Misguided policies cause food crisis

A BIOFUELS frenzy and other misguided policies have led to the global food crisis in which prices have soared and rice consumption is outpacing production, threatening a billion people with malnutrition, experts said.

International agriculture researchers warned that farmers will need to double global food production by 2030 to meet rising demand, and said countries should impose a moratorium on grain-based ethanol and biodiesel to rein in skyrocketing prices for corn, rice, soybeans and wheat.

A key blunder was the ill-conceived response to high energy prices by promoting biofuels, experts said.
Read all. And more. And more...

Growing plants for biodegradable plastics, fuel, wheat board, flowers or even a park will be soon history if we are going to need all the land for food because the population is growing like a bunch of rabbits... Can't we stop that instead of killing every bit of nature what's left...?

GM plants to provide plastic alternative

Researchers at the CSIRO are using oil from plants to make plastics, paints and cosmetics.

The team at the CSIRO's Plant Industry division has genetically engineered a plant to produce an unusual fatty acid that is typically sourced from petrochemicals.

The scientists have been presenting their research at a Biotechnology Conference in Chicago today. Read on or listen to the interview.

'Urban miners' look for precious metals in mobile phones

Before throwing out your old mobile phone, maybe you should mine it first for gold, silver, copper and a host of other metals embedded in the electronics - many of which are enjoying near-record prices.

It's called "urban mining", scavenging through the scrap metal in old electronic products in search of such gems as iridium and gold. Read all

Design for the other 90%

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

Open your eyes and have a look at the "other90" website

Crops more vital than forests, says expert

A conference has been warned of worldwide food shortages unless more land is cleared for agriculture.

French hydrologist Emeritus Professor Ghislain de Marsily has told an international water conference in Adelaide that the world population is likely to increase to nine billion by 2050, but the current rate of food production will not be enough.

He says if production were to stop, the world would only have two months of food supply available. Read on

Finally, a definition of globalisation I can understand and to which I can relate.

Question : What is the truest definition of Globalisation?

Answer : Princes Diana's death.

Question : How come?

Answer :

An English princess with

an Egyptian boyfriend

crashes in a French tunnel,

driving a German car

with a Dutch engine,

driven by a Belgian

who was drunk on Scottish whisky,

followed closely by Italian Paparazzi,

on Japanese motorcycles;

treated by an American doctor, using

Brazilian medicines.

This is sent to you by a New Zealander,

using Bill Gates's technology,

and you're probably reading this on your computer,

that uses Taiwanese chips,

and a Korean monitor,

assembled by Bangladeshi workers

in a Singapore plant,

transported by Indian lorry-drivers,

hijacked by Indonesians,

unloaded by Maltese wharfies,

and trucked to you by a fleet of Pakistani drivers

fueled by the Netherlands,

wearing safety clothing made in China.

That, my friends, is Globalisation

Are we building the 'buzz'?

Click here for more info

Space debris

Between the launch of Sputnik on 4 October 1957 and 1 January 2008, approximately 4600 launches have placed some 6000 satellites into orbit, of which about 400 are travelling beyond geostationary orbit or on interplanetary trajectories.

Today, it is estimated that only 800 satellites are operational - roughly 45 percent of these are both in LEO and GEO. Space debris comprise the ever-increasing amount of inactive space hardware in orbit around the Earth as well as fragments of spacecraft that have broken up, exploded or otherwise become abandoned. About 50 percent of all trackable objects are due to in-orbit explosion events (about 200) or collision events (less than 10).

More info

Hi there fellow West Australian.

We are the Department of Environment and Conservation and would like to work with you to tackle climate change.

To do this we are proposing to coordinate a 2-3 month long community wide climate change initiative in late 2008 that aims to reduce household climate change emissions across the community.

To help get as many West Australians opinions as possible we would appreciate your input into this our second community survey that aims to find out what actions you are most likely to adopt in your household and how we can assist you in adopting them.

It should only require 6 minutes of your time click here.

This survey is only being distributed by email so could you please forward it to 5 or more of your friends from as broad background and age as possible.

The first survey received nearly 2000 responses in two weeks – this time we would like to reach at least 10 000 before the survey closes on the 9th of May.

To show our appreciation for your efforts we are again offering 10 double movie passes to be drawn in mid May from those who successfully complete the survey.

Thank you in advance for your help completing and distributing this survey.

Kind Regards

Julian Ilich

Program Manager – 2009 ‘ACT NOW’ Climate Change Initiative
(for the Office of Climate Change)
Department of Environment and Conservation

$18bn later, Beijing still lies shrouded in smog

BEIJING'S unveiling of drastic measures, including a two-month freeze on all construction, is an admission that despite spending about $A18.3 billion in the past decade to reduce smog, the Chinese capital's air quality remains a formidable challenge.
..
All construction in Beijing, which covers 100 square kilometres, must stop from July 20 to September 20, when both the Olympic and Paralympic Games will have finished.
..
Four surrounding provinces and the municipality of Tianjin will also announce factory closures and other measures to make sure that their pollution does not blow into Beijing. Read all

China now world's biggest CO2 emitter
CHINA has already overtaken the United States as the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, a new report to be published next month says.
..
Until now, it had been generally believed that the US remained the world's number one polluter. Read all

Bush 'can't support' climate bills in Congress

US President George Bush is opposed to legislation being discussed in Congress to cap greenhouse gas emissions because the proposals would hurt the economy, his spokeswoman said.... read on

Update:
Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change, said the proposal announced by Mr Bush was a step backwards for US climate policy.

"In 2002 the Administration laid out a plan that allowed US emissions to grow until 2012 - the current proposal will allow our emissions to grow until 2025," she said. Read on

A world of hunger

FROM the villages of Bangladesh to the slums of Haiti, millions of the world's poorest people have been cast into even greater penury by sharply rising food prices. At a stroke, this swift and devastating change in the global economy - which has gone almost unnoticed in the rich world - has inflicted immense suffering.

Rice is the staple diet in these countries and its price has doubled in a year. If you happen to live in Dakar or Port-au-Prince, this effectively means your already meagre standard of living has suddenly been cut in half. Riots and demonstrations have been the result in these countries and more than a dozen others in the past month.
...
Why has this happened? Rising food prices stem from crucial structural changes in the world economy. Over the past year, global demand for foodstuffs has risen sharply, caused largely by the rapid emergence of middle-class consumers in China and India.

Taken together, these giant countries have a new middle class of about 600 million - a figure approaching the combined populations of the US and Western Europe.

Then there is the surge in Western demand for biofuels as alarm at climate change has driven policy to cut fossil fuel emissions.

The consequences for the world's poor are brutal: we drive, they starve. The mass diversion of grain harvests into ethanol plants for fuel is reaching its political and moral limits.

The UN says it takes 232 kilograms of corn to fill a 50-litre car tank with ethanol. That is enough to feed a child for a year. Last week, the UN predicted "massacres" unless the biofuel policy is halted.
Read all

It's not so hard being green

Green is the new black and the world's leading technology companies have not missed the bandwagon
TECH users are increasingly facing a conundrum. On the one hand, we are becoming ever more reliant on our electronic gadgets for work and play.

On the other hand, we are becoming increasingly aware that our gadgets come with an environmental price.

It should be no surprise, then, that environmentally responsible production, use and disposal of electronic gadgetry has become an issue engaging manufacturers and users alike.
Read on

Littering and illegal dumping in WA

I took this brochure from the library today and it tells me that there are huge fines on littering and dumping:

- Dumping in reserves or vacant land $ 200.00
- Fire in litter bin $ 400.00
- Advertising material placed outside a letter box $ 200.00
- Abandoning shopping trolleys $ 200.00
- Discarding litter in waterways and rivers $ 200.00
- Discarding litter in the street, parks or picnic grounds $ 200.00
- Dangerous litter (broken glass on the street) $ 200.00
- Careless disposal of cigarette butts $ 75.00
- Leaflets placed on car windscreens and bumpers $ 200.00

KEEP AUSTRALIA BEAUTIFUL

Take action and become a registered litter reporter: fill out the form on the website.

The point is that I never actually see who is littering all the broken glass bottles on the streets where I am cycling and try to avoid punctures by taking my life to great danger....
And who is dumping the empty shopping trolleys on our verge, empty the ash tray on the road and not to forget the huge piles of advertising material near the appartment buildings...
But I see often youngsters carelessly throwing empty cans, bottles and take-away rubbish on the ground, so beware!!!
Unfortunately it's only the littering from car's you can take action on...

Plastic plethora calls for drastic bag limits

YOU know there's something seriously wrong with the planet when parts of the Pacific Ocean have more plastic in them than marine life.

In fact, it's estimated there are 100 million tonnes of plastic circulating in the northern Pacific. That's about 2.5 per cent of all plastic items made since 1950.

It has been suggested that unless we cut our use of unnecessary disposable plastic items, the ocean dumping ground will double in size during the next 10 years. And it's already twice the size of the US continent.
Read on

More info on this island of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean click here and here and here

E-waste pressure builds

AN ESTIMATED 1.6 million old computers are being dumped in landfills every year and the figure is set to soar, but state and federal environment ministers have no proposal to deal with the problem when they meet this week to tackle Australia's garbage problem.

The failure to address the "e-waste" crisis has angered environmental groups. They say this waste is growing at three times the rate of other garbage and will skyrocket when the Prime Minister's promise of computers for every high school student becomes a reality.
Read on

The australian green consumer guide

There has never been a greater need for an Australian green consumer guide to help people make informed choices about the products they buy. Tanya Ha responds to the shift in public debate about climate change toward actively seeking solutions with a practical guide that encourages consumers to become informed, get involved and to vote with their dollar. Packed with answers – practical tips and advice to help the reader make a real difference in their own lives – The Australian Green Consumer Guide is an essential, non-judgemental guide to making more ecologically sound consumer choices, whether you are shopping for food or fashion, cars or white goods.

I've got this book from the library to check it out, it has a lot of information I already know, but it might be handy for people who don't know anything about sustainable living. It might be a good book for checking up things when you need them, but I was a bit dissapointed.

How green is your love life?

It is a dark and stormy night. The empty bottle of organic wine has been put into the recycling bin. Its cork lies on the kitchen bench, ready to be whittled into an attractive dolphin pendant.

You crank up the wind-up radio - there's nothing sexier than Earth Hour on Radio National - and the flames on the hand-poured soy wax candles flicker as your partner picks a home-grown native raspberry from their banana leaf plate and nibbles seductively.
...
Slipping between organic cotton bed sheets, thoughts might turn to the common outcome of sex: not just awkward silences over breakfast, but babies. In an overpopulated world, having children is about as environmentally responsible as owning a Hummer, so contraception should be discussed.

Urine produced by women on the pill contains so many hormones that when sewage enters waterways it turns male fish into females, studies have found. So that rules that out.
...
Condoms should not be flushed down the toilet. As if it was not bad enough turning female, the last thing a poor fish needs is to have to tackle one of those things. Latex is biodegradable, but animals rightists concerned that condoms contain casein, a milk protein, should buy vegan condoms from the Australian company Glyde. Instead of casein, it uses a thistle derivative, prickles removed.
...
Fans of sex toys should think twice: most plastic "personal massagers" contain phthalates, chemicals used to soften plastic and give it a squishy feel. Studies on animals have linked phthalates with damage to the liver and reproductive systems. Fortunately, there are sex toys made from glass, metal and silicon. There is even a solar vibrator: no batteries required.
Read the whole story

Treehugger has ten tips how to green your sexlife.

'Power windows' a bright idea

A Queensland academic is helping to develop energy-generating windows that could eventually provide enough electricity to power a standard home.

The glass solar cells contain titanium dioxide and are coated in a dye that increases light absorption.

Canberra-based company Dyesol is working to develop the product and believes it could be on the market within two years.
Read on

Solar-powered glass houses 'likely'
Australians could soon be living in solar-powered glass houses as part of the battle against climate change, a researcher predicts.

Professor John Bell, from the Queensland University of Technology's Institute for Sustainable Resources, said houses made almost entirely of glass solar cells could become a reality within three to five years as homeowners looked for new ways to cut carbon emissions.
Read on

SmartBurn

Yesterday evening I met an interesting person at the International Business Awards 2008 where we both were finalists. But Peter Hutchison (the tall guy next to me, no, not Eric Ripper!) went one step further then me, he got the New Exporter Award!
Peter invented SmartBurn which is a scientifically proven Pollution Reduction Device that reduces smoke haze and particulate emissions by up to 50% from domestic wood combustion heaters!
SmartBurn is also a Chimney Flue Cleaner that removes black soot and flammable sap deposits from the fire box, around the window, and up the chimney, therefore enabling the fire to burn up to 17% hotter and reducing chimney fire risk.
Congratulations Peter!

"Towards a Solar Nation"

BP and WA SEA present a breakfast with Brooke Miller, Regional Director, BP Solar Australasia. Brooke Miller will examine the commercial and policy challenges faced by the Solar Photovoltaic industry as it seeks to increase its contribution to Australian electricity supplies.

"The challenge is now for Australia's other state and territory governments to follow South Australia's lead and adopt a solar Feed In Tariff and in turn help in creating a nation powered by solar."

DATE: Thursday 17th April 2008
TIME: 7:30am - 9:00am
PLACE: Burswood Convention Centre, Botanical Room (next to Burswood theatre)
RSVP: Monday 14th April, 2008.

Regards,
Dr Ray Wills
CEO, Western Australian Sustainable Energy Association

More information, click here

Most WA jarrah ends up as chips or firewood

I was ashtonished to read this today as I design a lot with WA timber:
Just 20 per cent of jarrah and 12 per cent of karri harvested from WA’s native forests last financial year ended up as value-added products such as furniture, flooring or structural timber, prompting fresh calls to end what was labelled an unsustainable and unacceptable use of a precious resource.
But reading further it explained it a bit more:
“Because trees are round and knobbly and they’re not neat and square in boards, the recovery from a jarrah tree is never better than around 30 to 32 per cent,” Mr Pearce said. “You could argue that a gold mine only recovers 0.1 per cent of actual gold so 99.9 per cent of the gold mine is dirt dumped into piles so on that basis there is no point having gold mines.”
So there is still a bit of work to do to reach the 30% ending up in value-adding products! Read the article

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Applications are now called for WA Pitch ‘08, an event designed to connect innovative business ventures with development capital.

WA Pitch ‘08 is a pitching competition with real results, but it is also an opportunity for businesses and projects to learn from pitching their business concept to a panel of industry experts and investors.

Staged at the State Library WA on Friday 11 July, 2008. WA Pitch ’08 is to be hosted by the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board Limited (ASSOB) and the WA Innovation Centre - WA Department Industry and Resources.

Innovation Centre WA Managing Director, Michelle Nicolson, urged innovative WA businesses to bring their business ideas to WA Pitch ‘08. “WA Pitch ’08 supports the government’s aim to see innovative WA-based businesses attract early-stage capital for their business development and expansion,” Ms Nicolson said.

The Australian Small Scale Offerings Board will provide the winning business with a listing on the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board, valued at $40,000 (based on an average $500,000 capital raising), a runner-up prize valued at $11,000 and third prize valued at $10,000. The 10 short-listed businesses will receive business mentoring through ASSOB as well as presentation, pitch training and audio-visual resources.

Applicants and event attendees can register online. The deadline is Monday, 19 May, 2008.

Mobile phones...

Every two years or less, the average Australian unwraps a new mobile phone from its substantial fancy packaging – all wide-eyed at the funky new buttons and shiny screen.

None, though, will have bought their phones for the toxic materials inside or the greenhouse gases their phone – and the 8 million others brought into the country last year – will help to create as it is built, shipped and sold.

But manufacturers, forced by legislation in other parts of the world and consumer demand, are now racing to create the first genuinely "green" mobile phone. Read the rest of this article

Population lost in the global debate

The world population is 6.6 billion. This far exceeds early 20th-century predictions that it would reach about 3.9 billion by 2009. And yet overpopulation barely registers now as a public issue. Not even as part of climate change discussion, which is, after all, about planetary sustainability.
Read further

Recycling illusion exposed

THE amount of paper and glass packaging being recycled by Australians has been seriously overestimated, a confidential leaked audit of a national recycling report sent to federal and state ministers has found.

The draft audit reveals a crisis in how recycling is measured and suggests Australia will not reach its target of recycling 65 per cent of consumer packaging by 2010.
Read the whole story

Solar Bricks

The SolarBrick was introduced four years ago and is now being used in a wide range of public and commercial developments. Its time has come as an eco-friendly lighting product.
The SolarBrick available from Hotbeam is a self-contained solar powered paving light designed for traffic, pedestrian and landscaping uses. It's waterproof, easy to install, can be driven over by vehicles and available in 6 attractive colours and various shapes and sizes.

Heat From Data Center to Warm a Pool

A new computer center in Switzerland is making novel use of the hot air thrown off by its servers and communications equipment: The heat is being funneled next door to warm the local swimming pool.
Read further

Donate used car batteries and help the environment

Yesterday one of the groups of my students for Sustainable Design at Curtin University did a presentation about their research on Car Batteries. And the amazing thing is that a car battery can be recycled for 96%! And today I read in the RAC magazine Horizons the article about the RAC rasing money for the Bush Heritage Foundation. For every car battery a RAC member brings to the RAC they donate 10 dollar ($ 5 from non members) to protect the Charles Darwin Reserve.
Do you have an old car battery? Check here where to bring it on Saturday 3 May.

REMEMBER: Saturday 3 May is Battery Recycling Day!

$US10m prize for green machine

MORE than 60 teams chasing $US10 million ($10.8 million) in prizemoney have entered a competition designed to inspire the next generation of fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Progressive Automotive X Prize will test the vehicles in a cross-country race from September 2009 in which they are expected to achieve fuel efficiency of at least 100 miles per gallon (no more than 2.3 litres per 100km).
Read Further

Poll finds 76% want renewables subsidy

Three-quarters of Australians would prefer the federal government to subsidise renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, an opinion poll has found.

The Galaxy Research poll conducted for independent political group GetUp! found 76 per cent wanted renewables like wind and solar power funded in the federal budget. This compared with 17 per cent who preferred subsidies for fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Read further