ENVIRONOVA SUSTAINABILITY NEWS August 2007
AgriChar Terra Preta shows major greenhouse gas reduction potential. 30/8/2007 A technology developed by a lost Amazon civilisation could be a major factor in saving the world from dangerous climate change. Raised platforms of highly fertile soil in the amazon had only retained nutrients because human inhabitants had added charcoal to the soil. Surprisingly this has remained stable in the soil for hundreds of years. Charcoal is produced in the absence of oxygen in a process called pyrolysis. A large group of soil scientist has been working on commercialisable technology to turn biomas into charcoal on a large scale. Trials show that the resultant "AgriChar" has surprising benefits for soil fertility and is also a potential highly efficient method of harvesting CO2 from the atmosphere for a long term carbon sink. The process being developed by one company produces 'syngas' to run the pyrolisis without any external energy input. Tim Flannery said when interviewed on the Catalyst program that he could see only upsides to AgriChar's potential. Flannery believes that we will need to remove very large quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere to avoid dangerous climate change. He is a judge of Sir Richard Branson's multimillion dollar atmospheric carbon removal prize. http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s2012892.htm http://www.energybulletin.net/29250.html
Example: unsustainability of American lifestyle. 27/8/2007 ABC Radio National Counterpoint today interviewed US Author Charles Fishman about his recent article in Fast Company Magazine. Fishman reports on the fact that US citizens consume 50 Billion Bottles of Bottled water per year. That is 1 Billion bottles per week! Fishman explained that this is a huge waste of resources and energy because just US citizens think it is convenient to give family members a bottle of water rather than fill a jug from the tap. For example 50,000 semi trailers are on US roads constantly delivering bottled water to supermarkets and virtually every shopper is lugging home a "24 pack of bottled water each week". The interviewer quoted Choice Magazine blind taste tests which showed no ability to discriminate bottled spring water from tap water in Australia. Some water is transported up to 14,000km from other nations for US citizens to drink. Australians on average only consume about 1 bottle of spring water per person every 3 weeks whereas US citizens consume 4 per week. US Bottled water consumption has increased more than 3000 fold in the last 30 years and the danger for our resource, energy and greenhouse emmissions efficiency is that we will follow suit.
Corn based ethanol: Downstream problems. 24/8/2007 The Bush Administration's policy of encouraging corn to ethanol to reduce its reliance on foreign oil has skewed one section of the economy in a rather alarming direction. In 2004 33.6 million tonnes of the US corn crop were used to make ethanol but by 2007 this had nearly tripled to 86.4 million tonnes. Corn prices are projected to have doubled by the end of the decade The subsequent inflation in food prices would be serious enough for a the economy. However to make matters worse, production of ethanol from corn, (rather than other more prouctive sources such as sugar cane), has a very poor "energy return on energy invested". Some studies have actually found that it requires more barrels of oil equivalent to be put into making ethanol from corn than is actually recovered in the ethanol! As quoted in the following article, the amount of corn required to make ethanol to fill the fuel tank of a large SUV once could feed a person for a year. http://www.newmatilda.com/home/articledetail.asp?ArticleID=1715
Former CEO To Campaign Against Turnbull in Marginal Seat of Wentworth. 22/8/2007 Former OPTUS CEO and Telstra Board member Geoffrey Cousins has indicated that he is very concerned about Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull's apparent rubber stamping of of the 1.5 Billion dollar Pulp Mill planned for Tasmania's Tamar valley. Speaking on ABC RN Breakfast this morning, Cousins said that the Tasmanian Labor Government's sudden cut off of the public submissions process was unacceptable. He continued explaining that, in his view, the Federal Environment minister was the only one left who could return proper due scientific and public submission process to the situation. Instead he had quickly granted interim approval for the mill. Cousins has spoken to the minister and told him that the 10 day submission period around the granting of interim approval is far from adequate. Cousins is so concerned that he will begin his campaign by running full page newspaper advertisements in newspapers in the Wentworth electorate. Cousins shares the view with others that Tasmania's success depends on maintaining their clean green image and biodiversity to expand tourist income insted of relying on expansion of "old world" industries. Cousins concluded that there is a huge amount of concern over the pulpmill approval process among the wider Australian public.
CEO Of Horticulture Australia warns of major permanent planting loss. 21/8/2007 The CEO of Horticulture Australia, Christine Nelson has warned that widespread death of permanent irrigation plantings, especially of grapes and citrus can be expected if Murray Darling Basin inflows do not increase significantly. She said water allocations of at least 48% from the start of hot weather in November will be required to avoid these widespread deaths. Based on replanting costs as high as 80,000 dollars per hectare the death and removal could mean lossess of up to $ 9 Billion. She explained that good rainfall in June lifted subsoil moisture levels to where good runnoff could be expected from further substantial rains, however they did not come in July. On the other hand the situation for irrigators is complicated by the fact that major environmental assetts such as wetlands need to be given significant water allocation so that their vegetation can continue to provide services such as salinity control. Experts agree that for proper functioning of the river system at least 1500 Gigalitres per year needs to be returned to environmental flows and storages will need to be built up rather than immediately returning water to irrigators. Water trading to address overallocation of water resources has been a primary focus over the last 4 years however the recent drought has significantly complicated the picture. Major wetlands such as the large Chowilla wetlands on the Victorian South Australian border have not had a flood for at least 14 years. To be healthy and reproduce Redgums need to be flooded every 2-4 years where as Box Eucalypts on higher ground every 5-8 years.
Biodiversity Assessment using Sound recordings. 21/8/2007 Researcher David Williams explained an exciting development in biodiversity assessment methods on the ABC country hour today. Biodiversity assessments can be costly and time consuming, therefore Williams has adapted a method of conducting sound recordings in an area at different times throughout a day. Recordings are then repeated at each seasonal change and analysed to produce an accoustic index comprising bird and insect calls etc. Williams has found that the "acoustic index" correlates closely with formal habitat scores. He also explained that the recordings from orchards for example could be sent overseas or included on websites to allow customers another tool to assess the environmental credentials of their suppliers.
New Farmer Climate Change Response Alliance 16/8/2007 The Agricultural Alliance includes the South Australian Farmers Federation, Agforce from Queensland, and the Country Women's Association. The Alliance Aims to significantly reduce emissions by 2050 and allow farmers to play a role in Australia's emissions trading scheme. Australia is only on track to meet its Kyoto emmissions target, (108% of 1990 levels), due to reduction in land clearing rates. All other energy and transport sector emissions have risen alarmingly during this period. Australian farmers and landholder stand to lose their livelihoods if the worst effects of serious climate change cannot be stopped. The current crisis for both irrigators and the natural environment in the Murray Darling Basin is probably an early indication of climate change effects. Farmers have much expertise in managing areas that can significantly address rising international emmissions. Measures are very diverse and include increasing carbon sequestration in soils, planting trees, producing biogas or ethanol from by-products of production and modifying bushfire regimes. Significant research projects are also being undertaken in such areas as developing lower methane producing rumen bacteria and production of biofuels from algae grown on saline water. The Australian Conservation Foundation is involved in the Alliance.
SA Premier's Science Research Fund Grants 14/8/2007 SENRAC (a renewable energy research fund) has now amalgamated with the Premier's Science and Research Fund (PSRF). Funding for research projects will now occur through the PSRF, which has retained the SENRAC grant allocation exclusively for sustainable energy research projects. Round for funding in 2008 now open. Australian South East Asian Rainforest Conservation Initiative Progress Report. 14/8/2007 This is an Important regional Greenhouse Gas reduction initiative. The $200 million project announced in June will be used to plant trees and reduce illegal logging, principally in South-East Asia. The money will be spent over five years in several countries. The Australian government Meeting on Forests and Climate 22-25 July 2007 included a Ministerial Roundtable with Short presentations by several Ministers on relevant challenges their countries are facing and actions taken or planned. Panel Discussion on previous experiences/lessons learned in taking action to reduce deforestation and promote reforestation and sustainable forest management were undertaken. Given the immensity of the challenge (for example much international rainforest logging is illegal) these are very early days. The outcome has huge relevance to the early stages of climate change mitigation as up to 25% of global emissions come from rainforest logging. Anything with short term potential outcomes in reducing the effects of climate change is important to save Australian agricultural productivity and fragile bioodiversity.
LANDCARE payment for revegetation carbon sequestration - Progress report. 14/8/2007 Landcare CarbonSMART is a groundbreaking and reputable carbon sequestration program to financially recognise regional revegetation. See More Here
Major Climate and Water Conference in Finland ~ September 9/8/2007 Third International Conference on Climate and Water will be held at the Marina Congress Center, Helsinki, Finland, from 3rd to 6th September 2007 This will be the third in the series (the first two also on Climate and Water were in 1989 and 1998). The objective is to provide an opportunity for hydrologists, water managers and decision makers to exchange research results, ideas and concerns on impacts, adaptation and mitigation in the water sector, facing climate change.
Torrumbarry Weir pool levels to be varied as a Murray water saving measure ~MDBC 2/8/2007 The level of the Torrumbarry Weir pool will be gradually lowered below the Full Supply Level (FSL) of 86.05 m AHD by up to 40 cm commencing Monday 6 August. David Dreverman, General Manager of River Murray Water, said that; “the lowering of the weir pool will take place over the coming weeks and is being implemented to save water for urban and irrigation water users along the River Murray System”. “The lower weir pool level will enable future peak flows along the River Murray or inflows from the Goulburn River to be partially captured, so that the releases from weir can be maintained as far as possible at flow rates that can be later diverted into Lake Victoria further downstream. This will maximise water availability for the three States: New South Wales Victoria and South Australia”.
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