Commonwealth Marine Park Estate

The Labour government has just this month promised to increase Australia's marine protected area estate. This initiative will see the Commonwealth marine parks increase from 27 to 60 throughout national waters and represents 3.1 million square kilometres. Can you even imagine?

The national marine park estate will include:

• parts of the Coral Sea;
•  the south-west marine region extending from the western end of Kangaroo Island in South Australia to Shark Bay in Western Australia;
• the temperate east marine region running between the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef to Bermagui in New South Wales and includes Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands' marine areas;
• the north marine region including the Commonwealth waters of Gulf of Carpentaria, Arafaru Sea and Timor Sea up to the border between the Northern Territory and Western Australia; and
• the north-west marine area proposed to stretch from the Western Australia/Northern Territory Border down to Kalbarri, south of Shark Bay. 

This represents a massive milestone in terms of environmental protection for Commonwealth marine waters. Detailed information about these marine reserves areas, including mapping and regulatory proposals can be found on the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities website. 

The final push on this government policy will soon be available with the government seeking public comment on whether this proposal should or should not go ahead. Presently, their website just states this comment will be sought in the near future. If you want to keep tabs on when this public comment period is available keep an eye on the following website:  http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/reserves/comments.html .
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Save electricity

Turn your microwave off at the wall.

Sure you won't have the clock function but did you know that your microwave will actually use more energy to run the clock than the energy used to cook or defrost the food.  I'm sure this is dependent on how much you actually use your microwave, but I would assume most of us don't use our microwaves to cook every meal and as such believe that it is likely that this statement is probably true.

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Here is my possum drey

After my post on how to make a ringtail possum nest I thought I would give it a go. Went to my local hardware store and picked up two hanging baskets for less than $10 (this included the coconut fibre inserts). I then connected these together using zip toes, cut a hole in the fibre in the bottom section of the basket to allow an entrance and removed one of the hanging chains. All this in less than half an hour.

I have now hung this in a tree in my front yard and hope to have some new tenants in the near future.

One thing I think I will modify in the near future is to add an additional smallish hole on the opposite side to the existing entrance. This will allow any inhabitants to escape any unwanted guests, such as an interested snake.

This is such an easy way to create additional fauna habitat in your very own backyard! Pin It

World Environment Day

Yesterday was World Environment Day and I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to write before or on the day, but I am interested to hear what you got up to.

The theme this year was 'greening your local economy', and in the consumptive phase that our communities seem to be obsessed with at the moment, this is a great one to attract the more mainstream community to join in and become more aware of the environment and the impact each of us have upon it.

To celebrate this day, and particularly the theme, I decided I would encourage a bit of a socialisation in my office and hold a tea-tasting event. You may wonder what this has to do with either World Environment Day or the green economy theme. Well, all teas I purchased for the day were teas produced or owned by companies in my local area. In addition to this, I asked participants for a gold coin donation, with the proceeds to be donated to a local wildlife caring group run by volunteers and which my work requests assistance from occasionally.

Great way to get together over a cup of herbal tea and chat about the environment! 

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Where to put your power points?

Having moved in our new home not too long ago and this coinciding with my increased passion for energy efficiency and sustainable home design, many "home renovation" ideas have been added to our family's "to do list".  One of our key considerations, is how we function with existing infrastructure in our house (one of the key "environmental" principle - reuse), or alternatively what we would need to do to the house to make our life easier or improved without creating a significant cost to the environment.

One of the things that should be considered, but may not seem so obvious to most people and surely should be towards the top of the list, is the location or placement of the humble power point or power outlet. Why, you might ask?

(Source: South Australian Government)

In the modern household, power points are typically low down, in the corners of rooms throughout the household or just generally tucked away. However, if you re-locate these to locations that are higher on the walls or just surrounding the "edges" of your furniture, you will be encouraged to turn off your appliances at the wall. Through this simple re-location, you have the potential to create significant environmental and energy savings in your home (particularly, if you live in a typical modern, western household).

The mere action of moving power points to more accessible and more prominent locations means you are more likely to turn them off (at the wall) when your appliance isn't in use and if you're really diligent even remove the appliance's plug from the power point. Why do you need to remove the appliance's plug from the wall as well? There is actually a small amount of current used by many modern appliances even when they are turned off at the wall but remain plugged in, quite often to run memory requirements or maintain batteries, etc. Therefore, the simple act of removing the plug to the appliance from the wall removes this energy requirement and save you money.  

All in all, the action of turning off appliances at the wall means you save electricity, money and  reduce the amount of greenhouse gases and "obviously" save the planet in the process. And all this is more likely to happen if you can see your power points and reach them.  





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Another overwhelming moment

This week I listened to Nicole Foss and her writing partner at my local permaculture meeting. It brought me to a point of concern, which quickly spiralled into a overwhelming feeling of no hope (for the environment).

My concern was raised because Nicole's position is that the future (and this is really in the short to medium term) is bleak! It is Nicole's thought that the global economy will spiral out of control in the next 10 years and result in no money/economy left to fund things that are considered fundamental to our modern lifestyle. According to Nicole, there will be no funds available for things such as future mining exploration, continuation of large-scale industry, maintenance of existing infrastructure (such as electricity grids, roads, etc) and that unemployment will be a norm.

This apparently will all occur in the next 10 years! Oh my goodness! My mortgage has another 29 years life on it and if I don't have a job, then how do I pay for my home?

During this question and answer session with Nicole I asked "is there any hope to avoid economic and environmental collapse"? The answer was, "no, for economic collapse, but environmental collapse will be slowed because people won't have money to undertake major environmentally devastating activities". Not exactly the positive glimmer that I was hoping to hear. I was thinking that maybe our society would wake up to itself before it is predicted to "implode", but apparently according to Nicole, we won't!

So, this sent me into a gloom and doom mood and gave me some realisation of how many people must feel when they receive many of these dooms-day environmental messages. Anyway, after a little bit of, 'then I may as well not try and stuff being good to the earth' attitude, I snapped out of it and realised we are all masters of our own destiny and I needed to pull up my socks, so to speak. I need to make myself more resilient if such scenarios are to eventuate. I also should not loose faith in people that have initiative, spark, drive and commitment to make the world a better place. We might still end up in the black hole, but I may as well go down fighting.

So, my outcome is, we should all encourage people that want to make a difference, share their knowledge and experiences, become educated, prepare yourself and your family for things that you consider will happen in the future and re-ignite community spirit in your area. Personally, I think this will make a difference to our attitudes, moods and ability to 'ride the storm'.   Pin It

Great Barrier Reef Strategic Assessment

You may recently heard about UNESCO's concern about the level of potential impact and the amount of proposed development in and nearby the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. In lines with this, the Queensland Government will be undertaking the lead role in the coastal component of the strategic assessment for this area. The idea behind the strategic assessment is to determine whether there is areas which could have development proceed, whilst others have higher levels of protection. Specifically, the Commonwealth drive process is to identify potential and actual impacts on matters of national environmental significance (things protected by Commonwealth government legislation) at a strategic level.

The two levels of government involved have determined that they will assess the overall impacts of land use, including cumulative impacts, that have the potential to impact these Commonwealth protected matters (including the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area). This strategic assessment will also determine whether the current regulatory framework adequately protects these issues.

The Queensland State Government is currently seeking comment on the draft terms of reference relating to its responsibilities under this assessment. This draft Terms of Reference (ToR) is now available for review and comment and should be read in conjunction with the strategic assessment fact sheet also available on their website.

This consultation period closes on the 30 April 2012.

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Beyond Zero Emissions

I organised a talk by Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) for a local community group on Tuesday night. It was a great night and very informative.

This organisation is promoting the idea that the Australian energy sector could change from non-renewable energy (ie gas and coal-fired power stations) to renewable energy sources in just 10 years. It sounds unbelievable but in this plan the idea is to transition our economy from these existing dirty energy sources to clean energy with currently available ("off-the-shelf") renewable energy technology and therefore can potentially achieve this timeframe!

The best part of the presentation was the presenters' assurance that the plan they put forward may not be the complete solution or the one that ends up being implemented, but it to showcases that such a transition is completely plausible and possible and that such ideas should be examined, supported and in turn allow Australia to lead the world in part of the solution to some of our current environmental predicaments! What a goal!

There are certainly many questions that the presentation raised for me and showcased some of the existing barriers that the plan would have to overcome to be implemented, but the best part of the idea is that they are trying to move forward.

Don't get stuck in the existing model and the doom and gloom that the energy sector puts forward when it comes to alternatives. It is important to examine alternatives on their merit, join in the debate and tell politicians that you would like to see them, their government and big business help Australian citizens achieve their dreams of Australia's renewable future.

Maybe you can get along to one of these talks or organise BZE to talk at your next function or just get involved and ask your politicians to get involved and informed. Pin It

Clean Up Australia Day

My family and I trundled down to our local park to help out at an organised Clean Up Australia day event. Thankfully the weather was fine this morning and decided it was a great morning to do something a little different. At the park, we registered, got our bags, took out our gardening gloves and set to work cleaning up the site.

There had already been some collectors of rubbish, in the form of cub scouts, in the main park area before we had arrived, but we decided to take a leisurely stroll through the broader surrounds of the park. Not only did we collect a bag full of rubbish, we took our dogs for a walk and involved our toddler in a community volunteer activity.

So what did we collect?

A fair few beer bottles (the area is next to a bowls club), some aluminium cans, a 2L PET bottle, some plastic scraps (including broken down plastic shopping bags), paper from the inside of cigarette boxes, chocolate bar wrappers, newspaper and cardboard, a plank of wood broken off a fence from the local neighbourhood probably and a section of plastic that I think is part of the protective bits from under a car.

At our event, there certainly wasn't millions of people volunteering but by the time we signed up I think the site organiser had registered about 15 people and probably another 10 by the time we left. The site certainly was improved (measurable by amount of observable rubbish) after the efforts of all the volunteers and it is nice to make a little bit of difference to our local community.

Special treat on the way home was purchasing some locally grown, spray free bananas, which are especially sweet.

Looking forward to hearing of all the rubbish that was collected around Australia as part of this event and some of the wacky locations people chose to clean up this year. If you managed to make it out to help Clean up Australia, I look forward to hearing of your experiences.


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Hard-stand surfaces

Did you know that flooding and decreased soil quality and health is significantly affected by the amount of roads and hard-stand surfaces (footpaths and other impermeable man-made surface structures)? These structures do not allow rainfall or overland flow to penetrate into the soil structure, as would otherwise occur in an natural environment. Due to the lack of infiltration into the soil the water then flows faster and in greater volume into drainage channels, creeks, rivers and bays thereby creating flooding issues in quicker time frames and with more devastating effects.

If the water is otherwise allowed to naturally penetrate the subsoil would be healthy and retain any water for longer periods of time before flooding the downstream catchment.

In Portland in the US, there is a community group that is actively "ripping" up areas of pavement and hard-stand areas in locations that no longer require this type of cover but due to lack of interest and finances would otherwise remain as hardstand. The group is called DePave and through volunteer participation it transfers these areas back into community greenspaces. What a great idea!

I wonder how much space in your local community could be returned to its natural landform or cover and in turn bring more greenspace back to your suburb and return some life to the soil below. Pin It

Eco-Pirate: Story of Paul Watson

ABC2 showed Eco-Pirate: the Story of Paul Watson the other night. Certainly an interesting insight into the life and evolution of Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The one thing that particularly struck me was Paul's direct manner in framing his activities that will get most attention by the mainstream media. It makes sense once you think about it, but it almost makes it seem a little manipulative. But hey, that is the world we live in and the Society's actions certainly grab attention and therefore make a difference. 

I read one of Paul Watson's books about eight years ago and I certainly found his methods of activism different and confronting. Paul and the Sea Shepherd Society don't sit back when it comes to the protection of marine wildlife. They are active and sometimes aggressive in their tactics. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society boasts that they have sunk or "retired" a number of whaling boats and have stopped the killing of seal pups in Canada. Paul Watson certainly believes that aggressive tactics are sometimes necessary, given that the activities of many of these commercial operators are very aggressive. Paul also believes the "Greenpeace model" of "bearing witness" to such activities doesn't achieve anything.  

Paul and his organisation are currently very active in the Southern Ocean, where Japan currently undertakes "scientific" whaling. This area in which the Japanese are whaling is recognised by a number of signatory countries as the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, yet this declaration is not recognised by Japan. Thereby, allowing this whaling to continue without signatory countries' action. Furthermore, the Japanese "scientific" whaling is being conducted with "permission" from the International Whaling Commission. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is currently attempting to stop this whaling, with a crew currently in the Southern Ocean on the Steve Irwin. 

If you get a chance to either see the Eco-Pirate or read one of Paul Watson's books it is a great opportunity to see how some people are making a difference and truly standing up for the wildlife for no other reason that these creatures should be allowed to live on this planet too!

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2011...what has been achieved by GetUp! and its members

If you'd like to see what the GetUp! campaigns and the members of this movement have achieved in 2011, have a look at the following short video.

Get Up 2011 summary video

I love this movement, their campaigns and their drive to re-claim the Australian political process!

Bring on the campaigns and success stories in 2012. Pin It

Reclaim your rights!

In a previous post, "Don't sit back", I discuss the requirement about the requirement for people to participate in public comment periods and become involved in shaping their communities. I just attended a conference which not only confirmed this thought pattern but took it one step further and discussed the requirement that people within the community need to start to participate as citizens.

What does this mean? Surely, by just occupying space within a community you are considered a citizen. I'm afraid not. We need people to start to participate in the political process to re-engage the politicians with their constituents and actually act on their (our) behalf rather than the large corporations that are currently hijacking the political process and our rights.

Stand up and be counted!

What can you do?

• Contact your local political representative, at all levels of government (local, state and federal), and discuss your interests and express that as your elected representative (no matter what their party lines are) they should be representing you and your community! Bring your ideals, values and beliefs to the front and allow them to be counted and considered.  
• Another thing to do is join up with some of the internet groups that represent your values (perhaps groups like GetUp, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Avaaz, etc) and sign their petitions. Politicians are beginning to take notice of these group actions and make decisions based on these groups'/peoples' interests. 
• Engage with people in your community and make them aware of your concerns/beliefs. Your beliefs may seem a little different to many that you share them with, but eventually you will link up with like-minded people and all these individual voices together will add up and be heard. 
• Stand up for your convictions. Don't be scared to rebut other people's opinions and create useful debate. With such dialogue, learnings can be made and challenges can be explored.  

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"Happy" World Food Day

The 16th October 2011 is World Food Day (celebrated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations).  This year's theme being "Food Prices - from crisis to stability". This theme reflects the precarious nature of food availability and how fluctuations in the price can significantly people in third world countries.

The objectives of this day are to:

• encourage attention to agricultural food production and to simulate national, bilateral, multilaterial and non-governmental efforts to this end; 
• encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries;
• encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged categories, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions;
• heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world; 
• promote the transfer of technologies to the developing world; and
• strength international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development.

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Occupy Wall Street

The idea behind Occupy Wall Street is to bring the 99% of the population together to protest against greed and consumption of the wealthiest people in the US (those that make up only 1% of the population). There are also going to be supportive protests here in Australia: Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane today. 

Some people are questioning whether it is relevant here because the American/Canadian movement commenced out of the impacts they felt as a result of the Global Financial Crisis. I personally think it is still relevant here in Australia, as most people here would probably be interested in supporting their fellow global citizens and also saying 'no' to the way the world seems to progressing. That is, the dominance of corporations and wealthy people and their influence over government process. 

I think there is definitely a ground-swell or movement where people are expressing that they are sick of this influence and would like the government once again to be an elected representative of the people rather than large corporations, wealthy people or their political party. 

I think this is a great conversation starter and allows you to introduce new ideas to people and also meet people of like-minded experience.

A "blog" that expresses the opinions and views of some of the 99% (American focus) can be found at: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/. Maybe you could subscribe and add your story. Cool community spirit!

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Moving Planet Day.....24 September 2011

On the 24 September this year, there will be numerous events around the world attempting to highlight the  current climate crisis we face and demand action by people and politicians. If you're interested in showing your support you might like to attend one of organised events. You can find more information at: http://www.moving-planet.org/.

Here in Australia, the group 350.org is organising a rally at Bondi Beach, New South Wales (8-9am). This event would like to get 500 people to fly white kites to indicate their support on a price on carbon. I live in Queensland and there are a number of events, including an ocean walk, a general activity and another kite flying event, organised. Alternatively, if there isn't an event which suits you or none in your town, you could start your own. If you then register your event at the above website you might end up attracting other like-minded people to join you in your public statement on the climate crisis or your particular angle or issue.

Enjoy the lovely spring weather on 24 September and take some time out to show your support for this action day.
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Bring new equipment to the Australian Wildlife Hospital

SunSuper is running a competition where someone's dream will be granted. You can submit your own, but there are some already worthy "dreams" available to vote for. The idea is the dream with the highest vote wins their dream.

The Australian Wildlife Hospital at Australia Zoo, here on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, has been entered to win $5000 worth of orthopaedic equipment. This provision of this vital surgical equipment would mean that many more injured Australian wildlife patients admitted to the Australian Wildlife Hospital could be treated and eventually returned to the wild.

To vote for this worthy cause just click on the following link: http://sunsuperdreams.com.au/dream/view/help-give-our-native-wildlife-a-fighting-chance. You can only vote once for one dream and apparently voting from multiple email addresses is against the terms of conditions, so don't ruin their chances! But remember, be active and help out this good cause. Pin It

Historic Tasmania forest protection agreement

Recently (22 June 2011) Environment Tasmania and the Australian Conservation Foundation signed an agreement to move towards greater protection for Tasmania's old growth forests. The idea behind the agreement seems to be greater protection for native vegetation forests, in the form of additional areas of Tasmania dedicated into conservation reserves and a transition approach to a sustainable forestry industry.

I believe all environmental movements/protests that directly impact on people's economic well-being have to address these economic and welfare situations in the solution. It certainly appears that these two environment groups are proposing sensible options to provide transition and adjustment for the industries that currently rely on these resources.

The agreement does however rely on the government to provide backing to this agreement and these groups are requesting people indicate their support to the local members of parliament. The GetUp website has an automated message generator indicating people's support for this agreement and provides you either with the name of your local member of parliament if you're in the area or provides a list of relevant members of parliament in the area that you can direct an email to.

Go on, show your support for the Tassie forests and some sensible transition strategies that will in turn support environmental outcomes. Pin It

EDO requests law reform for Brisbane Trees

Reforms needed to protect Brisbane trees

EDO Qld calls for urgent law reform to allow community input into Brisbane City Council decisions to permit destruction of protected trees.

The Windsor fig tree removal

Environmental Defenders Office Qld provided urgent legal advice to neighbouring residents and concerned community members acting to save the three native fig trees (Ficus benjamina) that are currently being removed at a property at 105 Main Avenue, Windsor.  The trees are at least 60 years old and provide habitat to local wildlife, as well as being an important part of the landscape character of the neighbourhood.  

EDO Qld understands that the trees have been under a vegetation protection order (VPO) for the last 15 years.   Brisbane City Council recently issued a permit under the Natural Assets Local Law 2003  to clear the protected trees. 

EDO Qld understands that the VPO, which protects the three trees, has not been revoked by the Brisbane City Council, and the permit was issued to allow interference with the protected vegetation, as allowed by section 7(2)(a) of the NALL, which requires strict accordance with conditions of the permit.

Brisbane City Council have refused to provide copies of the permit to neighbouring residents, preventing neighbours and concerned community members from ensuring the trees were removed in accordance with the Council imposed conditions.  Brisbane City Council told neighbouring landowners that they had to apply under the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) to obtain copies of the permit, but that process would take weeks.   

Law reforms needed

Mature trees are crucial to Brisbane’s character and amenity, which is why we have VPOs protecting our most significant trees. 

Law reform is needed urgently to give neighbours and concerned community members notification, submission and appeal rights for Brisbane City Council decisions to permit destruction of protected trees. 

In addition, Brisbane City Council has made a commitment to transparency and being clear and open in reporting Council decisions in theircustomer charter.  To accord with this commitment, and in the public interest, Brisbane City Council should provide copies of permits to clear protected trees on Brisbane Planning and Development Online, which already provides public access to development applications.

For more information, contact EDO (Qld) solicitor Ariane Wilkinson: 07 32114466 or edoqld@edo.org.au

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Large supermarkets are soul-less

Weekly grocery shopping today really brought home to me how commercial and soul-less the large supermarket chains have become.

Since moving to our new area, about 6 months ago, I have been shopping at the local independent grocery store and the local farmers' markets. For convenience today I chose to shop at one of the two major supermarket chains here in Queensland. After moving through the fruit and vegetable section and then the meat section without much incident and not many products placed into my gigantic shopping trolley, I moved into the pre-packaged and processed sections.

Oh so soul destroying. The lack of variety in products and brands shocked me. Standard brands that I use to buy from these supermarkets chains have either disappeared from the shelves or are well hidden. The chain branded products are everywhere and the amount of processed foods catering for the rush of modern life are dominant. Local products are difficult to find and I felt that much of the food is choosing the buyer not the buyer choosing the product.

I was just mortified. I don't think despite the moves that these chains are doing in an attempt to improve their reputations by stocking appropriately sourced seafood, having only phosphate free detergents, etc will induce me to shopping in their aisles, except for the oddly unavailable products at my local store.

Some of the reasons I will continue to shop at my local grocery store are:

• locally owned;
• some profits being channelled back into my local community and community-oriented initiatives;
• employment of local people at all levels in the business;
• support for other local businesses and community members;
• direct response to requests (eg. direct responses to suggestions by customers for products, ranges or stocking products within a industry - local, organic, etc);
• broader range of suppliers; and
• encourage/support and utilisation of local products.

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