Australia’s Landmark Carbon Price Laws To Take Effect In 2012

Australia passed landmark laws Nov. 8 to impose a price on carbon emissions in one of the biggest economic reforms in a decade. The vote in the upper house Senate made Australia the second major economy behind the European Union to pass carbon-limiting legislation. Tiny New Zealand has a similar scheme. Its impact will be

Making Money From Muck

Nearly 700 Australian piggeries could benefit from the new rules that set out how farmers can capture, measure and destroy methane from pig waste. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and is 21 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Under the domestic offset scheme called the Carbon Farming Initiative,


Flooding Continues To Bog Down Producers

On a quiet stretch of road by North Shoal Lake, Howard Hilstrom pulls over to talk flooding with a group of neighbours. The flood isn t over for us, it s just as bad as it was this spring, said the cattle producer and former member of parliament. He noted three provincial roads in the

In Brief… – for Aug. 4, 2011

CWB lowers new-crop PROs:The Canadian Wheat Board has lowered new-crop wheat, durum and barley values for the upcoming crop year beginning August 1. In setting its latest PROs, the board cited U.S. economic uncertainty; a higher Canadian dollar; increased production in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan; higher Russian wheat sales; improving durum production outlook, and reduced weather


Alberta Fund Leery Of Agricultural Bubble

The global commodity boom is driving prices for agricultural assets to near bubble levels and the best opportunities may be found in related investments, the head of one of Canada’s biggest pension funds warned. “I must get an agricultural play in my inbox once a day or once every couple of days and that’s usually

Export Sales Will Pay For Bipole III Route

When it comes to Manitoba Hydro, reliability is everything. It powers our economy to the tune of half a billion dollars every year, and it does so while providing the lowest power rates in North America. This huge benefit is good for families and businesses all around the province. The Hydro project, Bipole III, will


Climate Change To Hit American West

Climate change could cut water flow in some of the American West’s biggest river basins – including the Rio Grande and the Colorado – by up to 20 per cent this century, the Interior Department reported April 25. This steep drop in stream flow is projected for parts of the U.S. West that have seen

A Technical Look At Lightning

Iknow I mentioned in my last severe weather article that I would be doing a detailed discussion about tornadoes sometime soon, but that sometime is not this week. Instead, I’ve decided to look at a particular aspect of thunderstorms that everyone has seen, can be deadly but rarely is, and is probably one of the


Revenue From Wetlands

When the health of Lake Erie began to deteriorate in the 1960s, the world noticed. Its problems were visible to millions of people in two countries who live around or near that lake, and it wasn’t hard to find public support for measures to restore it to health. It’s been different for Lake Winnipeg. While

Biofuels Here To Stay

Biofuels represent the only way to significantly reduce carbon emissions in road transport fuel and are likely to account for at least 12 per cent of supply by 2030, an official with oil giant BP said March 2. “There is no other alternative that I can really subscribe to in terms of decarbonizing road transport,”