I am breaking all my own rules about trying not to be political here but this is my response to a frustrated email from one of my readers

It is frustrating and I agree completely that it is unfair to protect the most polluting industries and hit everyone else with higher prices.

I think the relative contributions to the pollution need to be made public so that the population understands.  We do all need to be aware of the impact of our coal and other protected industries.  Our households are possibly not far behind the US & Canada but to leave coal out is just making excuses.

I don’t go anywhere near some people’s argument that “coal is the enemy and must be closed down” because I see that as totally unrealistic but we need to be aware of the implications of what we base our economy on.  I would love to see the real emission figures for Australia published.

I find the union power squeeze on the government to protect aluminium, coal etc immoral and horrifying.  This is the reason that Australian families will be paying more, unless they are in the labour protected low income voter group when they will get compensation.

I believe their should be a clear and unequivocal statement that THERE WILL BE NO NEW COAL MINES OR EXPANSION OF COAL MINES.

The whole current approach of this carbon legislation is insane.  Omitting agriculture is crazy and the legislation must be made flexible enough to allow new technologies to be included.  I was horrified when Wong said that “Biochar is not in Kyoto”.  Bugger Kyoto, let’s make our carbon reduction work for Australians so that we all contribute to real reductions is my belief and this is the role of the Senate.  I hate Senator Wong’s bullying.

It was actually much easier for Eurpeans to reduce their carbon footprint because they do not have all these resources, they were able to close down Soviet era factories and it was politically acceptable to use nuclear power there.  They also have much small distances to travel so their infrastructure is less spread out

However until the government stops protecting the big polluters, Australians remain the worst per capita polluters and we need to acknowledge and change this.

While most of the population are unaware of the facts and confused by the political rhetoric, they are not in a possition to make sensible decisions and they are unaware that they can actually make real savings with good energy management.

Small business in particular is totally out of the loop.  Most of them are too busy to keep up to date and while it is all confusing they do not want to know.  In fact green business is environmentally sustainable and saves the business money.

When small business decides to go green with a real environmental management system they become more profitable and real green certification, ISO 14001 attracts more clients bcause it really differentiates the business from their competitors.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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I had a comment from one of my newsletter readers which I am going to share and in the next post I will break all my own rules and make a comment on Aussie politics.

“It is a constant frustration for me to see Australians labelled as being the most polluting individuals on the planet – because the figures that I see combine all the pollution created by all exporting industries lumped into the per capita numbers.

Why do we persist in labelling individuals with this?

Wouldn’t it be fairer and honest to split this up and quote a number for those industries separately from the much much lesser number that ‘local consumption’ is responsible for?

I fear that as time goes on and ‘carbon tax’ regimes are put into place that I and my family will be paying up for emissions created by, for example, an aluminium smelter where 95% of its output is never consumed in Australia by Australians.

Why should the economy of 9 million households be constantly reminded of their responsibility to reduce emissions when so much of those emissions are attached to things for which they have no direct control over?”

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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Yet another report has come out listing Australia as the world’s biggest carbon dioxide polluters per head.

Australia’s heavy reliance on coal makes for an average output of 20.58 tonnes of C02 per person per year, compared to 19.78 tonnes in the USA.

China, which recently overtook the US as the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter overall, has a per capita average of only about 4.5 tonnes per person.

The fast looming global climate change negotiations are going to be very difficult.  Poor countries have more to gain by continuing to pollute and rich countries have more to lose by cutting their pollution and waste.

The chair of climate change at the University of Adelaide, Professor Barry Brook, says even compared to other developed countries, Australia would have a lot more to cut.

EU countries like France has about a third of the amount of carbon emissions of an Australian said Professor Brook in Adelaide.

Top polluter status for Australians is so opposite to our national concept of a clean green country and it very damaging for our exports and also our tourism.

Our Clean Aussie brand is false.  It is greenwash as is most of the government’s big talk about what we are doing as climate change leaders.  This is all just false marketing and greenwash.

Plus there is a growing awareness of “food miles” which will affect our exports to the EU.

Professor Barry Brook says “ultimately what matters is the total global carbon budget and unless humanity as a whole can find solutions to that problem, then all of that petty bickering amongst nations about who’s more or less responsible isn’t really going to be very helpful.”

It is time for all Australians and all business including small to medium business to decide to go green, become environmentally sustainable and reduce our carbon footprint.  You can do this and make money with sensible energy management and green certification like ISO 14001

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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Australia’s advertising industry is finally cracking down on greenwash and they have brought out the Australian Association of National Advertisers publishing an Environmental Claims in Advertising and Marketing Code.

They want to ensure “marketers apply rigorous, industry-wide standards when they make environmental claims in advertising or marketing communications.”

This is an add-on to the actions the ACCC have already brought in.

Claims made about the environment “shall not be misleading or deceptive or be likely to mislead or deceive.’ and be “supported by evidence that is current and reflects legislative, scientific and technological developments”, and have to be presented “in a manner that can be clearly understood by the consumer.”

Forbidden is having a frog or rainforest on a label to suggest the product has some sort of green certification, using terms like eco, enviro and environmentally friendly.

The report I read said that toys, baby products, cosmetics and cleaning products were the most susceptible to greenwashing.

The most effective way both to prove that you have a green business and also to save money in your business is to build in real environmental sustainability and become certified to ISO 14001 which is the only real green certification.  ISO 14001 is also internationally recognised.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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There is an ever growing “mountain” of e-waste with western countries exporting the problem to third world countries.  80 per cent of devices like computers and televisions imported to Nigeria, Pakistan and Ghana classified for reuse are simply scrapped – they are nothing more than waste.

According to a UN Environment Program report, between 50 per cent and 80 per cent of obsolete electronic goods collected for recycling in the US each year is being exported.

Even China which produces 2.3 million tonnes of its own domestic e-waste a year and has banned e-waste imports, still finds it is a dumping ground for the world’s e-waste.

There does need to be international agreement to prevent this exporting of obsolete electronic equipment needs to be recycled to yield valuable materials, such as precious metals and not simply incinerated to recover metals, which emits heavy metals and toxic chemicals including dioxins, which is often the case in third world countries.

Otherwise these waste exporters are simply exploiting a loophole in the Basel Convention which is supposed to prevent rich countries from sending their toxic waste to poor countries.
In Australia, environment ministers are planning a national e-waste scheme for November this year.  Environment and industry groups say they will support a scheme that would legally require all companies importing televisions and computers into the country to recycle them at the end of the products’ life.

This scheme proposes a financial incentive to companies to make computers more easily upgradeable, less disposable and at the very least, easier to recycle.
T
his recycling responsibility is nothing new!  It has been the norm in countries like Germany for many years so we are only doing catch up.  Green design only comes when the company that produces the product has to deal with the waste phase.

In Australia we are about to have a real spike in waste TVs are the analogue signal is turned off and everyone rushes out to buy the new energy hungry flat screen TVs.  It would be good to see the waste addressed at source with longer lasting, more energy efficient equipment designed to be easily recycled.

Green design only comes when the company that makes a product also deals with the waste phase.  Exporting waste is not acceptable.  E-waste is a serious problem

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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A study from Brazil shows that ethanol made from sugar cane emits heavy levels of the pollutants carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide.  It is lower in carbon dioxide emissions.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that France will begin to impose a new carbon tax next year as a means of combating global warming.

This tax will cover the use coal, gas and oil and cost 17 euros per tonne of emitted carbon dioxide. Sarkozy has said the money brought in from the new tax, an estimated 4.3 billion euros, would be returned to taxpayers through tax cuts in other areas as well as “green checks.”

Critics of the new tax claim this is merely money raising but the President has insisted the goal of the tax is to change France’s habits and cut energy consumption.

It does make more sense to tax the heavy polluters as an incentive to develop better energy management rather than exempting them of giving them huge concessions which is what Australia’s planned legislation.

Carbon Tax, global warming, energy management, energy consumption

France is suggesting a carbon tax on coal, gas and oil to promote good energy management and change French habits

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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Last night I was present with a beautiful glass trophy by the Environmental Management Systems Association, which is the peak body for environmental management systems in Australia.  This was  the CGU Premier Award for sustainable business practices that are in harmony with the environment and the wider community.

What a thrill to be recognised for the work I do with businesses, with my wider outreach with the newsletter and marketing practical green awareness for small to medium business and also recognition of my own certification to ISO 14001 which was one of the criteria that was looked at.  I don’t actually know of any other consultancies that have the ISO 14001 and live the systems they sell their clients.

While I have deeply cared about the environment all my life, I am not a “greenie”.  I am a pragmatic business person who recognises that business needs to have financial as well as environmental sustainability.  I do have a green business and I put a lot of thought into planning effective energy management.  My biggest carbon footprint was the websites and I moved them to a fully wind powered provider offshore because I could not get this service in Australia.   So this enabled me to reduce my carbon footprint.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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An exceptional joint appeal published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and The Lancet, a group of 18 medical organisations are warning of the  health implications from global warming.  The doctors warned that the results for international health could be catastrophic.”

Climate change is likely to affect health in a variety of ways ranging from malnutrition caused by drought, cholera from flooding plus the spread of mosquito-borne disease to temperate zones.

The letter was signed by the presidents of 18 colleges of physicians or academies of medicine from the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Ireland, South Africa and Scotland.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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Biochar is made by burning dry organic matter in an oxygen free kiln in a process called pyrolysis.  This produces biochar which is formed of stable aromatic carbon rings. And the process releases volatile gases that can be burnt to produce energy.  Typically half the energy is used to dry the organic matter in a big tumble dryer before putting it into the pyrolysis chamber.

Biochar varies in its physical characteristics depending on the type of organic matter used.  Many forms are very good soil additives with a very large surface area that provides habitats for microorganisms.  Worms prefer soil that has biochar added and it is very good at retaining nitrogen, preventing nitrogenous fertilisers from getting into water ways and prevent loss of nitrous oxides to the atmosphere as well and providing very long term soil carbon sequestration.

Small scale biochar production, such as on individual farm sis not as effective because there is no integrated gas capture that can be used in the drying so the energy management is not as effective.

The are difficulties about using sewage to produce biochar as it is too wet and the drying would be a major problem.  Dried manure and poultry litter is a good feed source however.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want greater efficiency and reduced stress!

If you sometimes need to deal with staff errors and what is even worse, covered up errors that come back to bite, you are riding a time bomb and Jean will help you defuse it. Plus get you real recognition from markets and regulators.

The good news is that this is now available as online training so you only need to commit to one hour per week and no travel. You can even Do-It-Yourself! .

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