Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Global Warming

While the presence of life is persistent, its diversity is always changing. If we had a time-lapse camera trained on our planet for the last four billion years, we would see continents changing their shape and jostling each other; forests expanding and contracting as icecaps and glaciers wax and wane; species rising in dominance and disappearing in extinction; the atmosphere itself changing in thickness and composition.

These changes are impossible to watch, of course, because they happen in geological time scales, the time it takes for rocks to form and erode away. The new development in planetary history is that global change is now happening in human time scales, within our lifetimes.

“Climate change is variation in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting for an extended period, typically decades or longer. It encompasses temperature increase (global warming), sea-level rise, changes in precipitation patterns and increased frequencies of extreme events. Each of these phenomena can impact on biological diversity. In fact climate change is one of the major threats to biodiversity.”
The Convention on Biological Diversity

Life as we know it – indeed, the development of human societies - has flourished because the earth’s climate has remained relatively stable for a long period of time. The earth’s climate has been relatively stable since the last Ice Age ended 10,000 years ago, perhaps the most stable interglacial period for 400,000 years (IPCCa 2001).

The earth’s climate is regulated by the natural greenhouse effect, created by an atmosphere containing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane that trap heat from the sun. The heat regulation provided by the atmosphere depends on the concentration of these gases.

The global heat balance has been changed by human use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, which release greenhouse gases when burned. By depending on the combustion of fossil fuels for energy and transport, humans are creating an extra blanket around the earth, an additional ‘unnatural’ greenhouse effect. The present atmospheric CO2 concentration has not been exceeded during the past 420,000 years, and likely not during the past 20 million years (IPCCa 2001).

Global warming is a reality already with us. The 1990s were the warmest decade on record, about 0.6 of a degree celcius (°C) warmer than 100 years ago. Australia has warmed by 0.7 °C between 1910 – 1999, with most of this increase occurring since 1950 (CSIRO, 2001).

Small changes in global average temperature have a major impact on nature. The global average temperature during the last Ice Age 10 to 20,000 years ago, which created vast areas under ice and glaciers, was only 8–10°C cooler than today (Hadley Centre, 1999).

Similarly, we can expect increases in the global average temperature of a few degrees will have dramatic changes on local environments and climatic conditions.

By 2030, average annual temperatures in Australia will be between 0.4 – 2.0°C higher than in 1990, and by 2070 it will be between 1 – 6°C warmer (CSIRO 2001). These are dramatic changes, and they are predicted to occur within our lifetimes (see map opposite).

This wide range of warming in the CSIRO scenarios reflects uncertainty about the levels of human greenhouse emissions in the future and how quickly the atmosphere responds to greater gas levels. We can however be certain that the current warming trend will continue, at rates much faster than normal.

Animals and plants are showing us that climate change is happening:

Where animals and plants are able to live depends largely on the climate. As climate changes, scientists are seeing changes in animal abundance and

distribution; changes in body size, development, and genetics; and shifts in the timing of events, such as breeding. Some wildlife are moving away from their usual habitats as the climate warms, seeking to maintain their preferred climate by moving towards the polar regions and higher altitudes (IPCCb, 2001).

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s scientific think-tank, says that “for animals that are exhibiting significant large-scale patterns of changes, the most consistent explanation is recent climatic change.” Two out of every three international scientific studies into the impacts of climate on plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammal species show new and significant climate-driven changes (IPCCb, 2001).

Throughout the world, just a few of the changes that are occurring now include:


  • 22 of 35 non-migratory European butterfly species have shifted northwards by 35 – 240 km this century (Hughes 2000).

  • The only two vascular plant species in Antarctica have increased in numbers between 1964 and 1990 when there have been warmer summers and milder winters (Hughes 2000).

  • Changes in migration patterns of birds have been noted in Europe, North America and Latin America (IPCCb 2001).

  • Populations of Adelies Penguins, which inhabit pack ice, have decreased by 22 percent as sea ice has declined; Chinstrap Penguins, which prefer open water, have increased by more than 400 percent (IPCCb 2001).

  • The massive climate-related coral bleaching event of 1998 destroyed about 16 percent of coral reefs of the world in 9 months (Wilkinson, 2000).

  • A rise in surface sea temperatures of 0.8°C over 42 years was accompanied by a decline in zooplankton abundance of 70 per cent over 20 years, and further up the food chain, a decline in Sooty Shearwater abundance by 90 per cent (more than 4 million birds) (Hughes, 2000).

PM rejects ban on climbing sacred site

PM rejects ban on climbing sacred site
ARI SHARP
July 11, 2009
Keep the walk . . . Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would like to one day climb Uluru.

Keep the walk . . . Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would like to one day climb Uluru. Photo: Glenn Campbell

THE Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has never climbed Uluru but says he would like to have a chance to one day, dealing a blow to a proposal to ban tourists clambering up the iconic rock.

"I've not done it," Mr Rudd told 3AW yesterday, "but I've run into people from abroad who've climbed it and have had a great experience. I've also run into people from abroad who have fallen over and done themselves great damage."

A draft management plan for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park released on Wednesday proposed a ban on climbing the rock in accordance with the wishes of the traditional owners, who consider the 348-metre high rock sacred.

But Mr Rudd was unmoved, saying "it would be very sad if we got to a stage, though, where Australians, and frankly our guests from abroad, weren't able to enjoy that experience". The Prime Minister's opposition is important because any decision to ban the climb would need the support of the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, who while not declaring his position has shown sympathy to arguments in favour of a ban.

Mr Rudd was joined in his rejection of the ban by Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, but incurred the wrath of parts of the indigenous community and the Greens leader, Bob Brown, who said it showed a lack of respect.

David Ross, the director of the Central Land Council, said: "Kevin Rudd won't be around forever. One day he'll be gone but Aboriginal people won't. They'll still be there, watching people leave tracks up over their sacred site."

Mr Ross said supporters of the climb should take into account that at least 35 people had died while scaling the rock, while many more had been injured or fallen ill. "If the climb was a road and that number of casualties was suffered within a few hundred metres of each other, some drastic action would be taken," he said.

"If people can't find it within themselves to respect the wishes of traditional owners of Uluru and support the closure of its climb, then perhaps they should consider it on safety grounds."

Asked yesterday in Sydney whether he agreed with the Prime Minister's position, Mr Turnbull said he did, noting that his party's opposition to the ban "expressed or reflected the concerns of many Australians".

Each year about 350,000 tourists visit Uluru, about a third of whom choose to climb it. Research conducted by park administrators found 98 per cent of visitors would not change their decision to come to Uluru if they were unable to climb it.

Senator Brown threw his support behind a ban, saying indigenous requests not to climb the rock should be honoured.

"We should respect the culture of the indigenous people and I think the Prime Minister should respect that culture too," he told reporters in Canberra.

"It's a breach of that faith to be continuing to say people should be able to climb the rock even though in doing so they're climbing over the spiritual sensitivity of the local indigenous people, and I don't think that's fair."

Man plunges 180ft over Niagara Falls

Man plunges 180ft over Niagara Falls — and lives

 
A MAN who plunged over Niagara Falls yesterday survived with only minor injuries, making him the first person in more than 100 years known to have gone over the North American waterfall without any protective device and live. Tourists watched in astonishment as the man, wearing casual clothes and a Parka, floated by in the Niagara River, then plunged headfirst down the 180ft waterfall.
Earlier he had been seen to climb over fencing near a lookout above the falls and slide down an embankment into the water.
After four minutes in the water Kirk Jones, 40, from Michigan, hauled himself out and saluted thousands of onlookers from the rocks below the cascade. Police arrived soon after and arrested him.
He was later charged with unlawfully performing a stunt, which carries a maximum fine of $10,000 (about £7,000). He was also charged with mischief under the criminal code of Canada. Police also led away an accomplice who had filmed the fall, raising suspicion that it had been a staged stunt.
American reality television shows are known to pay large amounts for exclusive broadcast rights to daring stunts.
“When we got down there, the guy had just got on to the rocks,” Captain Shawn Bates, of the Niagara Fire Department’s rescue unit, said. “He swam over to the rocks by himself.
“He was very co-operative. He grabbed a hunk of moss and put it in his pocket and said: ‘That’s going to be a souvenir.’ I don’t know if he was thinking quite right.”
Lynda Satelmajer, from Ontario, said that she and her family had watched the man as he prepared to get in the water and then watched him go over the falls, smiling all the way. “He seemed a bit edgy; kind of jumping around,” she said. “He walked over to where we were standing and he jumped and slid down on his backside and went over the brink. It was really freaky, actually. He was smiling.”
Water rushes over the falls, which separate the United States and Canada, at a rate of 150,000 gallons a second. Fifteen people have taken the plunge in barrels or other protective chambers since 1901; ten survived. Suicides are not uncommon, but police do not give numbers.
“I saw him disappear over the edge of the falls,” Terry McMullen, a tourist, said. Mr McMullen’s wife, Brenda, said: “He just looked calm. He just was gliding by so fast. I was in shock, really, that I saw a person go by.”
Only one other person is known to have survived a plunge over the Canadian side of the falls without a barrel or other protective gear. Sam Patch, a professional daredevil, jumped into the Niagara twice for a stunt in 1829. He died in a later stunt.
In 1960 a seven-year-old boy wearing a lifejacket also survived, having been thrown into the water in a boating accident.
No one has survived a trip over the narrower and rockier drop on the American side.


A man stabbed in the face

Stabbed in face in home invasion in Milperra

By daily telegraph
Home invasion Milperra
POLICE hunt ... Two men are in Liverpool Hospital after a home invasion at Milperra.  Picture: Bill Hearne Source: The Daily Telegraph
A MAN has been stabbed in the face and body during a home invasion in Sydney's southwest.
Police say two men, armed with knives and a baton, entered a house in Dunstan Avenue, Milperra, about 10pm yesterday.
A 22-year-old male occupant was allegedly stabbed several times, while the 50-year-old man was hit on the head with the baton.
The robbers stole some cash and a mobile phone before fleeing, last seen running east on Dunstan Avenue, police said.
The younger victim is being treated at Liverpool Hospital for stab wounds to his face, arms, body and legs, while the older man is being treated for a head wound and cuts and bruises.
They both remain stable.
The men who entered the house are described as being of white/European appearance, 20-25 years old and about 180cm tall.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.



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Planning to ban climbers climbing on the Uluru

Planning to ban climbers climbing on the Uluru
Uluru at sunset
Traditional owners have long been opposed to people climbing Uluru. (AAP)
Climbing to the top of Uluru could be banned in the near future under a proposed draft plan for the popular Central Australian tourist destination.
The Director of National Parks today released a draft 10-year management plan for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, which is visited by about 350,000 people a year, about half of whom are from overseas.
The traditional landowners have long been opposed to people climbing the 346 metre high rock, which is considered sacred.
Safety concerns have also been raised, with more than 35 deaths recorded on the climb, which can be steep, slippery and extremely hot.
At present, visitors are advised to respect the wishes of the traditional owners, but about 30 per cent of people choose to climb, many of them children.
The draft plan, which is open to public comment for the next two months, proposes to close the rock climb in the future.
"For visitor safety, cultural, and environmental reasons the Director and the Board will work towards closure of the climb," the plan states, although it says in the short-term the climb will remain open.
The plan notes that recent surveys show 98 per cent of people would not be put off visiting the area if they are not allowed to climb the rock.
It says Parks Australia will continue to work with the tourism industry to provide unique and rewarding experiences at Uluru. 
The Director of National Parks, Peter Cochrane, said it would take at least a year before a final plan for the park was approved by the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett.
It could then take many more months before the climb could finally be closed, so as not to impact heavily on the tourism industry.
"We will ensure that if there are any major changes to what we do, there will be sufficient lead time for the industry to adjust," Mr Cochrane said.
He said safety, environmental and cultural factors had played a part in the push to close the climb.
"It is very steep, very slippery, strenuous.
"It's higher than the Eiffel Tower, so up until 2000 more than 30 people had died on the climb.
"We still have over a dozen injuries and incidents every year.
"There's erosion concerns and there are no toilets on the top of the rock.
"So human behaviour up there means that we get run-off fouling water holes, and having impacts on plants and animals and the health of Aboriginal kids who play in those water holes.
"And culturally, Uluru is very significant to traditional owners."
The Tourism and Transport Forum said the preservation of Uluru has to be done in a way that respects traditional owners' wishes and takes into account the contributions the tourism industry brings to the area.
"If there was an eventual close to the climb, in line with the demands of the traditional owners of Uluru, the tourism industry would respect this position," TTF managing director, Christopher Brown, said.
"However, operators and investors would need to be given time and assistance to develop new interactive experiences which expand the park's tourism offering."
Mr Brown says it is important to ensure the move to close the climb does not hurt tourist operators.
"In ensuring a continued attraction for tourists around the country and around the world to go there, we need to look at timing, maybe compensation for operators," he said.
"We would need to look at opening up other experiences in Central Australia to increase the average length of stay for people to longer than it currently is.
"We recognise that operating in culturally and environmentally sensitive areas is a serious responsibility.
"At the same time, we want to ensure employment and economic opportunities for regional communities."

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Jaycee Lee Dugard: Phillip Garrido 'kidnapped, drugged and repeatedly raped 14-year-old nearly 40 years ago'

Jaycee Lee Dugard: Phillip Garrido 'kidnapped, drugged and repeatedly raped 14-year-old nearly 40 years ago'

The monster who held Jaycee Lee Dugard captive for eighteen years was released by police after being arrested for raping and drugging a 14-year-old-schoolgirl 37 years ago, it was revealed last night.
The extraordinary new development raised new questions over why Phillip Garrido was allowed to remain free to abduct Jaycee when she was eleven-years-old.
Police said the earlier attack happened in Antioch, California - the same town where Jaycee was locked up in Garrido’s back garden prison -  in April, 1972.
Left, Phillip Garrido's mugshot after his arrest in 1977 for the rape of Katherine Callaway, and right, a police photograph of Garrido from the 1976 investigation into Callaway's rape. Yet another woman raped by Garrido has now come forward
Just five years later, Garrido was jailed for 50 years to life in Nevada for the brutal rape and kidnapping of a 25-year-old woman.
He was freed on parole in 1988, only to snatch Jaycee from the street three years later as she walked to school.
Authorities in the northern California town have also come under fire after failing to catch Garrido earlier even though neighbours complained several times about children living in the registered sex offender’s garden.
Police said yesterday that the victim in the 1972 attack was drugged with barbiturates after meeting Garrido and an accomplice at the town library and driven to a nearby hotel where she was repeatedly raped.
Memories: Jaycee's family have released more pictures of their daughter, which is all they had to remember her by during her years in captivity
Memories: Jaycee's family have released more pictures of their daughter, which is all they had to remember her by during her years in captivity
Garrido was arrested after the girl’s parents alerted police - but he was set free when the victim refused to testify against him.
‘After being given more barbiturates, she woke up in the motel. She remembers Garrido being there and she remembers being repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by him,’ said Antioch police Lt Leonard Orman.
‘At some point a day or two later her mother and father find her there.’
He said Garrido, who was still with the girl at the motel, was arrested and charged with rape and providing drugs to a minor.
‘But it seems that the prosecution was dropped,’ he added.
The earlier victim contacted police last week after Garrido’s arrest.
‘She has a lot of concern about what Mr Garrido has done since the 1972 incident.
‘I think there is a good chance there were other victims,’ he added.
The Antioch public library where Phillip Garrido was accused of kidnapping and repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl more than 30-years-ago
The Antioch public library where Phillip Garrido was accused of kidnapping and repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl more than 30-years-ago
Police search the shed next to the Antioch home where Jaycee was held for 18 years. Her aunt said the family are not questioning her about her ordeal
Police search the shed next to the Antioch home where Jaycee was held for 18 years. Her aunt said the family are not questioning her about her ordeal
The latest twist came as Jaycee’s aunt, Tina Dugard, 42, revealed details of her niece’s first week of freedom in eighteen years.
While the rest of the world was shocked by the unfolding details of her long ordeal, Jaycee and the two daughter she had with captor Phillip Garrido looked forward to a new life with their family.
‘There’s a sense of comfort and optimism. Jaycee and her girls are happy. The darkness and despair has lifted,’ said Tina Dugard, 42, who spent five days with them after their back garden prison was finally discovered.
The aunt offered the first eyewitness account of the emotional reunion as it was revealed that Garrido’s wife, Nancy, went to work caring for the handicapped while she kept Jaycee locked up at home to be repeatedly raped by her evil husband.
Neighbours have been hanging pink ribbons as a sign of solidarity outside Jaycee's mother's house in Riverside, California
Neighbours have been hanging pink ribbons as a sign of solidarity outside Jaycee's mother's house in Riverside, California
Garrido, 55, got a job as a nursing aide at a charity helping more than 1,000 children and adults three years after helping to abduct Jaycee as she walked to the school bus stop.
‘The people who received services through her, they liked her very much,’ said Barbara Maizie, executive director of the state-registered Contra Costa agency in northern California.
‘She was a good employee and she was well liked by the people she worked with. They cannot believe that this is possible. They’re totally shocked,’ she added.
All the time that Garrido lovingly worked with the disabled, Jaycee was forced to live in a tent hidden in the couple’s back garden.
Garrido worked for four years for the agency, between 1994 and 1998, after showing her bosses an immaculate CV with reference for her nursing care dating back to 1981.
One of Jaycee’s biggest regrets is allowing her parents to worry about her for so long.

‘She’s in a state of shock, but Jaycee also feels guilty for not having called her mum or dad or anyone - even though she was a captive,’ said her step-grandmother Wilma Probyn.
But Tina Dugard, a schoolteacher from Riverside, California, said the reunion has gone incredibly smoothly.

Rapist Phillip Garrido, who fathered Jaycee's two children
Rapist Phillip Garrido, who fathered Jaycee's two children
She said she watched her sister Terry - Jaycee’s mother - brushing her daughter’s hair and thought: ‘Wow, she’s French-braiding Jaycee’s hair for the first time in eighteen years.’
Children Starlite, fifteen, and Angel, eleven, have been kept away from the news on TV and in the newspapers.
‘Right now, it’s about reconnecting,’ said Tina.
While in captivity, Jaycee taught her daughters how to read and write.
‘They are educated and bright,’ Tina said of the children.
Tina said she was not sure how her niece was able to teach her daughters how to read and write.
But she said that during her five-day visit she was staring up at the sky on a starry night with one of Jaycee's daughters, who then pointed out the names of constellations.
Seeing a plant, the other daughter said: 'That's a nasturtium. It's edible. Do you want to eat it?'
Ms Dugard said that Jaycee remembered who she was the moment they met, flinging her arms around her saying: 'Auntie Tina'.
'I looked at her and I knew right away,' she said. 'After 18 years, you have a sense of: 'Could this possibly be true?'
'She absolutely knew who I was. She remembered me right away. ... It was one of the happiest moments of my life.'
'I went forward and cried and hugged her and held her as tight as I possibly could. It was surreal, and it was fabulous.'
Ms Dugard said the family are not grilling the girls about what happened while they were in captivity with Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy.
She would not comment on aspects of the ongoing investigation, such as how Jaycee and her daughters were treated by the Garridos.
She said Jaycee's daughters 'know what's been going on,' but they have not been allowed to watch television or read any coverage of the Garrido story.
The Garrido home has now been boarded up, fenced off, and red-tagged by the Contra Costa County building inspectors, who have deemed the home as unsafe
The Garrido home has now been boarded up, fenced off, and red-tagged by the Contra Costa County building inspectors, who have deemed the home unsafe
The family has not pressed Jaycee and her daughters to discuss life in the cluttered backyard collection of tents and shacks.
Ms Dugard wouldn't say whether the two girls, as some media outlets have reported, had believed Jaycee was their older sister.
They know Jaycee is their mother but for now it's about getting to know each other again.
'It's all about strengthening those bonds that really didn't weaken, but needed to be brought back together,' she said.
'There's a sense of comfort and optimism, a sense of happiness,' she said. 'Jaycee and her girls are happy.
'People probably want to think that it's been this horrible, scary thing for all of us. [But] the horrible, scary thing happened 18 years ago, and continued to happen for the last 18 years.
'The darkness and despair [has lifted]. [There was] laughing and crying and sitting quietly and holding hands.'
She said that Jaycee and her daughters to be in good health and are very close.
'She does seem like a 29-year-old woman,' she said of Jaycee. 'She's fabulous, and she's beautiful.
'All three are very tight. There was a lot of sitting next to each other.'
Police are making a thorough search of the Garrido property. A bone fragment was found earlier this week
Police are making a thorough search of the Garrido property. A bone fragment was found earlier this week
Over the next several days the women did 'normal' family things.
She recalled the youngest daughter sitting beside her sister on a love seat and throwing her legs over her - just like a sister would do.
They have played board games and watched the movie Enchanted on DVD, on another night.
They talked about recent movies, and Jaycee said she wanted to see the Sandra Bullock romantic comedy, 'The Proposal.' Jaycee also read a lot.
'She likes mysteries,' Tina added.
The girls also played Nintendo. One of the girls loves the Zelda games, and both love Super Mario Smash Brothers.
The girls talked of their love of animals, and climbing trees.
Ms Dugard said she was optimistic about the girls, adding: 'I'm a teacher. I know kids. And I can tell you that they are a normal 11- and 15-year-old.'
Ms Dugard  still has the Barbie doll she had bought for her niece the first Christmas she went missing in 1991. It is still in its box, sitting on a table in her living room.
Jaycee was kidnapped earlier that year after her family moved to South Lake Tahoe, from Orange County.
'I kept thinking: 'Tomorrow. They'll find her tomorrow',' she recalled. 'Then it was: 'For sure by the weekend.'
'Then it was: 'By Thanksgiving. I know it won't pass'. And then: 'For sure it will be Christmas.' '
Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy, 54, were arrested last week and charged in the kidnapping, rape and imprisonment of Jaycee. The couple has pleaded not guilty.
Ms Dugard said that her other niece, Jaycee's sister Shayna, is bonding with the sibling she hasn't seen since she was one.
Shayna told her sister, Jaycee, that she was so happy to meet her, Ms Dugard said. There was an 'instant connection... it was almost a genetic connection ... an instant sense of family, for all of us.'
'The fact that (Jaycee) is home sinks in in little pieces...she's there, and we know she's there, but sometimes you're just taken aback by the joy, and it bursts out.
'I may never know what happened [to Jaycee]," she said. "But she's home.'

Article from: Mail Online.

Kyle's career lives on

Kyle's career lives on

17/09/2009 1:38:00 PM
Shock jock Kyle Sandilands has been thrown yet another lifeline from radio network Austereo despite two suspensions in the past two months.He remains suspended until October 7, three weeks into the new ratings period, while he attends external counselling.
Austereo chairman Peter Harvie said in a statement today: "2Day FM advises that Kyle Sandilands will remain suspended without pay until 7th October 2009. The period of the suspension will therefore be four weeks, of which one week has already been served. The pay penalty will be directed by 2Day FM to community charitable causes. In addition Kyle Sandilands will attend external counselling. 2Day FM has taken into consideration Sandilands's concern and remorse for statements made."
The controversial co-host of The Kyle and Jackie O Show on 2Day FM met Harvie and other executives in a private boardroom on level 5 of the Sheraton On The Park hotel in Sydney this morning.
Sandilands left the meeting alone about 11.45am, refusing to answer any questions.
"They're all still in there though," he said, referring to Austereo management.
When asked whether he still had a job with the Austereo network, Sandilands said: "I can't make any comment at all".
Mr Harvie and two other men left the meeting about half an hour later.
Mr Harvie would not comment on what was discussed during the meeting but said a statement would be released at 1pm.
Sandilands appeared relaxed as he walked out in navy blue blazer and jeans, thanking hotel staff for their time.
Sandilands has been pulled off air twice in two months following comments he made on the daily breakfast radio segment he co-hosts with Jackie Henderson.
The most recent was suggesting comedian Magda Szubanski should spend time in a concentration camp to lose more weight.

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