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Windfall for fossil fuels, slim pickings for the Reef: unpicking the 2016 budget
I know this question has kept you up the last three nights and now, finally, we have the answer: $6.236. That’s $6.236 billion in the 2016 federal budget for the diesel fuel rebate. Read on for what that means… TL;DR – this budget gives billions to the mining industry, cuts environment funding, ignores the…
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Painting Ourselves White to Keep the Reef Colourful
Friday morning nearly 100 of us gathered near the Sydney Opera House to raise awareness about the current coral bleaching event and to call on the government to get serious about fighting climate change. The current bleaching is the worst on record as 93% of the Great Barrier Reef is experiencing bleaching due to high ocean temperatures, driven…
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Why I got my kit off for a #CoalFree future
You may have caught Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s video launching the #CoalFree movement to protect the things we love from coal pollution. The video features four half-naked volunteers having their bodies painted – half of them as black smoke protruding from coal stacks and the other half as all the colours of Australia’s most precious natural…
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Orangutans take over Sydney
Early Monday morning a bunch of awesome people and orangutans decided to pay PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive and Johnson & Johnson a little visit to their Australian headquarters in Sydney. © James Alcock / Greenpeace The plan: to deliver the 30,000+ Australian signatures calling on each of these brands to come through on their “no deforestation”…
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Why the Great Barrier Reef is Dying
Fish of every imaginable colour race between the corals as the sun’s rays dance through the ocean’s surface. A stingray slowly drifts by, taking its leisurely time. I encountered this breathtaking scene last month and it reminded me of how extraordinary the natural world truly is. Schooling diagonal-banded sweetlips (Plectorhinchus lineatus). Great Barrier Reef, Queensland,…
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The rise of Pacific power: From small island states to large ocean states
The Pacific region consists of 24 island states scattered across a quarter of the earth’s surface – a vast area of some 30 million square kilometres. By description alone, the vast area should command the respect and attention of the international community. The countries make up almost 10 percent of United Nations votes and are…
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You’ve just lost your right to protest
Last week, while I was asleep in bed, the New South Wales government took away one of my most cherished rights. Protest is something that few people like doing, but we do it when we are pushed to our limits. When I went to the People’s Climate March last December, it wasn’t because I had…
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8 ways people are fighting for forests this International Day of Forests
Love trees? Then celebrate – 21 March is the International Day of Forests! |A bonobo in a bonobo rehabilitation center near Kinshasa. Bonobos were the last of the great apes to be discovered and live exclusively in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are considered to be man’s closest relative and organise themselves in…