Author Archive: roman

Friends of the Earth Adelaide > Articles by: roman

Renewables campaign meeting Saturday

May 25, 2018

Just a reminder for those interested in campaigning on climate & renewables: there’s a meeting at 3pm this Saturday, May 26th, in the common room at Christie Walk (entry via 101 Sturt St). We’ve launched The Playford Declaration, and will be looking at how to promote it and what areas we might want to campaign on in the next few months.

Please RSVP by contacting Roman (email: roman.orszanski@foe.org.au, mob: 0424447817) if you’re interested in the campaign and/or are coming along to the meeting. Up for discussion: the declaration, low cost renewables for the poor, gas fracking, divestment, and a ban on fossil fuels.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Climate, Renewables

Why we must ban secret corporate courts from trade deals

May 14, 2018

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is a dispute resolution method included in hundreds of trade and investment agreements designed to give exclusive legal protection to foreign companies investing abroad, giving them the right to sue host governments in a private tribunal over any perceived breach of the rules around the treatment of investors. This secret corporate court system is system is a threat to Australia’s democracy and environment and we believe it should be banned.

Click here to read in full Friends of the Earth’s briefing on The case for banning Investor State Dispute Settlement in Australia

ISDS allows Foreign investors can bypass domestic courts and have their case heard by three arbitrators who decide whether the host state is liable to pay huge sums in compensation. The origins of the provisions came from the need to protect companies against the seizure of their assets by host states, for example a mine being nationalised without just compensation. Investment agreements have since evolved to include the values of non-discrimination, prohibition of performance requirements, fair and equitable treatment and free movement of capital, and most controversially, indirect expropriation, in which any government measure perceived to affect the actual or expected profits can be challenged.

Read more at https://www.foe.org.au/secret_corporate_courts_from_trade_deals

Adelaide FoE Notes, Environmental Law, trade

Hands Across the Sand: Semaphore, May 19

May 14, 2018

Let’s join together at Semaphore beach, to celebrate our coasts and oceans and send a message to say no to risky and dirty deep sea drilling in the Great Australian Bight and yes to a clean energy future.

Our climate is being pushed beyond it’s bounds – it’s up to us to stand together and demonstrate that a safe and healthy environmental future is the only outcome we will settle for.

You can help us to create a symbolic barrier along the shore to call for the protection of the unique and pristine Great Australian Bight.
Email sa.info@wilderness.org.au for more information

Help us by posting your photos from Hands Across the Sand on social media and tag @Great Australian Bight Alliance plus use hashtags#JoinHANDS #fightfortheBight #underwaterwilderness #unitetheBight

As we want to leave as smaller footprint as possible, please consider catching public transport or riding along the beautiful beach-side shared bike path.

Actions, Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Climate, Mining

The Energy Transition

May 14, 2018

At the recent visit by Bill McKibben for 350.org, FoE Adelaide released The Playford Declaration. It says, in part, the following:

Here in South Australia we are in the midst of an energy transition
from fossil fuels to renewables plus storage.

We applaud what the former State Government has achieved in the construction of renewables and battery storage; the solar subsidy it announced for low income citizens; and the planned move to overlapping local grids to provide a robust network.

While South Australia is well on target to hit its plan for 50% renewables, and predicted to reach 73% renewables by 2025, it is still funding the search for more gas fields, fails to oppose oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight, and is still considering unconventional gas and fracking in the north and south-east of the state.

It makes no sense to search for new fossil fuels which we cannot burn if we hope to contain warming to at most the 1.5 – 2 degrees we pledged for the Paris Agreement.

We need to recognise that the Energy transition is not yet complete.

Premier Thomas Playford in the mid 1940s shifted our energy system to use brown coal from Leigh Creek.
We need visionary politicians who realise that we need to both rapidly move to 100% renewable energy,
and to stop burning fossil fuels.

We call upon current and would-be politicians (and Premiers!) to take inspiration from Playford’s example and commit to a just, socially equitable energy transition: support not only a rapid move to renewables but also stop the support and funding of fossil fuels, whether for domestic use or export, for the sake of the state, the nation, and the planet.

Read the full declaration at adelaidefoe.org/jet/ or download the Energy-DeclarationFinal

If you’re interested in working on the renewables transition campaign, there’s a meeting for FoE members and supporters at the common room at Christie Walk (entry off 101 sturt st) from 3pm on Saturday, May 26th.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Climate, Divestment, Renewables, Sustainability