Green Options

A report released by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, has showcased facts that suggest Australia will suffer more extreme temperatures in the years to come, thanks all to climate change.

The report forecasted heat waves, less rain and a subsequent increased drought. It predicted that exceptionally hot years, which had originally only occurred every 20 to 25 years, were now more likely to hit every one or two years. And the report noted that all of this could start as soon as 2010.

Environmentalists have claimed a victory in Australia where a major investment bank is said to be canceling its funding of a controversial pulp mill planned by the country’s biggest harvester of old-growth forest timber.

Both the financial sector and the environmental movement were abuzz around Australia last week with the same piece of information. It looked very much like the Australia New Zealand bank (ANZ), one of the country’s top four, had pulled out of its pledge to fund a controversial $2.2 billion pulp mill planned for the southern state of Tasmania.

But of course while the finance sector saw doom and gloom and proceeded to wipe 10 per cent of the share market value of the pulp mill’s developer Gunns Ltd, the environmentalist were giddy with delight. If the rumor is true, and they certainly think it is, it could well be the final shot in a battle that has raged for years between Gunns and environmentalists.