Archive for January, 2008
Greenhouse Advice Questioned.
Flannery’s plan: buy forests to help environment (The Age January 30).
Professor Tim Flannery should be applauded for his audacious plan to protect the worlds dwindling forest reserves. Forests are indeed efficient carbon sinks which help to offset carbon emissions from the western world and developing nations.
There is some irony, however, that he unfurled his plan in the first instance to Professor Ross Garnaut, Kevin Rudd’s ‘hand picked’ climate change advisor. Ross is a distinguished economist and entrepreneur who is well placed to offer many insights into the climate change challenge facing Australia and the rest of the planet. Professor of Economics in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University, Chairman of Phillip Asia Capital Management, Chairman of PNG Sustainable Development Program Ltd, and a Director of Ok Tedi Mining Ltd. Also a Director of the Lowy Institute of International Policy and a Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute. Formerly Chairman of the Bank of Western Australia Ltd and Chairman of the Primary Industry Bank of Australia Ltd. Being at the cutting edge of climate change producing activities is perhaps the thinking behind the Rudd Government appointment. With such experience producing greenhouse gases, it is logical to assume Professor Garnaut can also be part of global solutions.
In recognising that villages, not governments are owners of forested land we are then presented with a dilemma. If this is the case then we need to examine the reality of current business practices in forested areas, targeted for resources of carbon sink plans discussed. Take for example the once lush PNG island of Lihir. As recently as September 2007, armed police were flown to the island to protect the mining company assets (Lihir Gold) as workers continued strike action over terms and conditions. Given that Professor Garnaut is the chairman of Lihir Gold, other opportunities could arise from his briefing with Tim Flannery. This land could be given back to the people of Lihir and some of the profits from gold extraction could assist with revegation of the island. This could prove to be a more efficient model than the Flannery proposal as the company benefiting from the deforestation repairs the damage. If the same model was applied here the same opportunities could be seen here but they are yet to be announced. The way in which land is used or left alone could be another way of looking at the plan…areas requiring vegetation are typically in mining or agricultural districts allowing scope for carbon catching in our own zone of reality, and also rectifying environmental damage which we admit doing but struggle with simple ways to deal with the root of the problem.
Post Pine Gap Garrett…Shock Revelation of Robotronic Replacement!
I was getting very bored of all the negative commentary surrounding Peter Garrett’s selling his soul to the devil. Garrett provided much inspirational music for the disaffected generation of which I must include myself. To see Mr Garrett spasticating himself on stage in such rages of passion was of great service to young Australians and indeed young international souls that he reached. We could get along with our business knowing that his rage and passion would somehow save the world. How do we place this enigmatic character of our generation spewing forth such unforgettable lyrics as:
I walked up to the park
The lion rock was weeping
I walked on to the grave
The lizard king was sleeping
Read the rest of this entry »
Radiation Poisoning from South Australian Nuclear Tests
By Paul Langley
THE TRUTH SURROUNDING ATOMIC FICTION – COLD WAR PROPAGANDA &
MODERN VIEWS ON RADIOLOGICAL SAFETY IN AUSTRALIA
From 1957 to 1978 the Australian Government carried out dissections on the bodies of people
who had died of illness or accident. These dissections were carried out to monitor the amount
of Strontium 90, a radioactive element, absorbed by Australians. Strontium 90 was a
component of the fallout deposited from nuclear tests conducted in Australia, the Pacific and
China. Permission to carry out the dissections was not sought from relatives. The tests were
carried out by the Federal Health Department, and test subjects included babies. Evidence of
this activity was released in 1981 by the NSW Health Commission. The Australian Radiation
Laboratory paid the costs of bone sample removal and transport to Melbourne The secret
operation involved hospitals in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney. Melbourne and Adelaide. (Source:
Atomic Fallout, March/June 1992 page 11 )
Advance Australia Fair! – But Who Owns the Commonwealth?
Is Australia really a Constitutional Democracy or are we a company listed on the U.S. Securities Commission?
This document found on the web would suggest that not only has Australia been traded on the US Securities Commission but we are bankrupt as well!!
