Success!

Recently I applied for funding to my local council as part of their Landholder Environment Grant initiative. The Council received hundreds of application and awarded over $300,000 in grants. The big activities in my proposal were weed management works and revegetation activities. 

Due to the number of applicants most proposals were not fully funded, which was the case for my application. However, I was successful in securing $650! Woo hoo! Council has specified this money is to be spent on 250 native species tubestock and 50 bales of straw mulch, as outlined in my proposal.

250 native tubestock won't go far in revegetating the southern paddock on my property, but I certainly consider that all contributions will go a long way to making things happen.

Last night, I have forwarded a species list to my local Bushcare nursery to request a stocking rate estimation for each of the species I have proposed and request what sort of timeframe they could supply these tubestock to me. Once this information is in hand, I will be able to plan my planting day!

So exciting! So as they say, you've got to be in it to win it and let the fun begin!

I will post photos as we go through the process and hopefully it will inspire you to either apply for a grant to undertake something you've been meaning to do at your place or alternatively just think about what native plantings would suit your block.

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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

Resilience

Oh my goodness, I just came across an article on Tree Hugger about resilience and I love it. It is just what I was trying to discuss with my mother (in a round-about type of way) this morning.

Basically the article states that the environment is "up shit creek" and there is little we can do to change this path. However, if we build a future that is resilient, there might be hope for the survival of the human species.

My favourite quote from the article, although a little twisted, is "Environmentalism hasn't failed. It just didn't win yet. But blaming environmentalists for not turning things around is a little like bashing the foster parent for not eradicating child abuse".

The article is fabulous. Have a look at this resilience article by Sami Grover  at http://www.treehugger.com/culture/save-us-ourselves-resilience-key-making-sustainability-mainstream.html.

I think 'resilience' is going to be the new buzz word and hopefully will be adopted into the mainstream as  'sustainability' has over the last decade. Pin It

Clean energy future?

The Australian Senate yesterday passed the package of Clean Energy legislation to allow Australia move into a new phase of its history! This legislation is aimed at driving the production of non-renewable energy down and increase the amount of renewables or clean energy available to Australia in the future. The legislation will also attempt to cut emissions that Australia would have otherwise generated by 2020. And the biggest and most publicised component, is that there will be a price on carbon from the 1 July 2012. This will commence at $23 a tonne for the top 500 polluters in Australia.

I was recently interested to know that Brisbane City Council is one of these top 500, but from the information that I recently heard from their Mayor, they are well on their way to looking at alternative sources of energy and ways to improve their activities and how to reduce their "bill" as you might say.

What an environmental step forward our country made yesterday and I am pleased that the government stood up to big business. Pin It

Nature refuges - Queensland, Australia

Here in Queensland a solution to the limited funding available to government for conservation has been the establishment of the nature refuge program. This recognises the important environmental values that private lands hold and reduces the necessity for the State to own and manage these properties.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) is the agency that administers this program and has useful and interesting information about this program available on their website.

The overall concept relies on a voluntary agreement between the landholder and the State government that "acknowledges a commitment to manage and preserve land with significant conservation values while allowing compatible and sustainable land uses to continue". This arrangement is recognised on the title of the land and is carried across to new owners if the land changes ownership, thereby protecting the environmental values and management ethos in perpetuity.

According to the DERM website, there is assistance to the landholder for management activities through the NatureAssist program. This program currently attracts some funding through the Blueprint for the Bush Initiative and is given out through "rounds" where property owners have expressed an interest in receiving funding for specified projects. How much money from these program actually travels through to the landholders I am not sure, although some of the projects that have seemingly attracted funding include:

• control of stock; 
• establishment of of-stream watering points;
• identification and management of cultural heritage;
• fencing;
• revegetation or regeneration techniques aimed at improving water quality;
• ecological surveys aimed at guiding management requirements;
• weed control;
• development of sustainable management plans; and
• improvements to agricultural practices that will result in the improvement of conservation values on the property. 

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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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Carbon tax impact on Queensland Economy

The Queensland Treasury has recently released a report that outlines the expected future impact on the Queensland economy as a result of the introduction of the carbon tax. The introduction of this report states the overall short to medium term impact the carbon tax will be minimal to minor on the overall Queensland economy.

The figures stated in the report indicate the Queensland gross state product is estimated to be only 0.4% lower by 2019-2020 and 3.5% lower by 2049-2050 after the introduction of the carbon tax. The report goes on to say that the Queensland economy is still expected to be strong, with an annual real growth of 3.5% by 2019-2020.

The important take home message from this analysis is that the information in the report is based on a Business as Usual model and doesn't calculate or estimate the potential impact on the economy if markets, industry and the government modify and adapt to a post-carbon tax environment. If the modification scenario does eventuate, the economy could move towards a growth situation based on new industries and products and move its reliance away from situations that rely heavily on carbon polluting inputs.

The full report can be found on the Queensland Treasury website at: http://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/knowledge/docs/carbon-price-impact-assessment/carbon-price-impacts-queensland.pdf.

Note: The above analysis is based on a particular set of assumptions and an analysis is done with alternate sets of assumptions there will obviously be different conclusions drawn. So it is important to understand the premise upon which an analysis is done before a comparison is done between reports and conclusions. Pin It

Alternate finance model - encouraging green outcomes

I heard a suggestion the other day that would implement a completely different model of borrowing money from financial organisations, with the aim of achieving more sustainable housing options for individuals. The idea was that financial institutions offer low interest rate and very long-term (60+ years) home loans/support loans to be utilised to finance sustainable technologies and practices. 

You would be able to obtain a low interest and long term loan for things such as photovoltaic cells (solar panels), water tanks, insulation, etc and then for the traditional building materials and methods you would attract the normal home loan rate and term. Thereby ending up with two home loan products on your property. 

As you are unlikely to live for the  length of your long-term loan period that loan is actually attached to the title of the property and that loan would transfer to the new owners when you or someone on your behalf sells the property.  

Such loans would make the investment into alternative and sustainable technologies more affordable with recognition that the practicalities of investing in good technology can potentially be expensive for individuals, particularly for some of these emerging technologies. Such loans would encourage personal investment in sustainable housing options and technologies, with the incentive of long-term and low interest rates but would also mean such technologies over time would become cheaper and more efficient with increased investment in research and delivery of these technologies. Win-win situation.

What a brilliant and alternate model to imagine! If there are any bankers listening, perhaps a model to try?

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