Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
See Toot’s view Nationals’ Senator Barnaby Joyce says, for the sake of balance, there is an issue the government does deserve credit for and this is its support for the development of the inland rail link. "It stands to reason that the straightest line between Melbourne and Brisbane (but preferably Gladstone) is not along Continue Reading →
See Barnaby Joyce’s view Study for Inland Rail Corridor to Proceed – Next Step, Putting the Casino-Murwillumbah Line Back on Canberra’s Map The Federal Government has announced that it will now fund the study for an inland rail corridor between Melbourne and Brisbane. If this project were to proceed, it would have the potential to Continue Reading →
4-6 April, get to the Switch to Green expo in Canberra. Or the Sustainable Living Fair in Perth 13-16 April, A climate for change, Sydney 15-17 April, Water Down Under, Adelaide 22-23 April Victorian Sustainable Devel’ment Conference 5-8 May, Enviro ’08, Melbourne 11-16 May, World Congress on Environmental Health, Brisbane
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Speaking at the 11th Commonwealth Lecture, award-winning environmentalist Dr David Suzuki urged us to consider the collective impact of 6.6 billion human beings living in one planet.
Dr David Suzuki, Emeritus Professor in Sustainable Development, University of British Columbia and Co-Founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. He is renowned for his radio and television programmes which explain the complexities of the natural sciences in a compelling, easily understood way. On Wednesday 12th March, Dr Suzuki gave a demonstration of his compelling oratory style at the 11th Commonwealth Lecture, organised by the Commonwealth Foundation.
Opening the Lecture by describing his varied personal, cultural and academic background, Dr Suzuki said: "The Commonwealth Foundation’s three pillars – governance and democracy, sustainable development and cultural diversity – are of personal great interest to me and I congratulate the Foundation for the theme of "Our Environment: our Future" because I believe that it’s the most important issue of our time.
By Chris Nuttall – Financial Times
Applied Materials is winning itself a place in the sun with a high-stakes gamble on expansion into the solar industry.
As the world’s biggest maker of equipment for the semiconductor industry, Silicon Valley-based Applied Materials is used to providing tools that help others to be creative. But a $1.9bn (£959m, €1.2bn)factory order, understood to be from a Chinese consortium, impressed analysts this month and showed Applied becoming more directly involved with solar.
The order is more than five times bigger than any order the company has ever received for chip tools and demonstrates that the company’s contribution to the success of the technology could be far bigger than occurred in semiconductors. But to achieve this, Applied is undergoing a transformation of its business that includes acquisitions and offering to fit out production lines.
THROUGHOUT history, there have been warnings that human activity would overwhelm the Earth’s resources writes Justin Lahart in the Wall Street Journal
Rethink on economic progress: Peak hour in Beijing. Picture: Reuters
The Cassandras always proved wrong. Each time, there were new resources to discover, new technologies to propel growth.
Today the old fears are back. Although a catastrophe is not at hand, the resource constraints foreseen by the Club of Rome are more evident today than at any time since the 1972 publication of the think tank’s famous book The Limits to Growth. Steady increases in prices for oil, wheat, copper and other commodities are signs of a lasting shift in demand as yet unmatched by rising supply.