“Outraged scientists stormed out of a government-sponsored climate change conference dinner in Canberra last night, after the strippers booked as entertainment left them all hot and bothered.”
- Climate conference strip show storm, smh.com.au, 7.9.06

The main entertainment at the official dinner of the 17th Australia New Zealand Climate Forum (run by the Australian National University, and whose event page has expired) was a female burlesque act.

Symbolism for a vanishing ecosystem? Or living proof that science is still a boy’s club?

Before you buy that beach house, check out Thursday’s press release from the University of Texas Austin concerning the acceleration of the melting of Greenland’s ice cap.

LEBANON: An environmental disaster looms

BEIRUT, 29 Jul 2006 (IRIN) - Lebanon is facing an environmental crisis after an Israeli air strike on the Jiyeh power station, about 20km south of Beirut caused 10,000 tonnes of oil to spill into the Mediterranean sea.

The air strikes on 13 and 15 July hit the power station’s fuel tanks and the leaking oil was pushed north by winds, and a thick sludge now coats much of the Lebanese coastline. At least 80km of the 200km coastline is affected.

Officials at Lebanon’s environment ministry say that the clean-up operation will take at least a year to complete and at an estimated cost of more than US $ 130 million.

“It is about 10,000 tonnes of oil, but because of the security situation we cannot go into the sea to see what the real situation is,” said a spokeswoman at the ministry, who requested anonymity.

There are fears that more oil could spill into the sea due to a fire at the facility that began on Thursday and now threatens a undamaged tank that contains 15,000 tonnes of oil.

The fire at the facility has created a thick cloud of black smoke that has polluted the air over Beirut and its suburbs.

Government officials say although the fire poses a environmental hazard in the long-term it is less damaging than a spill into the sea.

“It’s good in a way because air pollution is the better of the two evils,” the spokeswoman said.

The oil spill will have a serious long-term impact on the fishing and tourism industries which already have been hit hard by the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah.

Fishermen are unable to take their boats out to the sea due to the presence of the Israeli navy off the coast of Lebanon, and most tourists have fled the country.

Arif Hala an employee at a café on the Ramlet al-Baida beach in Beirut said the summer trade had been ruined by both the war and the oil spill.

“The situation is terrible… normally during the summer season we would make 10 or 15 million Lebanese pounds (US $6,666) a week, but that is finished now,” he said.

Officials have warned people who live near the sea to keep their windows closed and stay away from the oil as the fumes can cause skin and breathing problems.

The spill will also threaten Lebanon’s marine life and endangered species such as the Green Turtle and the Blue Fin Tuna.

Copyright © IRIN 2006
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Not much for me to say except let the great minds speak for themselves:

The Nationals support efforts to reduce Australia’s greenhouse emissions but do not support international rules which disadvantage Australian industry and interests.

- from the National Party of Australia’s environment and conservation policy

On the other side of the house:

“It’s crazy to suggest we need nuclear plants in a state that has some of the most plentiful coal supplies in the world”

- Peter Beattie, ALP Premier of Queensland, 7.6.06 (source: ABC)

And from the man of wisdom himself:

“The principal reason why Australia will not sign the Kyoto protocol is that it is not in Australia’s interest to do so. We take decisions not based on ideology or prejudice; we take decisions that are based overwhelmingly on a consideration of the national interest.”

- one of many similar statements on the Kyoto Protocol from John Winston Howard. This one in reply to a Dorothy Dixer in Federal Parliament, 16.2.05 (Source: Hansard)

wet·land (wtlnd)
n. A lowland area, such as a marsh or swamp, that is saturated with moisture, especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife
(Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition via Dictionary.com)

Unless, of course, you are in the U S of A where, it seems, the Department of Interior considers any wet lands to be wetlands.

Especially if they are water hazards on golf courses. Or even puddles.

The St Petersburg Times in Florida picks up the story, and check out the Department of Interior’s official line.

“We’ll also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn, but from wood chips and stalks, or switch grass.”
- GW Bush, State of the Union Address, 31.1.06

And there you have it. GWB’s follow-up to his 2005 asbestos moment.

More on the Great Switchgrass Debate from the Kansas City Star, Agriculture Online, Grist, the Motley Fool. Here’s a study from Auburn University adopted by the US Bioenergy Feedstock Information Network. And yes, you can buy some from the Digging Dog Mail Nursery of Albion, California.

Panicum virgatum indeed!

2006 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification (IYDD). The official website is iydd.org

Oh dear. This press release from the Liberal Democrats in the UK on Christmas Eve:

Liberal Democrats : Father Christmas should say ‘No, No, No,’ to private transport - Brake

Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.

- George W Bush, Mobile (Alabama), 2.9.05 (source)

Football stadia have been symbols of the worst moments in their nations’ history in a few countries over the past four decades. In Chile, Afghanistan, Iraq, football stadia have been the scene of torture and public executions. The New Orleans Superdome stands as a monument to a different kind of torture and death, the result of governmental incompetence and neglect.

Thousands of people entered the Superdome, seeing it as a place of shelter from the hurricane outside. They would never had expected the betrayal of trust, the indifference of the institutions responsible for the safety and security of all American citizens.

It can be argued that it is still not the time to play politics and point fingers over issues such as the existence of global warming, the deployment of National Guard troops to Iraq, the tampering with the path of the Mississippi River and so on. But one cannot ignore the screamingly obvious - that government at federal, state and local levels have all failed to cope with a catastrophe which was always a risk.

I mean to say, a large city built below sea level in a hurricane belt - where was the disaster plan?

It’s not political to say that Bush’s display of leadership over the past week has been utterly dreadful. His speech from the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday was described in a New York Times editorial as one of his worst. His major priority on Thursday was to bring in daddy and Bill Clinton as celebrity fundraisers. And on Friday it was important to single out the loss of Senator Trent Lott’s mansion as a symbol of the Gulf Coast homeless.

Vice President Dick Cheney was on holiday in Wyoming until Thursday, when he returned to Washington DC. I have seen no evidence that he has done anything since then, let alone provide leadership and support to the people of New Orleans and beyond. But maybe he is hot on the trail of irrefutable evidence that the Iranian government was responsible for Hurricane Katrina.

When the time for inquest arrives, there should be a litany of senior administrators and public servants held responsible for criminal negligence over the tragic debacle of the past week (and, of course, still going). Is it too much to ask for the President to be impeached on charges of manslaughter?

With New Orleans being hit on Monday by the savagery of Hurricane Katrina - though not as catastrophically as was feared - I’m putting the RSS feed from Metroblogging New Orleans up on the site (see left). This also links through to media sites in New Orleans and Louisiana. There’s talk of looting, alas, and some discussion, which I think unseemly at this time, of politicisation of the tragedy.

Update 2am Thursday 1/9/05 AEST: I’ve replaced the metroblog feed, which sadly is no longer either adequate or appropriate as the full extent of the devastation in the Gulf of Mexico coastline becomes clear. The Yahoo! feed at left of Indian Ocean Tsunami news has been replaced for now by one covering hurricanes and tropical storms.