Rudd fails on Climate Change

And the link between bushfires, floods and climate change is?

According to this story in the guardian.co.uk, Australian greens senator Bob Brown says "Global warming is predicted to make this sort of event happen 25%, 50% more," he told Sky News. "It's a sobering reminder of the need for this nation and the whole world to act and put at a priority our need to tackle climate change."

So what are our politicians doing about climate change?

As this story in the Canberra Times shows Kevin Rudd backed down to big business over climate change policy and it seems even the Liberal oposition has outdone Labor with their climate change policy...

"Finally, the Opposition has a climate policy. Or at least the start of one. And what a start it is.

While we can squabble over the lack of detail, costings, or the mistaken focus on so-called clean coal, one thing is clear: Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has announced the Coalition's target for emissions reductions 27 per cent by 2020.

In 1990, Australia emitted 552.6million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Divide 552.6 by 150 and you've got a target more than five times as good as Rudd's measly 5per cent by 2020.

Turnbull is right to point out that Labor's trading scheme is too complex and too weak.

In negotiating with emissions-intensive businesses, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave in.

In doing so, he left for dead great Aussie landmarks like Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef"

Here is a media summary from the Climate Action Summit.
Rudd's great greenwash story here.
Getup attacks Rudd's policy here.

How toxic is the air at our schools?

President-elect Barack Obama is already having a effect on environmental issues.

From USA TODAY's special report on toxic air and America's schools. “The smokestack effect”

"USA Today used an EPA model to track the path of industrial pollution and mapped the locations of almost 128,000 schools to determine the levels of toxic chemicals outside. The potential problems that emerged where widespread, insidious and largely unaddressed”.

Factories, chemical plants and other industries are the lifeblood of many towns, providing the jobs and the tax base that sustain communities. The industries and the schools nearby often have co-existed for decades. For just as long, residents in cities large and small have tried to accept — or simply ignore — the tradeoffs: air pollution that leads to breathing problems or worse.

To identify locations where dangers appear greatest, USA TODAY used a mathematical model, developed by the EPA, called Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators. It estimates how toxic chemicals are dispersed across the nation and in what quantities.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency promised Wednesday that she would deploy federal regulators to check air quality around schools in response to a USA TODAY investigation that identified hundreds of schools that appeared to be in toxic hot spots.

The nominee, Lisa Jackson, told members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that she would "send investigators and samplers out to verify the extent of the problem" and "mobilize" agency efforts within 30 days of her confirmation. Parents, she said, "have a right to know their children are safe when they are in school.

The exposure to toxic chemicals in the air at some schools is so high that students are at risk of suffering a range of ailments, from asthma to cancer".

Charter of Human Rights

Did you know Australia is the only modern democracy without a national Charter of Human Rights?

Although quite hard to believe, as this story on ABC radio national tells, it is true.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is now conducting national consultation looking at the possibility of introducing a charter of Human Rights and what rights should be included, see Human Rights Terms of Reference here.

Getup is also running a 'your rights your say' campaign on the issue here.

Kwinana children's respiratory health study

After years of battling Government, our own Town Council, and various other powers much bigger than us, over environmental health issues in the Kwinana region - We have, with great help from the Health Consumers Council of WA, achieved a research study into children's respiratory health (eg. Asthma) in the Kwinana Electorate. The study is to be carried out by the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

The study is currently in the consultation phase which will include a community forum to be held by the Telethon Institute on February 10 at 10.30 am, Kwinana Requatic Centre Gilmore Avenue, Kwinana.

Please help by being involved, help spread the word, attend the forum, have your children involved - this is very important research into the health of our children and grandchildren.

To get more involved or ask any questions contact the Telethon Institute here or contact the KPA via Steve here.

This blog is my view, I do not necessarily represent the views of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research or the steering committee for this study