Is Nuclear Power Worth the Risk?

On a blustery Sunday in Okuma last spring, a crowd was seated under red-and-white tents awaiting the arrival of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. They had gathered to celebrate the opening of a new town hall, and the reopening, just a few days earlier, of the town of Okuma itself. In March, 2011—after a magnitude-nine earthquake, one of the most powerful in recorded history, triggered a twelve-story tsunami—the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant flooded and lost power, prompting three of the plant’s six reactors to partially melt down. Radioactive water flowed into the sea, and plumes of radioactive particles spewed into the sky. The fallout contaminated Okuma and the surrounding towns. More than a hundred thousand people were ordered to leave their homes, with little sense of when, if ever, they would be able to return. Many more people across Fukushima Prefecture—which is slightly larger than Connecticut—self-evacuated, afraid and uncertain about the danger the fallout posed.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to Okuma to celebrate
 the opening of a new town hall, and the reopening of
the town of Okuma itself.

“It’s been 2,956 days since 3/11,” Jin Ishida, Okuma’s vice-mayor, told me, referring to the date of the disaster. We were standing near the entrance to the new town hall, a glass-and-cedar building next to a stubbly field that had once been rice paddies. Ishida, who is sixty-five, had returned to live in Okuma alone, without his family. He had given the day’s opening speech, followed by a parade of officials, including Fukushima’s governor, a member of the national assembly, representatives from Japan’s Ministries of Environment and Economics, and the Okuma mayor. Abe, who was late, was coming from a nearby sports complex known as J-Village, which had, until recently, served as a logistics base for disaster-response workers. In 2020, the Japan leg of the Tokyo Olympic-torch relay will begin on its grounds, to celebrate the region’s recovery—at least, that is the hope.

Read the story from The New Yorker by Carolyn Korman - “Is Nuclear Power Worth the Risk?”

Portugal Produced 103% of Its Energy From Renewables in March

Portugal generated 103% of its electricity demands from renewable energy for the month of March, further establishing the country as a pioneer in the field, according to the nation’s transmission system operator, REN, Quartz reports.

Portugal has made impressive advances with renewable energy, but the country still depands on fossil fuels to avoid blackouts.

For two 70-hour time spans during the month, all electricity was supplied by renewables, primarily from wind turbines and hydropower. The rest of the month’s energy came predominantly from renewables with fossil fuels filling in supply gaps

With these breakthroughs, Portugal is approaching its goal of generating 60% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, according to the Guardian.

Read the story from Global Citizen by Josh McCarthy - “Portugal Produced 103% of Its Energy From Renewables in March.”

After a downpour, where does all the water go?

Slowly and steadily a great flood is trickling its way across the outback.

Floodwater from a number of river systems
 drain into Lake Eyre in Central Australia.

Birdsville is being surrounded and the Channel Country is finally living up to its name.

In March great torrents of water crashed down on the tropical coasts and the Hunter Valley also had a drenching.

Why are these systems so different and why do some floods happen fast and others slow?

To work it out, you need to understand how the waters flow across this wide brown land.

Read the ABC News story by Kate Doyle - “After a downpour, where does all the water go?”

Slap Tomorrow brings 'Music for a Warming World' to Shepparton

“Music for a Warming World” will play in Shepparton in March.

"Music for a Warming World" will play in Shepparton
in March as part of the annual 'Shepparton Festival'.

The Melbourne-based group is a part of the annual Shepparton Festival and will appear at The Connection on Sunday, March 18. 

Music For a Warming World is a group of musicians who bring wonderful music and thought proving lyrics to audiences across Australia.

They are being brought to Shepparton by Slap Tomorrow and their music will be accompanied by unique audiovisuals for a 2:00pm session that combines quality music and science to tell engaging stories with lots of audience engagement.

The one-off show in Shepparton costs just $25 per person and includes an afternoon team supplied by Cooking for a Better Future.

The group has performed at the Newport Folk Festival and director, Michael Stewart, said: “Intelligent, thought-provoking and entertaining, festival audiences will love it”.

Some examples of the group in action can be seen here.

Tickets can be secured at Shepparton Tickets, and as they are limited to just 80, people need to book quickly. 

‘Total failure': Calls for tougher controls as coal-related pollutants jump

Coal-related pollutants continue to rise at many of the country's biggest mines, power plants and export facilities, prompting demands for stricter controls to limit health damage costing billions of dollars a year.

Last smoke from the chimneys at the
 Hazelwood power station, Morwell. 

The latest National Pollutant Inventory, released at the end of March, revealed the extent of 93 key toxins from 4000 enterprises, including particulates that can spur premature death by worsening existing heart and lung conditions.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “‘Total failure': Calls for tougher controls as coal-related pollutants jump.”

More needed in Paris if hopes of slowing global warming are to be realised

H

opes of slowing the world’s collapse into the embrace of catastrophic global warming needs more, much more than what has being been promised for the Paris climate summit later this year.

A Guardian story reports: “Pledges made by countries to cut their carbon emissions ahead of a crunch climate summit in Paris later this year will delay the world passing the threshold for dangerous global warming by just two years, according to a new analysis.

“The research, led by a former lead author on the UN’s climate science panel, found that the submissions so far by 36 countries to the UN would likely delay the world passing the threshold until 2038, rather than 2036 without the carbon cuts.

“However, more than 150 countries have yet to submit their carbon pledges despite a deadline of the end of March. While most are relatively small emitters, commitments by big polluters such as India could significantly change the picture,” the news site reports.

Read The Guardian story - “Paris climate pledges 'will only delay dangerous warming by two years'”.

Earth's carbon dioxide levels continue to climb

W

orld levels of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere continue to climb.

ClimateProgress  tells us - “Global Carbon Dioxide Levels Just Hit A Disturbing New Threshold” – that in March that the whole planet has surpassed the 400 parts per million (ppm) benchmark for an entire month.

This is according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which said that the 400.83 ppm was the average concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere throughout the whole of March.

Heat records tumble, yet Federal decision makers aren't looking

T

he records continue to pile up and yet our decision makers, at least at a federal level, still consider what we are seeing is “natural variation”.

The ABC reports that more than a dozen outback Queensland towns have broken their records for the hottest March day.

Its story - “Queensland heatwave: More than a dozen towns break March records” – says, “Hot, dry air has built up over the interior and northerly winds have pushed it further inland than normal for this time of year.”

John Pettigrew tells 30 000 of a farmer's climate trials

A scene from the People's Climate March outside
parliamentary house in Spring St, Melbourne.

Beneath the Wisteria supporter and Slap Tomorrow president, John Pettigrew, was among the speakers at yesterday’s People’s Climate March in Melbourne.

John, representing the Environmental Farmers Network, told the huge crowd gathered at Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens following the March about the challenges and difficulties climate change was bringing to famers everywhere.

The estimated 30 000 people, who had walked from Melbourne’s State Library in Swanston St to the gardens, were demanding that the government act to help Australians confront the world’s changing climate.

Today’s Melbourne age reported on the march, which was a part of a world-wide movement, in a story headed: “Melbourne rally for climate change action attracts 30,000 people”.

Marching to illustrate disillusionment - all around the world

People around the world will be marching on Sunday to illustrate their disillusionment with the world’s response to climate change.

Victorians can be a part of that mass demonstration of disillusionment by joining the “People’s Climate March” from Melbourne’s State Library in Swanston St to the Treasury Gardens.

The world-wide march, of which Melbourne is a part, coincides a gathering a world leaders in New York for a pivotal climate summit.

The Sunday, September 21, march in Melbourne starts at 11 o’clock in the morning.