Category: News
Add your news
You can add news from your networks or groups through the website by becoming an author. Simply register as a member of the Generator, and then email Giovanni asking to become an author. He will then work with you to integrate your content into the site as effectively as possible.
Listen to the Generator News online
The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
As well as Giovanni’s articles it picks up the most pertinent articles from a range of other news services. You can publish the news feed on your website using RSS, free of charge.
admin /3 January, 2009
Ethanol producers in NSW do not create sufficient fuel to satisfy the governments mandated 10% content for all petrol sold in the state. Most new plants have stalled in red tape, and lower oil prices have taken the enthusiasm out of the market. Despite this, the NSW government has announced that it will proceed with the regulation. The only existing ethanol producer, Manildra Group, has undertaken a significant expansion program at Nowra on the south coast, but can only provide a maximum of four percent of the state’s consumption.
admin /3 January, 2009
Four new national parks will be created in Victoria in an attempt to save the river red gum forests in the state’s north. The declaration of the national parks does not increase the flow of water to the areas but the government claims that the Foodbowl Modernisation Project will. That project is designed to reduce agriculture in marginal areas, reduce wastage from irrigation and share the available water between agriculture, the environment and the City of Melbourne. Farm groups have reacted angrily to the new national parks proposal claiming that grazing reduces the risk of fire and improves management of the land. Environmental groups have applauded the move, challenging the NSW government to follow suit.
admin /3 January, 2009
Northern Territory property is changing hands at a brisk pace as investment moves from the sharemarket to agriculture and the Packer family sells its vast property holdings to UK investor Terra Firma. The family owns 5 million hectares of land, an area about the size of Tasmania which it will sell for $350 million. The Sultan of Brunei formed a consortium that recently purchased five of the Territories largest cattle stations. Climate change models show increased rainfall across Northern Australia.These sales reflect a global trend as northern hemisphere nations with limited land mass invest heavily South of the Equator. Last month Korean company DaeWoo leases one million acres of Madagascar under a 99 year lease.
admin /3 January, 2009
The Great Barrier Reef has been in decline for the last eighteen years, according to the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville. As well as the coral bleaching that accured in 1998 and is expected again this year, the reef has already suffered from increasingly acidic sea water. As the ocean warms it absorbs more carbon dioxide, as carbonic acid which makes it harder for the coral to extract minerals.The scientists said the growth of coral over teh last two decades is slower than it has been for the last 400 years.
admin /3 January, 2009
NASA climate scientist, James Hansen, has written an open letter to US President Obama describing existing approaches to addressing climate change as ineffectual. He specifically criticises cap and trade schemes as protecting polluters. The three key elements in his proposal are a moratorium on coal fired power generation, a carbon tax that is distributed among the population not collected by the government and investment in power generators that use nuclear waste, rather than mined uranium. Hansen has been speaking publicly about climate change since the 80s and was featured in Al Gore’s award winning movie, An Inconvenient Truth. He complimented President Obama on his election rhetoric about a ‘planet in preil’ but noted that his actions in office will prove critical in reducing the peril facing the planet.
admin /27 December, 2008
Despite a lack of progress on agreements between rich and poor countries over carbon dioxide targets at the Poznan conference last month, a great deal of background work was done by major emitters in the developing world. The Guardian reports that Brazil promised to avoid almost 5billion tonnes of CO2 by halving its deforestation rate in the next decade. Mexico pledged to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 205 and South Africa presented a detailed plan to peak their country’s emissions by 2020. Even China aims to reduce its energy intensity 20 percent by 2010. In 2007 alone, China closed over 1,000 inefficient factories. Together, these nations are responsible for nearly a quarter of global emissions. The announcement is expected to silence critics of global negotiations on the basis that developing countries must do their bit to reduce their emissions, roughly half of all global greenhouse gases and growing fast. Developed nations are now expected to commit to large targets in the next twelve months.
