I am in North Queensland at the moment, looking at mangroves. Today I drove from Townville to Mackay; here I am at Horseshoe Beach, Bowen.
Community
Bill Kininmonth to Speak Tomorrow in Melbourne on Climate Change
Well known climate change skeptic, Bill Kininmonth, will be speaking at a community forum on Wednesday , October 1, at 8pm at the Marwal Centre, 9 Marwal Ave, North Balwyn. The organisers, the Kew Branch of the Liberal Party, are offering tea and biscuits afterwards.
The forum received some publicity in yesterday’s The Age newspaper.
Marketing Carbon at the Gold Coast
Dear Colleague,
The greatest gathering of global and domestic carbon market practitioners and businesses ever assembled in Australia – 100 speakers and 90 exhibitors representing leading carbon market experience from Europe, Asia, North America, New Zealand & Australia – will be on hand at Australia’s first international carbon market expo & conference on the Gold Coast in late October.
The final program can be viewed at: http://carbonexpo.com.au/uploads/file/FinalProgram22September.pdf
It is an ideal opportunity for businesses wishing to find out more about the Australian emissions trading scheme, and how to measure, manage and offset their own emissions to discuss these issues with global carbon market leaders and to survey the full range of carbon market products and services exhibiting at the trade fair.
Gold Coast accommodation is rapidly filling – so use the online registration form at http://www.carbonexpo.com.au to secure your participation and accommodation at this landmark inaugural event.
We look forward to seeing you on the Gold Coast next month.
Fiona Wain Tony Beck
CEO – EBA Chairman AETF
On behalf of the Organising Committee
To register visit the conference website:
Enquiries: Peter Sugg
Carbon Market Expo Australasia Secretariat
Farmers want Protection for Iconic Farmland
At a hastily convened Landcare meeting yesterday, around 100 landholders affected by the proposed Tarong Coal mine on the Haystack Plain called on the Queensland government to protect iconic farmlands from mining development.
Landcare Project Officer Nevin Olm said: “It is good enough for the government to protect the iconic Daintree and other natural areas, why is it not good enough for them to protect our world renowned fertile floodplains. On the Haystack Plain, we have been growing crops to feed the nation for over 100 years, and we can sustainably continue for 1000 years. Yet Tarong Coal wants to displace landholders off the best of the best land in our state, for a one off windfall gain that will see one of our iconic floodplains ruined forever.”
The meeting was attended by state MP’s, regional council representatives, Agforce representatives, representatives of federal members, and concerned community members.
Tarong representatives at the meeting apologized for the way in which landholders had been informed by a letter containing the decision last Monday with no prior advice or consultation, and the fact that the Haystack Road deposit had always, until Monday, been referred to as the Glen Wilga deposit which was misleading.
Jeff Bidstrup, group spokesperson said, “A recent UN report that states that farmers will need to grow as much food in the next 50 years as we have produced in the last 10, 000 years, yet we have a government corporation about to rip the heart out of our community and one of the nations most productive food bowls for short term gain. All this to sell coal in an era when CO2 emissions are rising alarmingly.”
The meeting went on to pass a motion calling on the Liberal National Party, if elected, to rescind any Mining Development Leases and mining licences on iconic farmlands, and retrospectively rescind those licences on iconic farmlands where mining has not yet commenced. It was agreed that society needs to urgently take responsibility for the decisions of such magnitude where food security is traded for a short term benefit of one off resource exploitation.
Geoff Hewitt, a local farmer not affected by this mining development said: “We need as a society to put a stop to the practice of destroying iconic farmlands forever in the mad rush for coal dollars. Trading off long term food security for short term government income, at the same time, accelerating global warming, is very bad policy. We are selling off our kids’ food security, this is generational selfishness taken to a whole new level.
There is an urgent need for a review of the policies that allow a state government to grant a corporation it owns the right to destroy a community and some of Australia’s most productive farmland.”
Brigalow-Jimbour Floodplains Group Inc
26th September 2008
Don Burke Retires as Chair of the Australian Environment Foundation
Don Burke, best known for his TV program ‘Burke’s Backyard’, recently retired as chair of the Australian Environment Foundation (AEF). He was at the helm of the organisation for three years and will continue to be a great ambassador for the environment.
As a practical environmentalist, it is not surprising that as Chair the AEF Don took a particular interest in the issue of woody weeds, visited western NSW on behalf of the AEF and did numerous radio and print media interviews on this topic.
Don also visited Tasmania in support of the pulp mill recognising it represents world’s best practice, spoke in support of waste water recycling for Toowoomba recognising water is precious and recycling sensible for a growing inland city, and of course was an advocate for nuclear power as the only carbon-neutral source of reliable base-load power available at this point in our history.
The moratoria on genetically modified crops were lifted in Victoria and NSW earlier in the year. Don is a staunch supporter of GM technology and spoke in favour of GM crops and the clear environmental benefits from their use.
The AEF may not have made a particularly large splash on any one of these issues, but the organisation and in particular Don’s involvement was another important brick in the wall; progressing a reasoned evidence-based approach on these important issues.
I am a founding member and director of the AEF and at a recent board meeting I agreed to take over as Acting Chair.
Our annual conference and AGM is just a few weeks away. The theme for this year’s AEF conference which will be held in Canberra over the weekend of 11-12 October is ‘A climate for Change’. Speakers specifically on this topic will include Stewart Franks, Bill Kininmonth, Bob Carter and Don Aitkin.
Why not join us and register for the conference http://www.aefweb.info/display/conference.html
Cheers,
New Climate Website: Ole Humlum
Dear all,
Ole Humlum, professor of Physical Geography at the University of Oslo, has a very good climate website at http://www.climate4you.com/.
He covers a range of subjects and his primary focus is on graphing a whole range of data in order that the reader might better understand the situation.
Definitely worth a look.
cheers
John McLean
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.