| E-Bulletin - 09/07/2010 |
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Sunshine Coast Environment Council E-Bulletin - 9th July 2010
Events and Happenings
Dear All Firstly a big thank you for all those who attended our 30th Annual General Meeting for 2010. It was a great to catch up with everyone and to continue celebrating our 30th Anniversary milestone. Congratulations to our new Management Committee:
Please don’t forget the Raffle will be drawn on Thursday 15th July, so could everybody please send your books in. Again thank you to all those who have returned theirs, this is one of the few fundraisers for SCEC and we appreciate your continued support. GOOD LUCK!! Enjoy your weekend! Kind Regards  CURRENT CAMPAIGNSGLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE Uptake of Electric Vehicles in Australia At last year's global climate change, the State Government became a member of the EV20 Taskforce, an international 'coalition of the willing', convened by The Climate Group, to rapidly advance the commercial deployment of EVs around the world. An Electric Vehicle Roadmap for Queensland - An Issues Paper for Public Discussion outlines what Queensland will do to support the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) when they come onto the Australian market over the next few years. You can provide your comments on this discussion paper up until 19th July 2010. Click Here to download the discussion document. Australians Still Waiting for Leadership on Climate Change A new survey has found that more than 65% of Australians think that both Labor and the Coalition are the same on climate change. The results show that Australians are increasingly worried about climate change and are looking to our political parties for real action to reduce pollution. “Australians voted for action on climate change in the last election and they are still waiting. Either major party stands to gain support by having credible plans to reduce pollution”, said Tony Mohr, Climate Change Program Manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation. “Forty per cent said the Government’s decision to shelve the CPRS until at least 2013 had made them more concerned about climate change. Click Here for full article. Mapping Tool for Councils to Charts Sea-Level Rises to 2100 The Department of Climate Change is about to distribute a new mapping tool for councils to identify which areas may be flooded by rising sea levels. The tool will be used to restrict development in vulnerable areas. "The pilot coastal inundation visualisation tool will provide the ability to investigate which areas will be inundated under different sea-level scenarios," the Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, told the national general assembly of Local Government in Canberra. "Decision makers will be able to zoom in to any area covered by the tool and select a relevant time and sea-level rise. It will be able to identify areas safe for development [and] … help reduce risk for local governments." The department will hold workshops over the next couple of months to show how the tool works. It will distribute maps showing sea-level rises to 2100. Click Here for SMH Article. WASTE MANAGEMENT Draft Waste Management Strategy for Public Comment The State Government has released its Draft Waste Management Strategy for public comment. Submissions being accepted until 31st July 2010. Click Here to view the document. National Container Deposit Scheme to be Assessed Australia has moved one step closer to implementing a national scheme that would see people get money for recycling cans and drink bottles. Under the proposed scheme, a 10-cent fee would be levied and refunded when containers are recycled. A Federal Government-commissioned report found it would cost about $680 million per year to run. A container deposit scheme already exists in South Australia and is being implemented in the Northern Territory. Click Here for full article. Bundanoon Water Ban May Have Hurt Industry's Bottle Line When residents of the Southern Highlands village of Bundanoon called a town meeting a year ago and voted 355 to one in favour of banning bottled water, few predicted the deluge. Within hours, the bike shop owner and campaign organiser, Huw Kingston, was fielding calls from the BBC, Al-Jazeera and The New York Times. Documentary film crews from Europe were scouring their atlases looking for ''Bundanoon''. As the first recognised town in the world to replace plastic bottles with free public bubblers, it also earned the ire of the powerful beverage industry, which saw its profits start to fade for the first time last year. Click Here for full story. Keep Australia Beautiful Partners with Eco Voice Keep Australia Beautiful has partnered with Eco Voice – www.ecovoice.com.au to encourage all Australians to read their catalogues online to reduce waste and litter. Click Here to view Keep Australia Beautiful media release. WATER QUALITY, QUANTITY, CONSUMPTION and WATERWAYS Lower Murray Wetlands Again on 'RISK' List The lower lakes and Coorong have made a list of South Australian heritage sites most at risk, for the fourth year in a row. The National Trust of South Australia has released its top 10 threatened sites in an effort to stop the disappearance of heritage-listed buildings and natural resources. In 1985, the Federal Government recognised the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. Now the Trust says the 140-hectare site is at risk of losing that status unless environmental flows improve. Click Here for full story. MARINE Penguins Released after Hospital Stint Testing the waters ... the three penguins head back into the wild after their hospital stay. Three injured penguins have been released and are on their way to their nesting burrow after being cared for at the Taronga Wildlife Hospital. The female and two males were taken to the hospital for protection when they were found on three different eastern suburbs beaches in a weak and dehydrated condition. Click Here for full story. Carbon Emissions Threaten Fish Baby fish may become easy meat for predators as the world’s oceans become more acidic due to CO2 fallout from human activity, an international team of researchers has discovered. In a series of experiments reported in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), the team found that as carbon levels rise and ocean water acidifies, the behaviour of baby fish changes dramatically – in ways that decrease their chances of survival by 500 to 800 per cent. Click Here for full story. GENERAL/ENVIRONMENT New Cert III in Eco – Tourism course starting at TAFE Monday, 12th July for 15 weeks at Noosa Campus SIT 30107. Eco-Tourism reflects both the aims of modern conservation: management of resources and protection of the environment. Modern Eco-Tourism strives to be sustainable, so that the activities that are taking place can continue to do so. Click Here to Download Flyer. The next TAFE Dual Diploma in Sustainability will commence Wednesday 21st July 2010. Within this dual diploma you’ll learn how to: apply the concepts of sustainability to a major challenge; develop and implement a program to support behavioural change and sustainable practices; develop a business plan for responsive and sustainable businesses; and analyse the long-term outcomes of sustainable production and consumption. Click Here for Further Information.
EVENTS and HAPPENINGS If you would like your event to be included here, details will need to be with us at least 3 weeks prior to the event so that they can be included (small files please – many flyer files are too large to be included. If a link to a website is available, let us know). A Sustainable Future For the Sunshine Coast - Professor Ian Lowe Professor Ian Lowe, is the guest speaker of the Peregian Beach Community Association (PBCA) this Sunday, 11th July at 10.30am at Victory Park, Lorikeet Drive, South Peregian. Professor Lowe is an internationally recognised expert on environmental issues, energy, science, technology and futures and is the President of the Australian Conservation Foundation. Bring a chair or a rug. Opening of the ‘Save the Mary Museum and River Education Centre’   Healthy Cities Conference - Brisbane Click Here for more information. Organic Gardening using Permaculture Course  Yandina Community Garden Workshop 10am-12Noon Seedsavers Workshop by Elizabeth Fekonia FREE Bookings essential : 07 5446 7373 or email: If you’re not doing the workshop come at 12.00 noon for a social gathering and a look around the gardens. Doug will light up the cob oven so bring your lunch and cook/burn it! Nambour Transition Town Meeting
For further information call: James Macdonald – Buchanan 07 5472 7869 or 0411 827 133 Introduction to Ecology ‘An Insight into Threatened Species’
Lunch and Refreshments provided. With a great line up of speakers, it will be a popular workshop so book your place early. RSVP Friday, 16th July – 07 5485 2468 Sourdough Workshop - Permaculture  Cultivating & Harvesting Tropical Vegetable - Permaculture Course  In our ongoing commitment to our valued members, we are undertaking the first phase of a reinvigorated membership engagement program with member groups. Trevor Lloyd, who has done invaluable work with Healthy Waterways and other significant programs, will be visiting groups on our behalf in the near future. Don’t forget, if any of your contact details change please notify us and please forward this newsletter onto anyone you think may be interested . . . . SUNSHINE COAST ENVIRONMENT COUNCIL
3 Porters Lane, Nambour QLD 4560. PO Box 269 Disclaimer: |
