Global Climate Change Action

From Paul Connor (now day 43) to the over 3000 people around the world who have fasted, or are fasting, for climate justice today

Dear Climate Change Minister Penny Wong,

What incredible power you hold in the palm of your hands.
Power that was given to you by the people of Australia, who you must honourably represent.
A very large and important responsibility.

I ask you to lead Australia to a sustainable future, one of clean energy supplies and jobs for all. I ask you to NOT CAUSE the extinction of millions, perhaps billions, of species. Please do not commit premeditated murder.

What road will you take Climate Change Minister Penny Wong?
The road of honour, or the one lined with gold...?
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Walk Against Warming march in Melb... accounts vary between 10,000 - 40,000 marchers. See and hear the people Penny Wong...
REPRESENT THEM!
http://globalclimatechangeaction.org/WAW09pix
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Finally, are you aware of the Climate Justice Fasters?
Please ensure these wonderfully brave young people will grow old and fat.
Paul's Blog Day 36 - only water:
http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/day-36-paul/
Day 30 - only water:
http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/day-30/
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Thank you for your attention.

Saturday, 12th December, 2009, register here:
http://www.walkagainstwarming.org/

Senator MILNE (Tasmania) (1:55 PM) -As I rise to speak today, the earth, its people and its ecosystems are facing a planetary emergency driven by global warming and the Rudd government has demonstrated not only that is it not up to the task of addressing a global emergency but also that it has deliberately, willingly and knowingly turned its back on this generation, future generations and in particular all of those people in developing countries who are already suffering from climate change.

It is extraordinary that in human history one generation of humans has the power to impact overwhelmingly on all generations to come after. What we have seen here in this parliament today is a government thinking that a superficial political deal will suffice as a response to climate change.

Taking $6 billion away from Australia's households and handing it across to the coal industry-to coal-fired generators-is not an appropriate response to climate change. ...

small yard housing for a couple of chooks...
The design allows the chicken ark to be rolled over very easily, even by a small frail person. i have created the first prototype which has a piece of easily removed bent tin for protection from the elements. the tin can be replaced after the ark is rolled over. picture of prototype to be uploaded soon. the attached images are very rough, but they give you the general idea. :-)

COSMOS magazine: Helen Camakaris "We evolved when there were no issues of sustainability; I believe our instincts and cultural attitudes are therefore preventing us from responding appropriately. I have suggested strategies that might help."
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/online/2940/stone-age-instincts-m...
Helen Camakaris is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne.

If so, register now:
Source: http://www.beyondtalk.net
"I pledge, if asked, to perform non-violent civil disobedience and risk arrest in order to get our leaders to make the right climate-change choices."
- If your location is not yet listed, let them know.

T-shirts with our popular logo, in full colour screen print, created individually by hand, produced on fair trade, certified organic Australian cotton will be available shortly for purchase. Simply select your style preference, size and colour from the choices available, then place your order and pay via our secure online payment facilities.

Distribution of profits:

(1) Funds raised will initially cover the costs of server and hosting charges for this website.
(2) Funds raised over and above these small charges will fund the continued work of Local Artists and the Australian Fair-Trade Industry (LAs & AFTIs).
(3) Further funds raised over and above these amounts will be equally directed into Clean Energy Sustainable Housing Developments (CESHDs) and
(4) 2010 Australian Federal Election Endorsed Political Party and Independent Federal Candidates (AFEEPPCs & IFCs) who's officially agreed to and publicly published Policies most mirror the issues covered in our Joint Declaration and the demands of our Climate Climate Mitigation Petition (links below).
(5) Any and all funds raised over and above these expenses will be donated to the Australian Bush Heritage Trust.
(5) Said LAs, AFTIs, CESHDs, AFEEPPCs and IFCs must stand strongly in support of the basic ethic of "I choose not to harm".
(6) Details of all financial transactions for the purchase and sale of these t-shirts will be made publicly available via this website.
Joint Declaration:
http://globalclimatechangeaction.org/JD1
Climate Change Mitigation Petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/global-petition-for-the-implementation-...

→_→ "CLIMATE CHANGE: Twilight of the Fossil Fuel Era?" ( http://bit.ly/4kFLC ) http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47108

snip "Achim Steiner, United Nations Environment Program's executive director, says that "2008 was the first year where there was more investment in non-carbon energy sources than in high carbon and nuclear energy."

I was recently made aware of an extensive list of Scientists who refute Global Warming/Climate Change as a man made phenomena. These scientists do not dispute that Climate Change is happening, they argue that it is a natural cycle. They go on to ask governments to steer taxes into disaster preparation and continued growth to tackle the problem. The link is here:
http://www.rense.com/general79/d3m.htm

I have replied to them below:

I am not a scientist and my first glimmer of climate change came in 1998 when there was a really big heat wave. The shallow waters of Picnic Bay on Magnetic Island was too hot to walk into without burning your feet. I lived in the tropics of Qld, Australia, on an island surrounded by incredibly beautiful and diverse inshore coral reefs. Over the next two years many of these inshore reefs began to bleach and crumble. Then algae took hold. What was left (particularly in the shallower waters) was quickly suffocated by a forest of seaweed and turned into a muddy slush when the seaweed that fed off it ran out of fuel and was washed away by a minor cyclone. Said seaweed was then washed ashore and protected the trees roots (before it was cleaned up) which were badly exposed by the disappearing sand lines.

These sand lines continue to disappear on every beach I have visited in Qld over the last ten years or so. I don’t know where the sand is going, but it is rather amusing to watch the bulldozers attempt to put it all back year after year while the tides continue to grow higher and ever higher…

I watch this happening with my own eyes and try and understand why it is happening. It is very sad to witness first hand. It is not confined to any one particular beach but all of the beaches I have visited (even the ones with no continual human occupation).

I began to learn back in 1998 about global warming and climate change. Now, I do not dispute it. I just hope that there is time left for humanity to make the changes needed in order to survive as a species. Many have already lost their lives. I feel great sadness for their loss. Many more will perish in the not too distant future, particularly if we continue to deny what is happening before our very eyes.
see: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25555143-1702,00.html

I want a future for my children. I would like to ask those who remain in denial, what harm is there to TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION NOW? Disaster mitigation strategies must be put into place to protect those most vulnerable.

Natural or man made...does it matter?

What harm (apart from loss of income to multi-national corporations) will become this planet we all share, if we move AWAY from polluting industries and INTO a clean energy future? Whether the climate change/global warming scientists "preachers" are all full of hot air, or the others are “big industry” paid liars, there will be A LOT LESS HARM DONE to humanity and the home we all share if we clean up our act now.

Might I add that it is also ignorant and foolish to ignore the impact of multi-national corporations on our planet. Their retrenched employees (often paid off with the minimum possible) which has been ... to date... to ensure their shareholders get a nice, fat, continual return on investment and control of market share, is ensured by the fattest and most heartless.

Take a look now at what is happening to those very same shareholders... their retirement funds not up in smoke but lining the pockets of a small handful of CEO's and crooked politicians.

Time is here and now to get out of bed with multi-nationals, crooked politicians and their reckless behaviours of despoiling our planet for a quick buck ... it just makes the thin starve and fat obese... whilst continuously ignoring the fate of our children's futures.

No matter who or what you believe, cleaning up our act and getting out of bed with multinational despoilers can do us no harm.

The Global Green Plan Foundation

The Global Green Plan Foundation is a DGR status not-for-profit organisation established by Hal and Don Hewett in 2004 to implement the Global Green Plan. The Foundation’s mission is to provide an effective national and international response to climate change through whole-of-community engagement.

Website: www.globalgreenplan.org;
email dhew...@globalgreenplan.net

The Global Green Plan is based on the following principles of community engagement and its new and urgent nexus with climate change action:

copied from:
http://tinyurl.com/6w5klk

Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near
By Dr James Hansen

My presentation today is exactly 20 years after my 23 June 1988 testimony to Congress, which alerted the public that global warming was underway. There are striking similarities between then and now, but one big difference.

Again a wide gap has developed between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known by policymakers and the public. Now, as then, frank assessment of scientific data yields conclusions that are shocking to the body politic. Now, as then, I can assert that these conclusions have a certainty exceeding 99 percent.

The difference is that now we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb. The next President and Congress must define a course next year in which the United States exerts leadership commensurate with our responsibility for the present dangerous situation.

Dear friends

Just a short note to wish visitors and members a joy filled 2009.

It appears such a short time ago that an ignorance and lack of factual information ruled along with our leaders.

How wonderful it feels to KNOW that the technology exists to salvage our species and to provide endless, clean technology which does not poison our planet.

Our new leaders are aware of this technology.

(1) Submission to the SA EIS on the proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam mine by BHP Billiton.

To: Olym...@state.sa.gov.au
Copied to SA Planning Minister Paul Holloway mini...@saugov.sa.gov.au
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett Pete...@aph.gov.au

An list of objections to the Olympic Dam Expansion can be found: http://markparnell.org.au/campaign.php?campaignn=29

Submissions are due on or before Friday August 7, 2009.
****
I oppose the proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam mine for the
following reasons:

It is disconcerting to learn of the Roxby Downs Indenture Act which allows wide-ranging and totally
indefensible exemptions from key laws such as the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act, Environmental Protection Act 1993, Freedom of Information Act 1991 and Natural Resources Act 2004. The exemptions should be repealed and if the expansion is to proceed, the exemptions should not be extended to cover the expansion. It is wrong for such a highly dangerous operation to be exempted from these laws.

The Roxby Downs Indenture Act provides overrides and exemptions from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988, ie. BHP Billiton is in a legal position to determine what consultation occurs with Traditional Owners, who is consulted, and nature of any consultation.

The Indenture Act also allows BHP Billiton to extract massive and unsustainable amounts of water from the Great Artesian Basin for free despite the company's $17.7 billion profit in 2007-08.

BHP Billiton supports Reconciliation Australia's 'good governance' program and has provided over $2 million to Reconciliation Australia, yet the company will not relinquish its exemptions from the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988. The company's position is hypocritical.

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Export of uranium is expected to increase from an average of 4,000 tonnes per year to 19,000 tonnes. In power reactors, 19,000 tonnes of uranium produces enough plutonium to build 2,850 nuclear weapons. The total amount of uranium at Olympic Dam would produce enough plutonium to
build over 340,000 nuclear weapons. Already there are enough nuclear weapons in storage and ready to detonate to enable the destruction of life on the planet many times over. There is no need for the development of any further nuclear arms. Unfortunately by exporting our uranium it is likely that our raw product will continue to feed the production of further nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has admitted that its rights of inspection are "fairly limited" and that it operates on a "shoe-string budget comparable to a local police department".

The mine expansion is heavily dependant on selling uranium and a uranium-infused copper concentrate to China. BHP Billiton also wants to export uranium to other nuclear weapons states including Russia even though there has not been a single IAEA safeguards inspection in Russia since 2001.

Radioactive Tailings Waste

There have been numerous spills and leaks and large numbers of bird deaths have been recorded in the vicinity of tailings dams. Photos taken by an Olympic Dam mine worker in December 2008 show radioactive tailings liquid leaking from the rock 'armoury' of the tailings 'retention' system.
BHP Billiton then threatened "disciplinary action" against any worker taking photos of the mine site. The company can also restrict the release of information because of the exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act 1991 as noted earlier.

Radioactive tailings wastes are exposed and open to the environment and currently amount to about 100 million tonnes. The tailings contain a toxic, acidic soup of radionuclides and heavy metals.

BHP Billiton plans to increase the production of radioactive tailings waste seven-fold to 68 million tonnes annually to cover an area of up to 44 sq kms to a height of up to 65 metres. This toxic mountain is designed to leak on average 3 million litres of radioactive waste a day. BHP plans to line only 15% of the proposed tailings facility.

High Level Nuclear Waste

Olympic Dam uranium will end up as high level nuclear waste. However no country has a permament repository for this waste let alone a better solution than dumping it in a repository. The most advanced high-level nuclear repository project was Yucca Mountain − a $10 billion
fiasco that was 23 years behind schedule when the project was permanently abandoned by President Obama earlier this year.

Water Usage

BHP Billiton proposes an increase in water consumption from 37 million litres daily (from the Great Artesian Basin) to over 250 million litres daily (up to 42 million litres from the Great Artesian Basin, the
remainder from a proposed desalination plant near Whyalla). That's over 100,000 litres every minute.

The water take from the Great Artesian Basin is a direct risk to the unique and fragile ecology of the Mound Springs that are listed as an 'endangered ecological community' under federal environment legislation and depend on the natural flows of water from the Great Artesian Basin. BHP
Billiton should be required to phase out, rather than increase, extraction of Great Artesian Basin water.

BHP Billiton wants to site the proposed desalination inappropriately in the fragile and low flushing Upper Spencer Gulf, posing a threat to the breeding ground of the Giant Australian Cuttle Fish.

Electricity Consumption

The expansion will see electricity consumption increase over six-fold from 125MW to 775MW. BHP plans to source this from a combination of the state electricity grid, a proposed on-site gas-fired plant, and a proposed on-site plant powered by waste heat. There is no requirement for BHP Billiton to source any electricity for the mine site from clean, sustainable, renewable, energy sources.

Greenhouse emissions from the mine are projected to increase from 1.2 million tonnes annually to up to 5.9 million tonnes. This will make it all but impossible for SA to reach its legislated emissions target of 13 million tonnes annually by 2050.

BHP Billiton promotes uranium as a fuel for low-carbon nuclear power but this is true only if compared to fossil fuels. Nuclear power is more greenhouse intensive (with the added legacy of the waste) than most renewable energy sources and most energy efficiency/conservation measures.

Diesel Fuel Use

An increase in the use of diesel at the Olympic Dam mine from 25 million litres annually to over 375 million litres annually is expected which will further increase during the five year construction period. BHP Billiton stands to gain over $65 million annually in diesel fuel rebates − more than the company now pays in royalties to the SA government from the existing underground mine operation.

Environment Impact Statement Flawed

Water consumption, radioactive waste production, energy consumption and greenhouse emissions may all be considerably higher than the figures presented in the Draft EIS because BHP Billiton has applied for approval to extract up to 1 million tonnes of copper product a year even though
the EIS only examines an expansion of up to 750,000 tonnes.
***

(2) This submission covers:

Australia’s Future Infrastructure Requirements Climate Change Infrastructure Investment and Water Infrastructure Requirements.
http://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/submissions.aspx

m...@infrastructureaustralia.gov.au
A.Al...@aph.gov.au

Energy Investing – A sustainable future for Australia
Submission to National Infrastructure Priority List

We are writing to you as one voice from the abundant citizens’ climate change action groups that have formed across Australia. The existence of our many groups is the result of mounting anxiety in the population about the lack of effective action delivered so far on reducing our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Our members are drawn from the spectrum of this country’s people, from urban, rural and regional areas. They include small and large business operators and directors, parents, students, grandparents, farmers, migrants, and public service and other employees. Diverse and often dissimilar, we all share a common wish to see far more effective measures undertaken by our leaders to avert the dangerous climate change that scientists across the globe predict.

Global warming is happening much faster than was previously thought, our government’s policy and initiatives need to be reconciled with the emerging respected science and IPCC recommendations so that we avoid risking catastrophic climate change.

The existence of our many climate action groups across the nation demonstrates a widespread understanding about the need for sweeping, legislated changes to industry and society to tackle climate change effectively.

We are writing to clearly express to you that:

1. We are very much aware that there are substantial numbers of highly credible research papers and reports that demonstrate the viability of currently available, clean, renewable energy sources as being able to deliver the bulk of the energy needs of this country.

2. We are acutely aware of the significant contribution of the coal industry to climate change, both here and overseas, and are not convinced by the clean coal pathway. Exports of Australian coal contribute more to global greenhouse gases than all of Australia's emissions combined. Worldwide, there is no proven, working model for sequestering greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. The technology to provide ‘clean coal’ may never come to fruition, yet time is of the essence. We feel that any government that consents to the expansion of such a dangerous industry in this age is not acting responsibly, or in the public interest. With the above in mind we would like to see taxes invested into clean renewable energy supplies, in particular, heavy investment into Geothermal Power for base load supplies.

3. We remain opposed to the expansion of uranium mining and the nuclear industry for all the risks it continues to pose globally and locally.

4. Legislate a renewable energy target of at least 50% by 2020.

5. Cease the approvals of new or expanded coalmines, coal-fired power stations and coal export infrastructure, and instead use these taxes to support the development of alternative, sustainable industries in coal-mining regions, ie. Geothermal power plants.

6. Adopt a target of zero energy growth by 2010 with annual reductions thereafter, through increased energy efficiency and demand management.

7. Abandon any plans for the expansion of uranium mining and export.

8. No new dams on our rivers. Our rivers are dying. Dams do not create new water, they restrict river flow causing and creating greater problems in the long term - the perfect example is the Murray Darling. Going down a road which is clearly flawed is no way to lead this great nation into a positive future. We urge (a) less wastage, (b) greater investment into providing individual household roof water catchments ie. greater subsidies for water tanks and (c) re-use of treated water, particularly for farmland irrigation purposes.

We have every hope that your government will recognise climate change as a global emergency needing swift and decisive action to immediately curb this country’s escalating emissions, and the emissions that arise from our exports. We see a bright future for Australia and future generations if our leaders invest our taxes wisely.

Anne Goddard
Global Climate Change Action Group.
http://globalclimatechangeaction.org
http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/ClimateChangeAction/

Beautiful video :-)

Giant chunks break off Canadian ice shelf Giant sheets of ice totaling
almost eight square miles broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic
last week and more could follow later this year, scientists said on
Tuesday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25917328/from/ET/

Thanks to to Greg, who sent me a similar article ...
"Huge chunk snaps off storied Arctic ice shelf"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080729.ICE29/TPStory/...

A four-square-kilometre chunk has broken off Ward Hunt Ice Shelf -
the largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic - threatening the future
of the giant frozen mass that northern explorers have used for years as
the starting point for their treks.
Scientists say the break, the largest on record since 2005, is the
latest indication that climate change is forcing the drastic reshaping
of the Arctic coastline, where 9,000 square kilometres of ice have been
whittled down to less than 1,000 over the past century, and are only
showing signs of decreasing further.
"Once you unleash this process by cracking the ice shelf in multiple
spots, of course we're going to see this continuing," said Derek
Mueller, a leading expert on the North who discovered the ice shelf's
first major crack in 2002.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Continuation from http://globalclimatechangeaction.org/smokedetector

I have snipped a small part of the two page PDF document and pasted as an image here. This information is supplied by ARPANZA. Full document here: http://globalclimatechangeaction.org/files/goddard%20attachment.pdf

The broken smoke detector contains an amount of AM 241 and bears the radiation warning. The label reads "return to supplier or Dpt of Health for disposal."

The attached jpg image snip reads:

"When more than 10 smoke detectors (or more particularly, the Americium 241 sources) are collected together for bulk disposal however, they must be treated as radioactive waste, and the requirements of the National Health and Research Council's code of practice for the Near Surface Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Australia, 1992, (PDF 237kb) must be met. Contact your State or Territory radiation control authority for advice."

Freecall 1800 022 333

(Note PDF File not attached)