Ecos articles from January 2004

Ecos archives from January 2004

Out, and about practical changes.(Editorial)(Editorial)
January 1, 2004... 2004 is well underway, and has, it feels, begun optimistically for Australia. The timing seems perfect and opportune for the Nation to take some bigger, bolder, practical strides towards the beginnings of a fundamental framework for sustainable...

Thinking urged on the Free Trade Agreement's environmental impact.
January 1, 2004... A study into the possible environmental impacts of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement predicted significant effects from the large expected increases agricultural production and transport, but has, more importantly, drawn attention to the...

Eco standards pay off for Fuji Xerox.
January 1, 2004... Fuji Xerox Australia's Mascot warehouse and Eco-Manufacturing Centre saved a massive $27 million last year by remanufacturing and repairing parts used in its hardware products. The company has begun uncovering the significant benefits of a...

Rust wins against rampant rubber vine.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Australian releases of a rust fungus against the highly invasive rubber vine weed (Cryptostegia grandiflora) have proved highly successful. Under a long-term program, CABI Bioscience researchers, Queensland Government departments, Meat &...

Greener buildings at the touch of a button.(CAD software developed to give a cost and environmental assessment of any commercial building)
January 1, 2004... Australian expertise in IT and software, environmental science, and design science has combined to produce a world-first tool that looks set lead the burgeoning sustainable construction industry. Dubbed the 'green calculator', and developed...

Ozone hole hope.(Good news on climate)
January 1, 2004... CSIRO researchers, using data from the Cape Grim Baseline Station in Tasmania, have found that the levels of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere have at last begun to decline. CFCs are the main source of man-made stratospheric...

Methane levels out.(Good news on climate)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... CSIRO results from Tasmania's Cape Grim facility have shown that atmospheric concentrations of methane have stopped growing in the global background atmosphere. 'Over the past four years there has been no growth in atmospheric methane...

Better predictions from WA's climate initiative.(Good news on climate)
January 1, 2004... The Western Australian State Government's Indian Ocean Climate Initiative (IOCI) is aiming for greater understanding of WA's climate across seasons, years and decades. Improved national climate and drought predictability will also come...

Reshaping the future of cities: unless significant changes are made to the way we shape and build our cities, the 21st century looks bleak for Australia. This is the sharp outlook of Reshaping Cities for a More Sustainable Future, a CSIRO study that explored the integral links between urban form, energy and air quality.
January 1, 2004... It's estimated that 88% of the world's population growth this century will be in urban areas, and Australia's cities are set to be a strong case in point. If, however, our cities continue to expand as the current laissez-faire urban sprawl, the...

The great dingo dilution: Australia's only wild dog, the iconic dingo, has survived a couple of hundred years of persecution--from shooting, trapping and poisoning. Ironically, it is now at grave risk of disappearing. The greatest threat isn't so much over-hunting or the usual culprit, habitat destruction; it's the friendly domestic dog.(Cover Story)
January 1, 2004... The true-blue dingo is quietly becoming invisible. Its native gene pool has been slowly but surely diluting through 'hybridisation' or inter-breeding between feral dogs and wild dingoes (Canis lupus dingo). Sadly--or not, it is now difficult to...

A bold blueprint: Steve Davidson reviews Western Australia's ambitious, timely, and leading State Sustainability Strategy.
January 1, 2004... Western Australia may be behind the eastern States in terms of time, but the WA Government has stolen the march when it comes to sustainability policy. In September 2003, the Government formally and fully committed Western Australians to a...

A Recycling renaissance?(Progress)
January 1, 2004... After several years of foundering, responsible recycling is becoming financially attractive again. Internationally, positive shifts are occurring towards the mounting global waste problem. In a world of shrinking space and resources,...

A bigger picture of disturbance: unique, simultaneous studies different Australian landscapes have thrown up some real surprises about biodiversity conservation in disturbed areas--particularly plantations.
January 1, 2004... Graeme O'Neill reports on David Lindenmayer's long range work to forge a new understanding of ecological priorities. Australia's pine plantations are supposedly biological deserts, inhospitable to native mammals and birds. But it seems...

A heap of great returns: an Australian innovator and determined entrepreneur is taking on one of the globe's confounding environmental challenges: used tyres. His unique and innovative processing technologY transforms tyres into their component parts, producing jet fuel, carbon for diamonds and other commodities that can be reused in an encouraging array of value-added products.(Profile)
January 1, 2004... Australians' love affair with the car contributes more than 18 million used tyres (170 000 tonnes) every year to the annual global stockpile of 1.2 billion tyres. It's a well-documented phenomenon; across the world, mountains of rubber are...

People power is working for the landscape.(Progress)(community partnership between landowners, scientists and the government)
January 1, 2004... A historic farming property in Victoria's Gippsland region has become the focus of a unique community 'living lab' partnership between landowners, scientists and the government, who are working together to understand and restore the area's...

Costing mother nature's service: the central role of healthy ecosystems in providing critical services has been, until very recently, overlooked and often taken for granted.(Progress)
January 1, 2004... When we bite into a juicy apple, we might think of soil and water but probably not of the natural pollinators that fertilise the flower so the fruit can set. When we think of clean water, we may not think beyond the tap, but the real source of...

Driving a revolution in the paddock: the environmental and productivity benefits of precision driving are converting Australian and international farmers to a technique called controlled traffic farming.
January 1, 2004... Gargantuan harvesters and other modern machinery used on today's grain, cotton and sugar farms can weigh up to a massive 20 tonnes. Their considerable crushing pressure, exerted by multiple wheels, has a severe deteriorating effect on soil...

Koalas are losing out to traffic.(Research)
January 1, 2004... While Australia's most popular national symbol, the koala, is still a relatively 'common', vulnerable populations living in expanding urban areas are under an increasing threat: traffic. Roaming koalas are suffering alarmingly high road...

A new view of environmental politics.(Renegotiating the Environment The Power of Politics)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Renegotiating the Environment The power of politics by Jenny Stewart and Grant Jones The Federation Press Paperback/192pp ISBN 1862874735 RRP $39.95 Renegotiating the Environment is a progressive and thought-provoking...

Watching coral reefs up close.
January 1, 2004... Tracey Medway, one of Australia's recognised marine biologists features in the spectacular IMAX film Coral Reef Adventure released in Sydney on the 26th February. The award-winning documentary entertains and educates viewers about the roles and...

Teaching companies sustainability.
January 1, 2004... Chronos[R] is an electronic tutorial published by The World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and is designed to help increase businessinterest in and action on, sustainable development. Designed in partnership with the...

Bacteria help wattles 're-green' Australia.(Research)(Bradyrhizobium)(Bradyrhizobium)
January 1, 2004... Re-planting areas cleared of native vegetation is difficult and time consuming, but it is vital to combating salinity and the loss of biodiversity on farms. A CSIRO Plant Industry team has found that a soil bacterium called Bradyrhizobium can...

Plants could give the us the good oil.(Research)(includes related article: Oil production pathways)
January 1, 2004... An innovative new project, established under CSIRO's Food Futures flagship program, plans to tap into Australia's existing crop production systems to produce large and sustainable quantities of key fish oils for human consumption and...

Waste plastic to clean fuel.(Research)(waste plastic as a fuel in blast furnaces)
January 1, 2004... An innovative solution, pioneered and commercialised in Japan, could help Australia reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the coal loads required by the iron and steel industries. Waste plastic will be used as a fuel in blast furnaces at...

Events calendar.(Calendar)
January 1, 2004... The Power of Water--21st Commonwealth Agricultural Conference Albury/Wodonga, 24-26 March. www.commagshow.org Salinity Mitigation for Water Resources Management--International Seminar Lahore, Pakistan, 26-28 March....