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