Monthly Archives: January 2010

Sunday

Posted on by

Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua)

This image was sent to me by Leo Skowronek – taken in Cattai National Park. We need one of these fine birds at Xanadu to take out the Indian Mynas.

The Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua) is a species of owl native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, the largest owl on that continent. It is found in coastal areas, the Great Dividing Range no more than 200 km inland. They are aptly named, with very powerful and heavy claws. Average length is 60 cm (24 in) with a wingspan of 140 cm (55 in) and weight of 1.5 kg (3.3 lb). Diet consists of small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and smaller birds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerful_Owl

Internet Censorship

Below is one link to Secretary of State Clinton’s speech on ‘internet freedom’. Not the best connection but able to get her main message.

http://news.google.com.au/news?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_enAU230AU230&q=video+clinton%27s+internet+speech&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=RS5aS7j3ItCTkAXm-4CRAg&sa=X&oi=news_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CA4QsQQwAA

Some responses:

“Ms Clinton urged global condemnation of countries which build electronic barriers to parts of the internet.” , ABCNews, 22 January 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/22/2799369.htm

Australia and the United States appear to be on a collision course on the issue of internet censorship. In a wide-ranging speech last night, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused countries that filter search engines of contravening the UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Taken literally, that is what the Australian Government has planned with the internet filtering regime it promised last month to introduce.

“Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century,” Senator Clinton said in the speech. And she urged global condemnation of countries which build electronic barriers to parts of the internet or filter search engines.

But China has come out condemning any criticism of Beijing’s controls on the internet, saying Washington’s push against online censorship could harm relations between the two big powers. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the US criticisms could hurt ties between the two nations, which are both among the world’s biggest economies.

“Government: ‘Global Internet freedom’ means censorship”, Electronic Frontiers Australia, 22 January 2010, http://www.efa.org.au/2010/01/22/government-global-internet-freedom-means-censorship/#more-904 there is a review more appropriate to Australia.

…Unfortunately, our own record here in Australia on the subject has been lacklustre of late with a bill being prepared as we speak to introduce mandatory censorship of all Australian Internet connections. The timing of Google’s announcements and Secretary Clinton’s speech must be seen as inconvenient for the Government whose allies on the side of Internet censorship are not a bunch it pays to be seen to associate with….

Summary of internet filtering in Australia
“Policy of compulsory internet filtering: History”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Australia

In 2001, CSIRO was commissioned to examine available ISP-based internet filters, and decided that they did not work. In March 2003, the Fairfax papers The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald reported the results of a survey taken by The Australia Institute of 200 children, which found that many of them had found pornography on the internet. Over the next few days was a storm of media and political attention, and there were calls for finer internet filters and tougher censorship laws. Analysis of the report showed little new material, and only 2% of girls had admitted being exposed to pornography, while the figure for boys was 38%; such a difference between boys and girls would seem to indicate that inadvertent exposure was rare, contrary to the conclusions of the report. After the controversy died down, no new action resulted from the new report, media attention, or political speeches.

In 2003, the Labor Party opposed filtering at the ISP level. Shortly before the 2004 federal election, two political parties issued new policies on Internet censorship. The Australian Labor Party’s policy involved voluntary adherence by users. The Family First Party released a far stricter policy of mandatory filtering at the internet service provider level.

The Australian Family Association petitioned the Australian Federal Government in 2004 to further restrict access by children to pornographic material via the Internet. The petition was submitted in December 2004. On 21 March 2006, the Labor party committed to requiring all ISPs to implement a mandatory Internet blocking system applicable to “all households, and to schools and other public internet points” to “prevent users from accessing any content that has been identified as prohibited by the Australian Communications and Media Authority”.

On the same day, the then communications minister Helen Coonan stated that to
“…to filter the Internet will only result in slowing down the Internet for every Australian without effectively protecting children from inappropriate and offensive content”

On 31 December 2007, Stephen Conroy announced the Federal Government’s intention to introduce an ISP-based filter to censor “inappropriate material” from the Internet to protect children. In this announcement, it was stated that adults could opt out of the filter to receive an uncensored internet.

In May 2008, the government commenced an $82 million “cybersafety plan” which included an additional mandatory filter with no opt-out provision. This ISP-based filter aims to stop adults from downloading content that is illegal to possess in Australia, such as child pornography or materials related to terrorism.

In March 2009, Stephen Conroy dismissed suggestions that the Government would use the filter to crack down on political dissent as “conspiracy theories”. He stated that the filter would only be used to remove “refused classification” (RC) content, using the same rationale as existing television, radio and print publications, and that the Senate could be relied upon to provide rigorous assessment of any proposed legislation. However, Labor’s policy statement on the issue and statements made by Stephen Conroy on the ministry website and in ministerial releases contradict this.

In answer to a question in Parliament in October 2008, the government in January 2009 stated that the black list contained 1370 websites. 674 were related to child pornography, and the remainder would be classified as R18+ and X18+.

Two websites are known to be on the ACMA blacklist after they were submitted to ACMA for review. When ACMA responded with the advice that these sites had been placed upon its blacklist, ACMA’s response was in turn posted back to the Internet by the original submitters, with the purpose of demonstrating that political content would be censored by the mandatory filter. One was an anti-abortion website, with details posted to Whirlpool, and the other was a copy of Denmark’s own internet blacklist, with both the blacklist and ACMA’s response posted on Wikileaks. The web hosting company for Whirlpool, Bulletproof networks, was threatened with $11,000 in fines per day if the link was not removed…. Civil liberties campaigners regard the inclusion of these sites on the blacklist as a demonstration that it is not difficult to get a site placed on the blacklist, and that the blacklist includes sites which are themselves not illegal.

On the 26 March 2009, Bill Henson’s website, despite the PG rating given to his photographs by the same body, appeared on the blacklist due to a technical error according to Stephen Conroy.

In December 2009, the results of the filtering trial were released. Stephen Conroy stated that “The report into the pilot trial of ISP-level filtering demonstrates that blocking RC-rated material can be done with 100 percent accuracy and negligible impact on internet speed” However, concerns have been raised about the report: only a small minority of ISP users participated; the trial did not test using any high-speed internet connections similar to those available with the National Broadband Network; there is evidence that the filter was evaded; and with only 600-700 sites on the RC blacklists, then the effect of the filter would be marginal at best.

The ISP Netspace asked their customers to participate in a survey to see what they thought about the Government’s mandatory filtering proposal. Almost 10,000 responded, and a clear majority of customers were against mandatory filtering in any form. A minority of customers expressed an interest in purchasing a filter from their ISP.

In February 2009 a national telephone poll of 1100 people was conducted by Galaxy and commissioned by GetUp!. It found that only 5 per cent of respondents want ISPs to be responsible for protecting children online, and only 4 per cent want Government to have this responsibility.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Reporters Without Borders states that the internet filter is not the solution to combating child sex abuse, and the plan entails risks to freedom of expression. The blocking of websites by ACMA, rather than a Judge, is in contravention of laws. The criteria for blocking “inappropriate” websites is too vague, and it would be a dangerous censorship option to target “Refused classification” sites, many of which are unrelated to sexual abuse. Subjects such as abortion, anorexia, aborigines and legislation on the sale of marijuana would all risk being filtered, as would media reports on these subjects.

Censorship has been a vexatious issue for centuries. “The Great Firewall of Australia” appears to be driven by zealots. What is compelling the Rudd government to continue with this censoring? Is it, as GetUp! implies in one video spoof, flirting with the ‘christian’ voters?

Opposition to the firewall is met with harassment – see http://stephen-conroy.com/news.php – the site was taken down by auDA (au Domain Administration is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space) but is now back up. Censoring to date has been political. The only child pornography and terrorism prosecutions have been from police intelligence or discovered on hard drives by accident.

In their February 2009 survey Netcraft received responses from 215,675,903 sites (http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2009/02/18/february_2009_web_server_survey.html), which doesn’t include sites hosted within one domain or Blogs (how many blogs are hosted by Google’s ‘BlogSpot’. The growth in January 2009 was 30 million sites and this data is now 12 months out of date. Maintaining rigorous, objective censorship of this population, through ACMA blacklists, will be difficult.

Amazon and eBay have expressed concern that their trading will be effected by the filter and now with Secretary Clinton’s policy, we may see a lessening of the Rudd zealotry. As mentioned yesterday, internet censoring may become a trade issue.

Saturday

Posted on by

White bells

Internet Censorship in China and Australia

With Secretary of State Clinton’s speech on Thursday (USA time) added to the Google challenge of China’s net filtering, I wanted to look at the overall situation and then what we experience here in Australia. I was surprised to discover considerable local political censoring. The videocast from the New America Foundation offers an initial overview of the current situation.

My notes from “Authority, Meet Technology: Will China’s Great Firewall Hold?” http://www.newamerica.net/events/2010/authority_meet_technology

Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation, Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

  • 31 per cent of world lives under internet censorship.
  • Do we want to live in a world where knowledge is based on the whim of censors?
  • Thomas Jefferson said the only foundation for legitimate government is the will of its people and to protect its free expression should be its first order.
  • There are now honour killings of women in the Middle East when they use social media

Rebecca MacKinnon, Fellow – Open Society Institute, Co-Founder – Global Voices Online

  • The internal filtering in China is only one aspect of censoring. Domestic ISPs are held responsible for their content and if not performing will lose their licence. Censorship is outsourced to the private sector.
  • Circumvention technology can only be used to access external websites.
  • ISP providers are awarded self-discipline awards if they follow the internal policy.
  • Censorship is spreading worldwide. It is not just a China problem. Google is concerned about the loss of free and open internet.
  • Governments such as France, Italy and Australia are considering ‘filtering’.
  • A Google executive who criticized Italy’s policy is now charged with a criminal offence.
  • Google.cn has acquiesced to government control and this is now being cited by other countries wanting filtering.
  • However, Google.com has always been available within China.
  • In the long term, China’s ability to innovate and prosper is suffering from censorship and control.
  • The central government is flummoxed by Google’s public stand. There are internal debates within the patchwork of ministries.
  • The internet has forced us to consider governance and cross-border allegiances.

Evgeny Morozov, Contributing Editor – Foreign Policy Magazine, Yahoo! Fellow, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy – Georgetown University

  • The Chinese government is not a reliable business partner.
  • Cyber attacks will continue if Google.cn shuts down because dissidents have useful information in their email accounts.
  • Russia is the major source of attacks followed by Brazil.
  • Software piracy is being used by governments to crack down on NGOs. If they don’t have licensed Windows, they get shut down.
  • Russia censors the internet less than Australia. Egypt has no censorship but activists are threatened with violence.
  • Activists are endangering themselves by having a web presence in many countries.

Tim Wu, Schwartz Fellow – New America Foundation, Professor of Law – Columbia  Law School, Contributing Writer, Slate

  • In China, the media is a regulated industry.
  • Establishing Google.cn was worth trying and over the 5 years, there has been controversy within Google.
  • Filtering can be considered a trade barrier. The WTO will now challenge China over filtering because internal providers are being favoured.
  • The world is moving towards a set of national internets away from the previous global network.

Comments from the floor

  • No training for analysis and students are unable mentally to access the information. Education is China’s greatest weakness because of the lack of freedom.
  • There is a lack of interest in alternative points of view – it is anti-Chinese.  But in the USA there are people who only believe Fox News.
  • Most Chinese citizens welcome filtering

Several paragraphs from Google’s Australian blog.

“Our views on Mandatory ISP Filtering”, Official Google Australia Blog, News and notes from Google Down Under, 16 December 2009, http://google-au.blogspot.com/2009/12/our-views-on-mandatory-isp-filtering.html

At Google we are concerned by the Government’s plans to introduce a mandatory filtering regime for Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Australia, the first of its kind amongst western democracies. Our primary concern is that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide. We have a bias in favour of people’s right to free expression. While we recognise that protecting the free exchange of ideas and information cannot be without some limits, we believe that more information generally means more choice, more freedom and ultimately more power for the individual.

Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available – and we agree. Google, like many other Internet companies, has a global, all-product ban against child sexual abuse material and we filter out this content from our search results. But moving to a mandatory ISP filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond such material is heavy handed and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information.

Worth reading the rest. So it was with surprise that I found censoring of the internet is flourishing here.

“Internet censorship in Australia”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Australia

In 2008, the Australian Labor Party introduced a policy of mandatory Internet filtering for all Australians. While the policy has not yet come into force, it has generated substantial opposition, with only a few groups in support. The Labor Party does not have enough votes in the Senate to enact any legislation to support the filter, so that the filter has “effectively been scuttled” unless the government is able to implement the filter by other means.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) maintains a blacklist, since leaked, of websites which would form the basis for the mandatory filter. It has issued a take-down notice and threatened fines of $11,000 per day to at least one website hosted in Australia which contained a link to material on this blacklist.

On Tuesday 15 December 2009, it was announced that new legislation, entitled “Measures to improve safety of the internet for families”, would be introduced to support mandatory Internet filtering.

Enforcement

In 2002, New South Wales Police Minister Michael Costa attempted, without success, to shut down three protest websites by appealing to the then-communications minister Richard Alston, The Green Left Weekly stated these were Melbourne Indymedia and S11 websites, and that the Australian Broadcasting Authority cleared them of breaching government regulations on 30 October 2002.

Also in 2002, and under the terms of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Federal Court ordered Dr Fredrick Töben to remove material from his Australian website which denied aspects of The Holocaust and vilified Jews.

In 2006, Richard Neville published a “spoof” website that had a fictional transcript of John Howard apologising to Aboriginal Australians. The website was forcibly taken offline by the government with no recourse.

In March 2009, after a user posted a link to a site on ACMA’s blacklist on the Whirlpool forum, Whirlpool’s service provider, Bulletproof Networks, was threatened with fines of $11,000 per day if the offending link was not removed. The same link in an article on EFA’s website was removed in May 2009 after ACMA issued a “link-deletion notice”, and the EFA took the precautionary step of also removing indirect links to the material in question.

After the Australian government announced plans to mandate Internet filtering in Australia in December 2009, an anti-censorship website hosted on stephenconroy.com.au … was taken offline by auDA after only 24 hours of being published online

Topics targeted for censorship

Euthanasia: On 22 May 2009 it was disclosed in the press, citing wikileaks.org, that the Australian Government had added Dr Philip Nitschke’s online Peaceful Pill Handbook (hosted at www.yudu.com), which deals with the topic of voluntary euthanasia, to the blacklist maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority used to filter internet access to citizens of Australia.

Video Games: In June 2009, it was confirmed that the Government’s proposed internet censorship regime would block downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard, such as Ebay and Amazon.

Racism: In January 2010, the Encyclopedia Dramatica article “Aboriginal” was removed from the search engine results of Google Australia, following a complaint that its content was racist. George Newhouse, the lawyer for the complainant, claims the site is “illegal” and should be blocked by the mandatory internet filter. A search on terms related to the article will produce a message that one of the results has been removed after a legal request relating to Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act 1975.

GetUp! … launched a campaign in Australia to raise awareness of the Australian Government’s flawed plans to introduce internet censorship. The campaign impersonated the Australian Federal Government by presenting internet censorship as a mock consumer product branded as Censordyne, a parody of the toothpaste brand, Sensodyne.

GetUp! raised over $45,000 in donations from the general public during July 2009 to see the Censordyne commercial on TV and on Qantas flights during the month of August 2009, where all Australian politicians would be travelling to Canberra. Following the Censordyne campaign launch, Qantas chose to censor the anti-censorship campaign from their flights. It was later revealed that David Epstein, the Qantas executive who stopped the Censordyne campaign from running on Qantas flights was the former chief of staff for the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

So, internet censorship here is targeting political issues rather than the stated ‘protect children from porn’. I will look further into this issue especially as internet censoring may become a trade barrier issue..

Today’s Podcast

Cathleen Schine, “Growing Up Female”, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, by Gail Collins, Little, Brown.

Cathleen Schine

In When Everything Changed, Gail Collins picks up the saga of women and their role in the culture, economy, and political life of the United States where she left off in America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines (2003). That exhilarating earlier volume began with the Mayflower and ended in the Seventies. Lively, always entertaining, and frequently enlightening, When Everything Changed is a worthy sequel. Its subtitle is “The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present,” and amazing it is. In half a century, Collins shows us, everything really has changed. And yet…

http://media.nybooks.com/012110_schine.mp3

Friday

Posted on by

Not as spectacular as the 5 October 2009 photo but quite stately (at our back door)

Public Transport

The Lane Cove Tunnel is now under administration – traffic forecasts were optimistic. Corruption is apparently still rife at the State Rail Authority. The head of Sydney Ferries has apparently run up huge personal charges on his business credit card. The Metro is on-again off-again. There is very little positive news on our public transport and public-private infrastructure.

When I worked in the City, I used CityRail to get to Circular Quay, Town Hall or Central and at times it would test my patience but overall I usually got to work and back home. Since September 2009, I have been using a combination of rail, bus and ferry to get about and I am impressed. The key to successful arrival is the two internet sites, CityRail (http://www.cityrail.info/timetables/#landingPoint) and Sydney Buses (http://www.sydneybuses.info/timetables.htm) that are linked.

Example 1: To be at Dover Heights by 09:30 during the pre-Christmas period. I estimated driving would take a minimum of 90 minutes due to the bottlenecks that form trying to get across Southern Cross Drive. I caught the train to Redfern, train to Bondi Junction and then bus to my destination – total time, 55 minutes which made me early so had time to look at the Pacific Ocean. And the bus driver let me know when I was at my destination.

Example 2: To be at Harbord by 11:00. The website recommended two choices, train to Chatswood and then bus, or train to Circular Quay then ferry and bus. I choose the ferry option and:

  1. I was surprised at the number of bicycles wheeled off the Manly Ferry at the Quay;
  2. I was surprised at the number of bike racks on the ferry;
  3. I was very surprised by the several hundred bikes locked into the racks at the Manly ferry terminal; and,
  4. I thoroughly enjoyed the stretch-out comfort and the work-tables so I could finish my report.

The bus arrived on time and again; the driver dropped me off at the right stop.

Example 3: Last week I had to go to Liverpool and normally it’s a reasonably quick train ride but the rail was closed from Fairfield to Campbelltown for upgrading so bus connections were from Fairfield. With some apprehension I chose public transport rather than driving and was impressed by the bus service. It was regular, well organized and efficient. No hassles with tickets and plenty of busses. The additional time was of no consequence as I was able to enjoy the amazing multi-ethnic range of travelers at Liverpool. And I arrived at my appointment on time.

Example 4: Yesterday at Newtown, the driver waited for me to run up the street to return to Xanadu. I really appreciated his courtesy especially as the bus was air-conditioned.

I have these positive experiences every day and thoroughly enjoy the mix of train, bus and ferry. And because of the efficiency of Sydney’s public transport I can see letting go the second car is becoming more painless.

However, regarding busses, I am not struggling with a pusher and a child on foot, I am still agile enough to handle the multi-step entry on some of the older busses, and I am not attempting to get on with a full shopping trolley. For a number of people, bus travel can be difficult but more of the new busses are designed to cope with these needs.

Today’s Podcasts

“Authority, Meet Technology: A Slate/New America Foundation discussion about China, Google, and Internet freedom”, Slate, 21 January 2010, http://www.newamerica.net/events/2010/authority_meet_technology

Western media companies have long been faced with ethical challenges in order to access the vast Chinese market. But after accepting Beijing’s censorship and a series of attacks on its network, Google announced last week that it has had enough, and it is threatening to pull out of China.  China aspires to be considered a trustworthy global economic leader, but plenty of companies doing business in that country share Google’s frustration at having to abide by different rules in the Middle Kingdom.

How will the China Internet skirmish shake out? What lessons or cautionary tales does China’s experience offer repressive governments and their tech-savvy opponents in places like Iran and Cuba? What, if anything, should the Obama administration do to keep the Web free, worldwide? On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to outline the administration’s plans in a major address on Internet freedom.

What startled me was the mention of Australian censorship in the forthcoming legislation. I will check this out further tomorrow.

Thursday

Posted on by

Defintely a geranium with those ordered petals.

A Day In The Life Of…

Some light journalizing after the Climate Change review.

04:00   Arose and had an espresso. Cleaned up last night’s dinner residue and the kitchen.

04:30   Walked dogs. Incredibly quiet this morning with crickets and a sprinkler at Wilkins Public School the only noise (and the occasional vehicle). I haven’t heard a sprinkler for months so wondered what they were watering there at 4:30am. Wilkins hosts a Community Garden and I hope is drawing its water from a bore.

05:30   Wasted 30 minutes reading The Australian and the SMH. The cup of tea was enjoyable though.

06:00   Emptied the compost bucket. Not sure what I will do with the amount of compost we are now manufacturing. Normally, I spread it about the garden early spring and in the past only just enough but now we seem to have about 25 per cent more.

06:30   Cut more branches off the collapsed peach tree overhanging the street. It is rotten and a major branch broke on Tuesday. Over the next few days will gradually cut it down.

07:30   Filleted a chicken for tonight’s Thai Green Chicken Curry and then made chicken stock. An efficient way to empty the fridge of marginal vegetables. Madeleine (the cat) gets the chicken’s wings, we get the stock and the dogs love the residue.

08:00   Caught up with email, Facebook and edited the Cook-book Glossary. I just have to keep working on getting rid of the many inconsistencies.

10:15   Left by bus for Newtown to do a strata inspection for O’Connors Property Reports (http://www.opr.com.au/).

14:00   Back to Xanadu to finish the report

14:30   Off in the CO2 belching Range Rover for vegetables and wine. Learned that brown onions are best stored in direct sunlight – it keeps them dry.

15:30   Lunch of curried vegetables and followed by a nap. Discovered that Beryl will be out until late so postponed the chicken curry until tomorrow night.

16:30   Check for OPR job tomorrow, get Google map of strata manager’s office, get bus timetable, catch up on Facebook, email, news and weather.

18:00   Waiting for outside temperature to drop – currently 33C – and writing this. Will then catch up on a few podcasts – one from Slate, “Authority, Meet Technology: A Slate/New America Foundation discussion about China, Google, and Internet freedom” – sounds interesting.

A normal day.

Today’s Podcast

“Games for Good”, FutureTense, 21 January, 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/futuretense/stories/2010/2720213.htm

‘Serious Games’ or ‘Games for Good’ have a greater purpose than just entertainment — they’re being used to help us understand and solve current problems as well as to identify future threats.

Wednesday

Posted on by

The red 'A' marks Xanadu.

Climate Change at Xanadu

What are we doing to reduce our environmental footprint?

Water consumption: Our imported water decreased 10 per cent from 2008 to 2009. In February I am attending a Rainwater Harvesting Technical Workshop run by Marrickville Council and it appears that we can have three tanks; two harvesting the water from the garage and sheds, and a bladder under the house. If we plumb in two toilets and the washing machine and convert the garden irrigation from imported water, we should be able to cut back another 20 per cent.

Energy (electricity): All lighting is by energy saving bulbs. We don’t have air-conditioning but this summer the upper floor retained considerable heat so we are considering turbine ventilators (whirlybirds) in the roof to move the hot air out of the ceiling. Last winter we used the fireplaces burning surplus wood from the renovations.

The Australian Greenhouse Office has stated, “in terms of limiting net greenhouse gas emissions, firewood is generally more favourable for domestic heating than other non-renewable fossil fuel sources of energy” (http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache%3AIROGmHDXTGQJ%3Awww.homeheat.com.au%2Fpdf%2FHeating_Greenhouse_Gas.pdf+wood+fires+greenhouse&hl=en&gl=au).

And when this stockpile is finished we will probably convert to LNG.

Transport: Two people and two vehicles. One is a reasonably efficient Subaru but the other is a gas emitting disaster that:

  • Is used to move dogs, rubbish and earn a modest income
  • Requires a $6,000 dollar transfusion to fix the motor
  • But is decreasingly used as we enjoy public transport.

I have been cycling less this summer due to the heat but anticipate this will change with autumn.

Sustainability: In 2009 we had time to work in the garden and had excellent crops of snow peas, rocket, basil, mint, tomatoes, and capsicums and chillies still to come. I walk to Borsellino Brothers for our F&V and am gearing up to preserving tomatoes after Easter (when the best are cheap).

Meat is an issue. We can’t determine if our beef is grass-fed; we buy cheap frozen chickens that are probably retired battery hens; who knows where the lamb comes from but the goat is halal. I have stopped buying pork due to concern about the treatment of pigs and the antibiotics used. And until recently, did not buy fish because of the dwindling populations of wild fish and the pollution caused by farmed fish. However, since discovering the Nature Conservation Council of NSW “Nice Choice” web site (http://www.nicechoice.org.au/) we have resumed buying the sustainable varieties.

Recycling: Our wastage is minimal; today our neighbours and ourselves put out one red bin (non-recyclable) and two green bins (recycled into mulch); that is for six people. Next week, it will be the plastics, glass and paper pick-up. I see that the Visy paper mill in Tumut converts our cardboard and newspaper into pulp but haven’t tracked down the glass and plastic recycling.

The compost processing is successful (see post on 23 September 2009 for photos of the compost factory). And last year I converted two cubic metres of clay into friable soil by mixing it with gypsum in the compost.

Micro-environment: We have considerable vegetation on three sides of Xanadu (see the satellite photo above) which is very bird-attractive. This has developed over 30 years; the grounds were lawn when we moved in.

Climate Change – Conclusion

This review over four days has been useful. I cannot see the negative aspects of reducing our environmental footprint and our greenhouse gas emissions. I constantly hear or read about the costs of change, economic and social, but they seem to be slight compared with the benefits. I want to see leadership, bi-partisanship politics, moderation of attacks on each other’s viewpoints and some meaningful and practical legislation to move us forward.

Peter Cosgrove, “Lecture 6: Australia’s Future: Paying it Forward”, Boyer Lectures, 13 December, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/boyerlectures/stories/2009/2725189.htm#transcript

…I am very conscious of the huge change in direction and the expense and the turmoil and the impact on jobs, entailed in a radical move to non-carbon energy for Australia. But if we don’t do it, a country with our values, a country presently in the top 20 wealthiest countries in the world, a country depended on by millions of people who are our powerless friends and neighbours, how can we expect other nations to act and thus offset our lack of action.

…We can’t have governments and oppositions daily scrapping over the concerted and co-ordinated action we need to take across the national community, if on a balance of probabilities we need to start our action now to avoid the climate change ‘noose’ sometime later in the century….

Today’s Website

“Your Home Technical Manual”, Department of the Environment, Water Heritage and the Arts, http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/index.html

Tuesday

Posted on by

At the front gate -- Geranium or Pelargonium?

Geranium or Pelargonium?

Local gardeners, when talking about “Geraniums”, are almost certainly referring to members of the genus Pelargonium. Long ago they were included in Geranium, but today the pelargoniums have their own genus. One of the distinguishing features is that all the petals of the Geranium flower are similar and are arranged evenly around the centre. On the other hand, the individual Pelargonium flower has an uneven distribution of petals, although this may be a little difficult to observe in some garden cutivars. http://www.calyx.com.au/pelargonium.html

Climate Change – Responses and Action

New South Wales responses are being coordinated by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water. In summary:

DECC’s wide range of climate change programs include:

  • strategies to reduce emissions, encourage efficient use of water and promote adaptation to climate change impacts
  • research to better understand the effects of climate change on biodiversity and conservation planning
  • development of a resilient system of protected areas to help minimise the effects of climate change on the environment
  • the Sustainability Advantage Program, which assists business to improve environmental performance.

The broader whole-of-government approach to reducing the impacts of climate change is outlined in the NSW Greenhouse Plan, the NSW State Plan and the Climate Change Action Plan, which is currently under development. Key initiatives include:

  • progressing a national emissions trading and a mandatory renewable energy through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
  • providing financial support to households, schools, business and industry for water, energy and emission savings through the Climate Change Fund and establishing the NSW Energy Savings Scheme
  • ensuring homes and units are designed to use less potable water and create fewer greenhouse gas emissions by setting energy and water reduction targets through the Building Sustainability online planning tool
  • reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and use of electricity through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme and establishing new energy efficiency targets under the scheme
  • implementing the $150-million NSW Energy Efficiency Strategy.

Find out more on the following topics on DECC’s climate change website

  • An introduction to climate change, its causes and evidence
  • Information on how climate change will impact NSW
  • Reports and publications on climate change
  • Local, national and international action to combat climate change

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/climatechange/index.htm

Moving from the ‘govspeak’ above is a series of 30 case-studies on greenhouse reduction action featured on the Local Government and Shires website, http://www.lgsa-plus.net.au/www/html/1917-nsw-regions.asp?intSiteID=2

These are encouragingly proactive; curbing emissions and waste and saving money.

In 2008, The Nature Conservation Council of NSW coordinated a series of training workshops for LGA council staff and residents to:

…deliver local forums in urban, rural, coastal and inland locations across NSW. The input of forum participants has informed local council about the views of a diverse mix of the community who have worked together with local experts and facilitators and considered the issue of climate change in detail.

http://nccnsw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2488&Itemid=1133#How%20will%20workshop%20participants%20be%20recruited%20and%20selected

Coming home to Marrickville Council, their ‘Environment’ page at http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/environment/climatechange.htm concentrates on energy (electricity) and oil reduction. This is not a thorough coverage for at the community and individual level, the Council:

  • Has free trees for households suitable for this Cooks River catchment,
  • Has free garden mulch
  • Supports community gardens
  • Operates the “Sustainable Water Planning with Local People” program that aims at reducing imported water and water leaving the catchment. Together with Sydney City, operates the shop front ‘Watershed’ in Newtown for advice on water conservation.
  • In the ‘Business Program’, provides useful advice on reducing energy and waste.
  • And in the “Sustainability in Your Home” page, provides much information on rebates and reducing our environmental footprint (http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/MARRICKVILLE/INTERNET/me.get?site.home&PAGE2237).

Local Government is making the practical advances in contrast with the embarrassing Commonwealth political squabbling and the Koala suited protestors blockading mines, chaining themselves to locomotives and climbing light poles. Since beginning this review on 16 January, I have learnt much and feel I need no longer bother with the media reporting on Climategate, Glaciergate, the IPCC, COP15, anthropogenic global warming, climate skeptics, et al;  CO2 emission reduction, waste reduction, water harvesting and energy reduction is occurring.

Today’s Podcast

“A dinner date with the olympics (2010 version)”, Deconstructing Dinner, 14 January 2010, http://www.cjly.net/deconstructingdinner/011410.htm

On February 23, 2006, Deconstructing Dinner aired a one-hour feature titled “A Dinner Date With the Olympics”. The episode was produced alongside the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The show focused its attention on two of the Games major sponsors (Coca-Cola and McDonald’s). When we think of the Olympic Games, the athletes, the events, we think of human beings at the peak of performance, in optimal physical and psychological states. Sports do after all evoke images of health and well-being. So when two of the Games major sponsors are Coca-Cola and McDonald’s (perhaps the two most targeted food companies in the world for their unhealthy food and their environmental, social and animal welfare practices), it sparked that 2006 episode which deconstructed this seeming hypocrisy. On this 2010 Version of that original broadcast, we revisit with the episode and add some much-needed 2010 updates.

Monday

Posted on by

This orchid only flowered once.

Climate Change – What to do?

As I wrote yesterday, ‘let’s get some sensible action in place’ and for us urban people, there is practical information. I recommend Business Guide to the Low Carbon Economy: New South Wales, November 2009, The Climate Group, http://www.theclimategroup.org/programs/australia/ and am reproducing three pages from this, which summarizes government initiatives. I am impressed.

I haven’t been closely following the CPRS (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) but now that I have an understanding of the legislation, will watch  Government and Opposition strategies with increased interest.

Today’s Website

GOOD NEWS ON CARBON EMISSIONS!

“Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fall In 2009 Across Australia’s Eastern States”, The Climate Group, 17 January 2010, http://www.theclimategroup.org/our-news/news/2010/1/17/Australia-Greenhouse%20Indicator-Annual%20Report/

Sunday

Posted on by

Near Alice Springs.

Climate Change – The Skeptics

The skeptics base their skepticism on political interference, incorrect modeling and inaccurate data (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_controversy). We can disregard ‘Climategate’ as just another unseemly squabble amongst academics – it was a peripheral disturbance, which served to make me more aware of the controversy.

For the skeptics case see Joanna Nova, (2009), The Skeptics Handbook, downloadable from http://joannenova.com.au/, Formatted to draw attention to the ‘fallacies’ perpetrated by the anthropogenic community (humans are causing climate change) it, on a second reading, lacks credibility. Headings such as ‘The Surgical Strike’ and ‘The Global Warming Gravy Train Ran Out of Evidence’ are journalistic, which I am striving to avoid. However, cutting through the hyperbole, she does summarise the skeptic’s case and leaves me unconvinced.

Then there is Ian Plimer’s, (2009), Heaven and Earth: Global Warming – The Missing Science, Connor Court Publishing, which takes the long-term view presenting information that cold periods have coincided with significantly higher CO2 in the atmosphere. I respect his credentials and agree with his thesis, but what is his point? Why not act on reducing our carbon emissions and our environment-disturbing footprint? Why argue against what will benefit us and future generations?

Over several months I have moved from sympathy with the ‘skeptics’ to ‘let’s get some sensible action in place’. I doubt that chaining one’s self to a coal train, climbing lamp-posts or blockading coal mines will have much effect – it’s the old Vietnam Moratorium syndrome that so attracts the young, and is fun, but has never changed society.

My next inquiry will be to look at the Commonwealth Government’s policies and actions to mitigate CO2 emissions.

Saturday

Posted on by

Trephina Gorge, Central Australia

Climate Change – First Principles

After reading many badly written media reports I am going back to first principles of Climate Change. This began with Andrew Campbell, 2008. Managing Australian Landscapes in a Changing Climate: A climate change primer for regional Natural Resource Management bodies. Report to the Department of Climate Change, Canberra, Australia (downloadable from the author’s website, http://www.triplehelix.com.au/). Campbell is a firm believer in the ‘Greenhouse Effect’ driven by CO2 emissions and whether one is a skeptic, or agrees with the CO2 effect, he offers practical suggestions for mitigating climate change.

But first, some definitions.

“Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate

Climate change is the variation in global or regional climates over time. It reflects changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere over time scales ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by processes internal to the Earth, external forces (e.g. variations in sunlight intensity) or, more recently, human activities. In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, the term “climate change” often refers only to changes in modern climate, including the rise in average surface temperature known as global warming. In some cases, the term is also used with a presumption of human causation, as in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the weather and climate system to projections of future climate. The most talked-about models of recent years have been those used to infer the consequences of increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily carbon dioxide (see greenhouse gas). These models predict an upward trend in the global mean surface temperature, with the most rapid increase in temperature being projected for the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate#Climate_change

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of Earth’s near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) between the start and the end of the 20th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

The trend shown below from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology confirms that we are experiencing increasing temperatures. Additional data and definitions are on http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/.

However, when checking out the ‘Annual Mean Temperature Anomaly’, I found slightly different information where the trend line is not so ominous.

See http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/amtemp.shtml

What is the cause?

External forcing of climate refers to processes external to the climate system (though not necessarily external to Earth) that influence climate. Climate responds to several types of external forcing, such as radiative forcing due to changes in atmospheric composition (mainly greenhouse gas concentrations), changes in solar luminosity, volcanic eruptions, and variations in Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Attribution of recent climate change focuses on the first three types of forcing. Orbital cycles vary slowly over tens of thousands of years and thus are too gradual to have caused the temperature changes observed in the past century.

The greenhouse effect is a natural warming process of the earth. When the sun’s energy reaches the earth some of it is reflected back to space and the rest is absorbed. The absorbed energy warms the earth’s surface which then emits heat energy back toward space as longwave radiation. This outgoing longwave radiation is partially trapped by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour which then radiate the energy in all directions, warming the earth’s surface and atmosphere. Without these greenhouse gases the earth’s average surface temperature would be about 35 ° Celsius cooler.

Australian BOM

Human activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels have increased the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/climch/clichgr1.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Climate_Change_Attribution.png

In summary, the surface temperature of Australia is rising and greenhouse gasses are increasing. The greenhouse proponents sress that the two are linked. I now need to review why the sceptics dismiss the CO2 connection.

Today’s Podcast

There is a small controversy over school gardens in the USA. Caitlin Flanagan, “Cultivating Failure”, The Atlantic, Jan-Feb 2010, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/school-yard-garden has provoked comment with her thesis that school gardens are teaching students work skills that their migrant parents in California want to leave behind. School should be for better test scores and graduating on to college and a less labour intensive working life.

“The Edible Acre Project”, Agroinnovations, 11 January 2010, http://agroinnovations.com/index.php/en_us/multimedia/blogs/podcast/ is an interesting example of how school gardens have been woven into the curriculum rather than simply picking lettuce.

In this episode we continue with the theme of school gardens and farms. I am joined by Debbie Hillman of the Edible Acre Project, a project in a suburb just outside of Chicago Illinois. Debbie discusses the origins and implementation of the project, the role of a the farm/garden in education, and practical strategies for those looking to develop similar projects in their communities.

Friday

Posted on by

On my way to Randwick this morning.

Climate Change

The Opposition Leader has delivered his first policy on Climate Change. The full text is, surprisingly, unavailable on the web as yet, so any comment will have to wait. Reaction has, however, been swift with derision from Labor governments and this ‘Analysis’ in SMH. Cubby successfully hides any analysis with the the overused cliché. My comments are in italics.

Ben Cubby, “Combative Abbott turns green message on its head”, SMH, 15 January 2010, http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/combative-abbott-turns-green-message-on-its-head-20100114-ma8b.html

TONY ABBOTT’S plan to mobilise a ”green army” and seek battle with the Federal Government over climate change has the ring of a death-or-glory mission: brave, bold and with a minimal chance of success. Abbott knows if he loses he may well be among the casualties.
In what I have read on-line and on paper, missed any hint of ‘battle’, ‘ring of a death-or-glory mission’ and ‘Abbott knows…among the casualties’ .Analysis or hyperbole?

But some clever tactics are evident in the speech he gave at the Sydney Institute last night. It is a pitch to what he perceives as a sensible, middle-ground environmentalism that is more concerned with preserving parks and planting suburban nature strips than transforming the economy to run on renewable energy.
The ‘pitch’ as I read it in Abbott’s summary (SMH, http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/protecting-the-planet-needs-to-begin-in-our-backyard-20100114-ma09.html) is about mobilizing Australians to re-green the country which does include ‘suburban nature strips’ and to get the rivers flowing.

It relegates climate change and environmental politics to a second-order issue, a view many people familiar with the four terms of the Howard government will be comfortable with. Abbott is betting his credentials on the theory that most people don’t think climate change requires serious action.
I detect a different thread; I doubt Cubby’s view that, “…most people don’t think climate change requires serious action. My colleagues and acquaintances are deeply concerned, a group includes a broad selection of Australians. Many of them are actively cutting their carbon footprint (at some expense).

Yet the world’s most relevant science academies and its best researchers are convinced climate change is a vast and urgent problem.
Clearly Cubby is a prisoner of his ideology to be repeating this discredited dogma – the debate became overheated recently as doubt regarding the analyses and data collection increased.

The Coalition is now way out on a limb, sharing the trembling branch with some US Republicans, Canadian Conservatives and Saudi Arabian princes. And Abbott’s speech would have received the stamp of approval of Coalition climate sceptics.
Analysis? One definition is, ‘the separating of any material or abstract entity into its constituent elements. These two sentences represent the SMH’s intellect; little wonder I increasingly glance only at the headlines.

He acknowledges that ”many scientists think” that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a good idea, but does not follow through the logic that this admission entails. Human-induced climate change is a binary issue: it’s either happening or it’s not. If it’s not, why bother reducing emissions at all? If it is, there’s little point in half-serious solutions. Abbott’s new take on environment is an attempt to straddle this divide, simultaneously dog-whistling to climate sceptics while foreshadowing ”direct action” to reduce emissions. There is no mention of tackling the source of emissions and no hint that the appeasement of heavy-polluting industry will end.
‘Dog-whistling’ – “Dog-whistle politics… is a term for a type of political campaigning or speechmaking which employs coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has a different or more specific meaning for a targeted subgroup of the audience.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics). I must be outside the ‘targeted subgroup’

His speech perpetuates the fiction that Australia is in danger of leading the world in climate change action. In fact, Europe has a well-established emissions trading scheme that has little or no impact on jobs and wealth.
I understand that the Cap and Trade policy in place in the UK has driven up electricity prices and power utilities profits and is heavily resented.

But Abbott is on safer ground with his criticism of the Federal Government’s lack of effective action on climate change. The speech is an attempt to present Abbott as a plain speaker, and an antidote to the ”rhetorical overkill” of Kevin Rudd. The public can expect to hear more about Abbott’s practical, hands-on, tree-planting persona in coming weeks.

This ‘analysis’ is a collection smart-arse clichés, hyperbole and inaccuracies. Despite my instincts, I detect a whiff of leadership from the Right, which is refreshing after the hysterical diatribe recently issued in the names of Wong and Garrett.

Today’s Podcasts

“The end of fish”, RearVision, 13 January 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/rearvision/stories/2010/2767858.htm

We seem to have eaten all the fish in the sea. We caught them because we could; we had the means to do it, with technology that made it physically possible and economically viable.  First broadcast 22nd July 2009. Rear Vision explores the role played by technology in the disappearance of wild fish and looks at some of the reasons why attempts to control it have had limited success.

I bought three Sea Mullet last week, the first fish we have bought for months, principally due to ‘the end of fish’. And they were delicious. On attempting to find out the sustainability of this very cheap fish I discovered http://www.nicechoice.org.au/ which lists Sea Mullet. A useful resource which I understand is no longer maintained due to lack of funds.