What a disaster!

Man-made disasters or natural “acts of God” strike us earthlings in different ways, but usually result in major disruption to shipping, air transport, industry and business, whether we like it or not. Witness the latest catastrophic oil pollution in the Gulf of Mexico. Has the oil industry learned nothing from Exxon Valdez? Has the world not come up with more effective disaster management than this? More on this, including what WWF thinks we should do about it.

A disaster closer to home and with political ramifications was the Australian Government’s decision to drop its much-heralded Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Polls and columnists say what they think about this and how it could bring down the Government. And we ask the experts what impact this delay will have on the new National Carbon Offsets Standards. The Green Building Council rightfully adopts ecospecifier’s new Green Tag certification system and CSIRO is working on a massive solar tower to produce the energy we need. At the Clean Energy Conference this week concern was expressed about the Renewable Energy Targets. Are we on track or not?

On a global note, we hear from Sir David King and his call for a 21^st century renaissance to tackle civilisation’s biggest challenge. Germany and Mexico are determined to see a global agreement on climate change action. On home soil, we explore the innovative biosequestration work of Prime Carbon and Ken Bellamy in a Lucky Last article by Graham Readfearn.  – Ken Hickson