Posts Tagged ‘Research’
Farmers Cannot Afford to Ignore Climate Change: Article
Posted in Movements, Opinion by Kate Archdeacon on April 8th, 2011
Image: Looking Glass via flickr CC
From “Climate Change Convert” by Kate Dowler in The Weekly Times:
Farmers cannot afford to ignore climate change, whether they believe in the science or not. And if agriculture does not have a seat at the negotiations table with big industries such as coal, they will “end up on the menu”.
This is the view of leading Western District farmer, Mark Wootton, a self-described climate-change sceptic turned renewable energy lobbyist. The trained geographer says his view changed as the weight of scientific evidence that human actions were causing climate change grew, and he now accepts the validity of the mainstream scientific view. Now he argues that whether they “believe” the science of climate change or not, farmers can benefit by learning more about carbon markets. And he says farming is to play a big role in solving climate change but to enable this, governments urgently need to put more money into extensive agricultural research and development.
Mr Wootton began looking at climate change from a business-risk perspective in the late 1990s. “The risk is there’s a high probability that the science is absolutely correct,” he said. “From a farmer’s perspective, I think we have to accept we’ve moved into a carbon-constrained world. Forget about the politics and look at the risk to your business.” Mr Wootton runs 5000ha at Hamilton with wife Eve Kantor. They produce beef, wool, lambs, crops and agroforestry. He also chairs the Climate Institute, a non-partisan, independent research organisation. “My fear now is there’s a high probability that the climate is changing much quicker than the scientists’ earlier models showed,” he said, “What is unfortunately becoming clearer is that predictions were way too conservative.”
“From a business perspective, I’ve concluded the cost and advantages of acting are not detrimental to our business; if we can be more energy-efficient, if we can be better converters of feed so we produce less methane, if we can use shelter belts for stock protection and increasing lambing percentages – all of those aspects we can do on an integrated, carbon-constrained farm, then they are good for business.”
Read the full article by Kate Dowler in The Weekly Times.
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The Business Benefits of Moving to a Low Carbon Economy: Sustainability Drinks
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on April 1st, 2011
| 6 April , 2011 | ||
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Jennifer Lauber Patterson is a specialist in environmental and energy markets with over 20 years experience in the banking and energy sectors. During her time in the energy industry Jennifer held a number of senior roles before transitioning to banking in 2004, taking up the position of Director, Electricity, Emissions and Renewables at ANZ. In this role she established ANZ’s carbon and renewable derivative business. In 2009 Jennifer moved to NAB where she is currently heading up the development of the bank’s carbon trading capability.
Jennifer will be presenting notes from a discussion paper that focuses on the business benefits of Australia moving to a low carbon economy. We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday the 6th April from 6 – 8pm.
Please note that it is essential to RSVP every month. Due to the ever increasing popularity of the event, it may not be possible to accommodate people who do not RSVP. This is not a sponsored event; i.e. you buy your own drinks, as we choose to come together in the spirit of a shared interest.
Wednesday the 6th April from 6 – 8pm.
Melbourne Sustainability Drinks has a new home!
Location: Slate Bar & Restaurant Mezzanine, 9 Goldsbrough Lane Melbourne VIC 3000
As space is limited it is essential to RSVP. Spaces go quickly, so respond now: http://www.melbournesustainabilitydrinks.com/rsvp
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Mapping Solar Potential of Rooftops in Germany
Posted in Events by Mark Ogge on March 31st, 2011
| 4 April , 2011 | ||
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Image © SUN-AREA
The Zero Carbon Australia Buildings Plan research team is currently assessing the total solar potential of rooftops in Australia. Similar studies have been completed around the world. Germany’s SUN-AREA project estimates that solar photovoltaic (PV – solar panels) power could meet the entire energy needs of residential homes throughout the country. It is sponsored by the University of Osnabrück and the TOPSCAN topographical information company.
Project director and geomatics engineer Professor Martina Klärle, will join us via Skype video conference to present their findings. Detlef Gerdts, environmental manager for the city of Osnabrück will also be presenting the experiences with the results.
Time: 6:30- 8pm Monday 4 April 2011
Fritz Loewe Theatre (entry via level 2)
McCoy Building
University of Melbourne
Cnr Elgin & Swanston Streets, Carlton
Thank you to the University of Melbourne Energy Research Institute, our Zero Carbon Australia project partners for joinig us in bringing you this event.
Entry: Gold coin donation
Further reading:
http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall09articles/mapping-the-solar.html
http://geodaten.osnabrueck.de/website/Sun_Area/viewer.htm
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Peter Harper: ‘Zero Carbon Britain 2030′ in Melbourne
Posted in Events, Research by Kate Archdeacon on March 18th, 2011
| 13 April , 2011 | ||
| 19 April , 2011 |
Zero Carbon by 2030 – Britain’s dream or reality?
Technology says we can. Science says we must. Is it time to say we will?
SPEAKER: Peter Harper, Centre for Alternative Technology (UK), Coordinator Zero Carbon Britain
Two public lectures by UK scientist Peter Harper, from the Centre of Alternative Technology (CAT), in Wales on ZeroCarbonBritain 2030 – a plan offering a positive realistic, policy framework to eliminate emissions from fossil fuels within 20 years. Zero Carbon Britain(ZCB) brought together leading UK’s thinkers, including policy makers, scientists, academics, industry and NGOs to provide political, economic and technological solutions to the urgent challenges raised by climate science.
Governments and businesses seem paralysed and unable to plan for a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy. ZCB shows what can be done by harnessing the voluntary contribution from experts working outside their institutions. The ZCB report,released in June 2010, provides a fully integrated vision of how Britain can respond to the challenges of climate change, resource depletion and global inequity, with the potential for a low-carbon future to enrich society as a whole.
During lectures in Melbourne and Sydney, Peter will explore how we can ‘Power Down’ demand in the built environment, transport, land use and institute behavioural change, then ‘Power Up’ the energy system with renewables. He’ll outline the key thinking behind the report, including why a low carbon economy is an investment in the future, and look at the ways sustainable community based and multi-lateral initiatives will concurrently inform a global energy infrastructure.
Wednesday 13 April, 6.30- 8pm, BMW Edge, Federation Square
Please register your attendance by Monday 11 April to climateinnovation@ecoinnovationlab.com
Presented by the British Council, VEIL (Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab), Banksia Environmental Foundation, Key Message and BMW Edge at Federation Square.
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Choice Review: Solar Payback Times
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on March 8th, 2011
From Solar Pay-back Times by Zoya Sheftalovich:
CHOICE Magazine has recrunched the numbers to give you the latest ‘payback times’ for a small solar panel system.
Installing a solar system is not cheap; the rewards come over time as the system gradually pays for itself out of the energy savings made and the money paid to you for the solar energy generated. These “feed-in tariffs” from the government vary from state to state. In a bid to find out how long your investment might take to pay for itself, CHOICE asked the Alternative Technology Association to calculate approximate payback times for a 1.5 kW solar system in each state.
Visit Choice to read this free article, which covers solar incentives, feed-in tariffs, small-scale technology certificates (STCs), NSW changes, payback times, and Contacts.
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Earthwatch Australia – get involved!
Posted in Seeking by EarthwatchAustralia on March 1st, 2011
Earthwatch engages regular citizens in scientific field research alongside scientists to work together for a sustainable planet. As a not-for-profit organization, Earthwatch is committed to conserving the diversity and integrity of life on Earth. The need for further research into species, habitat management, agricultural practices due to climate change and natural resource use is significant in order to understand and manage our environment.
Earthwatch involves matching volunteers from around the world to suitable scientific research projects. They also collaborates with global partners on conservation and management plans, and communicate with scientists about proposed research projects.
Anyone can do their part in preserving our natural environment. Join an expedition today!
Wildlife of the Mongolian Steppe
Explore the lives of unique grassland animals, from lesser kestrels to Siberian ibex, to help conserve their wilderness home
Origins of Ankor
By uncovering Southeast Asia’s past, you’ll learn how agriculture, technology, and changing climates affect civilizations.
For more visit www.earthwatch.org.au for more expeditions and information or check us out on Facebook !
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Carbon Neutral Communities: Making the Transition
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on January 14th, 2010
A free RMIT Forum
This forum will bring together academics and practitioners from the public, private and NGO sectors to explore critical aspects of the journey towards carbon neutral communities. The forum will present the findings of the three-year ARC project “Carbon Neutral Communities”, which examined approaches to advancing carbon neutrality at the community and local government levels. This included working with local governments to map municipal renewable energy potential, and conducting action research with household sustainability program providers and participants to explore opportunities for achieving broad change in social practices.
Presentations of experts from the research, program delivery and government arenas will be short and incisive. Panel discussions will encourage your input into the debates. The following topics will be addressed:
• What role can local government play in community resource consumption and emissions reduction? • To what extent can renewable energy generation be implemented and used in local government areas? • How can sustainability practitioners move beyond the ‘behaviour change’ paradigm to achieve broader changes in social practices? • What are good and innovative examples of initiatives supporting carbon neutrality? • How can ‘co-management’ support the transition to carbon neutral communities?
The Carbon Neutral Communities forum is your opportunity to engage with experts in the field, get up-to-date with the latest research and programs, and challenge your own ideas about how change can be achieved.
For more information and to register please contact Nicole McGrath at nicole.mcgrath@rmit.edu.au.
9am – 1:30pm, 22 February 2010, Research Lounge, Building 28, Level 5, RMIT University
Thinking In Systems: A Primer
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on November 19th, 2009
From “Straight Talk for the Planetary Era: A Trio of Book Reviews” by Edward Wolf
Thinking in Systems reflects Prof. Donella Meadows’ lifelong effort to understand systems at all scales – their resilience, their pathologies, their response to perturbations, their capacity to defy prediction. “A system,” Meadows writes, “is a set of things – people, cells, molecules, or whatever – interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time.” Systems thinking can reveal interconnections, explain behavior, and anticipate outcomes. Changing outcomes – slowing climate disruption, spreading new crop varieties, containing an epidemic – requires action to change a system’s elements, the interconnections among them, or (more likely) both. A reader seeking to understand the anomalies of our time and to prepare mentally for the likelihood of disruptive change needs this book.
The book’s final section, “Creating Change – in Systems and in our Philosophy,” sheds welcome light on topics covered in The End of the Long Summer and Whole Earth Discipline. Chapter 6, “Leverage Points – Places to Intervene in a System” (first published in essay form in Brand’s Whole Earth Review) outlines twelve points of influence over the behavior of complex systems. Chapter 7, “Living in a World of Systems,” takes a step toward an ethics for a new human story, offering a humble acknowledgment that the systems view entails new responsibilities exercised in unfamiliar ways.
“Systems thinking by itself cannot bridge that gap (between understanding and action), but it can lead us to the edge of what analysis can do and then point beyond – to what can and must be done by the human spirit.” Just past that edge is where the activism, politics, diplomacy – and innovation – of this century really begins.
Read the full article by Edward Wolf.
Climate Change Adaptation Futures
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on September 1st, 2009
Source: Rural Climate Network
Image: SMH
Conference: Climate Change Adaptation Futures: preparing for the unavoidable impacts of climate change
29 June – 1 July 2010, Gold Coast, Queensland
Co-hosted by Australia’s National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility and the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship, this conference will be one of the first international forums to focus solely on climate impacts and adaptation.
It will bring together scientists and decision makers from developed and developing countries to share research approaches, methods and results. It will explore the way forward in a world where impacts are increasingly observable and adaptation actions are increasingly required.
The Climate Adaptation Futures Conference will showcase leading impacts and adaptation research from around the world.
It will explore the contribution of adaptation science to planning and policy making, and how robust adaptation decision making can proceed in the face of uncertainty about climate change and its impacts.
Registrations open online Monday 31 August, 2009.
Sustainable Cities for the Future
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on July 9th, 2009
Image: amirjina via Flickr
Graduate Research Conference: Sustainable Cities for the Future
Globally, economies are facing challenges to future sustainability and are investing in strategies to mitigate, and adapt to, the potential of new climatic realities. People are increasingly moving into urban areas, placing stress on transport and other basic infrastructure. Australia provides an excellent ‘laboratory’ to review the future sustainability of cities, with climate scientists suggesting it will be one of the first countries to be impacted by climate change. Read the rest of this entry »