A MESSAGE FROM 2014

Yes, it is certainly a very hot day.  The temperature is hovering around 40°C.

Yesterday and the day before were very much the same, so I guess we are experiencing a heat wave.

People, especially the older ones, will be feeling very uncomfortable in these conditions.  If they are wise, they will be taking steps to keep as cool as possible.  Heat-related deaths can occur.

But someone else is experiencing discomfort in this heat.  Two magpies have found a shady spot and now stand almost motionless.  Their beaks are held in an open position, conveying very clearly how distressed they feel. 

At other, cooler times from those beaks a beautiful carolling melody could be emanating.  But not now.

Is there a message here for us?  Is this a taste of what many more days will be like in the future?

Respected voices are suggesting that it is.

According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency 2014 has been the hottest year recorded since reliable measurements began in 1890.

This view is supported by climate scientists in the USA.

Our own Bureau of Meteorology has pointed to higher temperatures and drier soils leading to heatwaves now starting earlier across southern Australia and effectively expanding the bushfire season.

Concern for the planet's climate is deepening and 2015 is likely to be a crucial year for our future.

Encyclicals are the most authorative  documents a pope can issue and it is thought that Pope Francis will soon issue such a document focussing on the impact of climate change.

And the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited the Pope to address the General Assembly in September on the climate issue.

This will be an important forerunner to November's UN Climate Change Conference in Paris where a global and binding agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions will hopefully be built.

Success at this conference will give hope for future generations – and magpies in the future may not have a greatly increased need to hold their beaks in an open position.

            - Stan Mussared

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on February 2, 2015.

FRACKING UNDER THREAT IN ENGLAND

Public opposition to fracking (hydraulic fracturing), a controversial process in shale gas mining, has forced changes to policy in England.  According to an analysis by The Guardian, fracking is set to be banned on two-fifths of the land being offered in England for shale gas mining by the government.

The new protections rule out fracking in national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty, sites of special scientific interest, and groundwater source protection zones.

The Guardian's report of February 2 stated: " Ministers were forced to accept Labour's new environmental rules last week to avoid a rebellion by Conservative and LibDem backbench MPs, many of whom are facing opposition to fracking from constituents." (The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrat Party are the parties currently in government in the United Kingdom.)

The decision has been welcomed by those opposed to fracking.  Friends of the Earth campaigner Donna Hume said, "The fracking industry is in retreat, with public opposition forcing MPs to respond as the election approaches.  But it would be cynical of ministers to accept one day that no fracking can take place in any groundwater protection area, and then try to water it down the next day.  Any attempt to play politics with rules to protect people's drinking water would be met with contempt by the public."

Other opponents of fracking are suggesting that if it's unsafe in one area, why is it not ruled out elsewhere.  Louise Hutchins, Greenpeace UK, said, "The shale industry's seemingly irresistible advance is now looking more and more resistible every day.  Unless ministers can explain why fracking is too risky for the South Downs but perfectly safe in the Lancashire countryside, the next obvious step is to ban this controversial technique from the whole of the UK."

Recently a committee of senior MPs, including former Conservative environment secretary Caroline Spelman called for a UK wide moratorium on fracking arguing that fracking was incompatible with the nation's climate change targets and brought risks to health and the environment.  This proposal was defeated in the Commons (the UK lower house of parliament).

It is significant that the Scottish Government recently imposed a moratorium on fracking.

Would the English changes have occurred if an election had not been imminent? Probably not. There's no doubt that the imminence of an election forces politicians to consider what their constituents want rather than just pandering to the big end of town. We could do with more of that in NSW - particularly in relation to gas mining - as our state election approaches.

NSW OPPOSITION LEADER SUPPORTS KOALA NATIONAL PARK

In December 2014 the National Parks Association of NSW (NPA)  called for the establishment of a large koala national park in the Coffs Harbour area.  The reasons for this call were elaborated in our December 11 post Koalas Need Large Reserves to Ensure their Survival .

The new NSW Opposition Leader, Luke Foley, has committed to creating such a national park if his party wins government in the state election on March 28. The proposed 315,000 hectare national park would protect the Bellingen-Nambucca-Macleay and Coffs Harbour-Guy Fawkes koala meta-populations - an estimated 4500 koalas - 20% of NSW's remaining koalas.

This proposal would see 176,000 hectares of State Forest added to the existing 140,000 hectares of National Parks in the area.

Location Map (The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Jan '15)

Mr Foley is concerned that 90% of the state's koala population has been lost since European settlement in 1788 and believes that protection of koala habitat is necessary to ensure the species' survival.

"My view is that we've just got to act.  If we're going to be fair dinkum about saving the koala in the wild, we have to protect the koala's habitat," he said.

As some of the state forest which would form part of this new reserve is currently being logged, Mr Foley stated that Labor would negotiate with the forestry industry and indicated that buying back timber allocations and compensation for logging companies would be on the table.

Environment groups  have long been concerned about the decline in koala numbers and the lack of effective action to secure their survival as a species.  Before the 2011 state election the current government promised to improve koala protection but has failed to honour this promise.

In welcoming Mr Foley's announcement, Susie Russell, spokesperson for the North Coast Environment Council (NCEC), said, "Koala populations are crashing across their known range. The previously largest known population in NSW in the Pilliga forest has all but disappeared.  The koala populations of the north coast are among the largest remaining.  Koalas are recognised by both Federal and State laws as being vulnerable to extinction."

"A major reason for this is the on-going destruction of their habitat. There is competition for trees bigger than you can wrap your arms around (30-80 cm diameter). The koalas need them and the loggers want them too."