ecological threats to the ocean

overfishing - Science estimates that there will be no commercially harvestable seafood left by 2048.

bottom trawling - scrapes the bottom destroying coral gardens etc.

Longliniing - incidentally catches animals and birds, including turtles and albatrosses

pollution - sewage and industrial - treated as a rubbish pit

desal plants are a new threat.

Channel deepening and dredging off coasts

CO2 emissions which concentrate carbon in the water which screws up the pH - and causes ocean acidification

garbage - especially plastics which sea creatures eat and which then kills them.

200 dead spots in the ocean.

Canadian forests

Canada accounts for a 10th of the world's forests.

cheat sheet for Gunns's pulp mill

who: Gunns

place: Bell Bay/Tamar Vallery

purpose: bleach Eucalypt woodchips and pulp them for sale to North Asia - Tasmania is closer to the North Asia market than rival pulp suppliers in South America.

envronmental issue: the release of effluent, especially dioxins, into Bass Strait. Gunns is planning to feed timber from the native forests of the north-east into the mill in the initial years of the operation (planned to be all plantation timber within five years. The Wilderness Society says it will initially be 80% native forest fed.)

alternative site: Hampshire

business issues: can Gunns raise the funds? Gunns interest payments in 07-08 were more than its earnings. Gunns has raised $500m in capital ($330m from equity raising and $170 from selling off pine plantations), concern with Gay being CEO and chairman, mill would tripled Gunns' earnings and turn it into a global player, Gunns market capitalization is $730m. Gunns needs to roll over $162m in debt in December 2009 against a debt facility of $178m

cost: $2.2 billion

status: 4 Jan 2009 Garrett said Gunns could build but could not operate till environmental model shows there is not problem with effluent outflows.

Institutional investors in Gunns who control just under 50%: Perpetual, Concord Capital, Perennial Investment Partners, Schroder Investment Management

Source: The Age and the Australian.

Note: How many old growth forests are Gunns responsible for having logged? If Gay hadn't built Gunns into the business it is today would those forests have been logged?

Note: Gunns have hired Sydney PR company Cato Counsel to turnaround years of publicity.

Note: Last pulp mill push 20 years ago was led by Robin Gray, ex-premier of Tas.

Note: Australia has a $2b deficit in wood products.

Further background:
Gunns owns all 4 export-woodchip mills in Tasmania.
It is the largest native-forest logging company in Australia as well as being the biggest hardwood-chip company in the world. (Where's the largest chip company?)
It exports more woodchips from Tasmanian than are exported from all the mainland states combined.
Gunns owns 2/3rds of the eucalypt sawmilling industry in Tasmania.
Gunns owns two major eucalypt veneer mills in Tasmanina.
Key woodchip customers: Oji, Nippon and Mitsubishi.
Source: Greenpeace

Other links:

Tasmanian Forest Industries Association

Wilderness Society

water anomaly

It's an anomaly for the water companies to be responsible for reducing water consumption. As consumption decreases they need to put up their prices, and the cost of water is predicted to double - and so it should.  If water is expensive then we don't consume as much - or at least most of us. For the rich it doesn't matter. 

emissions ready-reckoner by country - a beginning

Australia is a serious offender, per capita, for greenhouse emissions - due to our heavy reliance on coal.

The US emits 20% of global emissions for 5% of the population.

 

global consumption of oil tops 10m barrels per hour.

no-ice pole

Less ice at the North Pole accelerates global warming. Scientist predict that the North-West Passage will be completely ice free during summer within four years (so 2012 - worth noting in a diary). It's a barometer of global warming. A bit like the polar bear. We measure how warm it is getting by examining things that are cold, or at least once were.

Red-eared slider turtle

The red-eared slider turtle is now established in Queensland, and one was recently caught in Blackburn Lake. They have no known natural predators and prey aggressively on native fish and frogs, and reduce the food available to native predators. They can breed prolifically laying up to 70 eggs a year. The species are in the World Conservation Unions top 100 "world's worst invaders" list. What dill brought it in and why?

We seem to be heading for fewer species in larger numbers, a bit like the book trade. The weedy and aggressive survive.