Ecos articles from August 2005

Ecos archives from August 2005

Resourceful thinking.(natural resources)(Editorial)
August 1, 2005... With a much-heralded boom in resources demand and production on our hands, it's an opportune time to consider the progress the resources sector has made in embracing the priorities of more sustainable thinking and practice. As the Focus on...

Sale of weeds online highlights the need for tighter controls.
August 1, 2005... The regular online sale of declared weeds in Australia has highlighted the inadequacy of the current state-based system of weed management, and reiterated the urgency for more stringent national controls. Ecos was alerted by a reader in...

A counter attack launched on invasive animals.(Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (IA CRC) is new frontline venture aiming to develop solutions to combat the scourge of invasive animals in Australia that is inflicting at least $720 million worth of damage to agricultural...

Coastline retreat predictions questioned.
August 1, 2005... University of Sydney academics say they have advanced models which show that the erosion around Australia's coastline predicted in July's Allen Group Report for the National Greenhouse Office could be almost twice that indicated for the same...

Life could be cooler with sugar coated roads.
August 1, 2005... Family-owned Australian company, EcoPave, has developed a commercially viable, non-petroleum-based asphalt substitute made from organic wastes, such as the sugar byproduct molasses. Its GEO320 asphalt not only out-performs regular,...

Marine DNA work eases drug search pressure on wild stocks.(deoxyribonucleic acid)
August 1, 2005... A new methodology, developed by an international team of scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the University of Aberdeen, and The London School of Pharmacy, has removed a huge hurdle to the development of new drugs...

Crucial steps forward recognised at the Eurekas.
August 1, 2005... This year's Australian Museum Eureka Prizes showcased some outstanding national and international research contributions to sustainable development. Professor Mark Burgman of the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne won the...

The power of a camera: in India, the world's second most populous country, the fate of forests, wilderness and wild creatures hangs by a thread in the face of human need and exploitation. Independent filmmaker Shekar Dattatri, creator of powerful nature documentaries, is wielding his camera in an inspired personal bid to save India's fast-vanishing nature.(Profile)
August 1, 2005... An experienced wildlife filmmaker, 41-year-old Dattatri fuses passion with advocacy. For his work, which is changing both public opinion and government policy towards the environment in India, Shekar Dattatri has been chosen as an Associate...

Young people aren't all totally into 'stuff'.(Progress)
August 1, 2005... Combined youth spending power in the 11 major economies, including Australia, exceeds a massive US$750 billion dollars per year. But recent national research shows that against a constant marketing onslaught, young people are beginning to show...

More fairly labelled: how Fairtrade is making ethical consumers the new stakeholders in international development.(Progress)(Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International)
August 1, 2005... Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) is unique in setting trade standards and certification that are empowering almost a million disadvantaged producers and workers in more than 50 countries. Fairtrade Labelling is a rapidly...

Affluenza in Australia.(Comment)(survey of high income earners)
August 1, 2005... Dr Clive Hamilton is Executive Director of independent public policy research centre, The Australia Institute. Much of his recent work with Institute colleagues has been to highlight the issue of consumption spending, and the relationship...

Thailand's renaissance monarch.
August 1, 2005... To exemplify forest renewal, water conservation and agricultural self-sufficiency, Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, converted his chief: residence, Chitralada Villa in Dusit Palace, central Bangkok, into an experimental...

A planned cultural economy for Cape York: a new report acknowledges Cape York Peninsula as a globally significant cultural landscape requiring innovative and sensitive solutions to its impending development challenges. The cooperative work of scientists, conservationists, Traditional Owners, economists, and government and business interests, the report could be a blueprint for the future planning of Australia's northern regions.
August 1, 2005... On Cape York Peninsula you gain a strong sense of being in a landscape quite unlike anything else in Australia. Its striking physical landmarks bear a strong spiritual significance for the Indigenous people of the region--a cultural...

Seeing the light: is the resources sector changing?(Progress)(Cover Story)
August 1, 2005... With a longstanding reputation for tough company managers, 'dig and deliver' attitudes, high profile environmental accidents and a reportedly cavalier attitude to the welfare of communities in overseas host countries, the perception in some...

Australian performance: an international perspective.(Progress)
August 1, 2005... The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), based in London, is a CEO-led organisation dedicated to economic progress and environmental and social responsibility. How does it consider progress in the Australian resources sector? ...

Rio Tinto's approach: Australia's Rio Tinto, one of world's largest resource companies, has the philosophy 'that there is no conflict between sustainable development and business'. The company says turning that philosophy into action has been made possible largely by the pragmatic culture of the minerals industry.(Progress)(The Rio Tinto Foundation)
August 1, 2005... The Rio Tinto Foundation In 2002, in partnership with the federal government, Rio Tinto set up the Rio Tinto Foundation for a Sustainable Minerals Industry. A $35 million interest-free loan was provided as assistance by the Government with...

Retro-fit a green house.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Convinced that architecture must try harder to utilise natural rather than imported energies, architect Derek Wrigley has learned from painful experience what works and what doesn't. Although an author of many written and spoken papers on...

A practical guide to better policy.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Arguing that better public policy is needed to create more sustainable outcomes, Stephen Dovers articulates in Environment and Sustainability Policy: Creation, Implementation and Evaluation, what this policy might involve, and gives a basis for...

Low impact travel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Already the recognised author of Chemical Free Home, The Clean House Effect, Australian Green Home & Garden, and Chemical Free Pest-Control, Robin Stewart knows a thing or two about chemical- and impact-free living, having tested the best...

HIPPIES assessed who eats whom around Heard Island.(Research)(Heard Island Predator-Prey Investigation and Ecosystem Study)
August 1, 2005... In the summer of 2003 the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) conducted an ambitious ecosystems study of the key predators that breed on sub-Antarctic Heard Island, their prey and the regional ocean environment. Called the 'Heard Island...

Fish food from wastewater.(Research)(Australia's Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre)
August 1, 2005... Waste from livestock has been used to fertilise aquaculture systems in Indochina and Asia for over a century. Now Australia's Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre (EBCRC) is using the principles of this production system to...

Events calendar.(Calendar)
August 1, 2005... Project Aware--International Underwater Clean-up Day Australia wide, 17 September. www.projectaware.org Shaping Sustainable Systems--World Congress of Intl. Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements Adelaide, 20-23 September....