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Movie sneak preview: End of the Line
End of the Line, the world’s first major documentary about the devastating effect of overfishing, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival yesterday. The doco examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life, resulting in the huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications…
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Whaling vessel limps into port
Whaling in Antarctic waters not only threatens whale populations – it also poses a huge risk to this particularly fragile, wild environment. Japanese whaling vessels have been known to refuel slap bang in the middle of these Antarctic waters: watch the footage. Recently, Japanese whaling vessel, the Yushin Maru 2, was damaged in Antarctic waters…
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It’s your Climate Summit: join the live info session
When Kevin Rudd announced the 5% carbon emissions target in December, climate action groups organised creative protests with lightening speed. In Adelaide, they pelted ‘5% Kevin’ with shoes (a la the George Bush shoe pelt of 15 December). In Melbourne, activists sandbagged Martin Ferguson’s office against climate impacts. In Newcastle, they occupied the local member’s…
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From Barack Obama's inauguration to Fossil Fools Day 2009
What will be the most enduring legacies from the inauguration of Barack Obama? There is no way it could be community action on climate change, is it? For weeks now, the real Obama administration – his website – has been spruiking to millions of ‘Barackers’, asking them to commit a day of community service as…
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US moral authority & soft power in the era of climate change
Robert D. McCallum, Jr., Ambassador of the USA to Australia, was asked on ABC Breakfast yesterday how he felt about his country’s declining moral authority.
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Airplot is a runway winner
How do you stop a major airport expanding? Buy the land they want for the runway. That’s what Greenpeace in the UK has done. They bought a plot of land slap bang in the middle of the proposed third runway site at Heathrow Airport, London. Their co-owners are TV impressionist Alastair McGowan, actress Emma Thompson…
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Sydney Uni Summer School Asks: Is Coal Like War?
Today was a blast from the past, when I presented a session of the University of Sydney summer school’s program on peace and the environment. They were a mixed bunch of post-grads from various continents and walks of life, including a Canadian Greenpeace activist who had tried to stop the berthing of a US nuclear…
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Looking forward to 2009
It’s been a lovely summer. I was camping for a couple of days near the beach at Meroo National Park on the NSW south coast. Long afternoon sleeps under shady eucalpyts… morning swims in the crystal clear ocean… slow cooked damper on the campfire. It was a great rest after a hectic year. The turbulance…
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Japanese heed tales from Australian whaler
Australians love their whales. They might be surprised to know that this is not just the season when Japan’s whaling fleet goes to the Southern Ocean, it is also the whale watching season around Japan. Australia’s last whaling Captain, Paddy Hart, went to Tokyo a few weeks ago, to try to convince Japanese people that…
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Rudd’s climate placebo: a 5% target
On Friday, Kevin Rudd announced over half a billion dollars in funding for the NSW coal industry. Today, he announced an emissions reduction target and an emissions trading scheme that will have virtually no impact on reducing emissions and will give billions in handouts to the big polluters. This is a climate action plan that…
