Feed aggregator
Iraq invasion was about oil | Nafeez Ahmed
Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the 2003 Iraq War - yet to this day, few media reflections on the conflict accurately explore the extent to which opening up Persian Gulf energy resources to the world economy was a prime driver behind the Anglo-American invasion.
The overwhelming narrative has been one of incompetence and failure in an otherwise noble, if ill-conceived and badly managed endeavour to free Iraqis from tyranny. To be sure, the conduct of the war was indeed replete with incompetence at a colossal scale - but this doesn't erase the very real mendacity of the cold, strategic logic that motivated the war's US and British planners in the first place.
Continue reading...Torres Strait Tropical Rock Lobster Fishery
Does Paris have worse air pollution than Beijing?
On Friday, levels of pollution in Paris were higher than in many of the world’s most notoriously polluted cities. With your help, Karl Mathiesen, investigates how the City of Light became the City of Smog.
Join the debate. Post your views in the comments below, email karl.mathiesen.freelance@guardian.co.uk or tweet @karlmathiesen
6.32pm GMT
Why is there so much attention in UK media to Paris air quality, and not our own? @guardianeco @GeorgeMonbiot @DefraGovUK @MayorofLondon
When I go to eastern China, I expect air pollution, but Paris? Was not expecting to see hazy orange skies and feel the particulates.
@KarlMathiesen Check out the UKs high level of air pollution last Friday. Yet no mention in weather reports or news pic.twitter.com/jvWGKsUhmV
6.32pm GMT
Since it adopted ecologist anti-car policies, Paris tend to be more and more polluted. Cars are losing spaces of circulation for the profit of other transports and stay stuck in endless jams with their motor running, which make pollution worse. One more proof of how ideology is hell.
Dirty diesel needs to be banned in cities like London and Paris. It kills thousands every year.
Some very modern diesels engines are not too bad but most over 5 years old are positively dangerous.
I get the feeling Paris is the victim of its own success in this case, since the roads network to get into and out of town is so brilliant that I really enjoy driving there - albeit only during the holidays.
The problem is that the system is so well designed, with loads of great underground parking provision that everyone drives in.
Continue reading...Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'? | Nafeez Ahmed
A new study partly-sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.
Noting that warnings of 'collapse' are often seen to be fringe or controversial, the study attempts to make sense of compelling historical data showing that "the process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history." Cases of severe civilisational disruption due to "precipitous collapse - often lasting centuries - have been quite common."
Continue reading...Standards for Accreditation of Environmental Approvals under the EPBC Act
SENG Victoria Newsletter - March 2014
Animals see power lines as glowing, flashing bands, research reveals
Power lines are seen as glowing and flashing bands across the sky by many animals, research has revealed.
The work suggests that the pylons and wires that stretch across many landscapes are having a worldwide impact on wildlife.
Continue reading...Victorian Eel Fishery
Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder to sell water allocations in the Peel Valley
Richard Branson tells climate deniers to 'get out of the way'
Virgin Group chairman and founder, Sir Richard Branson, has said businesses should "stand up" to climate change deniers and they should "get out of our way".
Branson said he was "enormously impressed" with Apple's chief executive for telling climate change sceptics to ditch shares in the technology company.
Continue reading...Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder may sell more water allocations in New South Wales this year
Aboriginal rights a threat to Canada's resource agenda, documents reveal
Canadian government closely monitoring how legal rulings and aboriginal protest pose an increasing ‘risk’ for multi-billion dollar oil and mining plans
The Canadian government is increasingly worried that the growing clout of aboriginal peoples’ rights could obstruct its aggressive resource development plans, documents reveal.
Since 2008, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs has run a risk management program to evaluate and respond to “significant risks” to its agenda, including assertions of treaty rights, the rising expectations of aboriginal peoples, and new legal precedents at odds with the government’s policies.
Continue reading...National Waste Reporting 2013
National Waste Reporting 2013
2013–14 round of ABRS Student Travel Grants is now open
2013–14 round of ABRS Student Travel Grants is now open
WWII Darwin bombing shipwreck protected
Queensland Eel Fishery
Pages
