Archive for April, 2008
TWO EVENTS ABOUT ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE - 21 & 28 April
Posted in Models, Policies, Research by Ferne Edwards on April 7th, 2008
Future Leaders and the City of Melbourne are pleased to invite you and your friends to two vitally important forums where panels of Australia’s most knowledgeable energy experts will present, discuss and debate the very latest in energy production science and technology and the associated issues around climate change.
Energy and Climate Change: science and technology for Australia’s future
RENEWABLE ENERGY – SOLAR,WIND, GEO-THERMAL, BIO MASS & TIDAL
DATE: Monday 21 April
Professor Andrew Blakers FTSE – ANU, Canberra – Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Thermal
Dr. Adrian Williams - Former CEO Geodynamics Ltd – Geo Thermal
Ms. Dominique La Fontaine - Immediate past CEO Clean Energy Council – Wind, Bio Mass, Tidal and Waves
Moderator: Peter Mares – Presenter ABC Radio National
Summariser: Professor Graeme Pearman FTSE - Monash University
Time: 6pm to 7.30pm: entry from 5.30pm
Where: BMW Edge, Federation Square, Cnr. Flinders & Swanston Streets, Melbourne
FREE ENTRY
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Energy and Climate Change: science and technology for Australia’s future
NON–RENEWABLE ENERGY – COAL, GAS, GEOSEQUESTRATION & NUCLEAR
DATE: Monday 28 April
Dr Louis Wibberly - Chief Technologist, Energy Technology, CSIRO, Newcastle – Brown Coal and Gas, future utilization.
Dr. Peter Cook FTSE – CEO Cooperative Research Centre Greenhouse Gas Technology (C02CRC) – CO2 sequestration
Dr. Ziggy Switkowski FTSE - Chair, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Melbourne – Nuclear Energy
Moderator: Peter Mares – Presenter ABC Radio National
Summariser: Professor Graeme Pearman FTSE - Monash University
Time: 6pm to 7.30pm: entry from 5.30pm
Where: BMW Edge, Federation Square, Cnr. Flinders & Swanston Streets, Melbourne
FREE ENTRY
Presented by Melbourne Conversations, the City of Melbourne’s program of free talks and supported by Future Leaders
Developed in collaboration with the Australian & New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE)
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Get ClimateWise Now! Workshops - How to reduce your carbon emissions
Posted in Events by Ferne Edwards on April 6th, 2008
Climate change requires urgent action by all. In recognition of this Manningham City Council has taken the lead to initiate the carbon rationing action groups to pool community enthusiasm and resources to make a real practical difference now.
Staff and residents of Manningham have the opportunity to learn how to make substantial reductions in their carbon emissions and create change by becoming involved in Carbon Rationing Action Groups (CRAG’s). The ‘Get ClimateWise Now!’ program is offering residents a series of eight workshops covering topics such as solar electricity, solar hot water and heating, domestic wind energy, electric transportation options, green building & retrofits, greens financing, food miles and serious recycling with discounts and exciting offers for carbon rationing participants.
The 6th workshop ‘Green Building/Renovations & Double Gazing Options‘ has a great speaker on the green building topic plus has an introduction into the CRAG groups and the great offers for sustainable technology and home energy audits.
- Marie Wallin From Planet Architecture will present case studies on Green renovations & buildings
- ClearComfort retrofit double glazing
- Magnetite retrofit double glazing
- Miglas New manufactured DG windows.
Date: Thursday 10th April
Time: 6:45pm to 9:00pm
Venue: Council Chambers, 699 Doncaster Rd, Doncaster
Bookings essential (for catering) Kay Toussaint 9840 9348 or eepadmin @manningham.vic.gov.au
Cost: Free
Tags: carbon emissions, carbon rationing, climate change, climatewise, workshops
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Model & Local Action - Farmer’s Market Newsletter, April
Posted in Events, Models by Ferne Edwards on April 6th, 2008
Below is the Farmers’ Market Newsletter for April by Miranda Sharp, Melbourne Community Farmers’ Markets Freelance Food Writing, www.mfm.com.au.
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Change of venue - Manningham Bus Review - 17 April
Posted in Events, Policies by Ferne Edwards on April 4th, 2008
The next Sustainable Living Challenge has had a change of venue. The program will be held at the Pines Learning and Activity Centre, 520 Blackburn Road East Doncaster (Melways 34 D5)
Sustainable Transport Solutions - Manningham Bus Review
RSVP through the Department of Infrastructure only 9221 1952!
The Department of Infrastructure is undertaking a Bus Service Review as part of a package of bus improvements planned for metropolitan Melbourne. This community consultation session will ensure that bus service improvements reflect the needs of the Manningham community.
The aim is to:
· review the bus timetables to assess if they meet minimum standards;
· determine the need for any new routes in areas of high growth;
· identify routes where significant overcrowding occurs;
· improve linkages with other transport services; and
· review route structures to make them more direct.
Time & Date: 6.30—9.30pm, Thursday 17 April, 2008. Where: The Pines Learning and Activity Centre, 520 Blackburn Road, East Doncaster. Melways 34 D5 Bookings: 9221 1952
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“The Conscious Cook” cookbook by Giselle Wilkinson
Posted in Models by Ferne Edwards on April 3rd, 2008
“The Conscious Cook” is a cookbook written by Giselle Wilkinson which takes us on a journey into the breadth of food-associated issues, helping to connect the issues and demonstrate the complexity of sustainability and the simplicity of many of the actions involved in achieving it. As remarked on the website, http://consciouscook.org/, Wilkinson’s recipe book “is completely different from other cookbooks. It looks at food, not only from the point of health and taste, but also through the lens of the global sustainability movement working to reduce our impact on our very stressed planet. The Conscious Cook raises awareness of the interconnections that link human health and wellbeing with that of the health of the planet”.
For more information about this book and how to buy a copy visit http://consciouscook.org/.
Tags: cookbook, ethical eating, Food, giselle wilkinson, sustainable cooking
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Comment - Reshaping our cities….
Posted in Models, Policies, Research, Visions by Ferne Edwards on April 2nd, 2008
The section below is republished with permission from the Going Solar Transport Newsletter #52, 25 March 2008, compiled by Stephen Ingrouille. Going Solar, www.goingsolar.com.au/transport. This newsletter provides an excellent commentary on local sustainable transport issues in Melbourne.
Reshaping Our Cities
“If the long term vision existed, we could rezone our ever-evolving cities and accrue some fantastic oil-saving benefits quickly. Let us look at the example of steering suburban home building in the right direction. Folke Günther — a Swedish author — writes that the natural attrition rate of old suburban homes is about 1.6% per year. (This is based on a 60 year home lifespan, so is a safe enough figure to work with. I don’t see Australian suburban homes lasting longer than that, do you?) That is, 1.6% of Swedish homes are demolished and rebuilt each year. Demolition means the potential for change, because when a home has reached the end of its lifespan, it does not have to be replaced with a similar building and a similar function on the same old real estate space. That space can be rezoned and used for other purposes, but I’ll describe the shape of this change below. Right now I am discussing the speed of the change that normal home demolition rates could allow. If we took charge of city change in the right direction, 1.6% per year means that we could reshape the city by 16% in a decade, or 32% in 20 years, or even 64% over 40 years. In other words, if we made the appropriate zoning law changes, we could reduce suburbia’s need for oil transport by 64% in just 4 decades at the rate of change cities are already experiencing anyway! All it requires is the vision and political will to grab the reigns of this beast and steer it in the right direction.”
Ref: ‘Eclipse’, ABC TV Difference of Opinion: Are We Running On Empty? 27/7/07
http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Message.aspx?b=70&m=10
561&ps=20&dm=1&pd=3
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The cars that ate Melbourne….?
Posted in Research by Ferne Edwards on April 1st, 2008
The section below is republished with permission from the Going Solar Transport Newsletter #52, 25 March 2008, compiled by Stephen Ingrouille. Going Solar, www.goingsolar.com.au/transport. This newsletter provides an excellent commentary on local sustainable transport issues in Melbourne.
The Cars That Ate Cities
“When you’re in traffic these days, four-wheel drives are everywhere. Most of them are registered in the cities and rarely leave the bitumen. They can be deadly urban assault vehicles. Many of them guzzle fuel at a rate that makes the big Falcons and Commodores look like petrol misers. And the toxic emissions that many four-wheel drives spew from their exhaust pipes can rate up there with small trucks. Four wheel drive sales have boomed over the past decade; they now make up about a quarter of all new passenger vehicles sales in this country. In contrast, regulation by the federal and state governments is going at a snail’s pace. It’s been a similar situation in the United States, where four-wheel drives now rule the roads. New Australian safety research you’ll hear about on today’s program adds to the concern. …Actually here they’re now officially called Sports Utility Vehicles, or SUVs, as they’re called in America.”
Ref: Stephen Skinner, Background Briefing, The Cars That Ate Cities, Radio National 15/6/03
Read the full transcript: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s881845.htm
Tags: cars, going solar, Radio National, traffic, transport, vehicles
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Event - A Zero Carbon World? Future sense from 30 years of experimentation at CAT (UK) - 21 April
Posted in Events, Models, Movements, Research, Visions by Ferne Edwards on April 1st, 2008
FREE PUBLIC LECTURE WITH PETER HARPER FROM CENTRE FOR ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY (CAT), UNITED KINGDOM
Responding to the threat of climate change, governments have set targets for reducing greenhouse gas by 60-80% over the next 40 years. Recent climate science suggests this is nowhere near enough. A 100% reduction in 20 years might be necessary. Is this remotely possible? How might it be done? What technologies would we need? How would we design a zero-carbon – modern - economy? What impact would it have on lifestyles – on food, travel, housing, infrastructure, employment, leisure? Would it be a nightmare? Does it offer opportunities for a revitalisation of society?
30 years of living investigation at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales may provide the answers the world urgently needs. (www.cat.org.uk)
Peter Harper has been part of a team working on these questions at CAT. He can bring an unusual lifetime of experience to illuminating the vigorous debate around a new vision for ‘Zero Carbon Britain’ 2020. Peter Harper is Head of Research and Innovation at the Centre for Alternative Technology, where he has worked for 25 years, with periodic secondments to overseas universities. He was a pioneer of the alternative technology movement and has always tried to relate technological ‘hardware’ with social and personal ‘software’. His main interests have been in horticulture and low-carbon lifestyles. He runs his own home as an experimental ‘lifestyle lab’. He is mildly obsessed by compost.
6-8pm, 21 April 2008 at the Prince Philip Theatre, University of Melbourne. Please RSVP your attendance to Ferne Edwards at fedwards @unimelb.edu.au. More information will be published shortly.
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Event - Sustainable Living Expo - 19 April
Posted in Events by Ferne Edwards on April 1st, 2008
Please see message below and attached from Boroondara City Council about their upcoming Sustainable Living Expo - 19 April.
Are you trying to live in a more sustainable way, but feel you need some expert advice about water saving, solar energy, composting and which sustainable products are right for your home?
Go along to the ‘Living for our Future’ Expo held at the Boroondara Farmers’ Market. Browse products and chat with experienced suppliers who are happy to help you achieve a more sustainable lifestyle, while sampling farm fresh supplies and yummy treats from the market. Featuring a free recycled art workshop for the kids, music, entertainment and free product show bags to the first 500 visitors.
Saturday 19 April. 8am-1pm, Patterson Reserve, Auburn Road, Hawthorn. Phone 9278 4347 or visit Councils website www.boroondara.vic.gov.au
Expo - 19 April
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Event - Philosophy and the Environment program - commences 29 April
Posted in Events, Research by Ferne Edwards on April 1st, 2008
The Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy (MSCP) is pleased to announce its first Evening School programme, centring on the topic of philosophy and the environment. The programme will look at climate change from four points of view - historical/ethical, scientific, economic and political - with each seminar series focusing on one of the four perspectives.
Each series will run for 12 consecutive weeks. “Images of Nature: An Introduction to an Environmental Ethics”, to be presented by Cameron Shingleton (MSCP) and “Global Warming: The Science and Its Implications”, to be presented by Philip Sutton (Greenleap Strategic Institute) using Climate ‘Code Red’ as the core text, will begin on 29 and 30 April.
Full details including enrolment forms and course outlines are available via the MSCP website or the following link: http://www.mscp.org.au/es08.html
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