Friends of the Earth Adelaide

“Chernobyl” Faithfully Recreates the World’s Worst Nuclear Disaster

roman June 14, 2019

Some of us were adults in 1986, some of us were children or teenagers, and some of us didn’t yet exist. Because of that, we all have different memories of Chernobyl – the world’s deadliest nuclear disaster.

That didn’t stop the screenwriter Craig Mazin, or the director John Renck, from creating the five-part mini-series Chernobyl, and it didn’t stop American network HBO, and the British network Sky, from producing the series.

Chernobyl is certainly a change of pace for both Renck and Mazin. Renck had directed episodes of the TV series Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Mazin had written the Hangover and Scary Movie movie franchises.

[…]

For those who don’t know much about the disaster, the series is an eye-opener. For those who do know what happened, the series is a near-perfect recreation of the events that took place in Soviet Ukraine on the morning of April 27, 1986.

Mazin said that Chernobyl arose out of his interest in writing something that addressed the fact that, “We are struggling with the global war on the truth.” For each episode, Mazin has created a podcast that can be found on Youtube.

Researching for the truth

To create the series, Mazin consulted many different kinds of sources, “from government reports to first person accounts to scientific journals to historical works, photo essays.” And, he worked hard to avoid putting false drama into his scripts because as he said, “So much of what happens in the show is just shocking. It’s shocking to believe that that’s what happened.

Well, our feeling was if we started pushing the envelope on those things then we would diminish the impact of all the things that we were accurate about, so we stayed as accurate as we could.”

— full story at interestingengineering.com

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear

UK unveils 2050 net zero carbon target

roman June 14, 2019

The UK is to enshrine a 2050 net zero emissions target in law, with an amendment to the Climate Change Act introduced on Wednesday.
It will make Britain the first major economy to legislate an end date for its contribution to global warming, following advice from the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC).

In one of her last acts as prime minister, Theresa May is to launch a youth steering group on the issue, meeting science and engineering students.

“Now is the time to go further and faster to safeguard the environment for our children. This country led the world in innovation during the industrial revolution, and now we must lead the world to a cleaner, greener form of growth,” she said in an advance statement.

“Standing by is not an option. Reaching net zero by 2050 is an ambitious target, but it is crucial that we achieve it to ensure we protect our planet for future generations.”

The move has cross-party support and is expected to win parliamentary approval. It follows a declaration of “climate emergency” in May and bills from Labour and Conservative backbenchers urging the government to put the target into action.
— full story in RenewEconomy “UK unveils 2050 net zero carbon target, in a first for a major economy”

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Climate

Nuclear power exits Australia’s energy debate, enters culture wars

roman June 14, 2019

An update by Jim Green, June 13th

What do these politicians and ex-politicians have in common: Clive Palmer, Tony Abbott, Cory Bernardi, Barnaby Joyce, Mark Latham, Jim Molan, Craig Kelly, Eric Abetz, and David Leyonhjelm?

Yes, they’re all men, and all so far to the right of the political spectrum that right-wing ideologues think they are right-wing ideologues.

And they all support nuclear power. To the far-right, pro-nuclear luminaries listed above we could add the right-wing of the right-wing National Party (pretty much all of them), the Minerals Council of Australia (who lobby furiously for clean nuclear and clean coal), the Business Council of Australia, media shock-jocks Alan Jones and Peta Credlin (and others), the Murdoch media (especially The Australian newspaper), the Citizens Electoral Council, and the Institute of Public Affairs and its front group the Australian Environment Foundation.

It’s no surprise that the far-right supports nuclear power (if only because the ‘green left’ opposes it). But in Australia, support for nuclear power is increasingly marginalised to the far-right. Indeed support for nuclear power has become a sign of tribal loyalty: you support nuclear power (and coal) or you’re a cultural Marxist, and you oppose renewables and climate change action or you’re a cultural Marxist.

Support for nuclear power in Australia has ebbed in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, catastrophic costs overruns on reactor projects, and the falling costs of renewables. Dr Ziggy Switkowski used to be nuclear power’s head cheerleader in Australia and he led the Howard government’s review of nuclear power in 2006. But he said last year that “the window for gigawatt-scale nuclear has closed” and that nuclear power is no longer cheaper than renewables with costs rapidly shifting in favour of renewables.

Peter Farley, a fellow of the Australian Institution of Engineers, wrote in RenewEconomy earlier this year: “As for nuclear the 2,200 MW Plant Vogtle [in the US] is costing US$25 billion plus financing costs, insurance and long term waste storage. … For the full cost of US$30 billion, we could build 7,000 MW of wind, 7,000 MW of tracking solar, 10,000 MW of rooftop solar, 5,000MW of pumped hydro and 5,000 MW of batteries. … That is why nuclear is irrelevant in Australia. It has nothing to do with greenies, it’s just about cost and reliability.”

In January, the Climate Council comprising Australia’s leading climate scientists and other policy experts issued a policy statement concluding that nuclear power plants “are not appropriate for Australia – and probably never will be”. The statement continued: “Nuclear power stations are highly controversial, can’t be built under existing law in any Australian state or territory, are a more expensive source of power than renewable energy, and present significant challenges in terms of the storage and transport of nuclear waste, and use of water”.

See the FoE Australia website for the full article

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear

Government announces deregulation of risky new GM techniques

roman April 30, 2019

Government announces deregulation of risky new GM techniques the day before the election is called
Apr 18, 2019

On the day before the Federal election was called, the Government quietly announced changes to Australia’s Gene Technology Regulations that will allow a raft of new genetically modified (GM) animals, plants and microbes to enter our environment and food chain with no safety assessment and potentially no labelling.

These include super-muscly pigs, non-browning mushrooms, and wheat with powdery mildew-resistance.

The deregulation comes as a new study adds to the growing body of evidence that new GM techniques such as CRISPR are not as safe as claimed.

The study found that in 50 per cent of the cells looked at, the use of CRISPR resulted in unexpected effects, including the production of new proteins.

There is a risk that these proteins could be novel toxins or allergens. It is vital that GM animals, plants and microbes produced in this way are assessed for safety before being released into our environment and our food supply.

Commenting on the new study, London-based molecular geneticist Dr Michael Antoniou said, “The discoveries described in this study add to the increasing number of ways in which gene editing can go wrong. Regulators need to fully take on board these and other findings of off- and on-target unexpected outcomes from gene editing and subject all products produced with these methods to a comprehensive health risk assessment before considering market approval.”

(more…)

Adelaide FoE Notes, Food, Gene Technology

2019: the climate election

roman April 30, 2019

Apr 24, 2019: FoE Australia media release

The future is renewables

The federal election will be held on May 18. With climate change already bearing down on us, a recent decision by the government of Scott Morrison to sign off on Commonwealth approvals for the Adani Carmichael coal mine, and a robust debate about energy and renewables, there is no doubt that this will be the #climateelection.

Elections are a time to remind all parties that they need to deliver solid action on climate change and the environment.

The following are our key policy proposals for the 2019 federal election.

Listen to the science

Climate science makes it abundantly clear that if we want to have a hope of avoiding dangerous climate change we must stop digging up fossil fuels.

Parties must:

Commit to stopping the Adani Carmichael coal mine in Queensland
Commit Australia to 100% renewable energy by 2030
Rule out coal-to-hydrogen technologies in any plan to develop a hydrogen industry
Rule out supporting or funding experimental waste-carbon injection (carbon capture and storage) projects
Rule out releasing further offshore oil and gas exploration licenses, as NZ/ Aotearoa has done
Support the No More Bad Investments legislation
Rule out forcing the medium level radioactive waste dump on unwilling communities

Start the transition

The time for coal is over. We need to transform our economy. We need to take everyone with us – this means supporting sectors and communities which will be on the frontline of structural change.

At the federal level, this includes the need to:

Extend the existing national Renewable Energy Target (RET) beyond 2020, with the addition of policies to encourage the rollout of energy storage
Enshrine action on climate change in the National Electricity Market (NEM) rules to guide the transition to renewable energy
Establish a public authority Transition Australia to guide the shift to 100% renewable energy in the electricity sector and provide transition programs for people in areas that have historically been dependent on coal mining
Get the Climate Change Authority to undertake an immediate update of Australia’s carbon budget and the emissions cuts needed to limit warming to 1.5^oC
Each year, the impacts of climate change grow. Parties should commit to running a ‘Climate budget’ – where economic decisions are guided by climate science, the government keeps track of the economic and social costs of climate change, and considers and includes these impacts in its budget
Getting on with the development of the Star of the South offshore wind project in Victoria and establishing a policy framework to encourage the development of the offshore wind sector and create jobs
Upgrade transmission infrastructure to enable a 21st Century grid powered by 100% renewables
Supporting the call to fund the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to the tune of $10 billion and expanding the CEFC’s mandate to invest in cutting emissions in other sectors (transport, land-use, etc). This would require adjusting the requirement to deliver a commercial return on investment (ROI) for taxpayers
Axing the pointless “Energy Security Board” and use the money to fund the rollout of renewables and storage

Build community and ecological resilience

We are already locked into unavoidable climate change. Governments must help human and natural communities to adapt and thrive in the conditions we will face in coming decades. In the short term, this should include:

Supporting a national inquiry into the economic impacts of climate change, including impacts of natural disasters on cost and availability of household and commercial insurance
Establishing a national community climate grants scheme with a $100m pilot to support local communities to build resilience in the face of climate change
Undertake an update of the risks to Australia’s coastline from rising sea levels (the original report was initiated by Minister Penny Wong in 2009)
Emergency measures to deliver drinking water to communities along the Darling River
Implement the recommendations of the South Australian Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan and conduct a Federal Royal Commission that builds on the South Australian Royal Commission
Scrap the Cap on water buybacks
Overturn the Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) adjustment and compulsorily acquire water from irrigators for the environment if need be
Implement the recommendations of the Australian Academy of Sciences investigation into the fish kill along the Darling River

Build green

Australia desperately needs green transport infrastructure and services:

In Victoria, the federal government must commit a fair share to vital public transport projects like Melbourne Metro 2, the Suburban Rail Loop, the airport link, duplicating single-track sections of the metro train network, and untangling lines so that regional rail services have dedicated tracks that don’t impact the Metro network, etc
It means prioritising money for public transport, not roads. To reduce emissions we must end bad investments in polluting roads-based transport
and ramping up money for low-emissions efficient mass transport and switching to electric trucks and vehicles.

Think global

On a per capita basis, Australia radically over consumes and over pollutes. We must accept the need to live within the limits of the planet. In the short term, we must:

Significantly ramp up our national emissions reduction targets, as called for urgently by the UNFCCC, in order for any possibility of keeping global temperature increases below 2^oC
Sign the Global Compact on Migration to support climate displaced people, especially in the Pacific Island region
Restore Australia’s regular contributions to the Green Climate Fund to support the mitigation and adaptation efforts of countries in the global south
significantly increase our contribution to International Development Assistance (aid budget), with 0.7% as the target.

Get active

Check the work of our national project Tipping Point.

Tipping Point is working to help build a people-powered movement which can take sustained, bold, and creative action that will drive the social and political change our climate so desperately needs.

Climate strike

May 3 #ClimateElection National Day of Action – students from around the country will be striking from school and protesting outside Federal MP offices. They are inviting all of us to join them.

Full details here.

Authorised by Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth, 312 Smith St, Collingwood.

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Actions, Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, FoE