The small group who gathered on (2 Nov) at my first Occupy Sydney GA (General Assembly) at Town Hall, maybe 50 people, was dwarfed by the attendance at the Noam Chomsky screening inside, let alone the crush of commuters and shoppers.
A radically new Australian design called the Eco Whisper Turbine has been developed with increased efficiency and reduced noise in mind. Rated at a 20kW capacity, the turbine is 23 metres high with 30 blades extending out from a 6.5 metre radius from the hub.
The debate over water reform has received less scrutiny of late with the drought broken in much of the country and national attention turning to matters such as the carbon tax debate, the bankrupted Malaysian refugee solution and of course the coverage of the footy finals.
Throughout the entire region the environment continues to face growing pressures. It comes from a growing range of converging issues like urban expansion; destruction of native forests; rapidly expanding populations; growing inequality and poverty; water, soil and air pollution; and the international inaction on climate change.
In recent weeks the premiers of three states have started to sound like mini-Tony Abbotts. On issues like industrial relations, the environment and health we've seen a convergence of rhetoric that sounds remarkably like that coming from the federal Opposition Leader.
A key report released yesterday by the Australian Government’s Climate Commission has served a grim warning to coastal regions of Western Australia about the effects of climate change.
The current famine in southern Somalia should have come as no surprise. Aid agencies have been warning of the consequences of the worst drought to hit East Africa in thirty years. Republished from The Conversation.
Despite being two years away from an official federal election, the government’s knife edge majority has seen us move to an apparent permanent election footing. However while hard hat-wearing, baby kissing politicians are becoming more visible on our news screens, quality policy discussions on vital infrastructure issues appear to have taken a permanent back...
The Australian environment movement along with the union movement organised some of the biggest rallies Australia has seen in some time last weekend.
For those who arrived on the last train from the Herald Sun building, there's something wrong with society today.
Alex Schlotzer spent the weekend at the Climate Action Summit as someone committed to seeing political action taken on climate change. More specifically he was there in his voluntary role as coordinator of the Brimbank Climate Action Network (BrimbankCAN). This is his account of the weekend.
There is, however, another feasible nuclear fuel that has been studied in prototype reactors but never used commercially: uranium-233 (U233), which is derived from naturally occurring thorium.
A report from Roy Morgan Research recently pointed out that Australian society has become more individualistic and “less available”.
As part of theangle.org's "Independent Voices" series for the NSW election, we bring you a question and answer session with Janet Mays, Independent Candidate for the Blue Mountains. Passionate about the community, preserving the environment and healthcare, Janet is well-known as the founder of Blue Mountains HEAL (Hospital Equity & Access Lobby).
The recent announcement from the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee on a carbon price and mechanism, is avital step forward.
Queenslanders have already lost homes and livelihoods to floodwaters, now they could be faced with huge impacts to biodiversity in beautiful Moreton Bay.
This time last year Copenhagen was being hailed as the last great chance for the Earth and that an agreement on a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol was imminent.
The NSW Government's decision to end its support for the Hunter's unpopular Tillegra dam has been described as a major victory for the community by the NSW Greens.
As a child, in the 70s, I remember reading about the labour-saving devices that would make drudgery a historical curiosity. Whether in Omni magazine, or Sunday newspaper liftouts, robots and mechanisation promised that we all could join the chattering classes, with time available for political awareness and participation.
A major study has found the Asian region, along with that of the Middle East and North Africa, as being most at risk from water stress. The study found key Asian economies of China, India as also being vulnerable to water shortages.
In this the first of a two-part series, theangle.org publishes a summary of Greens policies in the upcoming Victorian state election. This article was originally published at Left Focus.
By Rich Bowden: The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has announced VicSuper as the winner of its annual Sustainability Reporting Awards, held in Sydney yesterday. The event recognises “…excellence in environmental, social and sustainability financial reporting,” according to a ACCA statement released to coincide with the awards. It said that nominated companies are judged, “…on...
Theangle.org's Rich Bowden spoke to Bruce Robinson, Convenor for ASPO-Australia (Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil) about the threat of oil shortages to the country, the measures that need to be taken to offset such a crisis and the hopes for renewable energy.
Given the nature of agriculture in this country and the effects of rising populations both here and globally, I contend it is time to re-examine the virtues of a stable productive yeoman farming sector.
By Rich Bowden: The Australian government-owned science organisation CSIRO has described the future of solar technology in the country as having a “global impact” after announcing the installation of 450 solar mirrors, or heliostats. CSIRO will begin the rollout for Australia’s largest solar-thermal tower system at the CSIRO National Solar Energy Centre in Newcastle,...
A study has found population increase to be four times more important than the effects of climate change on water availability.
October 17 to 23 is National Water Week in Australia, a week dedicated to raising awareness of the country's most precious resource
The banning of the toxic chemical endosulfan has been welcomed by the Greens though action on the pesticide should have occurred much earlier, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Scientists in California have reported a significant increase in freshwater flow into the world’s oceans per year claiming it to be a result of more extreme and frequent storms caused by the shift in the world’s weather patterns.
By Damian Baker: As part of our new focus on development and human rights issues, theangle.org is reposting old articles printed on the site which still have a high degree of revelance. We start with co-founder Damian Baker’s trip to Papua New Guinea in November 2009 where he encountered the lives of the people...
Aid agency Oxfam Australia yesterday welcomed Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd's proposal to give 0.15 per cent of Australia’s gross national income to least developed countries, saying the move would benefit "the poorest of the poor."
Kevin Rennie, writing in Global Voices, finds the distraction of the footy finals season and the negotiations over the first federal hung parliament in Australia in seventy years as the reason the mainstream media in the country has delivered scant attention to the real reasons behind the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit in New...
BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers has called on the Gillard Government to introduce a tax on carbon ahead of international agreements to protect Australia's economic interests.
While the concept of peak water as an overarching term for the increased shortage of water supplies in Asia remains contentious, it has served to focus attention on the increasing water crisis facing many countries
Greens' candidate for the seat of Macquarie Carmel McCallum talks to theangle's Rich Bowden about her chances of victory in the western Sydney/Blue Mountains seat, the issues that most concern voters and her opinion of the strength of the asylum seeker issue.
Lee Rhiannon, former NSW Upper House member, and now Federal Senate candidate for NSW speaks with theangle.org's Rich Bowden on accountability for corporate donations to political parties, how the Greens' policies look to take advantage of a green economy and outlines what she sees as voter frustration over the Government's inability to stand up...
While water activists and environmentalists have hailed the recent decision by the UN General Assembly to grant access to safe water and adequate sanitation as a human right, Australia and New Zealand followed the United States, Canada and the UK in abstaining from the vote.
An opinion poll carried out by Auspoll on behalf of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and WWF-Australia has found overwhelming support for more government spending on the environment, according to a WWF media release.
By Rich Bowden: As part of our Election 2010 coverage of the country’s marginal seats, we talk to Suzie Wright, Greens candidate for the seat of Lindsay in outer western Sydney. Suzie tells us of the issues facing voters, the importance of Greens’ preferences and her take on the alleged “dog whistle” tactics employed...
The announcement yesterday by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that a Coalition Government would end the current protection policy of Australia's waters highlights a lack of leadership over marine parks, according to environment group WWF-Australia.
Key environmental groups have greeted Prime Minister Julia Gillard announcement of a "citizen's assembly" on climate change a cool response.
A Galaxy poll conducted for WWF-Australia has shown support for an emissions trading scheme continue to grow in the Queensland marginal seats of Brisbane, Bowman, Petrie and Ryan.
ADB Assistant Chief Economist Juzhong Zhuang, editor of a new book on inequality and inclusive growth in Asia, says rising growth rates in Asia have masked rising inequality, leading to two faces of Asia - one shining and the other suffering.
A conference focusing on countries' adaptability to climate change has been described as a "turning point" for climate change science.
The Australian Government has announced that it will release $47.3 million to the CSIRO to fund renewable energy solutions for a radio observatory.
The findings of a key report of the effect of climate change on vulnerable has been challenged at climate change talks in Germany.
Paul Bateson, of the Blue Mountains-based sustainability consultants EcoSTEPS, recently took time out from a tourism-focused sustainability meeting in Samoa to present the country's prime minister with a Socceroos shirt.
The expected war over the Government's proposed resources tax took a new turn with the release of the Australian Workers Union's It’s time to put something back video.
By Sue Pennicuik and Bob Hale: ‘Fair Share’ was the theme of the second Asia Pacific Greens Network Congress (APGN), hosted by the Green Party Taiwan and Taiwan Friends of the Global Greens, that we attended on the weekend of 30 April – 2 May. It was a huge effort for the small group...
The Australian Greens have said Treasurer Wayne Swan's third budget shows the Rudd Government has turned its back on key environmental reforms, including a tax on carbon.
Australia ranks in the top ten of the world's worst environmental performers, according to a new study.
Developing economies in the Australasian/Pacific region will be affected if a push from the world's richest nations to raise water prices is successful.
The Australian Greens have said they will pursue tax recommendations made by Treasury head Ken Henry in a comprehensive review released in Canberra on Sunday.
The decision by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd earlier this week to shelve plans for an emissions trading scheme has drawn ire from environmental groups who say it will harm the nation's economy.
The Australian Government's decision to end restrictions on uranium to Russia will damage its credibility as a country dedicated to ending nuclear proliferation, the Australian Greens have said.
Marine sanctuaries should be considered an "important tool" in marine resource management and used as part of an integrated approach to marine planning and implementation, a Western Australian Department of the Environment report has stated.
A report released today by a public policy think tank, has criticised the Federal Government's proposed ETS scheme, describing it as a waste of taxpayers' money.
There has been no quest in my life greater than that for knowledge. The drive to learn, to understand the worlds of man and nature, is a need – deep and visceral.
Environmental NGO WWF has called on Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and State ministers to fix the country's national pesticides authority when they meet at a conference in Darwin tomorrow.
The Conservation Council of Western Australia has called on the Commonwealth Government to act to save what remains of the state's wetlands.
Australian scientists have been at the centre of a clean nuclear energy discovery that has the potential to deliver sustainable energy from nuclear power.
By Fausto Belo Ximenes: I do agree to a certain degree that the support from the international community has been very limited. Yet it is paramount importance to understand the nature of the so-called international community and to what extent it could be influential in the world politics. The international community functions largely [if...
Kevin Rennie interviews Clive Porabou — representative of the people of Bougainville — about the Mekamui people's continued opposition to the giant Panguna copper mine.
Newly-appointed Population Minister Tony Burke says the fresh portfolio is more than a debate about immigration levels, calling on Australians to remain "calm" on the issue.
Kevin Rennie shares with us his thoughts about the European Journalism Centre's Th!nk3: Developing World as he flew back from the project launch in Brussels.
Rising sea temperatures have caused coral bleaching at the world's southernmost coral reef at Lord Howe Island, say a team of Australian researchers.
A report released earlier this week by technology giant Siemens has called for an $83 billion investment from business and governments over the next ten years to ensure Australia's water and renewable energy future.
Paul Bateson, Associate Consultant at sustainability advisers EcoSteps, talks to Rich Bowden about the recent Tourism Investment for the Development of Enterprise and Sustainability (TIDES) conference in Apia, Samoa.
Sanitation uptake in developing countries can be improved using a more innovative and market-based approach, recent research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has claimed.
The Australian Government's inaugural Energy Resource Assessment has outlined the increasing future role of renewable energy such as solar and wind in satisfying Australia's energy needs.
Parliamentary Secretary for Water, Dr Mike Kelly yesterday announced Federal Government funding for a water recycling project on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
By Rich Bowden: Federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has said the opening of a geothermal energy project in South Australia offered a “great opportunity” to develop renewable energy in Australia. Speaking on Friday at the opening of the Panax geothermal project near Penola on South Australia’s Limestone Coast, Ferguson said the site...
By Simon Hukin: Every human age is characterised by a peculiar destructive obsession. From the religious charlatanism of the dark ages to the ascent of dictatorship in the early twentieth century, as a civilisation we have an enduring passion for self-harm. However, most of these preoccupations have been both largely self-evident and rebelled against....
In his second of a five-part series, Jon Moore explains that it is impossible to revert to a previous "Golden Age" and warns that we must adapt to changing circumstances or perish.
By Rich Bowden: Tuvalu Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia has refused to put his name to the non-binding Copenhagen climate accord agreed at key climate discussions held in the Danish capital last week. Pacific States have described the political agreement, which would aim to restrict global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, as inadequate. Tuvalu...
By Rich Bowden: More than twenty percent of the five thousand children who die every year in East Timor, do so through preventable diseases caused by poor sanitation and drinking unclean water, according to a new supplementary report released by aid agency WaterAid Australia. The NGO said despite poor or non-existent sanitation facilities being...
In the first of a five part series, author and archaeologist Jon Moore takes a sideways look at the great climate debate and asks the question, is everything we are being told bollocks?
By Rich Bowden: Not content with running a highly effective anti-dam campaign that helped to ensure the conservation of the Mary River Valley, the Save the Mary River Coordinating Group is now looking to work with other conservation and farmer groups for the region’s future. The group was instrumental over a number of years...
By Damian Baker: The Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project is the biggest of its type in the history of PNG. Oil was found in the southern highlands 20 years ago but gas has emerged as the energy hope for the future. An Australian company, Oil Search, is in the process of developing its gas...
Our love affair with oil, the most glorious and tragic story of our times, but how does it end? Michael Hodgkin looks at the science behind the story.
By Rich Bowden: The Australian CSIRO has moved closer to helping the country reduce its reliance on fossil fuels when it opened a new facility at its Energy Centre in Newcastle, NSW today. The new Renewable Energy Integration Facility founded by the Government science agency will “…develop new grid management technologies that will allow...
A decision on whether the Queensland Government’s controversial Traveston Dam will go ahead will be made within a few days. Environment Minister Peter Garrett told Channel Ten’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday November 8 that he would “…make a proposed decision over the next week,” adding he would, “take account not only of what...
The city of Melbourne recently came up with a great idea; a bicycle program for the city’s central business district (CBD). Indeed on the face of it, this looks like a progressive plan to encourage more people to leave their cars at home in favour of alternative transport options. The combination of the bicycle...
theangle.org's Damian Baker previews his next assignment in the eastern Highlands town of Kainantu.
CSIRO has said Victorian energy distributor SP AusNet has begun road testing the revolutionary plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
The Premier of Victoria just happens to be one of the worst apologists for big polluters. And it’s no wonder when the state of Victoria is seemingly beholden to the interests of big polluters.
Australian marine scientists have attracted the world's interest over a new environmental impact assessment for fisheries.
While PM Kevin Rudd has welcomed 60 percent population growth in Australia by 2050, others have questioned if the country can sustain this.
Three women and a man have chained themselves to the conveyor belt of a coal mine near Helensburgh, NSW.
Climate Camp '09 has a "water not coal" theme as protesters focus on polluted water supply caused by the expansion of a coal mine.
The decision on Qld's controversial dam at Traveston Crossing now officially rests with the federal Environment Minister.
University students have designed a revolutionary electric car which does not require axles and gear boxes.
Gunns Ltd's controversial $A2 billion pulp mill has been placed in jeopardy following a dispute with a Swedish joint venture partner.
A report released last week has named Australia as the world's highest per capita producers of carbon dioxide.
The Australian Government has moved to decouple renewables target legislation from its more controversial carbon emissions trading bill.
By Rich Bowden Img: Plastic bottles. Credit: Shazari/flickr The southern New South Wales town of Bundanoon, which found itself on the world map recently by banning the sale of bottled water, (see story here) is set to benefit by up to $A2.5 million, according to a well-known environmental campaigner. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting...
By Rich Bowden Img: Plastic Bottles. Credit: Shazari/flickr The New South Wales Southern Highlands town of Bundanoon has been thrust on the world stage as possibly the first to ban the sale of bottled water.Residents voted overwhelmingly to ban the use of environmentally damaging plastic bottled water in favour of reusable plastic bottles which...
