BP claims an oil spill off Australia's coast would be a 'welcome boost' to local economies

Coastal towns would benefit from an oil spill in the pristine Great Australian Bight because the clean up would boost their economies, energy giant BP has claimed as part of its controversial bid to drill in the sensitive marine zone.

Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. BP said local economies
would be boosted by clean up activities if its plan to drill
for oil caused a spill.

BP, which has since withdrawn the drilling plan, also told a federal government agency that a diesel spill would be considered “socially acceptable”.

BP made the statements in an environment plan submitted to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority in March 2016.

The company had been seeking to drill two wells off the South Australian coast, raising fears of an environmental disaster akin to BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story from The Sydney Morning Herald - “BP claims an oil spill off Australia's coast would be a 'welcome boost' to local economies.”

(Only the brutal madness of a neo-liberal economist devoid of an sense of feeling for our environment could see the sense of such an argument - Robert McLean)

Downsizing: Matt Damon's funny-ish climate change film

There are several reasons climate communicators and activists, and not just cli-fi aficionados, could benefit by seeing Downsizing, the end-of-2017 movie starring Matt Damon and directed by Alexander Payne – to be released March 20 on disk.

Going small to make big-time cuts in carbon footprint.

1. It is one of the few films that addresses climate change mitigation (i.e. reducing greenhouse gas emissions). Most cli-fi movies depict extreme weather disasters (impacts) or survivors struggling in bleak climate-changed landscapes (adaptation).

2) Rarer still, Downsizing is a comedy, a useful quality not often found in climate change communications.

3) Several members of the cast and crew have been Academy Award nominees; three have Oscars on their mantels. Hong Chau, was nominated for the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for her supporting performance in the film.

4) Downsizing raises an important point for discussion: What is the human(e) response to climate change, to predictions of climate disasters in particular?

Read the Yale Climate Connections story - “Downsizing: Matt Damon's funny-ish climate change film.”

Governments’ carbon tax progress 'slow and piecemeal': OECD.

Carbon taxes are effective at cutting emissions but are not being set high enough to benefit the environment, a recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report has found.

The OECD has called for more effective carbon taxes and emission pricing schemes.

The report examined specific taxes on energy use from 2012 to 2015 across 42 OECD countries and six sectors, which represented about 80 per cent of global energy use and carbon emissions. It found current taxation schemes were ineffective.

Read the story in today’s Age by Cole Latimer - “Governments’ carbon tax progress 'slow and piecemeal': OECD.”

Traffic fumes in city streets 'largely wipe out exercise benefits for over-60s’

The over-60s should stick to green spaces and parks when they go for a walk and avoid the city streets, according to a groundbreaking study that says air pollution from traffic fumes largely wipes out the health benefit from the exercise.

As well as the over-60s, those with lung and heart problems should
 steer clear of areas with heavy traffic, the study says.

Walking is often recommended for older people, but the study from Imperial College London and Duke University in the USA suggests that the over-60s and those with lung and heart problems should steer clear of urban areas with heavy traffic. The negative effect may well be the same in younger people, say the authors, and it reinforces the urgency of reducing emissions in city streets.

The research compared walking for two hours in Oxford Street with strolling in Hyde Park, which registers some air pollution but far less than in the heart of the capital city’s shopping district.

Read Sarah Boseley’ story on The Guardian - “Traffic fumes in city streets 'largely wipe out exercise benefits for over-60s’.”

NT fracking inquiry: Economic benefit uncertain, Australia Institute think tank warns

A new economic assessment of the impact hydraulic fracking would have on the Northern Territory shows the financial benefit does not warrant a lifting of the current moratorium, a Canberra-based think tank says.

Jemena is currently constructing the Northern
 Gas Pipeline that will link Tennant Creek with
 Mount Isa in north-west Queensland.

A report released by economic consulting firm ACIL Allen late on Friday evening looked at what effect allowing fracking in the NT would have on employment numbers and revenue — for both the Government and private companies.

Research Director at the Australia Institute think tank, Rod Campbell, said the assessment showed even in the best-case scenario the economic development for the NT was not outstanding.

"It points out... that an unconventional gas industry in the Northern Territory is very uncertain and likely to be quite small," he said.

Read the ABC News story by Georgia Hitch - “NT fracking inquiry: Economic benefit uncertain, Australia Institute think tank warns.”