Geum.ru

The environment in the news

Вид материалаДокументы

Содержание


The New Zealand Herald: Allen Cookson: People left out of climate equation
The Star: Premier says China to close dirty steel mills in conservation drive
Подобный материал:
1   ...   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20

The New Zealand Herald: Allen Cookson: People left out of climate equation


March 06, 2007


A German woman of a Green mindset was castigating New Zealanders for their profligate consumption habits and neglect of recycling. "You should have 30 million people here. You would have to be more environmentally caring then," she told me.


In the discussion on mitigation of harmful climate change, population is barely mentioned. Energy efficiency, conservation, renewables and carbon sequestration are all examined at length but halting growth is a taboo subject for nearly all politicians and most economists.


The Green Party has avoided population in its policies. It appears unconcerned about population growth, yet it is the crucial factor in pollution, resource depletion, global warming and loss of biodiversity, all issues central to Green politics.


The only politician I have heard express concern about population growth is Pita Sharples.


People must acknowledge that the Earth is, for practical purposes, finite in area and natural resources. Credible estimates of its sustainable carrying capacity range from 1 billon to 4 billion people. These figures depend on the standard of living, biodiversity and energy sources accepted. Earth's present population is 6 billion.


If women are liberated from oppression, and education and health are improved, birth rates drop. This happens despite opposition to birth control by some male religious leaders.


The low fertilities of Catholic Spain and Italy illustrate this. In Muslim Bangladesh, birth rates have dropped since women have had access to low-interest loans for businesses. Anything our Government can do to encourage this type of thing will magnify our minuscule reduction of greenhouse gas emission if in fact that occurs.


New Zealand's natural population growth has been calculated to reach zero in 2046 (4.8 million) and then become negative. But Labour and National plan significant net immigration. This will make reduction of our greenhouse emissions more difficult, if not impossible.


Energy Minister David Parker has said the Government's failure to meet Kyoto targets was because of economic growth. In part, immigration policy reflects an addiction to economic growth and failure to train our people in essential trades and professions.


Our economic system based on fractional reserve banking (where nearly all our money exists as interest-bearing debt) is unable to function without continued economic growth. Yet curbing greenhouse emissions requires cessation of growth other than that resulting from improved technology and efficiency. Economists are aware of this fatal flaw in the modern monetary system but those we hear in the news are usually bank employees whose vested interest in debt-funded growth is only too obvious.


Sustaining the pro-growth propaganda are University of Canterbury academics who are developing curricula on global warming for teachers but include the oxymoron sustainable growth.


Unless nations can reduce and eventually halt population growth by making appropriate economic and social reforms, the worst predictions of climate scientists become more realistic.

ссылка скрыта

.....................................................................………………………

The Star: Premier says China to close dirty steel mills in conservation drive


March 05, 2007


BEIJING (AP): China will close its dirtiest steel mills as it steps up efforts to rein in surging energy use and clean up environmental damage caused by its economic boom, Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday.


The government also will try to clean up polluted rivers and develop more energy-efficient technology, Wen said in a speech at the opening of the annual session of China's legislature.


"We will take strong measures to save energy, lower energy consumption, protect the environment'' and use limited farmland more effectively, the premier said.


Communist leaders have promised repeatedly to clean up China's badly polluted environment, though they warn they are constrained by a need to promote economic growth and lack of technology.


The government also wants urgently to reduce reliance on imported oil, which it sees as a strategic weakness. China consumes several times as much energy per unit of economic output as the United States, Japan or other major economies.


Wen acknowledged Sunday that China failed to meet its conservation targets last year.


On Monday, he promised to "resolutely close down'' its oldest, dirtiest steel mills, power plants and facilities in the cement, aluminum and coke industries.


Proposed new industrial projects will be approved only if they meet conservation goals and the government will set efficiency standards for public buildings, Wen said.


The premier, China's top economic official, said Beijing would spend more to build sewage treatment plants but gave no total budget figure for conservation.


China is one of the world's leading producers of greenhouse gas emissions, but the government said last month that economic growth would take priority over reducing them. It said China lacks the technology to achieve significant reductions.


Shutting older factories or power plants could wipe out jobs in poor areas where the government worries about unrest among the unemployed.


The Finance Ministry, in its outline of the 2007 budget, said the government was pushing ahead with pilot projects to allow industries to trade pollution credits and to compensate areas fouled by the use of coal.


Tax and other fiscal incentives are also being tinkered with to encourage recycling, energy conservation and the development of renewable energy resources, the Finance Ministry said.


"We must realize, and the government has already realized this, that the quality of our GDP is poor, meaning that our energy consumption is high and we are not protecting the environment,'' said Lan Xinguo, a legislator from the southwestern province of Sichuan. "But China is a great and responsible nation so we are heading towards a more responsible attitude towards development.''


But another legislator cautioned that poor areas still rely heavily on coal.


"If we are very strict in enforcing our environmental protection targets, then some of these factories will have to shut down, and what will that mean for these poor places?'' said Lu Dong, a delegate from the coal-mining northern province of Shaanxi. "This is very hard, we face a dilemma and we have to handle it correctly.''

ссылка скрыта

……………………………..