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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.’
Boston, United States — Student researchers at Northeastern University have designed an apparatus to convert plastic waste into clean energy while minimizing the release of harmful emissions.
Under the leadership of Yiannis Levendis, distinguished professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, a team of undergraduate and graduate engineering students developed a waste combustor, which breaks down non-biodegradable plastics to create an alternative source of fuel.
Their prototype was featured at the fifth annual MIT Energy Conference this past March. The team worked for nine months on the research, which, for the undergraduates, was their senior capstone project.
(Note: This article is the first in an upcoming feature series called Cities of the Future, spotlighting cities that are taking innovative steps to build a sustainable future.)
Solar power nerds are fond of an estimate that 100 square miles of Nevada desert — filled with solar panels — could provide enough electricity for the entire United States. But right now, solar supplies just 1 percent of the country’s energy. Cost is one reason that figure is so low. Unless you’re an independently wealthy solar hobbyist, chances are you can’t afford the $30,000 or so it takes to install panels at home. That’s why Gary Nystedt, as resource manager for Ellensburg, came up with a way to bring solar power to all the people in this smallish city in eastern Washington State. The city asked its residents to pitch in what they could — the minimum contribution was $250 — and built the country’s first community solar project, or “solar garden,” in 2006. Ellensburg now pumps an average of 102,000 kilowatt-hours of solar power into its grid each year. That’s enough to completely power about 10 average U.S. homes.
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.