Plastic fantastic

(Source: Sydney Morning herald)

In the midst of the northern Pacific Ocean is a liquid desert, a vast floating garbage dump, devoid of complex ocean life, prone to doldrums, seldom visited by fishing vessels, away from main shipping lines, and thus rarely seen by visitors.

It offers, by all accounts, a disturbing vision. Anyone sailing through this liquid dump will encounter, from horizon to horizon, concentrations of bobbing rubbish, in every direction, for day after day. Most of what is floating is not even visible, because it is plastic which has broken down into microparticles.

This degenerating soup is much larger than NSW and Victoria combined. It is about the same size as Britain, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. It has been created by a giant spiral of clockwise ocean currents, known as the North Pacific Gyre, which carries human-created garbage that is slowly collected and consolidated by wind and currents.

The phenomenon has a name: the Eastern Garbage Patch. It was first properly documented, quite recently, by a Californian sailor and ocean researcher, Charles Moore, after he took a shortcut by motoring his yacht through the doldrums on his way back from the 1997 Trans-Pacific Yacht Race. A second giant floating mass, created by the same gyre, has been discovered thousands of kilometres away between Hawaii and Japan. Together they are commonly referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

(UK): EasyJet unveils 'eco-jet'

(Source: Guardian) EasyJet has urged plane manufacturers to produce greener planes after unveiling the prototype for an aircraft that could slash carbon dioxide emissions by half. The low-budget carrier said its design, cobbled together from existing technology, would produce 50% less CO2 than its existing fleet and could be ready to fly by 2015. EasyJet said it was in discussions with Boeing and Airbus – the world's largest plane manufacturers.

The EasyJet 'ecoJet', crafted by two qualified aeronautical engineers employed by the airline, features "open rotor" engines that will produce 25% less carbon dioxide per passenger kilometre flown than the airline's current Airbus planes. It will cut fuel burn by a further 15% with wings and fuselage constructed from lighter aluminium composite material. A further 10% will be saved by slower inflight speed and, in a development not linked to the aircraft, changes to air traffic control across Europe.– and engine maker Rolls-Royce about producing a next generation of green aircraft.

The big dry

(Source: The Economist) Long but well-written article about the water shortage in Australia - which is having a profound effect on that country. (click on title above for full article)

Australia is struggling to cope with the consequences of a devastating drought. As the world warms up, other countries should pay heed. John Howard, Australia's prime minister, arrived here in February and urged the four states through which the Murray-Darling flows to hand their authority over the river to the federal government. After seven years of drought, and many more years of over-exploitation and pollution, he argued that the only hope of restoring the river to health lies in a complete overhaul of how it is managed. As the states weigh the merits of Mr Howard's scheme, the river is degenerating further. Every month hydrologists announce that its flow has fallen to a new record low (see chart). In April Mr Howard warned that farmers would not be allowed to irrigate their crops at all next year without unexpectedly heavy rain in the next few months. A region that accounts for 40% of Australia's agriculture, and 85% of its irrigation, is on the verge of ruin.

Epic drought in Australia

(Source: Independent) Australia has warned that it will have to switch off the water supply to the continent's food bowl unless heavy rains break an epic drought - heralding what could be the first climate change-driven disaster to strike a developed nation. The Murray-Darling basin in south-eastern Australia yields 40 per cent of the country's agricultural produce. But the two rivers that feed the region are so pitifully low that there will soon be only enough water for drinking supplies. Australia is in the grip of its worst drought on record, the victim of changing weather patterns attributed to global warming and a government that is only just starting to wake up to the severity of the position.

World is running out of water

(Source: The Guardian) The world is running out of water and needs a radical plan to tackle shortages that threaten the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to Jeffrey Sachs, director of the UN's Millennium Project.

Professor Sachs, who is credited with sparking pop star Bono's crusade for African development, told an environment conference in Delhi that the world simply had "no more rivers to take water from". The breadbaskets of India and China were facing severe water shortages and neither Asian giant could use the same strategies for increasing food production that has fed millions in the last few decades.

Ethanol fuel hit as price of oil drops but corn soars

(Source: NZ Herald) Interesting dilemma:

The economic viability of ethanol as an alternative to petrol has been thrown into question as the oil price fell below US$50 a barrel yesterday for the first time in nearly two years, while the price of corn - the main ingredient in the new fuel - surged to a new 10-year high.