It’s not workers vs the elite anymore; it’s environment vs business greed. What with temperatures rising, taps running dry, food becoming a valuable commodity – all coupled with peak oil – the economy, the environment and the voters are about to cop a serious body blow. It could be too late for changing governments priorities …
Thanks to all our supporters who emailed and phoned the State opposition members and the Attorney General. The Brumby Government’s plans to make the Freedom of Information laws ineffective by overhauling the Act, were voted out! The Liberals, Nationals and Greens used their numbers to vote against the controversial bill (the DLP voted with the …
Kevin Rudd made no commitment to greenhouse gas targets at the Bali Conference.Instead he said he’d wait until his chosen economist, Prof. Ross Garnaut, produced a report in umpteen months’ time. He needed to see what impact saving the world might have on our business and the economy.In late February, we were pleasantly surprised by …
The Australian Greens were shocked to learn that $6 million set aside for protecting biodiversity hotspots has not been spent and will be handed back to Federal Treasury. This was revealed in Senate Estimates on the 19th February 2008.This $6M was meant to buy high conservation value properties in Australia’s biodiversity ‘hotspots’. Senator Rachael Siewert …
Check out these two statements on measuring carbon in forests. The first is from a recent draft Federal Government policy paper saying that we can’t measure forest carbon properly yet, so we’ll just ignore it in the overall carbon tally for Australia. The second is from a Federal Government media release saying that Australia is …
There have traditionally been very few women in the halls of power, influence and industry. To fit into the blokey power culture some have had to be as tough as. Many started out spruiking for the logging industry or had close associations with logging heavyweights like Michael O’Connor. Our most famous woodchippers apprentice is Julia …
“Is carbon trading a shallow exercise in carbon-shifting and guilt abatement?” Forests – a major player in climate calming. Protecting forests and reforestation could account for 31% of government greenhouse targets set for 2020 according to a report from global heavyweight business consultants McKinsey and Company. The McKinsey Report found that Australia could cut emissions …
Another curious approval is that of the low lying desalination plant proposed for Wonthaggi. If it ever happens, it will supply Melbourne with 330 gigalitres of water a year and cost $3.1 billion (pre-blowout estimate). The plant will emit 945,000 tonnes CO2 a year, equal to putting another quarter of a million cars on the …
Animal factory farms have allowed a huge increase in global meat eating in recent years. Assembly-line animal factories use enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate greenhouse gases and use mega tonnes of feed grains, which has meant destruction of vast swathes of the world’s tropical rainforests to grow them. Today, we eat twice …
When it comes to saving water, showering with a bucket or using grey water on the garden are little more than token “feel good” gestures. Studies by authoritative bodies such as Sydney University, CSIRO and the Australian Conservation Foundation suggest that 15,000 – 50,000 litres of water are needed for animal feed and meat processing …
