A child born today may live to see humanity’s end, unless…

Humans will be extinct in 100 years because the planet will be uninhabitable, said the late Australian microbiologist Frank Fenner, one of the leaders in the effort to eradicate smallpox during the 1970s. He blamed overcrowding, denuded resources and climate change.

Fenner’s prediction, made in 2010, is not a sure bet, but he is correct that there is no way emissions reductions will be enough to save us from our trend toward doom. And there doesn’t seem to be any big global rush to reduce emissions, anyway. When the G7 called on Monday for all countries to reduce carbon emissions to zero in the next 85 years, the scientific reaction was unanimous: That’s far too late.
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When looking at the world population counter you would say that nobody cares... It was only a few months ago that I told my students there were almost 7.3 billion people while in the mean time about another 35 million have been added. There were 3.1 billion people when I was born, I am 52 y/o.... 

Why is the topic of birth control so difficult to discuss? Goverments seem to be focussed on growth, as more people means more income, more economic growth, more money. While in the mean time the world is depleting of every source possible and if this biologist is right everyone born now will see it all coming to an end. We already see the signs... 

What do you think is visually more attractive?

A coal fired station?

A wind farm?

A solar powered station?

And which one is better for the environment and our health?

The Undercurrent: why are we being fed by a poison expert?

The Undercurrent delves into the world of mass agriculture to ask how one company has such huge control over the world's food supply.

The name Monsanto was once synonymous with Agent Orange, but in today's world it's the dominance of the widespread pesticide Roundup which helps keep the company on top of the pile.

But is the World Health Organisation's claim that Roundup 'probably' causes cancer, cause for concern?

And what about the company's stance on patenting which sees farmers in developing countries unable to hold on to their seeds for the next season?

Guardian Australia has joined forces with The Undercurrent – an online news show billing itself as an antidote to the five-second soundbite – for a four-part series over June and July. Brisbane creators Jen Dainer and Dan Graetz say it is the show they wish existed – so they created it themselves.

IT'S TIME WE STAND UP FOR WA'S OUTBACK

I've just signed up to take action on protecting the outback of WA. If you are interested too, there is a volunteer welcome night next week, Wednesday 17 June 6pm in West Perth, so please sign up too!

THE STORY OF WA'S OUTBACK IS OUR STORY

We have a responsibility to safeguard our Outback for the future. But leading experts are now warning the Outback is at a tipping point.

Uncontrolled, catastrophic wildfires are causing irreparable damage. Feral cats and other introduced animals are decimating our unique wildlife. Decades of government neglect and over-grazing mean our fragile soils are blowing away. Many of the things that make our State special are at risk of being lost forever.

At a time when people are needed more than ever to meet the challenges facing this special place, people are leaving the Outback because of brakes on opportunity. In the face of a declining pastoral industry, antiquated laws are stopping people from diversifying into more modern, profitable and sustainable ways of making a living and looking after the Outback.

Wouldn’t it be great if our laws reward those who manage their land well, encourage new enterprises and jobs that look after our Outback, and protect our most special natural places?

Fortunately, we now have an opportunity to achieve just that. Right now, the State Government is deciding on historic reforms. The Outback needs your support to make sure they do the right thing and revitalise the Outback so we care for both nature and people.

The Outback belongs to every West Australian. Please join with us to help write the next chapter of the Outback story. Together we can turn things around and breathe a new lease of life into the place at the heart of our State.

www.outbackwa.org.au

The Sea & Me

Last week we went to the screening of this documentary at the Cottesloe surf club and I can really recommend to watch it. We've sent letters to the government and to our local member, if you are concerned about our oceans and sanctuaries, please see info below. 

The Sea & Me, a new film documenting the extraordinary seas surrounding Australia and the inspiring people who look after it, has been touring the nation’s coastal communities.

WA’s Kimberley is at the heart of the last pristine tropical coastline left on Earth. In the coming months we expect the WA Government to officially ask for input on plans for new marine parks for this coast, and it will be essential that they get a strong message that the community supports a network of sanctuary zones within the Great Kimberley Marine Park that will make this pristine area Australia’s best marine park – the protection we know our Kimberley Coast needs and deserves.  We’ll be in touch on this soon with more details but in the meantime, you can send a quick letter here http://www.likenowhereelse.org.au/sign-the-letter/

On a national level, as you are aware, the Abbott Government has suspended our national network of sanctuaries, and ALL are at risk of being cut back or completely erased. Please take a moment to write to your local minister Julie Bishop at www.saveourmarinelife.org.au/review asking her to show leadership to save our sanctuaries.

The new coal frontier

Mega mines, mega emissionsAround 27bn tonnes of coal are thought to be locked under the ground of the Galilee Basin in the outback of Queensland. A huge proposed complex of coal mines is planned here, including the world’s largest thermal coal project.

So are railway lines and a massive expansion of the Abbot Point port on the Great Barrier Reef.
What will this mean for the Aboriginal community, the Great Barrier Reef and the world's climate?
More infortmation here

Fossil fuels subsidised by $10m a minute, says IMF

‘Shocking’ revelation finds $5.3tn subsidy estimate for 2015 is greater than the total health spending of all the world’s governments.

Fossil fuel companies are benefitting from global subsidies of $5.3tn (£3.4tn) a year, equivalent to $10m a minute every day, according to a startling new estimate by the International Monetary Fund.

The vast sum is largely due to polluters not paying the costs imposed on governments by the burning of coal, oil and gas. These include the harm caused to local populations by air pollution as well as to people across the globe affected by the floods, droughts and storms being driven by climate change.
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Sunday 17 May- talk about chemicals

email: alx_jones@yahoo.com or acejean@bigpond.com

Make it - Take it

Packaging waste, meet your maker...
Much of our packaging is designed to be thrown away, it's not sustainable if it's garbage!
Producer responsibility (EPR) policies, make companies responsible for recycling their packages when consumers are finished with them!

More information on the website http://makeittakeit.net/

SolarPuff: A Unique Little Solar Light

Now on Kickstarter
Worthwhile checking this simple but very interesting pop-up light with heaps of possibilities to improve the quality of life, not only in countries without electricity but also for the western world, to take camping for example. 

                 

Who exactly is Bjorn Lomborg?

Yes, let's ask a rich Danish guy, he for sure knows what poor people need and how to keep the planet sane!

A think tank created by the "sceptical environmentalist" Bjorn Lomborg

The government will provide $4 million over four years to bring Dr Lomborg's Copenhagen Consensus Centre methodology to Australia at a new centre within the University of Western Australia (UWA) business school.

In an email to supporters of the Climate Council on Friday, former Australian of the Year Tim Flannery said it was "extraordinary" that the government had abolished the Climate Commission "which was composed of Australia's best climate scientists, economists and energy experts" on the basis of lack of funding only to find the money to "import a politically-motivated think tank to work in the same space."

"Mr Lomborg's views have no credibility in the scientific community," Professor Flannery wrote. 

"His message hasn't varied at all in the last decade and he still believes we shouldn't take any steps to mitigate climate change. When someone is unwilling to adapt their view on the basis of new science or information, it's usually a sign those views are politically motivated."Read article

Abbott government gives $4m to help climate contrarian set up Australian centre

The Abbott government found $4m for the climate contrarian Bjørn Lomborg to establish his “consensus centre” at an Australian university, even as it struggled to impose deep spending cuts on the higher education sector.

As Lomborg explained in a Freakonomics podcast last year, his consensus centre was defunded by the centre-left Danish government in 2012 and he was searching for a long-term funding solution. In the meantime his centre had moved to the US and was relying on private donations for a budget of about US$1m a year.

Labor’s environment spokesman, Mark Butler, said Abbott was “using scarce public funds to help legitimise his climate scepticism”.

“Tony Abbott has deputised one of the world’s most well-known renewable energy sceptics to continue his climate change denial and attacks on renewable energy,” Butler said on Friday.

A $4 million dollar insult to the scientific community

A healthy economy and jobs or your health?

What is fracking doing to our healht? 
Not only in America this is a huge problem, also here in Australia there are more and more areas opened up for fracking. Check out Frackman the movie;

Frackman tells the story of accidental activist Dayne Pratzky and his struggle against international gas companies.
Australia will soon become the world’s biggest gas exporter as more than 30,000 wells are sunk in the state of Queensland where Dayne lives, with many requiring controversial “fracking”.
He and his neighbours have unwittingly become the centre of a massive industrial landscape and they have no legal right to stop mining on their land.
Dayne embarks on a journey that transforms him from conservative pig-shooter to sophisticated global activist as the Frackman. He meets the people drawn into a battle that is crossing the ideological divide, bringing together a peculiar alliance of farmers, activists and political conservatives. Along the way Dayne encounters love, tragedy and triumph.

This video examines the impact of oil and gas development on the health of people living it. Using a FLIR (infrared) camera designed to detect normally invisible, sometimes toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a group of chemicals, including acetone, benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, and others. They're in everyday household products, in small amounts. They're what makes that "new car smell" and what makes you get high off glue..

Good news! Mitchell Plateau finally secure

After decades of hard work, the Mitchell Plateau is on track to become part of Australia’s largest national park.

Unknown fields

The Unknown Fields Division is a nomadic design research studio that ventures out on expeditions to the ends of the earth to bear witness to alternative worlds, alien landscapes, industrial ecologies and precarious wilderness. 

The dystopian lake filled by the world’s tech lust

Hidden in an unknown corner of Inner Mongolia is a toxic, nightmarish lake created by our thirst for smartphones, consumer gadgets and green tech, discovers Tim Maughan.

"From where I'm standing, the city-sized Baogang Steel and Rare Earth complex dominates the horizon, its endless cooling towers and chimneys reaching up into grey, washed-out sky. Between it and me, stretching into the distance, lies an artificial lake filled with a black, barely-liquid, toxic sludge."

"Welcome to Baotou, the largest industrial city in Inner Mongolia. I'm here with a group of architects and designers called the Unknown Fields Division, and this is the final stop on a three-week-long journey up the global supply chain, tracing back the route consumer goods take from China to our shops and homes, via container ships and factories."

Read the full story

Marine Animals at ‘Gunpoint’ Will Make You Reconsider Your Plastic Use

We’ve all done it and keep on doing it; buying articles overly wrapped in unecessary plastic; disposable razors, candy bars, processed food, soda, etc.  

But did you ever stop to think what the impact all those purchases will have after you’re done with them?
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Zeoform

Remember? I did those poufs made of 100% recyclable plastic called Zeoform years ago?

The company has been busy growing up since then and they have another fundraiser to finally start up on a bigger scale.

Interested in replacing plastic parts for this incredible strong material?
Check it out
ZEOFORM - Hemp+Water & nothing else
Zeoform Jemima's Voiceover from Zeoform on Vimeo.

World Water Day 2015:

Photos to make you think twice about wasting this precious resource.

People gather to get water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat

The world will have only 60% of the water it needs in just 15 years unless countries dramatically change their use of the resource, a UN report warns.
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Amazon Rainforest Lives Faster, Dies Young Amid Carbon Gas Blitz

The Amazon rainforest is losing its capacity to absorb carbon as tree deaths increase, weakening its ability to alleviate the impact of man-made climate change, according to a study led by the University of Leeds.
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