The Generator is founded on the simple premise that we should leave the world in better condition than we found it. The news items in this category outline the attempts people have made to do this. They are mainly concerned with our food supply and settlement patterns. The impact that the human race has on the planet.
Media Release – 10 June 2010 Major parties vote against Hunter & Lithgow coal health study Greens MP and health spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said the major parties’vote yesterday against her motion in NSW Parliament calling for acomprehensive population health study to investigate the links betweenthe Hunter and Lithgow region’s coal and power industries and poorhealth Continue Reading →
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A move to sell off more assets owned by plantation company Great Southern has created uncertainty for Tasmanian timber company Gunns.
The receivers managing the failed company Great Southern are selling 640 properties in Western Australia and South Australia.
Gunns manages blue gum plantations on these properties on behalf of Great Southern investors.
Media Release 10 June2010 Bill passed to allow elite tourist accommodation and facilities inNational Parks Legislation passed late last night by the NSW Upper House will see someof the State’s most iconic national parks subject to commercial touristfacilities for the elite end of the tourist market at the expense of thegeneral public and environment, the NSW Greens Continue Reading →
Miners reject Rudd’s $6bn olive branch
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has taken an olive branch to miners in Western Australia but still received a hostile reception as he tried to sell the Government’s super profits tax.
Speaking to a press club luncheon in Perth at which many miners were present, Mr Rudd offered to set aside $6 billion collected under the tax for regional areas.
A crowd of 2,000 protesters gathered outside to coincide with Mr Rudd’s appearance.
The Hancock iron ore billionaire Gina Rinehart made a rare appearance at the rally, standing on a flat-top truck urging protesters to demand Mr Rudd “axe the tax”.
She says the time for talking is over.
One in eight children aged under five in the African country of Niger are likely to die in the next month unless they get immediate help, according to Save the Children.
The charity has launched an urgent appeal for international help, claiming millions are at risk after a devastating drought.
Rachel Palmer, who works at an emergency stabilisation centre in Aguie, 850km from the capitol Niamey, said more than 350,000 children face severe malnutrition.
‘It’s absolutely awful seeing women bringing their children into the clinics for treatment – but they are the lucky ones,’ she said.
‘They are the children who will be treated, but there are many thousands of others who don’t make it to the treatment centres.’
This week, governments will meet in Korea to decide whether to establish an intergovernmental panel on biodiverisy services
Decision makers need access to the value of ecosystems. The value of preserving biodiversity outweighs that of destroying them. Photograph: Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images
It is all too easy to forget in the city-centred 21st century that human wellbeing is utterly dependent on the natural world. To state the obvious, we cannot survive without fresh water, food and fuel. And yet every day countless decisions are made whose ripple effects will degrade or destroy the vital goods and services that nature provides to people.
Asian forests are cleared to boost timber exports, leading to erosion, landslides and the release of stored carbon that fuels climate change. Over-grazing by goats reared to meet overseas demand for cashmere clothing degrades grasslands in Mongolia. Intensification of farming practices in north-eastern France has led to a reduction of pastures and forests that containing filtered water, thereby threatening the purity of the mineral water that supplies Vittel’s global bottled-water business.