CAN Newsletter November 2011
CAN meets every 1st & 3rd
Wednesday of the month from 6:30 pm at the Hunter Community Environment Centre
(HCEC), 169 Parry Street,
Hamilton East. We hope to see you
there.
Like
CAN on Facebook!
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For your Diary (further details
below)...
Ted Trainer Public Lecture - 'The Simpler Way': Tuesday 29th November, Newcastle City Hall,
3.30-5pm, Mulubinba Room
Documentary 'Growing Change' - Venezuala's food revolution: Tuesday 29th November, Hamilton Baptist Church,
108 Lindsay Street,
7.15-9pm
Submissions due to Clean Energy
Finance Corporation design & operation: by Thursday 8th December, 5pm (online)
Newcastle Port Development Forum: Wednesday 14th December, Mayfield Bowling Club, 2a Ingall Street Mayfield, 7-9pm
Also in this Issue...
Keep the Date & Call for Exhibitors: CAN's Smart Energy Expo is on
again in March 2012!
The latest on the UN Climate Conference in Durban
The (new) Newcastle
Community Consultative Committee on the Environment
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Ted Trainer Public Lecture - 'The Simpler Way'
Ted Trainer - one of the
most compelling writers on the
current environmental crisis and what we need to do about it - will give this
free public lecture as part of the national sociology conference held in Newcastle at the end of November.
When: 3.30 - 5 pm, Tuesday 29th
November
Where: Mulubinba Room of Newcastle City Hall
More info:
The intent will be to
outline and discuss the nature of The Simpler Way alternative to
consumer-capitalist society. The claim will be that global problems
cannot be solved without transition to largely self-governing communities with
a zero growth economy on perhaps one-tenth of present rich world levels of
resource consumption. The Simpler
Way vision involves systems and procedures which
would achieve this goal while enabling strong and supportive community, modern
R&D, and a high quality of life for all. It represents liberation
from the waste, injustice, irrationality and ecological suicide of
consumer-capitalist society. But it could not be achieved without huge
cultural change, especially to willing acceptance of collectivist ways and
frugal self-sufficiency. Let's discuss whether these claims are
plausible, and what the implications for transition strategy are.
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Documentary - 'Growing Change'
CAN member Simon Cunich has produced this inspirational documentary that
seeks to understand why current food systems leave hundreds of millions of
people in hunger. It's a journey to
understand how the world will feed itself in the future in the face of major
environmental challenges. It is full of
lively characters, thought provoking insights, stunning scenery and ideas to
transform the food system.
When: 7.15 pm, Tuesday 29th
November
Where: Hamilton Baptist
Church, 108 Lindsay Street Hamilton
More Info:
See http://www.growingchange.com.au/
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Submissions to Clean Energy Finance
Corporation
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will be set up as part of
the Clean Energy legislation recently passed by the federal government (an
excellent synopsis of the legislation and what it will mean can be found here).
The CEFC will invest in firms and projects utilising renewable energy,
energy efficiency and low emissions technologies as well as manufacturing
businesses that focus on producing the inputs required.
Submissions on the design and operation of the CEFC will close at 5pm on
Thursday 8th December. Some key points to emphasise:
-
Genuinely renewable energy technology should be funded - not gas!
-
Community renewable energy projects (like wind farming cooperatives)
should be included as part of the package
-
Small-scale community projects should not be ruled out by designing a scheme
that has minimum investment levels
-
The CEFC should make provision for early stage equity investment in
community projects.
Don't have time to write a submission? Make
a picture submission in 5 easy steps. Simply:
1.
Download your favourite big solar image from 100percent.org.au
2.
Add your own message to the text box in the document and save it on your
computer
3.
Attach that document and email it as your submission to cefc@treasury.gov.au
4. CC in the key political decision makers:
greg.combet.mp@aph.gov.au
Wayne.Swan.MP@aph.gov.au
Tony.Abbott.MP@aph.gov.au
J.Hockey.MP@aph.gov.au
Andrew.Robb.MP@aph.gov.au
Greg.Hunt.MP@aph.gov.au
and your local MP (find your local MP email address here).
To learn more about the CEFC and to make a written submission, go to the
CEFC website.
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Newcastle Port Development Forum
The Newcastle Greens welcomes the community's participation in a
discussion forum which aims to identify issues and specific problems created by
the development and expansion of Newcastle
Port infrastructure and
services. It is acknowledged that the
Port is considered to be vital infrastructure of regional and State
significance and an integral component for the future of our city. We need to get its planning and implementation
right.
When: 7-9 pm, Wednesday 14th
December
Where: Mayfield Bowling Club,
2a Ingall Street, Mayfield
More Info:
Green MLCs David Shoebridge, Cate Faehrmann, John Kaye
and Jeremy Buckingham and Senator Lee Rhiannon will attend to lead group
discussion on areas pertinent to their specific portfolio responsibilities.
Community members are invited to email their specific concerns about Port
development to:
Megan Benson megabens@gmail.com
or
Beverley Symons bevsym@gmail.com
Some
issues identified for discussion include:
-
Need for a Port Concept Plan
-
Transport and provision of infrastructure
-
Employment and regional economic stability and growth
-
EPA - licence to pollute, pollution monitoring & compliance
-
Comprehensive air monitoring network for the Lower Hunter
-
Health impacts of local industrial emissions
-
Environmental impacts (air, water and land)
-
Meeting international treaty obligations - Ramsar wetland
-
Cumulative effects of different industries
-
Proposals for potentially highly dangerous developments
-
Funding and governance issues
-
Expansion of coal export infrastructure (PWCS T4 & Tinkler/Buildev)
-
LNG export facility - coal seam gas mining
- Need for Disaster Response Plan
and Pollution Incidence Response Management Plan for all industries in &
around the Port
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Smart Energy
Expo Newcastle
The annual Smart Energy Expo is happening again next year, on the weekend
of March 31 - April 1, at the Exhibition Centre at the Newcastle Entertainment
Centre.
CAN's Smart Energy Expo Newcastle has become the premier event in the
region showcasing a wide range of products, services and activities for us all
to combat climate change and transition our communities to a truly renewable
energy future. Next year it will bigger and better than ever before!
We are now seeking Exhibitors. For more information on how to become an
Exhibitor in 2012, go to www.smartenergyexpo.com.au
or contact Ian Wilcox on 0429 378 339 or by email - smartenergyexpo@gmail.com.au.
Expo 2008
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COP 17 Durban, 28 November - 9
December
On Monday, the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the 7th
Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol will begin in Durban, South Africa.
Chief among the many issues that will define success at Durban will be the
deferred question of legal form and the second round of commitments for the
Kyoto Protocol, which are due to begin in 2013.
The scenario
note from the Chair of the Kyoto Protocol working group is short and to the
point about the connection between the legal outcomes for both KP and the
long-term cooperative action track. Essentially, he concludes that the success
or otherwise of Durban
does not rest upon KP alone, but upon "how the participating countries make a
KP outcome part of a broader decision."
Oxfam, like many other
charitable organisations, will have people on the ground at Durban, and has a online project called UN
Climate Trackers that takes you behind the scenes at the negotiations. You can
find out more at the UN
Climate Trackers website.
CAN has signed on to an open letter to Climate Change
Minister Greg Combet. A copy of the letter is below.
28 November 2011
The Hon
Greg Combet
Minister
for Climate Change
Etc.
Dear Mr.
Combet,
Congratulations
on the passage of the Clean Energy Bills
through the Australian Parliament. This was an important first step for Australia
towards meeting our obligation to act to avoid dangerous climate change. As the
UN climate talks begin in Durban, the
undersigned groups are writing to urge you to ensure that this important first
step in Australia is
translated into ambitious leaps forward for Australia
and the international community in Durban.
In Cancun
last year, Australia and the international community committed to take action
to limit warming to below 2 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures, and
committed to review the adequacy of that goal for avoiding dangerous climate
change. The release of the World Energy
Outlook 2011 this month presented a chilling warning to people and
Governments world wide. On the present pathway, all the allowable emissions for
the two-degree goal will be locked-in by existing infrastructure in just five
years.
At the Durban meeting, the
long-overdue question of post-2012 commitments under the Kyoto Protocol will
need to be resolved.
It is
imperative that if Australia is called upon to commit to a 2017 or 2020 target
in Durban, that it be a target in line with a fair contribution to global
efforts to limit warming to below two degrees.
It is
also crucial that rules are determined at Durban
that prevents lenient land sector accounting and surplus pollution units from
before 2012 from eroding global mitigation efforts and prevent the world
meeting these goals.
We are
supportive of the Clean Energy Future
package, but our groups are profoundly aware that Australia will not have the luxury
of letting this success settle before driving further action.
If we
miss our limited opportunity to prevent runaway climate change while greenhouse
emissions are still within human control, we will regret it for generations to
come. At Durban, ambitious global mitigation
action must be taken, and we ask that you ensure that Australia does everything in its
power to ensure that occurs.
CANA
hopes for the opportunity to meet with you in Durban
to discuss Australia's
role in an ambitious outcome from the meeting.
Yours
sincerely
(dozens of Australian climate and environmental groups)
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Newcastle Community Consultative Committee on the
Environment
In October, the Office of Premier and Cabinet set up a committee to
enable better consultation between industry, the community and local
environment groups, called the Newcastle Community Consultative Committee on
the Environment (NCCCE). The committee will act as a conduit between the
community, local industry and government, and all members of the community are
invited to express their concerns and hopes regarding existing and proposed
industrial developments in the Newcastle
local government area. Early focus has been on Orica and the industries on and
around the Port; however, the committee will look at broader environmental and
health issues across the LGA, including a state government proposal for a air
quality monitoring network for the Lower Hunter (to be funded by local
industry).
CAN member Zoe Rogers is the Environmental Groups Representative on the
Committee, and welcomes input from all CAN supporters as well as the broader
community (whether you're a part of an environmental group or not). If you have
any comments or questions about the committee, or local environmental issues in
Newcastle,
please contact Zoe on secretary@climateaction.org.au.
A website for the committee will soon be launched.
