Ecos articles from October 2008

Ecos archives from October 2008

A platform for growth.(editorial)
October 1, 2008... The recent astronomical spike in the price of oil re-attuned Australia to the growing potential of national renewable energy industries. Solar is arguably the most immediately accessible and fastest evolving sector, however, commentators still...

Leading scientist formulates rescue plan for the Coorong.
October 1, 2008... A team of Adelaide scientists has proposed a bold plan to rescue South Australia's Coorong--the iconic wetland area at the mouth of the River Murray--by pumping highly concentrated brine from its stagnant south lagoon overland into the ocean...

The zero emission house is here.(Australia's first Zero Emission House)
October 1, 2008... CSIRO and a consortium of industry and government partners (including Sustainability Victoria, Delfin Lend Lease and Henley Property Group) have partnered to design, build and monitor Australia's first Zero Emission House (ZEH) for the mass...

Renewable energy projects investors think big.(WorleyParsons to build a 250-megawatt (MW) solar thermal power plant)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... WorleyParsons has unveiled a plan to build a $1 billion 250-megawatt (MW) solar thermal power plant--the world's largest--in Australia by 2011. The company's long-term plan is for Australia to host 34 solar thermal power stations by 2020,...

Alarm over herbicide-resistant weeds.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Scientists have issued an urgent appeal to farmers to switch to integrated weed management (IWM) systems after the), recently identified a third glyphosate-resistant weed species in Australia. Researchers from the CRC for Australian Weed...

Packaging recycling initiatives to harvest more waste.(National Packaging Covenant)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... The National Packaging Covenant has funded Transpacific Industries to set up a national recycling program called Harvest for bulk packaging--cardboard, plastic film and expanded polystyrene--and food and beverage containers from commercial and...

Government and Google get behind geothermal.(geothermal energy development)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Australian Government has announced a $50 million program to support geo-thermal energy development. The funding will help subsidise the high cost of drilling deep geothermal wells, financing proof-of-concept...

Expanding conservation reserve in the Kimberley.(Australian Wildlife Conservancy )(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... The non-profit Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) has bought Marion Downs Station, 350 km east of Derby in the West Australian Kimberley, to expand a private conservation reserve it established earlier when it purchased the neighbouring...

'Dryland' rice farmers reap high-rainfall yields.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Farmers in the high-rainfall region around the northern NSW coastal town of Lismore--traditionally regarded as cattle and cane country--have been trialling rice as a crop using 'paddy rice' cultivation. While...

East Timor declares its first national park.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... East Timor has set up its first national park--68 000 hectares of land and 55 600 hectares of sea encompassing the entire east of the island. The park --named after Nino Konis Santana, a former resistance fighter and comrade of East Timorese...

Native bacteria to mop up toxic pollution?(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Researchers from the CRC CARE (Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment) have identified a group of native Australian soil bacteria that can destroy soil-contaminating organic volatile compounds,...

Healing by the community spirit: it's the story of the largest movement the world has ever seen. A movement with no charismatic leader; that follows no unifying ideology; and which politicians, the public and the media don't recognise. But it has the potential to heal the Earth. Alexandra de Blas examines Blessed Unrest, a book by Paul Hawken, soon to start production as a ground-breaking film.
October 1, 2008... 'There is another super power on Earth' says Paul Hawken. Students, volunteers, monks, -businessmen, farmers, poets, biologists, indigenous people, artists, and refugees are all part of it. This, 'the most diverse movement the world has ever...

Balancing living standards and environmental pressures.(DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABILITY--6)
October 1, 2008... CSIRO's Dr Heinz Schandl and the Department of Climate Change's Dr Steve Hatfield Dodds explore the notion of 'decoupling' economic growth and environmental degradation. Since the 1950s, all OECD countries have experienced rapid growth in...

The Ten Commitments.(Progress)(Ten Commitments: Reshaping the Lucky Country's Environment)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Faced with a growing catalogue of environmental priorities and having seen little real progress on solutions, a group of Australia's most eminent ecological scientists decided to take matters into their own hands....

The sun rises slowly for Australian solar.(Focus: SOLAR POWER)
October 1, 2008... When scientists from the University of New South Wales' solar photovoltaic group fabricated their first solar cell in 1975, Australia was a world leader in the solar energy industry. More recently, a lack of political support for solar...

Encountering mutual respect.(Minke Whale Project)(Cover story)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since the beginning of recorded history whales have always held an extraordinary magnetism for humans. Now, for a particular subspecies of minke whale, which visits Queensland's north coast each year, humans seem to...

Speaking up on Asia Pacific sea-level rise impacts.(Progress)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] An April 2008 advertisement placed in The Australian newspaper by Green Cross Australia began a unique, deliberative process inviting the country to consider the role that Australians might play should sea-level rise...

Inside ecovillage life: once regarded as little more than hippy communes, ecovillages are attracting a lot of attention as Australians, driven by concerns about climate, sustainability and community, seek a more satisfying lifestyle alternative. But are they for everyone?(Focus: ECOVILLAGES)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The first ecovillages started in Sweden in the early 1980s. Initially, members were galvanised by opposition to the use of nuclear energy, but the movement quickly became about finding new ways to live sustainably in...

Is kangaroo really a more sustainable choice? A number of prominent experts and environmental groups have recently endorsed the kangaroo industry. So, exactly why is eating kangaroo 'good for you and good for the environment,' as the current marketing slogan states?
October 1, 2008... A recent report from the United Nations (1) concludes that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases (GHG) than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Similarly, water consumption by livestock is highlighted as another...

The Green RIG--driving eco-education.(Progress)(Regional Information 2 Go)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Thinking outside the box, a small regional government agency in New Zealand has taken its environmental education 'show' on the road--in an 18-metre-long 'big green box on wheels', called the Green RIG. As the...

Natural riches brilliantly captured.(Progress)(ANZANG Nature and Landscape photographic competition )(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... The ANZANG Nature and Landscape photographic competition and travelling exhibition is celebrating its fifth year with another mesmerising set of images submitted by both amateur and professional entrants across the globe. The competition...

Opening a door to energy literacy.(Energy for Sustainability: Technology, Planning, Policy)(Book review)
October 1, 2008... Energy for Sustainability Technology, Planning, and Policy John Randolph and Gilbert M Masters Island Press, USA 2008, Hardback ISBN:9781597261036--AU $150.00 Available in Australia and New Zealand from CSIRO...

ETS may see demise of native forests.(CLIMATE CHANGE BULLETIN)(emissions trading scheme )(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Australian Government's proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS) could have a devastating effect on native forests, as plantation owners rush to the carbon market and forego wood harvesting, according to two...

Plantstones for soil carbon storage.(CLIMATE CHANGE BULLETIN)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Researchers from Southern Cross University are investigating the potential of grasstype crops such as sugar cane, bamboo and sorghum to fix carbon via tiny silica phytoliths--known as 'plantstones'--in the outer epidermal cells of the leaves,...

Carbon time-bomb in permafrost zones?(CLIMATE CHANGE BULLETIN)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... In a recent Bioscience paper, an international team of scientists warned that the twice as much carbon is locked up in the world's permafrost regions than previously thought. The researchers now estimate the world's high-latitude carbon...

Sustaining our iconic north.(Research)(Northern Australia's water resources)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At first glance the flooding rains of Australia's north may look appealing to water-hungry populations in the south. But take a closer look at water in the north in the context of the complex and fragile iconic...

The underground conservation frontier.(Research)(groundwater ecosystems )
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Groundwater ecosystems are, in many ways, the final unexplored aquatic frontier on Earth. Now new research into these zones warns that a lack of knowledge and adequate management could not only lead to a decrease in...