Help Facebook Unfriend Coal

On facebook, there is a campaign to get founder Mark Zuckerberg to switch the computer servers that operate the social network to be powered by renewable energy. This is the cute video they put together to sum it all up.

Climate Change in Queensland

Recently the Queensland Government received the report it commissioned, titled "Climate Change in Queensland". You may remember the very similar-sounding 2008 report. Not surprisingly, here in 2010, it's still bad news.


These maps show the change in Queensland temperatures from 1950-2007. The 3 maps represent the daily average, minimum and maximum temps. Red areas represent warming (the darker the red, the greater the warming).

Put simply, the report says it's hotter than it's ever been, and getting hotter. Droughts will increase, and be broken by more destructive cyclones.

If only governments would take action as much as they take reports.

Too Big To Fail

I'm not encouraging people to get arrested, but i do appreciate both the commitment and cleverness of the Greenpeace people. The most brilliant, yet succinct, summation of the urgency for action - expressed in government's own language.


For more pics of the event, check out the image gallery.

Auto-Debunk

The two main reasons i don't allocate much time at all for pointless debate with those who want to argue the existence of climate change are that (i) there's plenty of scientific research that demonstrates climate change, and (ii) it distracts me from getting on with the job of doing something about it.


Now i see that some clever computer enthusiasts have combined both factors with an automated chatbot. This little computer program detects which well-worn faulty argument has been posted online, and responds with a link to the appropriate scientific research. What a time saver!

Martina's Story

A lot of my focus in this blog is on technical and political stuff - because that's where a lot of solutions are. But there's also the human side to all of this. The people at Oxfam demonstrate this greatly with their faces of climate change video series.


This particular one is about Martina from Uganda and the ways climate change is already making food and water scarce. You can read more of Martina's story, and see videos of the other faces of climate change.

Crime Against Humanity?

Interesting article in the Guardian, asking whether corporate disinformation campaigns regarding climate change could be classified as criminal.


These "deeply irresponsible" programmes have "potentially harsh effects upon tens of millions of people".

These untruths are not based upon reasonable scepticism but outright falsification and distortions of climate change science.

Zero Carbon Plan Video

Last week i wrote about the launch of the Zero Carbon Plan (100% renewables in 10 years). This is the introductory video they screened at the beginning of the event.



Some highlights:

Our response to climate change must be guided by science. The science tells us we have already exceeded the safe upper limit for atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Malcolm Turnbull

We're very blessed in terms of renewable energy, the costs are very low for us.
- Tim Flannery

We no longer rely on the horse as our major means of transport. We do change and we have to change.
- Prof Peter Doherty (Nobel Laureate)

You get told one thing by your coal lobbyists about how the world should run, and we're giving an alternative view to that.
- Nina Mulheisen (Toyota Engineer)

Energy Efficiency Eases Mortgage Meltdown

Read this article on mortgages. In the USA, the average suburban home costs about $175,000. But that's just the ticket price. Living in the home also includes $75,000 of utility bills and $300,000 of transportation costs. And these costs are going up faster than wages, and becoming a greater portion of the overall cost.

The author's theory is that the $375,000 of add-ons could be at least halved. Obviously, this would make it much easier to get on top of those mortgage payments!

100% Renewable Energy - Very Doable

Last night was the Brisbane Launch of the Zero Carbon Australia plan to get to 100% renewable energy in 10 years. I've read about the plan previously - and written about it (here, here and here) but was still very impressed.


And it's not really that expensive. Yes, any number quoted in billions sounds big, but over the ten years it works out to $8 per household per week - or about a dollar per day. I've seen car insurance more expensive than that!

But the benefits are so much greater. We can protect a planet (not just a car) and we protect our economy by building a system that is free from rising fuel costs.

[Download: Full Report | Synopsis ]

David Suzuki's Green Guide

"What can I do?". We want to do the right thing by the environment, but we don't all have the time and knowedge to examine all the options. But David Suzuki did.


His Green Guide offers advice on the decisions and actions in 6 areas of our lives; including the home, our transport, our food choices and the waste we produce. Apart from the positive environmental effects, he also suggests that by making better choices we will
- improve our health
- save money
- feel less helpless
- enhance our quality of life.

Back Of The Pack (Price Tags)

Regular readers know of my amusement at the ostrich-like politicans who pretend as if Australia is the only country acting on climate change. You can spot them by phrases like "no point acting alone" and "wait for the world", and references to "our major trading partners".


Now the Climate Institute have settled this once and for all. They commissioned a report by Vivid Economics to analyse the economies of the UK, USA, China Japan and South Korea. Mathematically combining taxes, incentives, investment etc, they calculated the implicit price on carbon.

Australia's was $1.70. Japan's was double that, the USA 3 times, China 8 times and the UK 17 times (at $29.30). The result is best summed up by the report's key author Dr Cameron Hepburn:

Clearly Australia has some distance to travel in order to catch up to where the rest of the world is here. There's clearly no risk Australia will be leading the world on this issue. If anything we're running the race at the back of the pack.

He also added that "if you want to reduce your emissions, the cheapest way of doing it is a broad carbon price."

Asia Getting Ahead

An Australian company has won a contract to build a solar power station in Thailand. The Thai government has a similar renewable energy target to Australia, but has also introduced tax and investment incentives to make sure it happens.

Also, the Indian government has decided to bring electrification to 2000 villages. The exciting part is that they are 'leapfrogging' past fossil-fuel powered electricity, and going straight to 100% renewables.

And still there are Australian politicians worried about us "going it alone".

David Attenborough

I've put up a few graphs and stuff to illustrate climate change, but possibly none as clear as this piece from David Attenborough.

BHP Call For Carbon Price

Major Australian miner BHP has joined the call for a price on carbon pollution. CEO Marius Kloppers, noted that about 90 per cent of carbon emissions from electricity come from coal-fired power stations. He encouraged consumers to favour low carbon alternatives and to recognise that making a difference comes at a price.

Change For The Oceans

I found this animation by Monterey Bay Aquarium to be quite witty and spot-on. Oh, and yes the voice does sound familiar - it's John Cleese.