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Updated:
13-Aug-2008
In Australia it's estimated that we'd save 5% of our electricity bills if we stopped leaving appliances in their standby 'off' setting
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Updated:
13-Aug-2008
In Australia it's estimated that we'd save 5% of our electricity bills if we stopped leaving appliances in their standby 'off' setting
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On this page -
A thought to share
The anthropologist, Margaret Mead once said, Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
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The Garnaut Climate Change Review is an independent study by Professor Ross Garnaut, commissioned by Australia's Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, to examine the impacts, challenges and opportunities of climate change in Australia. Its draft report was released in July.
The Review confirms that Australia has more to lose than other developed countries if we fail to act on climate change and more to gain if the world does act swiftly. It found that Australia will be hit hard by climate change.
If we do nothing, our grandchildren will be living in a very different Australia, one where agriculture in the Murray Darling Basin has all but ended, the Great Barrier Reef has been destroyed, snow-based tourism in Australia is no longer viable, and 5.5 million Australians will be exposed to Dengue fever.
The Review goes on to propose targets for carbon dioxide emissions reduction and a range of actions for Government. It predicts that the likely costs of action will be far less than the certain costs of inaction.
As the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) points out, the Review’s ‘message to all Australians – government, business and the wider community – is that the job of reducing emissions belongs to us all and we must get cracking if we are to avoid unacceptable levels of risk.’
You’ll find the draft report and updates on activities at http://www.garnautreview.org.au.
The ACF also provides regular updates on climate change at http://www.acfonline.org.au/
The Wilderness Society is currently inviting your support for two campaigns.
Help protect the Kimberley wilderness from industrialisation
The Kimberley wilderness coast is internationally recognised as one of the last great unspoiled marine and terrestrial environments in the world.
The Kimberley's clean seas, countless islands, coral reefs, mangroves, rainforests and rivers are home to an astonishing variety of wildlife. The Kimberley coast also has outstanding cultural values for the region's many Indigenous communities. From June to November each year, endangered humpback whales make their way to calving grounds just north of Broome, where they stay for four months with their calves. This special whale nursery area needs to be protected from the damaging impacts of industry.
The urgent reality is that right now several companies, including Inpex (a Japanese energy company) and Woodside Ltd, have submitted proposals to develop the Browse Basin gas field to the State and Commonwealth governments. The impacts of industrialisation, including proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, would destroy one of the last large and remote coastal wilderness areas left in the world.
For more information and campaign details go to http://www.wilderness.org.au/
We have an opportunity to protect Queensland’s wild rivers on Cape York Peninsula!
Cape York Peninsula, one of the last great wild places on Earth, is a magnificent natural and cultural landscape of wild rivers and wetlands, savannah, sand dunes, remote beaches, reefs and rainforests. The Stewart, Archer and Lockhart river basins (including the incredible Aurukun wetlands - almost five times the size of the world famous Kakadu wetlands) have just been nominated for protection - and it's up to all of us to make it happen!
For more information and campaign details go to http://www.wilderness.org.au/
The Brisbane TOS Group has produced a brochure providing a range of simple actions that individuals can take to reduce their general consumption and to save energy and water. We can all make a difference by reducing our impact on our environment.
Download the brochure here. (Acrobat PDF format: left-click to view, right-click to copy)
Did you know that becoming vegan, vegetarian or cutting down on animal products could make a significant saving to your carbon emissions? According to an Australian National University team led by Professor Tony McMichael, the world’s appetite for meat is increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture contributes about 22% of global greenhouse emissions and 80% of this comes from livestock production.
Professor Tony McMichael argues that “for the world’s higher income populations, greenhouse gas emissions from meat eating warrants the same scrutiny as do those from driving and flying.”
The study also points out that reducing meat consumption would have health benefits for many people, including potentially lowering the risk of several types of cancer.
Caring for our environment
The theosophical world view sees all life as interconnected and sustained by the Universal Energy. We are all part of the ecological system of our planet, Earth. Each and every one of us therefore has a responsibility to help preserve the ecological balance.
In Australia we are currently faced by a number of environmental challenges related to land use, our river systems, drought and changing weather patterns. The latter is becoming recognised as a world-wide problem to the extent that NASA’s ace climate modeller, Jim Hansen, was reported in New Scientist, December 2006, as warning that we probably have less than a decade to avoid catastrophic and irreversible climate change.
One million species worldwide are facing extinction due to climate change. And it is predicted that more than 95% of the Great Barrier Reef will have been destroyed by 2050 if carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced. (WWF, Autumn 2007)
According to WWF, “the use of electricity accounts for 69% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions which clog the atmosphere, heat up the earth and threaten wildlife and essential natural resources like fresh water.”
So the greatest impact we can make on our physical environment is to reduce our energy usage.
On this web-page you’ll find ideas for simple everyday actions that can make a real difference to our physical environment.
Sharing ideas about actions we can take to care for our planet
Al Gore’s top ten tips for helping stop global warming
Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, ends with the following simple changes that each of us could make in our lives.
1. Change a light
Replacing six regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs will save 400kg of carbon dioxide a year.
2. Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take public transport more often. You'll save 1.5kg of carbon dioxide for every 5km you don't drive!
3. Recycle more
You can save 1,000kg of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.
4. Check your tyres
Keeping your tyres inflated properly can improve your car's fuel efficiency. Every litre of petrol saved keeps 2.5kg of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!
5. Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water - use less hot water by installing an energy efficient triple A rated showerhead (3 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (225kg saved per year).
6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 545kg of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.
7. Move your thermostat down 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer
You could save about 900kg of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.
8. Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one tonne of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
9. Turn off electrical devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, microwave, stereo and computer when you're not using them will save you thousands of kilograms of carbon dioxide a year.
10. Be a part of the solution
Act now. Don’t wait until the majority of other people are doing something positive.
Other tips to save power and decrease carbon dioxide production
Use a clothes line rather than a dryer (save 260kg of carbon dioxide per quarter as well as money on your energy bill).
Drive smoothly with the flow of traffic (save 140kg of carbon dioxide per quarter).
Boil water for hot drinks during the day and fill a thermos flask instead of frequently boiling more water
If you don’t have it, install insulation. It makes your house cooler in summer and warmer in winter and can save around $300 in energy costs annually.
Switch to green power as far as possible. In Australia, 250 million tonnes of carbon dioxide is pumped annually into the atmosphere by coal-fired electricity stations.
Check out the website: http://wwf.org.au/publications/green-electricity-watch-2006-summary for a summary of Green Electricity Watch 2006, sponsored by WWF and ACF. It provides a simple guide to all the green power products available. It also provides information on which ones make a real difference in reducing global warming.
Use alternative energy sources. Participate in a green energy scheme. Water heating uses about 30% of household energy use so look for green alternatives such as solar energy and heat pumps.
Join with advocacy groups to lobby State and Federal Governments to stop cutting down Australian native forests. There is little point in funding Asian governments to plant trees to off-set Australian carbon dioxide emissions when Australian native forests continue to be clear-felled.
Write to your politicians and newspapers about actions needed. Also write to compliment them on sensible initiatives. Refer to the September and December newsletters of 2006 for tips on writing advocacy letters. If you can’t find your copy, the newsletters are on the Australian TOS website.
Reduce your power usage. Coal-fired power stations use large quantities of water (20million litres a day for 1 black-coal power station) Switching to nuclear power does not help because these power stations also use considerable water for cooling. Indeed, nuclear power plants use up to 80% more water than conventional power stations. In addition, uranium extraction uses large quantities of water e.g. the uranium mine at Roxby Downs takes 33 million litres a day from the Great Artesian Basin. Refining uranium for use in nuclear power stations also requires power, which in turn uses water as well as generating carbon dioxide.
Mulch your garden and water in the late afternoon or evening to save water loss from evaporation
Fix dripping taps. A drip can waste over 20,000 litres of water per year.
Install dual-flush toilets where possible to save around 18,000 litres a year.
Put in AAA rated shower heads and use 7 to 9 litres of water per minute instead of 15 to 30 litres per minute. It also saves energy costs in heating the extra water.
Have shorter showers.
Use aerating taps in the kitchen and laundry. They cut water flow by 50% without reducing water pressure.
Use environmentally friendly detergents and recycle your laundry and bathroom water on to your garden.
Use a basin for rinsing vegetables and salads in the kitchen. Then recycle the water on to your pot plants. This can save up to 15 litres a day as well as providing water for your plants.
Harvest rainwater from your roof into a tank.
Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and soaping your hands. This can save around 16 litres a day.
Install a pool cover to save around 100 litres a day.
Actions to conserve bio-diversity
Support the purchasing of parcels of land in unique and varied environments to preserve or regenerate the local flora and fauna and protect them from introduced species.
Help protect our wetlands that face significant threats from land clearing, drought and intensive agriculture. Wetlands provide protection to our coasts against pollution and sediments from intensive agriculture. They are the nursery for many fish and crustaceans as well as a feeding and nesting ground for many local bird species. They play a vital role in the life-cycle of many migratory bird species. Write to your local council, State and Federal Governments to let them know that healthy wetlands are crucial to both wildlife and communities and need to be protected in planning processes.
Check out the climate change page at www.wwf.org.au for more ideas on how to reduce your energy usage. Download a copy of the ACF’s Green Home Guide from their website at www.acfonline.org.au
