Change or die

With the Copenhagen summit on climate change less than three months away, and governments the world over engaged in intensive discussions and preparations, it feels like we are finally standing at a true crossroads.

One direction leads to a vision of a sustainable future, with adequate energy, food, and water for all without compromising the welfare of future generations.

The other direction is a continuation of the path we're currently on, which the vast preponderance of empirical evidence says is not sustainable, but which continues to be vigorously defended by vested interests.


Posted by: Andrew
Company: Noble & Associates
Phone: 61894007400
Posted On: 1/1/0001
Contact via email: andrew@nobleaccounting.com.au
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Categories: Climate Change
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C2030 Perth – Big Opportunities

John Day MLA, Minister for Planning, Arts & Culture made the following points -

  • The summit will have a focus on Perth
  • Western Australia is 2,500,000 square kilometres or an area the size of Europe
  • There will be big opportunities and good prospects for West Australian’s
  • Western Australia is a boom bust state, 1890’s the goldrush and the goldfields, 1960’s Iron ore and more recently gas
  • We need to consider how to diversify the spread of our population into the regions
  • We need to consider climate change & energy use
  • There is a need for a higher degree of urban density
  • Protection & conservation of the environment is important
  • There are a number of long term development projects on the Government radar including, Northbridge/city link project, Land use Planning Framework – Directions 2031 Open for Comments, Perth & Peel regions, extra 330,000 homes & 550,000 people, 47% via urban infill, opportunities around major transport lines, 10 homes per hectare will push up to 15 per hectare, more choice & diversity in types of home, time to grow ‘upwards’, Perth Waterfront Project (Riverside, WACA Ground, Causeway), will be precinct for residential living, commerce & tourism, Belmont Race Course into high density housing, Scarborough beach area, Victoria Park area, precinct around state library & museum, industrial land around Perth Region, Hope Valley, Wattleup, Airports expanded
  • Reduction in red tape
  • Need to be proactive
  • Urban form & design
  • Retail trading hours
  • Change in the way planning transpires

Talks Stewart Brand proclaims 4 environmental 'heresies'


Posted by: Andrew
Company: Noble & Associates
Phone: 61894007400
Posted On: 1/1/0001
Contact via email: andrew@nobleaccounting.com.au
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Climate change already shaping society

Human society is already, in small but significant ways, being shaped by global warming. So said a climatologist at the climate change congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Thursday.

Jean Palutikof of the University of East Anglia, UK, pointed to numerous studies warning that climate change is going to deeply transform our society, by increasing the death rate, for example, or changing the way we grow food. If you look in the right places, says Palutikof, it is already possible to see our behaviour changing.

Models and observations tell us which parts of the planet are most likely to feel the heat of climate change – so these "hotspots" are a good place to start looking for such changes. Palutikof focused on two locations: the maize fields of the US Midwest, and south-east Australia. Read on


Posted by: Andrew
Company: Noble & Associates
Phone: 61894007400
Posted On: 1/1/0001
Contact via email: andrew@nobleaccounting.com.au
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Categories: Climate Change
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Low Lying Areas of Western Australia to be Under Water by 2100

THE global sea level is rising faster than predicted, scientists warned yesterday.

Instead of a rise of between 18 and 59 centimetres by 2100, as forecast in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, seas could rise up to a metre or more.

The warning came from international experts attending a three-day conference in Copenhagen on climate research, called to underpin the world's response to climate change.

Speaking from the meeting, CSIRO scientist John Church, a Hobart-based oceans and climate change expert, told The Australian: "It's important to clearly understand sea level rise when deciding on our response to climate change." Read on

 


Posted by: Andrew
Company: Noble & Associates
Phone: 61894007400
Posted On: 1/1/0001
Contact via email: andrew@nobleaccounting.com.au
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Categories: Climate Change
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The Economist slams “The illusion of clean coal”

In two must-read articles, the uber-sober Economist magazine slams “clean coal” — aka carbon capture and storage (CCS), or carbon sequestration — as an “illusion,” and an expensive and potentially dangerous one at that.

In an editorial, the Economist points out:

  • Tonne for tonne, CCS looks like an expensive way of cutting carbon. The cost of it may fall, but probably not by much, given the familiarity of the technologies it uses.
  • CCS is not just a potential waste of money. It might also create a false sense of security about climate change, while depriving potentially cheaper methods of cutting emissions of cash and attention–all for the sake of placating the coal lobby.

This is seriously bad news for Western Australia, as we have huge reserves of coal.


Posted by: Andrew
Company: Noble & Associates
Phone: 61894007400
Posted On: 1/1/0001
Contact via email: andrew@nobleaccounting.com.au
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