Strong contingent of young Australian activists attending Paris climate summit
Paris attacks won’t deter us from Climate Conference: activists A strong Australian contingent of young activists will attend the UN Climate Change Conference in the French capital, and say they want to make their presence felt. By Omar Dabbagh
More than 45,000 people are expected to descend on Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference beginning on November 30.
Representatives from almost 200 countries will attend, including government delegates, business groups and academics.
But civil society will also play a major part, with activists making up more than half of the attendees.
That includes young farmers Josh Gilbert and Anika Molesworth, who believe going to Paris is like a dream come true…….
Key issues to be addressed? Coastal communities are among those already feeling the impacts of a warming climate.Maria Tiimon Chi-Fang, from the Pacific island of Kiribati, said it was not just in the low-lying nations where coastal erosion was a constant threat. “That is why Paris, for the Kiribati, is so important, because, with climate change, it’s not just about the sea-level rise and erosion,” Mr Chi-Fang said.
“Of course, we have erosion. Some people have started to move away from where they live because of erosion. But there are also many issues apart from the impacts of climate change, like inundation, brackish water, more storm surges.”
Fear levels in France are at their highest in the wake of the Paris attacks. But instead of deterring delegates from going, Ms Chi-Fang believes it has done the opposite.
“No, I will go,” she said.
“For the people of Kiribati, for my people and the people who are so vulnerable on this issue, and also for the future of my son, who is only three years old, I will go.” http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/11/22/paris-attacks-wont-deter-us-climate-conference-activists
Petition: No Nuclear Waste On The Darling Downs
No Nuclear Waste On The Darling DownsJosh Leuenberger
Hon Bruce Scott MP
Brent Finlay – President of the National Farmers Federation
and 2 others
Graeme Scheu – Mayor of Goondiwindi Regional Council
Dr Steven Miles – Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection
No Nuclear Waste On The Darling Downs
Petition: No Uranium Waste for Australia
Australians do not want uranium wastes from other countries. This also means no wastes from uranium originating in Australia.
We believe this is a commercial effort by Australian corporations to sell more uranium to the world. Please help us stop this.
It is NOT safe – our friends in Japan and worldwide can verify this.
We must act now to protect future generations.
Please sign for the sake of your children and grandchildren.
Toro Energy Wiluna Uranium Project Public Consultation opens
Public consultation opens for proposed Toro Energy Wiluna Uranium Project expansion http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-17/public-consultation-opens-for-wiluna-uranium-mine-expansion-plan/6948066 Plans to extend a uranium project in the Shire of Wiluna are now open for public consultation.
Toro Energy is proposing to extend the Wiluna Uranium Project, which already has two deposits, known as Centipede and Lake Way, which were approved by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in 2012.
The company is now looking to add two more deposits, which will be known as Millipede and Lake Maitland. The proposal also includes a haul road to be built at Centipede. Toro has not started mining at any of the deposits.
The EPA public consultation period for the two new sites runs until February.
November 19 – Adelaide – Film “Containment”
Conservation SA and FOE are hosting a film night showing the movie Containment on Thursday 19 November at UniSA City West at 7pm. Containment was made by Harvard professors and is about the difficulties associated with the long term safe storage of nuclear waste. One of the professors is attending to answer questions. . Please RSVP on the CCSA site here if you can and Facebookers please share the event invitation.
Film CONTAINMENT – Melbourne November 11
Can we contain some of the deadliest, most long-lasting substances ever produced? Left over from the Cold War are a hundred million gallons of radioactive sludge, covering vast radioactive lands. Governments around the world, desperate to protect future generations, have begun imagining society 10,000 years from now in order to create monuments that will speak across the time. Part observational essay filmed in weapons plants, Fukushima and deep underground − and part graphic novel −Containment weaves between an uneasy present and an imaginative, troubled far future, exploring the idea that over millennia, nothing stays put.
Directors / Producers Peter Galison and Robb Moss will participate in an interactive discussion along with national nuclear-free campaigners following the film screening.
Wednesday, November 11, 7pm to 9pm
Loop: 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne (off Bourke St)
To book tickets: http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/containment_film_screening
$10 concession / $15 waged / $25 solidarity
SUNBURY & MACEDON RANGES Residents ride for renewable energy
http://www.starweekly.com.au/news/residents-ride-for-renewable-energy/ , by Esther Lauaki Energy-conscious cyclists will strap on their helmets at a Ride for Renewables event this weekend.
The 15-kilometre ride on October 31 kicks off from the Black Forest timber mill near Woodend, heading for the site that locals propose for three wind turbines.
Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group hosts the annual Ride for Renewables to promote renewable energy in the region, including a large, government-funded solar panel project at the Woodend timber mill and a community wind farm.
The group hosts events and practical activities that seed sustainable living initiatives around the shire.
Group president Ralf Thesing says the ride is a chance for people to show their support for the two projects under way.
“These projects have been several years in the making, ” he said. “We want to install more solar panels on more homes.”
The proposed wind turbine project could generate enough power for up to 4500 homes – enough for Woodend, Macedon and Mount Macedon, he said.
Cyclists will need a water bottle, snacks, sunscreen, any medications, a high-visibility vest and comfortable clothing and helmets, Mr Thesing said. Registration and briefing are at 10am for an 11am start.
Details: www.mrsgonline.org.au/ride-4-renewables
– See more at: http://www.starweekly.com.au/news/residents-ride-for-renewable-energy/#sthash.B2wHZwGp.dpuf
South Australia LABOR ON NUCLEAR: WRONG WAY, GO BACK
Members of South Australia’s anti-nuclear coalition will gather outside the South Australian Labor Party’s State Conference at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre tomorrow morning Sat October 24 at 8am, calling on the SA Labor Party to keep legislation in place banning nuclear waste dumps in South Australia, and to keep the state on its path to becoming a global leader in renewable energy.
The State Government’s formation of a Royal Commission into the expansion of the nuclear industry in SA has led to concerns that a national or international nuclear waste dump is back on the cards for SA, a little over a decade after the last proposal for a waste dump near Woomera was defeated. This followed an extended campaign opposing the project, spearheaded by senior Aboriginal women – the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta.
In 2000, in response to growing public opposition to the proposal, the then Liberal Government passed legislation banning the disposal of certain types of nuclear waste in the state. This legislation was extended by the incoming Labor Government in 2003 to include all nuclear waste. The stated objective of the legislation is “to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia and to protect the environment in which they live…”
“We are calling on the Labor Party to honour this commitment to protecting the health, safety and environment of South Australia,” said Nectaria Calan of the anti-nuclear coalition and Friends of the Earth Adelaide. ”Nuclear waste is not a business opportunity, it’s an intractable problem.”
“SA Labour was known as the party who fights nuclear waste dumps, not the one that builds them.”
“Expansion of the nuclear industry into nuclear energy would also have an impact on the fast growing renewables sector in the state,” said Ms Calan. “SA is already 40% renewable, and nuclear power is a poor partner because it does not have the flexibility needed to operate alongside renewable energy. Nuclear power is also highly subsidised, and is therefore likely to absorb subsidies that could be going to the renewables sector. This is one opportunity cost of nuclear energy.”
For comment contact: Nectaria Calan SA anti-nuclear coalition Friends of the Earth Adelaide 0432 388 665
Stop Adani Destroying Our Land and Culture
CommunityRun Petition:
Stop Adani Destroying Our Land and Culture: https://www.communityrun.org/p/stopadani “We, the Wangan and Jagalingou people, are the TRADITIONAL OWNERS of the land in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
Coal company Adani wants to use our ancestral lands for their Carmichael coal mine.
We do hereby firmly REJECT a Land Use Agreement with Adani for the Carmichael mine on our traditional lands.
We DO NOT consent to the Carmichael mine on our ancestral lands.
We DO NOT accept Adani’s “offers” to sign away our land and our rights and interests in it. We will not take their “shut up” money.
We will PROTECT and DEFEND our Country and our connection to it.
We call on Adani to IMMEDIATELY WITHDRAW from this damaging project on our land.
Donate to the fight of our people here:
http://wanganjagalingou.com.au/
GetUp!: Tell Josh Frydenberg: No money for Adani!
“Without federal assistance, Adani’s Carmichael coal mine and Abbot Point coal port are as good as cooked. When asked about funding Adani’s coal project on Radio National this morning, Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg suggested, “Adani needs to stand on its own two feet… it wouldn’t be
a priority project for the Commonwealth.”
They’re encouraging words, but it’s far from a concrete promise. If enough of us reach out right now, we can show Minister Frydenberg just how popular a solid commitment would be.
It could be enough to get him over the line. Can you email Josh Frydenberg’s office and ask him to
rule out Government handouts for Adani?
17 October – Sydney University – Dr Helen Caldicott on “South Australia as the Worlds’ Radioactive Waste Dump’
Make sure to RSVP to this amazing event! – go to the Sydney Democracy Network page
EVENT DETAILS
Helen Caldicott will discuss the medical implications of converting South Australia into the world’s radioactive waste dump. The terms of reference for the Royal Commission into South Australia’s nuclear industry do not address health impacts for nuclear workers of the general public, despite the legacy health issues arising from nuclear weapons testing and uranium mining in the state. What some have described as a Trojan Horse of the Commission is the search for a place to dump nuclear waste. Industry advocates are seeing dollar signs, not danger signs or protest signs, in their sustained effort to target South Australia as an international nuclear waste repository
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr Helen Caldicott
Dr Helen Caldicott has devoted the last four decades to international campaigning to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behaviour to stop environmental destruction.
In 1971, Dr Caldicott played a major role in Australia’s opposition to French atmospheric nuclear testing in the Pacific; in 1975 she worked with the Australian trade unions to educate their members about the medical dangers of the nuclear fuel cycle, with particular reference to uranium mining.
Returning to Australia in 1987 from the US where she founded the Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament WAND), Dr Caldicott ran for Federal Parliament as an independent. Defeating Charles Blunt, leader of the National Party, through preferential voting she ultimately lost the election by 600 votes out of 70,000 cast.
Dr Caldicott currently divides her time between Australia and the US where she lectures widely. In year 2001, she founded the US-based Nuclear Policy Research Institute (NPRI), which became Beyond Nuclear. Currently, Dr Caldicott is President of The Helen Caldicott Foundation/NuclearFreePlanet.org, which initiates symposiums and other educational projects to inform the public and the media of the dangers of nuclear power and weapons.
Join the ‘Don’t Nuke the Climate’ Thunderclap!
Join the ‘Don’t Nuke the Climate’ Thunderclap! Michael Mariotte
President, Nuclear Information and Resource Service On Saturday, September 26, 2015, the Don’t Nuke the Climate campaign will be putting out some noise that will be heard around the world! If you’ve got a Facebook, Twitter, and/or Tumblr account, we ask you to join our Thunderclap and help amplify that noise.
It’s easy to do, just sign up at: http://thndr.it/1ipFw1C or www.thunderclap.it/projects/31410-edf-nuclear-the-solution
When you do, the Thunderclap will automatically post a message to your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and/or Tumblr list on Saturday, September 26.
We’re sending out this message: Tell EDF: nuclear can’t save the climate: too dirty, too dangerous, too expensive, too slow #exposeEDF #EDFMenteur
EDF is, of course, Electricite de France, the largest nuclear power utility in the world. EDF wants to have a big influence at December’s COP-21 UN climate negotiations in Paris; their future depends on a nuclear-powered future. But our future, and our planet’s future, depends on just the opposite: we want and need a nuclear-free, carbon-free energy system that will power our planet cleanly, safely, affordably and sustainably.
That’s the message the Don’t Nuke the Climate campaign is taking to Paris. We hope you’ll help us reach millions of people across the globe.
You can find our more about the Don’t Nuke the Climate campaign at the international campaign page (www.wiseinternational.org/campaign) and the U.S. campaign page (www.nirs.org/cop21/dontnuketheclimate.htm).
And if you haven’t done so yet, don’t forget to sign the Don’t Nuke the Climate petition to be presented to global leaders at COP 21 in December.
Organizations, sign at: www.wiseinternational.org/campaign/sign-petition
Individuals, sign at: http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5502/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=20658
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‘Talking Straight Out’ exhibition celebrates Aboriginal women’s success in fight against nuclear waste dump
An invitation to the exhibition Talking Straight Out, Craig Wilkins
Chief Executive
Conservation SA is proud to be supporting a very special event, ‘Talking Straight Out’, at the Festival Centre on Thursday 15th October.
Where: The Lyrics Room, Adelaide Festival Centre, King William St
This is a free event, please RSVP here.
If you would like to find out more, please contact the organisers via iratiwanti@gmail.com
Submissions on Cameco’s Yeelirrie uranium project 21 September to 14 December 2015
Invitation for Public Comment :http://www.cameco.com/australia/yeelirrie/community_information/
Yeelirrie Uranium Project
Public Environmental Review
(Public Review Period: 21 September to 14 December 2015)Submissions regarding the proposal should be submitted to the EPA. The EPA prefers submissions to be made electronically via itsconsultation hub.
Alternatively submissions can be:
- posted to: Chairman, Environmental Protection Authority, Locked Bag 10, EAST PERTH WA 6892; or
- delivered to the Environmental Protection Authority, Level 8, The Atrium, 168 St Georges Terrace, Perth.
If you have any questions on how to make a submission, please ring the Office of the EPA on
(08) 6145 0800.
Walkatjurra Walkabout: Week two on the road
An update from week two walking on the special red-earth country of the Northern Goldfields
http://walkingforcountry.com/2015/09/02/walkatjurra-walkabout-week-two-on-the-road/
By Marcus Atkinson, 2 Sep 15: “Hello again from the desert. …
The mine would bring devastation to the local environment which
would be catastrophic for the traditional custodians and local pastoralists.
We heard from linguists and anthropologists about the language
revival programs … We also heard from traditional owners and
politicians about the history of the government’s protection of
Indigenous sacred sites, … While the situation is very difficult, the
spirit of the people who are sharing their knowledge is strong
(and infectious). …
After those two days at Yeelirrie we were back on the road.
From Yeelirrie we walked South East toward Yakabinde. … ”
“This walk is a physical and spiritual journey.
We listen and reflect, we walk and rest, create and sing,
and we breathe in the air of the beautiful land.
We are sharing our skills with each other. … We are
privileged to be on this beautiful land and hearing from
the traditional custodians fighting to save it, learning culture
and watching the birds fly ahead. We will continue to walk
steadily for a future where this beautiful land is preserved and
the dangerous uranium is left in the ground.”
1 This month
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
– go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
Antinuclear 