News from the Secretary, November- December, 2006
The Rising Tide of Greenhouse Emissions
In his first statement on becoming leader of the Labor party, Kevin Rudd listed four priority items for action. Climate change was one of his four priorities. He has plenty of work to do. The Global Carbon Project records the following facts. In 2000, 6.8 Gt of carbon was spewed into the atmosphere. In 2005 this had risen to 7.9 Gt. Prior to 2000 emissions rose by less than 1% per year, they are now increasing at more than 2.5% per year. The World Meteorological Organization confirms the rise in atmospheric concentrations of CO2 in the last few years. In Australia, emissions have increased by 10% over the past 10 years. This topic is discussed further together with other climate change and health topics on www.dea.org.au "Whats new".
The Al Gore/Australian Conservation Foundation Climate Project.
DEA Management Committee members Bill Castleden and Grant Blashki were amongst the 80 Australians selected to attend the first Australian Al Gore/ ACF Climate Project training sessions in Sydney from 18-20 November.
Al Gore has undertaken to train 1000 individuals, initially in the US and Australia and possibly including the UK, to deliver the essence of the climate science behind his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, merged with local scientific information, to audiences in their countries.
Trainees have committed themselves to give 10 community talks over the next 12 months. Bill and Grant were impressed with the talent and diversity in life-experience (including environmentalists, business leaders, farmers and popular entertainers), age, sex, ethnicity, religion and geographical spread of their fellow-trainees. The training was a stimulating experience and Al Gore’s enthusiasm and stamina were extraordinary. He, and the ACF in Australia, is committing enormous amounts of time and resources into educating the Australian public about the reality of climate change and of the need for individuals, businesses and government to get on with tackling the problem.
Climate Institute
We recommend that you follow the Climate institute web site. The “Top Ten Tipping Points” reviews ten recent reports including Stern, business, renewables etc to provide an overview of progress and momentum http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/cia1/topTen.php
In a report, Australia’s Faith Communities on Climate Change 16 Australian faith communities representing the world’s great religious traditions have united to speak out on climate change
Uranium Mining Processing and Nuclear Energy Review (UMPNER)
In the October edition of News from DEA, we detailed our concerns with the UMPNER Report We contested parts of the Report and indicated in our Energy Policy that nuclear energy was unlikely to create more than a very modest alteration in the rising curve of greenhouse emissions commencing in 20 years. We have now made an official response to the Report and submitted it to the Review Committee. We are very critical of the health and safety section of the UMPNER report. Our comments can be found at www.dea.org.au under Submissions
Can members help us with the ecological footprint?
DEA aims to objectively examine and disseminate the scientific evidence regarding the environment and human health. Where there are aspects of this field of interest for which little evidence exists, we can promote the development of a body of evidence by conducting focused research projects. One such area is the benefit and acceptability of doctors using ecological or carbon footprint calculators with their patients. There is a known association between commuting time by car and rates of obesity. These people may have a higher carbon footprint and less time to exercise. It could be hypothesised that a doctor measuring a patients carbon footprint will provide additional motivation for that person to adopt active forms of commuting, which may have a positive benefit on obesity and overweight.
We are developing a proposal involving health and the carbon footprint and invite any DEA members with research expertise, or interest in involvement in this proposed project, to contact David King d.king@uq.edu.au We welcome input on any or all of the following aspects of this project - design, grant application, implementation and analysis.