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admin /14 June, 2009
As the National Rental Affordability Scheme announced last November rolls out, critics from both the welfare and finance sector point out that it is doing little to assist those in dire need of accommodation or to increase the development of affordable housing. A consensus is emerging that it is part of a broader plan to prop up property developers and retail banks. A house estimates committee hearing reported that almost no new housing has been built in response to the scheme and the $6billion is being used to purchase existing units that developers are having trouble selling. The scheme was introduced at the same time as alterations to foreign ownership laws that allow foreign buyers to purchase existing dwellings that are not selling in an attempt to shore up prices.
admin /14 June, 2009
“People have been envisioning doing this project for 40 years,” said Eric Donovan, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “There’s just a lot going on in this region that we don’t understand.”
admin /14 June, 2009
Anne Barrowclough in Sydney for the Times Online
The Western Australia sky is raining dead birds in what is becoming a regular, and mysterious, event for the region.
More than 200 ibises, ravens, ducks, gulls and a pelican were found dead or convulsing near Perth, raising fears of a mass poisoning.
The discovery comes less than a year after the mystery deaths of 200 gulls only a few kilometres away, and two years after thousands of birds fell from the skies over the coastal town of Esperance after being poisoned by lead carbonate.
The latest poisoning has been caused by the the pesticide Fenthion, which is used both for domestic and industrial purposes and which is known to be highly toxic to birds. The Department of Environment and Conservation has opened an investigation into whether it was a deliberate bird poisoning or caused by someone dumping large quantites of the pesticide.
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admin /13 June, 2009
Why 700,000 addresses face being washed off map
Marian Wilkinson
June 13, 2009
AUSTRALIAN climate scientists are by and large cautious people. So when they publish findings, as they did yesterday, warning that sea-level rises caused by climate change and associated storm surges will be one of the greatest impacts of a warming world, it is sobering advice.
This has huge implications for Australia, where more than 700,000 addresses are within three kilometres of the coast and sit less than six metres above sea level. And while we tend to focus on the serious impacts of sea-level rise happening from 2050, storm surges and coastal flooding will increase over the next decades, during the lifetime of most of us.
admin /13 June, 2009
Beachfront residents on own against sea rise
Elaine Pearce, a retiree and owner of beachfront units, is fighting to save her retirement dream from erosion caused by the sea. Photo: Shane Chalker
Marian Wilkinson Environment Editor
June 13, 2009
OWNERS of beachfront homes will get little protection or compensation from the State Government if their properties are threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change or coastal erosion, under a plan in the course of being developed.
Anger is mounting among councils and coastal communities that the Government priority will be to protect public works and public safety, creating the prospect of lengthy legal battles between councils and beachfront residents.
The Minister for Climate Change, Carmel Tebbutt, has outlined her views in a letter to the Mayor of Taree, Paul Hogan, who is under pressure from residents of Old Bar beach, on the Mid-North Coast, where properties are already threatened by natural erosion.
admin /13 June, 2009
British ‘Searaser’ invention promises green power revolution on the waves
The ‘Searaser’ uses the power of the ocean to pump water inland for electricity generation. Mark Anslow reports on the simple invention that could soon be making waves in renewables. From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network
- Mark Anslow, the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 June 2009 11.15 BST
- Article history
The ‘Searaser’ uses the power of the ocean to pump water inland for electricity generation. Photograph: PR
Alvin Smith had his eureka moment not in the bath, but in the swimming pool. ‘I was swimming round the pool, making little waves, and it struck me how much power there was in the displacement of the water,’ he remembers. ‘You think of a 500-tonne boat: a wave comes along, lifts that whole boat, and then drops it down again. You must be able to harness some of that, I thought.’
His subsequent invention would have made Archimedes proud, and should be making the renewables industry very excited.
