The UN puts its hopes on Bush’s successor

News.com.au

Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General to the UN, has stated that he expects to see great environmental leadership from George W Bush’s successor as President of the United States of America. The US remains the only industrialised nation not to have ratified the Kyoto Treaty, in spite of being the largest world economy and a leading emitter of greenhouse gases. The hope is that determined resolve by the next president will help overcome the stagnation seen under the Bush administration, and will further provide strong leadership to the world community on climate change issues.

posted by steve on September 1, 2008 at 9:06 am · filed under

SA recycling refund increasing to 10 cents

ABC News

Starting on Monday, the refund received for depositing a beverage can or bottle at a South Australian recycling depot will double from five to ten cents. The South Australian Government is not worried about consumers stockpiling containers in wait of the increase or crossing the border to profit from the refund, saying these issues have been taken into consideration. South Australian Environment Minister Jay Weatherill said there has been some stockpiling as expected, but that people will now gain the benefit of that recycling. 

posted by anna on August 31, 2008 at 7:23 pm · filed under

Waste in a Changing Climate Summit (Adelaide, Sep 11)

CCSA

The Conservation Council of South Australia (CCSA) is holding a summit on waste and how we deal with it. The waste summit forms part of the CCSA’s blueprint for environmental action in South Australia, analysing environmental policy in six areas, all in the context of a changing climate.

The Waste in a Changing Climate Summit will be held at Enterprise House, 136 Greenhill Rd, Unley, on Thursday 11th September 2008, 10am – 4pm.

posted by seamas on August 29, 2008 at 1:01 pm · filed under

New coal power station a $50m a year liability

Environment Victoria

Advice from the Environment Defenders Office has called into question the viability of the new HRL power station due to commence construction in the LaTrobe Valley. According to Environment Victoria Campaigns Director Mark Wakeham, the power station will not be eligible for any of the carbon tax exemptions outlined in the federal government’s ETS Green Paper. The EDO’s opinion is based on the projected annual emission of 2.5 million tonnes of C02 into the atmosphere from the brown coal powered station.

posted by patrick on August 28, 2008 at 12:09 pm · filed under

$0.10 per plastic bag trial begins

ABC News

As of tomorrow, supermarket consumers from Fountain Gate, Wangarratta and Warrnambool will incur an additional fee for each plastic bag used during checkout for a 4 week waste management trial. Gavin Jennings, Environment Minister believes the trial will elicit a positive response from consumers and promote the use of reusable and recyclable shopping bags.

posted by cecie on August 17, 2008 at 7:33 pm · filed under

Keep Australia Beautiful Week (Aug 25-31)

Running from Monday 25 – Sunday 31 August 2008, Keep Australia Beautiful Week encourages Australians to reduce all kinds of waste. Keep Australia Beautiful also recognises efforts to clean up and maintain the natural environment with various awards.

posted by seamas on August 11, 2008 at 4:17 pm · filed under

Fears that emissions trading scheme could scare industries offshore, resulting in local job losses

ABC News

The Australian Workers Union are calling on the Federal Government to provide assurance that there will be no job losses as a result of the implementation of the emissions trading scheme. There are concerns that industries producing aluminium, concrete and LNG will seek to move their operations off-shore where they are not subjected to the higher operational costs that an emissions trading scheme will entail, and that such a move would result in local job losses. The Australian Workers Union is working with the Government to seek ways in which job losses can be avoided whilst working towards a better environment.

posted by steve on August 11, 2008 at 11:16 am · filed under

Philippines develop composite building board made from feathers

ABC News

Research in the University of the Philippines has resulted in the development of a composite building board made from chicken feathers, which has been assessed as being economically and environmentally sound. The boards would solve the problem of termite damage faced by conventional wood chip boards as they are inedible, and would also help alleviate the disposal problem of the 2.4 million tonnes of feathers produced by the Philippines poultry industry each year. Whilst not being usable at present for load-bearing applications, the boards can be used for panelling, ceilings and insulation and have the additional benefit of low flammability compared with existing boards used in construction.

posted by steve on August 4, 2008 at 6:43 am · filed under

Conservation groups back NT Labor’s anti-nuclear dump policy

ACF

National and Territory environment groups are pleased the Labor Party contesting the Northern Territory election will oppose a national nuclear waste dump in the Territory, but are concerned Federal Labor have thus far failed to rule out the previous government’s dump plan.

posted by seamas on July 30, 2008 at 10:33 pm · filed under

Understanding the controversy of biofuels

The Age

In recent times biofuels have become popular, in the EU and US especially, as a way of dealing with climate change, however, they have caused many problems to ecosystems, increased deforestation, contributed to global food shortages and many investigations have found biofuels release more carbon dioxide than they save. This has caused the UK to commission a report to slow the introduction of biofuels and concentrate more on ’second-generation biofuels’ such as waste from agriculture and forestry which don’t have the same problems associated.

posted by kirsty on July 15, 2008 at 6:10 pm · filed under