Archive for July, 2008

Will Methane from Cows and Sheep Be Included In Carbon Trading?

July 10, 2008 at 5:12 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

The 3 experts who have addressed this issue missed by Prof Garnaut are, Geoff Russell (a mathematician and computer programmer), Peter Singer (Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne) & Barry Brook (Sir Hubert Wilkins Professor of Climate Change at the University of Adelaide).

They conclude by stating,
“Just stop breeding so many sheep and cattle in Australia. And because methane is such a huge contributor to climate change, this is not just an “earth hour” stunt. This is the real deal”.

See the complete Age story here

If the real climate change culprit *is* methane gas from cows and sheep, how can they be exempt from carbon taxing or carbon trading?

When the second-largest current climate change contributor is coal and it gets mentioned 272 times in the Garnaut report and methane from cows and sheep only get mentioned once in the appendices, don’t just think, “We’re safe because we’re special”. Because in a World obsessed with carbon poisoning, no-one is considered special and there are a lot of very influential people out there working on these issues who won’t think you’re special either. If you don’t address it before someone else does it could be to your detriment.

This information is almost certain to get the shock-horror 60 minutes and A Current Affairs shows ranting and they might have a point.
However, I suggest that the World’s farmers work damned hard at ensuring their vegetation can be carbon valued and carbon traded in order to offset the methane production imbalance. If Holden and Coal miners are going to be able to buy carbon credits from forestry plantations then why shouldn’t farmers receive credits from their investment over a couple of hundred years in Australia’s vegetation on their tax-paying farms?!

What do you think

Please leave your comment below

Comments (5)

Australia’s Cattle Prices Fall As World’s Soar – Time For A Judicial Inquiry?

July 3, 2008 at 10:31 am · Filed under ACCC, Livestock issues, farming, high prices, livestock, meat industry, rural australia, rural issues

Without paraphrasing, I think the following call for a full judicial enquiry in to the Australian Beef Industry speaks for itself. (See it for yourself here)

ABA Chairman, Brad Bellinger said ‘US cattle prices are approaching record levels and their feeder steer is bringing over 40% more than its Australian equivalent. UK prices are at record levels and rising fast and Brazilian prices for forequarter beef have almost doubled since October’.

Australian prices have FALLEN 15% in the past year and we now have the lowest prices in the developed world. Australia is not suffering from oversupply, as we won’t go near filling the US beef quota. Brazil is shipping many times Australia’s tonnage into Russia, yet Australian cattlemen are being paid 15% less than they were a year ago.

Mr Bellinger continued, ‘We are paying almost five times the US producer levy to an unrepresentative and unaccountable MLA, plus we are paying hundreds of millions of dollars for a failed NLIS system that was meant to see us lead the world in market access and despite this, we are coming last’.

He said, ‘ABA research and our submission tendered to the ACCC Inquiry into Groceries have shown that the Australian supermarkets have by far the highest mark-up in the world, as they rort Australian consumers and producers.’

He continued, ‘I know that we live in the land of Ned Kelly and unregulated corporate price gouging is rampant but this time they have gone too far and are killing the ‘Goose that lays the Golden Egg’.

Australia is surviving on the sale of public infrastructure, the sale of businesses and our minerals; – when these run out, we will find we have destroyed our agricultural industry and end up with nothing; – similar to Nauru. Farms are up for sale Australia wide, while the MLA and the Government have failed us badly.

‘Considering the above facts, we call on Minister Burke to establish a Royal Commission into the Meat Industry,’ stated Mr Bellinger. ENDS

For more information please contact Brad Bellinger on 02 6725 4282 Mob 0401 233 421
Linda Hewitt 07 4987 6794 Mob 041 978 9211

What do you think?
Please leave your comment via the link below

Comments (3)