Blamed for Bee Collapse, Monsanto Buys Leading Bee Research Firm

Monsanto, the massive biotechnology company being blamed for contributing to the dwindling bee population, has bought up one of the leading bee collapse research organizations. Recently banned from Poland with one of the primary reasons being that the company’s genetically modified corn may be devastating the dying bee population, it is evident that Monsanto is under serious fire for their role in the downfall of the vital insects. It is therefore quite apparent why Monsanto bought one of the largest bee research firms on the planet.

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I Can Change Your Mind About..Climate

Watch Thursday evening 8.30pm ABC 1
Check out the trailer here

This fast "food" display is now 2 years old.

The word food is questionable, since the bread-like and meat-like substances have not molded or spoiled in any way. Bugs won't even bother with it. Please think twice about giving this to your kids. You have a choice, but they don't. We truly are what we eat.

By Growing Organic Eating Organic

Ideas Brewery - Share your sustainable ideas on the future of beer packaging.

Dutch beer brewer Heiniken wants you to share your sustainable ideas on the future of beer packaging and win $ 10.000
Submit your ideas before May 8th 2012

More info here

Live comfortable with less space

Amazing furniture that can be fold and move every where.

Perth Green Drinks 26 April

Redeveloping Perth’s waterfront has been on politicians, urban planners and architects’ minds for decades. In the past months it has also gained the headlines.

The project will certainly transform Perth’s future, with effects on traffic, heritage, bicycle and leisure amenities, public spaces and the environment.

Join us for a forum about the impacts of Perth Waterfront Development, with experts talking about different aspects of the project.

This is a unique opportunity to ask questions and make comments about the most significant urban project in Perth.
Read more here and RSVP now greendrinks.perth@gmail.com or check out the event on Facebook

Plastic Seduction

Plastic is a material that the Earth cannot digest. Plastic pollution is growing at an alarming rate, and plastic debris is accumulating fast in all communities, rivers, in the desert and in the ocean. Disposable plastics are the greatest source of plastic pollution.

If recycling is the answer, we’re asking the wrong question

Yes, recycling is worth doing. But it takes a lot of resources to collect recycling, clean it, sort it, transport it (often across the world) to a reprocessor, melt it down or pulp it and make it into a new product.

What could be better than recycling? Let’s get back to basics with the waste hierarchy – reduce, reuse, recycle. Why does reduce come first? Well, right away you’re saving resources. Most of our recycling is packaging, plus office paper and newsprint. When it comes to packaging, the best thing for the environment is to use the least amount of packaging to do the job.

Why do we need packaging at all?
Read article and see bad examples

Where TVs go to die

It's time to lift our game when disposing of our much-loved gadgets.

A free national recycling scheme for old televisions and computers begins in July, resurrecting bulky old CRT sets and dusty PCs from the junk pile.

The Product Stewardship Act, the federal law passed last year to make computer and TV manufacturers responsible for tech waste, aims to boost Australia's tech-recycling rate from 17 per cent to 30 per cent by 2012-13 and, in the long term, to 80 per cent in the next decade.
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Perth bike blackspots

Scott Ludlam launched the Perth bike blackspot app for iPone on 24 March. Cyclist can use this by getting this app and send them a report. If you don't have an iPhone, simply email your feedback with the location and a photo of the blackspot to Scott.Ludlam@aph.gov.au

The information collected will be used to lobby for serious funding for cycling infrastructure to build a better network. Your report will also be forwarded directly to the Transport Minister and used to inform our response to the State Governments Bike Plan.



So many people are busy getting the roads a bit saver for cyclists as we are an increasing species!

I'd set up a Perth bicycle path obstacles blog a few months ago to visualise hickups on the way so road designers can improve their ways.

WANTED 100 BEST DESIGNS BY AUSTRALIA’S 50 BEST DESIGNERS

ARE YOU?

More info here

"Smelly recycle plant to close"

THE troubled Canning Vale Regional Resource Recovery Centre is to close.

Waste destined to be recycled at the centre will now go to landfill sites across Perth instead.

DEC general manager Keiran McNamara said the decision followed ongoing odour problems from the centre this summer.

“Given that odours from the centre continue to affect public amenity, I no longer have confidence that the existing odour control technology and management systems are reliable,” he said.

SMRC acting CEO Tim Youe said closing the centre would result in waste going to landfill. “Environmentally this will result in more than 60,000 tonnes of waste going to land fill, releasing 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” he said.
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Who was there first? This recycle plants or those nagging people?

Wherever they are going to build a new recycle centre, someday the city will catch up and the whole tragedy starts again...

I have been there a few times with my classes to show them the recycle process and the odeur wasn't that bad at all. But I guess some people need something to complain about all their life, now all recycleble materials will go straight into landfill they'll find another issue to bite in and nag about.

UPDATE 10 April: Two weeks to waste plant closure

Perth Sun Fair this Sunday, 1 April

The Sun Fair is aimed at introducing the people of Perth to sustainable living concepts, technology and lifestyles. Major themes of the fair include renewable energy, energy efficiency, environment conservation and natural living.

On Sunday 1st April 2012 people from all walks of life will come together on the Oak Lawn at the University of Western Australia to share information and experiences so they can return to their homes with a knowledge that they can make a difference to the future of the welfare of this planet and all its living systems.

The fair demonstrates that sustainable lifestyles are environmentally sound and cost effective and are very much an attainable reality.

Environmental change is a challenge facing all of us and will only be addressed when government, business and individuals act together to achieve a common goal of sustainable living.

Where: University of Western Australia - Oak Lawn
When: 1 April 2012
Time: 9.00am to 5.00pm
More info here

Come along, I am there, volunteering for the Earthcarers, in the morning.

Native Plant Subsidy Scheme

Native Plant Subsidy Scheme is on again for western suburbs residents - Purchase up to eighty plants per household at the subsidised price of $1.50 each from the APACE Nursery from 30 April and 27 May

The conversation: population and the environment

For all our schemes and mantras about making this or that part of our lives environmentally “sustainable”, humanity’s assault on the planet not only continues but expands.

The conservation movement dates back centuries and our technological prowess grows day by day, but even so the wilderness is shrinking, species dying out, and on and on we spread, build, and plunder. It’s easy to see our schemes and mantras as ultimately little more than fiddling while Rome burns.

What are the deep problems that we don’t talk about in terms of our relationship with nature? What, so to speak, are the elephants in the room?

When we’re talking about the relationship between humans and the environment, the most obvious elephant in the room is human population growth. This is rarely discussed in the Western media nowadays, especially compared to the 1970s, but it is central to what we’re doing to to the planet. We reached an estimated 7 billion people last October, and the OECD estimates that will climb to more than 9 billion by mid-century.

....

Why doesn’t the West discuss population?
The West does not discuss population numbers partly because the market is thought to favour growth. Business finds growing numbers attractive because it mean more consumers for their products, and more labour to compete for jobs and to support an aging population.

Read this conversation and participate, click here



I can only ask this; What makes you happy? What lifestyle would you want if you could get it? One of consuming lots of stuff or one of enjoying nature? I know what I prefer!

First solar car charge station opens

On the day that the Government is assisting the traditional car industry, Australia's solar car industry is also getting a boost.

The not-for-profit CERES (Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies) Environment Centre, in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, is switching on the first energy charging station for electric vehicles.

The cars will take power from the grid, but solar panels will generate electricity to help offset that power.
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WA goverment blocks plastic bag ban

The State Government has knocked back a bid to outlaw single-use plastic shopping bags.

The Government yesterday used its numbers in the Upper House to defeat a Labor Bill which proposed to ban non-biodegradable, lightweight plastic bags commonly found in supermarkets.

Shadow environment minister Sally Talbot said there was strong public support for a ban on plastic shopping bags and it was disappointing Liberal and Nationals MPs had not supported her Private Member's Bill.

"The Bill had a transition time so people could get used to the idea and there were various penalties for retailers who didn't comply with the new law. It was a very straightforward Bill, it wasn't particularly costly or complicated and it's a scheme that's worked well in other parts of the world," she said.
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I must say I am not surprised... unfortunately, as when I go to the supermarket still the majority of shoppers is loading up the trolley with plastic bags filled with only a few items per bag. And if that's the same kind of people we have in government it will take a long time to get any improvement in trashing this beautiful part of the world... they should be ashamed of themselves!

Butterflies

When I was about 7, in the 1970's, my family went on a walking holiday. On one walk we strolled across a meadow where lots of butterflies flew up around us - blue, orange, white, red, brown - it was wonderful - I loved it and expressed my pleasure as only a 7 year old can - by rushing around dancing in pure joy.

My grandfather (bless him) made a comment that really made me stop and think - he said,

"This is nothing! When I was your age, the sky was filled with butterflies at this time of year - not just a couple of dozen - thousands and thousands - clouds of them for weeks on end."

Our experience of the world only goes back as far as our earliest memory - but our understanding can reach back further if we listen to our elders.
Heather White

Last Call at the Oasis

Last Call at the Oasis, a new documentary exposing the world’s growing water crisis, is using digital means to take the film’s message beyond the theater.

Last Call at the Oasis is the latest documentary from Participant Media (An Inconvenient Truth, Food Inc, The Cove), a film company focused on creating social change via its digital division takepart.com.
More info here

On a wing and a prayer

Playful, mischievous and highly intelligent, Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos are adored by thousands, hunted by many and saved by few. Endemic to the south-west region of Western Australia, only a small pocket of these large, gregarious birds remain and these are permanently under threat.

Some are still being poached and smuggled for private collections. Many are illegally shot. Together with land clearing, loss of native food habitat and injury from man-made structures, the Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo is plummeting towards extinction.

If you haven't watched the documentary tonight on ABC1 please check it out on iView! It's beautiful to see how those birds try to survive in less space and how they grow up.

And check out the website On a wing and a prayer or the website Cockatoos Need You
Photo: Margaret Owen

Cocky carnage
FIVE years ago, black cockatoos were so common that Baldivis resident Anne Bellman saw the sky darken every evening as hundreds of them came to roost in trees on her property.

Now she’s lucky to see a group of 20, after hundreds were displaced in 2009 and 2010 when the Karnup Road and Eighty Road pine plantations were cut down.

Results of the 2011 Great Cocky Count, which were released this week, paint an even more dire picture.

Statewide survey figures indicate a 37 per cent drop in the number of Carnaby’s black cockatoos.