Greenstate

BBC: Businesses must change their attitude to environmental issues if the tide of ecological decline is to be halted. That was the message from Valli Moosa, president of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, opening the World Conservation Congress. The former South African minister said all companies should have directors with environmental experience. The 10-day IUCN congress in Barcelona will debate global environmental problems and potential …

TVNZ: There is a warning across the Tasman that much of Australia’s favourite seafood supplies may be at risk as a result of climate change. The warning comes in a report commissioned by the federal government. It says the impact of changes in temperature, ocean currents, rainfall and extreme weather events could cost Australian fisheries tens of millions of dollars. The $250 million Tasmanian salmon industry could be the hardest hit. Commercially farmed banana prawns, …

Age: THE latest alarming ice shelf collapse in the Antarctic has been caused by a warming Southern Ocean melting the shelf from below. The climate-change-induced break-up of the Wilkins Ice Shelf began last February, and has become the only documented collapse to run through the depths of winter. At least 1350 square kilometres of ice shelf on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula has broken off so far, and more is expected to go, say US and European scientists. An ice …

Times (UK): Human health and food production are being damaged because too little is being done to control worldwide ozone levels, a report by the Royal Society says. Ozone forms a protective layer that helps to block ultraviolet radiation high in the atmosphere, but at ground level it is a significant pollutant and a contributor to global warming. Regulations to control the gas have been introduced by Britain and other industrialised nations but it is still present in quantities well …

Reuters: Among the charred remains of homes and fields, villagers lay flowers on the graves of their dead and say they are losing hope of ever resurrecting their lives from the ashes of last summer’s Greek wildfires. The blazes, which raged for 10 days and were the worst in memory, killed 65 people, destroyed homes and obliterated olive trees, vineyards, and half of the forests in the southern Peloponnese peninsula. Politicians declared a state of emergency and promised millions of …

Sydney Morning Herald: CLIMATE change is likely to hit supplies of many of Australia’s favourite eating fish, including barramundi, salmon, rock lobster and prawns, the most extensive study on the subject yet undertaken by the Federal Government has warned. The CSIRO study, commissioned by the Department of Climate Change and to be released today, reports the overall impact of global change "will pose some very significant risks to the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in …

Daily Mail: Polluting gases are killing more than 1,500 Britons a year, the UK’s leading science body warned yesterday. A Royal Society report highlighted the dangers of ground-level ozone caused by traffic fumes and industrial emissions. In the high atmosphere, ozone protects us from ultraviolet rays, but at ground level it damages the lungs, causes chest and breathing problems and has been linked to bronchitis, heart attack and early death. The Royal Society said the pollutant is …

Guardian: What is this new beast called the Department of Energy and Climate Change? Search hard for enlightenment, but don’t expect to find it. Apparently, it’s a step up for Ed, the acceptable face of Miliband. It may signal a ministerial veto for Kingsnorth coalfired power station in Kent. And, since Ed’s partner is a green lawyer, it will doubtless provide hours of happy bedtime conversation. But that, apart from nailing the words "climate change" on a Whitehall door, is more or less that. In …

Japan Times: The latest tally of greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for warming the world shows that China has emerged as the top polluter, ahead of the United States, by an increasingly big margin. Released last month, the scientific findings of the Global Carbon Project show that, in 2007, over half the world’s emissions came from high-growth developing economies led by China and India, and that this share is rising because emissions from developed economies are growing less fast. The …

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A company planning the construction of a solar thermal power plant at Whyalla in South Australia says its form of energy should be used to power desalination plants such as the one proposed by BHP Billiton. Renewable energy company Wizard Power has completed land and geotechnical surveys of the site and expects to lay foundations by the end of the year. Artur Zawadski from the company says the initial plant is only a trial. But he says the company will be out to prove …

Amongst scientists, James Hansen [search] has long been one of the clearest voices for strong action against climate change including ending the use of coal [ark | search]. Yet now he advocates replacing coal with wood from vast tree plantations [ark | moreark], burning the wood and capturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide. It is saddening that such an ecologically short-sighted proposal comes from the man who rightly warns that we are already ‘beyond safe levels’ of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. It is understandable that he and other scientists are looking at ways of reducing the fast increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Unfortunately, most of the proposals put forward for ‘cooling the planet’ involve either using vast amounts of energy for still unproven technologies (air capture of CO2) or, even more worryingly, sacrificing biodiversity and ecosystems.

Scientists who have developed the idea of using biomass power plants with carbon capture and storage in order to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels have made it clear that at least 500 million hectares of plantations would be required, which is over one and a half times the size of India. Replacing all coal burnt today with wood would require far more land and would almost certainly be impossible, although that may go beyond Hansen’s proposal.

Wake up to the World’s greatest crisis! No, it is not financial; rather, the global water crisis [search] is both the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century. An important new documentary entitled “Flow - For the Love of Water” was released earlier in the year and sounds an urgent alarm, water resources are severely stressed globally and without massive societal and personal change, water necessary to sustain life will simply run out. You can live without a loan, but not water. The water crisis perfectly integrates and amplifies related climate change, terrestrial ecosystem loss, and over-population and consumption.

Ecological Internet has long predicted that global water shortages [search] may be the first wide-spread ecological calamity that occurs. Try living a few days without water and you will be swiftly brought back into touch with the fundamentally ecological nature of being. This provides the basis for our Water Conserve Portal and Water for All Always campaign. Solutions? Protect and restore old forests and their watersheds, dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions now, and strictly limits births and excessive conspicuous consumption. Anything less means a thirsty death for most if not all of humanity and our sister species as global ecosystems collapse [search].

Al Gore this week called for young people to engage in civil disobedience to stop new coal plants [ark | moreark]. As is typical with the Goracle, you never really get the full truth and ecologically sufficient solutions, even when he tries to be radical. To achieve shared survival we ALL need to physically protest coal, ancient forest logging AND elite rule — the young and old, poor and middle class, educated and not — to end both, and ensure a livable world.

We agree that increasingly the economic and ecological crises are converging [ark]. It is the elite that have liquidated habitats for their leveraged financial thievery, leaving barren ecosystems and feeble markets in their wake. Given the failure of the ruling elites to play fair, share and maintain an operable biosphere and economy; it just may be time for a global citizens’ revolution to pull the whole stinking system down. Just an idea to equitably and justly solve both the ecological and economic crises plaguing us all and threatening our shared survival.

There is no chance of achieving global ancient forest protection, climate stabilization and ecological sustainability until RAN and other ancient forest logging apologists follow Friends of the Earth in withdrawing from the Forest Stewardship Council and uniting to work to end ancient forest logging

TAKE ACTION! Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is one of a shrinking group of international environmental NGOs that supports industrial logging of ancient primary and old-growth forests by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) [search]. Sadly, as RAN prepares to gather for their annual lavish, celebrity studded “Revel” fund-raiser, there is little to celebrate regarding their disjointed and harmful Old Growth Campaign — legitimate questions regarding their FSC support have been stonewalled, Ontario’s continued ancient forest destruction legitimized, and the forest protection movement needlessly divided. Last week Friends of the Earth (FoE) became the first major international NGO to confirm they no longer support FSC certification; which falsely suggests primary and old-growth forest logging is desirable, benefits the climate, and is even sustainable; and that plantations are forests. RAN must stop supporting outdated, destructive logging. The following alert lets Revel’s many sponsors know they are funding greenwashing of ancient forest devastation — and asks that RAN immediately review and cease their support for destruction of centuries old ancient trees and their ecosystems. Please note, there are two different protest emails to send. TAKE ACTION!

PRESS/SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASE

Major victory for Ecological Internet’s campaign to end ancient forest logging as key response to climate and biodiversity crises

By Earth’s Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet
Dr. Glen Barry, +1 (920) 664-1965, glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org

(Earth) — Friends of the Earth (FoE) is the first major international NGO to confirm they no longer support Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification [search], which falsely suggests primary and old-growth forest logging is desirable and even sustainable, and that plantations are forests. This is a major victory for those including Ecological Internet (EI) and FSC-Watch[1] who have courageously taken on large environmental interests using FSC to greenwash ancient forest destruction.

FoE pioneered timber certification during the 1980s and was one of FSC’s founders, but FoE International in Amsterdam has confirmed that it is now “reviewing” its membership of the organization. FoE UK announced on their website[2] they are “deeply concerned by the number of FSC certifications that are now sparking controversy and threatening the credibility of the scheme. We cannot support a scheme that fails to guarantee high environmental and social standards. As a result we can no longer recommend the FSC standard.”

You know there is something deeply wrong with global ecology [search] when populations of previously common and widespread birds catastrophically crash, and in some cases move towards extinction. A new study from BirdLife finds birds are threatened [ark | moreark] by agriculture, fishing, logging and climate change; concluding these findings are no less than a “sign of a deteriorating global environment and a biodiversity crisis.” This is a dangerous under-statement.

All the world’s key ecosystems including forests, oceans, water and the atmosphere are being liquidated by excessive populations and their consumption, and they are collapsing. Together they comprise the biosphere which is required for all life. If widely mobile, advanced bird species are imperiled; humans are clearly next. I suppose someone living in Haiti, Darfur or the world’s swelling slums know this already.

AAP: Farmers have suggested they be permanently kept out of emissions trading, saying there may be better ways to tackle climate change in the bush. The National Farmers Federation (NFF) is worried emissions trading, due to start in 2010, could put farmers out of business and favour cheap imports. Agriculture is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia after energy. The federal government has proposed agriculture be exempted from emissions trading …

Sydney Morning Herald: THE Australia Institute estimates that the Federal Government’s plan to include landfill in its carbon pollution reduction scheme will cost councils $344 million a year. This would be passed on to ratepayers in higher rates, fees and charges, the Australian Local Government Association says. The estimate is based on a figure of $20 a tonne for emissions from waste and does not include the cost of measures to adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change. The …

PRESS/SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASE

Ecological Internet warns converging economic, climate, food and fuel crises are symptoms of massive global ecological bubble, and that without ecosystems there can be no economy

By Earth’s Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet

(Earth) — Current economic difficulties are largely caused by failing global ecosystems and resource scarcity, and are not an excuse to reduce environmental commitments, warns Ecological Internet. The bursting of the mortgage and financial bubbles, and food and energy price increases, are the logical and inevitable economic consequences of over-population, inequitable and unreasonable consumption, and unsustainable economic growth. Environmentalism is the solution to, not the cause of, economic hard times.

“The global growth machine is seizing up because it is hitting ecological limits and because of its own greed. Current global economic difficulties must not stop urgent ecological measures — like dramatic emission reductions and natural habitat protection and restoration — necessary to maintain a habitable Earth. Without ecosystems there can be no economic recovery,” warns Dr. Glen Barry.

EurekAlert: The recent dramatic melting and breakup of a few huge Greenland glaciers have fueled public concerns over the impact of global climate change, but that isn’t the island’s biggest problem. A new study shows that the dozens of much smaller outflow glaciers dotting Greenland’s coast together account for three times more loss from the island’s ice sheet than the amount coming from their huge relatives. In a study just published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, …