February 2017 Newsletter

WHAT’S ON

Household chemical cleanout The Ryde council area cleanout will be on 18 and 19 March at Meadowbank Park, Netball Courts car park.  For details on other dates, locations and acceptable items, go to http://www.cleanout.com.au

Waste tour If you wanted to know how the recycling in your yellow-lidded bin gets sorted, you can go on a tour and find out.  Info and bookings on http://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/events

Anti Adani rally There will be an anti Adani mine protest on 20 February 10-11am at 275 Kent Street. It is to tell Westpac to not finance the Adani mine.  For more details go to https://www.marketforces.org.au/thanks-for-taking-action-no-naif-loan-to-carmichael-feb-20-actions

World Water Day Learn about the importance of healthy waterways by coming to this free event at the Field of Mars on 21 March 8.45-12noon.  Registration is necessary.  For details and registration go to https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/celebrate-world-water-day-field-of-mars-reserve-tickets-28128410834

WHAT WE’VE BEEN DOING ON

In the last couple of months we have done the following on your behalf:

Written submissions to Department of Planning in support of  Crookwell  Wind Farm and Bango Wind Farm.

Written submission opposing expansion of Wilpinjong Mine.

Written submission in response to NSW Government’s plan for zero emissions by 2050. We said that the date was much too late for any effect on reducing emissions and we had concerns about how the government was going to achieve that when it still actively supports coal and CSG mining and has poor environmental laws.

We have written to Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg about the government’s ongoing attack on renewables in the light of the SA power outages last year.  Josh Frydenberg has responded and we put his letter up on the website soon. No response from Mr Turnbull.

We have written to John Alexander expressing our concerns about the Carmichael Mine and the government’s support of it.  This mine is actually 6 open cut and 5 underground mines. We have not yet received a response.

We finally had a meeting with Mr Roberts on 10 February after trying for more than 15 months.  We mostly discussed the NSW Government’s plan for zero emissions by 2050.  We voiced our concerns about the late date and it was much too late for any effect and suggested 2030 was a much more reasonable target date.  Coincidentally 2050 is the year AGL has said it will stop mining. He claimed industry had no sway in government decisions.  He says NSW has a RET of 20% by 2020 which he thinks is appropriate despite other states being more ambitious. Even though the the Shenua mine licence expired October last year, the government is still in discussions with the company.  We expressed our concern that the richest agricultural land in NSW would still be under threat from coal and CSG mining. He claimed NSW sources 12% of its energy from renewables – it is actually 5%.

NEWS AND EVENTS

Westpac and Adani Market Forces has a new campaign to encourage Westpac to say it will not finance the Adani mine.  Send Westpac a letter (you just have to fill in your details) with the following link https://www.marketforces.org.au/cleanupwestpac

Cheeky Adani video Watch this cheeky video and have a bit of a laugh.  Does contain some fruity language. https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/great-barrier-reef–3/an-honest-government-advert-on-adani/an-honest-government-advert-on-adani

Petition to stop NAIF funding Carmichael Mine Market Forces has a petition asking the NAIF (Northern Australia Infrastucture Fund) not to fund the Carmichael mine in any way. Go to https://www.marketforces.org.au/naif/

Fossil fuel Vs renewables Sign the petition telling Turnbull that Australians want renewable energy, not coal (clean or not)! https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/renewable-energy/our-clean-energy-future/our-clean-energy-future

Turnbull lied about SA outages Malcolm Turnbull ignored advice that the SA outages last year were not due to renewables. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/13/turnbull-ignored-advice-that-renewable-energy-not-to-blame-for-sa-blackouts

Nature Conservancy Photo winners Have a look at the winners of this competition. https://www.youtube.com/watch

Queensland biggest solar farm The largest solar farm in Queensland has plugged in a month early. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/14/queenslands-largest-solar-farm-plugs-into-the-grid-a-month-early

Divestment  growing stronger Divestment worldwide continues to accelerate but unfortunately Australia is held back by the Federal Government. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/dec/13/fossil-fuel-divestment-is-worth-7tn-globally-yet-australia-still-clings-to-coal

How Adani mine will affect the world Watch this video and share.https://www.facebook.com/GetUpAustralia/videos/vb.13527056454/10153918631726455

World Bank funding Adani The World Bank is indirectly funding the Carmichael Mine. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/22/adani-coalmine-covertly-funded-by-world-bank-says-report

Anti Adani fight gearing up The fight to stop the Adani mine will be intensified this year. We all need to step up. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/14/adani-coalmine-activists-gear-up-to-fight-this-will-dwarf-the-franklin-blockade

Australia’s carbon emissions rising The Federal government is ignoring the science that shows our emissions are rising and has no plan on how to deal with it. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/22/australias-greenhouse-gas-emissions-are-rising-official-figures-show

Fracking in NT Sign the petition to stop a gas line going through the Northern Territory. https://www.communityrun.org/petitions/no-fracked-gas-pipeline-through-the-northern-territory

China dominating renewable energy China is leading the world in renewable energy installation and technology. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/06/china-cementing-global-dominance-of-renewable-energy-and-technology

Turnbull government to continue coal industry support The Federal government is planning to inject $100billion into the coal industry.  Sign the petition to oppose it. http://www.marineconservation.org.au/pages/emailpm-coal.html

Shortage of gas? Not likely. Gas companies have incorrectly claimed that there’s a gas shortage. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/13/gas-companies-have-manufactured-shortage-myth-economist-says

Climate change affecting rural communities A recent survey has found 90% of rural and regional communities feel they are already experiencing climate change. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/16/climate-change-90-of-rural-australians-say-their-lives-are-already-affected

Matt Canavan says burn coal to reduce emissions No, really that’s what he’s said! He’s the Federal Minister for Resources and Northern Australia. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/17/australia-can-meet-emissions-targets-with-coal-says-mining-minister

Electricity price hikes due to privatisation. A recent survey by GetUp! has show that only 17% of the public think the increasing electricity costs are due to renewables while the environment minister and prime minister saying the opposite. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/20/more-voters-blame-energy-price-rises-on-privatisation-than-renewables-polling

Federal government action on climate change woeful The government’s inability to act on climate change is to our disadvantage. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2017/jan/20/australias-conservative-government-fiddles-on-climate-policy-while-the-country-burns

Nobel Foundation petition to divest. There is a petition asking the Nobel Foundation to divest from its fossil fuel investments.  http://gofossilfree.org/se/laureates-scientists-call-on-nobel-foundation-to-divest

Repeal NSW land clearing laws Sign the petition to ask the new NSW premier to repeal the destructive land clearing laws rushed through parliament last year. http://biodiversityislife.org/#save-our-land-clearing-protections

Atlas of living Australia This is a project that uses information from scientists and the community to see where plants and animals have been located.  Go to the website and download the app and participate in contributing to the knowledge base. http://www.ala.org.au

Kenya and geothermal energy Kenya is using geothermal energy to power the nation and move it away from its reliance on diesel fuel. http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/14/africa/kenya-geothermal-olkaria

Reducing plastic usage ONYA is a company that makes products such as reusable shopping bags, lunch wraps using recycled plastic.  For more info go to https://www.onyalife.com