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Three political parties, one environmental message
Despite their party differences, past Australian political leaders are agreed on one thing: the politicians of the present are failing us on the environment. Parliamentary heavyweights John Hewson, Bob Carr and Christine Milne took to the stage on Saturday, 22 October, at the National Environment Meeting, and you can see edited highlights of their speeches below.…
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A Pacific Islander mother’s letter to her children about climate justice
My little darlings, on 28 July 2016 as you slept with the sound of the ocean keeping you both company, there was a big commotion on the other side of the ocean. The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines asked 47 fossil fuel companies, including BHP Billiton, Shell and BP, to respond to a 60-page legal petition alleging…
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US and China ratify historic Paris climate agreement … meanwhile in Australia
The United States and China – the world’s biggest economies and the largest emitters of greenhouse gases – announced they will ratify the Paris climate agreement over the weekend. The ratification of the COP21 deal reached in Paris last year was hailed as a significant advance in the battle against global warming. The Paris climate agreement The Paris climate…
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Damn the Dams: Why we need to say no to flooding the Amazon
Imagine, for a second, if your home was sunk under water. Not temporarily flooded, like a leaky roof after heavy rains, or water on your carpet that eventually receded. But permanently. Imagine your whole town under water. That is what is currently proposed for the lands of the Munduruku people, in the heart of the…
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Breaking: Greenpeace climbers at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s office
As you read this, I’m suspended from a streetlight, 15m off the ground, right outside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Sydney office. With fellow volunteer, Christina, who is on another streetlight next to me, we just safely hung a banner with a strong message that Turnbull can’t miss. Here’s what it looks like: Turnbull’s legacy: Bleaching…
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We Painted the Town White
On the shortest night of the year, under a full moon, volunteers across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane braved the night to change the ads in bus, train, and tram stops. The new image shows the Australian public the devastating impacts the coal industry has on the Great Barrier Reef. They painted the town white, just like the…
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Is the Prime Minister’s transition fast enough to save the Great Barrier Reef?
At the Leaders debate at the National Press Club in Canberra on May 29 the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the public that he had a practical plan for action on climate change and it was working. The Prime Minister didn’t mention the Reef once. In my last post I discussed the stakes for…
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The 2016 Federal Election: Who cares?
The 2016 Federal Election comes at a critical time for our environment and even human civilisation. The 2016 bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef is the worst ever recorded. (Justin Marshall Coralwatch.org) This is the first in a series of blog posts I will write to explain what’s at stake at this election or why…
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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…