Gippsland Climate News

Csg Free Poowong meeting 7.30pm Wednesday 19th August (6.30pm for dinner) New faces are always welcome at the Poowong Pub. Contact Wendy wannedavis@gmail.com

Gippsland Alliance Meeting Sunday 23rd August 10.30am-1.30pm Lavalla College, Traralgon RSVP to Ursula: csgfreepoowong@hotmail.com

Arawata Declaration Day! 2pm Sunday 30th August Arawata Hall, Arawata, South Gippsland. The first community to get 100% in their survey, amazing! For more information contact Lorraine: tup375@gmail.com

Farmers Against Fracking Melbourne Declaration! 12 noon Sunday 20th September. We are taking our message to the city again, we need 1000’s of people to send a clear message to the state government that gasfields are not welcome here! Melbourne CBD, location to be confirmed. Stay tuned, more details to follow!

‘Monkey and the Fish’, singing duo Fundraiser Thursday 15th October (time to be confirmed) Cambrai, 117 Johnson Street, Maffra. Cost is $10, no BYO as the venue is licensed but you are welcome to take food. There is a Chinese restaurant nearby and two Pizza outlets in town. It will make for a great family night out so please spread the word with your friends, more details in the coming weeks. Tickets will be available next month. Contact Csg Free Maffra, Diane 5141 1462 or 0409 389 612

 

 

Do you have an account in the National, Westpac, ANZ or Commonwealth Banks in Bairnsdale? Are you aware that all these banks are active in supporting coal and other fossil fuel developments around Australia? Burning coal has been identified as the major human contribution to the increasing Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere and thus of climate change. By banking with them you are supporting these developments. 

The answer is to change banks in what is currently called the divestment movement. The divestment movement is educating people about the relationship between their personal finances (both banking and superannuation) and climate change. By diverting your accounts you are helping persuade the banks to change their loan strategies. As well you no longer personally contribute to them. Have you a credit card to cut up or an account to close? Please support the divestment movement in Bairnsdale by meeting at the Rotunda at 10am on 10 July.

For further information contact organiser Harry Barton at harryjbarton42@gmail.com or on 0425325835

by Jill Redwood

The uninformed claims by Greg Hunt that it’s better to burn forest waste or it will only turn to methane is very disconcerting to hear coming from Australia’s Environment Minister. Methane is produced in low oxygen, underground or underwater environs like swamps; hardly ever in forests. Forests in fact capture and store huge amounts of carbon and turn ground litter to humus and soil. 

The Federal Govt wants to allow the burning of forests to be termed ‘renewable’ and thereby claim assistance. Renewable Energy Certificates should only be used to help true renewables like solar and wind. Looking for ways to burn rubbish or trees to ‘green-wash’ power generators and keep the logging industry running is a backward step.

The forest ‘waste’ argument was lost years ago when we were told woodchipping was only mopping up unwanted trees and branches. It has been responsible for up to 90% of all logs that come from our forests.

Now we have governments and authorities promising hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sawlogging waste at a time when the native forest logging for saw logs, is fast being displaced by plantation wood. So is this really going to be just ‘waste’ or will it drive forest destruction? This is something we should all be very cautious about. Our political representatives should remain sceptical of the ‘methane’ style of claims – Just because they repeat their lines endlessly, does not make them true.

Jill can be contacted at http://www.eastgippsland.net.au/?q=node

Novelist David Arnault of Mirboo North has been producing a weekly Climate Change Newsletter for more than a year. The newsletter examines and comments on various aspects of global warming.

The current issue entitled “lancet thrust” is about the Lancet Journal 2015 report, ‘Health and Climate Change’. Arnault added that: “the esteemed medical journal announced that ‘tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century.’”

“The keynote speaker, Dr Peter Doherty, pointed out that the enormity of climate change has largely been underestimated.” He added that money was not a problem, the market for coal uncertain and that “One of the most pressing issues will be starvation, the result of storms, drought, fires and social injustice. A second will be flight, that is the flight of the poor and hungry in search of food security.”

Doherty, a Nobel laureate, said “this is a medical emergency and we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and we need to do it immediately and dramatically.” For the full report go to http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/climate-change 

David will conclude his comments on this subject in next week’s newsletter. To subscribe contact David at darnault@bigpond.net.au

Is the Bioenergy Forum being held in the Valley today and tomorrow seeking real solutions to the momentous problems of climate change and sustainability or is it an attempt to rescue the timber industry and the Latrobe Valley generators from oblivion? Two crucial questions that follow on from this are where the feedstock for the process comes from and how it is used.

If the proposal is that the material to be used comes from our forests and is then burned along with coal in the Latrobe Valley generators then this is disastrous. More CO2 will be released into the atmosphere than saved by these methods. Further by burning forest waste in the generators the life of these monoliths – already past their ‘use-by’ dates – will be extended when they should be closed as soon as is practical. Is the clause in the Renewable Energy Target Amendment currently before the Senate an excuse to prop up an ailing timber industry as well?

If on the other hand the material used is true shire and farm waste and is combusted in specially designed generators by the pyrolysis process, then this is a step in the right direction. In the 2010 election I stood as a candidate in Morwell and promoted this process which has been advocated by Tim Flannery. In 2014 I emphasised the need to rapidly phase out timber milling and the need to protect our forests as a carbon store. The pyrolysis process offers the opportunity to produce electricity or liquid fuel from true waste as well as producing a bi-product known as ‘biochar’ or ‘agrichar’.

But if the term ‘bioenergy’ used to justify the destruction of the carbon store in our native forests and send the ailing timber industry a lifeline then the process is not sustainable and the energy is definitely not renewable. The Senate amendment should be opposed.

Following the surprise announcement that Alinta will close its Port Augusta generators Environment Victoria has called on the Victorian government to urgently “plan for the orderly retirement of coal-fired power stations” in the Latrobe Valley.

Recently an accident at one of the Port Augusta power stations meant that the South Australian grid functioned quite well without any coal fired generation – operating on wind, solar and gas.

Environment Victoria Safe Climate campaigner Nick Aberle said: “With Alcoa also recently announcing the unexpected closure of its Anglesea Power Station, it is clear that the Victorian government needs to fast-track preparations for how and when other coal generators will shut down. 

“The profits of coal power stations are being squeezed by increased energy efficiency, more clean renewable energy sources and their own increased maintenance costs for their aging assets.

“From a climate perspective, we welcome the closure of these highly polluting power stations…The Victorian government should develop plans for the orderly closure of power stations to ensure that adequate replacement jobs are in place to meet the closure timelines. The Latrobe Valley community is particularly vulnerable to unexpected closures and a clear plan will help Victorian coal workers avoid the same sudden fate as those in Port Augusta.

“Transition plans should provide certainty around when power stations will close, ensure full rehabilitation of the sites takes place, and provide a long-term strategy to diversify regional economies to non-polluting activities.”

A just transition requires that there is full employment in the Valley and that replacement industry and job opportunities are well established before any closures take place.

Following my article below on the Unidentified Jellyfish in the Gippsland Lakes (7.6) I thought it opportune to give the series by Inverloch artist Ray Dahlstrom on acid oceans a plug. Ray’s “Jellyfish & Chips” series ran in the Chapel off Chapel Gallery last year and comprised of 24 disturbing images.

Ray and his family were burnt out during the Black Saturday bushfires. His home at Steeles Creek and more than 100 paintings were destroyed. After resettling in Inverloch he began a number of climate related works on “Black Saturday” and “Your Carbon Footprint” before beginning his “acid ocean series”. Ray thinks that his “art should have something to say about the effect of climate change on the environment. It’s OK to create pretty pictures, but it’s more important to me now to get people thinking about the big issues which affect all of our futures.”

The “jellyfish & chips” paintings depict an ocean increasingly dominated by the jellyfish family with other species disappearing. Whilst the skeletal images of fish carcases may not be scientifically accurate they depict and predict the extinction of fish species. Some of these images have been printed on T shirts and can be purchased at Ray’s Gallery called Studio 40. http://www.studio40.net.au/page.php?url=generic.html

A jellyfish collected near Duck Arm more than a year ago remains unidentified. The jellyfish discovered by Ross Scott was forwarded to the CSIRO for identification. CSIRO and Australian expert on jellyfish Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin stated that “DNA testing would take place to try and determine where the Gippsland Lakes jellyfish originated from” and that “the jellyfish was in the Sea Nettle group, so was likely to sting.” Dr Gershwin was retrenched before any positive identification was made.

But the specimen appears to have belonged to a species usually resident in the warmer waters of NSW and southern Queensland. The discovery made the news at the time – as in this informative article by Julianne Langshaw in the Gippsland Times (with photo) http://www.gippslandtimes.com.au/story/2147650/stinger-jellyfish-mystery/

Unfortunately Langshaw made no mention of the species gradually extending its range southwards and that this was a result as the warming ocean.

Elsewhere Hobday and Hartog of the CSIRO (see below) have clearly measured the warming of our coast http://www.redmap.org.au/article/sea-temperatures-and-climate-change-in-victoria/

All this shows that our knowledge of the lakes, the species they contain, the temperatures and salinity of the waters is strictly limited. Our knowledge of the threats of climate change – of rising sea levels, of acidifying oceans and the migration of species is almost non existent. When will the relevant authorities carry out studies now required for the preservation of this wonderful system?

Wilma at the sign

by Deb Carruthers (Gasfield Free Bairnsdale)

On the south side of the Princes Highway near Bomfords Road on the eastern entrance to Bairnsdale you will see a very large sign that was made by Mr Bill Reid, a local sheep farmer in the area.  Bill wanted to make his concerns known about unconventional gas mining by making a large metal sign with the words “CSGas Kills Farms”. Bill said he made the sign because, “I am concerned that unconventional gas mining (CSG) will kill farms and I want to bring this issue to the attention of the community.”

 “Having worked in gas plants I know firsthand about the range of constant loud noises that go 24 hours/day; this will upset the grazing and wellbeing of livestock.” Bill said, “I am worried that gas companies will take all the fresh water and we will be left with contaminated water, full of potentially toxic chemicals, it will be impossible to farm; no one will want to live in a gasfield.” Bill has also made another sign a bit further down the highway towards Bairnsdale. This is a smaller metal sign that says “No CSG”. 

The flying fox issue remains active in the local news. One resident who lives near the main colony has kept a log of their comings and goings for the last 20 years. She stated that most of the colony “depart after the first frost and are completely gone by the second frost. The winter of 2014 was the first year that the colony remained.”

It is not clear whether it was the moderate winter or the supply of food (they are primarily nectar feeders) that was the vital factor in the colony wintering over. If it is the former then the gradually warming climate indicates that the colony may eventually become a permanent rather than a seasonal one.

Our source is one of the unlucky landholders on Riverine Street who would like to sell but has been unable to do so because the presence of the flying foxes has severely depressed the property market. However the removal of 10% of the trees they inhabit – about to be carried out by the East Gippsland Shire – may not be a solution if the bats merely relocate further down the river and closer to the CBD.

If the winter presence of the flying foxes is not another indicator of climate change then their (and our) vulnerability to heatwaves almost certainly is. The summer of 2013 saw a number of bat fatalities in the Bairnsdale colony during a brief heatwave where temperatures reached 42 C.(see photo). It appears the flying fox is extremely vulnerable to prolonged heatwaves and 42-3C appears to be the critical temperature threshold. Of recent years there have been substantial heatwave fatalities in SE Brisbane, Casino, NSW and other places where fatalities of five to fifty thousand have been estimated.

Whilst we wrangle over minor issues like relocation the main issue of climate change is all but ignored. And the current heatwave in India reminds us as a species how vulnerable we are.