Dirty Energy: Adelaide SpeakOut Nov 19, eve of BHP Annual General meeting
BHP SPEAK OUT! Let’s make a clean break from dirty energy!
Wednesday November 19, 2014 | 6.30pm
The Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, 59 Port Road, Hindmarsh South Australia, Australia 5007
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/571897972939767/ [free event]
Come and hear about community and environmental concerns with BHP mining projects in Australia and overseas. From coal mines in Colombia and Indonesia, the infamous Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia to uranium exports through Port Adelaide – at this forum the spotlight will be on BHP’s behaviour not their share price.
SPEAKERS:
Uncle Kevin Buzzacott
Bob Briton, NOW Port Adelaide
Dave Sweeney – Australian Conservation Council
Mia Pepper – Conservation Council WA
Alternative G20 Summit, and church groups call for inclusion of climate change in G20
Australia: Alternative G20 ‘People’s Summit’ planned for Brisbane, Asian Correspondent, By Rowena Dela Rosa Yoon Nov 04, 2014 BrisCAN-G20 will stage Visioning Another World: The G20 Peoples Summit, a three-day festival packed with events. Programs include conversations, symposiums, creative activities, cultural performances, education, and peaceful demonstrations. It will take place in various locations in Brisbane, aiming to bring together local and international thinkers to collaborate on broad themes such as the economy, growth vs sustainability, environment, climate change, earth rights, dispossession decolonisation, and other issues of social justice. BrisCAN–G20 is concerned about social and economic disparities perpetuated by G20 and the systems it represents.
Various groups and NGOs will join the summit including the Friends of the Earth, OXFAM, National Congress of Australia’s First People, International Trade Union Confederation, Australian Greens and Palm Island Community.
Church Communities call for stewardship
Church groups have also been pressing for environment to be included in the G20 summit.Eleven Brisbane ministers from five churches have formed alliance to call for the Abbott government to pay attention to one of the most pressing issues of the time.
The dean of St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Reverend Peter Catt, who also serves as the group’s spokesperson, said the government did not understand how the economy and the environment are deeply linked, and how the economy operates and how it depends on the environment. Dr Catt views the environment as the foundation of economic growth, prosperity, and “human flourishing”. Noting Christianity’s principle of stewardship, he said, “the Earth is a precious gift and that humans are called to act as stewards.” He added:
Climate change is a deep concern. The G20 leaders should be showing leadership and discussing it at the top of their agenda when they meet in our city.“It would be wonderful if a meeting held in our city led the way to sustainable life and a healthy economy.
The ministers call on the Australian Government, which has control of the agenda, to deal with climate change as a priority. http://asiancorrespondent.com/127944/australia-alternative-g20-peoples-summit-set-in-brisbane/
We must tell our children the truth about climate change
Do we have the courage to tell our children the truth about climate change? KATHARINE CUKIER, l Montreal Gazette: November 4, 2014 “………. Naomi Klein’s book on climate change This Changes Everything maps out the particular role of our fossil-fuelled economic system and its dynamics in bringing our civilization to the brink of extinction. She also points out that it is the innocent — our children, their children and those societies that are not responsible for even a fraction of the 
current climate altering emissions — that will be harshly punished. They will be both impeded in their economic development and they will bear the full brunt of the catastrophic impacts of runaway climate change.
Klein is not the first to demonstrate that unless our priorities are urgently altered, our fossil-fuelled economy-culture will push us to a level of warming that will be impossible to mitigate. Our current path will lead to an average of between three and five degrees of warming by the end of the century and threaten the vast majority of humanity and most non-human life as well.
Our predicament, if unprecedented, is constructed on familiar ground. As with all the major crimes against humanity of the past century, we know what is going on at the same time as we deny the evidence that piles up around us. ……..
I have read hundreds of articles and books on climate change, and unlike my prime minister and his corporate backers, I have been convinced by the scientists that we are heading for catastrophe…..I feel a profound need to lie to my children — the ones in my house and the ones in my classroom. I haven’t the guts to contradict the central premise of my culture, and tell all my children that the world is not their oyster, that they must not do as I have done. That in fact, not only is the oyster’s shell disintegrating because of the acidification of our oceans, but my children cannot have the lifestyle I have had. How do I admit that I and a handful of generations before me have exposed our unique, perfect pearl of a living planet to gradual, then probable rapid extermination of life?…
I am no role model. For my children must not live like me, eat like me, shop like me, travel like me, dream like me, because our planet cannot cope with another generation of middle-class North Americans treating the planet like its private sewer……..
Our kids earnestly recycle and reuse, but they are not really given much guidance in how to reduce. To reduce, consume less, do less, buy less, in our value system is ideologically associated with being less.
Nor are they given much guidance by their overworked parents about how to engage in our admittedly flawed political landscape. The fundamental changes required to slow down global warming demand that young people speak out as citizens, not just as consumers, for policies that defend their right to clean air, water, soil and survival. Without such engagement, Klein argues, our democracy is a façade spinning PR for corporate interests.
Klein insists that the only thing that will save us is a collective standing up and telling the truth to power, both political and corporate, and that we must demand that our leaders guide us and if needs be, regulate and yes, tax the bejeesus out of carbon at the source. It is the only path for urgently protecting this planet and the future of humanity.
But we must do the hardest job first: We must start by telling the truth to our children. http://montrealgazette.com/business/energy/opinion-do-we-have-the-courage-to-tell-our-children-the-truth-about-climate-change
Project to document the health effects from atomic bomb testing in South Australia
Uranium the Silent Killer By Hilary Tyler
http://www.pozible.com/project/187985 The story of the project At the ANFA (Australia 
Nuclear Free Alliance) meeting in Oct 2014 Indigenous Elders called for documentation of the health effects from the Maralinga and other atomic bomb tests in the 1950’s and 1960’s. See https://ausnukefreealliance.wordpress.com for the meeting statement.
Permission was never sort from the Aboriginal nations.
“Just remember that the fallout at Maralinga affected the whole lot of us. Black, white, brindle; we all breathe the same air, and we’re all being affected in various ways, even though that happened a long time ago. It’s still around.” Sue Coleman-Haseldine (Kokatha Mula – Ceduna)
From 1952 to 1963 atomic testing covered vast areas of South Australia including Maralinga and Emu Fields test sites.
In November 2014 there will be a 3 week road trip to archive the stories of the people from Arabuna, Walitina, Ceduna, and Yalata country to produce film, audio and digital documentaries. We will begin a data base of the families affected, the geographical distributions of fall out and detrimental health repercussions of these unconsented tests.
Nuclear weapons are the most destructive, inhumane and indiscriminate weapons ever created. Both in the scale of the devastation they cause, and in their uniquely persistent, spreading, genetically damaging radioactive fallout, they are unlike any other weapons.
For more information on nuclear weapons, including an article on Yami Lester, one of the survivors of the nuclear tests in South Australia, see http://www.icanw.org/au/
Many Aboriginal people in South Australia still rely on bush foods – plants and animals sourced from land that still is contaminated. The possibility of bioaccumulation is very real. Certainly the stories of early death from cancer, thyroid disease and congenital deformities are continuing.
“I’ve lost a lot of my family members through early death – and a lot of it was through cancer, and I do blame the Maralinga fallout.”
Aunty Martha – Arabana (Lake Eyre) Contact us at: uraniumthesilentkiller@gmail.com
No recognition, no compensation, for Aborigines made sick by Maralinga nuclear bomb tests
Backgrounder: Why was Maralinga used for secret nuclear tests?SBS News 5 Nov 14 “…….
What happened to the people who lived there?
The nuclear testings lead to widespread dispersion of radioactive material in the local environment. The Anangu Aboriginal people who lived the area called it “puyu” or “black mist”.
UK servicemen, Australian soldiers and civilians, including Indigenous people, were all exposed to radiation. Illnesses reportedly included cancer, blood diseases, eye problems, skin rashes, blindness, vomitting, which are all symptoms of radioactive poisoning.
Between 1953 and 1957, two nuclear devices were detonated at Emu and seven at Maralinga, the Department of Industry reported. According to the Australian Radiationn Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) these “major trials” have largely decayed and are “no longer a significant health risk” as these nuclear devices were conducted at higher altitudes (from balloons).
However, the biggest cause of contamination was from “minor trials”, which were weapons development trials that investigated the performance of various components of a nuclear device. Although minor trials didn’t involve nuclear explosions, they did contain radioactive material.
Since contamination remains on or close to the ground surface, there is a significant health risk for locals. Three sites, Taranaki, TM100/101 (TMs), and Wewak remained highly contaminated with plutonium 40 years later……..
Were victims compensated by the British government?
Aboriginal people exposed to British nuclear tests in South Australia during the 1950s are being told they have no hope of compensation. British firm Hickman and Rose had hoped to represent more than 150 civilians, if a huge class action by 1,000 British veterans had succeeded.
But the class action was blocked – the UK Supreme Court ruling that 60 years after the event their claims were too late, the causes of their illnesses apparently unprovable. (Read the full judgment here)
The Australian Greens’ nuclear spokesman Scott Ludlam said the dangers of radiation are well known and it’s unfair to ask Aboriginal people with scant medical records to prove a direct link between exposure to fallout and subsequent sickness.
“The British courts have blocked the application from Defence personnel and Aboriginal people in central Australia by saying you can’t prove those radiations exposures are what caused your illness,” he said. “Now, we know that ionising radiation is harmful for health – we know that for a fact. The right thing for the British Government to do is make an Act of Grace payment to the people who they injured in their nuclear weapons tests.”
In response, UK Defence Personnel Welfare and Veterans Minister of State Mark Francois said: “[The] Ministry of Defence’s position with respect to paying compensation is unchanged. I am sorry to have to send a disappointing reply, but I hope I have explained the reasons for doing so.”……http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/05/backgrounder-why-was-maralinga-used-secret-nuclear-tests
Environment groups call for full disclosure of Energy Resources of Australia’s Kakadu uranium plan
Northern Territory and national environment groups have pledged to fight a proposal for a new underground uranium mine within the boundaries of Kakadu National Park, arguing the proponent Energy Resources of Australia has failed to supply key details that would allow NT and federal environment ministers to make an informed assessment of the project’s economic risks.
Energy Resources of Australia, majority owned by Rio Tinto, has submitted a Draft Environment Impact Assessment prior to finalising and releasing a pre-feasibility study that contains important project details, including economic data directly relevant to the company’s unproven capacity to rehabilitate the troubled mine site.
“ERA’s financial struggles are well known to investors who have fled the depressed uranium sector in droves since Fukushima,” said Lauren Mellor of the Environment Centre NT.
“The company has lost more than $400 million since the disaster, which was directly fuelled by Australian uranium, struck in 2011.
“With rehabilitation liabilities of more than $700 million – worth more than ERA’s market value – the company has warned the ASX it may not be able to fully fund future rehabilitation. Federal and NT assessors should demand all project data be made available for public scrutiny during the assessment process.”
ERA is required to end mining and mineral processing at the Ranger mine in January 2021 and the groups are concerned that the planned new underground operation, known as Ranger 3 Deeps, would complicate and delay the company’s mandated clean up and rehabilitation period.
“Ranger has been operating inside Kakadu for more than three decades and has experienced hundreds of leaks, spills and license breaches in that time, including a major radioactive spill last year that shut the plant for six months,” said the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Dave Sweeney.
“The mine is ageing, failing and is overdue for retirement. But instead of a planned and costed clean up and exit plan, ERA is pushing ahead with incomplete plans for a new underground mine, playing radioactive roulette at Ranger.”
“We will actively contest any new uranium mine in Kakadu because this company has a track record of broken pipes and broken promises.
“Federal and NT Environment Ministers responsible for assessment of the Ranger 3 Deeps project should require ERA to come clean about its plans and its projections and ensure all the missing project data is provided for public scrutiny.”
Editors’ Note: Dr Gavin Mudd, Senior Environmental Engineer at Monash University and a leading expert in uranium mining , legacy mines and groundwater impacts will address a public forum at 6pm on Wednesday 5 Nov at the Groove Café in Nightcliff to discuss the complex rehabilitation challenges facing ERA at the Ranger site. Dr Mudd is also available for comment and background briefings.
CONTACT: Dr Gavin Mudd, 0419 117 494. Lauren Mellor, ECNT, 0413 534 125 or Dave Sweeney, ACF, 0408 317 812
Ponzi economics of endless growth, in a world of limited resources
Ponzi schemes are stable for a short while in their initial operations, but depend on unrestricted growth through finding ever-more new investors. Ponzis have to collapse because of their growth and they can’t exist without it.
To grow or not to grow
So it is with modern economics; growth is the central mantra, but no system dependent on finite resources can continue to grow forever.
Modern economics count on Ponzi ecology ABC Science Capitalist economies suffer from
the lack of scope and accounting for all the environmental resources needed to make them work, argues Paul Willis. 5 Nov 14 Recently an ecologist friend of mine commented that modern capitalist economies are little more than elaborate Ponzi schemes, complicated frauds that can only end in their own spectacular collapse in direct proportion to their stratospheric success………
The problem with a Ponzi scheme is that it can only sustain paying profits in the initial stages, as long as an increasing number of new investors enter the scheme. Once there is a decline in the number of new investors, the profits cannot be paid to the older investors and the whole scheme comes undone with most investors losing their investment without seeing any profit………
Ecological flaws
Climate Change: a topic excluded from G20 talkfest in Brisbane
Climate change hopes for G20 diminished, SMH, November 4, 2014 Peter Hannam Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald Climate change will remain all but absent from the G20 summit, with a related energy efficiency plan omitting mention of global warming as a motivation for curbing energy use, according to a draft.
Hopes had been raised when a paragraph on dealing with climate change was added to the draft communique being circulated among the world’s leading economies, who will all attend this month’s G20 summit in Brisbane.
However, the latest details – a draft of the “energy efficiency” section of the talks in which climate change is to be relegated – have dashed hopes the issue will get much, if any, focus.
The Energy Efficiency Action Plan does not make any mention of climate change, and instead stresses the role of efficiency in boosting energy security and improving “environmental outcomes”.
That’s despite this weekend’s release of the latest report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning of irreversible damages from a warming planet with temperatures on track to rise as much as 4-5 degrees by century’s end on current greenhouse gas emissions trajectories……….
Dermot O’Gorman, chief executive of WWF-Australia, said there is still time for the Abbott government to modify the agenda of the meeting. “While we welcome any focus on energy efficiency, climate change is still not a stand-alone agenda item at the G20 and it needs to be,” Mr O’Gorman said. “In its current form, this so-called Energy Efficiency Action Plan is little more than a commitment to keep talking.”…….http://www.smh.com.au/business/g20/climate-change-hopes-for-g20-diminished-20141104-11grej.html
Anglican priest slams the hypocrisy of rich countries ignoring climate change effects on Islanders
Anglican priest shames climate change “hypocrites” after witnessing sinking Solomon Islands 105.7 ABC Darwin By Emilia Terzon The Anglican Dean of Darwin, Keith Joseph, was living and working on the Solomon Islands when he realised the world was slowly drowning.
“In that time, I could see with my own eyes the damage being done,” he said.
“And I could also see the effect [climate change] was having on my friends, their lives, and indeed their culture and futures.”……..
He said it was undeniable that the ongoing problems being experienced by his former parish were linked to climate change and rising sea levels.
“Firstly, it is affecting island groups across the Pacific and Indian Ocean. Secondly, I’m willing to trust 97 per cent of the scientific evidence and advice,” he said.
“If you were sick and went to 30 doctors and 29 said you’ve got cancer and give up smoking and one said it’s not a problem, what are you going to do?
“It’s the same with climate change. The scientific evidence is in.”
Mr Joseph’s comments follow a report by the world’s top scientists for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on Sunday.
The report warns about climate change’s severe and irreversible impacts and links the burning of fossil fuels to greenhouse gas levels being at their highest in 800,000 years.
Mr Joseph said it made him feel “guilty” that humble communities in the Solomon Islands were facing problems due to carbon emissions by those in richer countries……….
He said there was a “strong Christian argument for looking after the environment” and that the earth was a gift from God that should be looked after. “I do think that appeals to other spiritual traditions. The Aboriginals knew well that the land was their birthright to hand on to others,” he said.
“Sadly, I can’t see much political impetus for [stopping climate change]. There seems no great will to change the way we live or to move away from a coal-based economy.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-04/anglican-priest-speaks-out-about-climate-change/5865438
Dr Elizabeth Hanna spells it out on the health effects of global warming
‘Coal exports a killer for thousands’, says ANU academic Elizabeth Hanna Sid Maher THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 04, 2014 TONY Abbott’s declaration that coal is good for humanity has been attacked by Australian National University academic Elizabeth Hanna, who warns thousands of people will be sentenced to death if Australia keeps exporting it.
Dr Hanna, whose research was included in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, predicted Australia faced days hotter than 50C within 10 or 15 years under continuing global warming and this would dramatically increase the number of heat-related deaths.
If that happens, “we are at risk of mass-death events in Australia, similar to the death tolls due to extreme heat overseas’’, she said.
“In 2003, 70,000 people died in Europe and 55,000 died in Russia in 2010 due to extreme heat.”
Asked on Radio National about the Prime Minister’s support for coal, Dr Hanna said that Mr Abbott’s government was “captive to the vested interests” and eventually would be held to account. “Now if they continue to ignore this message they are sentencing thousands and thousands to their deaths,” she said.
Dr Hanna, the president of the Climate and Health Alliance, in a following interview with The Australian, stood by her comments and went further:…….http://m.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/coal-exports-a-killer-for-thousands-says-anu-academic-elizabeth-hanna/story-e6frg6xf-1227111379081
Key events: Nuclear testings at Maralinga
Backgrounder: Why was Maralinga used for secret nuclear tests?, SBS News 5 Nov 14
“…….Mar 1951 – Australian Government approval sought to use Monte Bello Island for tests
Oct 1952 – First UK Test on 3 October – code named “Hurricane”
Sep 1953 – Minor trials at Emu Field on Australian mainland
Oct 1953 – Next two UK tests, known as “Totem 1 and 2” on 14 and 26 October, at Emu Field
May 1955 – Permanent test site at Maralinga announced
June 1955 – Minor trials start at Maralinga
May 1956 – UK conducts tests “Mosaic 1 and 2” on 16 May and 19 June at Monte Bello
Sep 1956 – “Buffalo” tests at Maralinga (four shots on 27 Sept, and 4, 11 and 21 October. Buffalo 3 was the first UK airdrop test
Sep 1957 – “antler” tests at Maralinga, 3 shots (14 and 25 September and 9 October)
Minor trials continued in short annual campaigns until May 1963
Aug 1967 – The final UK clean up operation at Maralinga completed, (Operation Brumby in May to Aug 67)
July 1984 – Australian Royal Commission (ARC) established
Nov 1985 – Royal Commission Report published Feb 1986 Post ARC Technical Assessment Group (TAG) established with UK membership. Study of options and costs of decontamination and rehabilitation of Emu and Maralinga
March 1989 – TAG reports to Australian Ministers
Dec 1993 – UK Government agrees to pay £20M on an ex gratia basis towards the cost of site rehabilitation
Mar 2003 – Report into the clean up of Maralinga published in Australia. The Australian Science Minister reports to Federal Parliament that the land at Maralinga can be handed back to its traditional owner, the Maralinga Tjarutja.
2009 – Most of the Maralinga-Tjarutja land handed back to indigenous people after rehabilitation work was completed.
5 November 2014 – Full handover of the 1,782 square kilometres of land to the Maralinga Tjarutja people marked by a ceremony.
Source: The National Archives UK http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/05/backgrounder-why-was-maralinga-used-secret-nuclear-tests
How come Britain was allowed to test nuclear weapons on Aboriginal land?
Backgrounder: Why was Maralinga used for secret nuclear tests? Indigenous landowners have finally been given back their homelands at Maralinga, which was used by Britain to test atomic bombs in the 1950s. But why did Britain use Australian land for nuclear tests in the first place? Source:
SBS News 5 Nov 14 “……. Why was this site chosen?
During The Cold War, the British were keen to develop nuclear weapons of its own.
“If we are unable to make the bomb ourselves, and have to rely entirely on the United States for this vital weapon, we shall sink to the rank of a second-class nation,” said Lord Cherwell, scientific advisor to Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Australian Institute of Criminology reported that the “remoteness and sparse population of Australia made it an attractive alternative.”
The operation – codenamed ‘Hurricane’ – was a secret agreement between the British prime minister Winston Churchill and Australian prime minister Robert Menzies, who was reportedly “only too pleased to assist the motherland”.
In 1993, Ian Anderson wrote in Scientific American magazine that “Britain knew in the 1960s that radioactivity at its former nuclear test site in Australia was worse than first thought. But it did not tell the Australians.”……..http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/05/backgrounder-why-was-maralinga-used-secret-nuclear-tests
Part of Defence Department’s Woomera Prohibited Area returned to Aborigines
Defence force releases last Maralinga ancestral lands to traditional owners theguardian.com, Wednesday 5 November 2014
Former weapons testing range at Maralinga in outback South Australia is returned to Maralinga Tjarutja people Traditional owners finally have full access to their homelands at Maralinga after the defence force gave up its weapons testing range on Wednesday. Maralinga, in the South Australian outback, was the site of British atomic bomb testing from 1955 to 1963 and was contaminated by nuclear waste.
The federal government formally acknowledged the excision of an area of the Maralinga Tjarutja lands from the defence department’s Woomera Prohibited Area in a ceremony at Maralinga Village on Wednesday…….http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/05/defence-force-releases-last-maralinga-ancestral-lands-to-traditional-owners
Maralinga nuclear test site returned to Aborigines, though still some contamination there
British Nuclear Test Site Returned To Aborigines, Yahoo News UK 5 Nov 14 A former British nuclear test site in the depths of the Australian outback has finally been handed back to its Aboriginal owners after more than half a century.
Codenamed Section 400, the secret Cold War atomic weapons testing base was used in the 1950s and 60s and covered 1,782 square kilometres (688 square miles) of remote South Australia.
Now the Australian Government has formally given the site at Maralinga back to its traditional owners, the Maralinga Tjarutja, who hope to turn it into a tourism attraction.
Maralinga Tjarutja general manager Richard Preece says the community is establishing a business to take visitors round the nuclear test sites.
“We’re going to set up bus tours so people can be taken round by Robin (the local caretaker), who is a walking encyclopaedia of Maralinga,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
He added the area still had some contamination but would be safe for visitors if they were escorted………https://uk.news.yahoo.com/british-nuclear-test-returned-aborigines-130655845.html#vPKBkL8
Aboriginal elders locked out from Brisbane premises, because of G20
Brisbane G20: Indigenous elders protest Jagera Hall ‘lock-out’, Brisbane Times, November 5, 2014 Kim Stephens Members of Brisbane’s indigenous community say they have been locked out of their premises, in the heart of the G20 security zone, just days before the world leaders’ summit.
A small but vocal contingent of the city’s indigenous elders attended Tuesday afternoon’s council meeting at City Hall to protest being locked out of Musgrave Park’s Jagera Hall, which they claim was done without warning or consultation…….. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-g20/brisbane-g20-indigenous-elders-protest-jagera-hall-lockout-20141105-11gz5c.html#ixzz3IKS9nuek
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 