We have all heard the publicity about global warming and the greenhouse effect. Surprisingly some people still ask if this is belief or scepticism. We need to be clear on this. 99% of scientists consider global warming to be a scientific certainty. The only doubt is how much and how it will impact on our lives and our businesses.

We all need to take small steps to reduce our own environmental impacts. That is each and every one of us need to reduce our emissions, reduce our waste (everything we throw away contains embodied energy), improve our water efficiency and reduce our energy use in both our personal lives and our businesses. We can easily take some small steps like turning off lights, computers and appliances when we are not using them and managing our water use more carefully but how much difference does our little bit make? How far do we need to go or do we even need to? …. The answer to this is YES.
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This is truly global.

In Australia we all started worrying about the hole in the ozone layer a few years ago. This was due to increased CFCs and other chemicals escaping to the atmosphere and we acted and the situation is improving but we do still have higher than previous rates of skin cancer.

The ice melt near the North Pole is happening at a much faster rate then was imagined. The climate in Greenland is changing.

We are all getting more extreme weather events – hotter summers, more severe droughts, wilder storms, colder winters, more floods and landslides.

Islands in Bangladesh have already disappeared – a significant issue in that overcrowded island.

We all need to take small steps to prevent our little bit of waste starting immediately.

Technorati Tags: Jean Cannon, Enviro Jean, global warming, where is global warming happening, climate change, ISO 14001

Last week end the Australian Broadcasting Commission aired a BBC movie called the Climate Change Swindle.

I sincerely hope people realise where the swindle is. What industry groups fund the less than 1% of scientists who push this nonsense? These scientists are a group of geologists and paleogeologists looking at rocks and deciding if the dinosaurs just disappeared, these things happen and so will we.

Having a “natural” catastrophe is not good enough for my grandchildren thank you! Over 99% of scientists agree that human activity is speeding up global warming and is probably responsible for it.

Di you know that our energy use and are water use are totally interconnected? As the climate changes we will become shorter of water because there will be less rain in many places and our human numbers are increasing. I don’t think we all know about the direct connection. 20% of Sydney’s water use is for cooling as part of power generation. Power generation uses HUGE amounts of water – so the politicians decide to put in a desalination plant to give us more fresh water and desalination uses even more electricity which uses even more water…….. Can anyone also see a cycle here?

This is happening around the world! We all need to stop and think about this! And then ACT by taking small steps to reduce our power and our water wastage.

Technorati Tags: Jean Cannon, Enviro Jean, climate change misinformation, climate, climate change, misinformation, ISO 14001

We all need to think about what we do, how much we consume and how big our “environmental footprint” (not just carbon) is.
It was interesting looking at the results of the Live Earth Concerts. These were aimed at raising awareness of the issue but the evidence did not demonstrate this. OK they used carbon credits to offset energy use but I have never seen so much litter left everywhere as by this set of supposedly “environmentally concerned” concert goers.

This ties in a bit with my recent blog about the leader of the Australian Greens Party having a carbon footprint that is almost three times that of the Federal Environment Minister.

What we say and what we do need to match.

Technorati Tags: Jean Cannon, envirojean, our environmental footprint, environment, Australian Green Party, Live Earth Concerts, environmentally concerned, ISO 14001

Wetlands remove over 90% of nutrients, harmful bacteria and silt from water. They are nature’s water filtration. Reed beds are natural freshwater wetland systems. They need to be shallow with a large water, soil interface and lots of reed. Reeds work as an oxygen pump, keeping the bed of the wetland oxygenated and a good environment for aerobic bacteria to clean up the water and provide nutrients for the reds to grow. Properly constructed, these wetlands can be a source of clean water to recharge depleted aquifers.

Samphire swamps are saline wetlands or salt marshes and are a vital part of the marine ecology. They should never be considered as wasteland as they often are. Get out of the car and use a magnifying glass to look at the plants. Some of them are very beautiful.

Over the years wetlands have been called a swamp, which has become a rather derogatory term. They have often been used as dumps and considered to be difficult wasteland. They flood and may well have acid sulphate soil when disturbed – so why disturb them. (more…)

Stormwater is one of our most valuable resources but at present it is often the dogs’ sewage system and it is discharged untreated into out rivers, creeks and the sea. Think about what else goes into stormwater sometimes! In my last house I lived beside a creek (stream in some countries) and what went down that at times was horrific.

For a start the creek bed and walls had been fully concreted. This is the engineering solution to flood prevention with the aim being to get the water to the seas a quickly as possible. Of course this mean that no aquifer recharge happens and all the rubbish and litter left on pavements and in gutters is picked up and whisked out to sea. Some people even deliberately throw waste into creeks to save themselves the trouble of disposing of it. One day I was astounded to see at least 30 huge palm fronds charging down after heavy rain. All that was needed to cause a major local flood would have been a forked branch also washing down and getting stuck under a bridge. The palms would have made a wonderful dam! Something like this happened a few streets upstream a year later causing serious local flooding. (more…)