Reply to Heartbreaking denialism by Joshua Gans

Reply to Heartbreaking denialism by Joshua Gans via 1petermartin: Sharing... They are environment haters; pure and simple - Gans http://bit.ly/87pLXy

But don't you see?  It's the extra layer of government, and the extra taxes (although they'll happily spruik for their constituencies and special interests to get tax payer funded "compensation"), and the jobs that will be lost, and the end of the economy as we know it.

What I wonder is, how is it then that the European Union, which has arguably had an even more flawed ETS for 6 years now, seems to be surviving?

Including in Germany alone, the directly attributable creation of 230, 000 plus jobs in the renewable energy industries (R&D, manufacture, sales - domestic and international, and installation of wind, solar, biomass, tidal technologies), and creation of an additional, invaulable income stream to (especially) farmers, from energy production.

You know, from all those solar panals and wind turbines they've planted in the paddocks where the livestock graze.

Good grief.  Who knew?  The sun shines and the wind blows and the tide goes in and out in Europe!

And they're (SHOCK! HORROR!) progressively decommissioning nuclear power stations, as more renewable energy sources come on line.

Oh well, guess we should just get used to a nice balance of trade deficit with the Euro zone over the next few years, importing technology and know-how, what with having sold off, closed down and driven out most of our world class renewables R&D technologies and intellectuals, to everywhere else during the last two federal administrations.

No, Joshua, they're not haters, they're just humans stuck in the oldest human dilemma.  Having to change their minds about a belief they hold dear, rather than admit to a mistake.

Like King Canute trying to hold back the tide, this is (I hope!) their last hurrah.  Just as the GST became the inevitable "tax reform" we had to have, so will the ETS and/or carbon tax be part of the new reality of the carbon constrained and oil depleted future of the Australian and global economy.

The sooner we all face this fact, regardless of our belief, the sooner we can start getting results.

Links:

• Emissions trading schemes by country
• Emission Trading System (EU ETS)
• Nuclear Europe: Country guide
• Decommissioning nuclear facilities
• Going where the green jobs are
• Green Jobs: The Future of America’s Economy?
• Cnut the Great
  

Our carbon footprint - we're megawatt performers!

Our 1.1kW grid connect PV system ticked over the 1 megawatt hour of energy generated a month or so ago, a bit under a year after we installed it under the former Howard Government's solar rebate system.

Based on figures from DEUS (NSW), that means we've saved more than 1 tonne of greenhouse gas emissions from going into the atmosphere. Woo Hoo!

It hasn't reduced our power bill by that much, because our supplier has brought in a "daily connection" charge, so the excess we've produced above our household demand and fed back into the grid, is chewed up by that. (Thanks Morris, can't wait to see how our environmentally minded privatised electricity providers will handle the greenhouse challenge, and pass that cost along.)

Anyway, reducing our electricity bill wasn't the motivation for getting the system installed, we've always (as much as the budget would allow) factored in reducing* our carbon footprint in our lifestyle activities and choices, so this was more about doing our bit to save the planet, than saving money.

This year we installed a solar hot water system. It came online when we had unseasonal rain, so we had to fire up the booster for the first two weeks, but the offpeak meter has only ticked over 14kW or so since it was installed more than 4 weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how much more this will bring our household carbon footprint down.

So, all this got me wondering. Instead of building new coal fired or nuclear powered stations to satisfy "demand", how about we (collectively) reduce waste, improve efficiency and increase household market share of renewables to reach the 60%-90% greenhouse gas reduction target?

It cost about $13,000 to create a "point of use" 1.1kW power station on our roof. It produces about 1MW of power per year, sends some juice back to the grid, and forestalls about 1MW of greenhouse gas per year going into the atmosphere from our household activities.

There are approx. 1.6 million private dwellings in Victoria (VIC) and 6.6 million in Australia (2001 census: Separate house and Semi-detached, row/terrace etc.). The new coal fired power station mooted for VIC is going to cost a minimum of $150 million, apparently a nuke could cost USD$1B, ... can someone please do the math?

As the Stern Review and Garnaut Climate Change Review have already pointed out, the economic "ROI" bean counting, will soon be far outweighed by the environmental, social and economic costs of doing nothing.

The sooner we (collectively) start, the cheaper the solutions are, and the faster we get to our 60%-90% of 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels target. (And maybe save the planet.)

And don't use "China and India ... blah blah blah ...", as an excuse. We were primarily responsible for our greenhouse gas emissions in the past, we're responsible for our contributions now, and we'll be responsible for them in the future. Time to collectively get to work, because the clock is ticking.

Links:

• NSW ceiling insulation rebate
• Solar Homes and Communities Plan Rebate
• Solar Hot Water Rebate Program - Home Page
• Your Home - Design for lifestyle and the future
  

* If we hadn't already insulated the ceiling and all external and internal wall cavities when we built our house, we'd be getting that done too!

"Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Nagasaki 9th August 1945

My father was a WWII vet., served in the Pacific, and like most veterans, didn't speak much about his experiences. When I was younger, I could never figure out why he hated the "Japs" so much, and we used to knock heads over the morality of the nuclear attacks.

As I grew up, and saw documentaries and gradually heard the filtered stories of the appalling behavior, the brutality toward Allied POWs and occupied civilians by most Japanese soldiers, I came to understand a little, why.

Last year, SBS ran very late at night (after midnight if I recall), a documentary series on the war from the Japanese perspective. It was very enlightening, and very sad.

And it brought to mind the paradox that "They do what the do because they are what the are, and they are what they are because they do what they do".

But even today, and with many musings on this vexed issue, I still cannot reconcile myself to those events, and the many other "lesser evils" committed on all sides, not being acts of terrorism and crimes against humanity.

I just wish we lived in a mature enough world where this type of failure of global humanity, is not an option.

Why the nuclear attack on Japan was right (The Age 06/08/03)

Wartime records and memoirs show that the emperor and some of his aides wanted to end the war by the summer of 1945. But they were vacillating and couldn't prevail over a military that was determined to keep going even if that meant, as a navy official urged at one meeting, "sacrificing 20 million Japanese lives".

The atomic bombings broke this political stalemate and were thus described by Mitsumasa Yonai, the navy minister at the time, as a "gift from heaven".

Without the atomic bombings, Japan would have continued fighting by inertia.

This would have meant more firebombing of Japanese cities and a ground invasion, planned for November 1945, of the main Japanese islands. The fighting over the small, sparsely populated islands of Okinawa had killed 14,000 Americans and 200,000 Japanese, and in the main islands the toll would have run into the millions.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

Lest we Forget

We knew the world would not be the same [streaming video]. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that one way or another.

-J. Robert Oppenheimer (wiki)

Hiroshima marks bomb anniversary with hope for US change

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AFP) - The mayor of Hiroshima on Wednesday urged the next US president to work to abolish atomic weapons as the city marked the 63rd anniversary of the world's first nuclear attack.

• Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (UN) : wiki || IAEA
• Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp
• Anti-nuclear movement in Australia. (wiki)
• New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone (wiki)
• The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, Auckland Harbour (wiki)
• New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987 || NZ history online
• Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) : The nuclear chain
  

North Korea blows up nuclear facility

Somewhat overshadowed by the report about NK finally handing over the report on its nuclear capabilities.

Amanpour: Stunned silence followed nuke plant implosion - CNN.com

YONGBYON, North Korea (CNN) -- North Korea blew up part of its Yongbyon nuclear plant Friday, in full view of CNN and a handful of international broadcasters invited to witness this dramatic and symbolic event.

U.S. State Department official Sung Kim also attended and called the move "a very significant disablement step."

I sincerely hope so. Anything that reduces the tension and opportunity for confusion or mistakes, is welcome.