tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73944628569740830502024-03-05T21:15:09.576-08:00ecotopeThis is an online repository of my notes on various topics. It's a personal tool, but I find the risk that someone may read it adds a certain discipline to my approach.Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-85658001120295737812012-08-21T17:40:00.001-07:002012-08-21T17:40:30.066-07:00Quick guide to sustainable seafood
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A friend asked me about sustainable seafood and I promised some information</div>
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Here is the quick guide I promised</div>
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The link to the seafood guide is</div>
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http://www.sustainableseafood.org.au/Sustainable-Seafood-Guide-Australia.asp?active_page_id=695</div>
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<br /></div>
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and it is downloadable from the app store</div>
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<br /></div>
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There is also the ACF Sustainable Seafood campaign information <a href="http://www.acfonline.org.au/be-informed/oceans-rivers/sustainable-australian-seafood"><span class="s1">http://www.acfonline.org.au/be-informed/oceans-rivers/sustainable-australian-seafood</span></a>. There is a cool and neat interactive map. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Greenpeace Australia is also in on the action with http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/what-we-do/oceans/Take-action/The-Seafood-Redlist/</div>
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And there is an excellent pdf for download there</div>
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A couple of general comments follow. With fish it is more sustainable if they are farmed in tanks on landed than in pens at sea. The drawbacks of pen raising are they are fed fish humans can eat, they are pumped full of antibiotics as the concentration of fish makes them susceptible to disease, they poop the antibiotics out into the environment and they poop. There is a very high concentration of fish poop beneath the pens which destroys the the environment beneath the pens. And some of the non-native fish escape into native waters. That said I understand Tassie pens are better than some. </div>
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As a rule smaller fish are better to eat than bigger - that is better 'for the environment'. The better fisheries are certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. </div>
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Generally wild caught fish are better for the person eating them than farmed as wild caught fish have a more diverse diet and are not pumped full of antibiotics. </div>
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So there is an app, an interactive map and pdf. Good coverage.</div>
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Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-88197085235904440972012-07-13T20:28:00.000-07:002012-07-13T20:28:15.600-07:00FSC certification of the loggin of old growth in Karelia"You
can't say that FSC can protect all forests. If we (claimed) to protect
every tree, no company would (register) with FSC. It is not realistic.
It is always a compromise." That's what Andrei Ptichnikov, general manager of FSC in Russia said to Swedish journalist which was then on-quoted by the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/29/ikea-ancient-tree-logging">Guardian</a> on May 29 this year. That FSC is willing to certifiying the logging of old growth forests - that's old growth forests- raises redwood-sized questions about the quality of FSC certification and how compromised that quality may be.Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-50399428519015419302012-06-12T17:37:00.001-07:002012-06-12T17:37:58.151-07:00Dirtying the waterI am interested rivers and sediments and what is happening to our urban rivers and what happens when the water runs out into bay. There is not much doubt that we as urban residents are putting a bunch of stuff into the storm water which then goes out into the rivers and bay. In the little lane in the inner city that runs past my office where I am writing this is an example of what happens in microcosm. It is a tiny bluestone lane. And there is sediment that washes out into the drain in the middle on a day to day basis - year in year out - but it is small. What is making a difference is construction. Three sites are in various stages of development. One small house that backs onto the land is nearing completion, now they have timbered over what was once a garden to create and 'outdoor room'. The waste the washed into the land was mainly sand - and some sawdust, food wrappings. There was a surprising amount of sand from such a small development. Further up they have knocked the back of a commercial building and brought in a bobcat to shovel out a lot of mud. And now the lane is coated in mud. And that will all wash into the river and ultimately into the bay. So to me it seems on a scale that is happening all over this city, construction is the issue. As we shorten the life cycle of our domestic buildings - the throw-away society driven by fashion - we create sediment to make our rivers and creeks and bays dirty. We clog them with sediment and make it tough for life to thrive in turbid waters.Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-5755390891951106412012-05-13T16:32:00.001-07:002012-05-13T16:32:39.025-07:00Pretending to be an outsider is the fashion of conservative politicsIt is curious how conservatives are positioning themselves as outsiders. As Katherine Murphy notes in today's Age: "This is the fashion of conservative politics." Nick Minchin does it. Even the Heartland Institute does it; yet they are supported by the blue rinse set of US corporates. The majority of the US legislature doubt anthropogenic climate change. Yet the world has been turned on its head and it is the majority of scientists who support the view that anthropogenic climate change is happening that are the 'insiders' and representing "the establishment'. It is hard not to be sarcastic about this position of "I am just a poor little rich guy." Deniers compare themselves to Galileo, missing the point that they are the political establishment who are rejecting science, as the church rejected Galileo's science.<br />
<br />Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-63143897903590191462012-03-17T15:17:00.002-07:002012-03-17T15:25:05.967-07:00Here is a quote from Darwin that intrigues me (and many others):<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em; margin-top: 1em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; line-height: 1.5; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 6pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
I have, also, reason to believe that humble-bees are indispensable to the fertilisation of the heartsease (<i style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Viola tricolor</i>), for other bees do not visit this flower. From experiments which I have lately tried, I have found that the visits of bees are necessary for the fertilisation of some kinds of clover; but humble-bees alone visit the red clover (<i style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trifolium pratense</i>), as other bees cannot reach the nectar. Hence I have very little doubt, that if the whole genus of humble-bees became extinct or very rare in England, the heartsease and red clover would become very rare, or wholly disappear. The number of humble-bees in any district depends in a great degree on the number of field-mice, which destroy their combs and nests; and Mr. H. Newman, who has long attended to the habits of humble-bees, believes that "more than two-thirds of them are thus destroyed all over England." Now the number of mice is largely dependent, as every one knows, on the number of cats; and Mr. Newman says, "Near villages and small towns I have found the nests of humble-bees more numerous than elsewhere, which I attribute to the number of cats that destroy the mice." Hence it is quite credible that the presence of a feline animal in large numbers in a district might determine, through the intervention first of mice and then of bees, the frequency of certain flowers in that district!</div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, sans-serif; line-height: 26px;">From the </span><i style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Origin</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, sans-serif; line-height: 26px;">, second edition, pp. 73-74:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, sans-serif; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> And I was listening to Off Track and that again reminded me of it. It was one of those delight full snap moments when life puts one card on top of another and there is lovely fit. The program is "Native Like a Fox" and it is well worth a listen. It poses the challenging question of when does the introduced pest become native and when does the native become a pest, and it relates it to the links in the food chain. Nice. Here's the<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/offtrack/native-like-a-fox21/3874874"> link</a>.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, sans-serif; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-67585156822378938452012-01-06T17:46:00.000-08:002012-01-06T17:50:56.504-08:00<br />
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I have an affection for weeds, gritty little survivors who
set up life anywhere. Discriminated against but tough. The heroic underdogs. I
like finding life in the most unexpected places and that is often a weed. After
all our magnificent eucalypts were once weeds living on the edge of a Gondwanan
forest. (It took me time to digest that when I first read it. But this
affection can be pushed too far and Emma Marris does that in her <i>Rambunctious
Garden</i>. Let’s re-evaluate them but it is bizarre to elevate them to the top of
the ecological pyramid of good guys.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">While reading <i>Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in the Post-Wild World by Emma Marris,</i> a
little over 50% through (by this point there is lots of questions, lots of
sledging but no answers, which I am looking forward to).</span></div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-39490316786772981832012-01-04T13:09:00.000-08:002012-01-04T13:09:26.649-08:00Marris's Rambunctious Garden too rambunctious?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Myriad Pro"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Myriad Pro";">I am annoyed by Emma
Marris’s Rambunctious Garden, but maybe in a good way. It has certainly given
me a new interest in invasive weeds, and a readiness to think differently. But
and there is a big but, she seems to be simply saying bad stuff happens.
Species ranges grow and shrink and species do go extinct – the world is really
just one big garden for people to do as they like in it. And if we lose a whole
bunch of interesting endemic species with short-lived, quick growing, rapidly
seeding species who put little effort into their offspring. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Myriad Pro"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Myriad Pro";">It is the
economist’s view of ecology – a licence for greed and carelessness. Yes change
happens but the rate of change in the past 200 years and especially the last 50
years is unprecedented. Ecosystems that have existed for 100s of years, 1000s
of years (and that’s a lot of time in a world that marks itself as some 2000
years old), 100,000 of years, even millions of years, ecosystems that have
co-evolved over many lifetimes are being destroyed in less than one. Yet she
takes time out of the equation. Her position as an ecologist seems perverse.
Yes climate change is changing the paradigm and we need to do some rethinking
about what we consider "nature" and "wilderness'. Let's not
throw the baby out with the bathwater. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Myriad Pro"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Myriad Pro";">Is it important that
the number of species on some islands are increasing though that is as the
expense of the biodiversity of the world? Is that not obvious? Yes it is good
to challenge prevailing wisdom, but what is she offering in its place? She
seems to be picking around the margins, finding the exceptions, not the
principles. The quality of the writing is disappointing for such a bold thesis.
She is using language frequently to deliberately stretching the argument. She
has eradicated time and the rate of change from her argument. Wow. Yes things
have always changed chronologically and spatially but it is the rate of change
that is a concern, a rate of change generated by the expansion of technology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Myriad Pro"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Myriad Pro";">Maybe I have yet to
read far enough. I am only 48% into the book (according the bar at the bottom
of my kindle screen.) I look forward to writing again when I have finished the
book. </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-237350360911131802012-01-04T13:07:00.000-08:002012-01-04T13:07:21.639-08:00Davis has Oz wrong<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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In response to Marris citing it, I am now reading Mark A
Davis <a href="http://www.macalester.edu/~davis/C20.PDF">“Researching Invasive Species 50 Years After Elton”</a>. Davis is saying
specifically in the case of Australia that: In Australia, non-native species
have been reported to have contributed to the extinctions of some native
mammals (see Finlayson 1961; Kinnear et al. 1998). However, the fact that
declines in native species typically began decades before the introductions of
species such as cats and foxes (often reputed to be the causes of extinctions),
and the fact that species introductions are usually associated with other types
of anthropogenic change that are believed to have contribute to the declines
(for example land use change), it is difficult to ascribe extinctions of
Australian mammals exclusively to no-native species (Abbott 2002; McKenzie et
al. 2007. </div>
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Well that doesn’t accord with my understanding. Cats arrived
with the First Fleet – the first settlement of Australia, as did cattle, which
also soon ran wild. So I am not sure how “declines in native species typically
began decades before the introductions” could work. In Australia’s case the
introduction of species came early and non-native species spread quickly. We
have seen waves of extinction in mammals since the arrival of Europeans – the latest
of which is going on in the north at the moment with the disappearance of the
bilby and other like sized animals. </div>
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A lot hangs on the word exclusively. Define it narrowly
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>anything can be justified.
Little if anything has a singular cause. The smaller mammals were not just killed
by cats but had their habitats destroyed as farmers cleared bush litter, and
the ground hardened by the hooves of introduced cattle. (Are cattle a land-use
change or an invasive species?)</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-83983738417287956772011-12-19T18:54:00.000-08:002011-12-19T18:54:07.888-08:00The MIS ponzis - who loves a monoculture?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I am just back from the Green Triangle, from canoeing the
Glenelg, four days actually, and driving via Warrnambool and then back by
Byaduk and Penshurst you cannot miss the plantations, rolling like dark water
over the hills and valleys mainly pine, some gum (blue gum). The soil up this
way is poor for farming but fine for pine. I am guessing the pines like the
acidity of limestone soils. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Much
of the planting was the result of the failed managed investments schemes Great
Southern and Timbercorp. A managed investment scheme (MIS) allows investors to
pool their investment and pay a manager to manage on their behalf. As I understand
it investors were encouraged to take the maintenance costs out as an upfront
tax deduction and that was the attraction of a managed investment scheme.
Timber has the advantage as do a number of agricultural products where there
are high maintenance expenses over a long period of time, in tax terms that
generated a good deduction that was brought forward to the time of the
investment. It seems an artefact to me, just too clever: short term thinking harnessed
to a long term product. There was something of the ponzi to the way the schemes
managed the funds they attracted, buying production to keep the price up. And
then the tax department I have been told disallowed bringing so much of the
expenses to the time of the investment and ruled that the expenses had to be
deducted closer to the time they were incurred. Owww. That’s a convenient
explanation but not accurate. There was tax doubt but governments and the ATO
worked to reassure investors. Maybe it would have been better if they hadn’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the meantime a lot of land had been bought and a lot of trees had been planted,
and not just in the south-west of Victoria but as far away as the Tiwi island,
which was controversial.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
idea of the plantations is to grow trees fast and to industrialize the farming
of timber. Plantations are monocultures – one tree species spread over a
landscape like a disease. The industrialization of forestry means that many
forestry values, say those espoused by Aldo Leopold are destroyed. It is all
about the money and systems to reduce costs. It is about shortening the
forester’s traditional long vision to something as short as a tree’s life can
be squeezed into. It is about industrializing forestry, which is about
simplifying everything to cut costs – and also to push costs especially unknown
costs into the future on to other people and future generations. A forest is
not a monoculture but a living diverse ecosystem, a series of habitats, a
structured mosaic of ecotopes. These plantations are sucking up water and
dropping the water table. One local told me that the level of the Blue Lake at
Mt Gambier had a dropped a metre. The local ecology is locked up for a long
time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
land is only productive for two rotations of timber so some 60 to 100 years, and
after that the land is depleted of nutrients and clotted with roots. Will it be
useable? What are we leaving future generations? Plenty of what economists like
to call “externalities”, as if these are not part of their dream of a perfect
economic system.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
MIS are a touchstone for how economics and government treats the environment,
seeking short-term profit blindly. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-84167434500155353362011-12-19T18:31:00.000-08:002011-12-19T18:31:09.767-08:00Hope yet for James Price PointEconomics is looking like it will stop the James Price Point hub where environmental protest have yet to succeed. $30 billion is looking like a lot in the current environment and the strong inflationary pressures in WA are pushing the likely cost up. Woodside has asked the WA government to extend the commitment deadline from mid 2012 into 2013. That increases the chances that the project just will not go ahead. Woodside's joint-venture partners - BHP, Shell, BP and Chevron - prefer the cheaper alternative of processing the gas at the existing facility at Karratha, and Goldman Sachs said that option "increases in attractiveness as time goes on". Who wants to take a big risk in today's economic climate? Woodside may just have been saved from itself by the doggedness of environmental and indigenous groups. Oh, sweet irony. Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman has tempered several of the ambitious plans of his American predecesso,Don Voelte, since ascending to the chair in May this year. The Wilderness Society says this setback is a "testament to misguided egos" of the ambitious. How does Martin Ferguson feel about that? Maybe a few people should be reading Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test.<br />
<br />
Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/woodside-gas-plant-doubts-20111219-1p2er.html">SMH</a><br />
<a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/business/12400149/woodside-seeks-browse-delay/">West Australian</a><br />
<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/woodside-seeks-years-delay-on-browse-lng-project/story-e6frg9df-1226226196316">Oz</a>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-82366283663302427262011-09-30T16:54:00.000-07:002011-09-30T18:49:56.386-07:00CSG concerns - handy summaryHere's a handy summary about the concerns with coal seam gas extraction. The fundamental is that as the industry is new there is not much known about the medium to long-term effects of lowering the pressure of coal seams but pumping out the gas (and the water with it). Specific concerns are:<div><br /><div>• Just how impermeable are the layers of clay separating the coal seams from the aquifers?</div><div><br /></div><div>• Are coal seams and aquifers always separated? (And, how do you know when you start drilling?)</div><div><br /></div><div>• Will fracking lead to coal seams connecting to aquifers?</div><div><br /></div><div>• Will the wells leak? Will the casing seal the wells adequately (think Deepwater Horizon)? Will the wells be plugged properly (think Rum Jungle? What is the industry's record of cleaning up after itself?)</div><div><br /></div><div>Queensland Gas Company says the majority of view of hydrologists is that over time water will always flow from high pressure to low pressure areas <i>regardless of permeability</i> Now here's the kicker QGC says it won't be a problem in our lifetimes. So what they are saying is lets take the profits now and lets shift the problems to the future. A case of not paying for what economists call externalities. In the ninenteenth century factories used to pump toxic waste into rivers and let those who live downstream take the consequences. Now we the downstream is the future, our children and their children and so down to the nth generation. </div><div><br /></div><div>The concerns from farmers is the damage that CSG does to their land, to the surface of the land. The web of roads and other facilities that go with CSG extraction. It is different from other sorts of mining. And there is the problem of what happens to everything that comes out of the ground apart from the methane that is pumped away - salty toxic water.<br /><div><br /></div></div></div>Andrew Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717159158189679870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-80370597641960479732011-09-30T16:31:00.000-07:002011-09-30T16:54:22.138-07:00Abuse of languageLanguage is used and abused to pursue particular interests. An appreciation that was reinforced for me recently when I read of plans to use 'waste' to make resin pellets to fire power plants in South Australia. The 'waste' is the pulp that will no longer go to the Tantanoola Pulp Mill (Tantanoola is being closed because it is too 'small' in a global context. Small is beautiful is not something that industry embraces.) Woodchipping started with a plan to utilize the 'waste' from logging, now forests are clearfelled and only a small proportion of the timber is actually cut into timber, most is chipped and pulped. Woodchipping spearheaded the industrializaton of logging based on 'waste', and resin pellet will continue this trend, all in the name of being green, all in the name of utilizing 'waste'. Words just slide around.<div><br /></div><div>The other recent notable abuse that I came across was the statements made by Queensland State Mining Minister Stirling Hinchcliffe that fracking is a 'very small' part of coal seam gas extraction. He's right. Here's what he actually said: "The scientific advice I have is that fracking is at the moment a very small part of what's required as part of oil and gas operations here in Queensland." The scientific is a nice touch. Fracking does not have much to do with science; it is a mining operation. Using 'scientific' lends support, though. But the key is what Stirling has not said. It is what he left out. Fracking is a small part 'at the moment'. It's about 5% but that's for now; in the future fracking proportions will grow. The industry is being coy about it, and reading between the lines about 30% of mines will eventually be fracked. And my guess is that it will be much higher. It is early days in CSG extraction so not much fracking is required to extact the gas. A point the minister conveniently did not mention.</div><div><br /></div>Andrew Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717159158189679870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-64916075299157516732011-05-25T07:08:00.000-07:002011-05-25T07:12:19.170-07:00In praise of walking - Annie ProulxI am reading — and very much enjoying Annie Proulx's Bird Cloud. I came across this quote this morning that resonated: "Walking induces a trancelike stat that allows the mind freedom and ease and encourages exploration of odd possibilities and improbable connections." The "odd possibilities" and the "improbable connections" in particular; that is one reason I love walking that I had yet to let surface in my mind until Annie Proulx fished it up.Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-3520374998799402362011-05-13T23:37:00.000-07:002011-05-14T14:35:06.378-07:00The Cobberas - a wilderness area?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvOJhO-Y5W8P2J-qDAYmnOiPxEr0CCtl5iqRfqhWTyjCZtHIOez3JMc3OcbagN-k9YDRj71DtGJfCHn7sTUplWiIKkWcMruiHltny3WCqEG_rAJDetwtxVnTFtiRaWVAGZKNY6fWzVBs/s1600/P5100087.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvOJhO-Y5W8P2J-qDAYmnOiPxEr0CCtl5iqRfqhWTyjCZtHIOez3JMc3OcbagN-k9YDRj71DtGJfCHn7sTUplWiIKkWcMruiHltny3WCqEG_rAJDetwtxVnTFtiRaWVAGZKNY6fWzVBs/s200/P5100087.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606688214479064834" /></a><br /><br /><div>I am back from 4 days walking in the Cobberas, in north-east Victoria, on the other side of the Great Divide. It snowed and it was exquisitely beautiful, but I was saddened by the impact that Europeans had had on the Australian landscape. The Cobberas is designated as a Wilderness Area but driving in to the Cowombat Flat Track the presence of feral dogs was obvious as farmers had shot them and left there corpses hanging from trees. On the first night I heard the mewling of a feral cat in the dark hours of the morning. The first night on Cowombat Flat we heard the eerie and beautiful yowling of a feral dog. Everywhere was evidence of feral horses: horse shit, brumby pads, and wetlands and streams turned to quagmires. And occasionally we had a sighting of the horses themselves - beautiful. Most obviously was the damage done by the fire of 2003. Without Aboriginal mosaic burning we have intense whirlwinds of fires that leave the debris of a holocaust, and a simplified ecosystem. The Cobberas burnt in 2003. Now, since the 2009 fires, almost all of the Victorian Alps are covered by dead trees. No where can I stand on a mountain and see a sweep of green unburnt forest to the horizon. That is lost to me and to coming generations. The countryside has the look of the stubble on an unshaven face. <div><br /></div><div>So what is now a wilderness area?</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRk2PtxjPN0qhyphenhyphenhDUVzBEFEyO2pMSE2KhiZvlVfL9LT2OMIJ0_WQtZPM35EGkQnk8zQgM-MQcT3jNMYcuGLZo-O3JxCPwoYvWo12c8Za1qtLD0GubA5UFa_AxxF8KLkx-aIiuOEAVw0eY/s1600/P5120245.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRk2PtxjPN0qhyphenhyphenhDUVzBEFEyO2pMSE2KhiZvlVfL9LT2OMIJ0_WQtZPM35EGkQnk8zQgM-MQcT3jNMYcuGLZo-O3JxCPwoYvWo12c8Za1qtLD0GubA5UFa_AxxF8KLkx-aIiuOEAVw0eY/s200/P5120245.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606687513337898050" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><div>I took the book <i>Bird Cloud </i>by Annie Proulx with me and read with sadness of the same situation in North American pine forests destroyed by the "triple catastrophes of prolonged drought, warming climate and an unprecedented invasion of mountain pine beetle" She goes on to say "I am deeply sorry for all who never … looked out from a fire tower across miles of green mountain wilderness." The pleasure in that awe has been lost there, as it has been here in Australia. </div></div></div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-62574366774824575892011-04-10T02:38:00.000-07:002011-04-10T02:46:45.157-07:00the other tragedy of the commons<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:12.0pt;text-indent:36.0pt;line-height: 150%"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt; line-height:150%"> The law locks up both man and woman<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:12.0pt;text-indent:36.0pt;line-height: 150%"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt; line-height:150%"> <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/1994/01/01/the-tragedy-of-enclosure/">Who</a> steals the goose from off the common<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:12.0pt;text-indent:36.0pt;line-height: 150%"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt; line-height:150%"> But lets the greater felon loose<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:12.0pt;text-indent:36.0pt;line-height: 150%"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt; line-height:150%"> <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/1994/01/01/the-tragedy-of-enclosure/">Who</a> steals the common from the goose. (Anon).<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <!--EndFragment-->Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-50496047795784506662011-03-19T01:42:00.000-07:002011-03-19T01:44:32.474-07:00plus for carbon offsets where the offset is located in a developing countryA more benign way of looking at carbon offsets is they give first world countries a self-interested reason to invest in the the ecology of developing countries.Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-24119129707527198302011-03-18T15:42:00.000-07:002011-03-18T16:13:53.870-07:00offsets are indulgencesWhat hurts my head about offsets is not that they are a get-out-of-jail-for-free card (let's just keep on consuming but ease our conscience), but that you need to know that what you are spending your money on would not have been done otherwise - that methane would not have been used to generate electricity from that waste dump, or that tree would not have been planted, without my expenditure on the offset. That is really hard to assess. We are talking about a counterfactual future, what would have happened if hadn't contributed that money, and who can really answer that.<div><br /></div><div>The carbon we release in driving to the beach is actual but the carbon we save is more notional. If you are subsidizing a company that gives out free energy efficient light globes - how much does that actually save is an actuarial exercise in estimation. One is happening now but the savings are projected to happen in the future.</div><div><br /></div><div>But what if you are paying somebody not to do something in the future, like not cut down that tree. Now that's really notional. Farmers may be asking for credits for trees that they could have cut down but don't actually have any plans to.<br /> <div><br /></div><div>To the cynical offsets could be seen to just be subsidizing normal activities that would have occurred in the normal course of events - and therefore increasing profits. </div><div><br /></div><div>Offets are also used to excuse the unsustainable growth in industries say like travel that emit a lot of carbon.<br /><div><br /></div><div>There also the issue of discount rates for carbon savings which I'll deal with in another blog. </div></div></div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-50601219483965761152011-03-17T20:33:00.000-07:002011-03-17T20:40:41.976-07:00It is less what you buy and more how you look after it that mattersIt is not so much what clothes you buy as how you wash them that makes the green difference. The biggest impact of clothing on the environment is how they are washed: cold water, biodegradable washing powder and line drying are low energy/good for the environment. Hot wash and spin drying sucks up a bucketload of energy. So says Keith Colishaw a textiles expert from RMIT, quoted by <a href="http://www.choice.com.au/">Choice</a>.Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-14938479853245231822011-03-17T20:13:00.001-07:002011-03-17T20:33:34.619-07:00Garnaut sheds lightThe smoke around Australia's carbon tax is clearing with the release of the latest update of the Garnaut report. While we still have a Labor government this report carries weight and it is being considered at a multiparty climate policy committee meeting today. Garnaut backed Labor's carbon price which is effectively a tax and it starts next year, at a price of between $20 and $30 tonnes on Garnaut's recommendation (compare EU $20.50, NZ 19.50 and forecasted for the mighty state of California:$12.95-15.95; with the global offset price being $16.95). Then we will graduate to a emissions trading scheme with a market-set carbon price. <div><br /></div><div>Professor Garnaut did not think much of Tony Abbott's "Direct Action" style of approach. Abbott's plan is to select particular emission reduction projects and pay for them out of the government's coffers. Too arbitrary to win the heart of an economist. Garnaut has built in plenty of compensation for polluting export industries like aluminium and steel. They would get 90% back initially then down to 60% later. Initially that's a quarter of the revenue raised. </div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-81601706709493329112011-03-15T15:08:00.000-07:002011-03-15T15:44:53.932-07:00More on Reflex - the "ethical" paperThe more I peel back the layers the more layers that are revealed below. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is, as mentioned in an earlier post, investigating the certification of Australian Paper the makers of Reflex. Adam Trumble, FSC's Business Manager, does not want to say too much as he doesn't want to prejudice any claims for or against the cerification but to let the process take its course. I have appended below what Adam and the FSC is prepared to say.<div><br /></div><div>One item that intrigued me in this discussion was that the FSC doesn't do its own certification. That's done through an associated entity <a href="http://www.accreditation-services.com/">Accreditation Services Internationa</a>l (ASI), and that associated entity does not actually do the certification either but contracts that out. Byzantinely beauracratic. There's a wrinkle in this exposed layer in that the certification for Australian Paper was done by Smart Wood, which is part of the not-for-profit <a href="http://rainforest-alliance.org/">Rainforest Alliance</a>, and further that the <a href="http://www.wilderness.org.au/">Wilderness Society</a> is a member of the FSC, and sits on its board. It's not a simple story.<div><br /></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; "> </span></div><div>FROM FSC Australia</div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); ">The following points represent FSC Australia's position.<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">The Forest Stewardship Council sets standards for responsible forest management.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Organisations may seek certification under FSC forest management standards (forest management certification) or under FSC Chain of Custody Standards (for companies operating in the wood and paper supply chain).<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">FSC does not undertake certifications itself, but through an associated entity (Accreditation Services International (ASI)) authorises certification bodies to conduct assessments and audits against FSC standards.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">In July 2006, Smart Wood (an accredited certification body and a unit of the US-based Rainforest Alliance) granted a Chain of Custody certificate (SW-COC-001966) to Australian Paper for production of specified paper products.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">In 2009 FSC clarified requirements for sourcing non-FSC certified ‘controlled wood’ that can be mixed with FSC certified material in a ‘Mix’ label product (Australian Paper supplements its FSC certified wood sourced from nearby plantations with non-FSC certified ‘controlled wood’ sourced from Victorian state forests).<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">FSC Australia has concerns that the Smart Wood audit of Australian Paper in 2009 did not comply with FSC controlled wood requirements.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">FSC Australia has raised these concerns with ASI in 2010, which is investigating.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Smartwood has since conducted a further regular audit of Australian Paper.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Pending an outcome of the Smartwood audit and ASI investigation, Australian Paper's Chain of Custody certificate remains valid.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(79, 98, 40); "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">FSC Australia does not have the ability to directly influence audit processes and therefore awaits the outcome of both the FSC International review and the Smartwood audit.</span></li></ul></div></div></div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-37785521961479884762011-03-14T21:04:00.000-07:002011-03-14T21:19:09.549-07:00"recycled" disappointmentThe consumer thinks of "recycled" as post-consumer waste, the stuff that's put out in the recycling bin for collection by the council, as recycled and don't consider that the labelling actually includes factory offcuts or pre-consumer waste. It comes as a surprise and a shock - and then a rush of disappointment: " I'm not being as green as I thought I was."<div><br /></div><div>Maybe that's why Naturale only receives a grey tick not a black tick on the <a href="http://www.ethical.org.au/guide/browse/guide/?cat=180&subcat=188&type=91">ethical consumer website</a>. </div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-4274310970930579982011-03-01T13:24:00.000-08:002011-03-01T13:40:19.309-08:00the Hazelwood deal - looked good at the timeThe cost of closing Hazelwood - Australia's dirtiest coal plant - would cost $3.8 billion. It's current value is $2.5 billion and the Kennett government and was purchased from the Victorian government for $2.35 billion.<div><br /></div><div>We as Victorians made a huge windfall profit when Kennett, cleverly sold the 30 year old Hazelwood in 1996 (offering a 40 year life) for far more than it was listed at on the government books. And we have been paying for it every since. The station was due to be shut down in 2005 by the SECV. </div><div><br /></div><div>The station has to be kept going to deliver its owners (which interestingly includes the CBA) a profit, so the government keeps agreeing to new extensions of the terms. The government is driven by fear of driving investment away.</div><div><br /></div><div>The privatization of electricity, when we are trying to cut carbon emissions, looks daft.<br /><div><br /></div></div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-28459441872933010772011-02-28T20:46:00.000-08:002011-02-28T20:50:43.222-08:00Ecological maxim: there's no such thing a free lunch<a href="http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/information-failures-coca-cola-the-get-fat-diet/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economics_news+%28tutor2u+Economics+Blog%29#When:19:14:00Z">Artificial sweetners make you fat</a>!Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-60400453081999273542011-02-21T22:43:00.001-08:002011-02-21T22:53:22.634-08:00Reflex answersI spoke to the Wilderness Society, the dynamic Luke Chamberlain, who said yes there is a glut of plantation timber - due to the failed MIS forestry planting schemes. No, the Wilderness Society doesn't support monocultural plantations. Yes Australian Paper is FSC certified but there are issues about FSC certification and if you are interested in the general issues rather than issues related to Australian Paper's certification then go to: http://www.fsc-watch.org/. At least 85% if not more of what is logged goes to woodchips and pulp, so out of a 520,000 tonnes that is logged only 14,000 tonnes are timber grade sawn logs. To put it nicely Australian Paper may be stretching a point to say that what is pulped is the waste from sawlog production.Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394462856974083050.post-5486835139852970512011-02-18T14:55:00.000-08:002011-02-18T15:18:53.016-08:00Chronology of the whailing wars - thanks to the Age1946 Japan resumes Antarctic whaling for food post-World War II, with US encouragement. Australia opposes. IWC formed under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.<div>1972 Paul Watson and others form Greenpeace and challenge uncontrolled Soviet whaling in the North Pacific.</div><div>1986 IWC final reach a moratorium on commercial whaling after numbers crash.</div><div>1987 Japan issues itself a permit under IWC to take whales for scientific research in the Antarctic</div><div>1989 First Greenpeace action in the Antarctic</div><div>1994 IWC establishes a circumpolar Southern Ocean wildlife sanctuary but Japan rejects.</div><div>2005 Sea Shepherd begins clashes with whaling fleet.</div><div>2009 Conflict with the Japanese fleet escalates - high intensity acoustics and ship boargisn</div><div>2010 Andy Gil sliced in two by whalers's security ship Shonan Maru No 2. IWC peace talks collapse.</div><div>2011 Japan cuts season short and withdraws in the face of opposition from the three fleet Sea Shepherd flotilla. </div><div><br /></div><div>Links</div><div><a href="http://iwcoffice.org/">IWC</a>: http://iwcoffice.org/</div><div><a href="http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw_asia_pacific/index.php">International Fund for Animal Welfare </a>(global whales campaign manager is Paul Ramage): http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw_asia_pacific/index.php</div><div><a href="http://www.seashepherd.org/">Sea Shepherd;</a> http://www.seashepherd.org/</div>Andrew's red dog bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09772804953587105149noreply@blogger.com0