Study Reveals Funders Behind the Climate Change Denial Effort

A new study conducted by Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert J. Brulle, PhD, exposes the organizational underpinnings and funding behind the powerful climate change countermovement. This study marks the first peer-reviewed, comprehensive analysis ever conducted of the sources of funding that maintain the denial effort. 

Through an analysis of the financial structure of the organizations that constitute the core of the countermovement and their sources of monetary support, Brulle found that, while the largest and most consistent funders behind the countermovement are a number of well-known conservative foundations, the majority of donations are “dark money,” or concealed funding.

The data also indicates that Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, two of the largest supporters of climate science denial, have recently pulled back from publicly funding countermovement organizations. Coinciding with the decline in traceable funding, the amount of funding given to countermovement organizations through third party pass-through foundations like Donors Trust and Donors Capital, whose funders cannot be traced, has risen dramatically.
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Protect our reef

More info here

Get up!

Get up!

Stop the shark cull in WA - 4 Jan

Update 2 January
There are almost 6500 people signed up for the Cottesloe  protest via Facebook 

Conservation groups and opposition politicians will speak at the protest, which starts near the Indiana Teahouse at Cottesloe Beach at 10am on Saturday.

Simultaneous demonstrations are being planned at beaches on the eastern states, as well as at Broome's Cable Beach.

It comes as commercial fishers have until tomorrow to bid for the contract to manage and patrol the baited lines.
Read article

Staron Design Awards 2014

After winning the concept award for edition 1 this year and one of my students, Callum Campbell, winning the concept award for edition 2 I thought I should urge some more people to submit ideas for interesting use of this flexible material which is fully recyclable.
More info here

We know who’s profiting from emissions - let’s bill them

Join the discussion:

Research published last month in the journal Climatic Change may provide an essential building block in proving corporate liability for current and future climate change damage.

Researcher Richard Heede found that 90 entities are responsible for an astounding 63%of global carbon emissions. Heede’s eight-year project discovered that Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and ConocoPhillips have contributed 12.5% of global carbon emissions. (See also previous post) 

Who pays for the damage?

The Carbon Majors should no longer influence government decision making from behind closed doors. Instead, they need to talk openly with the international community about their contribution to climate change. They need to be held accountable through the Loss and Damage Mechanism.
Read The Conversation here

Core77 Design Award

Recognizing excellence in all areas of design enterprise, the Core77 Design Awards celebrates the richness of the design profession and its practitioners. We present 17 categories of entry, providing designers, researchers and writers a unique opportunity to communicate the intent, rigor and passion behind their efforts. From client work to self-initiated projects, entrepreneurial to pro-bono engagements, we embrace a wide diversity of enterprise: commercial, cultural, social, environmental and discursive.
Design Categories: Consumer Products - Equipment - Soft Goods - Furniture & Lighting - Interiors & Exhibitions - Visual Communication - Packaging - Interaction - Service - Transportation - Social Impact - Educational Initiatives - Strategy & Research - Writing & Commentary - Speculative - DIY - Food Design

Both the Professional and Student Winners of each category will receive the C77DA trophy, and all Honorees will be published in the Awards Gallery, across the Core77 online network. Be part of the most inclusive and celebrated design awards platform of the digital age. More info here

The Plastic Bank

"The Plastic Bank is setting up plastic repurposing centers around the world, where there’s an abundance of both waste plastic and poverty.

They are empowering people to harvest plastics as a currency they can exchange for tools, household items, parts & 3D printing.

Our mission is to remove plastic waste from the land, oceans and waterways while helping people ascend from poverty and transition into entrepreneurship." - Plastic Bank
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100 days under Abbott: is his real legacy what we're not being told?

Having completed his first 100 days in office, Abbott has produced a downloadable commemorative pamphlet (pdf) listing the government’s comparable achievements since September 7.

It’s a curious document, given that it speaks not with the grandiloquent language of prime ministerial vision so much as to the tick-a-box “actioned items” tone of an end of week managerial report.
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"The longer Prime Minister Abbott and his big business mates run the show, the less the public knows about what's going on behind the scenes. The Abbott government is a secretive, cruel and chaotic government".

In PM Tony Abbott's first 100 days he has:
• Continued his campaign to roll back action on global warming• Begun a harsh campaign of cuts to health, education and community services• Increased secrecy and cruelty towards vulnerable people seeking asylum• Undermined attempts to address discrimination in society regarding sexuality and race• Demonstrated that big business and mining interests will be put ahead of communities and the environment under the Coalition governmentRead article

100 days, 40 failures: a preview of secretive, cruel and chaotic government

Caring for the Environment
1. Approved the largest coal port in the world in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and approved a mega coal mine in the Galilee Basin, turning the Great Barrier Reef into a dumping ground for dredge spoil and a shipping super highway.2. Done deals with every state and territory government to gut and downgrade national environment laws by giving approval powers to state premiers.3. Removed the community's right to challenge decisions where the government has ignored expert advice on threatened species impacts.4. Done nothing to protect farmers from unwanted coal seam gas operations, despite Tony Abbott saying landholders should have the right to say no to CSG companies coming on to their land.5. Scrapped the COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water.6. Started dismantling Australia's world leading marine protection system.7. Failed to provide the promised customs vessel to monitor whaling operations in the Southern Ocean.8. Removed protection of iconic Murray River ecological communities.9. Failed to permanently shut down Ranger Uranium Mine after a massive spill of 1.4 million litres of radioactive acid at the Kakadu National Park.10.Started to unwind the World Heritage protections for Tasmanian forests.11.Abolished positions of climate change and science ministers.

Foreign Affairs
12. Severely compromised and endangered diplomatic relations with key neighbours Indonesia and East Timor. 13. Failed to protect Australians from spying and surveillance overreach.

Caring for Asylum Seekers
14. Hidden information from the Parliament and the people about the government's treatment of asylum seekers.15. Separated a refugee mother from her newborn baby.16. Completely frozen the issuing of protection visas, leaving thousands languishing in detention.17. Disbanded the Immigration Health Advisory Group for asylum seekers.

Education
18. Back-flipped twice on Gonski, reversing a commitment to a ‘unity ticket' and failing to deliver equitable education funding.19. Converted crucial Start-Up Scholarships into loans, increasing the debt of 80,000 higher education students by $1.2 billion.

Health
20. Failed to act on mental health, despite Minister Dutton saying that mental health would be his biggest priority for the first 100 days.21. Axed funding to the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia.

Global warming
22. Abolished the Climate Commission in an attempt to silence our climate scientists.23. Attempted to abolish our clean energy laws including our price on pollution, in a vendetta against the science behind global warming.24. Attempted to abolish the Climate Change Authority and Clean Energy Finance Corporation - despite the fact that both authorities are reducing pollution.25. Failed to acknowledge the link between global warming and increasingly severe extreme weather including bushfires, droughts and storms.

Infrastructure
26. Broke its NBN election promise of giving all Australians access to 25 megabits per second download speeds by 2016.27. Failed to prioritise public transport infrastructure over tollway projects like the WestConnex and the East-West Link.

Caring for people
28. Challenged the ACT Marriage Equality laws to the High Court ensuring discrimination against same-sex couples continues.29. Moved to repeal protections in the Racial Discrimination Act.30. Taken money from aged care workers by dumping the Workforce Compact which provided a $1.2 billion fund to give aged care workers a much-needed 1% pay rise.31. Taken money from the childcare sector, by asking them to hand back funding for desperately needed wage increases.32. Hurt families by attempting to freeze the childcare rebate until 2017 increasing childcare payments for 150,000 families.33. Broken an election promise for PM to spend first week with Aboriginal community.34. Scrapped Social Inclusion Board, which had been established to guide policy on the reduction of poverty in Australia.35. Scrapped Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing, established to help address the challenges we will face in coming years as the number of older Australians grows.36. Suspended the Wage Connect program, despite it being proven to deliver good outcomes for unemployed people.37. Repealed the pokie reform legislation achieved in the last parliament to combat problem gambling.38. Condoned human rights abuses in Sri Lanka by saying "sometimes in difficult circumstances, difficult things happen".39. Failed to intervene to protect jobs and the future of Holden and Qantas.40. Included only one woman in the federal cabinet.

Australian Farmers Gain Mass Consumer Support over GMO Pollution

Farmers in three Australian States are seeking public support for a Senate inquiry into the post-commercialisation impacts of existing regulated GM crops – as a Western Australian (WA) farmer who lost much of livelihood due to GM contamination seeks to crowd-source legal costs for his landmark trial.

Steve Marsh, an organic farmer from Kojonup, south of Perth, lost organic certification for most of his farm when GM canola contaminated his crop. He is suing his neighbour in the Supreme Court of WA, in a landmark world’s first trial beginning on February 10 2014.

Yesterday independent South Australia Senator Nick Xenophon launched the farmers www.change.org/contamination petition, and videos and a website for the Safe Food Foundation, which is coordinating fundraising for Steve’s case which is already attracting global interest as the first of its kind.The petition has attracted more than 21,000 signatures in 24 hours.

While law firm Slater & Gordon is providing legal work on a pro bono basis under their public interest policy, other substantial costs, for barristers and experts, requires significant further fundraising for the fast approaching trial.

Steve is supported by many, including TV celebrities, but he hopes that his battle will get broad public support. Steve’s stand on being allowed to choose what he wants to grow – organic, non-GM crops – is the same as our right to choose what we want to eat.
Read article

New adhesives standard on the way

Recognising the desire by companies to demonstrate the environmental preferability of their adhesive and related products, GECA (Good Environmental Choice Australia) is updating its Adhesives standard.

As well as updating criteria, the new standard will see its scope changed to include joint sealants and fillers, but most likely will be narrowed down to products used in building work and commercial manufacturing, excluding consumer/office glues.

The standard will be submitted to the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) so that products certified under it can be recognised by a variety of the GBCA’s assessment tools, providing added benefits for licensees.

A draft version of the standard is expected to be released for public comment shortly. More info contact GECA here. 

Give love, not crap

Give your time, take your kids out more often. 

Give them gift cards for a day in the bush, involve them in making their own picnic treats and take them to the river, beach, park for a fun day. Create a gift card for the movies, one for baking that huge cake together, for that sports game or a concert. A gift card for the zoo, or AQUA, the aquarium, one for a cycle trip around the river and stop for a picnic or a huge milkshake. One for a play or a classic concert at the theater.

Not only nice for your kids, but also for your friends and family. It doesn't have to be something made of plastic which you've spend a very long time on finding and they will put away with all the rest of their material possessions in the cupboard... Give something what gives you both a heap of fun, give love!

Chemical Time Bomb

In the 1980s and 1990s governments across Australia outlawed the use of the herbicide 245T. The ban was introduced for one very good reason - 245T contains dioxin, a chemical impurity with the potential to seriously harm people who are exposed to it.

But has the dioxin menace been tamed?

Four Corners reveals evidence that this potentially deadly chemical compound may still be present in weed control products and that authorities do not routinely test for it.

The program also reveals that this hands-off approach to regulation is entirely in keeping with the way governments have dealt with the lethal chemical dioxin over four decades.

Weeds are a scourge on country life, costing landowners up to $4 billion a year. In the 1960s and 70s the solution used in weed eradication often involved the spraying of herbicides 245T and 24D. Both substances contained dioxin. It was common practice for workers, in many parts of the country, to decant the herbicides from large drums into backpacks to apply the chemicals. In many cases they sprayed the liquid without using proper protective clothing.

Four Corners reveals the full extent of the problems caused by the chemicals. We meet the families of former government employees who have died almost certainly as a result of their exposure. The program also reveals the failure of successive governments to acknowledge the problems associated with the use of the chemicals and the refusal of those governments to pay adequate compensation to people who sprayed them and who have suffered massive health problems as a result. Four Corners reveals there are now reports of the children and partners of former sprayers also getting sick.

It is now widely accepted by experts that dioxin is the common factor that causes health problems in people who were exposed to herbicides. Although governments finally banned 245T, they continued to sanction the use of 24D as a herbicide, provided it did not contain anything more than trace levels of dioxin. The problem is authorities admit they do not routinely test for the potentially lethal chemical contaminant.

Four Corners has found evidence that herbicides containing 24D, currently being sold, do have levels of dioxin which could pose a potential health risk. Significantly, experts warn that cheap imports might be a source of herbicides contaminated with dioxin and yet those imports haven't attracted significant scrutiny.

To add to the problem posed by the lack of regulation enforcement, there is also evidence that farmers are spraying forms of 24D that drift across large tracts of neighbouring land creating a potential danger to other farm crops.

Watch the ABC documentary here

Australians may pay the price in Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement

A leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal looks to have worrying intentions.

Australians could pay more for drugs and medicines, movies, computer games and software, and be placed under surveillance as part of a US-led crackdown on internet piracy, according to details of secret trade negotiations exposed by WikiLeaks.

A leaked draft of a controversial chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement reveals the negotiating positions of 12 countries including Australia on copyright, patents and other intellectual property issues, with a heavy focus on enforcement measures against internet piracy.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has indicated he is keen to see the trade talks pushed to a successful conclusion next month, saying that ''there's always horse-trading in these negotiations, but in the end … everyone is better off''.

Intellectual property law expert Matthew Rimmer said the draft was ''very prescriptive'' and strongly reflected US trade objectives and multinational corporate interests ''with little focus on the rights and interests of consumers, let alone broader community interests''.
Read article

90 firms behind 66% of greenhouse gases

JUST 90 companies worldwide produced fuels that generated two-thirds of industrial greenhouse gas emissions from 1854 to 2010, according to a new study.

The 90 biggest producers of fuels driving climate change include investor-owned corporations, such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron, and state-owned oil companies, such as Saudi Aramco and Mexico's Pemex.

The top five producers of fuels driving climate change over the last 150 years are Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Saudi Aramco, BP and GazProm, the Russian company that is the world's largest natural gas producer.
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Vaclav Smill, a professor emeritus of environment and geography

Endorsed by Bill Gates this author of three dozen books has analyzed the world’s biggest challenges in detail about the future of energy, food production, and manufacturing.

"Manufacturing is crucial to innovation.

Most innovation is not done by research institutes and national laboratories. It comes from manufacturing—from companies that want to extend their product reach, improve their costs, increase their returns. What’s very important is in-house research. Innovation usually arises from somebody taking a product already in production and making it better: better glass, better aluminum, a better chip. Innovation always starts with a product".

"Apple! Boy, what a story. No taxes paid, everything made abroad—yet everyone worships them. This new iPhone, there’s nothing new in it. Just a golden color. What the hell, right? When people start playing with color, you know they’re played out".
Read the whole interview

Aquaponics basics

Why you should set up an organic aquaponics growing system at your house 

Aquaponics is an integrated aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponic (growing soilless plants) system that mutually benefits both environments.
More info here or like this Queenslanders Facebook page: Bits out the back, Urban Farming. 

Environment Protection Agency sidelined after warning of high risks at AGL coal seam gas project

The NSW government has sidelined the EPA,.Environment Protection Authority, in pushing ahead with a coal seam gas project despite advice it is high risk, threatening valuable agricultural land.

In a submission that has been confidential until now, the EPA warned the Department of Trade against approving the disposal of waste water at AGL's Gloucester project as it would lead to dangerously high salt levels and the potential destruction of farmland.
Read article

VOLVO DESIGN CHALLENGE 2013/2014

The Volvo Design Challenge is an annual design competition for young, driven and talented designers. Volvo aspires to organize a platform where design and automotive meet and explore each others boundaries. The goal is to encourage ambitious designers and to stimulate the development of their talent. 

This year they challenge design students and graduates to create a design inspired by the Volvo XC60, the Volvo brand, and to express why and how design moves you.

The Challenge
• Come up with a design inspired by the Volvo XC60, the Volvo brand and the notion: Design Moves Us.
• Volvo challenges you to visualise your interpretation of how these three elements 'move’ you. This can be anything varying from a moving device, a whistling essay, a smart moving textile or a mind-moving design. All design disciplines from fashion to graphic, via architecture or interior design, are invited to participate.
• Upload your most thought-provoking, mind-blowing design to the website and a renowned jury of professionals, led by Studio Job, will select the winning designs. Representative from Volvo in the jury will be Corien Pompe, Design Manager Identity & Innovation at Volvo Car Corporation and alumnus of our school.
• The Volvo Design Challenge is open to all design students connected to design and art academies or universities in the Netherlands. Also designers who have graduated within the last five years are welcome to participate. For general terms & conditions please visit the website www.volvocarsdesign.nl

Buy more locally manufactured

Not only the US benefits from buying locally but all western countries who outsourced a bit too much, like locally here in Western Australia I've seen one furniture manufacturer after the other going bankrupt  due to cheap imports.
More info here

How To Turn A Beer Can Into A Camping Stove

How To Turn A Beer Can Into The Only Camping Stove You'll Ever Need from Tom Allen on Vimeo.

So easy to create and use, a pity 90-100% alcohol is so very hard to find in Australia.

Climate Rally 17NOV2013 Perth Australia

National Day of Action on Climate Change. Sunday 17 November 2013.
More news here

Design Competition: your work in Milan!

Italian design brand Riva 1920, in cahoots with Fanuli, is launching an amazing design competition. Aimed at architects, designers and artists, the aptly named ‘Light up Your Idea’ is the first award from this iconic Italian design house.

Competitors are required to design a table using reforestation wood and non-plastic materials. The winner will be granted the opportunity of having their piece created and displayed by Riva 1920 during Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2014, with Fanuli providing accommodation and return airfares to Milan if the winner is from Australia. There are also six cash prizes.


The competition comprises two classes: under and over 26 years of age. Entrants must have either finished an undergraduate or diploma course, or be currently studying at a faculty of architecture, institute of design or art school.
More info here

Detox: How People Power is Cleaning Up Fashion

Around the world a growing movement of people are using their creativity, design skills and purchasing power to demand fashion without pollution. 
United by a shared belief that the clothes we wear should carry a story we can be proud of, activists, bloggers, designers, scientists and models have been able to convince big brands including Zara, Mango, Valentino, UNIQLO and H&M to commit to toxic-free fashion. 
There is still a long way to go, but our successes so far prove that when we work together, big brands are forced to stand up and deliver.

For more information click here

Reece bathroom innovation award 2014

(Click to enlarge)

For more information click here
Previous winners and finalists, click here

Young Australian Design Awards 2014

More info here

STOP THE POISONS!

AN EVENING OF ENTERTAINMENT, EDUCATION AND SHARING
28th November at 6 pm,
Joske Room, 8th Floor, G Block, QE II Medical Centre,
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, WA.

Did you know that most of the food people now eat is grown with a wide range of toxic farm chemicals? Much of our farmland is repeatedly sprayed with herbicides, pesticides and fungicides.

GM food like soy and corn has a poison genetically engineered into it which is now showing up in human blood. Other GM crops are repeatedly over-sprayed with chemicals.

A recent study shows that the common farm herbicide glyphosate is showing up in the urine of nearly
half of city dwellers across Europe. Our suburbs and cities are being sprayed with poisons to manage grasses, verges, parks, kindergarten play areas and sporting ovals, sometimes at the same time people are using these facilities.

The land and people are facing an avalanche of poisons, and the small amounts are adding up, raising increasing connections with allergies, food sensitivity, cancer and other common problems.

Isn't it time you started finding out how your food is grown and what poisons are being used around you, so you can take action to stop the poisons to protect the health of your family and the future of the Earth?

The evening will include:-
Music by multi award winning international singer songwriter Kelly Newton-Wordsworth
Presentations on farming and how your food is grown by William and Kelly Newton-Wordsworth, 25 years bio-dynamic (organic) farmers and winners of the 2012 Sustainability Award for WA.
Presentations by Alex Jones of Pesticides Action Group WA on urban and home pesticide use, and Jane Bremmer of the Alliance for a Clean Environment.

RSVP please to William Newton-Wordsworth, william@williamsriverproduce.com.au or 08 98851181

National Day of Climate Action - Sunday 17 November

Instead of rising to the challenge and tackling climate change head-on, our government has turned this critical issue into a political football. 

That's why this Sunday, David Pocock will be joining tens of thousands of Australians in demanding we step up and do better. 

Will you help make this Sunday November 17 the largest show of climate support our country has ever seen?
What: National Day of Climate Action 
When: 11am Sunday 17 November 
Where: Russell Square, Parker Street, Northbridge, WA 

Fukushima: 28 Signs That The US West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation…

The map above comes from the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center. It shows that radiation levels at radiation monitoring stations all over the country are elevated. As you will notice, this is particularly true along the west coast of the United States. Every single day, 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima enters the Pacific Ocean. That means that the total amount of radioactive material released from Fukushima is constantly increasing, and it is steadily building up in our food chain.

Ultimately, all of this nuclear radiation will outlive all of us by a very wide margin. They are saying that it could take up to 40 years to clean up the Fukushima disaster, and meanwhile countless innocent people will develop cancer and other health problems as a result of exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation. We are talking about a nuclear disaster that is absolutely unprecedented, and it is constantly getting worse. 

The following are 28 signs that the west coast of North America is being absolutely fried with nuclear radiation from Fukushima…
Read them here

Calls for government to control food labels

Curtin University researchers have found an overwhelming majority of Western Australians support government regulation of food labels and advertising.

Dr Christina Pollard, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the School of Public Health, said there is increasing recognition that regulation has an important role to play as society addresses the public health problems of obesity and poor diet, as well as environmental protection.

“Community perception is that government control or regulation of food labelling, food advertising and the supply of environmentally-friendly food, is important,” Dr Pollard said.


“Our research demonstrated that 94 per cent of people think that the Australian and New Zealand governments should control health ratings on food and 83 per cent think that it should regulate the advertising of junk food.
“The majority would also like to see regulation of the supply of environmentally-friendly food.
Read article

Fires continue to ravage NSW as the world's top scientists, and Australia's frontline firefighters,^[1] say the link between extreme weather and climate change has never been clearer. Yet at the same time, our leaders march blindly on, determined to undo everything we've fought for. 

Why? They want our permission to turn their back on the greatest challenge of our time. 

Are we going to give it to them? Hell no. 

We have a plan. It starts with huge mobilisations. It starts in Perth – but we need your help. 

On November 17, people all around the country are stepping up to host and attend the largest, most diverse National Day of Climate Action our country has ever seen. Are you in? 

What: National Day of Climate Action 
When: 11am Sunday 17 November 
Where: Russell Square, Parker Street, Northbridge, WA 

It's never been more urgent to hit the streets and show our leaders – visually and audibly – that Australians won't stand for going backwards on climate action. 

We're talking about a climate events in every major city. We're talking about rallies in hundreds of rural towns and local communities around the nation. Grandparents, young people, firefighters, lawyers, bankers and teachers – standing side by side, wearing orange and red, holding our leaders to account on climate action. 

It will be massive. Colourful. Loud. Unignorable... and of course, a lot of fun. The stage has been set, and it's time for us to step up. Will you make history with us? 

Find out more and RSVP now: www.getup.org.au/perth 

[1] What firefighters say about climate change, The Conversation, 23 October 2013

Zeoform revolution -

Zeoform started their open source funding campaign on Indiegogo, check here if you are interested. 
ZeoRev v01 4 from Alf Wheeler on Vimeo.

Dutch Design Week

Starts today!
Check out for example the series of Agri meets Design: Farm:Labs or Materials XL: textiel

Learn everything about 3D printing, meet designers while having dinner, do a workshop on lighting or learn the magic of bio plastics and many more events.

My old class mate Leon is also there with his Spiked bicycles!

Review all events here

From 19-27 October 2013

Fast food = only fast but not food...

A Lobbyist And A Senator Walk Into A Restaurant ...

Tired of lobbyists and politicians feasting while we get stuck with the bill?
In 2012, lobbyists received more than 3 billion dollar to legally bribe our elected representatives.
Stop the feeding frenzy.

The Garage Sale Trail

Are you participating on 26 October? 

Garage Sale Trail is a fun day.  It’s a day about communityand it provides a great opportunity to fund raise. 

 

For the Waste Authority, it’s also about sustainability.  It’s about selling or giving away items to someone who needs them instead of throwing them away.

 

Nine out of ten Western Australian residents and businesses surveyed earlier this year reported being concerned about the amount of waste the State produces.

 

That’s one reason why the Waste Authority – the State Government agency working towards moving WA to a low waste society – is supporting the Garage Sale Trail.

 

So often good quality items go out for verge collection and get wet or wrecked and end up in landfill when someone else could have used them.  That’s costly for us as ratepayers and it’s costly for the environment.

 

Let’s make October 26th the biggest and best day of garage sales in WA.

 

Encourage your friends and relatives, your children’s school and sporting clubs to get involved.  If they don’t want to hold their own sale, they could join yours or donate their unwanted items to another group holding a sale.

 

After all, Western Australia is too good to waste.

More information: http://www.garagesaletrail.com.au/

Fracking Is Pretty Hard To Understand — Until It Isn't

It's a technique that's been around since the 1940s, but the recent exhaustion of natural gas resources through traditional extraction methods has made fracking the popular kid in school.

Unfortunately for the "school" (the environment), "Johnny Fracking" (hydraulic fracturing) "is a jackass" (has a tendency to tamper with the drinking water) and should be "sent to the principal's office" (more tightly regulated and policed to discourage fracking companies from carelessly dealing with the waste).

See it all explained in a five minutes video here