Forests are the largest land based carbon capture and storage devices the planet has, yet are being destroyed globally at an alarming rate. Forests are a major climate moderation solution. All logging of native forests should cease and forest restoration must be a high priority to begin drawing down the hundreds of hears of carbon which is lost when a forest is clearfelled and burnt.
Forests are the largest land based carbon capture and storage devices the planet has, yet are being destroyed globally at an alarming rate. Forests are a major climate moderation solution. All logging of native forests should cease and forest restoration must be a high priority to begin drawing down the hundreds of hears of carbon which is lost when a forest is clearfelled and burnt.
Across south-eastern Australia this morning, people are waking up to forecasts of scorching heat for the week ahead. Players and spectators heading to the Australian Open should prepare for some baking hot days at the tennis: 35¬∞C today, rising to 41¬∞C on Tuesday, with temperatures in the high 30s or low 40s expected to linger …
The Australian government’s “direct action” policy is like giving money to an illegal drug dealer to stop dealing drugs, then having no penalty if he keeps selling them. Moderate conservative that he is, Australian environment minister Greg Hunt ran on a platform of “lean” government, where private businesses “are the true creators of wealth”, individuals …
Australia is already feeling the effects of climate change, with record-breaking temperatures not just over summer, but over the past 12 months as well. Research suggests that such events are many times more likely thanks to climate change. The IPCC fifth assessment report on climate science found evidence for climate change is unequivocal. The impacts …
“Dad, the world is missing amazing animals. I wish extinction wasn’t forever”. Despite my wife and I working as biologists, our five-year-old son came to make this statement independently. He is highlighting what I and many others consider to be society’s biggest challenge, and arguably failure: the continuing loss of species from Earth. The massive …
Should burning forest waste count under the renewable energy target? Not when the forests serve us better while they’re in the ground, writes Senator Lee Rhiannon Woodchipping of Australia’s native forests continues across the country, despite feeble woodchip prices and shrinking markets. The industry is desperately looking for ways to extend its life by generating …
The Climate Commission released a report this week called The Critical Decade, which makes the threats facing Australia abundantly clear. It spells out the drastic increase in extreme weather and its severity, and points to the increase in extreme heat and extreme bushfire weather. In my time as deputy commissioner of Fire and Rescue …
“We want to see less people losing their homes in bushfires, not more. Real climate action means: – An end to the billions in fossil fuel subsidies– An end to the billions in “compensation” polluters get via the carbon price– A stop to the expansion of our coal and gas mining and exports– Starting the …
In the high country of Victoria, firefighters are presently battling a large bushfire that is moving through the forests south of Harrietville and past the second highest mountain in Victoria, Mt. Feathertop. It has threatened small communities, hikers, come within 50m of the boundary of the Hotham Heights alpine resort, and – most devastating of …
A FIREFIGHTERS’ union has called on the Federal Government to take urgent action against climate change, saying that current policy on greenhouse gas emissions would lead to disasters on the scale of the Victorian fires almost every year. In an open letter to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the Victorian Premier, John Brumby, the …
“Indeed I guess there’ll be more CO2 emissions from these fires than there will be from coal-fired power stations for decades.” – acting Opposition leader, Warren Truss, January 9, 2013 On Wednesday, leader of the National Party and acting Opposition Leader, Warren Truss claimed carbon emissions from the current bushfires are equivalent to decades of …
