Ecos articles from April 2008

Ecos archives from April 2008

Let progress flow.(Editorial)
April 1, 2008... Despite the OECD giving Australia just a B- for sustainability performance in its latest ten-year assessment (page 4), March was a good month for the environment. The combination of an eventual power-sharing water control deal for the...

OECD reports set further challenges for Australia.(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
April 1, 2008... Is Australia on the road to a sustainable future? Yes and no, depending on which of two recent reports released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) you read. The most recent, the second 'OECD Environmental...

Bacterial solution to arsenic pollution.(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Researchers from the CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CARE) and the University of South Australia have discovered a natural soil bacterium that 'eats' arsenic. The bacterium could provide a sale,...

Australian technology chosen for Clinton climate project.(Bill Clinton)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Australia's National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS)--an advanced monitoring system for accurately measuring greenhouse gas emissions--is the key element of a partnership between the Australian Government and the Clinton Climate Initiative, set...

CSIRO initiative.(Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... CSIRO has set up an Office of Indigenous Engagement (OIE) to promote more participation by First Australians in its activities. 'CSIRO has not always shown responsiveness to the particular needs of indigenous Australians,' says Steve...

Small Pacific nation becomes global conservation leader.(Kiribati)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The small Pacific island nation of Kiribati has created the world's largest protected marine reserve--the 410 500-square-kilometre Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA), one of the planet's last intact coral...

30 per cent by 2020 feasible.
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A recent McKinsey & Company report--'Australian cost curve for greenhouse gas reduction'--claims that Australia could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30 per cent by 2020 at a cost of less than $1 a day for...

An inconvenient tax system.(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Australia must develop a 'climate-change friendly' tax system to kick-start emissions-abatement initiatives ahead of the 2010 national Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), according to a recent KPMG white paper, 'Climate Change: current accounting...

ACCC provides guidance to prospective 'greenwashers'.(Australian Competition and Consumer Commission )(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a Green Marketing and the Trade Practices Act guide for the business sector on the use of environmental claims in marketing. ACCC Chairman...

Call to abolish 'senseless' incentives for company car use.(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) recently branded government tax concessions for the private use of company cars as 'economically senseless' and 'environmentally destructive', as well as adding to the tax burden on the rest of the...

Free patents opening doors to more eco-innovation.
April 1, 2008... The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and IBM--the leading earner of US patents--have established a public online patents database that allows companies to share patents for environmentally responsible products. ...

Buyers' guide to carbon offset providers.(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... With the number of carbon offset providers doubling in Australia over the past six months, Global Sustainability at RMIT and Victoria's EPA have developed an online Carbon Offsets Guide as a resource for businesses, government agencies, NGOs...

Solar electric bus for Adelaide.(Tindo)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Adelaide City Council has launched Tindo, the first electric bus that can be recharged using solar energy. 'Tindo' is the word for sun in the indigenous language of the Kaurna people, and the vehicle's power will...

New LEDs to get the green light.(Solux)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... A small Hobart-based company, Solux, has developed an extra low voltage LED traffic light that, it says, could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by more than 100 000 tonnes a year. Solux's Mike Austin says the LED traffic light...

Capital sets its sights on being carbon neutral.(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Canberra launched a campaign to become a carbon neutral capital at a 'Switch to Green Expo' in early April co-hosted by the ACT Government, the UN Association of Australia (UNAA), the Australian Conservation Council, a local conservation...

On track to Kyoto but still addicted to power.(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... A new federal government report confirms that Australia is likely to meet its Kyoto target--limiting greenhouse gas emissions to 108 per cent of 1990 levels by 2012--largely as a result of reduced land clearing and deforestation. But the...

China the rise of the green city: China's rapid urbanisation is cause for concern, but remarkable initiatives in cities such as Rizhao, Wuhan and Beijing are leading to a broader endorsement of sustainability principles.
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Look across the rooftops and walls of Rizhao, a coastal city of nearly three million on the Shandong Peninsula in China's north-east, and you will see rows of solar panels on nearly every building. The traffic...

Smarter irrigation in drier century: with global climate models indicating a further 20 per Cent decline in rainfall across southeastern Australia by 2030, irrigated agriculture, particularly in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, is suddenly facing an uncertain future. Now that the new COAG National Water Plan is signed, how might our irrigation systems be adapted for the 21st century? Graeme O'Neill provides some perspective.(21ST CENTURY IRRIGATION: Focus)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Along the Murray River, from Lake Hume at Albury to the South Australian border, irrigators experienced an annus horribilis in 2007. By August, the worst drought since European settlement had reduced water storages...

Developing partnerships can help meet Garnaut's 2050 target: modelling is showing that smart climate mitigation in Australia and carbon credits for project partnerships with developing countries under the UN Clean Development Mechanism could help get Australia to net greenhouse emissions neutrality by 20.50. Mike Smith and Karlson Hargroves provide a second instalment on the opportunities for Australia in working with developing nations.(Progress)
April 1, 2008... After the recent UN Framework Convention on Climate Change summit in Bali, there is now great interest in how OECD countries, such as Australia, can assist developing countries to reduce their emissions significantly. Now that Australia...

Applying 'resilience thinking' for sustainable development.(DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABILITY--3)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The transition to more sustainable development is requiring fundamental changes in thinking about our complex environment. As Dr Leonie Pearson explains, we need to better understand that nature and humanity are...

Product stewardship is getting traction.(Progress)
April 1, 2008... With the emerging imperative for organisations to examine all avenues to reduce their environmental impacts, product stewardship schemes are seeing greater uptake- although the 'how to' still remains the main challenge in Australia. ...

Acid oceans: International scientists are now in little doubt about the cause of a threat confronting up to one-third of all marine life: the 27 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide released each year by human activity are gradually dissolving into the ocean's upper layers, turning them more acidic.(Cover story)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] How serious acidifying seas will be for all life on Earth, researchers cannot yet say. But they have already measured observable changes in the ocean's pH, and have also demonstrated that even tiny shifts can kill...

Population: the lost priority: Australian authorities on population growth warn that it is the fundamental sustainability priority being perilously overlooked.(POPULATION AND SUSTAINABILITY: Focus)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By the latest United Nations estimate, the world's present population of 6.7 billion is locked into a growth curve that will peak at an estimated 9.2 billion by mid-century. Can the biosphere sustain a population...

East Lake: on the road to urban renewal.(Progress)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Hitting the brakes on suburban sprawl means shifting developers' focus to urban renewal, but rethinking city spaces is far from trivial. A project in Canberra's East Lake area is testing a new science-based...

A partnership approach to tackling sustainability.(Progress)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Under the Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI), CSIRO brings together partners from business, government and non-government organisations to work with communities to develop innovative solutions that address...

Free online tool maps climate change impacts.(CLIMATE CHANGE BULLETIN)(OzClim )(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... OzClim is an online climate scenario modelling application designed for use by those involved in assessing climate change impacts--such as government policy-makers, researchers, planners, non-government organisations and community groups. ...

Ocean--climate links revealed.(CLIMATE CHANGE BULLETIN)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fifteen years of temperature and salinity readings along a Hobart--Antarctica shipping route are giving Australian, French and US scientists insights into how the ocean controls climate. The joint data-collection...

Pollution changing the weather.(CLIMATE CHANGE BULLETIN)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Atmospheric pollution is changing the Southern Hemisphere's oceanic circulation, which in turn is causing weather systems across Australia and in other mid-latitude regions to migrate southward, according to a paper recently published in the...

Australia, PNG partner in forest carbon initiative.(CLIMATE CHANGE BULLETIN)(Papua New Guinea )(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) have signed an agree-ment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation. Almost two-thirds of PNG's land area is forested, a 29-million-hectare area that provides livelihoods for many human...

Tracing the origins of sustainability science.(From Buddha to Bono: Seeking Sustainability )(Book review)
April 1, 2008... From Buddha to Bono Seeking Sustainability Tor Hundloe JoJo Publishing 2008, Paperback ISBN: 9780980369854--AU$$34.95 Available from: www.jojopublishing.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With its intriguing image of a Buddha statue...

Peter Cullen--a water sage of practical vision.(Obituary)
April 1, 2008... Evidenced by the many national and international tributes that flowed in after news of his death, Professor Peter Cullen achieved what he'd hoped for: getting the message through to all Australians, in an accessible way, that more intelligent...

Economic profit the key to sustainable fisheries.(Research)
April 1, 2008... Exploiting a renewable resource for maximum economic profit is the antithesis of sustainable management, right? Not so, according to Australian economists. In a world first, researchers from the Crawford School of Economics and Government at...

Targeting endocrine disruptors in Australia's waterways.(Research)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Australia has lagged behind Europe and North America in research and policy on endocrine disrupting chemicals in the country's waterways. CSIRO has been working with Land & Water Australia to lay the groundwork for...

Events calendar.(Calendar)
April 1, 2008... The Victorian Sustainable Development Conference 2008 Melbourne, 22-23 April www.halledit.com.au/conferences/details. php?id=71 3rd Engaging Indigenous Communities Conference Brisbane, 28-29 April ...