This week's news in brief
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Clean up your act, Tasman Mills!
The Green Party has called for Kawerau-based Tasman Mills to invest in clean energy, and stop releasing toxic chemicals into the Tarawera River. Currently, Tasman Mills dumps 150 tonnes of waste into the river a day. The company has recently applied for an extension to for their discharge permit which would allow them to pollute for another 35 years. Submissions can be made until May 29. Read more ...
Censorship at Niwa?
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr Jim Salinger was dismissed from the National Institute of Weather and Atmosphere (NIWA) last week because he was helping Jim Hickey with climate-related inquiries. Dr Salinger’s work with the media was considered a serious misconduct. "New Zealand is on a slippery slope when trying to provide Kiwis with a greater understanding of our climate is a sackable offence”, says Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons. Read more ...
Indigenous environmentalism in Australia
Work at the Barrick Gold open pit mine at Lake Cowal, NSW, was stopped on Sunday due to protestors from the Save Lake Cowal group entering the mine. Lake Cowal is an ephemeral lake lying in the Lachlan River plain within the Murray-Darling Basin, home to many migratory water birds and sacred sites of the Wiradjuri people. Read more ...
Major emitters meeting in Washington
Representatives from the 16 nations that are responsible for 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions met this week in Washington to try and slow the pace of climate change. Read more ...
Record high for Arctic CO2
Artic CO2 levels have reached their highest level in 50 million years, peaking at 397 parts per million (ppm) last week. This is an increase of more than 2.5ppm on 2008 levels. Typically levels of CO2 in the Artic are higher due to reduced landmass and increased population in the Northern Hemisphere. Read more ...
Swine flu and factory farming
Could the H1N1 swine flu have developed due to factory farming conditions? Caroline Lucas’ Guardian column suggests it was a factor.
More research is urgently needed to explore the potential link between industrialised animal farming, and the spread of disease. Some elements of the Mexican media are already pointing to the potential role of intensive pig farming in Mexico, which has grown substantially in recent years, with some giant operations raising tens of thousands of pigs at a time.
Since news of the epidemic broke, reports in Mexico City daily La Jornada and Veracruz-based paper La Marcha have detailed how a number of community residents in the affected areas have expressed concerns over the operations of Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork packer and hog producer. According to these reports, in Veracruz – where the outbreak originated, a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carrol raises 950,000 hogs per year in intensive conditions.
