Some good things have happened: SA government won’t impose mileage tax on EV’s (for now); WA to end native forest logging;State and Territory Energy Ministers rejected Scott Morrison’s CoalKeeper and SolarStopper proposals;KEPCO lost its appeal in the NSW Court of Appeal, which means the proposed Bylong Coal mine cannot proceed; China will not build coal-fired power stations overseas
WHAT’S ON
Cathy McGowan is the guest speaker at an online event being held by Voices for Bennelong on 7 October 7.30-8.30pm. She will be speaking about the importance of obtaining real community representation in Canberra. Free but you need to book at https://events.humanitix.com/voices-of-bennelong-information-night
Stop Origin Seed is holding a virtual townhall meeting on 13 October 6.30-8.00pm where you can learn what you can to do to help stop Origin’s plan to frack in NT. To RSVP go to https://nt.seedmob.org.au/town_hall
School Strike will be held on 15 October. To find your local Covid-safe venue go to https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/oct15
Protest outside John Alexander’s office will be held on 18 October at 10am to remind him of urgent need for climate change action. Covid safe regulations will be in place. Bring signs. Being organised by ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change) who will be running other actions at places of worship on 17 and 18 October. For more information on those go to http://ARRCC.org.au
Taronga Zoo has videos of daily life of the animals living there.https://www.youtube.com/user/TarongaSydney/videos
Photo contest winners Look at the winners of Nature Conservancy’s nature photo competition. A good reminder of why what we’re all doing is important.
https://www.natureaustralia.org.au/get-involved/take-action/photo-contest/
WHAT WE’VE BEEN DOING
Signed letter asking banks not to fund Whitehaven.
Signed petition objecting to Clive Palmer’s coal-fired power station
Signed petition and letter objecting to Coal Keeper
Signed letter to Sussan Ley supporting Antarctica Marine Park
Signed letter asking Perdaman Company not to buy gas from Woodside’s Scarborough gas project in WA
Signed petition opposing gas mining in Victoria
Wrote to Matt Kean asking the NSW government not expand coal mining near world heritage areas.
Signed letter asking Brookfield not to support Woodside’s Pluto gas project
Signed letter asking Deutsche Bank not to fund Whitehaven Coal
NEWS AND EVENTS
States still behaving badly:
NSW government’s recent announcement of a higher target for carbon emissions is good but unfortunately will continue to expand new coal. Sign the letter asking for no more new coal.https://agreennsw.good.do/climateaction/endcoal/
NSW government wants to expand coal mining. Sign the letter to Matt Kean asking to stop this expansion. https://wilderness.good.do/StopNewCoal/emailkean/
Victoria wants to open up gas mining. Sign the petition opposing this. https://me.getup.org.au/petitions/victoria-let-s-get-off-gas
Fudging the books Up to one-in-five carbon credits issued under the federal coalition’s Emissions Reduction Fund are “junk” cuts that do not reduce emissions, according to a new analysis by ACF – that’s $310m of our taxpayer money wasted.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/junk-credits-one-fifth-of-australian-carbon-offsets-could-be-hot-air-report-finds/
Adani Queensland government buried report about black-throated finch. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/02/buried-queensland-government-report-found-adani-plan-to-protect-black-throated-finch-was-superficial
Offshore wind farms Floating wind turbines and their potential https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/29/floating-wind-turbines-ocean-renewable-power Offshore wind farms coming for Australia
https://reneweconomy.com.au/offshore-wind-set-for-take-off-in-australia-as-legislation-tabled-in-parliament/
Transitioning fossil fuel workers Spain could provide a lesson to Australia on how to do it. https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/old-king-coal/13524884
Lesley Hughes video Watch the video of her discussing IPCC climate report. A must https://www.ap4ca.org/ipcc_briefing?utm_campaign=ipcc_resources&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ap4ca
Setting a zero extinction target Sign the petition asking the government to take action like other countries have done.
https://www.sarahhansonyoung.com/zero_extinction
Electrify everything and we could reduce our carbon emissions by 80% by 2035.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-09-07/climate-change-solution-electrify-everything-saul-griffiths/100428158 Featured in 7.30 report https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-04/rewiring-australian-households-could-save-up-to-6000-per-year/100512028
Yes we can phase out thermal coal by 2030 https://theconversation.com/yes-it-is-entirely-possible-for-australia-to-phase-out-thermal-coal-within-a-decade-167366
Australia -third largest carbon emitter in the world https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/why-australia-is-a-bigger-carbon-pariah-than-we-think-20210912-p58r07
Free trade deal with UK Australia has forced climate change targets to be removed from this deal which makes a mockery of Britain’s commitment to climate change action and confirms Australia’s federal government’s refusal to do anything https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/09/09/covid-lockdowns-update-wednesday/
Whitehaven needs money Sign the letter asking banks not to fund it
https://www.marketforces.org.au/campaigns/companies/whitehaven-coal/
Deutsche Bank is considering financing this mine. Sign the letter asking it not to https://www.marketforces.org.au/deutsche-bank-whitehaven/#take-action
Kosciuszko National Park needs your help. The NSW government has plans to trash the park with major, environmentally damaging projects. Read about it and then write a letter to the NSW premier.https://npansw.org.au/campaigns-2/protect-our-parks/dont-trash-kosci/ Then sign the petition asking the government ro reduce brumby population to protect the Park https://reclaimkosci.org.au/sign-the-petition/
What is a doughnut economy and why is Amsterdam adopting this concept of how an equitable economy could run? http://350perth.org.au/amsterdams-doughnut-economy-puts-climate-ahead-of-gdp/
RECYCLING AND SUSTAINABILITY
ANU researchers have improved bifacial PV solar cell https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2021/08/19/anu-researchers-claim-29-efficiency-world-record-for-bifacial-solar-cell/
Recycling app Ryde Council has an app that helps you recycle better. https://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/Environment-and-Waste/Waste-and-Recycling/Waste-Resources/RecycleSmart-App
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Why your next car will be electric and what Australia needs to do to catch up with the rest of the world. https://7ampodcast.com.au/episodes/why-your-next-car-will-be-electric