Vast bounty at risk from under protected oceans

WWF website 26 May 08;

Bonn, May 26, 2008 –Oceans offer a vast bounty to mankind – in food, climate and coastal protection, medicine and new technologies – a new WWF Germany study of the ocean's value has found, but are at risk due to very low levels of protection from over-exploitation.

WWF is urging the 190 Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, now meeting in Bonn, Germany, to conserve the wealth of our oceans.

“Countries have committed themselves to establishing networks of Marine Protected Areas by 2012 under the Convention on Biological Diversity, but only 0.5 per cent of the oceans currently protected is a poor start towards that very essential goal”, said Christian Neumann, Conservation Officer for WWF International Centre for Marine Conservation and co-author of the study.

“Governments should be doubling their efforts in Bonn to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity” said Rolf Hogan, CBD Manager at WWF International.
The value of our oceans shows the economic value of a wide range of goods and services from the oceans. Scientists have put their overall value at some $US 21 trillion annually, a dramatic contrast with the 0.5 per cent of ocean area currently covered by marine protected areas..

“Not only do we have the moral obligation to secure the biological diversity of the seas, mankind is also dependent on intact marine ecosystems,” said Neumann. “They are a cornerstone of our economic wellbeing. Protecting them is much cheaper than loosing them.“

The wealth of the seas is particularly apparent in medicine, as many new compounds from pharmaceutical research activities originate from the oceans. Sponges and other invertebrates have emerged as a particularly fruitful source of new antibiotics and pharmaceutically active substances to fight cancer and Alzheimer’s. Hotspot areas of high biodiversity are valued at 6000 US Dollars per hectare for medicinal aspects alone.

“We just don’t know which potential is lying in the seas, waiting to be discovered by medicine and technology. The economic value is enormous, while very difficult to assess. At the same time, we’re at risk of loosing numerous species before we have the chance to unveil their potential,” Neumann said.

Global fisheries were estimated at a first-sale value of $US 85 billion in 2004, with some 40 million workers, but no only employment, the food of many more millions is at threat from over-exploitation and pollution.

“If we continue overfishing at current levels, fish stocks will collapse by the middle of the century. And that means millions of jobs lost,” Neumann warns.
Coastal protection is among the most important services of marine life, of which intact protected coral reefs contribute to a significant proportion. This service has been valued at $US 9 billion each year.

The oceans are binding carbon and therefore contribute to stabilising the planet’s climate. With no biological activity in the oceans, the carbon concentration in the atmosphere would be 50 per cent higher. This service is valued at $US 0.66 to $US 13.5 trillion per annum.

The report shows there is more money to be earned by protecting the seas than by destroying them. In Bunaken National Park in Sulawesi, Indonesia, for example, employees in the parks’ important tourism sector earn 144 US $ a month compared to fishermen on only US$44. A comparison of 18 case studies in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean shows that turtle watching generated three times more income than a consumptive use of the endangered animals

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 26 May 08

Hantu Dive!
more exciting encounters on the hantu blog

Ubin's other shores
another seagrass patch explored and fiddler crabs scrutinised on the wildfilms blog

Fiddler crabs galore
clips on the sgbeachbum blog with MORE fiddler crabs and an encore!

New fad: exotic marine pets
and some issues this raises on the wildfilms blog

What is the value of seagrasses?
on the teamseagrass blog

Moon snail disappearing act
clip of speedy burrowing on the manta blog

Semakau walk
with jellyfishes on the discovery blog and on the urban forest blog and wonderful creations blog

Life History of the Malayan Bush Brown
on the butterflies of singapore blog

Owl chick at Pasir Ris Park
and what you should do if you have a similar encounter on the bird ecology blog

Fight Climate Change, Conserve Energy, Save Money
on the Champions of the Environment blog

Recycling at Commercial Buildings and Industrial Estates
on the SG Recycle blog

Bee-eaters of the Thai-Malaya Peninsula
on the bird ecology blog

Read more!

"Nature deficit disorder" and the health effects of nature

Putting a spring in your step
Nick Higham, BBC News 23 May 08;

There's nothing new about doctors recommending their patients take more exercise. But what kind?

You could pay a fortune for gym membership, or you could trudge down to your local swimming pool and spend the rest of the day smelling faintly of chlorine.

But the best exercise of all might be the easiest and the cheapest: a stroll in the park, or a country ramble.

The secret ingredient? Greenery. Those of us who live in towns and cities, and even some who live in the countryside, don't get enough of it.

The result for most of us is highly stressful; we get irritable and depressed, and even physically ill (because high levels of stress mean higher risk of things like heart disease and diabetes).

Yet put us in contact with trees and grass and levels of stress fall away.

Natural remedies

The notion that nature does you good is one of the themes of this year's Springwatch series on BBC 2.

Bill Oddie, one of the Springwatch presenters and an enthusiastic bird-watcher, suffers from depression. He has no doubt that contact with nature helps him.

"I know I'm really in trouble when I don't want to go outside and I can't bring myself to do it," he says.

"I've had three clinical depressions, which means going into hospital, and that's the stage where I know nothing's going to help.

"But when you get a downer, and lots of people suffer from this, there is no question, every self-help book, every doctor, every therapist will tell you: get out there in the fresh air, get yourself moving. It's to do with fitness, it's also to do with a meditational thing."

Scientific support for Bill's beliefs comes from Dr William Bird, who combines a career as a GP with a part-time role as health adviser to Natural England.

Last year he produced a report for Natural England and the RSPB arguing that contact with nature and green space has a positive effect on mental health, especially among children.

Some have gone further still. An American journalist, Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, coined the term "nature deficit disorder" (an echo of the medically-established condition, attention deficit disorder) to describe the deprivation, sometimes amounting to mental illness, of children who grow up without contact with the natural environment.

"Nature deficit disorder" is not a condition the medical profession recognises, though common sense suggests that children who take virtually no exercise and rarely get into the great outdoors are unlikely to be healthy and are missing out on a lot of pleasurable experiences.

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Behind the scenes at BBC One's Springwatch programme Dr Bird is urging his fellow GPs to prescribe regular walks and exercise in green spaces for patients suffering from heart disease, depression, obesity and the like.

Referring patients to the natural environment rather than the pharmacist is a lot cheaper than conventional pills and prescriptions and, he argues, is likely to be just as effective in many cases.

But haven't we always known that contact with nature was good for us? Yes, says Dr Bird.

"But we kind of lost it when we got clever with our science. As soon as we got antibiotics and we got technical, we felt we didn't need all that green stuff.

"Now we've realised all that technical stuff can treat you, but we also need the greenness to provide a backdrop for preventing ill-health and for healing."

Happy feet

There's some evidence that patients themselves are willing to go along with the idea.

The results of a Mori poll, commissioned by Natural England and released exclusively to the BBC, show that 94% of us would be happy for our GP to provide outdoor exercise instead of prescription drugs, if he or she thought it would work.

Natural England has already established jointly with the British Heart Foundation a network of "walking the way to health" initiatives. Many areas now have "walk and talk" or "health walk" schemes, run by volunteers who encourage local people to gather regularly for walks ranging from gentle rambles to more demanding hikes.

Some GPs' practices are already prescribing exercise as an alternative to drugs.

The Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health in Devon is one. A partnership of a dozen GPs, it occupies a splendid new architect-designed building, more like an old-fashioned cottage hospital than a conventional GP practice.

The Centre's symbol is "the Green Man", a kind of medieval nature spirit: outside the building is a herb garden; inside they offer complementary medicine as well as conventional clinical consultations.

We met one patient, Roger Cowley, who'd been suffering from obesity and depression and had been effectively confined to bed.

He's been given a "stepometer" that counts the number of paces he takes each day and receives help from Ruth Tucker, an exercise adviser working with GPs.

His eventual target is to take 10,000 steps a day, walking in the fields around his home. So far, he told me, he's up to 4,000 or 5,000.

"I think we've lost contact with our environment, and when you become de-rooted you become alienated, and that's part of becoming unhealthy," says Dr Michael Dixon, one of the partners.

"We know that the most sustainable treatment for depression is exercise, not anti-depressants: a year later people who take exercise are still improving, when with anti-depressants the effects are gone."

Other doctors may take some persuading to prescribe a walk in the country.

Natural England polled 70 GPs and nurses and found that 61% recommended that patients use green space, and 79% recommended walking informally.

But that still left a sizeable minority who didn't.

Read more!

Pedra Branca & the old keeper of the light

My Lighthouse, My Playground
Ng Tze Yong, New Paper 26 May 08;

MONEY changes hands, and boatmen joke and jibe as news of the Pedra Branca verdict finally filtered to Marina South Pier on Friday.

Mr Hazlee Lewis, 51, gaunt and genial with an old sea dog's tan, sits quietly behind a counter, where he works as a liaison officer for a maritime company.

For months now, he has seen newspaper pictures of suit-clad diplomats battling over Pedra Branca in the high-profile court case fought half a world away.

And once again, the memories are flooding back.

He is a little boy again. He is riding piggy-back on his father. His father is huffing and puffing, making his way slowly up a dark, winding staircase that leads to the top of the lighthouse.

The stone walls smell damp. The steps are orange with the glow from kerosene lamps hanging on the walls.

When they finally reach the top, the view takes the 8-year-old boy's breath away.

He sees sky and sea, 360 degrees all around, glued together in one clean line.

It is hot and stuffy like a greenhouse. But he feels like the king of the world.

In the 1960s, Mr Hazlee Lewis' father, George, was a keeper of the light at Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branca.

He died in 2004 at age 89.

But during the 15 years he helped manage Horsburgh Lighthouse, he often took his family there during the school holidays.

He knew his children missed him.

Work meant he had to rotate between different lighthouses of Singapore, staying for a month at each, with three days of shore leave in between.

Once every six months, he would get a three-week break.

For $200 a month, free food and free lodging, he worked with a crew of six to keep the beacon burning bright.

Every day at sunset, the crew would switch on the beam by turning a fist-sized knob.

Every two hours after that, the crew had to spend 15 minutes winding weights up the tower by hand.

DOWN-TO-EARTH PEOPLE

The lighthouse worked like a grandfather's clock. The descent of the weights turned a 2m-wide lens around the lamp, giving it the characteristic lighthouse sweep.

At sunrise, the lights went out.

The crew would spend the rest of the day polishing the lens, refuelling the kerosene in the lamps, cooking and cleaning.

'They had to cover the lens with a canvas because the sun shining through it could start a fire,' Mr Mervin Lewis, Mr Hazlee's 68-year-old brother, recalled.

He added that most of the crew members on Pedra Branca were 'kampung people', 'down-to-earth folk who talked about nothing but fishing'. Everyone spoke in Malay.

Free time was spent fishing for meals, swimming and playing cards.

'Some workers would carve bird cages as a side business,' he said.

A 2m-long python and iguanas lived among the rocks.

At a nearby reef, there were sea porcupines, octopuses, shrimps, clams, crabs and corals.

Once in a while, colossal oil tankers would rumble by, like floating buildings, leaving the lighthouse choking in diesel fumes.

And when night fell, there were galaxies and shooting stars if you squinted and looked up past the lighthouse beam that spun round and round the whole night long.

The adults loved the peace and quiet. The children got bored.

Mr Hazlee Lewis said: 'After the first week, I told my father every day, 'Papa, I want to go home!'

To entertain him, his father told him ghost stories, just before tucking him into bed, under the woollen blankets with red-and-white stripes.

He told him of the old man who sits at night on the rocks like a mermaid; of the black, hairy arm that once reached in for him from a window high up on the tower; and of the fireball he once saw rolling down the steps of the lighthouse.

'But he was never afraid,' Mr Mervyn Lewis said. 'He knew that spirits existed at all lighthouses.'

Commanding the eastern access into the Singapore Strait, through which some 900 ships now pass daily, Pedra Branca houses a traffic information tower that relays shipping information back to the mainland.

The area is a restricted zone and Singapore's navy boats regularly patrol the waters.

But things were different then.

'Whenever there was a storm, my father would invite fishermen to take shelter at the lighthouse,' Mr Mervyn Lewis said.

'It didn't matter if you were a Singaporean, Indonesian or Malaysian. At sea, we were all friends.'

Once a month, a supply boat came, laden with fresh food and a change of crew.

But there were no electricity and no generators on the island.

Vegetables stayed fresh only for a week. The crew drank filtered rainwater, ate canned food and fished every day before drying the catch on rooftops.

LIKE BEING MAROONED

'It was like being marooned on an island,' Mr Mervyn Lewis said.

'Some of the crew members developed cataracts because of the lack of fresh vegetables in their diet and the exposure to the sun. People didn't wear sunglasses in those days.'

In the days before radio communication was installed, the supply boat would sometimes come unannounced, bearing bad news from the mainland.

The crew would gather on the rocks, watching with dread.

Mr Hazlee Lewis was still a child, oblivious to his father's tough life.

But in school, he would swell with pride when he boasted to classmates: My father works in a lighthouse. He keeps sailors safe.

Every month, a few days before his father's return, Mr Hazlee Lewis and his siblings would put on their best behaviour.

'The first thing my father did when he came back was to get a full report from my mother about our behaviour for the past month,' he said.

'And then he will decide what punishment to give us.'

The sea taught the old man many things.

He was always patient, always thoughtful, strong and silent, just like a lighthouse.

A few years before he died, the children took their ailing father back to the relatively nearer Sultan Shoal and Raffles Lighthouses to look at them one last time.

Mr Hazlee Lewis remembered that his father was quieter than usual that day.

After his death, they scattered his ashes in the sea.

It was the old man's last wish.

Why these rocks matter

# International Court of Justice ruled on Friday that Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore, ending a 28-year dispute between Malaysia and Singapore over the granite islet the size of half a football field.

# Malaysia given control over Middle Rocks, one of two rocky outcrops there, while that of other outcrop, South Ledge, has yet to be determined as it falls within overlapping territorial waters.

# Dispute arose when Singapore protested in 1980 against a new Malaysian map of its maritime boundaries in which Malaysia claimed the islet was theirs.

# Singapore Government argued that it has exercised sovereignty openly and continuously on Pedra Branca for some 130 years without protest from its neighbour until about 30 years ago.

# Pedra Branca is strategically located and key to the safety of international shipping passing through the Strait of Singapore. Whoever controls this waterway controls important trading routes in the region.

# Singapore has installed a Vessel Traffic Information System tower on Pedra Branca, which manages shipping traffic and safety.

# It has also built other facilities there, such as a helicopter landing pad and a desalination plant.

Read more!

Stay away from Middle Rocks, Malaysian fishermen urged

Recommendations on what to do next will be ready soon, says Najib
Straits Times 26 May 08;

JOHOR BARU - DEPUTY Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday advised Malaysians to stay away from Middle Rocks for now, even as a top official and an academician said Malaysian fishermen could now go to the area.

He said Malaysia's technical committee was still preparing recommendations on what to do next, following the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling last Friday that Malaysia had sovereignty over Middle Rocks.

Datuk Seri Najib said the recommendations were expected to be ready in two weeks' time.

'Wait for the technical committee to come up with its recommendations and then we will advise accordingly. Otherwise, there will be some confusion on the ground,' he said.

Malaysia's Marine Police commander Isa Munir also warned people against going to the area.

'We have to wait for the decision by the government,' he told the Sunday Star daily.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar yesterday said Malaysia will not send enforcement agencies to patrol the area in Middle Rocks to avoid sending an aggressive signal to Singapore, reported The Star.

'It is clear that Middle Rocks is ours and we have an interest to protect, but both countries must work out the best way possible to create an understanding,' he said.

The ICJ gave Singapore ownership of Pedra Branca - which Malaysia calls Pulau Batu Puteh - while giving Malaysia ownership of Middle Rocks, two smaller outcrops nearby.

The court did not make a definitive ruling on a third rock, South Ledge, which is visible only at low tide. The court said it belongs to whoever owns the territorial waters it sits in.

Mr Najib was commenting on reports that Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, Co-agent for Malaysia in the Pedra Branca case, had said the ICJ decision meant fishermen could go into the area for the first time in 22 years.

She was also quoted by local newspapers as saying Singapore's powers are limited by the decision because the Middle Rocks outcrops went to Malaysia.

The Mingguan Malaysia quoted her as saying that the decision allows Malaysia to carry out activities in waters around Middle Rocks, including placing its navy ships, carrying out meteorological studies and control of the airspace.

Professor Nik Anuar Nik Mahmud from the National University of Malaysia also said fishermen and the air force would now have access to the area.

'We have been denied entry to that locality since 1986 after Singapore took control of Pulau Batu Puteh and the two maritime features. The Republic has lost that exclusivity now,' he was quoted as saying in the New Sunday Times.

International Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin urged Singapore to consider the livelihood of Johor residents, especially fishermen, who had been using Pedra Branca for generations as a stopover when going out to fish.

He also disagreed with Foreign Minister Rais Yatim's earlier proclamation that it was a 'win-win' situation for both countries.

'We lost it (Pedra Branca). I will not say it is a win-win situation,' he told reporters.

Read more!

More in Singapore switch to green light bulbs

But improper disposal of energy- saving bulbs, which contain mercury, could be dangerous: Case
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 26 May 08;

SALES of energy-saving light bulbs are rising as consumers here warm to the idea of slashing their electricity bills.

Philips Electronics, which supplies such light bulbs to more than 100 supermarkets here, says sales have gone up by 31 per cent over the past two years. This is higher than the average 25per cent growth in Asia.

A Straits Times check of eight hardware stores across the island showed that sales of the bulbs have increased by 10 to 30 per cent compared to last year.

The main reason: The bulbs - known as compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs - use 75per cent to 80 per cent less energy than normal incandescent bulbs and last six times longer.

Using a CFL instead of an incandescent bulb can save households about $15 per bulb per year, said a Singapore Environment Council spokesman.

This explains why more customers are opting for CFLs despite the fact that they cost about three times more than incandescent bulbs - roughly $9 compared to $3.

The boost in sales is not surprising, said MrSeah Seng Choon, executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore.

'It is one consequence of the increased cost of living. Everyone is finding a cheaper alternative,' he said.

However, he warned that precautions should be taken when using CFLs, which typically contain about 5mg of mercury - while incandescent bulbs contain none at all. Mercury can affect the nervous system and organs like the liver.

His suggestion: Glass shards from broken CFLs should not be vacuumed, but swept away by someone wearing rubber gloves. The broken pieces should then be sealed in a bag for disposal. He also urged manufacturers to print proper disposal procedures on the bulbs' packaging.

Consumers say they do not mind a little extra work to save money.

'The increased hassle of disposal doesn't mean I will stop saving energy. It can help to reduce household spending,' said Madam Gek Huay Phua, 56, a housewife who started buying CFLs two weeks ago.

Energy-efficient bulbs and their incandescent counterparts provide the same amount of light, although CFLs can take a second or two before powering up.


Tackling that mercury risk

GLOBALLY

What is happening?

# The British government began phasing out incandescent bulbs about three months ago. It aims to complete the phase-out by 2011.

# The United States Congress has passed an energy law to ban the use of the incandescent bulbs by 2014.

So what?

# There are fears that mercury contained in energy-saving bulbs could leak into water supplies because of improper disposal systems.

# Dermatologists are worried the bulbs could cause skin problems, like eczema, to flare up.

# The British government warned that the bulbs are so dangerous that a room must be vacated for at least 15minutes if one breaks.

SINGAPORE

What is happening?

# Spent energy-efficient bulbs are treated as ordinary rubbish and incinerated.

# The National Environment Agency (NEA) said incineration plants here are equipped with systems to remove pollutants from the bulbs before they are released into the air.

So what?

# The NEA is considering the separate collection of fluorescent lamps as well as recycling.

Read more!

Workgroup to look into dirty habits in Singapore heartland

It'll examine causes of anti-social actions like littering in HDB estates
April Chong & Eisen Teo, Straits Times 26 May 08;

BAD behaviour in the HDB heartland seems to be on the rise - whether it's residents who let their wet laundry drip onto the floors below or those who sweep rubbish out of the door into common areas.

The lack of social consciousness is enough to prompt the setting up of a workgroup that will look at, among other things, causes of the littering problem.

Chairing the workgroup will be Senior Minister of State (National Development and Education) Grace Fu.

She noted the rising number of conflicts among residents, some of which stem from dirty habits.

In the past, families would keep the common areas outside their own homes clean.

'These days, the expectation is that as long as it is a common area, a cleaner must come almost every day and immediately when there is rubbish,' she said.

She also noted that closed-circuit television used to be installed mainly for security reasons.

Now, it is increasingly being used to catch litterbugs and those who urinate in common areas.

Ms Fu picked the occasion of the Island-Wide Cleanest Estate Competition prize presentation ceremony yesterday to announce the formation of the group, which will include four other Members of Parliament.

Nine MPs were at Block 386 Bukit Batok West Avenue 5 to pick up awards on behalf of their town councils for keeping their resident committee zones, town centres, food centres and toilets spick and span.

None would say that the littering problem has worsened, although all had anecdotes about bad social behaviour that had been brought to their attention.

Ungracious Singaporeans are not the only litterbugs, said Hong Kah GRC MP Ang Mong Seng.

Foreign workers are adding to the littering problem too, he said.

'They do not know that this is an offence here. Therefore, the town council staff and grassroots members have to give them advice. We need some time to educate them.'

Jurong Town Council yesterday walked off with awards in all four competition categories.

These are open to the 14 People's Action Party town councils.

Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre at Jurong East Street 24 - one of the winning food centres - had relied heavily on stallholder and town council help to keep its premises spotless.

The stallholders attend courses on hygiene and foodhandling conducted by the National Environment Agency (NEA) while the cleaners attend basic cleaning courses, said the food centre's chairman Neo Swee Eng.

The Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang Town Council is also making an extra effort against littering.

Working with the NEA, it will have litter indices posted at community centres and clubs to indicate how clean or dirty their surrounding areas are.

The indices will be updated monthly.

Yesterday, grassroots leaders went around Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 to collect litter. The litter was dumped into a 'Litter-O-Meter' - a transparent acrylic bin that measures 140cm by 80cm by 80cm.

In the space of 45 minutes, the garbage had piled up to a metre high.

The cleanest estate competition was last held in 2003. Mr Ang, who is also the chairman of its organising committee, plans to conduct the competition every other year.

Read more!

Can money buy happiness or not?

Wharton study shows link between wealth, well-being
Business Times 26 May 08;

(WASHINGTON) The saying goes that money can't buy happiness. But inquiring economists have been working for decades trying to prove or disprove the notion.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business released a study in April showing 'a clear positive link' between wealth and 'subjective well- being,' based on global surveys.

While this may seem logical to some, the research flew in the face of a longstanding theory that happiness of a country's population does not rise with income, after certain basic needs are met.

This theory, dubbed the Easterlin Paradox, was developed in 1974 by Richard Easterlin, an economist currently on the faculty at the University of Southern California.

Mr Easterlin's research had drawn on surveys notably from Japan, where surveys had shown little or no increase in national happiness despite the country's post-World War II economic miracle.

Wharton economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers contend in the new research that better data over the past three decades and a closer analysis suggests that the Easterlin Paradox is flawed.

They found that the wealthiest countries in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita rank near the top of surveys on happiness, with the poorest at the bottom. More significantly, within each country, higher incomes translated to higher ratings of life satisfaction, they found.

'There appears to be a very strong relationship between subjective well-being and income, which holds for both rich and poor countries, falsifying earlier claims of a satiation point at which higher GDP is not associated with greater well-being,' they say in a paper to be published by the Brookings Institution.

'The Easterlin Paradox says that what I care about is my relative ranking in society,' Ms Stevenson told AFP. 'It says economic development doesn't matter at all - that the United States is no better off in 2008 than it was in 1920.'

The results have important implications for public policy. Ms Stevenson and Mr Wolfers noted that economic growth might not be considered an important policy goal if it does little to raise well-being.

The Wharton researchers said that multi-nation surveys such as the Gallup World Poll and the Pew Global Attitudes Survey reveal 'quite powerful effects of income on happiness'. 'There is no evidence of a satiation point,' Mr Wolfers told AFP. 'Even as rich counties get richer, they appear to get happier.' The researchers said that they were not seeking to make any political point or support an ideology.

Although backers of the Easterlin theory said that it argues against unbridled pro-growth capitalism, Ms Stevenson said that the new research could also be used to promote more distribution of wealth.

'A 10 per cent increase in income for a poor person will give you the same gain (in happiness) as a 10 per cent gain for a rich person but it would cost a lot less,' she said.

Accordingly, she said that redistributing income from the rich to the poor could increase a country's overall happiness quotient.

Mr Easterlin, meanwhile, stands by his research, updated several times since the 1970s.

In a 2004 paper, he said that surveys continue to support his thesis.

'Contrary to what economic theory assumes, more money does not make people happier,' he wrote.

'Most people could increase their happiness by devoting less time to making money, and more to non-pecuniary goals such as family life and health,' Mr Easterlin said.

'It's necessary to separate shorter term fluctuations in which GDP and happiness are positively related from the long-term association between growth and happiness,' he said in comments e-mailed to AFP.

'The conclusions of (the Wharton) paper appear to be based on the short-term association and do not contradict the findings regarding the longer term.' The new research, meanwhile, has set off a fierce debate among scholars. -- AFP

Read more!

Don't want to release your CO2? Bury it

Pierre-Henry Deshayes, Yahoo News 25 May 08;

With planet Earth engaged in a heated race against global warming, "carbon capture and storage" has brought a ray of hope, and a Norwegian gas platform is leading the way.

The Sleipner platform in the North Sea, a mammoth steel and cement structure, has successfully buried millions of tonnes of CO2 under the seabed for the past 12 years in a pioneering project.

Using a simple metallic tube measuring 50 centimetres (20 inches) in diameter, the platform operator, Norwegian oil and gas group StatoilHydro, has injected some 10 million tonnes of CO2 into a deep saline aquifer one kilometre (0.6 miles) under the sea.

"We bury every year the same amount of CO2 as emitted by 300,000 to 400,000 cars," said Helge Smaamo, the manager of the Sleipner rig, a structure so large that the 240 employees ride three-wheeled scooters to get around.

The project is far from a philanthropic initiative to save the climate: StatoilHydro decided to test the carbon capture and storage (CCS) idea 250 kilometres (155 miles) off the Norwegian coast for purely financial reasons.

The natural gas extracted by Sleipner has a carbon dioxide content of nine percent, almost four times the commercial quality target of 2.5 percent, requiring the company to reduce the level by filtering it with amines on a platform adjacent to the main structure.

Since it was already being filtered, the question was then whether to release the CO2 into the atmosphere or to capture it.

A carbon tax imposed as of 1991 on Norway's offshore sector led the group to opt for the second solution, despite an initial cost of 100 million dollars to drill a well and install a compressor, and annual operating costs of five million dollars.

"We save money by injecting (CO2) gas rather than releasing it," said Olav Kaarstad, a special advisor at StatoilHydro.

There are no figures available on how much StatoilHydro has saved, but with the carbon tax at its current level of 66 dollars per tonne, StatoilHydro would have to pay 66 million dollars a year to release one million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

The Sleipnir platform, the eight-legged steed that belonged to the Norse god of war Odin, has become a textbook case, with visitors flocking to the site by helicopter to study the project.

Far below the waves of the raging North Sea, the seabed of watertight calcium rock called mudstone has yet to leak any CO2, according to independent studies.

But all this does not make Sleipner a "green platform."

The enormous gas and diesel powered generator that provides electricity and compresses the gas, and the flare that burns off the impurities, together release a total of 900,000 tonnes of CO2 per year -- as much as the volume of gas buried under the seabed each year.

The CCS technology could one day be expanded to other industries.

"The main markets for carbon capture storage are the large stationary sources of CO2 such as coal-power plants, natural gas refining, fertilisers and petrochemical plants, and iron, steel and cement plants," Kaarstad said.

The idea of CCS is however a hotly debated idea, even among environmentalists.

Greenpeace, which published a report in early May entitled "False hope. Why carbon capture and storage won't save the climate," is spearheading the opposition.

Its list of complaints is long.

It says an efficient and affordable version of the technology will not be ready in time to contribute to the global CO2 emissions reductions the UN-based International Panel on Climate Change says must start by 2015 in order to limit global warming to a two-degree increase.

The method also consumes a lot of energy, it is expensive and there is always the risk of leaks, it argues.

Greenpeace considers the research on carbon capture and storage a waste of limited scientific and financial resources and says it would prefer to see more focus on energy efficiency and renewable energies.

"The real solutions to stopping dangerous climate change lie in renewable energy and energy efficiency that can start protecting the climate today," it wrote in its report.

"Technically accessible renewable energy sources -- such as wind, wave and solar -- are capable of providing six times more energy than the world currently consumes -- forever," it said.

But other environmentalists are more positive.

"We estimate that carbon capture and storage represents 30 percent of the tools available to reduce emissions, or 50 percent in rich countries," Frederic Hauge, the head of the Norwegian environmental group Bellona, told AFP.

"Those who criticise CCS don't take the fight against global warming seriously," he added.

"We are so dependent on fossil fuels that there is no other solution to tide us over until renewable energies are more widespread. As it stands today, gas- and coal-fired plants release 100 percent of their CO2, so anything that can bring this number down is good," he said.

According to experts, the future of the method depends on its cost.

Carbon capture and storage currently costs around 60 euros per avoided tonne of CO2, but that cost would have to be at least halved to make it a viable alternative to industries, which can currently buy CO2 emissions rights for around 25 euros per tonne.

"We need to get the cost down for the technology and to have a higher CO2 price, and, not only that, to have more certainty about how long we will have a high carbon price," Kaarstad said.

"Then things will sort themselves out by themselves," he said.

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US Greens Wary Of Ecological Cost Of Record Oil

Timothy Gardner, PlanetArk 26 May 08;


NEW YORK - US environmental advocates are nervous that record crude oil prices will lead to a boom in production of fossil fuels like motor fuel from coal, Canada's tar sands, or shale in Colorado that would emit more planet-warming gases than conventional oil.

"High oil prices are a double-edged sword," said Deron Lovaas, an automobile expert at green group the Natural Resources Defence Council.

Rising crude prices were once a no-brainer for US greens; the steeper the price, the more likely car-pooling and public transportation would rise in the world's largest oil consumer and eventually tame demand.

But it is no longer an easy reaction as global demand rises as cars and highways multiply in places like China and India while global reservoirs of quality crude oil that refiners prefer to process become harder to find and drill.

The oil price leap to $135 a barrel -- almost double the price at this time last year -- has been more abrupt than the gradual rally since 2002, leading to fears of a rush to unconventional fossil fuels and a breakdown of US barriers to drilling in protected places.

"The signals that (record oil) could send are a little scary," said Chris Walker, the North American director of The Climate Group, an international non-profit.

On balance, greens said record oil would sharpen support for alternative energy and cut demand. They were cheered by the US Department of Transportation's saying on Friday that US highway miles driven in March fell the first time for that month since the last major oil shock in the late 1970s.

They also said growing US support for regulating greenhouse gases that would lead to a cap-and-trade program would cut energy demand by providing more incentives for an array of alternative fuels.

But a nagging worry is that record oil could slow the movement toward cap-and-trade as opponents argue that consumers already faced with record energy prices and the credit crunch should not have to face more immediate costs.

"Another potential downside is that we drop our vigilance in terms of understanding that we need to have enforceable federal programs when it comes to ... fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions," said Frank O'Donnell, president of the non-profit Clean Air Watch.


ENERGY-INTENSIVE PLAYS

Greater development of oil sands in Alberta, Canada, is the top worry of US greens. Companies mine the tarry refinery feedstock using heavy equipment and steam blasts fired by large amounts of natural gas, which emits high levels of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Companies have already poured $100 billion into the sands and hope to triple production by 2015. Sustained high oil prices could encourage more mining, greens said.

Oil shale in Colorado, which then-called Exxon explored in the late 1970s, but then dropped once the oil price fell, is another worry. Companies hoping to develop shale want to melt oil from the rock with enormous underground heaters that likely would have to be fired by new power plants.

Turning coal into motor fuel is another energy-intensive option, one being explored by the US military and companies like Peabody Energy Inc Rentech Inc.

"Now these things are economically viable with record oil," said Walker, "that could be the downside."

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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