Fukushima’s radioactive forest
Fukushima forests found to be radioactive 9 Mar 2013
Two years after the triple calamities of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster ravaged Japan’s northeastern Pacific coast, forests that cover 70 percent of the Fukushima Prefecture have been found to contain high concentrations of radioactive cesium. With traces revealed not only in the fallen leaves and soil, but in the trees themselves, the findings suggest that radiation has permanently found its way into the ecosystem. The government is already spending billions of dollars decontaminating various towns in Fukushima, but the forests continue to emit radioactivity, putting the residents at risk. Scientists suggest cutting down the trees as soon as possible because the cesium will gradually be transferred to the earth itself. Many residents are now suing TEPCO, the nuclear plant’s operator, for the impact the disaster has had on surrounding communities. It is estimated the power company will pay some about $400bn in cleanup costs and compensation. Al Jazeera’s Steve Chao reports from Fukushima.
Hear about Western Australia’s wave energy project
AUDIO: Renewable wave energy project to begin in Western Australia http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/pacific-beat/renewable-wave-energy-project-to-begin-in-western-australia/1147652 18 June 2013, Wave energy is one of the great renewable energy hopes because it can create electricity through the power of the ocean
The technology has huge potential for the Paccific Islands and their search for sustainable energy sources
Construction on a major wave energy project is about to begin in Western Australia at Australia’s largest naval base, HMAS Stirling.
The technology behind the Perth Wave Energy Project has been developed over the past 10 years, and promises to make Australia a global leader in wave energy.
Fran Kelly asked Tim Sawyer, the Project Development Officer for Carnegie Wave Energy for more details.
Presenter: Fran Kelly Speaker: Tim Sawyer, the Project Development Officer for Carnegie Wave Energy
See this video – Australia’s Atomic Confessions;
Australia’s Atomic Confessions; Nuclear Bomb Testing Fallout Consequences To Aborigines And Downwinders
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/australias-atomic-confessions-nuclear.html AUSTRALIAN ATOMIC CONFESSIONS
Lambs on the alter of British science Australian Atomic Confessions is a story about the people of the land and the servicemen who served their country. 50 years after 12 atomic bomb tests, our nuclear history continues…
Australian Atomic Confessions Uranium mines, nuclear reactors and a nuclear waste dump. …
How far does it go? Australian Atomic Confessions, a 50 min. documentary Kathy Aigner &G.K. Young Music by Bart Willoughby, Frank Yamma and Louis Burdett
VIDEO: Senator Ludlam asks Minister Carr about Wikileaks and Bradley Manning
Assange no concern of ours, says Carr, The Age, 7 June 13
- The Australian government has washed its hands of Julian Assange as prosecutors at the trial of US soldier Bradley Manning have openly targeted the WikiLeaks publisher as a conspirator engaged in espionage.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr has told a Senate budget estimates committee that the government would make no more representations to the US on Assange’s circumstances because his case “doesn’t affect Australian interests”.
Senator Carr’s declaration that he would not “over-service” Assange’s consular needs came after US military prosecutors left no doubt that they regard the WikiLeaks chief not as a journalist dealing with sources but as a conspirator in the theft of classified information. Continue reading
VIDEO: Senator Scott Ludlam questions Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation
http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/estimates/australian-nuclear-science-technology-organisation Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation Budget Estimates Economics Committee 03 Jun 2013 | Scott Ludlam asked questions of Dr Adi Paterson CEO of ANSTO .
Senator Ludlam asked about ANSTO’s budget allocation – an increase of $8,1 million., and the increased costs of nuclear fuel for the Lucas Heights OPAL nuclear reactor, while uranium prices are low. Ludlam also asked about the $28.7 million listed for decommissioning of HIFAR, predisposal of existing radioactive waste in preparation for long-term storage.
Other questions included ones on health and safety at ANSTO, and on legal cases going on regarding this. Some of these questions to be answered later “on notice”
Australia’s largest wind farm depends on tiny island community’s vote
VIDEO King Island residents to vote on wind farms http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-03/king-island-residents-to-vote-on-wind-farms/4729950
(includes video)Southern hemisphere’s largest wind farm hinges on King Island community support Jun 3, 2013 The development of what would be the southern hemisphere’s largest wind farm hinges on a survey in the small Tasmanian community of King Island. Residents and land-owners will vote yes or no to the proposal to build the 200-turbine wind farm, which would play a huge role in helping Australia meet its renewable energies targets.
Hydro Tasmania says the the farm will bring hundreds of millions of dollars into the local community, as well as infrastructure upgrades and at least 60 jobs. Each of the turbines, designed to take advantage of the Roaring Forties, will be 150m tall from the base of the turbine to the tip of the blade.
But the local community, with a population of 1,500, has to give the project its stamp of approval – something that is far from assured.
Hydro will send out surveys on Friday to gauge the level of community support before it goes ahead with an $18 million feasibility study.It says it wants 60 per cent approval from the local community…..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-03/community-support-vital-for-king-island-wind-farm/4729432
AUDIO: Australia’s Liberal Coalition taking a “sad route” if they reverse carbon tax
There is a belief that your economy will suffer if you go down the route of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, and I believe that is a mistake. I think for most economies green growth is the right way forward, and I don’t think the Western economies are going to climb out of the current economic crisis until they move in that direction.
the position of Australia would be very sad if they do go down the route that you’re suggesting the Coalition will take
AUDIO: Climate adviser disappointed with Coalition climate stance http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3771218.htm Sarah Clarke reported this story on Thursday, May 30, 2013 ASHLEY HALL: Sir David King made international headlines when he claimed climate change was a greater threat than international terrorism. Almost a decade on and the former chief scientific adviser to the UK prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown says he’s concerned there’s been little action on a global climate deal…… individual countries are now putting together quite good action plans, depending where you look in the world. I’d say Britain is probably leading the way.
The interesting thing is that the action is now taking place amongst a large number of the developing nations and the emerging nations. It’s almost an inversion……
SARAH CLARKE: In Australia, and with an election in September, the polls are indicating that there’ll be a Coalition win. Now, the Coalition has stated that they will abandon a carbon price or carbon tax. What are your thoughts on that?
DAVID KING: Well, needless to say I’d be very, very disappointed with any government coming into power in the world to reverse the situation. I, naturally, was very pleased when Australia came in with a plan of action on climate change. Continue reading
Hear this: Clean Energy Finance Corporation will issue contracts to low carbon companies, despite Abbott’s threat
Clean Energy Finance Corporation told to shelve contracts http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-29/clean-energy-investment-at-stake-if-coalition-wins-election/4720894 AUDIO: Sarah Clarke reports on the clean energy future(The World Today) 29 May 13 The Coalition has already promised to dump the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
It was set up to lend money to firms delivering clean energy and low emissions, to give them a kick-start in the market.The Coalition is now warning it to stop drawing up contracts for new projects until after the election…….
Reserve Bank board member Jillian Broadbent, the chair of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, says she is disappointed with the Coalition’s plans.
“There’s a lot of confusion about what we are and what the working model is and what kind of costs we’re going to be to the taxpayer, because on our numbers we’re going to be financially self-sufficient in probably within the first two years of our operation,” she said.”Then you start generating dividends which go to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency which can save the Government putting funds into that agency directly.”
The fund is currently considering applicants from at least 50 low carbon and low emission companies with contracts worth up to $2 billion.It plans to start issuing those contracts on July 1, despite calls for them to be shelved until after September.
Fund has ‘obligation to fulfil responsibilities’
Ms Broadbent says shelving the contracts is not possible. “We have an obligation to fulfil those responsibilities and that’s what we’re doing,” she said……..
The parliamentary secretary for Climate Change Yvette D’Ath says the Clean Energy Finance Corporation has a guaranteed future if Labor is re-elected. “These businesses have to meet very strict investment guidelines and criteria to get that finance through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation,” she said.
“So we’re very confident that there’ll be that rigour, there’ll be that transparency and that this will attract a lot of investment in Australia to invest in renewable energy.”
VIDEO: Aboriginal Fire Power
Fire Power, ABC, Broadcast: 26/05/2013 http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2013/s3767527.htm Reporter: Tim Lee PIP COURTNEY, PRESENTER: Although the Australian continent is shaped by fire and flood, large-scale devastating bushfires are a man-made modern phenomenon. That’s the view of distinguished historian Bill Gammage, who argues 
that Australians have failed to understand their environment. His views may be contentious, but his latest book has won the nation’s top literary prizes and continues to win new and influential supporters. Tim Lee reports…….
Bill Gammage contends that to confront the future, we must learn from the past. Specifically, and crucially, we need to heed the ancient knowledge and practices of Indigenous Australians…….
Aboriginal fire was actually making Australia, not a natural landscape, but a made landscape. Aborigines made it. And Europeans, when they came, assumed it was natural and so they left it alone. And what that meant was that trees and scrub were promoted to the disadvantage of grass….. BILL GAMMAGE: Can we get that knowledge back? I’d say there’s nobody that knows as much as the people of 1788, the Aborigines then, not even Aborigines now. But Aborigines know much more than the average European and they have a great advantage, and that is, especially in the north and centre, they want to stay on country. And the advantage of that is you learn local conditions – the local plants, how flammable they are, the local animals, what they need in terms of feed and shelter, where fire’s dangerous, where it’s safe, how often to burn. And staying on country and getting that local knowledge is the key to local fire management and Aboriginal people are far and away the best placed to do that. … What we lost by not listening to people in 1788 is a real tragedy. What we could have learnt is just beyond imagination. And it’s, you know, it’s cost us – it’s costing us a lot now in those cities and towns that get burnt and those people who get killed in fires.
Hear this podcast from Western Australia’s anti uranium marathon walkers
UNDERSTOREY – THE BEGINNING OF THE NIGHTMARE- PART 2 Understorey investigates the prospects of WA’s first uranium mine. In the words of a Japanese woman, is this “the beginning of the nightmare?” This week Adrian Glamorgan visited the anti-uranium walkers near Yeelirrie. http://rtrfm.com.au/story/understorey-the-beginning-of-the-nightmare-part-2/
Hear Christine Milne destroying Tony Abbott’s campaign against environment and renewable energy
The Australian Greens
Tony Abbott’s plans for the environment are dangerous and extreme: from his determination to gut national environmental protections and hand what’s left to the states, to his double dissolution promise.
We stand up for the environment in Parliament. We’ll stand firm for the Clean Energy Act and for national protection of the places and species that are too precious to lose.
Have a listen to Christine Milne respond to Greg Hunt on ABC Radio National this morning:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/greens-respond-to-greg-hunt-christine-milne/4699682
Australia launches clean energy map
http://www.cleanenergymap.gov.au/ Clean Energy Future – Australian Government
REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson 17 May 2013
The map can be searched by postcode or technology, and includes projects being carried out under measures such as the Renewable Energy Target, Solar Cities, Energy Efficiency Information Grants, the Carbon Farming Initiative and the Clean Technology Programs…. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/mixed-greens-australian-launches-clean-energy-map-29422
Hear this: Australian resources companies putting it over Aborigines?
AUDIO Miners falling short on Indigenous consultation: Oxfam http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-17/miners-falling-short-on-indigenous-consultation/4696040 By national resources reporter Sue Lannin May 17, 2013
A study by Oxfam Australia found that only one of the 53 biggest miners on the Australian stock exchange had a public commitment to the United Nation’s principles of informed consent for Indigenous people.
Oxfam Australia chief executive, Helen Szoke, says Australian mining companies need to do better.
“We looked at the policies of companies specifically within the context of how they dealt with the issue of consent of Indigenous peoples to use their land,” she said.
“Disturbingly what we found is that the majority of companies don’t have any transparent policies about how they gain that consent and how they go about negotiating with local Indigenous communities.”
AUDIO: Anxiety for Sutherland Shire over Lucas Heights’ radioactive trash
they should shut down this factory for producing radioactive trash
Nuclear future unclear for Lucas Heights. http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2013/05/16/3760616.htm?
site=sydney By John Donegan, 16 May, 2013 702 ABC Sydney Morning presenter Linda Mottram discusses the future of the Lucas Heights nuclear facility with Sutherland Shire mayor Kent Johns. While the permanent site for a national nuclear waste storage facility is mired in the courts, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation [ANSTO] is required to store processed waste materials at the Lucas Heights facility in Sydney.
Australia’s disarmament double-speak
As former prime minister Malcolm Fraser writes in the foreword, Australia “should use our position on the UN Security Council to help lead the push for negotiations on a treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons”.1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 