Consumption Atlas
The Australian Conservation Foundation has a new tool on their website: the Consumption Atlas (Flash). It has the greenhouse gas emissions, water use and environmental footprint for each suburb in Australia. Why not see how your suburb compares to the rest of Australia by typing in your postcode?
The ACF’s report Consuming Australia (pdf) has the details of the study used to create the Consumption Atlas. It shows how they worked out the amounts for each area, the main things households consume and the major trends in Australia. It also shows what people can do about their own consumption, and what the government can do to make environmentally-conscious shopping easier for everyone.
What you can do to lower the eco-impact of what you buy:
(for more detail, see page 16 of the report)
- Buy fewer things, enjoy life more – when you need to relax, try a massage or a trip to the beach instead of retail therapy.
- Share more – it saves space as well as money. Try libraries, car share, or renting instead of buying DVDs.
- Buy smart – choose recycled materials, efficient appliances and quality products that will last you a long time.
- Cut waste – don’t buy clothes you won’t wear, or food you’ll end up throwing out a week later.
What the government can do to help us:
(page 18 of the report)
- Introduce product labelling to make it easier for customers to know which products are better
- Set efficiency standards for products that everyone uses
- Help households become more water and energy efficient
- Set a price on pollution and update our prices for water and waste
- Educate the community on how to make environmentally-helpful choices
- Invest in public transport, renewable energy, and other sustainable technologies.
Offset your car’s pollution
For a couple of years now, we’ve been buying carbon-offsets for our car through Greenfleet. Each year we pay for them to plant 17 native trees in areas that used to be forested. The trees “offset” the carbon-dioxide emissions put out by our car, by using up carbon dioxide in their process of transpiration. This isn’t the most precise way to do things, because there are issues with sorting out the exact lifespan of the trees, variations in how much we drive, and so on. But it’s close enough, and since the trees also help with the problems of soil salinity, soil erosion, and provide habitat for native animals, we felt it was a worthwhile project to contribute to – there’s more to the environment than just global warming.
Greenfleet is available in most Aussie states, and you can either sign up for the standard car amount (which is what we did, because we’re kinda lazy that way), or use their emissions calculator to work out precisely how many GHG-emissions you’re contributing from your car, home or plane trips. Greenfleet is currently working to become compliant with the standards set out for offset programs in the Kyoto protocol and has applied for the federal government’s Greenhouse Friendly certification.
Other offset programs are available in Australia – some use tree-planting, some use renewable energy sources:
Live Earth photos
For those of you who couldn’t make it to the Live Earth concert in Sydney, take a look at the photos on Flickr to get a taste of what it was like:
The Great Global Warming Swindle
Last night the ABC aired The Great Global Warming Swindle, a documentary that claims nature, not humans, is causing climate change. ABC Science Online has a debunking at The-Great-Global-Warming-Swindle Swindle which explains the science in layman’s terms. If you really want to nerd it up, you can see more details at RealClimate.org and the Australian Science Media Centre.
I’m not sure why the ABC aired such an out-of-date documentary: Tim Flannery suggested it’s for ratings, while Crikey.com.au believes it’s due to political pressure.
Studio Debate
I was more interested in the studio debate after the documentary was aired. Tony Jones hosted a panel of scientists, industry leaders and media people. They covered the science, the UK response to the doco, and the business response to global warming.
Prof. David Karoly (climate scientist) and Prof. Bob Carter (geologist, denialist) had most of the discussion, arguing over statistics and data. Karoly had a lot of energy and evidence, while Carter repeated points from the film which were easily rebutted. Ray Evans (Lavoisier Group, denialist) ranted about how pathetic the coal industry is to cave in to the environmentalists – Dr Nikki Williams, representing coal interests, gave him a killer look at that point! She’s in favour of preventing global warming, but her main aim was good PR for the coal industry.
Then it was time for questions from the audience. Unfortunately, many of the people in the studio weren’t there to debate or ask questions, they just wanted to air their own kooky theories (Larvatus Prodeo has the YouTube video of it). There were rambling statements about carbon-14 isotopes from a creationist; and a few people saying that all environmentalists are into eugenics – I’m told they’re followers of a guy called Larouche. My favourite was the student (of astrophysics, music and “physical economics”, another Larouche-ian) who rambled incoherently about Johannes Kepler and Plato. The more sensible audience members asked panelists to clarify things they’d said earlier, or made statements about how they’re not scientists but they believe the planet is getting warmer and they’d like someone to fix it, please.
After the debate, Lateline interviewed Dr Carl Wunsch, a scientist who says the documentary misrepresented him. He had his comments cut from the film, and has threatened legal action against Durkin. I think he was naive to not check what he was contributing to before being interviewed, because Durkin already has a reputation for dodgy “science” and misrepresenting people on film. Wunsch is certainly wiser now.
It was an interesting night of tv, but I don’t know that it’s had any benefit for the Australian public. The denialists are still convinced there’s a left-wing conspiracy, and those of us who are more sensible will still be switching our light-bulbs and recycling our rubbish.
Oz in 30 Seconds
Are you sick of the negative campaigns run by politicians during election season? If so, you’ve got something in common with the members of GetUp!.org.au. They decided that this year the public should have their own political ads describing what they want for Australia’s future. They’re running a competition called Oz in 30 Seconds, where people make their own 30-second advertisements about political issues (campaigning for specific parties was not allowed). The winning video will be shown on tv in Australia during the election campaign.
It’s too late to submit your own entry, but there’s still time for you to rate any of the videos now up on their site. The 8 highest-rated and the 2 most-viewed videos become the shortlist of 10 advertisements which will be judged by a panel. The winning video will be announced on 1st August, so make sure you get your votes in before then.
There are plenty of ads about the environment and climate change. Other topics include the Iraq war, WorkChoices, housing affordability and social justice issues. Most of the ads are of good quality, and some are pretty funny. Check out the videos and let Oz in 30 Seconds know which ones you like best using the “Watch and Vote” page.
Some of the environmental ones I like so far are Seeds of Tomorrow, One Does, and They’ll be stuffed, featuring some cute stuffed animals. If you find any environment ones you like, why not leave me a comment with a link to it?
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