Latest news and media releases
The Australian
There has been an outbreak of E.coli bacteria in 7 out of 12 water reservoirs in Far North Queensland, affecting resort towns Port Douglas, Mowbray, Daintree Village and Rocky Point. According to authorities, the contamination of water has been blamed on residents’ opposition against having their water chemically treated to eradicate pollution from bird faeces, vermin, and cockroaches in their dedication to an alternate lifestyle. Authorities are recommending a one-off chlorination of the reservoirs, but in the meantime residents have been advised to drink only boiled or bottled water.
posted by cecie on September 6, 2008 at 5:43 pm · filed under 
Minister for Climate Change and Water
Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong has launched The Water Information Research and Development Alliance (WIRADA), a $50m, five year research joint research initiative between the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology aimed at creating state-of-the-art, national database on Australia’s water resources.
posted by patrick on September 5, 2008 at 11:26 am · filed under 
Sydney Morning Herald
This week the Republican candidate for the US Election, John McCain, has announced his running partner for vice-president will be Alaska’s Governor Sarah Palin. Unfortunately, Palin, has a bad track record when it comes to environmental issues - including questioning the link between melting ice and climate change, pushing the Alaskan government to sue in order to take the polar bear off the threatened species list and supporting off-shore and Arctic refuge drilling.
At a time when the world is looking to Bush’s successor to take leadership on the issue of climate change, Palin’s selection may be a serious concern for environmentalists.
posted by kirsty on September 4, 2008 at 7:07 pm · filed under 
Australian Greens
The next stage of economist Ross Garnaut’s recommendations are due to be released tomorrow and The Greens climate change spokesperson, Christine Milne, hopes that his reduction targets are enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which collates science on climate change, released their Fourth Assessment Report last year stating that industrialised nations need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40% of 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid dangerous climate change.
Christine Milne hopes that Garnaut recommends at least 40% reductions. Because Australia has done very little in the past to mitigate climate change, there are still lots of easy opportunities for Australia, including increasing energy efficiency, increasing use of renewable energy and reducing deforestation.
posted by kirsty on September 4, 2008 at 6:43 pm · filed under
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens have called for the Senate inquiry into the Murray-Darling to accept input from scientific experts in the interests of finding the best way forward. Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young said that submissions from scientific groups, along with those from environmental groups and the community, would help to provide a balanced range of views for this urgent inquiry. The deadline for submissions to the enquiry is the 11th September 2008.
posted by patrick on September 4, 2008 at 4:21 pm · filed under
CSIRO
Dr Megan Clark has been appointed to succeed Dr Geoff Garrett as Chief Executive of CSIRO in 2009. Dr Clark is currently the Vice President Health, Safety, Environment, Community and Sustainability at BHP Billiton.
posted by ruby on September 4, 2008 at 1:51 pm · filed under
World Wildlife Fund
A report released by researchers at the World Wildlife Fund is calling for Australian power generators to improve their carbon emissions levels. Rio Tinto, Alcoa, and Intergen have been particularly targeted for criticism, with the report underlining that many power companies still do not make their pollution reduction targets publicly available and invest virtually nothing in low emissions technology research. 11 out of the 19 companies audited scored two or less stars out of a possible five.
posted by ruby on September 4, 2008 at 1:45 pm · filed under 
The Australian Greens
The Australian Greens have called for an end to the uranium deal with Russia, claiming it would give a clear signal that Australia values non-proliferation and disarmament over revenue.
“Foreign Minister Steven Smith can draw a line under this reckless foreign policy gamble of the Howard era” said Greens Spokeperson on nuclear issues, Senator Scott Ludlam.
posted by shaun on September 3, 2008 at 2:01 pm · filed under
CO2 News
The City of Sydney has become the first government in Australia to achieve carbon neutral status. This has been achieved through reducing unnecessary energy use, improving efficiency along with the purchase of $56,000 in offsets and 100% renewable energy.
posted by shaun on September 3, 2008 at 1:47 pm · filed under
Reuters
The decade long drought strangling the life out of farmers’ crop yields along the Murray-Darling river is getting worse according to Government reports, with dam storage levels at just 20 percent and little to show from winter rainfall.
$21 billion in food exports to Asia and the Middle East are threatened at a time when food is already running short around the world and prices are rising. Murray-Darling wheat farmers have experienced some respite this year but fruit farmers are likely to continue to be among the hardest hit.
posted by seamas on September 2, 2008 at 10:54 pm · filed under 
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