The German government has embarked on a charm offensive, seeking to defend its decision to extend the lifespan of the country's nuclear power plants by an average of 12 years. "I think it's fair to say that our energy supply scheme will become the world's most efficient and environmentally friendly," Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin, referring to her center-right coalition's overall plan to support the introduction of renewable energies by using more old-fashioned, established sources of power in the meantime. "The agreement will maintain affordable energy prices both for private consumers and businesses. Our aim is to further promote renewables, and we see nuclear and coal-fired power plants as an indispensible bridge towards this goal." By 2050, Merkel said, 80 percent of Germany's electricity should be harvested from renewable sources.
The German government has embarked on a charm offensive, seeking to defend its decision to extend the lifespan of the country's nuclear power plants by an average of 12 years.
"I think it's fair to say that our energy supply scheme will become the world's most efficient and environmentally friendly," Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin, referring to her center-right coalition's overall plan to support the introduction of renewable energies by using more old-fashioned, established sources of power in the meantime.
"The agreement will maintain affordable energy prices both for private consumers and businesses. Our aim is to further promote renewables, and we see nuclear and coal-fired power plants as an indispensible bridge towards this goal."
By 2050, Merkel said, 80 percent of Germany's electricity should be harvested from renewable sources.
AFP - Germany said it would extend the life of its nuclear reactors by 12 years on average Monday after marathon talks on the controversial issue that will shape the energy policy of Europe's top economy. The decision came after 12 hours of talks between senior politicians and means that some of the 17 plants will now be operational until the 2030s. The lives of older plants will be extended by eight years and those of newer ones by 14 years, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said. He said nuclear utilities would have to pay part of their extra profits boosted from the extension to develop renewable energy.
AFP - Germany said it would extend the life of its nuclear reactors by 12 years on average Monday after marathon talks on the controversial issue that will shape the energy policy of Europe's top economy.
The decision came after 12 hours of talks between senior politicians and means that some of the 17 plants will now be operational until the 2030s.
The lives of older plants will be extended by eight years and those of newer ones by 14 years, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said.
He said nuclear utilities would have to pay part of their extra profits boosted from the extension to develop renewable energy.
Tropical Storm Hermine formed in the southwest Gulf of Mexico today and strengthened slightly as it moved towards the coast of northeast Mexico and southern Texas, the US National Hurricane Centre said. Tropical storm warnings were in effect from Tampico, Mexico to the south Texas coast from the Rio Grande River to Baffin Bay, the Miami-based centre said. On its current track, Hermine does not threaten the main concentration of US oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Hermine, the eighth tropical storm of the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season, was at 7am located about 185 miles southeast of Tampico, Mexico and about 280 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas.
Tropical Storm Hermine formed in the southwest Gulf of Mexico today and strengthened slightly as it moved towards the coast of northeast Mexico and southern Texas, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect from Tampico, Mexico to the south Texas coast from the Rio Grande River to Baffin Bay, the Miami-based centre said.
On its current track, Hermine does not threaten the main concentration of US oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hermine, the eighth tropical storm of the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season, was at 7am located about 185 miles southeast of Tampico, Mexico and about 280 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas.
They are laying waste to crops in record numbers and their snouts are seriously damaging the autumn harvest. But soon the rampaging wild boar that have been causing havoc in rural areas of Germany could be gunned down by army marksmen, if farmers get their way. The call for a military response comes from landowners in the wine and crop-growing western Rhineland-Palatinate region, where boar have destroyed hundreds of hectares of maize and torn up the earth so badly with their snouts that combine harvesters have been brought to a standstill. "The farmers are boiling with rage yet the problem can't be solved by using regular hunters anymore," said Norbert Schindler, the president of the regional farmers' union. "They are trying hard but they just can't cope. Why can't the army be drafted in to help?"
They are laying waste to crops in record numbers and their snouts are seriously damaging the autumn harvest. But soon the rampaging wild boar that have been causing havoc in rural areas of Germany could be gunned down by army marksmen, if farmers get their way.
The call for a military response comes from landowners in the wine and crop-growing western Rhineland-Palatinate region, where boar have destroyed hundreds of hectares of maize and torn up the earth so badly with their snouts that combine harvesters have been brought to a standstill. "The farmers are boiling with rage yet the problem can't be solved by using regular hunters anymore," said Norbert Schindler, the president of the regional farmers' union. "They are trying hard but they just can't cope. Why can't the army be drafted in to help?"
So, the justifications for anyone to go in and kill wild boar in the sorts of numbers actually needed to address the problem simply don't exist.
Guardian - George Monbiot - I was wrong about veganism. Let them eat meat - but farm it properly
There's no doubt that the livestock system has gone horribly wrong. Fairlie describes the feedlot beef industry (in which animals are kept in pens) in the US as "one of the biggest ecological cock-ups in modern history". It pumps grain and forage from irrigated pastures into the farm animal species least able to process them efficiently, to produce beef fatty enough for hamburger production. Cattle are excellent converters of grass but terrible converters of concentrated feed. The feed would have been much better used to make pork. Pigs, in the meantime, have been forbidden in many parts of the rich world from doing what they do best: converting waste into meat. Until the early 1990s, only 33% of compound pig feed in the UK consisted of grains fit for human consumption: the rest was made up of crop residues and food waste. Since then the proportion of sound grain in pig feed has doubled. There are several reasons: the rules set by supermarkets; the domination of the feed industry by large corporations, which can't handle waste from many different sources; but most important the panicked over-reaction to the BSE and foot-and-mouth crises.
Pigs, in the meantime, have been forbidden in many parts of the rich world from doing what they do best: converting waste into meat. Until the early 1990s, only 33% of compound pig feed in the UK consisted of grains fit for human consumption: the rest was made up of crop residues and food waste. Since then the proportion of sound grain in pig feed has doubled. There are several reasons: the rules set by supermarkets; the domination of the feed industry by large corporations, which can't handle waste from many different sources; but most important the panicked over-reaction to the BSE and foot-and-mouth crises.
As to whether there are any unofficial relaxations in your area I don't know, but as I understand the EU regulations apply everywhere. keep to the Fen Causeway
What is on sale as hare, pheasant, venison, or wild boar is farmed.
This is why there are more and more wild boar in maize-producing regions. Calling on the military is ridiculous. What they need to do is stop producing the conditions in which wild boar increase and multiply.
Just another unintended effect of maize monoculture.
Other characteristics are his simplemindedness, his love and care for his dog Dogmatix, his anger when someone refers to him as being "fat", his enthusiasm for hunting and eating wild boars and beating up Romans.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2010) -- Widespread reports of a decline in the population of bees and other flower-visiting animals have aroused fear and speculation that pollination is also likely on the decline. A recent University of Toronto study provides the first long-term evidence of a downward trend in pollination, while also pointing to climate change as a possible contributor. "Bee numbers may have declined at our research site, but we suspect that a climate-driven mismatch between the times when flowers open and when bees emerge from hibernation is a more important factor," says James Thomson, a scientist with U of T's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Thomson's 17-year examination of the wild lily in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is one of the longest-term studies of pollination ever done. It reveals a progressive decline in pollination over the years, with particularly noteworthy pollination deficits early in the season. The study will be published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Science
ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2010) -- Widespread reports of a decline in the population of bees and other flower-visiting animals have aroused fear and speculation that pollination is also likely on the decline. A recent University of Toronto study provides the first long-term evidence of a downward trend in pollination, while also pointing to climate change as a possible contributor.
"Bee numbers may have declined at our research site, but we suspect that a climate-driven mismatch between the times when flowers open and when bees emerge from hibernation is a more important factor," says James Thomson, a scientist with U of T's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Thomson's 17-year examination of the wild lily in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is one of the longest-term studies of pollination ever done. It reveals a progressive decline in pollination over the years, with particularly noteworthy pollination deficits early in the season. The study will be published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Science
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU's Nabucco gas pipeline received a boost on Monday as the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank made a first written commitment that may lend the project up to €4 billion, half of its total cost. "International financing institutions are very conservative in their assessments, so if they indicate they are ready to commit funding, they usually end up doing it," Thomas Barrett from the EIB said during a joint press briefing in Brussels. The potential financing package, pending approval of the environmental and social feasibility studies, will consist of up to €2 billion from the EIB, €1.2 billion from the EBRD and around €800 million from the World Bank. The European Commission has already earmarked €200 million for the project, provided the green light from investors is given by the end of this year or beginning of 2011. The total cost of the project is estimated at €7.9 billion. The financial commitment from international banks is aimed at alleviating fears in supplier countries - notably Azerbaijan and Iraq - that the consortium lacks the proper funding for the 3,300 to 4,000 km long pipeline aimed at breaking the Russian monopoly on gas exports from the Caspian Sea region via an alternative route. "Construction will start in 2012, operation of the pipeline is expected to start in 2015, " Nabucco managing director Reinhard Mitschek said during the same briefing, while also signalling "flexibility" on the date of one year earlier or later, depending on the customers' needs.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU's Nabucco gas pipeline received a boost on Monday as the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank made a first written commitment that may lend the project up to €4 billion, half of its total cost.
"International financing institutions are very conservative in their assessments, so if they indicate they are ready to commit funding, they usually end up doing it," Thomas Barrett from the EIB said during a joint press briefing in Brussels.
The potential financing package, pending approval of the environmental and social feasibility studies, will consist of up to €2 billion from the EIB, €1.2 billion from the EBRD and around €800 million from the World Bank. The European Commission has already earmarked €200 million for the project, provided the green light from investors is given by the end of this year or beginning of 2011. The total cost of the project is estimated at €7.9 billion.
The financial commitment from international banks is aimed at alleviating fears in supplier countries - notably Azerbaijan and Iraq - that the consortium lacks the proper funding for the 3,300 to 4,000 km long pipeline aimed at breaking the Russian monopoly on gas exports from the Caspian Sea region via an alternative route.
"Construction will start in 2012, operation of the pipeline is expected to start in 2015, " Nabucco managing director Reinhard Mitschek said during the same briefing, while also signalling "flexibility" on the date of one year earlier or later, depending on the customers' needs.
