Fire safety fears addressed: A similar move by Sydney Water last week prompted the Insurance Council of Australia to raise concerns about the impact of reduced water pressure on firefighting preparedness, especially if water needed to be delivered to high-rise or large residential complexes. But Water Corp spokesman Phil Kneebone said the state’s Fire and Emergency Services Authority had given an assurance that a single fire hydrant needed 25 metres of head or 250 hectapascals to deliver adequate fire flows. The corporation’s letter advises that while business operators with a mains pressure fire system should not be concerned, they should contact FESA or their fire systems manager with any questions.

Negotiation for big users: Large water users, such as laundromats and kitchens, would be contacted by the corporation to have their water needs discussed. Brisbane City Council has just introduced a pressure reduction program that it claims will save 13 million litres of water a day, with similar schemes in place or under way for the Gold Coast, Wide Bay and Central Highlands areas.

The Australian, 29/1/2007, p.2

Cotton CRC backs project: The new project, "Evaluation of the potential for aquaculture on cotton farms, cage culture of silver perch", is a collaborative research project involving NSW DPI, Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, and the University of New England, through the Cotton Catchment Communities Co-operative Research Centre.

Goal to optimise conditions: The project aims to identify the best conditions – such as stocking density, cage design, diet and disease control – for the intensive culture of silver perch in cages. Conditions will then be evaluated using trials on cotton farms. Economic and marketing studies have suggested that if production costs could be decreased by 20-30 per cent and farm gate prices reduced to $6 per kilogram for whole fish, silver perch could be retailed at $9.99/kg and sold as a boneless, skin-on fillet for just under $20/kg.

Reference: Contact Dr Stuart Rowland, Grafton, (02) 6640 1691, email: stuart.rowland@dpi.nsw.gov.au

The Land, 25/1/2007, p.3

See the most important films of our time

Ebono Institute supports local and international film-makers provide an alternative to the mainstream.

We buy videos direct from smalll production companies and handle distribution and marketing on their behalf. This allows them to get on with the job of making new and important films.

All our retail sales are handled by One Stop Green Shop, an organisation dedicated to helping ethical business compete.

Support the film makers and educate your friends and your community, purchase these films and download the publicity and education packs to help get the word out.

How to Save the World

Our existence on this planet is precarious. How to Save the World exposes globalization and the mantra of infinite growth in a finite world for what it really is: an environmental and human disaster. But across India marginal farmers are fighting back. By reviving biodynamics an arcane form of agriculture, they are saving their poisoned lands and exposing the bio-colonialism of multinational corporations. How to Save the World tells their story through the teachings of an elderly New Zealander many are calling the new Gandhi.

End of Suburbia

Since World War II we have invested much of our newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the Australian consciousness. Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the Australian Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary. The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today’s suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia?

Two Visions

Why do Tasmania’s forests return less profit and employ less people than a decade ago? Why does the government destroy vast tracts of land, the water supply, tourism and agriculture for an industry that will only last 20 years?

End of Suburbia

Power of Community

Cut off from trade by the United States, in 1993 Cuba lost its critical oil imports from the Soviet Union almost overnight. The country had to learn to do without it, and today has lessons for the rest of the world about how it can be done. Providing answers for those of us confronting Peak Oil for the first time, this film shows how organic farming, decentralisation and community all contribute to the solution. It also indicates that we may be healthier, happier and wiser for the effort.

Who Killed The Electric Car

With gasoline prices approaching $4/gallon, fossil fuel shortages, unrest in oil producing regions around the globe and mainstream consumer adoption and adoption of the hybrid electric car (more than 140,000 Prius’ sold this year), this story couldn’t be more relevant or important. The foremost goal in making this movie is to educate and enlighten audiences with the story of this car, its place in history and in the larger story of our car culture and how it enables our continuing addiction to foreign oil. This is an important film with an important message that not only calls to task the officials who squelched the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, but all of the other accomplices, government, the car companies, Big Oil, even Eco-darling Hydrogen as well as consumers, who turned their backs on the car and embrace embracing instead the SUV. Our documentary investigates the death and resurrection of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in our country’s future; issues which affect everyone from progressive liberals to the neo-conservative right.

Inconvenient Truth

Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with Mr. Gore’s personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change. A longtime advocate for the environment, Gore presents a wide array of facts and information in a thoughtful and compelling way. “Al Gore strips his presentations of politics, laying out the facts for the audience to draw their own conclusions in a charming, funny and engaging style, and by the end has everyone on the edge of their seats, gripped by his haunting message,” said Guggenheim. An Inconvenient Truth is not a story of despair but rather a rallying cry to protect the one earth we all share. “It is now clear that we face a deepening global climate crisis that requires us to act boldly, quickly, and wisely,” said Gore.

"We will be a global company and are planning a number of large solar plants overseas. Some of the largest investors and power companies in the USA have realised that solar thermal power is a probable replacement for coal, nuclear and oil. They believe this will be very big business and power companies are willing to provide the large amount of initial equity to get the industry moving."

His departure is the latest variation on a depressing local theme. "No one here is listening to him," Michael Mobbs told me. Mobbs is an environmental lawyer best known for building the most sustainable, energy-efficient urban home in Australia, his famous "Chippendale house".

Given Australia is the No. 1 nation in the world in terms of available land and available hours of sunlight to develop solar energy, given Australia once led the world in solar energy research, given our appalling level of greenhouse emissions, and given one of the most advanced companies in the field of solar thermal energy is Australian, you might think this would be the place to build an industrial-scale solar power plant. But no.

"Australian business does not offer the risk equity we need, especially under the current climate in which the Government clearly favours existing coal and nuclear options based around mineral resources," Mills told me.

"The Australian Federal Government refuses to put in place strict emissions targets, strict legislation to enforce those targets, and reliable long-term market valuations for carbon emissions avoided. We can find all of those things overseas."

Don’t be lulled by last week’s announcement by the Prime Minister, John Howard, of the Federal Government’s $10 billion, 10-year plan to attack Australia’s water and soil degradation. Howard has been in office for 11 years and his response to the greatest environmental threat in Australia’s history has been, and remains, incremental, piecemeal, reactive and belated.

Alcoa, Rio Tinto show interest: US aluminium giant Alcoa and Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto are also believed to have shown interest in the project.

Project would triple PNG capacity: The project would have the capacity to produce 1800 megawatts of electricity in a country with a current installed capacity of just 55OMW.

30-year old plan: Plans for damming the Purari have been on the shelf for more than 30 years, but local company PNG Sustainable Energy has dusted off a 1974 feasibility study and expects to complete an initial proposal for the project by the end of the second quarter.

Rusal smelters: Rusal, which is considering PNG as a site for a new aluminium smelter and whose Russian smelters are powered by hydro plants, met PNGSEL last week to discuss the project. The Russian smelter would account for the bulk of Purari’s generation, taking about 12,000-13,00OMW.

Who is behind PNGSEL: PNGSEL is a joint venture between Australian engineering consultants Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation and the PNG Sustainable Development Program, a development trust that owns 52 per cent of PNG Ok Tedi copper and gold mine. Chaired by Australian academic Ross Garnaut, the trust was created by BHP in 2002 to own and manage its stake in Ok Tedi after it severed ties with the mine to absolve itself of river pollution.

PNGSEL seeks partners before Govt application: Subject to feasibility, PNGSEL is now looking for joint-venture partners ahead of making any development application to the PNG Government.

Dam ready by 2012: The dam would take about four years to build and, allowing for approvals and finance raising, could be in operation by mid-2012.

The Australian, 23/1/2007, p.22

"Stand-off" over prices: Retail petrol prices were expected to fall further with the benchmark Singapore Mogas 95 price falling below 50¢ a litre, compared with close to 60¢ a litre before Christmas. Fuel consultancy Fueltrac’s general manager, Geoff Trotter, said oil companies and service service station operators had engaged in a "Mexican stand-off” with the ACCC over being the first to push retail petrol prices higher.

Increases half-hearted:“Thursday is normally the peak of the weekly pricing cycle in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth and we haven’t had one this week," Trotter said. “We’ve had a couple of half-hearted attempts by Caltex and Shell to try to move the price up but they haven’t been supported by any of the other majors or independents.”

Impact of scrutiny: Trotter said the reason for the sharp decline over the past days was the scrutiny by the ACCC, his own monitoring firm and publicity in the media. “Nobody has got the stomach to take on this media storm at the moment," he said.

The Australian Financial Review, 19/1/2007, p.16