Reading Time: 6 mins1st June 2024
Author: Robert Watson

A WIN FOR US ALL - EXCEPT GLENCORE
The climate and Australia had a win this week. A proposal by the Glencore mining group to store liquified carbon dioxide (CO2) derived from a planned, but unproven, carbon capture process into subsurface sandstone beneath the Great Artesian Basin was rejected by the Queensland Government.

Reading Time: 11 mins7th May 2024
Author: Robert Watson

GLENCORE AND THE GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN
Despite unified and diverse opposition, Glencore, one of the world's largest miners is proposing to capture carbon dioxide from it's Moonie gas field, liquifying the waste and transporting it almost 200km to deposit in the largest artesian water body in the world, the Great Artesian Basin covering 22% of the Australian continent.

Reading Time: 34 mins5th July 2023
Author: Robert Watson

DECARBONISING AUSTRALIA
With the widespread use of carbon credits, expensive and unproven technologies, as well as new coal mine approvals, Australia is making the difficult job of reaching net zero by 2050 almost impossible.

Since May 2022 there have been three significant matters that will largely determine Australia’s direction on climate policy in the next few years. The first was the defeat of the Coalition government by the Anthony Albanese led Labor Party. The second matter was the reform to the Safeguard Mechanism by the new Labor government early in 2023, and the third and related matter was the Chubb Review into the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCUs) scheme.

Reading Time: 9 mins23rd September 2022
Author: Robert Watson

CLIMATE - A NEW GOVERNMENT, THE MINERS & RENEWABLES
A big factor helping the Labor Party win government in May last year was their advocacy for improved policies to help relieve global warming and climate change in general. There were of course other reasons people voted for a change, including the establishment of an effective federal integrity commission, gender wage equality, fairer wages for low-paid workers, and, because they weren’t the Morrison government!

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already served more than 10% of the electoral term, and from a rapid start, things might already be starting to ‘slow down’. There is more ‘political speak’ lately and less direct answers to difficult questions.

Reading Time: 12 mins22nd April 2022
Author: Robert Watson

1.5°C ... GOING, GOING, GONE!
The Paris Agreement is a landmark international accord that was adopted by nearly every nation in 2015 to address climate change and its negative impacts. The agreement aims to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2°C above preindustrial levels while pursuing the means to limit the increase to 1.5°C. Source: IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

On current evidence, one could reasonably believe that Earth has possibly reached, or is very close to reaching the critical +1.5°C temperature increase over pre-industrial temperature levels.

Reading Time: 8 mins21st February 2022
Author: Robert Watson

THE POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
The expense and difficulty in reaching a sustainable level of global temperature before 2050 was made more difficult by the inaction and neglect of the Morrison government and particularly the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor.

At the same time many industries were independently moving away from fossil fuel generated power Morrison, Taylor, Joyce, Pitt and many other conservative politicians were encouraging and promoting fossil fuel companies while almost completely ignoring renewables and the necessary infrastructure for transition ...

Reading Time: 14 mins4th February 2022
Author: Robert Watson

REVERSING GLOBAL WARMING AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL
How to employ regenerative farming techniques in your own garden.

Many of the techniques and principals that apply to regenerative farming/agriculture can be employed on a much smaller scale for suburban gardens and small acreages. In fact, many of the methods you probably already use are basically the same as used on a more “industrial scale on large acreages.

For example, one of the most utilised regenerative farming practices is crop and grazing rotation. Crop rotation is the practice of planting different crops sequentially on the same plot of land to improve soil health, optimize nutrients in the soil, and combat pest and weed pressure ...

Reading Time: 6 mins7th January 2022
Author: Robert Watson

YOUR CLIMATE DOLLARS IN A SUSPECT MARKETPLACE
In the past couple of years there has been a major upsurge of interest and concern with Australia’s policies on climate and the attitude of the government towards climate change.

The Emissions Reduction Fund, the uptake of carbon credits to offset pollution and substantially under-governed, voluntary schemes are moving emissions rather than reducing emissions ...

Reading Time: 10 mins6th December 2021
Author: Robert Watson

HYDROLOGY, THE SOIL SPONGE & GLOBAL COOLING
Walter Jehne is one of a number of respected and influential scientists advocating the study of the earth’s hydrology so with a greater understanding we can assist the earth, or nature if you like, to cool the place down.

The hydrology of earth is complicated and extremely varied from region to region, unlike CO₂, hydrology cannot be easily modelled nor easily explained ...

Reading Time: 4 mins9th November 2021
Author: Robert Watson

WALTER JEHNE – ‘THE NATURAL HISTORY OF WATER ON EARTH’
VIDEO. Internationally recognised climate scientist, soil microbiologist and innovation strategist Walter Jehne’s video lecture “The Natural History of Water on Earth”. In this video, Walter Jehne introduces and discusses the climate problem from the angle that it is not carbon causing the problem, but water. As water governs 95% of the Earth heat dynamics, the climate problem will not be solved by reducing emissions or drawing down carbon. We have to cool the Earth hydrologically.

Reading Time: 10 mins3rd November 2021
Author: Robert Watson

THE MINING INDUSTRY HAS BEEN GOOD FOR AUSTRALIA, BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER!
The past generation has seen various governments fail to utilise the incredible wealth that has been generated by the exploitation of natural resources in Australia.

... does Australia get a good deal from the natural resources exploitation industry?

Reading Time: 8 mins30th October 2021
Author: Robert Watson

CARBON CAPTURE & STORAGE – FICTION OR FACT?
The anthropocentric process of carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been tried and tested for over 30 years. Until now, there has never been a CCS project that has sequestered any substantial amount of carbon.

The fossil fuel industry speaks of projected figures approaching 90% sequestration, when the best result is about 30% and the average only 12% of sequestered carbon, leaving 88% escaping to the atmosphere. Is CCS viable or an expensive greenwashing exercise?

Reading Time: 5 mins29th October 2021
Author: Robert Watson

COP26 and AUSTRALIA
The Australian Prime Minister Morrison and Emissions Reduction Minister Taylor represented Australia at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. Australia offered no policy ideas, no commitment and was more concerned with the promotion of fossil fuel miner Santos and their plan for carbon capture and storage - an expensive process with very disappointing results ...