- With over 12 million on-line views, The Story of Stuff is one of the most widely viewed environmental-themed short films of all time
The Story of Stuff
19 11 2010Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Economy, Government, Politics
Categories : Carbon, Environment, World
Climate action urged as $1 trillion ecological debt projected
4 02 2010
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.
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Tags: ACF, Climate Change, Economy, Government
Categories : Australia, Carbon, Environment
Copenhagen: Delegates from 192 countries are attending the climate change summit
10 12 2009
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Tags: Climate Change, Copenhagen, Government, UN
Categories : Carbon, Environment, World
Origin Energy wants ETS
29 11 2009- Oil and gas producer Origin Energy Ltd says the federal government’s proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS) should be passed in order to provide certainty.
A parliamentary vote on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRD) is expected on Monday. Speaking to ABC’s Inside Business program, chief executive Grant King said choices would be clearer for the industry if Australia had an ETS. ‘In the context of the Australian energy industry, a scheme would bring certainty as to future decision-making,’ Mr King said. ‘The question we would ask simply is ‘what choice would society want us to make about fuel, what fuel should we use?’ and if that choice is not clear, we can’t build the power stations that the community needs in the long run to make sure we have a safer, competitive and less carbon intensive supply of energy.’ Mr King said he could not confirm Goldman Sachs’ estimate that the company would receive an earnings upside of four to nine per cent from the CPRS, but said Origin was well positioned to benefit if an ETS was introduced. ‘We’ve quite consciously positioned ourselves such that we don’t believe there’s any downside if the world decides to implement an ETS or a carbon reduction scheme,’ he said. ‘I’m not blessing the four or nine per cent, it sounds like a forecast, but we would expect to do better if a carbon scheme was introduced, but our business isn’t premised on a carbon scheme being introduced.’
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Tags: Business, Energy, ETS, Government, Oil, Origin, Politics
Categories : Australia, Carbon, Environment
Abbott ‘challenging Turnbull’ with emissions flip
22 11 2009- Former Liberal MP Bruce Baird says frontbencher Tony Abbott’s emissions trading flip could signal a leadership challenge.
Emissions flip: Malcolm Turnbull (right) says it is clear Tony Abbott has changed his mind on the ETS issue (AAP: Alan Porritt)
Earlier this year, Mr Abbott said he was in favour of the Coalition reaching a deal with the Government to pass an emissions trading scheme (ETS).
But he now says the Opposition should only agree to vote for the scheme if the Government agrees to all of the Coalition’s amendments.
Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says he has different views on climate change to his colleague, Mr Abbott.
Mr Baird has taken that to mean Mr Abbott is positioning himself as a leadership contender.
Mr Baird has told Sky news he thinks that is a sign that Mr Abbott is planning a move on the leadership. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: ETS, Government, Malcolm Turnbull, Politics, Tony Abbott
Categories : Australia, Carbon, Environment
Solar households to get paid for all their power
10 11 2009- The New South Wales Government has reversed its policy on solar power – meaning households with solar energy systems will soon be paid for all of the electricity they generate.
My photovoltaic solar panels at home
The state Government is adopting a gross feed-in tariff system for solar energy rather than the net model which is in place in other states.
The Environment Minister John Robertson says it means households will be paid for all of the electricity produced by solar panels, not just the surplus which is fed back into the grid.
“It will be the highest payment for families anywhere in the country at 60 cents per kilowatt-hour,” he said.
“This will provide households the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint and also ensure they’re generating electricity using solar cells.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Government, NSW, Solar
Categories : Australia, Carbon, Environment
Energy company proposes gas-fired power station
9 11 2009- The Victorian Government is supporting plans to build a gas-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley.
The new gas-fired plant will be built next to the coal-fired Yallourn Power plant. (ABC TV)
Power company, Tru Energy wants to build a 1,000 megawatt gas plant next to its existing coal plant, at Yallourn by 2013.
The Victorian Energy Minister, Peter Batchelor, says Tru Energy’s plans are welcome.
“The transformation of Victoria’s energy network to a low emissions system is going to be a long and hard and expensive task,” he said.
“This news by Tru that they’re considering a substantial investment in gas fired generation in Victoria is really good news.”
The gas plant would provide around 13 per cent of the state’s electricity, making significant cuts to carbon emissions.
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Tags: Business, Coal, Government, Greenpeace, Natural Gas, VIC
Categories : Australia, Carbon, Environment
Oil flowed more freely than information
5 11 2009- One of the biggest challenges in journalism is trying to cover a story you can’t see happening.
Flames from the burning Montara wellhead platform are blown on to the upper superstructure of the West Atlas rig. (PTTEP)
From the very start of the Montara West Atlas oil spill, information was sketchy.
On the day the leak started, there was a statement from the company describing what had happened early that morning, and there was little else.
The company provided no-one for interview and this was a pattern that would be repeated nearly every day for the next 10 weeks.
The crisis fell within the portfolios of at least three federal ministers but on that first day none was available for interview – at least not to talk about the oil spill.
Darwin ABC managed to get an interview with the general manager of the Oil Spill Centre who said dispersant was being flown up from Victoria. Other government agencies shunted reporters to the company for comment.
PTTEP Australasia provided an audio news release, the type of which reporters generally hate using. At this stage, fears were running high that the oil could hit the Australian coast. As it happened, weather conditions and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) speedy response stopped this from happening.
PTTEP took several weeks to bring another rig to the scene. Effectively, not much happened during this period that was new. The story was being reported at a national and local level, and on the internet. During this time, rumours were reported as fact, algal blooms were mistaken for oil patches and people said things they later regretted.
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Tags: Government, Indonesia, News, Oceans, Oil, Pollution
Categories : Australia, Environment
Oil leaking ‘five times faster’ than thought
23 10 2009- The amount of oil leaking into the Timor Sea from a damaged rig could be as much as 2000 barrels a day, not 400 as previously thought, a Senate Committee has heard.
Leaking rig: The West Atlas site in the Timor Sea.
Oil has been flowing from the West Atlas rig off the north-west Australian coast for almost nine weeks.
The company responsible for the leak and clean-up, PTTEP Australasia, has estimated the leak has been flowing at a rate of 300 to 400 barrels a day.
But the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism says its estimates suggest the rate of flow could be as high as 2000 barrels a day.
The Greens Senator Rachel Siewert says she is concerned the severity of the spill is being played down.
“The Government hasn’t mentioned that at all,” she said. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Government, News, Oil, Pollution, WA
Categories : Australia, Environment
Population boom will bust environment and quality of life
24 09 2009
New demographic figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Australia’s population is on a collision course with our natural environment, the Australian Conservation Foundation said.
ABS data shows Australia’s population grew by 439,000 people in the year to March 2009, including net overseas migration of 239,000. Australia’s growth rate of 2.1 per cent was the highest since the 1950s.
“We cannot continue to add the equivalent of a city larger than Canberra every year to Australia’s population and still expect to maintain the health of our environment and our quality of life,” said ACF’s Charles Berger. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: ACF, Government, Politics, Population, Press Release, Research
Categories : Australia, Environment
