Fringe World 26 January - 19 February

Perth’s first full Fringe World Festival is set to explode in early 2012.

JOIN THE BAR TEAM!
The FRINGE WORLD Orchard and Treasure Chest bars are the place to enjoy a chilled beverage this balmy summer. They are looking for a bar team that can keep the pace, provide incredible service and keep the whole operation running smoothly.

BAR MANAGERS
They are on the hunt for bar managers who can man the helms of these hectic, eclectic watering holes. They are looking for experienced managers who are able to manage a team, order, stocktake and provide outstanding service.

BAR TEAM
They are looking for bar staff, bar backs and glassies to work at this coming festival. If you can pour a killer beer &/or maneuver 100 glasses through a heaving crowd they want to hear from you now.

Availability throughout the festival dates is a must: January 25 - February 19.
Send your CV to staff@fringeworld.com.au NOW.

A must see

There is an interesting discussion going on the LinkedIn Industrial Design Group about this topic:

Have we reached the end of economic growth in the West? Richard Heinberg propose a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history. The expansionary trajectory of industrial civilization is colliding with non-negotiable natural limits.

More info on Richard Heiberg's website.

Ditto

GetUp!

JOIN THE MOVEMENT OF 589,071 AUSTRALIANS
More information here

Worthwhile to pump up your bicycle tires!

The fatal GM storm

Ian and Jodi James have been farming near the small WA town of Cunderdin for over 15 years. They’re proud to grow conventional canola that's not genetically modified. But on 3 November, a violent storm washed GM canola from a neighbours’ paddock across their farm.

Ian and Jodi suspected they would have GM canola seeds on their farm, so Greenpeace provided Ian and Jodi with free GM canola test kits.

Over two days of testing, they found numerous GM canola seeds up to twenty metres into their crop. Ian and Jodi were devastated. They have lost their crop, and now face the expensive task of trying to get rid of GM canola from their land. They might even lose their premium for GM-free canola in the future.

Ian and Jodi have lost their right to grow safe GM-free canola. Why should the James’ have to pay for the costs of GM canola contamination, when they didn’t want to grow it?

Greenpeace is urging the Western Australian Government to protect farmers like Ian and Jodi from the costs of GM contamination by introducing Farmers Protection Legislation.
Read article

beauty and the BIKE

Outdoor Movie night
18 January 2012
The Earthcarers organise a free summer outdoor screening of Beauty and the Bike.

Cycling is another great way we can live more sustainably and with less waste. It is an inspirational movie particularly for young women so bring your friends and family.

Why not ride your bike to the movie!

Why do girls stop cycling in car-centric countries when teenage girls in bicycle friendly countries use their bicycles as a vehicle for freedom and independence? The Beauty and the Bike project set out to find out.

Date: Wednesday 18 January, 2012
Time: 6.30pm Bring and share picnic - 7.30pm Screening and presentation
Place: WMRC Offices outside on the lawn, Cnr Marine Pde and Warton St, Cottesloe
BYO: Picnic and rug/beach chair etc

Reinventing the Disposable Coffee Cup,

The construction is simple: The body and two integrated flaps are composed of a single piece of paper; the body is glued to the circular base. Like similar cups on the market, the paper would be waterproofed, though ideally with cellulose-based plastic, so that it could be composted.

The launch date for the 'Complete' cup is still unclear, says Herman, who is in talks with manufacturers and retailers.
Read article

E-waste: the high cost of high-tech

E-waste from used electrical and electronic gadgets such as desktop computers, laptops and iPhones is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. Rapid uptake of information technology around the world coupled with the advent of new design and technology at regular intervals is causing the early obsolescence of many such gadgets.

We all know the benefits of electrical and electronic gadgets. But we don’t know nearly as much about the adverse effects they have once we throw them away.

In the United States, producer of the largest amounts of e-waste in the world, it is estimated that over 100 million computers, monitors and televisions become obsolete each year. That amount is growing every year.
...
Most of the used electrical and electronic gadgets in Australia end up in landfill.
...
E-waste contains more than 1,000 different substances. These include toxic metals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and flame retardants used in the plastics.
Read article

Saturday 10 December peaceful protest

Peaceful protest about the destruction of Perth's and the western suburbs urban bushland -Monash Avenue bushland at QEII being the most recent example of the destruction.

The approximately 50 hecatres of bushland in the last 2 years cleared, approved for clearing under this Government or under threat includes:

- AK Reserve in Floreat,
- Edith Cowan University site, Churchlands,
- Autism Association site Selby Street Shenton Park,
- Grace Vaughan House, Shenton Park,
- Banksia Farm cr Stephenson Ave and Rochdale Street Mt Claremont,
- Underwood Avenue, Shenton Park,
- Lot 11194 Bedbrook Place, Shenton Park,
- Monash Avenue Bushland and another small remnant inside QEII Nedlands,
- 115 mature endemic trees along Winthrop Ave outside QEII,
- Remnant bushland on the cnr of Winthrop Ave and Monash Ave Nedlands,
- Former TAFE site, Carine Glades,
- 140 trees at Perry Lakes redevelopment site. Many food and habitat trees destroyed of the Carnabys that roost there.

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Australia's 10 greenest universities

GREEN with envy? We list the top 10 universities in Australia, according to their environmental credentials.

1. Monash University
2. Australian National University
3. Macquarie University
4. University of Western Sydney
5. University of Adelaide
6. University of Melbourne
7. Charles Sturt University
8. University of the Sunshine Coast
9. James Cook University
10. La Trobe University

No universities from WA in this list...
Read more about it here

Sydney beats London in race to be green

More than half of Sydney companies have changed or modified their jobs to improve green performance, compared with only 3.5 per cent of London firms, a new report has found.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) congratulated Sydney at the report's release in the city on Tuesday.

"We have to change our way of producing," OECD Centre of Entrepreneurship director Sergio Arzeni told reporters.

"We need a major transformation."
Read article

Invite to AGIC Weightings Survey

AGIC is a member based industry association committed to the delivery of more sustainable outcomes from the design, construction and operation of Australia's infrastructure. AGIC was formed in 2008 by industry professionals from engineering, environmental, planning, legal, and financial and construction backgrounds working in both private and public organisations related to infrastructure.

The Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC) Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Scheme will assess infrastructure projects and assets on a broad range of environmental, economic and social attributes. These will be assessed and given a score, then the scores will be combined using weighting factors to compute the final overall score. The relative importance of the different attributes (weighting) is a matter of subjective judgement. AGIC is therefore inviting the opinions of a wide range of stakeholders to contribute to its weighting study and invites you to contribute your opinion. The exercise should take about 10 minutes to complete.

To participate, please download the latest copy of the weightings sheet from this link AGIC Weightings Sheet.xls just before completing the survey.

Carbon capture trial begins near Harvey

A multi-million dollar research project in WA's south-west could aid international efforts to reduce the impact of carbon on the environment.

The Department of Minerals and Petroleum is beginning the drilling for the carbon capture trial near Harvey.

The $8.5 million trial will determine whether carbon can be extracted from the air, turned into liquid, and then stored in sandstone lying three kilometres underground at the site.

It is one of only a few carbon capture trials in the world.
Read article

Make helmets optional to double the number of cyclists in Australia

It’s time to abandon Australia’s “helmet experiment”.

There’s little doubt Australia would have healthier communities if more of us chose to cycle for transport, exercise or even relaxation. But mandatory helmet laws, introduced in Australia in the 1990s, continue to deter many potential riders from getting on a bike and increasing their fitness.

One in five (23.6%) Sydney adults said they would cycle more if they didn’t have to wear a helmet, with occasional cyclists (those who cycled in the past week or month) most likely to cycle more. Even non-cyclists (19%) said they would get on a bike if they didn’t have to wear a helmet.
Read article

The silly helmet doesn't stop me from cycling but I can tell you it feels so much nicer to cycle without a helmet with your hair in the wind...

I reckon only cyclists on racing bikes going faster than 30km p/h should wear a helmet, not the ones who cycle in a normal pace on normal bikes!

And with all the new lock 'n' ride bike shelters at a lot of train stations in Perth nobody has an excuse not to take the bicycle out for a ride!

Perth Cyclist on how it all works

Half of emissions from 5 countries

More than half of all carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere comes from five countries, according to a national ranking of greenhouse gas emissions.

The first 10 countries on the list, made available during UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa on Thursday, account for two-thirds of global emissions, said the report, compiled by British-based firm Maplecroft, specialists in risk analysis.

China, the United States, India, Russia and Japan top the ranking, with Brazil, Germany, Canada, Mexico and Iran just behind.

Advertisement: Story continues below Three of the top six countries are energy-hungry emerging giants developing their economies at breakneck speed.
Read article

Update 7 Dec:
"Big Three" polluters oppose binding climate deal
DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters) - The world's three biggest polluters China, the United States and India refused to move towards a new legal commitment to curb their carbon emissions on Tuesday, increasing the risk that climate talks will fail to clinch a meaningful deal this week.

Action on climate, not words, needed to save Africa
DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters) - Only a binding global accord on cutting greenhouse gases will spare Africa, the world's poorest continent, more devastating floods, droughts and famine, a senior African climate change official said on Tuesday.