at the wrong clunkers.
Yallourn's hand up for shutdown
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/yallourns-hand-up-fo...
David Rood and Tom Arup, The Age, 28 July 2010
The owner of a second Latrobe Valley power station has expressed willingness to walk away from high-polluting brown coal if the right compensation deal can be struck.
Brumby's solar hit... and miss
http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/Australia-Victoria-solar-p...
Giles Parkinson, Climate Spectator, 22 July 2010
Victorian Premier John Brumby certainly didn’t miss with the timing of the state’s large-scale solar power plant initiative.
AND
Brumby plan exposes Gillard
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/brumby-plan-exposes-gillard-20...
AND
Victorian Government climate white paper
http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/climate-change
Climate bill blame game begins
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40132.html
Darren Samuelsohn, Politico, 22 July 2010
The blame game has already begun.
AND
The White House lamely blames environmentalists for climate bill failure
http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/23/white-house-blame-environmentalist...
UN climate talks in the mire?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/07/un_climate_...
Richard Black, BBC blogs, 23 July 2010
It's not being touted as such, but the latest document from the United Nations climate convention (UNFCCC) is the clearest admission we've yet had that UN talks are in the mire.
Hackers shut down EU carbon-trading website
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/26/eu-carbon-trading-webs...
Leigh Phillips. guardian.co.uk, 26 July 2010
Hackers hijacked Europe's carbon-trading website and replaced it with spoof page detailing flaws in cap and trade scheme
SCIENCE & IMPACTS
Everything You Need to Know About Global Warming in 5 Minutes
http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/25/jeremy-grantham-everything-you-nee...
Spread of disease linked to warming climate
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2010/07/disease-spread
Douglas Fischer, Daily Climate, July 2010
CDC warns doctors to be on the alert after concluding a once-tropical disease is spreading in the Pacific Northwest.
Carbon Emissions Threaten Fish Populations
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100707091211.htm
ScienceDaily, July 27, 2010
Humanity's rising carbon dioxide emissions could have a significant impact on the world's fish populations, according to groundbreaking new research carried out in Australia.
Russians swelter in record heat
http://www.theage.com.au/world/russians-swelter-in-record-heat-20100727-...
Anastasia Ustiniva, The Age, 28 July 2010
Mucovites sweltered as record temperatures hit 37.4 degrees while nearly 2000 Russians have drowned trying to beat the heat.
AND
Scientist Says Hundreds May Die As Smog Blankets Moscow
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/58949
Arctic Ocean full up with carbon dioxide
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100722/full/news.2010.372.html
Hannah Hoag, Nature, 22 July 2010
Loss of sea ice is unlikely to enable Arctic waters to mop up more carbon dioxide from the air.
AND
Acidic Arctic threat
http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Acidic-Arctic-threat-20100726
AND
An icy retreat
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/an-icy-retreat/
Scientists say soot a key factor in warming
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/27/MN5H1EK6BV.DTL
David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle July 28, 2010
Soot from diesel engines, coal-fired power plants and burning wood is a bigger cause of global warming than previously thought, and is the major cause of the rapid melting of the Arctic's sea ice, Stanford climate experts say.
Global warming pushes 2010 temperatures to record highs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/28/global-temperatures-20...
Juliette Jowit, guardian.co.uk, 28 July 2010
Scientists from two leading climate research centres publish 'best evidence yet' of rising long-term global temperatures
