Contemporary politics,local and international current affairs, science, music and extracts from the Queensland Newspaper "THE WORKER" documenting the proud history of the Labour Movement.
MAHATMA GANDHI ~ Truth never damages a cause that is just.
The
Queensland government plans to legislate to ban the Great Artesian
Basin (Gab) from being used for carbon capture and storage, ruling out
future proposals similar to a Glencore development that was knocked back earlier this month.
On
Friday, the premier, Steven Miles, will announce that the Gab – which
covers 1,700,000 square kilometres of the state – will be protected from
greenhouse gas storage, describing the move as a win for the state, the
environment, and farmers.
The Gab is Australia’s largest groundwater basin, flowing under 22% of the continent including parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales.
Photograph: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
“I
think the great artesian basin’s unique environmental, agricultural,
economic and cultural significance is worth protecting,” Miles told the
Guardian.
“I’ve listened to Queenslanders and I
am making sure our government is doing what matters for the natural
phenomenon that is the Great Artesian Basin.”
State
regulators found the process would likely cause an irreversible change
in water quality, including increased concentrations of chloride,
sulphate, lead and arsenic, among others.
Farmers’ organisations, including AgForce, were concerned the project
would damage the basin, which is the only source of water for much of
regional Queensland. The Queensland Farmers’ Federation called for a
legislated permanent ban.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) involves reducing the amount of CO2
released into the atmosphere from a fossil fuel project, usually by
liquefying it and injecting it into underground reservoirs. The
technology has not proven economically viable despite billions of
dollars in potential government announced over the past two decades.
The sole commercial project operating in Australia, set up with $60m in federal support, was delayed for more than three years and has failed to reach its promised storage level since it began operating in August 2019.
The now-dead Glencore proposal was one of just two CCS projects under construction in Australia, though 16 are proposed.
The
ban, which is expected to be legislated before the October election,
also extends to oil or petroleum mining processes that use greenhouse
gasses injected into the ground to extract the mineral , which is the
method used at the Gorgon facility in Western Australia.
It
outright prohibits activities involving greenhouse gas storage or the
injection of a greenhouse gas stream into underground formations within
the Great Artesian Basin.
However, they may be
able to continue in other parts of the state, if granted approval under
environmental assessment processes. A technical expert panel will review
the safety aspects of greenhouse gas storage for areas outside the
Great Artesian Basin.
“We will continue to
review the safety aspects of greenhouse gas storage in the state to
support future generations of Queenslanders and to ensure the
Queensland’s great natural environment is preserved,” Miles said.
David Copeman from the Queensland conservation council said it was “great news”.
“Fossil
fuel projects should not be using carbon capture and storage in the Gab
as a justification for business as usual,” he said.
The
CEO of the Queensland Farmers’ Federation, Jo Sheppard, said other
projects had existing CCS exploration permits in the Gab, with the
federation concerned that another project could emerge at any time.
She
said the Queensland government was taking a “leadership role” in the
absence of federal regulation and other Gab states should follow its
lead.
“Industry said no, agriculture said no,
local councils have said no, conservationists said no, and … the science
has also said no [to CCS in the Gab],” Sheppard said.
Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts.(Reuters: Jane Rosenberg)
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Donald Trump has been found guilty of falsifying business records, a felony that could result in prison time.
He
will be sentenced on July 11. The charges carry a maximum prison
sentence of four years, but legal experts consider prison unlikely given
Trump's lack of a criminal record.
The
former US president had pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of
falsifying business records in the first degree, to conceal a payment
made to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign.
The
jury in the New York criminal trial returned its verdict after less
than two days of deliberations. It found him guilty on all 34 counts.
Trump is likely to appeal.
The
verdict does not legally affect his presidential campaign. Under US
law, convicted felons cannot vote in most states, but can be elected
president.
Speaking at the courthouse after the verdict was handed down, Trump railed against the "rigged, disgraceful trial".
"I'm a very innocent man, and it's OK," he said.
"I'm fighting for our country. I'm fighting for our Constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now."
Trump's
son Eric was in the courtroom for the verdict, seated in the first row
behind his father. Reporters in the room noted that Trump shook his
son's hand and patted him on the back after the verdict came down.
Trump was required to attend every day of the trial, which began on April 15.
Trump
also still faces three other criminal cases – two relating to alleged
efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, and one over the handling
of classified documents.
However,
they are unlikely to go to trial before the presidential election in
November, where polls predict a close contest between Trump and
incumbent Joe Biden.
Sworn enemy turns star witness
Trump's
former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was the prosecution's key witness in the
hush money case, which was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin
Bragg, an elected Democrat.
Cohen,
whose work for Trump included being his "fixer", paid $US130,000 to Ms
Daniels during the 2016 election campaign to stop her speaking publicly
about a previous sexual encounter.
Trump
denies the encounter, which Ms Daniels described in thorough detail
during the trial, suggesting it was consensual but unwelcome.
Donald Trump was required to attend every day of the trial.(Reuters: Jabin Botsford/Pool )
Prosecutors
argued Trump reimbursed Cohen via a series of payments unlawfully
disguised as "legal retainer" expenses in his records.
Cohen
testified against Trump, saying his former boss instructed him to make
the payment as part of a plan to prevent bad press and preserve his
electoral prospects – a so-called "catch-and-kill" scheme.
He
told the court the scheme was executed with the help of David Pecker, a
media executive who published the National Enquirer tabloid.
Mr
Pecker also gave evidence about the catch-and-kill scheme, testifying
that he first discussed the plan with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower in
2015.
Mr Pecker told the court he agreed to be the "eyes and ears" of Trump's campaign.
Not
only would he ensure his publications ran favourable stories about
Trump and negative stories about his rivals – he would also keep watch
for possible scandals that could hurt the president.
In
two cases – when a Trump Tower doorman was claiming Trump fathered a
child out of wedlock, and when a former Playboy playmate was claiming
she'd had an affair with Trump – the National Enquirer paid for
exclusive rights to the story, then did not run them.
However,
in the case of Ms Daniels, Mr Pecker's company did not pay, and instead
referred the issue to Cohen, the court was told.
Cohen
paid Ms Daniels using his personal funds. He was reimbursed by Trump
via a series of monthly payments, according to his evidence.
"We'll
never know if this effort to hoodwink the American voter impacted the
election," New York prosecutor Josh Steinglass told the jury in his
closing summary. "But that's something we don't need to prove."
Cohen has previously served prison time for his role in paying off Ms Daniels and Karen McDougal, the Playboy playmate.
Trump's lawyers argued Cohen was motivated to testify against his former boss by a desire for revenge.
Antarctic (Dome C) temperature and Earth orbital parameters (1 kyr = 1000 years).
Sophie’s Planet and Terminations
30 May 2024
James Hansen
Writing of Sophie’s Planet is now
proceeding at the pace (4 chapters per month) needed to finish it in
2024; I am into the second half of the book. The style is different than
the version started years ago – most chapters now more compact and
easier for the nonscientist to read. Nevertheless, it will contain a few
chapters that are technical and challenging. Chapter 25 (Paleoclimate and “Slow” Feedbacks) is one of those, so I invite feedback on that chapter.
The time scale of “slow” feedbacks, including ice sheet disintegration,
is a crucial issue that must be understand better to assess the climate
threat. “Terminations,” the relatively rapid transitions from glacial to
interglacial conditions, are an important source of knowledge about the
physics of “slow” feedbacks. Human-made forcing driving the present
transition from an interglacial to a super-interglacial – assuming we
stay with our present ineffectual emissions reduction strategy – is more
than an order of magnitude faster than the natural forcing that drove
terminations, so the ongoing transition will be much faster than past
terminations.
There is another reason to get into technical stuff on
glacial-interglacial climate oscillations, besides the need to
understand the physics of “slow” feedbacks. There are well-educated
people[1] who do not recognize how much is known from Earth’s climate
history. Paleoclimate data show how sensitive climate is to forcings and
the magnitude of the consequences, if the forcings are left in force
long enough to bring “slow” feedbacks strongly into play. My aim is to
describe the paleoclimate evidence well enough in just a few
paleoclimate chapters that interested, objective, people will be able to
appreciate the implications.
Why write a book
that mixes climate science with a recounting of energy and climate
policy travails? If mistakes of the past are not appreciated, it will be
difficult to achieve a stable, beneficial, climate for future
generations. The audience I hope to reach is especially young people. I
am enthusiastic about the ability of student leaders to understand the
climate situation and support the sort of policies that are needed, as I
have mentioned in prior posts.[2]
Global fossil fuel emissions will not begin to decline rapidly until
there is a rising fee on carbon emissions enforced on a near-global
basis via border duties on products made from fossil fuels. Here,
however, I want to focus on two related matters – one old and one new:
(1) nuclear power, and (2) the increasingly likely possibility that
young people will need to take purposeful actions to cool off the planet
faster than is possible with even the most aggressive phasedown of
emissions and removal of greenhouse gases.
I had no strong opinion about nuclear power when I began to be
interested in energy policies about 25 years ago. But as I began to
travel with and give talks with environmentalists, some things they said
about nuclear power clearly did not have a scientific basis. The
strategy to kill nuclear power by making it so expensive that nobody
wants it (based on material costs of a nuclear power plant and fuel
costs of the fuel, nuclear power should be our cheapest energy) and
count on 100% renewables is unfair to young people. Do we have the right
to make the decision for them that they must use 100% renewables? What
if they do not want German electricity prices? De facto, we made a
decision for young people and future generations via the hidden,
unlimited, subsidy of “renewable portfolio standards” (as opposed to
“clean energy portfolio standards”) and many other actions that denied
equal opportunity to drive down costs of nuclear power. On the contrary,
disinformation about the danger of low-level radiation served to drive
up the cost of nuclear power – there is a long, sordid, story to tell
about that, but this is not the time for it.
Instead, I want to point out the analogy with a new story:
geoengineering. Old people are geoengineering the dickins out of the
planet. Never in the history of planet Earth has there been a drive for
global warming at even one-tenth of the rate of the present human-made
geoengineering of the planet. Yet there are some people (of the
generation responsible for the geoengineering) who believe they have the
right to prevent investigation of the options to phase down the massive
geoengineering that the old geezers imposed on young people and future
generations. Potential consequences are related to and analogous to the
consequences of the past lack of the support needed to drive down the
cost of modern nuclear power. Just as young people today have been
denied the option of ready, low-cost, modern nuclear power to complement
intermittent renewable energies, so young people tomorrow may be denied
the option of a life-jacket in the event that accelerating climate
change drives the climate system toward the point-of-no-return.
Recently Kathleen McCroskey wrote an article[3] in Medium aimed at my
organization, CSAS (Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions), in
response to our Global warming in the pipeline paper[4] and an update on
our research.[5] It “worked,” in the sense that public contributions to
CSAS dropped to a fraction, but “fortunately” those have not been our
main source of support recently. CSAS was once rescued via a public
appeal,[6] but such a support level of the general public was not
sustainable or expected. Instead, CSAS has survived for a decade mainly
from the support of a few philanthropists or their organizations, as
delineated at the end of section 5 of our research update.[5]
This coming fiscal year, beginning 1 July 2024, is a special case.
Makiko Sato will retire at the end of December this year. It is
impossible to replace her, as she contributes across our program in data
set compilations, climate analysis, graphics, and keeping our group
together. The essential need is for someone who can maintain, expand,
and work with climate data sets. We aim to find someone at an entry
level position who is eager to learn – in our view, working with data is
at least as interesting and important as climate modeling. If we can
afford it, we would like to start someone before the end of the year to
have a period of overlap with Makiko. A few months ago, I received an
email from someone asking if I would serve as an adviser to an
organization that supports climate research. I declined, as I must
finish SP this year. He hinted that CSAS might be eligible for support –
now I can’t find that correspondence – if you were that person, please
contact me!
BTW, my friend Bengt Sundquist has translated the Pipeline paper and the Hopium email to Swedish language; they are available here and here.
[1] I could point out a NASA
Administrator who said, in effect: why worry about climate change – who
are we to say that the present climate is the best one for humanity.
But let’s not open old wounds.
Palestinian health workers say Israeli air strikes killed at least 35 people in Rafah.(AP Photo: Jehad Alshrafi)
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For
months Israel has been preparing for an offensive in Gaza's
southernmost city – the makeshift home of more than a million people
fleeing the conflict.
Rafah, which sits on the border with Egypt, has become a refuge teeming with tent camps.
Israel says it is Hamas' last major stronghold, but aid organisations and allies have warned against attacking the city.
Even the United Nations' top court ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive.
Israel
pushed ahead with an air strike on Tel Al-Sultan where thousands of
people were taking shelter, killing dozens of people, according to
Palestinian health and civil service officials.
The UN has called for an immediate halt to "the horror and suffering", and even Israel's strongest supporters have voiced their outrage.
The
Foreign Office of Germany, which has been a staunch supporter of Israel
for decades, said: "The images of charred bodies, including children,
from the air strike in Rafah are unbearable."
"The
exact circumstances must be clarified, and the investigation announced
by the Israeli army must now come quickly," the ministry added.
Here's a timeline of some of the key events leading up to the latest developments.
To quickly navigate to a specific month, use the links below.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares the country is at war,
vowing to wipe the militant group "off the face of the earth".
Air strikes on Gaza begin, along with a total siege.
The population of about 2.3 million has already been under a 16-year blockade.
Palestinians break into the Israeli side of Israel-Gaza border fence after gunmen infiltrated areas of southern Israel.(Reuters: Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa)
October 12: Israel warns people to evacuate northern Gaza
Israel gives the more than 1 million people who live in northern Gaza 24 hours to evacuate southward.
Hundreds of thousands heed the warning. Others refuse to leave.
October 17: Blast at al-Ahli Hospital kills hundreds
"The
supplies currently heading into Gaza will barely begin to address the
escalating health needs as hostilities continue to grow," the World
Health Organization says in a statement.
Over the coming months, the humanitarian crisis worsens as Israel maintains its blockade.
October 27: Israel launches its ground offensive in Gaza
The move goes ahead despite warnings from the US that a full-scale assault may cause heavy civilian casualties.
In an address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates Israel's appeal to Palestinian civilians to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip, but at the time internet and phone connections in Gaza are cut.
October 31: Israeli strikes on Jabalia camp
Israeli strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza kill more than 110 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel's military says it has killed a senior Hamas commander and other militants.
The UN
human rights office says given the high number of civilian casualties it
has "serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that
could amount to war crimes".
November
November 15: Israeli troops raid Al-Shifa hospital
Israeli troops enter Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa, after a siege lasting several days.
Israel says the hospital is being used to conceal an underground headquarters for Hamas fighters, which staff deny.
Within a few weeks, all hospitals serving northern Gaza will cease to function.
November 21: Fighting pauses for prisoner exchange
Israel and Hamas announce
a truce, which will last seven days, to exchange hostages held in Gaza
for Palestinians detained by Israel, and let in more aid.
About
half the hostages — among them women, children and foreigners — are
released in return for 240 Palestinian women and teenage detainees
before war resumes on December 1.
December
December 4: Israeli forces launch assault in southern Gaza
Israeli forces launch their first big ground assault in southern Gaza, towards the main southern city, Khan Younis.
International
organisations say the extension of the war to the entire length of the
enclave, including areas already sheltering hundreds of thousands of
displaced people, drastically worsens the humanitarian crisis.
In
the days leading up to the assault, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
warns the war in Gaza can only be won by protecting civilians, saying
"the centre of gravity is the civilian population".
December 6: UN warns 'nowhere is safe in Gaza'
United
Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres invokes Article 99 of the UN
Charter, in a rare move aimed at formally warning the Security Council
of the global threat created by the Israel-Gaza war.
He
warns public order in Gaza could soon break down amid the complete
collapse of the humanitarian system, that there is no effective
protection of civilians and that "nowhere is safe in Gaza".
December 12: US condemns 'indiscriminate bombing'
US
President Joe Biden says Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" is costing
it international support, a shift in rhetoric from Israel's closest
ally.
"Israel’s security can
rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United
States. It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the
world supporting them," he says.
"They're starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place."
During the coming months, Washington will urge Israel to do more to protect civilians but will continue to provide it with arms.
December 15: Israeli forces mistakenly kill three hostages
The incident prompts some of the strongest criticism within Israel of the conduct of the war.
The men were shirtless and holding up a white flag, according to an inquiry into the incident.
January
January 1: Israel signals withdrawal from northern Gaza
Israel signals it will start withdrawing from northern parts of Gaza, while intense fighting continues in the south.
The
move, which Israel says is intended to shift to more targeted
operations against Hamas, appears to coincide with pressure from the US
to review tactics and do more to protect civilians.
January 2: Senior Hamas leader killed in Beirut
Saleh Arouri, the second-in-command of Hamas's political office, is killed in an explosion in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
It
says some of Israel's actions could plausibly be violations of the
Genocide Convention, which was enacted after the Holocaust.
January 28: Countries pause funds for UNRWA
Australia
joins a growing list of countries to pause funding for the United
Nations' refugee agency for Palestinians in response to Israeli
allegations some of the agency's staff were involved in the October 7
terrorist attacks.
February 11: Biden calls Netanyahu over Rafah plans
US
President Joe Biden tells Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu in a call that
"a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and
executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support" for people
sheltering there, according to the White House.
February 29: More than 100 killed while queuing for aid
More than 100 Gazans are killed while queuing for aid in the presence of Israeli troops who open fire on them.
IDF
Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner tells ABC News upwards of 30 trucks had
been carrying aid intended for shelters in the northern Gaza Strip when
they were surrounded by "masses of people" who climbed onto the trucks
and attempted to loot the supplies onboard.
He
says the vast majority of the casualties were caused by the trucks,
which continued to move forward to escape the crowd, resulting in people
being run over or trampled.
Pressed
on whether Israeli troops had opened fire as claimed by Gaza health
officials, Lieutenant Colonel Lerner says an Israeli tank in the middle
of the convoy had opened fire "with light munitions, not an artillery
round, in warning shots in order to disperse the people from approaching
the tank".
The death toll from the current conflict passes 30,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
March
March 9: EU sounds Rafah alarm
The
European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, warns "Rafah must not be
attacked", saying it will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.
He will repeat these warnings in April and May, reiterating there is "no safe zone in Gaza".
March 18: Israel launches new assault on Al-Shifa hospital
Over the next two weeks, Israel claims to kill hundreds of fighters in combat there and arrest hundreds of others.
Medical staff and Hamas deny fighters are present and say many civilians have been killed.
March 18: IPC global hunger monitor projects famine
The IPC global hunger monitor says famine is now projected by May in Gaza.
More
than half of Gaza's population — far more than the 20 per cent
associated with famine — is already experiencing the worst level of food
shortage, category 5 or "catastrophe".
Israel says the methodology is flawed and denies there are food shortages.
March 22: Israel says Rafah plan to go ahead without US support
Mr
Netanyahu states Israel will carry out an operation in Rafah,
preferably with the support of the US, but "if we have to, we'll do it
alone".
The comments come after
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with the Israeli war
cabinet, and the US says a ground offensive in Rafah would be a
"mistake".
March 25: UN Security Council passes resolution calling for ceasefire
The United States abstains from the vote rather than vetoing it, a rare break from Israel.
April
April 1: Israeli air strikes kill seven World Central Kitchen workers
Israeli
air strikes on a convoy kill seven aid workers from the World Central
Kitchen charity, sparking a global outcry and increasing pressure on
Israel to allow more aid into Gaza.
Israel apologises and says it was a "grave mistake".
Zomi Frankcom, an Australian aid worker, is among those killed in Gaza.
Foreign
ministers from the Group of Seven countries, led by the US, say they
oppose a full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, warning of
catastrophic consequences for the civilian population there.
In
an official communique released following a meeting in Italy, the group
calls for a "credible and actionable plan" that protects civilians.
April 30: Netanyahu announces Israel will enter Rafah
"We
will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there —
with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory," he says in a
statement.
US urges Hamas to accept Israel's 'generous' ceasefire terms
May
May 1: US Secretary of State visits Israel
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Israel and pushes for greater humanitarian aid for Gaza.
"We
cannot, will not, support a major military operation in Rafah absent an
effective plan to make sure that civilians are not harmed and, no,
we've not seen such a plan," Mr Blinken tells reporters.
May 6: Israel orders Rafah evacuations
The Israeli army orders tens of thousands of people in Rafah to start evacuating the area.
It sends out phone messages and drops leaflets.
Shortly beforehand, Hamas approves a proposal put forward by mediators Qatar and Egypt.
Israel says the proposal falls short of its demands.
There is a global reaction to Israel's evacuation order.
"Israel's
evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and
famine," the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, says.
May 12: Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah
Israel
calls for Palestinians in more areas of Rafah to evacuate and leave for
what it calls the expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.
The move is taken as further indication the military is pressing ahead with plans for a ground attack in Rafah.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel doesn’t have a "clear, credible plan to protect civilians".
May 20: Israel vows to broaden military operation in Rafah
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says there will be no let-up in the IDF's operation in the city.
"We
are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of
dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages," a statement from his
office says.
May 23: Israel forces move deeper into Rafah
Residents
and militants say tanks have taken up new positions farther west than
ever before and are now stationed on the edge of a central Rafah suburb.
Palestinian
residents say Israeli drones are firing into the suburb of Yibna and at
fishing boats on the beach in Rafah, causing some to catch fire.
"There
has been no stopping of Israeli fire all night, from drones,
helicopters, warplanes, and tanks," one resident of Rafah tells Reuters,
asking for his name to be withheld to protect his security.
May 25: World Court orders Israel to halt Rafah operations
In
an emergency ruling in South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide,
judges at the International Court of Justice order Israel to
immediately halt its assault on Rafah.
Israeli officials say the order does not rule out the IDF's entire offensive.
"What
they are asking us is not to commit genocide in Rafah," Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, says.
"We did not commit genocide and we will not commit genocide."
