2009 May: Climate
Anchor: Base Index
Other months: April June
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vertebrates water weather
See also The Guardian's archive
and current collections,
and New Scientist's special report, which is continually updated.
David Shukman, 'Gruelling' Arctic mission ends, BBC, 2009 May 13 (the 10-week Catlin Arctic Survey team is safely collected from the ice, just as long-term Arctic forecast takes a bleak turn)
Adam Morton, The sceptic's shadow of doubt, The Age, 2009 May 2 (Two weeks ago, Plimer, an award-winning geologist from the University of Adelaide, published Heaven + Earth, a 500-page argument against the idea that humans can dramatically affect climate)
Ian Traynor, A meat-free revolution to help save the planet, The Age, 2009 May 15 (the Belgian city of Ghent yesterday embarked on a radical experiment that seeks to make every Thursday a day free of meat and of the fish and shellfish for which the city is renowned)
Go on, guess: The human impact of climate change, Economist, 2009 May 30 (“is difficult to assess reliably”, say the authors of a new report from the Global Humanitarian Forum, a think-tank run by Kofi Annan, a former United Nations secretary-general, aided by a raft of eminent folk; but they make a stab)
Climate 'biggest health threat', BBC, 2009 May 14 (a leading medical journal describes climate change as the single largest threat to health in the 21st century)
Adam Morton, Climate change dire for Coral Triangle, The Age, 2009 May 13 (about 100 million people living on Australia's doorstep could be forced to leave their homeland due to climate change this century, according to a new report)
Adam Morton, Declared forests turn out to be paddocks, The Age, 2009 May 25 (nearly 40 per cent of old-growth forest earmarked for protection by the State Government since the 2006 election has been found instead to be young regrowth, poor quality vegetation and cleared paddocks)
Peter Ker, Logging strips water resource: ACF, The Age, 2009 May 20 (Northern Victoria's highest water-producing forests would produce 15 per cent more water by the end of the century if logging ceased immediately, a report will say today)
AFP, Thousands flee Santa Barbara blaze, The Age, 2009 May 8 (a wind-driven wildfire has destroyed homes and forced thousands of residents to flee in the California coastal town of Santa Barbara)
Andrew Darby, Police move in on logging protesters, The Age, 2009 May 5 (environmental activists were last night holding out against a police operation to clear access for loggers in an increasingly bitter fight for old growth forest fringing Tasmania's World Heritage wilderness)
Mathew Murphy, US knows which way the wind blows in clean-tech investment, The Age, 2009 May 20 (investment in wind, solar photovoltaics and biofuels has propelled the global renewables industry to fourfold growth over the past four years, with it reaching $US120 billion last year, a leading renewable energy report says)
Measuring energy use: Knowledge is power, Economist, 2009 May 16 (clever meters could cut energy consumption—and prices)
Matt McGrath, Going bananas for energy in Africa, BBC, 2009 May 12 (scientists have found a way to turn banana waste into a sustainable fuel source that could be relevant to many countries across Africa)
Adam Morton, China slams Rudd's climate 'U-turn', The Age, 2009 May 16 (China's top climate change official has accused the Australian Government of backtracking on international commitments by demanding action from China and India before it signs a new treaty to cut greenhouse emissions)
Steven Duke, UN 'stunned' by scale of bail-out, BBC, 2009 May 7 (if extra money is not found to tackle climate change, bail-outs could be a "waste of money", UN head of environment warns)
Guardian, China 'up for carbon deal', The Age, 2009 May 8 (China signals its readiness to abandon its resistance to limits on its carbon emissions and wants to reach an international deal to fight global warming)
Daniel Flitton, Japan seeks Australian help to tackle climate change in Pacific, The Age, 2009 May 1 (Japan is pressing Australia to join a proposed "Pacific environment community" as part of multi-nation efforts to combat the threat of global warming in vulnerable South Pacific island countries)
Lucy Williamson, Key coral reefs 'could disappear', BBC, 2009 May 13 (the world's most important coral region, in South East Asia, could be wiped out by the end of the century, a new report warns)
Simon Mann, A cloud with a solar lining, The Age, 2009 May 30 (hit hard by the big dry and with many growers rueing the advent of corporate horticulture, Mildura is down but not out; the education and housing sectors are doing well, tourism brings in $200 million a year and there are high hopes for solar power)
Adam Morton, Declared forests turn out to be paddocks, The Age, 2009 May 25 (nearly 40 per cent of old-growth forest earmarked for protection by the State Government since the 2006 election has been found instead to be young regrowth, poor quality vegetation and cleared paddocks)
Peter Ker, Yarra may face more depletion, The Age, 2009 May 23 (struggling rivers could be drawn down even further in a bid to secure Melbourne's drinking supplies, prompting fears of disastrous environmental decline)
Peter Ker, Running on empty: dams dry up, The Age, 2009 May 21 (the long dry is sapping Melbourne's dams and raising questions about the viability of the city's water supply)
Peter Ker, Logging strips water resource: ACF, The Age, 2009 May 20 (Northern Victoria's highest water-producing forests would produce 15 per cent more water by the end of the century if logging ceased immediately, a report will say today)
Stephen Cauchi, El Niño fear as dams fall to new low, The Age, 2009 May 17 (Victoria's stressed water storages and rivers could face nightmarish year of severe drought as the odds firm of an El Niño weather event hitting Australia within months)
Peter Ker, More money, less water, The Age, 2009 May 6 (spending was higher than expected and results were poorer than expected, but the Brumby Government was adamant last night that its modernisation of Victoria's irrigation districts was not underperforming)
Thaliaceans and the carbon cycle: A hitherto unknown way of burying carbon at the bottom of the sea, Economist, 2009 May 23 (hitherto it was assumed that the main way carbon gets from the top to the bottom of the ocean was as part of dead planktonic algae sinking to the seabed; but the discovery of just how carbon-rich and prone to sinking thaliaceans are may change that assumption)
Andrew Darby, Rising tide of action to protect marine areas, The Age, 2009 May 20 (the Rudd Government is pressing ahead with plans to protect vast areas off the Australian coast, but environment groups say the real test is yet to come)
Andrew Darby, Ocean care program 'now dead', The Age, 2009 May 9 (Australia's ambitious plans for governing one of the world's largest ocean areas have effectively died, according to academic experts)
Peter Ker, Losing the Murray, The Age, 2009 May 20 (the first rescue attempt of the Murray has ended with little gained; its successor may be too late to save some of the river's most valued wetlands)
Elisabeth Rosenthal, Germany leads way in creating auto-ban suburbs, The Age, 2009 May 16 (worried about emissions, a community is ditching the car)
Tom Arup, Quit call on coal-fired power, The Age, 2009 May 1 (seven key climate scientists have taken the unprecedented step of asking owners of coal-fired electricity plants to shut them down)
Misha Schubert, $300 million water to boost Murray Darling, The Age, 2009 May 29 (an estimated 107 billion litres of water a year—enough to supply Melbourne for almost four months—has been earmarked to save endangered wetlands)
Andrew Darby, Rising tide of action to protect marine areas, The Age, 2009 May 20 (the Rudd Government is pressing ahead with plans to protect vast areas off the Australian coast, but environment groups say the real test is yet to come)
Tom Arup, Councils off carbon hook, The Age, 2009 May 15 (households have been spared hundreds of millions of dollars in additional council rates by Government changes to the emissions trading scheme's treatment of landfills)
Tom Arup, Coal shoulder: all solar power to you, The Age, 2009 May 14 (there was $1.5 billion set aside in Tuesday's budget to build four solar plants, preferably solar thermal or solar photovoltaic, which will produce 1000 megawatts of energy, the size of a coal-fired plant)
Ben Doherty, Drought aid condemned, The Age, 2009 May 13 (Exceptional Circumstances assistance to drought-affected farmers should be abandoned as soon as possible as it is unfair, unnecessary and encourages poor farming practices, the Productivity Commission has said)
Andrew Darby, Ocean care program 'now dead', The Age, 2009 May 9 (Australia's ambitious plans for governing one of the world's largest ocean areas have effectively died, according to academic experts)
South Australia's water shortage: In need of a miracle, Economist, 2009 May 9 (to turn a drought into wine)
Misha Schubert, $300 million water to boost Murray Darling, The Age, 2009 May 29 (an estimated 107 billion litres of water a year—enough to supply Melbourne for almost four months—has been earmarked to save endangered wetlands)
Peter Ker, Grim days ahead for the Murray, The Age, 2009 May 27 (the decline of the Murray-Darling river system has continued at an alarming pace, but there is growing disparity in farmers' fortunes across the river basin)
Peter Ker, Cleaner recycled water increases climate risk, The Age, 2009 May 25 (improving the standard of recycled water threatens to push up Australia's greenhouse emissions, and governments must consider if better quality waste water can be justified under a low carbon future, water companies have warned)
330,000 face eviction to make way for reservoir, The Age, 2009 May 25 (about 330,000 people in central China are to be evicted from their homes to make way for a reservoir that will form part of a massive water diversion project)
Peter Ker, Running on empty: dams dry up, The Age, 2009 May 21 (the long dry is sapping Melbourne's dams and raising questions about the viability of the city's water supply)
Peter Ker, Logging strips water resource: ACF, The Age, 2009 May 20 (Northern Victoria's highest water-producing forests would produce 15 per cent more water by the end of the century if logging ceased immediately, a report will say today)
South Australia's water shortage: In need of a miracle, Economist, 2009 May 9 (to turn a drought into wine)
Cosima Marriner and Richard Macey, Two days' rain and Queensland drought is over, The Age, 2009 May 22 (less than two years ago, south-east Queensland was running dry; but after 48 hours of torrential rain, the drought is officially over)
Stephen Cauchi, El Niño fear as dams fall to new low, The Age, 2009 May 17 (Victoria's stressed water storages and rivers could face nightmarish year of severe drought as the odds firm of an El Niño weather event hitting Australia within months)