Category: Archive

Archived material from historical editions of The Generator

We regret to inform you

admin /1 May, 2008

When climate change and peak oil thinkers run out of other things to worry about, there’s always the endless, inevitable debates about whether we are facing a “fast crash” or a “slow grind.” And I admit, I’m worried about my fellow environmentalists – because I think they are about to lose their favorite distraction. When no one was looking, we got an answer. Fast crash wins. And we’re in it now.

Wait a minute, you argue – that’s not right. If we were in a fast crash we’d be well on our way to living in a Kunstler novel. But we’ve still got cars, we’ve got food, things are slowing down, but at worst this looks like a slow grind – but the crazy lady at the blog is saying fast crash?!?!?

Youth slam 2020 Summit

admin /20 April, 2008

Anna Rose, 2020 Delegate

It was touted as a forum where people would put aside their vested interests and think about the future of our country, not the future of their company. In Kevin Rudd’s opening speech he encouraged all Summiteers to be bold. He said, "there is no such thing as a bad idea". But the coal industry and their allies had decided otherwise: transitioning away from coal was, in their minds, a very bad idea.

The first surprise came when delegates were divided into streams within our broader portfolio and I found myself in the climate stream with representatives of coal mining companies including Xstrata and Shell, yet not a single person from an environment Non-Government Organisation. No-one from Friends of the Earth, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace, Climate Action Network Australia or any of the State Conservation Councils. These are the organisations who have campaigned on climate change decades before Al Gore’s film and decades before it became a popular political issue. These are the organisations – the movement – who put climate on the agenda, and who did all the groundwork to make last year’s election the world’s first climate election. Yet once they put the issue on the table, surely they deserve a seat there? Why would the coal industry be represented but not the climate movement, in the ‘climate’ stream of 2020? This was remedied on the second day, by abolishing the issue-based streams and coming together as a large group – but the damage has been done.

Minister fails on plastic bags

admin /19 April, 2008

The failure of environment ministers to take action on plastic bags and recycling underscores their hopeless capture by the big food and beverage corporations, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said today. "This is a plastic-wrapped, recycled failure to take action. With the exception of South Australia, it is no different to repeated failures to take Continue Reading →

Greenpeace calls GM approval corrupt

admin /19 April, 2008

Greenpeace is calling on the Independent Commission Against Corruption to conduct an inquiry into the process behind the approval of growing genetically engineered (GE) canola in NSW.

The call comes after we found that the committee set up to investigate whether GE canola should be grown in NSW was stacked with pro-GE advocates.

According to two of the committee members, dissenting members’ concerns were down-played, marginalised and not reflected in the minutes of the meeting. Furthermore, it was not publicly revealed that the committee was split on the recommendation to approve planting GE canola.

EU backs off biofuels

admin /19 April, 2008

ian Traynor – The Guardian The European commission is backing away from its insistence on imposing a compulsory 10% quota of biofuels in all petrol and diesel by 2020, a central plank of its programme to lead the world in combating climate change. Amid a worsening global food crisis exacerbated, say experts and critics, Continue Reading →

Citizens call for ban on coal generators

admin /19 April, 2008

Walk Against Warming - Sydney, 2007 Based in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, the Citizens Climate Campaign has called on the Prime Minister to ban new coal fired power station. The campaign points out that each new station will emit carbon dioxide for fifty years and divert funds and research away from renewable solutions.

The urgency is driven by the NSW government’s apparent determination to build new coal fired power plants before the carbon trading regime comes in later this year, then sell them off to private enterprise.

The organisation provides a template letter to send to your local representative.

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