The Good News

The New York Times reported on February 28,
“People who worry about global warming and want the United States to do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions received some very good news over the weekend from a very unlikely source. As part of an ambitious buyout deal, TXU, a Texas utility that has long been a target of environmentalists, will abandon plans to build eight old-style coal-burning power plants, which would have dumped huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.”

This release from the Union of Concerned Scientists,Citizens and Scientists for Environmental Solutions, www.ucsusa.org details widespread interferance with scientific data on climate change. It smacks of the totalitarian view of science that was prevalent in the USSR. Unfortunately these suppressions have not been confined to the USA and surely we would not be in the parlous state we are now if scientists had been willing to speak freely. Even today we have Ministers in Western democracies saying that this or that solution is not available to us because it might harm jobs. I wonder how many jobs will remain in 2050 if we continue as we are at present?
David Shearman

 
We publish this excellent article by Steve Connor from The Independent UK and we express our thanks for permission. It makes depressing but necessary reading.

On the basis of computer modelling global warming was expected to be a slow steady increase in temperature, a continuation of the process of the past few decades. There were theories that warming might lead to what might be termed high impact low probability events and in particular there was speculation about reversal of the Gulf Stream. However in the past few years data indicates that the rate of warming is accelerating and concern has increased as information on feedback mechanisms has become available. Unfortunately the probability of high impact events is increasing.

By David Shearman

The Guardian Weekly January 5, 2007 used this heading to summarise a research paper by Ken Caldeira from the Carnegie Institute of Washington. It said “planting trees to combat climate change is a waste of time, according to a study by ecologists who say that most forests do not have any overall effect on global temperature whilst those furthest from the equator could actually be making global warming worse”. The newspaper then quotes Caldeira, “The idea that you can go out and plant a tree to help reverse global warming is an appealing feel-good thing. To plant forests outside the tropics is a waste of time”.

How many doctors does it take to change attitudes to clean air? According to Tasmanian doctors Michelle Allen and Nick Towle, two can try.

In mid-August, the two keen cyclists set off on this year’s Cycle for Sustainability, a 3000km, four-and-a-half-month sustainability roadshow that travels from Sydney to Hobart with the sole aim of spreading the word on reducing air pollution, and looking after our environment and ourselves.

There are two aspects to clean air, explains 31-year-old Towle. “One is the pollutant component. The other is the carbon dioxide emissions, and they relate to the greatest threat, which is climate change.”