All articles
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Understanding climate science in 10 easy steps
The latest United Nations report on climate change is about to be finalised, written by thousands of scientists. The report is VERY important, but also a bit dull. What we really want to know is: How bad is climate change? And what can we do about it? Using the latest IPCC findings and a few…
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Activists stop BHP Billiton coal train
Press release – 7 June, 2011Time for BHP Billiton to stand and deliver its tax debtMt Arthur, Hunter Valley, NSW, Wednesday 8th June 2011 This morning at 11.25am, Greenpeace activists locked a steel box on the rail track servicing Mt Arthur coal mine, BHP Billiton’s largest mine in the Hunter Valley, NSW. Once the box…
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Western Australia sets the tone for Victoria
You know how sometimes you can be surprised by your own surprise of something? I saw last week that the Western Australian Environment Protection Authority has rejected a coal mine for a power station proposed for about 300 km north of Perth. The decision took me by surprise mainly because although the state-based EPAs have…
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The election of denial and delay
Leading into this Saturday’s election, Greenpeace sent all Parties and sitting members our election asks. The Greens are the only party that have responded directly to us. The Coalition and the ALP have released various relevant policies over the course of the election campaign. The good news first. This is the short bit. The ALP…
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Abbott On Climate: “Indirect Inaction”
The Coalition today announced a weak and incoherent climate policy that will ensure pollution as usual. Reading through the document feels a bit like what I would imagine it would be like to eat styrofoam – no substance, hard to swallow and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. For a ‘direct action’ plan, there…
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Rapid Response: Your First Mission
I just got off the phone from Copenhagen. Our team on the ground have asked for some help from Greenpeace supporters back home, so please read on. Deep inside the Copenhagen conference centre, there’s a closed room of huddled negotiators from a handful of countries, one of which is Australia. They’re cooking up a plan…
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CPRS – "Continue Polluting Regardless Scheme"
In the absence of any political will to make the difficult decisions to replace polluting industries with clean alternatives, the Rudd Government have gone to great lengths to design a scheme that makes it look like they’re taking action on climate change, without actually having to do anything or make any hard decisions. In order…
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Rio Tinto – Do They See The Writing On The Wall?
The fact that multinational miner Rio Tinto is lobbying the federal government (as reported in the Australia, on July 27th, 2009) is striking and curious for a number of reasons. Firstly, as Australia’s number one uranium miner, it should be no surprise that Rio are looking to develop market share in the nuclear energy production…
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Budget Aftermath: Part 1, or "Hope!"
I’ve had quite a lot of time to contemplate tonight’s federal budget, having spent four hours in the Treasury lock-up with papers open to pages numbering into the 300s and a confused look on my face shouting: “WHAT? … HUH? … OK, so it’s $100 coming from this department, but only allocated after the first…
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Polluters stand to win with emissions trading scheme
There is a very real threat that the Rudd government’s proposed emissions trading scheme will only amount to more hot air – which would be disastrous for global warming. Greenpeace has made a submission to the federal government to make sure the scheme protects the interests of Australian households over big business. Of course, it…