The scale and speed of its growth has been nothing short of astonishing: billions of dollars have poured into regional areas; new jobs have been created; state and national coffers have swelled; export contracts have been signed and sealed; massive liquefied natural gas facilities have been approved for construction at regional ports.

Farmers fear they are losing control of their land. Miners and some politicians say coal seam gas offers a much greener energy choice. Environmentalists and other politicians have cast doubt on those claims.

The ABC’s data journalism project has pulled together information from dozens of sources to provide an insight into the promise and the dangers inherent in the coal seam gas rush.

Did you know:

• it is estimated there will be at least 40,000 coal seam gas wells in Australia by 2030?
• conservative estimates suggest coal seam gas wells could draw 300 gigalitres of water from the ground each year?
• the industry could produce as much greenhouse gas as all the cars on the road in Australia?
• modelling suggests the industry could produce 31 million tonnes of waste salt over the next 30 years?

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Peter Nicholson Cartoons

Thousands of Sydneysiders gather at a 'Say Yes' rally at Prince Alfred Park in Surry Hills. (AAP: Dean Lewins)

An estimated 10,000 people turned out in Melbourne while police said up to 8,000 rallied in Sydney in support of the “Say Yes” campaign.

The rallies come as a new report on the risk of climate change to Australia’s coasts found sea level rises could claim thousands of buildings by the end of the century.

Simultaneous rallies were being held in other capital cities as the second stage of the campaign, which was launched last week by actors Cate Blanchett and Michael Caton.

“What people are asking for is an ambitious [carbon price], an investment in renewable energy,” said Simon Sheikh, rally organiser and national director of activist group GetUp!.

Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Don Henry said the big polluters and their supporters were running a scare campaign on the carbon tax, but the people-power campaign was gaining momentum.

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Local firm Wagners has developed the material using waste from coal-fired power stations and iron production and says the footpath is the first commercial trial of the product.

Project manager Tom Glasby says every tonne of traditional cement needed for concrete production produces a tonne of carbon emissions.

He says the new concrete produces 90 per cent less carbon emissions than traditional forms of the building material.

“We take these two mineral by-product waste materials, being ground-up slag and fly-ash, and we actually use them as the cementing agent in our concrete,” he said.

“It is also a very low energy product.”

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The Turanor takes its name from the Elvish language of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and means “power of the sun”.

Launched from Germany’s northern port of Kiel, the yacht is set to sail around the world, powered by its 500 square meters of solar panels.

Its Swiss skipper Raphael Domjan says he hopes to deliver the message that a cleaner planet is possible.

He hopes to complete the trip in 160 days, via a route specially chosen to capitalise on the sun.

Without sunshine, the Turanor can still travel for three days on stored energy.

The Federal Government’s 2010 Intergenerational Report highlights the crucial need to act now towards a sustainable future, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said today.

“While Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan rightly acknowledged that climate change is one of the most significant challenges to economic sustainability, the long-term budgetary implications of environmental loss must be made clear,” said ACF Director of Strategic Ideas, Chuck Berger.

“ACF projects that resource depletion, land degradation, exotic species, greenhouse pollution and fossil fuel subsidies will cost Australia over $1 trillion dollars by 2050, unless we act now to avoid these losses,” said Mr Berger.

The projections are based on ABS statistics released last week, including the following:

Resource depletion: $4 billion per year
Cumulative cost to 2050: $160 billion

Land degradation: $395 million per year
Cumulative cost to 2050: $15.8 billion

Exotic species: $1.57 billion per year
Cumulative cost to 2050: $62 billion

In addition, greenhouse pollution is costing us $18 billion per year already, based on the $31/tonne cost of carbon used by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). Unless pollution is reduced, climate change will cost at least $720 billion through to 2050.

Further, the cumulative cost through to 2050 of Commonwealth budget revenue foregone on fossil fuel subsidies is at last count $212 billion ($5.3 billion per year). That includes money spent on FBT concessions for company cars, fuel rebates to mining and transport companies, depreciation rorts for aircraft and oil and gas machinery, and low tax rates for aviation fuels.

ACF further rejected the suggestion that population growth is needed to care for an ageing population. “Many other countries enjoy thriving economies with stable populations. This should be Australia’s aspiration as well,” said Mr Berger.