Western Australia: 250 km walk against uranium mining
VIDEO: Indigenous and international protesters have begun a 250 km-long walk to campaign against uranium mining in Western Australia http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1764182/WA-uranium-protesters-to-walk-250km
A month-long anti-uranium walk has begun in the gold fields of Western Australia.
Traditional owners and international protesters are walking 250 kilometres from Yellirrie to Leonora campaigning against uranium mining in the resource-rich state.
But their march comes less than a month after the federal government approved a proposed uranium mine about 100 kilometres away.
Watch the video for the full story
Victorian Health Department finds that wind turbines do not cause illness
AUDIO http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2013/s3753421.htm Wind farm report puts pressure on government restrictions Simon Lauder reported this story May 7, 2013 ELEANOR HALL: A company that makes wind turbines is urging the Victorian Government to respond to a Health Department report by ending restrictions on wind farms in the state.
The report by the Victorian Health Department dismissed concerns that wind farm noise makes people ill, although it did find that the noise could be annoying.
In Melbourne, Simon Lauder reports.
SIMON LAUDER: Noel Dean moved to Ballarat to get away from Waubra. He says the wind farm there made him sick…….
Now Victoria’s Health Department has produced a report dismissing that claim.
It says if you can’t hear a sound then there’s no way known that it can affect health, regardless of the frequency. It says the level of noise produced by a wind farm is somewhere between a rural night-time background noise and the sound of a car passing 100 metres away…….
The Government has never linked those restrictions with health concerns but Mr Garner says it should now reconsider them anyway.
STEVE GARNER: And a lot of those objections come about from the myth of your health and now that that myth has been taken away, then maybe revisiting those laws is something that ought to be done.
SIMON LAUDER: The Victorian Health Department report follows a recent report by South Australia’s Environmental Protection Agency, which also rejected the link between wind farms and sickness.
But the health argument is still a barrier for the wind industry.
Victoria’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal has put off its decision on a wind farm project near Seymour, until the National Health and Medical Research Council completes a review of evidence about the health effects…….
Youtube: countering the uranium industry’s lies about uranium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZotGdcV1Kik&feature=youtu.be Dr. Jim Deutsch Corrects GE’s Uranium Secrets James Deutsch, MD, PhD, FRCP(C) Assistant Professor Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto
“I think it is important to take apart what the GE spokesperson quoted, which is that uranium is a natural entity and that the problem is not uranium but the general public’s so to speak fear of the unknown.
So there is a problem with that.
It is true that uranium is a naturally occurring element , but we evolved as biological creatures above ground with virtually all of the uranium below the ground safely away from our DNA.
Now we are bringing all of this stuff above ground in different forms
and it goes into the body.
And uranium is an emitter that will release particles with energy that can damage the DNA and various tissues and organs in the body close up.
When the GE people talk about that living next to the reactor is about equivalent to one flight from Toronto to Vancouver
they are talking about gamma radiation which is a high energy radiation that can penetrate tissues and pass right through.
What is happening with uranium and the reactors which produce 200 isotopes that never existed before humankind created them.
What those various isotopes do is they go to specific organs in the body and reside there emitting lower energy particles that will damage the molecules within the cells in the tissues in those organs.
Children are especially susceptible, especially newborns and pregnant mothers.”
Book and Audio: ‘A Short History of Nuclear Folly’
AUDIO –– ‘A Short History of Nuclear Folly’ and the lasting effects of the nuclear arms race
Book ‘A Short History of Nuclear Folly’ and the lasting effects of the nuclear arms race Jacob Margolis with Michelle Lanz | Take Two | April 30th, 2013, Though Russia and the U.S. are working together when it comes to investigating the bombing suspects in Boston – their relationship wasn’t always so amicable. Even today we have our problems.
Back in the 1980s there was always the threat of mutually assured nuclear destruction. Many people probably remember a time when, as schoolchildren, they were trained to hide under their wooden desks during nuclear blast drills. Had a blast actually happened they’d essentially be hiding under kindling, but that’s beside the point.
Before the threat of World War III, however, countries at the forefront of the nuclear arms race had to test these new weapons of mass destruction. The United States in particular tested weapons across the West, and radiation is still found in places like Nevada and Utah today. They treated Earth as their own nuclear testing playground, but that process could have a nasty effect on the environment.
In Rudolph Herzog’s new book, “A Short History of Nuclear Folly: Mad Scientists, Dithering Nazis, Lost Nukes and Catastrophic Cover-ups,” he traces the history of the nuclear race and what effects it has on the world today.
Interview Highlights:….http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2013/04/30/31559/a-short-history-of-nuclear-folly-and-the-lasting-e/
AUDIO The harsh economic facts contradict the Uranium Paydirt Conference’s hype
AUDIO Australia’s uranium industry is high risk, low return, says campaigner http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/connect-asia/australias-uranium-industry-is-high-risk-low-return-says-campaigner/1123008?autoplay=1122972 29 April 2013 Australia’s uranium industry is high risk, low return: that’s the assessment of a report designed to expose the uranium industry’s promise of great economic reward. Its findings suggest uranium accounted for just 0.29 per cent of Australia’s export revenue between 2002 and 2011.
The report by the Australian Conservation Foundation calls for a national independent inquiry into the industry’s contribution to Australia’s economy and employment.The report comes as uranium advocates meet in Adelaide today for the annual Paydirt Uranium Conference.
Presenter: Richard Ewart
Speaker: Dr Jim Green, national anti-nuclear campaigner for Friends of the Earth in Melbourne and co-author of the report, ‘Yellowcake Fever: Exposing the Uranium Industry’s Economic Myths’
Excerpts from this audio discussion
Yorta Yorta Nation and Monash Sustainability Institute – new responses to Climate Change
VIDEO http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/multimedia/v.php?id=32603 Australia: To see with both eyes collaboration between the Monash Sustainability Institute (MSI) and the Yorta Yorta Nation in developing responses to climate change.
Australia: A dual approach to climate change adaptation http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/news/v.php?id=32601 24 Apr 2013 :Monash University
A new video shows the benefits of collaboration between the Monash Sustainability Institute (MSI) and the Yorta Yorta Nation in developing responses to climate change. Nhawul Bultjubul Ma or To See With Both Eyes was filmed during the Yorta Yorta Climate Change Adaptation Workshop, held in Echuca last November. It features the international participants in the workshop speaking about traditional and western approaches to climate change and how each can inform the other.
The Yorta Yorta Nation, who hosted the workshop in conjunction with MSI, will use the video as a teaching tool, a demonstration of community leadership and an example of collaboration between Aboriginal societies and academia.
The workshop examined how Indigenous knowledge can contribute to improved adaptation to climate change for Indigenous communities and the Australian community in general – through ongoing protection of cultural heritage, promotion of healthy ecosystems and community empowerment. Director of MSI, Professor Dave Griggs praised Australian Indigenous people’s knowledge of the environment.
“They are the oldest living civilisation on the planet. They have an oral history which goes back many thousands of years. They have an intrinsic knowledge of how natural systems work,” Professor Griggs said. “I think if we had that kind of cultural connection, those deep roots into the land, we wouldn’t be doing some of the things that we’re doing.”
Yorta Yorta Research Creator, Lee Joachim said the MSI-Yorta Yorta collaboration had been worthwhile for both groups.
“Our work with MSI has benefited the Yorta Yorta Nation in so many ways – such as capacity building, community empowerment and international relations,” Mr Joachim said.
“In turn we’ve been able to educate the researchers in Yorta Yorta knowledge and culture – the possibility of seeing the world through two eyes – so they have benefited as well.“
Additional information http://www.monash.edu.au/news/show/a-dual-approach-to-climat.
Hear Radioactive Show podcast about the Radioactive Exposure Tour 2013
http://www.3cr.org.au/radioactive/podcast/radioactive-show-13042013 Radioactive Show 13.04.2013
What Happens on Rad Tour… Doesn’t stay on Rad Tour. The Radioactive Exposure Tour 2013, organised by Friends of the Earth, ventured into the nuclear heartlands of South Australia and back. This weeks show is an audio reportback of the trip, and the inspirations and challenges of learning about the nuclear industry. Bhargavi Dilipkumar, an Indian anti-nuclear activist gives a talk on the shore of Lake Eyre, and a salty poem is shared.
Commonwealth Bank obfuscation on funding nuclear weapons manufacturers featured on F-U-Tube
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/thecheckout/futube/default.htm?WwEQu-_c3Bw
It’s simple to upload your complaints, just make a video, put it on YouTube, go to FU tube and put in the link and your contents.
Nancy Atkin | Executive Officer
Medical Association for Prevention of War,
Australia www.mapw.org.au
VIDEO: Risk of a miscalculation triggering nuclear attack – the North Korean situation
VIDEO Minor flare up could trigger nuclear response, warns expert BY:THE AUSTRALIAN, IAN MCPHEDRAN, NATIONAL DEFENCE REPORTER WITH AGENCIES
- Main risk is a miscalculation or a scenario where the wrong button is pushed
- Experts say a rapid escalation in hostilities is also possible
- How it unfolded: Tensions rise on Korean peninsula
THE key risk on the Korean peninsula is a miscalculation or the ”Dr Strangelove scenario” where a crazy North Korean general pushes the wrong button, according to a strategic expert.
Professor Hugh White from the Australian National University said the regime in Pyongyang would be in no doubt that a nuclear strike against the US or its allies would generate a rapid and disproportionate nuclear response from Washington.
He said the main threat was a miscalculation or a rapid escalation in hostilities following a minor military incident such as an artillery strike.
”At least we don’t face the Cold War situation where any launch would trigger a massive nuclear response by the other side,” Professor White said.
During the 1950s and 60s that strategy was known by the acronym MAD – mutually assured destruction…… http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/minor-flare-up-could-trigger-nuclear-response-warns-expert/story-e6frg6n6-1226619515907
VIDEO: the uranium mine most likely to fail: Tor Energy’s Wiluna
VIDEO http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1754604/WA-needs-to-provide-more-info-on-uranium-mine WA ‘needs to provide more info on uranium mine’ The Australian Conservation Foundation has called on the Western Australian government to be more transparent regarding the country’s newest uranium venture near the remote town of Wiluna.
ACF National Nuclear Campaigner Dave Sweeney says there has been little information to date about how the uranium will be mined and transported.
“If the WA government really believes this is a good industry and it would stack up, they would have no problem at all putting it on the spotlight and putting it on the table and being open about it, rather than cutting secret deals in Perth and making little agreements in a language that most people can’t understand between bureaucrats,” Mr Sweeney said…..
The Federal Government recently approved the Wiluna mine, but has attached what it describes as “36 strict conditions” to ensure minimal impact on country and culture…..
But environmentalists say Toro Energy hasn’t got a proven track record handling a uranium operation. The ACF says uranium is high risk and low return. “We hear a lot about uranium as if it’s some sort of miracle mineral, but if you look at the sums, it’s 650 jobs and $600 million in export earnings, which in the scheme of things of Australia’s balanced trade is really a pittance,” said Mr Sweeney.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the real money and job creation is in renewable energy. “We’ve looked at the company’s assumptions around jobs and investment,” he said. “It’s a very small mine, it’s financially very marginal…The company has said the operation will mostly be fly-in, fly-out. So there aren’t jobs there for local people, they’ll be coming in from Perth and elsewhere.”
How the legal system betrayed nuclear test veterans
Chris Busby: Nuclear Test Veterans betrayal http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ll11ZXpbDKg#! 20 March 13, Prof Busby talks about the Test veterans radiation Pensions Appeals Tribunals cases. He explains how the veterans have been betrayed by their solicitors through a complex series of changes in the nature of the hearings and the sudden withdrawal of one solicitor firm Rosenblatts and its curious replacement by another, Hogan Lovells, culminating in the removal of all the critical evidence from the cases and the exclusion of Busby’s evidence collected over three years, without the knowledge of the individual litigants.
Youtube – Success in Jeffrrey Lee’s long fight to save Koongarra from uranium mining
A win for Kakadu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac_6hapxMlo
Cat Beaton 18 March 13 Last week the Koongarra bill passed the senate – this is the final legislative process to ensure lands at Koongarra is protected permanently from uranium mining. Djok senior Traditional Owner Jeffrey Lee has advocated for over a decade that no uranium mining proceed and his country be incorporated to Kakadu.
Check out the recent clip about Jeffrey Lee’s success – his long fight for Koongarra to be protected from uranium mining and incorporated into Kakadu National park:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac_6hapxMlo
and please join people around the world in sending Jeffrey Lee a message online at: ecnt.org/awinforkakadu
BBC Audio: Australia’s mining boom and Aboriginal lands
Australia’s mining boom and Aboriginal landsDuration: 10 minutes | First broadcast: Thursday 07 March 2013 | BBC website
BBC From Our Own Correspondent – March 2013 (MP3 file here)Pascale Harter introduces a special edition of From Our Own Correspondentdedicated to Australia’s mining boom and its implications for Aboriginal lands.
Nick Trevithick travels to Western Australia, and to the mining heartland that is fuelling the country’s economic boom. He asks whether it’s possible to put a monetary value on these ancient Aboriginal lands, as they are increasingly being taken over by mining companies.
The minerals beneath the surface can be bought and sold in global markets – but what about the memories, of the colonial era, the prehistoric past and the mythical dreamtime, which also lie embedded in this earth?
“The question of aboriginal land rights and heritage is a canker in the heart of modern Australia. You can diminish Aboriginal numbers statistically to two percent of the total population but in the rural North West … they’re more like thirty percent. Before the mining boom this burning vastness was their last line of retreat. But now they’ve been thrust into the frontline of global economics and the land is being stolen from beneath their feet, yet again…”
VIDEO: Australia’s nuclear test veterans call for justce
‘‘We were human guinea pigs,’’
VIDEO, GALLERY: Victims of atomic tests want justice http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1317774/video-gallery-victims-of-atomic-tests-want-justice/?cs=12 IN his log book for October 3, 1952, former HMAS Murchison chief petty officer John Quinn noted the following: ‘‘Atomic bomb exploded on HMS Plym.’’
The log book recorded the facts of the first of 12 British atomic tests in Australia in the 1950s, but this week Mr Quinn, 86, of Shoal Bay, recounted the emotion of that day on an Australian frigate in the waters of Monte Bello. Continue reading
Youtube: Aboriginal Jeffrey Lee defeated nuclear giant AREVA – to preserve beautiful Koongarra
Successful World Heritage Listing of Koongarra, NThttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=csRwbt9Fug0
Jeffrey Lee speaking about his country, Koongarra, NT http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=izRf3dv9BWc
Lee could have become one of Australia’s richest men if he had allowed the French nuclear energy giant to mine the 12.5-kilometer mineral lease.
FORSAKING RICHES, ABORIGINAL LAND OWNER HALTS NUKE GIANT’S URANIUM MINE http://www.worldcrunch.com/tech-science/forsaking-riches-aboriginal-land-owner-halts-nuke-giant-039-s-uranium-mine/kakadu-northern-territory-areva-uranium/c4s10983/#.USfUBx1wpLs A 30-year battle ends in victory for owners of land that French energy giant Areva wanted to mine for uranium. LE MONDE (France), ABC NEWS, THE AGE, ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SERVICE (Australia) Worldcrunch DARWIN – French nuclear energy giant Areva had big ambitions for this Australian uranium deposit: 14,000 tons of uranium, worth $2 billion, reports Le Monde. 21 Feb 2013
But now, it’s worth nothing, thanks to the tireless efforts of the land’s original owners – the Djok aboriginal clan. This month, Australian Environmental Minister Tony Burke started the process to incorporate the deposit into a national park, effectively putting an end to Areva’s mining ambitions. For decades, says Australia’s ABC news, Lee, the last remaining traditional owner of the Koongarra uranium deposit, in Australia’s Kakadu National Park, has been refusing to allow the deposit to be mined.
Areva holds the exploration license to the deposit, which was discovered in 1970. In 1979, the area was excluded from the national park so that the uranium could be mined. But the Djok clan relentlessly fought offers by Areva to mine the deposit.
A delegation even travelled to Paris to convince the World Heritage Committee to get the Koongarra deposit back into the Kakadu National Park, reports ABC News. According to the Australian government, Areva went as far as to request Koongarra be removed from the meeting’s agenda.
But Jeffrey Lee never stopped fighting, Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 