Best of our wild blogs: 28 Aug 14

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Malaysia: Look at other power sources other than nuclear

TASNIM LOKMAN New Straits Times 28 Aug 14;

ASTANA, Kazakhstan: Malaysia needs to explore more natural power sources for the future.

Malaysia Physicians for Social Responsibility (MPSR) president Dr David Quek told the New Straits Times the government needs to find other power alternatives for the future instead of opting to go nuclear.

"It is understood that the government is looking into nuclear power options. However, they should seriously reconsider this as there are other sources such as waves, wind and solar energy that is safer for the country and people.

"It may not be absolutely impossible but the technological system the world has now is still in its infancy stage and yet to be fully refined and clean.

"It's just not the right time and there may never be," he said.

Dr Quek was attending the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear (IPPNW) 21st World Congress here, with two other Malaysian delegates from MPSR Dr Thong Kok Wai and Ronald McCoy, who is also former co-president of IPPNW.

This year's congress themed "From Nuclear Test Ban to a Nuclear Weapon Free World: Disarment, Peace and Global Health in the 21st Century" was launched today by president of IPPNW 21st World Congress Dr Abai Baigenzhin, founding IPPNW co-president Dr Evgueni Chazov and Kazakhstan Health Minister Dr Salidat Kairbekova.

More than 500 participants from 44 countries such as the Netherlands, Japan and India who are involved in the health industry attended the six-day event.

Austrian Foreign Affairs minister Ronald Sturm who spoke during the opening ceremony applauded the big step Kazakhstan has taken by disarming themselves from nuclear testing.

"Kazakhstan is a role model and should be applauded for its disarment to a non-nuclear weapon state and now we wait for others to follow suit. We should applaud and appeal for them to continue the hard work," he said.

‘Hydropower will boost people’s future’
Goh Pei Pei New Straits Times 28 Aug 14;

KUCHING: HYDROPOWER holds the key to the future of Sarawak as it will turn the state into a high-income society, said Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud.

However, he said, the biggest challenge in hydropower development was to create a greater understanding among villagers from the areas earmarked for the construction of dams.

He said such development projects were vital to ensure that the villagers’ children were not deprived of opportunities.

Taib said many could not understand the connection between hydropower and development.

“They don’t really understand how the dams can benefit them so they refuse to move. This causes conflicts and delays in the resettlement process,” said Taib at the Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) Sarawak 31st anniversary celebration here yesterday.

“Because of that, their children have to walk miles and miles to school as most of them are living in remote areas. So, some of them would easily give up on education and return to the villages to become farmers.”

“We don’t want any of our people to be neglected as we want everyone to benefit and take part in development. Everyone deserves a better life and higher income.”

Taib, who is Azam’s founder, urged the organisation’s committee members to be more aggressive in disseminating information about hydropower development by using relevant and acceptable methods.

“We cannot use the same method of disseminating information in urban areas and use it in the interior. City folk are well-connected to the Internet, but people in villages are not,” Taib said.

Azam is a non-governmental organisation which aims to facilitate development efforts in Sarawak by engaging the people.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem, who was at the same function, said that once rural villagers were well-informed about hydropower development and its benefits, they would not be influenced by the views of certain quarters who have been criticising such projects for a personal agenda.

“I want our people to understand government policy and development plans as these things are meant for the people.

“We don’t need the foreign NGOs with their personal agendas to tell us what to do,” he said, referring to certain foreign NGOs that have criticised Sarawak for its development projects, claiming they could affect the state’s environment.

“We encourage rural villagers to be part of our development progress, and to be able to have a firm stand regardless of what the foreign NGOs say,” he said.

Research still ongoing to decide on nuclear power plant
TEOH PEI YING New Straits Times 28 Aug 14;

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has not finalised decision to build a nuclear power plant to generate electricity.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Mah Siew Keong said research on the matter is still being carried out.

"This is a long process, it doesn't means that we starting gather information, getting feedback from the involving parties, we are going to build a nuclear power plant next year.

"To complete all these steps maybe will take up to 10 years or 12 years, but works have to start now, including obtain the information and feedback," he told reporters after launching the Steinbeis Malaysia Foundation at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) here today.

Mah, who is in charge of overseeing the nuclear energy industry, said the government will ensure the matter is dealt with in a transparent manner and the people will be kept abreast with the latest developments.

"A lot of people are worried after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. “That is the reason we want to update the public on the information we have compiled.

“The most important, we will get all the information and do what is correct for the country and the rakyat," he said.

Asked about would government insisted the proposal if the majority were against the project ,he said the government will follow the wishes of the public.

However he added there is need to find alternatives to replace nuclear.

"I am not saying that the government will definitely build nuclear power plant. If majority are against the proposal, then we have to think of other alternatives. We have to explore all possible ways,” he said.

Mah said currently the country is dependent on coal which is made up of at least 40 per cent of fossil fuel to generate power and this will go up to 75 per cent by 2023.

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NOAA's Marine Debris Program reports on national issue of derelict fishing traps

NOAA Headquarters Science Daily 27 Aug 14;

Thousands of fishing traps are lost or abandoned each year in US waters. A new NOAA report is the first of its kind to examine the derelict fish trap problem, nationally, and recommends actions to better manage and prevent it.

Thousands of fishing traps are lost or abandoned each year in U.S. waters and become what are known as derelict traps, which continue to catch fish, crabs, and other species such as turtles. These traps result in losses to habitat, fisheries, and the watermen who depend on the resources -- losses that are largely preventable, according to a newly published NOAA study.

The report, published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, is the first of its kind to examine the derelict fish trap problem, and so-called "ghost fishing," nationally, and recommends actions to better manage and prevent it.

"Before this report, the marine debris community lacked comparable data on derelict traps," said Courtney Arthur, research specialist for NOAA's Marine Debris Program and lead author of the study. "We had different pieces of information, but not a whole picture. This paper connects those pieces and identifies areas where we need to focus our efforts."

The report looks at the results of seven NOAA-funded studies in different fisheries across the U.S., and compares the severity of the problem, and common management challenges across the regions. It also reports certain findings from the studies for the first time in peer-reviewed literature, such as estimates of derelict trap numbers and how long they remain in the environment.

"People may not realize that derelict traps can catch not just the target species of the fishery, but also other animals including threatened and endangered species where populations are already very low. Derelict traps can also harm sensitive habitats like coral reefs and salt marsh so they have a bigger impact than might be anticipated," said Ariana Sutton-Grier, Ph.D., NOAA's National Ocean Service ecosystem science adviser and co-author of the study.

Researchers concluded that derelict traps have a cumulative, measurable impact which should be considered in fishery management decisions. They identified several key gaps in research and suggested a management strategy that emphasizes a collaborative approach, including:

=studying how derelict traps and ghost fishing affect fishery stocks and the fishing economy
=involving the fishing industry in collaborative projects to find solutions to ghost fishing examining the regional challenges to derelict traps to find effective policy solutions to manage, reduce, and prevent gear loss

"By providing this comprehensive study, we allow resource managers to make more informed decisions that make sense for them and for the fishing industry," said Holly Bamford, Ph.D., assistant NOAA administrator for the National Ocean Service and a co-author of the report. "Marine debris is a continued threat to resilient ecosystems and navigation safety, and by working together we can find better solutions to keep coastal communities, economies and ecosystems healthy."

Fisheries in the study include the Dungeness crab fisheries in Alaska and Puget Sound; the blue crab fisheries in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina; the spiny lobster fishery in Florida; and the coral reef fish fishery in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

All seven fisheries contained derelict traps, with average numbers ranging from five to 47 traps per square kilometer. Further, between five and 40 percent of all the derelict traps examined showed evidence of ghost fishing. The length of time a trap continued to ghost fish depended on the environmental conditions and trap design, but in every fishery, ghost fishing occurred longer than anticipated based on assumptions about gear degradation.

Since 2005, the NOAA Marine Debris Program has worked with partners, including fishing communities and researchers, to better understand derelict fishing traps and their impacts in important fisheries across the nation. Many of these investigations were conducted by NOAA staff from the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office, the Southeast Fisheries Science Center, and NCCOS's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, and represent an effort to enhance NOAA's marine debris knowledge and capabilities.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by NOAA Headquarters. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Courtney Arthur, Ariana E. Sutton-Grier, Peter Murphy, Holly Bamford. Out of sight but not out of mind: Harmful effects of derelict traps in selected U.S. coastal waters. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.06.050

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US: Plastic bag ban stalls in California amid manufacturers' opposition

Aaron Mendelson PlanetArk 27 Aug 14;

Prospects are dimming for a ban on plastic grocery bags in California, as the legislative session winds down and supporters remain three votes short of a majority in the face of strong opposition from manufacturers.

A number of cities in California and other states, including Hawaii's Maui County, have made it illegal for grocery stores to pack consumer purchases in plastic. But at the state level, support has generally crumbled because of opposition from plastic bag makers. California's ban, if it passes, would be the first such statewide measure.

"Clearly we have our work cut out for us," said the bill's author, Democratic state Senator Alex Padilla. He backed a similar bill last year, which also failed by three votes.

The measure would ban grocery stores from handing out single-use grocery bags with customers' purchases, and would provide money to local plastic bag companies to retool to make heavier, multiple-use bags that customers could purchase.

It failed in the State Assembly on Monday by three votes, but lawmakers could bring it back if Padilla can muster the votes before this year's session ends on Sunday night.

Environmentalists have pushed for banning plastic bags, which are cheaper for supermarkets to use than paper bags, but create mountains of trash that is difficult to recycle. In California, there is particular concern that the bags, when swept out to sea, could cause injury to ocean life.

After the defeat of his earlier bill, Padilla won the support of some California based bag makers by including the funding for retooling. But in recent months, out-of-state manufacturers have campaigned against the bill, even producing television ads targeting Padilla, who is running for secretary of state.

Cathy Browne, general manager at Crown Poly, a plastic bag manufacturer in Huntington Park, California, said the bill would lead to layoffs at companies like hers.

A labor union representing workers at plastic bag manufacturing plants also came out against the bill in recent days.

More than 10 billion plastic bags are used in California each year, estimates Californians Against Waste, an advocacy group supporting the bill.

(Reporting by Aaron Mendelson in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein and Peter Cooney)

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Global warming is already here and could be irreversible, UN panel says

A 127-page draft report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change describes what can be done about it
Associated Press theguardian.com 26 Aug 14;

Global warming is here, human-caused and probably already dangerous – and it’s increasingly likely that the heating trend could be irreversible, a draft of a new international science report says.

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday sent governments a final draft of its synthesis report, which combines three earlier, gigantic documents by the Nobel Prize-winning group. There is little in the report that wasn’t in the other more-detailed versions, but the language is more stark and the report attempts to connect the different scientific disciplines studying problems caused by the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas.

The 127-page draft, obtained by The Associated Press, paints a harsh warning of what’s causing global warming and what it will do to humans and the environment. It also describes what can be done about it.

“Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems,” the report says. The final report will be issued after governments and scientists go over the draft line by line in an October conference in Copenhagen.

Depending on circumstances and values, “currently observed impacts might already be considered dangerous,” the report says. It mentions extreme weather and rising sea levels, such as heat waves, flooding and droughts. It even raises, as an earlier report did, the idea that climate change will worsen violent conflicts and refugee problems and could hinder efforts to grow more food. And ocean acidification, which comes from the added carbon absorbed by oceans, will harm marine life, it says.

Without changes in greenhouse gas emissions, “climate change risks are likely to be high or very high by the end of the 21st century,” the report says.

In 2009, countries across the globe set a goal of limiting global warming to about another 2 degrees Fahrenheit (-16.67C) above current levels. But the report says that it is looking more likely that the world will shoot past that point. Limiting warming to that much is possible but would require dramatic and immediate cuts in carbon dioxide pollution.

The report says if the world continues to spew greenhouse gases at its accelerating rate, it’s likely that by mid-century temperatures will increase by about another 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) compared to temperatures from 1986 to 2005. And by the end of the century, that scenario will bring temperatures that are about 6.7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer (3.7 degrees Celsius).

UN panel: Global warming human-caused, dangerous
SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press Yahoo News 26 Aug 14;

WASHINGTON (AP) — Global warming is here, human-caused and probably already dangerous — and it's increasingly likely that the heating trend could be irreversible, a draft of a new international science report says.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday sent governments a final draft of its synthesis report, which combines three earlier, gigantic documents by the Nobel Prize-winning group. There is little in the report that wasn't in the other more-detailed versions, but the language is more stark and the report attempts to connect the different scientific disciplines studying problems caused by the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas.

The 127-page draft, obtained by The Associated Press, paints a harsh warning of what's causing global warming and what it will do to humans and the environment. It also describes what can be done about it.

"Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems," the report says. The final report will be issued after governments and scientists go over the draft line by line in an October conference in Copenhagen.

Depending on circumstances and values, "currently observed impacts might already be considered dangerous," the report says. It mentions extreme weather and rising sea levels, such as heat waves, flooding and droughts. It even raises, as an earlier report did, the idea that climate change will worsen violent conflicts and refugee problems and could hinder efforts to grow more food. And ocean acidification, which comes from the added carbon absorbed by oceans, will harm marine life, it says.

Without changes in greenhouse gas emissions, "climate change risks are likely to be high or very high by the end of the 21st century," the report says.

In 2009, countries across the globe set a goal of limiting global warming to about another 2 degrees Fahrenheit above current levels. But the report says that it is looking more likely that the world will shoot past that point. Limiting warming to that much is possible but would require dramatic and immediate cuts in carbon dioxide pollution.

The report says if the world continues to spew greenhouse gases at its accelerating rate, it's likely that by mid-century temperatures will increase by about another 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) compared to temperatures from 1986 to 2005. And by the end of the century, that scenario will bring temperatures that are about 6.7 degrees warmer (3.7 degrees Celsius).

"The report tells us once again what we know with a greater degree of certainty: that climate change is real, it is caused by us, and it is already causing substantial damage to us and our environment," Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann wrote in an email. "If there is one take home point of this report it is this: We have to act now."

John Christy of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, is in the tiny minority of scientists who are skeptical of mainstream science's claim that global warming is a major problem. He says people will do OK: "Humans are clever. We shall adapt to whatever happens."

While projections show that the world will warm and climate will change, there's still a level of uncertainty about how much, and that makes the problem all about how much risk we accept, said MIT climate scientist Kerry Emanuel.

If it's soon and only a little risk, he said, that's not too bad, but when you look at the risk curve the other end of it is "very frightening."

The report used the word risk 351 times in just 127 pages.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: http://www.ipcc.ch/

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