December temperatures in London have been warmer than July’s. Scotland is balmier than Barcelona. Artificial snow covers European ski slopes. Africa faces its worst food crisis in a generation as floods and droughts strike vulnerable countries.

With unusual weather from Britain to Australia, scientists are blaming climate change – but also the natural phenomenon called El Niño, which is raising temperatures and disrupting weather patterns. A double whammy then, but how disturbed should we be as the records tumble?

According to the UK Met Office, the exceptional warmth in Britain and northern continental Europe is linked to the strongest El Niño ever recorded. “What we are experiencing is typical of an early winter El Niño effect,” said Adam Scaife, head of Met Office long- range forecasting.

The cyclical event, named after the birth of Christ because it traditionally occurs in Latin America around Christmas, sees temperatures in the equatorial Pacific rise several degrees. The consequences in years like this are dramatic. Monsoons and trade winds are disrupted, leading to cyclones, droughts, floods and food shortages across the world.

Friday night was one of the warmest recorded in the UK in December. With the warm spell due to continue over Christmas, it is almost certain that more records will be broken. According to Scaife, “we cannot attribute the recent floods [in Britain] to the El Niño, but in early winter [during El Niño years] we tend to have a strong jet stream which brings us mild conditions. In late winter, January and February, we tend to get a weak jet stream which brings more wintry conditions.”

Roger Brugge, a senior scientist at Reading University’s atmospheric laboratory, said: “The first 17 days of December have been the mildest on record by a remarkable 1.1C. The average temperature during this period, of 10.6C, is similar to what can be expected around the beginning of May.”

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/dec/20/global-warming-weather-environment-el-nino

Brace yourself for a nasty "polar vortex" somewhere... The polar vortex is displaced by global warming and goes errant in some places like it did on the east coast of the US last year...

In light of the Paris Agreement, Queensland University Law Lecturer Justine Bell discusses our legal power – and moral obligation – to stop the Carmichael coal mine. 

IN THE WAKE of the Paris Agreement, pressure has intensified on the Australian Government to reject Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine, which will be one of the biggest mines in the world.

In order to stay below the two degrees Celsiusglobal warming level, scientists have estimated that more than 90 per cent of known coal reseves in Australia must stay in the ground. Depending on the economics of various coal reserves, this may mean the Galilee Basin is “unburnable coal”.

Yet, this mine has already been approved by Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt and on Tuesday, Queensland’s Land Court also recommended approval of the mine.

At a federal level the mine has been approved, had its approval set aside and then been re-approved. There is a final Federal Court challenge to be heard in 2016.

But is it even possible for the Australian Government to reject the Carmichael coal mine? Or have we already gone too far down the path of approval?

read more: https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/theres-no-precedent-for-stopping-the-carmichael-coal-mine-but-we-should,8515

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has given the go-ahead to the expansion of the Abbot Point Coal Terminal near Bowen in north Queensland, making it one of the world's largest coal ports.

The controversial project involves dredging 1.1 million cubic metres of spoil near the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which will then be disposed of on land.

The approval has been granted with strict conditions, the Federal Government says.

Abbot Point is located about 25 kilometres north of Bowen on the north Queensland coast, near the vast coal reserves of the Galilee Basin.

The expansion would enable coal to be shipped from proposed mining projects in the Galilee Basin, like the $16 billion Carmichael mine.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-22/massive-abbot-point-coal-port-expansion-gets-federal-approval/7047380

Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2014-15, a report released with obscure timing by the Australian government has shown.

The December 2015 quarterly update of carbon emissions, which covers the period to the end of June 2015, was released with no fanfare on Christmas Eve. The quarterly update forms part of Australia’s international reporting of its emissions

It shows that Australia’s emissions increased by 0.8% last financial year compared with the previous one, and 1.3% when land use and deforestation were taken into account. Australia generated 549.3 mega-tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2014-15.

The Australian government promised at the Paris climate talks to reduce emissions by 26% to 28% by 2030 and will likely come under pressure to do more after the world agreed to work to keep the global temperature rise to 2C.

The report points to increases in electricity, stationary energy (excluding electricity), transport, fugitive emissions, and industrial processes and product use. However it says there was a steep decline – 3.8% – in emissions from agriculture. 

Emissions from electricity generation rose 3% in 2014-15, despite demand from consumers remaining flat in 2014-15. Power generation from black coal increased by 1.4%, and brown coal generation increased by 9.7%.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/dec/26/australias-carbon-emissions-are-increasing-government-report-shows

-----------

This proves that Abbott's "direct action" does not work, is expensive but that the process is designed to profit friends of the COALition.

see: http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/26895

he does not believe in it, anyway...

Mining firm Adani has unwittingly provided "persuasive" evidence for a Queensland Government investigation into allegedly illegal works on its Carmichael mine site, environmental lawyers say.

• Environment department is investigating video evidence of illegal water bores on mine site
• EDO says Adani provided data that demonstrates it has broken the rules
• Adani insists the bores are operating as permitted under its licence

The evidence includes specifications of groundwater bores registered by Adani on a government website, which Queensland's Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) said could only be used for prohibited dewatering operations, and not for monitoring as Adani has claimed.

Adani has also confirmed it cleared 5.8 hectares of land when correcting an "administrative error" in its reporting to government, an action the EDO branded unlawful.

A spokeswoman for Adani insisted the company had acted in accordance with its environmental approvals, had not been dewatering for mining operations, and had "cooperated with both relevant State and Commonwealth departments regarding these allegations".

The Department of Environment and Science (DES) began an investigation in September to examine allegations Adani had drilled illegal groundwater bores.

Satellite and drone evidence of drilling was presented to DES by the EDO on behalf of its client, environmental group Coast and Country.

Coast and Country spokesman Derec Davies said the evidence had resulted in an official investigation by the Queensland Government.

"Adani have been caught red handed breaking the law, and then lying about it within official documents," he said.

Dewatering bores are used by miners to prepare for open cut and underground operations.

Conservationists have repeatedly warned that Adani's dewatering plans could threaten the nationally important Doongmabulla Springs.

An Adani spokeswoman said the company had drilled the bores "to take geological samples and monitor underground water levels", which she said was permitted as a stage one activity under its licence.

However, an expert has told the ABC the registrations for five of the bores that appear on a Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy website bear the hallmarks of dewatering bores, not monitoring bores.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-30/adani-provided-evidence-of-illega...

Read from top.

See also: 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34162

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/33343

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34034

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34014

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/32141

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/30946

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/33037

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/27688

Adani has set aside a “conservation area” for the endangered black-throated finch at the same site earmarked for the massive Clive Palmer-backed Alpha North coalmine.

The environmental group Lock the Gate said the land-use conflict meant the Adani plan to protect the black-throated finch – which is one of two crucial management plans for the Carmichael mine yet to be approved by the Queensland government – amounted to an “elaborate hoax”.

But Adani’s response suggested the Indian company could seek to block elements of the neighbouring Alpha North coalmine, or prompt a court battle, to safeguard its own project.

“We will not allow the conservation area for the black-throated finch to be compromised,” Adani said in a statement to Guardian Australia.

Adani owns the relevant pastoral land – effectively the property at surface level. Palmer’s Waratah Coal has several exploration permits for the coal resource underneath, and has applied for a mining lease.

The Waratah Coal plan for Alpha North includes a series of open-cut and underground mines, planned to produce 80m tonnes of coal a year from two separate areas. A 20,000ha section Adani plans to use for a conservation area roughly corresponds to Alpha North plans for four longwall underground mines.

...

The bird is endangered and researchers have previously said the Adani Carmichael mine’s offset strategy would be “grossly inadequate” to protect it.

Waratah Coal requires permission from pastoral land holders, including Adani, before being granted a mining lease. If there is a dispute, the matter goes before the Queensland land court.

Carmel Flint from Lock the Gate, which has a history of advocating for pastoral land owners in conflict with miners, said the land court “would do little to stop Waratah Coal from mining the area”.

“Mining licences trump pastoral leases completely under the law in Queensland,” Flint said. “As a result, this so-called ‘conservation area’ that Adani has allocated to the black-throated finch is utterly meaningless. It’s an elaborate hoax they’ve devised to enable them to start the Carmichael project, knowing full well that the area is likely to be mined in the future.”

The Queensland government has not yet approved Adani’s black-throated finch management plan, which includes 33,000ha of private protected land for the finch and other native species. About 60% of the conservation offset is on land covered by the Alpha North exploration permit and lease application.

Adani said in its statement it would not allow the conservation area to be compromised “as it is a condition of the approvals for the Carmichael mine and lies on pastoral lease owned by Adani”.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/30/adani-conservation-a...

Read from top.

 See also: