PlanetLife - November 21st 2013

8/13/2019 PlanetLife - November 21st 2013

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AUSTRALIA WORST CARBON EMITTERPER CAPITA AMOUNG MAJOR WESTERNNATIONS

Australia is failing to reduce

carbon emissions at a rate

comparable to the US or the

European Union, scientists have

warned, with global emissions

set to hit a record 36bn tonnes in

2013.

The Global Carbon Project,which draws data from climate

researchers in 10 countries,

found there had been stuttering

progress by countries, including

Australia, in reducing emissions

to a level that would lessen the

chances of dangerous climate

change.

An unprecedented 36bn

tonnes of CO2 is set to be

pumped into the atmosphere this

year, 61% higher than 1990.

The annual growth in emissions

is on course for 2.1%, similar tothe 2.2% increase in 2012.

While this increase is below

the average 3.1% annual rise

seen since 2000, emissions need

to fall substantially and rapidly

if the world is to keep to an

agreed target of below two

degrees warming on pre-

industrial levels, according to the

British scientist Corinne Le

Quere, lead author of the

carbon project report.

Australia is faring relatively

poorly in this regard, the

projects data reveals. Thecountry emitted 371m tonnes of

CO2 in 2012 consistent with

the levels seen over the past

decade.

For more on this story:

www.theguardian.com.

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Japanese Nuclear

Plant Crisis

Page 2

Emergency Management

Lets Plan Together

Page 6

Earthquakes & Volcano

Activity Around the Globe

Page 3
http://www.theguardian.com/http://www.theguardian.com/http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/


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Australian Broadcast Corporation, 31st October 2013

One slip-up in the latest step to decommission Japan's

crippled Fukushima nuclear plant could trigger a

"monumental" chain reaction, experts warn.

Within days, Fukushima nuclear plant operators will

begin what is being described as the most dangerous phase of

the decommissioning process so far.

In an operation never before attempted, the TokyoElectric Power Company (TEPCO) will start removing 1,331

highly radioactive used fuel assemblies from a deep pool

which sits high above the ground in a shattered reactor

building.

The Fukushima nuclear plant's reactors were sent into

meltdown by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 in the

world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Experts around the world have warned ever since that

the fuel pool is in a precarious state - vulnerable to collapsing

in another big earthquake.

Yale University professor Charles Perrow wrote about

the number 4 fuel pool this year in the Bulletin of AtomicScientists.

He said one pool contains 10 times the amount of

radioactive caesium present in the Chernobyl disaster and

warned one slip-up with the removal could trigger a chain

reaction.

"This has me very scared," he told the ABC.

"Tokyo would have to be evacuated because [the]

caesium and other poisons that are there will spread very

rapidly.

"Even if the wind is blowing in the other way, it's going

to be monumental."

TEPCO says it's prepared for delicate operation

It has taken TEPCO more than two-and-a-half years to

clear away debris and get the number 4 reactor ready for the

delicate operation.

TEPCO's Yoshimi Hitosugi insisted the company's

engineers were prepared.

"We are going to transfer the fuel into containers while

it's under water," Mr Hitosugi told the ABC through a

translator.

"Then we'll use a crane to remove the containers and

take them to a new pool."

Even Japan's nuclear watchdog is urging TEPCO to

exercise the utmost caution.Earlier this week the Nuclear Regulation Authority chief

told TEPCO's president to proceed very carefully, warning

that if TEPCO hits a problem, the risks will grow.

Mr Hitosugi said TEPCO engineers had reinforced the

shattered building, propped up the fuel pool, and installed a

new crane.

He said there was nothing to worry about."We believe it's not dangerous," Mr Hitosugi said.

"The reactor building is structurally sound.

"We don't believe there'll be any accident."

The operation is a test of TEPCO's technical prowess

ahead of what will be an even more challenging task in theyears to come - removing the piles of nuclear fuel at the

bottom of reactors 1, 2, and 3.

FUKUSHIMA DECOMMISSIONING SLIP-UP COULD

TRIGGER MONUMENTAL CHAIN REACTION, EXPERTWARNS

PLANETLIFE2

1November2013


3/7

SAUDI ARABIA: FLOOD TOLLRISES TO SEVEN

The Tehran Times, 21 November, 2013

Flash floods sparked by torrential rain in largely

desert Saudi Arabia have killed seven people over the

past three days, the civil defense authority said onWednesday.

Five other people are still missing after parts of

the capital Riyadh and the northeastern city of Arar

were inundated, authority spokesman Colonel

Abdullah al-Harithi told the official SPA news agency.The storms that have accompanied the

downpours have brought down power lines, sparking

outages in parts of north Riyadh.Schools and universities in the capital have been

closed since Sunday.Flooding of underpasses on major thoroughfares

has sparked traffic chaos for Riyadh's more than five

million residents.In May last year, around 20 people were killed in

flooding sparked by the kingdom's heaviest rainfall in

25 years.

PLANETLIFE2

1November2013

CYCLONE CLEOPATRA: ITALYDECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY

AFTER 18 KILLED IN SARDINIA

Australian Broadcast Corporation, 21st November 2013

A state of emergency has been declared after at least 18

people were killed by a cyclone on the Italian island of

Sardinia.

The north of Sardinia took the brunt of Cyclone

Cleopatra, with 450 millimetres of rain falling in 90

minutes.

In the worst storm in decades, rivers burst their banks,cars were swept away and bridges collapsed in the towns of

Olbia and near Nuoro.

Among the dead is a family of four who were in their

ground floor apartment when the flood waters came

through.

A police officer died when a bridge collapsed as he was

escorting an ambulance over it.

A number of people are still unaccounted for, while

hundreds have been forced from their homes.

The Red Cross has set up temporary accommodation

in sports halls and other centres.

"This is a national tragedy," prime minister EnricoLetta said.

For more on this story visit www.abc.net.au
http://www.bbc.com/http://www.bbc.com/


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PLANETLIFE2

1November2013

EARTHQUAKES AROUNDTHE GLOBE THIS WEEK

5.2 NAMIE, FUKUSHIMA JAPAN

5.2 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE

5.0 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA

6.1 HALMAHERA, INDONESIA

6.0 PAGAN REG., N. MARIANA

6.0 STATE OF YAP, MICRONESIA

5.0 STATE OF YAP, MICRONESIA

5.2 SCOTIA SEA5.0 SCOTIA SEA

5.6 ASCENSION ISLAND REGION

5.1 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS

5.0 SCOTIA SEA

5.3 SCOTIA SEA

5.4 SCOTIA SEA

5.0 SCOTIA SEA

5.2 SCOTIA SEA


5.6 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA

5.4 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

5.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

5.3 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION5.1 SCOTIA SEA (south of Chile)

5.2 SCOTIA SEA

5.3 SCOTIA SEA


5.1 SCOTIA SEA

6.9 SCOTIA SEA

VOLCANO: DOUBLE

E R U P T I O N S I NINDONESIA

Two volcanoes are erupting in

Indonesia, prompting warnings for

flights and evacuation preparations.

Mount Sinabung in North

Sumatra province unleashed volcanic

ash as high as 8,000 metres, the highest

of its eruptions in recent days, said

government volcano expert Surono.

The 2,600-metre-high mountain

has sporadical ly erupted since

September after being dormant forthree years.

Officials raised the alert status of

Sinabung to the second-highest level

after an eruption early this month,

prompting evacuation of more than

6,000 villagers living near its slopes. Its

activities have continued since then,

sometimes unleashing lava down the

slopes.

"It was the strongest eruption in

the recent days," said Surono, who like

many Indonesians uses a single name.T r a n s p o r t a t i o n M i n i s t r y

spokesman Bambang Ervan said his

office has issued a notice for all airlines

to avoid routes near the mountain.

Residents in Medan, the provincial

c a p i t a l a b o u t 5 0 k i l o m e t r e s

northeastward, could see black smokesbillowing from Sinabung.

Hours earlier, Mount Merapi,

Indonesia most volatile volcano in

Central Java, spewed volcanic ash

about 2,000 metres into the sky,

causing ash to fall in several towns.

National Disaster Management

spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho

said about 600 families have gathered

for a possible evacuation.

Merapi, which is in Yogyakarta

province, killed more than 300 peopleand caused the evacuation of 20,000

villagers when it burst back to life in

late 2010.

Indonesia which is located on the

so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, has 129

active volcanoes, making it prone to

seismic upheaval. For more: Stuff.co.nz


5/7

Factory farming is the number one cause of

animal cruelty in the world today. It involves

treating animals as if they were machines designed

only to produce, and values production and profit

over all other aspects of farming. In fact, in

factory farms, the only measure of animal welfare

considered valid is how much the animals can

produce; whether it is meat, milk or eggs. The

lived experience or quality of life of factory

farmed animals is deemed to be of no

consequence.

Factory farming is highly dependent on large

quantities of limited resources such as grain-based

feed, water, energy and medication. This type of

food production is inherently unsustainable

because of its negative impacts on animals, people

and the planet.

WHY DOES FACTORY FARMING

EXIST?

Factory farming exists because it has been

deliberately hidden from the eyes of the

community. Over the past 50 years, the

industrialisation of our food system has led us

from a network of smaller-scale diversified farms

to mass factory farms. An increasing demand for

cheap meat and eggs has seen animals crammed

into smaller and smaller spaces. As producers cutcosts to turn a bigger profit, animals have paid the

price, with those facilities becoming more like

factories than the traditional concept of a farm.

FACTORY FARMED ANIMALS ARE

PROVIDED WITH FOOD, WATER, AND

SHELTER. ISNT THAT ENOUGH?

Imagine being confined to a lift; all day, every

day, until you die. Even if you were given sufficient

food and water, this alone would not be enough to

make that kind of life worth living. It is recognisedinternationally that good animal welfare is

determined by an animal's state of well-being

which includes not only an animal's physiological

state, but also his or her mental state. Animals are

conscious feeling beings, and many of the things

that matter to us also matter to them:

relationships, physical sensations and freedom.

Factory farmed animals are raised intensively

in artificial environments; usually indoors and in

huge numbers. They are prevented from

demonstrating their natural behaviours and their

bodies are altered and sometimes mutilated to

make them fit into the production system. To this

end many will endure painful surgical procedures

such as tooth cutting, tail docking, beak trimming

and castration, all without pain relief.

To read more: www.animalsaustralia.org

ANIMALLIFEFACTORY FARMINGBy Animals Australia

PLANETLIFE2

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http://www.animals/http://www.animals/http://fcmconference.org/img/CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdfhttp://fcmconference.org/img/CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdf


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Sydney Morning Herald, 12th November 2013

A comet is heading for a close encounter with

the sun later this month, and if it is not vaporised

or torn apart, it should be visible to the naked eye

in December.

Comet ISON is expected to pass just about 1

million kilometres from the sun's surface onNovember 28.

Scientists are not sure how ISON will hold

up. As it blasts around the sun, travelling at 377kilometres-per-second, the comet will be heated to

about 2760 degrees, hot enough to vaporise not

just ice in the comet's body, but also rock and

metal.

If the heat does not kill ISON, the sun's

gravity may rip it apart. But recent calculations

show ISON will survive, scientists said.

The comet was discovered in September 2012

by two amateur astronomers using Russia'sInternational Scientific Optical Network, or

ISON, for which the comet is named.

It was extraordinarily bright at the time,

considering its great distance beyond Jupiter's

orbit, raising the prospect of a truly cosmic

spectacle as it approached the sun.

That is because heat from the sun causes ice

in a comet's body to vaporise, creating bright,distinctive tails and fuzzy looking, glowing bodies.

Depending on how much ice a comet contains,

the closer it comes to the sun, the brighter it

shines.

Over the weekend, amateur astronomers

began posting the first pictures of the comet on

the internet that were taken with just binoculars or

small telescopes.

"I finally saw Comet ISON for the first time

using small binoculars!" pilot Brian Whittaker

wrote on the SpaceWeather.com website. "It was

faint, but is predicted to brighten and move each

day! Exciting!"

Comets are believed to be frozen remains left

over from the formation of the solar system about

4.5 billion years ago.

The group of comets ISON is from is located

in the Oort Cloud, a reservoir of icy bodies

beyond Neptune's orbit. Occasionally, an object is

gravitationally bumped out of the cloud and into a

flight path that brings it into the inner solar

system. Computer models show ISON is a first-

time visitor.

The comet is moving through the

constellation Virgo low in the eastern sky beforedawn, astronomer Tony Phillips wrote on

SpaceWeather.com.

To read more: www.smh.com.au

SPACELIFEINCOMING COMET ISON HEADING FORCLOSEENCOUNTER WITH SUN

PLANETLIFE2

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UFO SIGHTINGS AROUND

THE GLOBE THIS WEEK

Date of Sighting: November 21, 2013

Location of Sighting: Xinyi Township, China


Location of Sighting: Earths Orbit at ISS


Location of Sighting:Noblesville, Indiana, USADate of sighting: November 12, 2013

Location of Sighting: Volos, Greece


Location of Sighting: Denver, Colorado, USA


Location of Sighting: Earths SunTo read more: ufosightingsdaily.com
http://www.smh.com.au/http://www.smh.com.au/http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/comet-ison-welcome-stranger-20130918-2txug.htmlhttp://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/comet-ison-welcome-stranger-20130918-2txug.htmlhttp://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/hubble-telescope-spies-incoming-comet-ison-20130425-2ifwh.htmlhttp://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/hubble-telescope-spies-incoming-comet-ison-20130425-2ifwh.html


7/7

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21Novembe

r2013

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PlanetLife - November 21st 2013