environment

gas mining in the inner west, sydney

Submitted by AliaK on Wed, 2010-11-24 13:30

there have been reports in the paper recently that St Peters is going to be mined for gas

update 07/12/2010 *** : I attended the public meeting in Petersham last night - here are my notes ***

from what I've read online (newspaper articles) it seems that the St Peters gas drilling won't use fracking techniques - hydraulic fracturing (with the chemicals) but still, City of Sydney & Cr. Clover Moore allowed it to go through - correction 29/11/2010 Kristina Keneally's office approved the exploratory drilling via Clover Moore's tweet in reply to Sophie Loizou's question : @CloverMoore : @sofieloizou @cityofsydney has no role in approving or assessing exploration licenses. See my question in Parliament: http://bit.ly/httJL5

exploration starts early 2011 (according to this special report from Sun Herald).

if it isn't bad enough to be drilling in the city, the scary thing (I think) is that they *do* use fracking techniques when drilling in the country areas close to the dams in most states. this could have huge impact in contaminating our water supplies, which as we know are very precious (luckily we've had rain this year so many dams are full)

also I don't recall receiving any notices about this in leaflet drops - a city of sydney one arrived this week, I'll have another read to see if it's mentioned. if the greens hadn't asked for more info I'm not sure anyone would have known about this??

there's a film called Gasland showing at these cinemas which shows the practice of fracking in the USA. I'm going to see this on the weekend.

on the Greens website there's a couple of articles and a petition. I think people need to be made aware of what's happening. I know I'd like to know more of the details of what's involved & impacts etc.

Greens MP Cate Faehrmann has some info on the sydney (& nsw) gas drilling if you want to find out more http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cate-Faehrmann/125981310754146 - 'fracking' seems to be happening in other parts of Aus too - disturbingly close to our water supplies/dams. what's that song? "Australia, don't become America"

Saving our trees blog has a notice for a public town meeting to discuss this. there's also a facebook event page

Gas drilling in the Inner West – Public meeting
facebook event page

* Monday 6th December 2010
* 6pm
* Petersham Town Hall
* Speakers Cate Faerhmann MLC & Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne

some articles in the paper:

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Help Keep New Matilda Alive

Submitted by AliaK on Tue, 2010-10-26 12:29

New Matilda is an online publication covering politics, social justice, environment and offering critical thought in the Australian media landscape. They closed their doors earlier in the year due to lack of financial support, but have recently started up again. This time they're hoping for some support by readers - crowdfunding to help them keep publishing. Visit the New Matilda call for support page or go straight to the fundbreak page & make a donation if you can, to show your support. Let's help keep independent publications on-air & keep the conversations going.

You even get a site badge like the one below to put on your own site (if you want to)

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Window Farms

Submitted by AliaK on Thu, 2009-07-16 17:38

window farms are vertical, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible window gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials. The goal of the project is to create a new Research & Development model which puts the awesome power of discovery and creation into the hands of the masses, and then spread the know-how to every participant.

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Yale forestry & environment graduates & carbon credits trading industry

Submitted by AliaK on Sat, 2008-12-13 23:51

I've been reading an article called "Can Carbon Credits Slow Global Warming?" via the How To Be a 21st Century Capitalist" article referred by sebchan

in the USA, graduates from the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (FES) at Yale University have been entering the Carbon Credits Trading industry - actually helping to build this industry.

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VloMo08 : day14 - Mumbai clear skies & hotel

Submitted by AliaK on Sat, 2008-11-15 00:30

the only place I've seen clear skies whilst in India this trip has been whilst flying above the clouds. often when you're above the clouds you can still see glimpses of the ground whislt there's still light - but the Delhi - Mumbai flight I took 14/11/2008 had a constant thick blanket of smog.

another thing to be lucky for - back home the skies are so clear and blue. this is going into winter in India so there's usually less blue skies, but the smog seems heavier than I remember from 2006 - perhaps I've been away too long.

Mumbai airport is really nice - I thought I'd taken a video but can't find the clip. the hotel I'm staying at is not far from the airport and has an amazing, grandiose foyer - each room opens to the foyer. it's the Intercontinental "The Grand" Hotel. owned by a wealthy, prominent Indian family / company - when you turn on the tv you see a documentary about the owner's life & the story of how he built hotels, and manufactured cars + more.

14/11/2008

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The World Tree exhibition of paintings by Tim Parish

Submitted by AliaK on Sat, 2008-06-07 01:21

from The World Tree exhibition page on undergowth.org :

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I love TED!

Submitted by kathy on Sat, 2008-05-17 08:02

I love watching the TED Talks. it's great they publish the videos as it's REALLY expensive to attend the conference. tonight I've watched a few :

Sir Ken Robinson : Creativity and Education
his talk was very entertaining - he's quite funny!, and he raised some good points and examples of how modern education system is designed towards getting people jobs, since it was formed since the introduction of industrialisation. as we don't know what will happen in the future, how can we educate children correctly to prepare for the future. and how creativity has a lesser importance in the education system of today. I liked a couple of comments he raised - listed below. the full transcript is on the TED blog page

"creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status"

...

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Consciousness is the Key - by Propaganda

Submitted by kathy on Wed, 2008-05-14 07:54

here's a video from Propaganda & his friends - he's been in a couple of the online MLA courses I've done. I really like it - the message, the music, the whole thing!!

it's on http://postmoderntimes.com also - which is also a great video / online magazine

here's the blurb from youtube about it :

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biofuels - George Monbiot's prediction + rice shortages articles

Submitted by kathy on Tue, 2008-05-06 06:26

wow it sounds like George Monbiot got it right - unfortunately :(

from 2007 :
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329758811-121568,00.html
If we want to save the planet, we need a five-year freeze on biofuels
- Oil produced from plants sets up competition for food between cars and people. People - and the environment - will lose
George Monbiot
Tuesday March 27, 2007

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Salon Mazal

Submitted by AliaK on Sun, 2008-01-27 08:25

Salon Mazal was established in 2001, in Tel Aviv, Israel, by a group of social-environmental activists. Salon Mazal is a non-for-profit registered charity that serves as an information distribution center for social, environmental and political change The place functions as a store (including books, magazines and fair-trade products), a lending library, an artist gallery, a vegetarian bar and a community center where movie screenings, lectures, workshops and meetings take place.

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Allan Giddy

Submitted by AliaK on Sun, 2007-04-01 18:30

artist / project name:
Allan Giddy

bio:
ERIA (environmental research institute for art) at College of Fine Arts, UNSW. builds “Time based sculpture”

website:
http://eria.com.au
http://www.allangiddy.org

city:
sydney

are you a currently active artist / DJ / project?:
yes

Australian artist / DJ / project?:
Yes

bio - full:
2011 bio

New Zealand-born sculptor Allan Giddy lives and works in Sydney, Australia.

Allan's pioneering use of alternative energy systems and light in 'time-based sculpture' began in 1992. Over time his practice has expanded into the public domain, specifically public sited 'active sculpture'.

He is one of Australia's foremost proponents of sustainable energy systems, electronic interconnectivity and interactivity embedded in the physical art object.

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Earth Hour screensaver from WWF

Submitted by AliaK on Sun, 2007-04-01 11:52

As part of Earth Hour in Sydney & the fight against Global Warming, WWF have created a useful screensaver that counts the Kw a computer monitor uses when left on and asks the user to turn it off if it's not being used. Visit http://www.usefulscreensaver.com.au for more details and to download the screensaver for PC/MAC.

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World Changing Book

Submitted by AliaK on Mon, 2006-11-20 03:55

I've just bought this book so I can read it when I get back to Aus for holidays. the World Changing site has heaps of useful articles so I'm hoping the book will too!

http://www.worldchanging.com/book/

the blurb from the site:

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The Last Valley film screening @ Capitol Theatre (Melbourne)

Submitted by AliaK on Wed, 2006-11-08 02:28

The screening of the documentary film, The Last Valley will take place at the Capitol Theatre Melbourne, 113 Swanston St (Opposite Melbourne Town Hall) on Tuesday 14th November 2006 from 8pm. This is the only opportunity to see the film prior to the Victorian state election. ABC have yet to announce a screening date.

The film is about the collapse of the East Gippsland logging industry after 50 years of unsustainable logging and the consequences of that for the local communities and environment. The film includes the controversial attempt by the Victorian government to log the iconic Goolengook valley.

http://www.waitawhilefilms.com.au

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