10 Tips to reduce your Carbon Footprint

Your carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly through your daily activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). These greenhouse gases are directly linked to climate change, and it is our moral obligation to protect our climate for future generations. The following are some basic step and ideas to promote ‘green’ living within your lives, and will hopefully help some of you to realise the full impact of your actions on an environmental level:

1. Turn down the temperature on your water heater - this is the easiest and most efficient way to reduce carbon emissions
2. Turn down central heating - even a 1-2 degree change will make a huge difference
3. Fill your dish washer and washing machine with a full load - this will save you water, electricity, and washing powder
4. Sign up to a green energy supplier, who will supply electricity from renewable sources (e.g. wind and hydroelectric power) - this will reduce your carbon footprint contribution from electricity to zero
5. Recycle your grey water – can be used to water the garden and in the toilet
6. Upgrade to more energy efficient appliances – washers, fridges, boilers etc...
7. Use public transport or walk/cycle as much as reasonably possible
8. Recycle
9. Promote Greener products through your purchasing patterns – i.e. buy local products to reduce transport emissions, products with less baggage and stay away from wasteful products like bottled water.
10. Try to reduce the number of flights you take – flights are one of the biggest factors on our carbon footprints today.

These are only a few simple steps to reducing your impact on our environment. To find more and calculate your own carbon footprint check out http://wwf.org.au/footprint/calculator/

Sea Shepherd: Crusader or Pirate?

The NHK reports that the Japanese Coast Guard has today obtained an arrest warrant in Tokyo against Canadian Paul Watson, 59, for allegedly instructing members of his group, Sea Shepherd, to obstruct Japan's whaling mission and causing injury to Japanese crew. The Japanese government also seek an international arrest warrant, and Watson's arrest through Interpol.

Sea Shepherd is a non-government environmental organization, operating out of the United States. The group engages in conventional protests as well as controversial direct actions to protect marine wildlife. The Sea Shepherd has crusaded against commercial fishing, shark poaching and finning, seal hunting, and whaling, but its actions have not always been legal, or even free of controversy.

Controversial incidents include scuttling and disabling commercial whaling vessels at harbour, ramming other vessels, throwing glass bottles of butyric acid on the decks of vessels at sea, boarding of whaling vessels while at sea, and seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea. As of 2009, Paul Watson has said that the organization has sunk ten whaling ships while also destroying millions of dollars’ worth of equipment. He considers the actions to be against "criminal operations".

Most recently, this whaling season saw the arrest of Peter Bethune who seized while illegal boarding a Japanese whaler. He was indicted on April 2 for trespassing, injuring a person, carrying a weapon, vandalism and obstructing commercial activities and could face up to 15 years jail time.

So, do the ends justify the means? Tell us what you think and coment bellow!
You can also follow Sea Shepard on twitter at http://twitter.com/seashepherd

Nestlé Killer

On October 30th, 2009 Australia's 'Truefood Guide' was released. The aim of this guide was to empower Australian's to select healthy food choices that were free of genetically engineered ingredients.

The guide reveals over 1000 of Australia's leading food and beverage brands for the amount of genetically engineered ingredients and rates them according to their safety.

The GE-Free Chefs Charter was also created where more than 180 chefs signed in order to create more publicity and awareness of the GE-Free campaign. Many said that we did not know the long term side effects on our bodies and the environment, and were trying to prevent genetically engineered products from entering our supermarkets.
Since the release of the Truefood Guide, leading Aussie brands such as Nestlé, Schweppes and Fosters have committed to the GE-Free policy.

Although Nestlé took part in transforming the food industry to GE-Free products, Nestlé is continuing to use palm tree oil in many of their bestselling chocolates.

So why is this so terrible?

Indonesia’s rainforests are being destroyed as an increase in demand of palm tree oil sweeps the globe. This in turn is driving Indonesia’s Orang-utan’s to the brink of extinction. The Greenpeace website reveals that every 12 seconds, an area of a forest in Indonesia the size of a football field is being cut down.

According to the Centre for Orang-utan Protection, at least 1,500 orang-utans died in 2006 as a result of deliberate attacks by plantation workers and loss of habitat due to the expansion of oil palm plantations.

Greenpeace has also launched an advertisement, check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8TZqQrp9zc

What is being done?

Over 200,000 people have contacted the CEO of Nestlé since Greenpeace’s global campaign which started on March 17th but this is still not enough for Nestlé to stop buying palm tree oil from the Indonesian rainforests.

If you would like to let the CEO of Nestlé know that this is inappropriate behaviour for such a prestigious company, visit this link to make a difference - www.greenpeace.org/australia/issues/deforestation/take-action/kitkat

Gudgeon Project

The Southern purple spotted gudgeon is a small fish that was considered extinct since the 1970's. This Murray-Darling fish used to be found all the way up into Northern Victoria, but as a result of interactions with non-native species (mainly Eastern gambusia and Redfin perch), and changes in water levels with river regulation, the species was wiped out. Or so we thought.

A slow-moving ambush predator, it feeds on small fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates, as well as worms and tadpoles. It is found in slow moving or still waters of creeks, rivers, wetlands and billabongs, and prefers slower flowing, deeper habitats.

Recently, a small number of gudgeons were rediscovered in the Cardross Lakes (an irrigation drainage basin system) near Mildura in Northern Victoria. So a number of organizations have combined forces to fight to save the fish in this system, which was drying up because of changes in irrigation practices.

Two days ago, captive-bred gudgeons were released into the Paiwalla wetland. Alberton Primary School students, who have been involved in the project by undertaking their own breeding program, were on-hand to assist with the release of the fish at Paiwalla wetland, located upstream of Murray Bridge.
The ultimate aim of the project is to recolonise areas in the river Murray channel and wetlands once water levels increase.

The Wetland Habitats Trust together with the SA MDBNRM Board will undertake continued monitoring of Paiwalla to maintain favourable conditions for the released fish.
This fish now has a real chance of long term survival as a result of this captive breeding program and the donation of 30 megalitres of water for the Paiwalla wetland.

The project has been a partnership involving the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board, Native Fish Australia, the Paiwalla Wetland Habitats Trust, the Department of Environment and Heritage, the Department for Water Land and Biodiversity Conservation and Healthy River Australia.
Healthy Rivers Australia wants to help secure water for at least the next five years for the Southern Purple Spotted Gudgeon. If you would like to help by donating water of give a financial contribution, contact Healthy Rivers Australia on 08 8211 6017
or email them at info@healthyrivers.org.au

A Tragedy of Commons!

This is not a Shakespearian play, but a theoretical economic issue of intergeneration equality. In general terms the tragedy of the commons refers to an economic and environmental outcome where our finite resources will be completely used or irreversibly damaged by our unlimited and unrestrained ‘wants’.

The development of this idea comes from the ‘fundamental economic problem’ which is a basic assumption about human nature and our earth's resources. The problem states that our ‘wants’, as humans, are limitless but our resources to fulfil these wants are limited which forces us to consider the opportunity cost of every action we undertake and what we forgo in order to satisfy these wants.

To understand this problem it is easier to examine real life issue and examples of possible tragedies that we or future generations may face:
· Depletion of Energy Resources
· Deforestation
· Overfishing and water pollution
· Air pollution and global warming
· Overpopulation

These problems, in the past, have been looked at in an exclusively short-term perspective and only recently have economists and politicians really begun to understand the full impact of our actions on future generations. This is the idea of ‘intergenerational equality’, a notion that our actions now should not impede the living standards of the next generations.

In order for achieve this level of equality between generations, we as a global society need to look at becoming more self-sustained and efficient in our use of resources. This is not only a goal for our governments on a global scale, but should be a goal achievable on an individual level as well. Minimising our personal impact on the environment is the first step in avoiding this tragedy of the commons.



Let us know what you do to minimise your environmental impact by commenting bellow!

Dolphin Drive Hunting

I apologize to who this blog may offend; it is purely for awareness rather than slander of culture.

Lions eating Zebra's is another natural part of the life cycle; an act of survival. As humans evolved gaining higher intelligence and ability we no longer considered the act of survival, it became less of a need, but more of a want; a luxury.

Before reading on please view this short film from Youtube -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wK31g_ufHg&feature=related

Striped, Spotted Risso’s and Bottlenose Dolphins are hunted in the town of Taiji on the Kii peninsula of Japan. The technique of Drive Fishing involves them pushing the Dolphins together with boats and then usually into a bay or onto a beach. The dolphins are hunted this way in several other countries around the world.

In 2007 alone a total of 1,239 animals were killed, yet this number only included the technique of Drive Fishing, excluding Open Ocean Harpooning. On top of this another 84 were taken for use in the entertainment industry in Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan.

Taiji expanded its drive hunting programs in 2007. This consisted of constructing a massive cetacean slaughterhouse in an effort to popularize the consumption of Dolphins in the country, costing an estimated 330 million Yen.

An estimated 150kg of dolphin meat was served in local school lunches in 2006. The meat and blubber of the dolphins caught has been found to have extremely high volumes of Mercury and the pesticide DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane).

…among the Second World War, DDT was used to control Malaria among troops and civilians. Post war it was used as a pesticide and thus its production increased on an exponential rate. It was later found that DDT was carcinogenic and therefore was banned worldwide under the Stockholm Convention May 2001…

The levels are high enough to pose a health risk for those frequently eating the meat and researchers warn that children and pregnant women should totally avoid consuming it.

So with all these health risks why do they keep hunting?

Protestors were labeled by Taiji’s Fishing Cooperative Union that protestor’s agenda’s are ‘based neither on international law nor on science, but rather on emotion for economic self interest.’

Can a society really be desensitized to not recognize the inhumane tasks that they are performing or is the money worth all that indecency and cruelty?

All social movements are founded by, guided by, motivated and seen through by the passion of individuals – Margaret Mead

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. Every year on April 22, we must sit back and appreciate the Earth and its environment.

This is the day to make a fresh start to save our Earth’s environment. The first earth day was celebrated 40 years ago. And today is a day when the earth day should be observed with awareness towards its environment which is at a high risk due to pollution and other activities.

The Earth day this year comes with a big note for all its residents indicating that it is high time we do something to save the earth’s environment. Earth day is an appropriate day to jot down plans on energy efficiency, use of renewable energy and maintaining our green earth. This is the day when each individual should take the responsibility to work together with government organizations and corporations and bring out a global green economy.

The core issues of Earth Day are climate change, conservation and biodiversity, education, energy, food and agriculture, green economy, green schools, recycling and waste reduction, sustainable development, and water use.

Some simple things you can do to help the environment are: ride a bike instead of using the car, recycle, take shorter showers and invest in a water-saving shower head, plant some trees (australian natives), buy local and organic products, conserve water, don't litter, use environmentally friendly cleaning products and finally, try to email rather than send mail.

The Great Barrier Reef, Will it be Great in Ten Years Time?

International Maritime Law applies to The Greater Barrier Reef, for a whole of twelve nautical miles as well as being managed by several government agencies including the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Maritime Safety Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.
So where were these laws and government agencies when the Chinese coal carrier, Shen Neng I, ploughed its way through our Great Barrier Reef, causing damage to the Douglas Shoal? The carrier caused chaos to the equivalent of five football fields, destroying our corals and natural wildlife. As well as hitting a sandbar and causing damage to our precious reef, the Shen Neng I leaked three tonnes of oil into the water, a crime according to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act, 1975.
Although three men, allegedly the owners of the carrier, are facing multi-million dollar fines, there are groups that are concerned this is not enough. The Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, claims that the government is cracking down on the tracking of ships in the Great Barrier Reef. Any ship in the southern part of the reef will now regularly report their location and route to authorities as well as being satellite tracked.
Another problem is that these rules only apply to the northern section of the reef, as the majority is located outside Australian territory, where laws are difficult to implement.
So again, where are these government agencies that are meant to be protecting our infamous reef? Is there enough being done? We’d like to know what you think, express your thoughts and opinions by commenting below.

Emissions Trading Scheme?

Since the 2007 electoral campaigns between Kevin ‘07’ Rudd and John Howard a National Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has been a hot topic within the global warming debate.

The premise of an ETS is that companies have a ‘cap’ or limit to the amount of pollution (or emissions) they’re allowed to emit. Companies and other entities are issued with an emission permit and are required to hold an equivalent number of allowances (or credits) which represent the right to emit a specific amount. If a business or entity exceeds this cap then they must pay or ‘trade’ for more allowances from companies who pollute less. In effect polluters are being charged for their excess pollution, while sellers of credits are being rewarded for reducing emissions.

Now, in mid-April 2010, we have seen very little action on the Emissions Trading front with the exception of New Zealand who is the only nation in the world to have an operating Emissions Trading Scheme (however, New Zealand does not have a cap, but an Emissions tax).

Not only has there been crippling inaction on the ETS front, but support for the scheme is wavering with reports stating that US President Barak Obama might have to abandon his proposal for emissions trading in favour of "direct action" in order to steer his carbon-cutting plans through the US Senate.

Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has also made his thoughts about an ETS clear by stating that technological change would offer the major solution in combating global climate change, not setting targets to cut carbon emissions.

Even the New Zealand government is considering abolishing its ETS legislation if its trading partners do not soon follow suit, as the New Zealand government and those opposed to the ETS see it as a handicap on the Kiwi Economy.

So what is the next step our governments should take in the battle against global warming? Let us know your thoughts and comment bellow!

the beginning

this is a basic outlay of what we want our blog to look like, enjoy :)