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Free school fruit contains multiple pesticides, report shows
Government experts say adverse health effects are unlikely, but campaigners argue the primary school scheme should switch to organic as a precaution
The free fruit and vegetables provided by the government to millions of young schoolchildren usually contain the residues of multiple pesticides, according to official tests collated in a new report.
In the last decade, residues of of 123 pesticides were found, while apples and bananas given out recently in schools contained more residues than those sold in supermarkets.
Continue reading...Voters blame energy companies – and PM – for sky-high power prices
Billionaire Cannon-Brookes backs home energy loan start-up
Two centuries of continuous volcanic eruption may have triggered the end of the ice age
![](https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/184492/width496/file-20170904-17292-ohxer1.jpg)
Around 25,000 years ago, during a period known as the Last Glacial Maximum, ice covered much of the world’s landmasses. Comparatively weaker sunlight, large continental ice sheets, and very low amounts of carbon dioxide in the air created the right conditions for an ice age. During the next 15,000 years the global climate shifted from glacial to warm, interglacial conditions as sunlight strengthened.
But the Southern Hemisphere’s climate changed abruptly roughly 18,000 years ago. Rather than the gradual decline you might expect as Earth’s orbit slowly drew nearer to the Sun, something triggered a widespread and simultaneous abrupt change in climate across many continents.
In research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international group of researchers and I discovered that a unique, 192-year series of massive volcanic eruptions coincided exactly with the onset of this period of rapid, widespread Southern Hemisphere climate change.
Read more: Volcanoes under the ice: melting Antarctic ice could fight climate change
These abrupt climate changes included the pronounced retreat of glaciers in Patagonia and New Zealand and reduced aridity in southern Australia. Lakes rapidly expanded in the Bolivian Andes, and summertime rain in subtropical Brazil increased. Atmospheric dust, recorded in ocean sediment and Antarctic ice cores, was sharply reduced.
Many of these changes have been attributed to a sudden poleward shift in westerly winds encircling Antarctica. The shifting winds changed ocean circulation and ventilation in the deep ocean, affecting glaciers across the southern hemisphere.
What our research explains for the first time is why the winds suddenly changed, and why there was a simultaneous climate transformation across the whole Southern Hemisphere.
Clues within the iceAntarctica has always been home to globally significant volcanoes. However, 17,700 years ago a unique event began: nearly continuous volcanic eruptions over 192 years that spewed huge amounts of chemicals known as halogens into the Antarctic atmosphere.
![](https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/184494/width754/file-20170904-17899-xayp4p.png)
These halogens – including powerful ozone destroyers bromine, chloride and iodine – created a hole in the ozone layer, which was in many ways similar to the modern hole triggered by humans’ use of halogen-containing compounds called CFCs. This led to large-scale changes in atmospheric circulation and initiated the shift away from a glacial climate state.
These findings are based on detailed chemical measurements of a broad range of elements and chemical traces in Antarctic ice cores. Most of these came from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS), a 3,405 metre deep drilling site that provides highly precise climate records over the past 68,000 years.
Read more: Explainer: what are ice cores?
Our research included the broadest suite of chemical and elemental analysis ever attempted on a deep ice core, and the most precise breakdown of time. This record of the eruptions was precisely duplicated in replicate samples from the same ice core, and in ice cores taken from near Byrd Station in West Antarctica, and Taylor Glacier in Antartica’s Dry Valleys.
The ice core records showed a very unusual, 192-year chemical anomaly from 17,748 to 17,556 years before present.
We augmented the high resolution ice core analyses with a host of lower resolution measurements of interplanetary dust, rock fragments ejected during volcanic eruptions, and sulphur isotopes. Together, they clearly showed the chemical anomaly was the result of a series of massive volcanic eruptions from Mt Takahe, about 350km north of our main drill site.
Other characteristics of the chemical record – including anomalies in sulfur isotopes and near complete bromine depletion in the ice during the event – were consistent with increased ultraviolet radiation at Earth’s surface. It suggests that halogens (chlorine, bromine, and iodine) and other material from the Mt Takahe eruptions reached the Antarctic stratosphere where they destroyed ozone.
![](https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/184490/width754/file-20170904-17912-ln77r2.png)
These eruptions and their chemical signature are unique in the 68,000-year WAIS Divide record. Fallout containing elevated levels of hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acid, as well as toxic heavy metals, extended at least 2,800km from Mt Takahe and may have reached southern South America.
Correlation vs causationThe Southern Hemisphere’s glaciers took 10,000 years to fully retreat. But these unique volcanic eruptions occurred just before (or possibly during) the most significant period of rapid climate change in the Southern Hemisphere, and global greenhouse gas concentrations increased during this time.
The fundamental question is: “did these two events occur at the same time by coincidence or were they causally linked?” The probability that these two events coincided simply by chance is negligible. Based on the evidence we found in Antartica’s ice cores, the depletion of the ozone layer may be the crucial linking factor.
We can bolster this link by comparing the climate change of 17,700 years ago to observable climate change today attributed to the modern Antarctic ozone hole. We can also look to climate models that simulate the behaviour of an ozone hole under glacial conditions. Overall, the widespread climate change observed in many paleoclimate records can best be explained by this singular and dramatic event in western Antarctica.
![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/83420/count.gif)
Joe McConnell receives funding from U.S. National Science Foundation.
Gas and hydro get big $ in energy markets, solar and wind paid less
Wind and solar facing “valley of death” despite changing economics
How the Greenland ice sheet fared in 2017
A bunch of reasons to be optimistic about clean energy in Australia
Trump names climate science denier to run NASA
Coal city Newcastle prepares tender for 5MW solar farm
Community retailer Enova to buy and sell rooftop solar power
Northern lights linked to North sea whale strandings
How to create a digital copy of dinosaur fossils
Voyager 1 at 40: Scientists 'amazed' 1970s space probe still works
Scotland plans deposit return scheme for bottles and cans
Under the programme, based on schemes in Scandinavia, customers would pay a surcharge that would be reimbursed when they return to the shop
The Scottish government is planning to introduce a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans.
Customers would pay a surcharge when purchasing bottles or cans under the programme, which will be refunded when they return them to a shop.
Continue reading...New Zealand’s fisheries quota management system: on an undeserved pedestal
![](https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/183397/width496/file-20170825-18691-8sbolb.jpg)
In popular imagination, New Zealand’s fisheries management system is a globally recognised story of sustainability, reflecting a “clean and green” environmental ethos.
Indeed, New Zealand’s fisheries have been ranked among the best managed in the world - an accolade based on the early and wholehearted adoption of a Quota Management System (QMS).
This perception is echoed in a recently published article, but we take issue with the methodology and its conclusions. Claims that New Zealand’s QMS is an unmitigated success simply do not match the facts.
How New Zealand’s QMS works![](https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/183404/width237/file-20170825-18734-tqdvsk.jpg)
The fundamental idea behind the QMS is that fishers own (or lease) the right to catch a certain proportion (quota) of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of a certain species of fish. These quotas can be freely traded. Market forces are assumed to achieve economically optimal outcomes.
The TAC is set via an assessment process incorporating biological data and fisheries information, where available. The TAC is supposed to ensure sustainability.
New Zealand is committed to the most comprehensive QMS, more so than any other fishing nation. The system is a seductively straightforward solution to control commercial fishing effort.
Currently, TACs are set for more than 640 fish stocks, and represent around 620,000 tonnes of fish. But not all stocks undergo an empirical stock assessment.
Because proposals for downward change usually meet resistance from the fishing industry, changing a TAC requires a persuasive case. Most have not changed in response to either over catching or under catching (a consequence of budgetary constraints and political lobbying by powerful quota owners).
From a TAC, allowances are made for customary catch by Māori, recreational fishing and other mortality caused by fishing, for example through poaching. The remainder is the total allowable commercial catch (TACC), which is divided among the quota owners in the form of Annual Catch Entitlements (ACE).
![](https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/183406/width754/file-20170825-28115-8b3hdv.jpg)
When fishers do not have enough ACE to cover their catch, they must either buy more or pay a penalty to the government. Both quota and ACE can be bought, sold and leased. One of the unfortunate consequences of the QMS is that more money is made through trading ACE than actually catching the fish. Unsurprisingly, this empowers quota owners at the expense of fishers.
In our rebuttal to the original article, we point out that fish stocks are nowhere near as healthy as suggested. There is a lack of scientific data to correctly run the QMS. Three quarters of fish stocks have no formal or detailed assessment, and very few have independent research surveys.
Most assessments rely on industry self-reported catch and effort data, rather than independent surveys. This is a dangerous strategy, as shown by the collapse of the Canadian Newfoundland Cod stocks in 1992. At that time, fisheries managers chose to believe industry data showing increasing catch per unit effort, rather than scientific surveys suggesting precipitous decline.
Wider ecosystems effects ignoredFunding for stock assessments has significantly decreased; it is about 45% of the levels in the early 1990s while the number of fish stocks in the QMS has increased 3.5-fold.
The broader environmental effects of commercial fishing on biodiversity, endangered species, seafloor habitats and the very ecosystem that supports the fish on which fisheries depend, are becoming increasingly obvious. Even so, little research targets these impacts. New Zealand’s QMS is a data hungry beast and it is starving.
As with all markets, not all behaviours that are incentivised are virtuous. There is money to be made or saved by dumping catches for which ACE is unavailable or too expensive, from poaching and falsifying catch returns. These behaviours have seriously distorted New Zealand’s catch data for decades. This includes massive dumping of unwanted catch and under-reported bycatch, including endangered dolphins and sealions.
Read more: Things fall apart: why do the ecosystems we depend on collapse
Compounding this is the low level of onboard observer coverage (about 8.4% in offshore fisheries and less than 1% inshore) and the lack of effective enforcement. An independent review of New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) handling of illegal fish and dolphin dumping revealed industry capture of the regulator, involving flawed processes and inappropriate conduct.
A senior MPI manager admitted that:
… discarding is a systemic failure of the current system and something we have not been able to get on top of from day 1 of the QMS.
Thus, the QMS is not just starved of data: what little data it gets is highly questionable. MPI itself, succinctly illustrates the situation in the below diagram.
![](https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/183662/width754/file-20170828-12314-1ybtgnr.jpg)
New Zealand’s fishers are firmly trapped in the cycle of non-reporting. The recent government decision to place electronic monitoring and CCTV cameras on every vessel indicates the gravity of the situation. This, however, does nothing to remove the perverse incentives inherent in the QMS itself.
Comprehensive review neededThe QMS has undermined jobs and livelihoods - just five large companies own over 80% of quota, and 60% of the offshore catch is taken by foreign charter vessels (FCVs) under contract to New Zealand fishing companies. These FCVs arrive with foreign crew, denying employment to New Zealanders, and outsource value added processing to Asia.
For decades FCVs, have been associated with the inhumane treatment of migrant fishers working in slave-like conditions. Despite new laws, abusive treatment has continued.
Concentration of quota in the hands of a few has resulted in many disenfranchised fishers. There is a sense of hopelessness over their activities and alienation from the management of the resource they depend on. Tellingly, Iceland, a nation strongly associated with fishing, described ITQs as feudal, quota holders as lords of the seas and fishermen as serfs.
Just last month, the Faroese Islands’ fishing industry overwhelmingly rejected a quota management system. They had too many questions and too little evidence to support adoption of a QMS.
Ultimately, we need to lower the QMS from its undeserved pedestal, acknowledge its limitations and move forward through open and honest debate. We should also look beyond our own shores for ideas, as New Zealand is not the only country wrestling with these problems.
There are lessons to be learned from New Zealand’s QMS, and they are not all good. After 30 years, New Zealand’s fisheries management needs a comprehensive review.
We acknowledge the contribution of Philip Clarke, a former forensic scientist and fisheries compliance investigator for the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries.
![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/82210/count.gif)
Steve Dawson's research has had funding from DOC and MPI, but not on projects directly related to fisheries.
(David) Hugh Whittaker, Bruce Robertson, Elisabeth Slooten, Fiona McCormack, Glenn Simmons, Graeme Bremner, Nigel Haworth, and Simon Francis Thrush do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.
EU trade deal must protect the Amazon | Letters
The proposal to open up the Renca reserve in the Amazon for exploitation by large mining companies would be catastrophic for the earth’s climate, for biodiversity and for local indigenous communities. At the same time, the European Union is negotiating a new trade agreement with Mercosur, the Latin America regional trade bloc, of which Brazil currently holds the presidency. This is a vital opportunity for the EU to use our trade muscle to make clear that the Amazon is not for sale and that minerals extracted from a protected reserve will never find their way onto European markets.
World Trade Organisation rules also make clear that trading parties have a legitimate right to ban imports if it is “necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health”. I have written to trade commissioner Malmström stating my clear view that the Renca reserve is necessary to protect human life and demanding that she excludes its products from the free trade deal. I will be urging my MEP colleagues to vote against the deal if it does not include this guarantee.
Molly Scott Cato MEP
Green, South West England
Memorial held for green campaigner
Outrageous beards and a lantern festival: today's unmissable photos
A selection of the day’s best images including demonstrating Ronald McDonalds in London, high dives in Texas and a beer holding world record in Germany
Continue reading...Stranded family lifted to safety from flooded Texas home - video
Helicopter crew rescue two children and their mother from their flooded home in Houston after tropical storm Harvey caused devastating flooding last week. The storm, one of the costliest to hit the US, has displaced more than 1 million people, resulted in at least 44 deaths and damaged 185,000 homes in Houston alone
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