Antinuclear

Transitioning Byron Shire to Zero Carbon

Plan to transition Byron shire to zero carbon, Echo Daily, 7 Mar 16 
Professor David Hood will be guest speaker at a meeting titled Transitioning Byron Shire to Zero Carbon to be held at Byron Council Chambers on March 15. Christobel Munson

 Byron Shire is well placed to bring to life a vision where carbon use can be reduced to zero in 10 years’, predicts Professor David Hood.

‘National research organisations such as Beyond Zero Emissions have proved Australia has the technology and the technical skills to implement this vision. And parts of Europe and China are already starting to migrate their economies, environment and life styles to a post carbon world. If they can do it, it can certainly be done here.’

Keynote speaker at the Sustainability Seminar being held from 6 to 9pm on Tuesday 15 March in Byron Council Chambers, Professor Hood AM, an environmental and civil engineer and councillor with the Australian Conservation Foundation, is also the leader of the QUT Sustainability Research & Teaching programs.

He will introduce the evening with an update on the latest findings in the world of climate change. Professor Hood is amazed at how our political leaders are taking such huge risks with the planet’s ecosystems when they wouldn’t dream of allowing engineers to fiddle with current risk factors in their work.

‘We have already exceeded the amount of carbon that we can burn to say with certainty that we will not exceed a two-degree C rise in global average temperature – a rise that many experts say is dangerous for climate impact’, he says.

‘Yet by approving massive new coal mines, we are heading into an area where we seem to be saying that a 66 per cent chance of staying under two degrees is OK. Exceeding two degrees will likely cause massive extinction of life on Earth………..

The aim of the Zero Emissions Byron project is to protect and sustainably improve the shire’s economy, while developing resilience to mitigate against the effects of climate change. A community initiative, volunteer teams have been working for some months to ascertain baseline emissions data, then draw up strategic plans to reduce emissions in five sectors: transport, energy, land use, waste and buildings. Information on the ZEB project will be available on the night.

See www.zerobyron.org  for more information

Transitioning Byron Shire to Zero Carbon

Tuesday 15 March 6 – 9pm, Byron Council Chambers, Station Street, Mullumbimby

Food, tea and coffee will be available.      http://www.echo.net.au/2016/03/plan-to-transition-byron-shire-to-zero-carbon/

March 9, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ACTION