Forests and Greenhouse

Ending logging is the fastest and cheapest solution to climate change. Logging and forest destruction is now recognised as one of the main causes of climate change. In the next 24 hours, world deforestation will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 8 million people flying from London to New York. According to a …

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How green is your electricity?

With global warming sceptics finally beginning to take their heads out of the increasingly hot sand, attention is shifting to what individuals can do to slow the looming disaster. Buying renewable energy for your home is one option. ‘GreenPower’ is the federal government’s term for electricity generated by accredited renewable energy sources – wind, solar, …

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Water drought = electricity drought

The Victorian water shortage has been worrying the state’s electricity generators for several months. Coal-fired generators need large amounts of water for cooling. The Latrobe Valley power stations supply 85% of Victoria’s electricity and the water shortage is threatening their ability to generate power. Electricity generators in NSW and Queensland face similar problems.The hydro-electric schemes …

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Fewer kids will cool the planet

The subject of limiting population growth is taboo amongst both environment groups and politicians at present – it brings with it thoughts of social control, the one child policy and Big Brother. But this topic will have to be tackled soon as part of the climate debate. The Optimum Population Trust says that the lifetime …

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Undermining renewables

We taxpayers are helping fund the polluting fossil fuel industries to the tune of about $10 billion in annual subsidies, compared with a tiny $330 million to renewable energy. This was revealed in reports released in April by Greenpeace and the Institute for Sustainable Futures. We are also paying for propaganda on climate change. Instead …

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Garnaut report acknowledges forests

Penny Wong’s cool response to the Garnaut report could have something to do with her past, which includes working in the Forestry Section of the CFMEU and as an advisor on forests to the NSW government. The Garnaut report is gutsier than we were expecting, but forests still only rate a very small mention. In …

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$200 million to countries that illegally log

Prime Minister Howard’s $200 million offer in March 2007 to slow logging in South East Asia was hypocrisy in neon lights. Certainly, forests are being destroyed in South East Asia, but whether you call forest logging legal or illegal, it has the same impact on carbon emissions. While John Howard handed out money, he should …

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Bali Charley!

Bali still dawdles on forests The December 2007 two-week long meeting of the UN Climate Conference in Bali made a commitment to include emissions from forests as part of the Kyoto Protocol.But for the next four years, there can only be $ rewards in storing carbon in regrowth forest, not forest protection. Think about that! …

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Govt loots public forests as fire control

At the time of going to print, there are FIVE CREWS working on a GOVT SANCTIONED 70 mts x 256 kms CLEARING that cuts across the Thomson catchment. The DSE claimed it learnt from the squandering of the Yalmy Road and the Snowy National Park in the 2003 fires. Now we understand how! The Minister …

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