[Pil-pc-oceania] Pil-pc-oceania Digest, Vol 19, Issue 41

Tue May 13 16:18:36 EST 2008

pse unsubscribe me ta

<-----Original Message----->
From: pil-pc-oceania-request at lists.permacultureinternational.org
[pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org] 
Sent: 5/13/2008 2:02:05 PM 
To: pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org 
Subject: Pil-pc-oceania Digest, Vol 19, Issue 41 

Send Pil-pc-oceania mailing list submissions to
pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://jasper.cmsarchitects.com/mailman/listinfo/pil-pc-oceania
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
pil-pc-oceania-request at lists.permacultureinternational.org

You can reach the person managing the list at
pil-pc-oceania-owner at lists.permacultureinternational.org

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Pil-pc-oceania digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. energy from dirt (Linda Shewan)
2. NEWS: Hydrogen cars/irst GM human embryo/Arctic sea ice
cover/The benefits of coffee (RussGrayson)
3. ABARE pushes GM crops with phony stats (Gene Ethics)
(Deb Guildner)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 12:40:14 +1000
From: Linda Shewan <linda.shewan at bryn.com.au>
Subject: [Pil-pc-oceania] energy from dirt
To: permacultue discussion list
<pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org>
Message-ID:
<E361519F59EFE7428C86E5B3244196B11977C9B387 at EXCHSV07.bryn.com.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

http://www.off-grid.net/2008/05/12/energy-from-dirt/

getting the microbes to work for us? exciting prospects!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://jasper.cmsarchitects.com/pipermail/pil-pc-oceania/attachments/200
80513/558bfa08/attachment-0001.html 

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 14:29:38 +1000
From: RussGrayson <info at pacific-edge.info>
Subject: [Pil-pc-oceania] NEWS: Hydrogen cars/irst GM human
embryo/Arctic sea ice cover/The benefits of coffee
To: pil <pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org>
Message-ID: <C44F5652.ADD0%info at pacific-edge.info>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

Hydrogen Cars Won't Make a Difference for 40 Years
SOURCE: Wired news

By Chuck Squatriglia Email 05.12.08 | 12:00 AM
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made the state's "Hydrogen
Highway" a key part of his environmental agenda.

President Bush, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the big automakers agree
on
this much: They love hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology and its
promise
of a zero-emission, petroleum-free future.

Unfortunately, experts say it will be 40 years or more before hydrogen
has
any meaningful impact on gasoline consumption or global warming, and we
can't afford to wait that long. In the meantime, fuel cells are
diverting
resources from more immediate solutions.

"As a climate strategy, it's not very good," said Dr. Joseph Romm,
executive
director of the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions and author of
The
Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate.
"We
don't have the time."

Climate experts and alternative-fuel researchers, including some
hydrogen
proponents, agree that hydrogen is at best a long-term solution. In the
short and medium term, however, other technologies offer far greater
benefit
at far less cost: Cleaner internal combustion engines, hybrids and
plug-in
hybrids.

Some worry that these near-term solutions are being short-changed. But
hydrogen advocates counter that the answer isn't cutting hydrogen
funding,
but increasing funding for research into a wide variety of alternatives
to
oil.

"The few million we're spending to change our energy policy is like
sending
one platoon to Normandy," said Paul Williamson, director of the Hydrogen
and
Alternative Energy Research and Development program at the University of
Montana. "It's just not going to happen."

To some extent, politicians and policymakers recognize that hydrogen
remains
a long way off, which is one reason the California Air Resources Board
has
told automakers to build 58,000 plug-in hybrids by 2014. And automakers
are
building cleaner gasoline and diesel engines while developing hybrids.

But the emphasis remains squarely on hydrogen.

..........................

The First Genetically Modified Human Embryo: Advance or Abomination?
By Brandon Keim May 12, 2008 | 10:58:22

Scientists have created the first genetically modified human embryo.

What does this mean to you?

Led by Nikica Zaninovic, researchers at Cornell University added a green
fluorescent protein to an embryo left over from assisted reproduction.
They
destroyed the embryo five days later. It is believed to be the first
documented genetic modification of a human embryo.

British newspaper The Times reports that Zaninovic's feat was announced
at
the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in 2007,
but
was only publicized recently when the United Kingdom's reproductive
technology regulators reviewed the research. The House of Commons is
about
to consider legislation permitting this and other controversial
reproductive
technologies, such as the creation of chimeras -- human-animal hybrid
embryos.

The research raises a number of thorny ethical questions. Though adding
a
fluorescent protein was merely a proof-of-principle step, scientists say
that modified embryos could be used to research human diseases. They say
embryos wouldn't be allowed to develop for more than a few weeks, much
less
implanted in a woman and brought to term.

If the embryos were allowed to develop, genetic modifications -- which
would
be permanent and passed to future generations -- might prevent disease.
Modifications might also be used for other reasons -- physical
appearance,
intellectual prowess, personality -- though the necessary science
remains
hypothetical at this point. Developing such techniques would necessarily
entail trial-and-error and risk-taking with human life.

David King, director of Human Genetics Alert, a bioethics watchdog
group,
told The Times that

"This is the first step on the road that will lead to the nightmare of
designer babies and a new eugenics. The HFEA is right to say that the
creation and legalisation of GM embryos raises ?large ethical and public
interest issues? but neglects to mention that these have not been
debated at
all."

So let's have that debate. What do you think, Wired Science readers?
Should
genetically modified embryos be used in research, but not reproduction?
Both? Neither?

.....................

May 2, 9:12 PM EDT

Major Arctic sea ice melt is expected this summer

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
AP Science Writer
Ask AP: Slippery questions about oil, gas and biofuels

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Arctic will remain on thinning ice, and climate
warming is expected to begin affecting the Antarctic also, scientists
said
Friday.

"The long-term prognosis is not very optimistic," atmospheric scientist
Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University said at a briefing.

Last summer sea ice in the North shrank to a record low, a change many
attribute to global warming.

But while solar radiation and amounts of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere
are similar at the poles, to date the regions have responded
differently,
with little change in the South, explained oceanographer James Overland
of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

What researchers have concluded was happening, was that in the North,
global
warming and natural variability of climate were reinforcing one another,
sending the Arctic into a new state with much less sea ice than in the
past.

"And there is very little chance for the climate to return to the
conditions
of 20 years ago," he added.

On the other hand, Overland explained, the ozone hole in the Antarctic
masked conditions there, keeping temperatures low in most of the
continent
other than the peninsula reaching toward South America.

"So there is a scientific reason for why we're not seeing large changes
in
the Antarctic like we're seeing in the Arctic," he said.

But, Overland added, as the ozone hole recovers in coming years, global
warming will begin to affect the South Pole also.

Overland said he used to be among those skeptical about the effects of
global climate change. The new findings, which he termed "startling,"
were
developed at a recent workshop, he said.

There is agreement between weather observations, the output of computer
climate models and scientific expectations for what should happen, added
Francis.

All the evidence points toward human-made changes at both poles, she
said, a
conclusion that "further depletes the arsenals of those who insist that
human-caused climate change is nothing to worry about."

Climatologist Gareth Marshall of the British Antarctic Survey said that
while the term global warming is widely used, things are more
complicated at
the regional level.

In the Antarctic, he explained, climate change strengthened winds
blowing
around the continent, helping trap colder air. But that will decrease in
the
future, allowing warmer conditions to begin, he said.

And, Marshall added, all studies now show that human activities are the
drivers of climate change in the Antarctic.

Asked if this summer will match last year's record low sea ice in the
North,
Overland that is likely.

"The tea leaves point to a minimal amount of sea ice next September,
that
would be the same as we had last summer, 40 percent loss compared to 20
years ago," he said. Overland added that the winter freeze got a late
start
last fall.

Francis added: "Over this entire fall, winter and right up 'till today
the
ice concentration, the amount of ice that's floating around on the
Arctic,
has been below normal every single day."

"All arrows are pointing towards, certainly not a recovery, something
like
we had last summer and possibly worse," she said.

............................

Coffee, yerba mat?, Red Bull

Coffee, yerba mat?, Red Bull ? there's a caffeinated beverage for every
demographic. And no wonder: Caffeine jump-starts the body and sharpens
the
mind. But studies suggest that we Yanks are doing it wrong. For optimal
brain gain, regular tea breaks, as favored in the UK, are more effective
than a 20-ounce French roast sucked down at Starbucks in lieu of
breakfast.

Throughout the day, your noodle fills up with adenosine, a chemical
thought
to cause mental fatigue. Caffeine blocks the brain's adenosine
receptors,
countering the chemical's dulling effects. To maximize alertness and
minimize jitters, keep those receptors covered with frequent small doses
?
like a mug of low-caf tea or half a cup of joe ? rather than a onetime
blast. Test subjects reported that periodic small shots made them feel
clearheaded and calm, both of which enhance mental performance. Even
better,
add a lump of sugar or have a carbohydrate-rich snack at the same time
for
an extra cognitive kick. It seems that glucose and caffeine together do
more
to enhance cognition than either does alone. Biscotti, anyone?

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 14:31:32 +0930
From: "Deb Guildner" <bocor at bigbutton.com.au>
Subject: [Pil-pc-oceania] ABARE pushes GM crops with phony stats (Gene
Ethics)
To: "permacultue discussion list"
<pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org>
Message-ID: <001f01c8b4b6$69fc2940$0201a8c0 at deborahly2acqi>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Gene Ethics
News media Release - May 13, 2008
ABARE pushes GM crops with phony stats

"The latest ABARE modelling exercise "Economic Impacts of GM crops in
Australia"
http://www.abareconomics.com/publications_html/news/news/news.html uses
false assumptions and fantasies to back Genetically Manipulated (GM)
crops," says Gene Ethics Executive Director, Bob Phelps.

"The GM gravy train only exists for Monsanto (the world's biggest
commercial seed company) and Bayer (the biggest agrichemical company)
who will laugh all the way to bank with ABARE cheering them on.

"Agriculture Minister Tony Burke must abandon the Howard Government's
mantra that GM crops will be a magic cure for all the ills of Australian
farms beset by systemic problems that GM will make worse.

"ABARE's media ploy aims to pressure the WA and SA governments into
approving Monsanto's herbicide tolerant GM canola, over the objections
of most farmers, food processors and shoppers who know there are only
risks and hazards with GM.

"For the first five years of GM canola in North America, the GM
companies got 94% of the benefits - technology fees, dearer seed and
expensive chemicals - while farmers got 6% and food prices did not fall
at all. (EU Economic analysis, 12/06)

"ABARE's fantasy scenario assumes that GM wheat and rice exist but they
don't.

"A more evidence-based economic analysis by the Rural Industries
Research and Development Corporation (2005) said: ... 'the average
Australian farm household income would decrease with GM adoption - even
with rice and wheat included - if the EU moratorium remains.'

"The European bans on GM food still remain and are getting stronger all
the time," Phelps says.

RIRDC also said: 'With the EU moratorium, the net economic welfare
benefit to Australian producers and consumers of GM adoption in this
case is estimated to be US$15 million per year.

"The astronomical numbers that ABARE claims will come from GM are just
freaky fantasies that no-one should believe.

"ABARE figures are grossly skewed by ignoring the high present value of
Australia's GM-free conventional canola crop for which we can earn
premiums in Europe and Asia.

"ABARE counts the projected value of GM crops as a total GM benefit, not
just the value of the claimed productivity increases.

"This statistical sleight of hand discredits a government organisation
that should be impartial but seems to be influenced by industry
connections and political agendas.

"ABARE even boosts the illusion that GM crops are a 'significant
proportion of the world's broadacre crop output' but GM crops cover less
than 1.4% of the world's productive land - 8,558,470,155 hectares. (See:
for instance: http://www.tranquileye.com/clock/)

"ABARE also asks us to believe in the fairies when they claim: 'Over the
longer term, other broadacre GM crops may also be available for adoption
by Australian farmers.'

"That's a big maybe! In 1996, Monsanto released the first GM soy, corn,
canola and cotton in the USA. The plants contained two traits - Bt
insect toxin and herbicide tolerance. Today, Monsanto still has over 90%
of the GM crop market but offers just the same 4 crops and 2 traits.

"GM crops are a failed technology and Australian governments should stop
right now squandering taxpayer funds on its false promises.

"Those resources are needed to repair the real systemic problems on
Australian farms - soil loss, salinity, water pollution, drought, etc.
that GM cannot fix.

"Australian governments have spent billions of dollars on the genetic
manipulation of living things over the past 25 years and a stock take
will show the effort has been a waste of time with very little of value
produced," Mr Phelps concludes.

Comment:

Bob Phelps
Executive Director
Gene Ethics
60 Leicester St, Carlton 3053 Australia
Tel: 1300 133 868 or 03 9347 4500 {Int Code +613}
Tel H: 03 9889 1717
Email: info at geneethics.org
WWW: <http://www/>  http://www.geneethics.org
<http://www.geneethics.org/> 

THINK, CARE, ACT!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://jasper.cmsarchitects.com/pipermail/pil-pc-oceania/attachments/200
80513/449cfaaf/attachment.html 

------------------------------

_______________________________________________
Pil-pc-oceania mailing list
Pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org
http://jasper.cmsarchitects.com/mailman/listinfo/pil-pc-oceania

End of Pil-pc-oceania Digest, Vol 19, Issue 41
**********************************************
.

<br><br><a href="http://toolbar.Care2.com">http://toolbar.Care2.com</a>  Make your computer carbon-neutral (free).<br></br><a href="http://www.Care2.com">http://www.Care2.com</a> Green Living, Human Rights and more - 8 million members!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://jasper.cmsarchitects.com/pipermail/pil-pc-oceania/attachments/20080512/11436132/attachment.html 