Author Archive: roman

6.00-8.30pm Tuesday 20th October (food available, Welcome to Country 6.20pm)

Allan Scott Auditorium, Hawke Building, UniSA, 55 North Terrace

Climate Councillor Professor Lesley Hughes joins a Panel of Faith Leaders – Rev Dr Lynn Arnold (Anglican), Tom Price (Bah’ai), Jacqui Remond (Catholic Earthcare Australia), Imam Ensar Cutahija (Muslim) and John Seed (Buddhist).

Inaction on climate change implies injustice on a vast scale and directly threatens core values of our faith, such as peace, justice, care and equality. This interactive free forum will leave you feeling empowered and motivated.

Further information online on Multifaith SA website  http://multifaithsa.org.au/upcoming or

Please Register here:  https://www.eventbrite.com.au/myevent?eid=18455709524

An Evening Workshop with John Seed

Monday 19th October 2015

5.30 – 7.30pm, at The Village Well,

54  Strathalbyn Road, Aldgate

Deep Ecology is a philosophy of nature that sees “anthropocentrism” or human-centeredness as the root cause of our illusion of separation from Nature and thus our ecological woes.

Philosophy professor Arne Naess coined the term, claiming that “Ecological ideas are not enough – we need ecological identity, ecological self”.

In this workshop, John Seed will describe some of the experiential processes that help us break through this illusion of separation and allow us to deepen our felt connection with the living Earth and nourish our ecological identity.

He will then look at the relationship between spirituality and ecology and the ecological shoots in all major religions, particularly Buddhism.

For Information, contact: Philippa Rowland 0429 828412 philippa.rowland@gmail.com

(Gold coin donation appreciated for venue hire)

Grateful acknowledgement to Tommy Tang for  image Buddha’s head surrounded by tree roots, Ayutthaya

You might have seen some of the reports about a new government leaflet talking about radicalisation; here’s what the Guardian said about it::

The Australian government has used an environmental activist who became involved in the “alternative music scene” as an example of violent extremism, in a booklet aimed at helping teachers identify students who are becoming radicalised and linked to terrorism.

The Radicalisation Awareness Kit was launched this week by Michael Keenan, the justice minister and minister assisting the prime minister on counter-terrorism, to help teachers look out for signs of radicalisation in their students.

The booklet warns that people can become motivated to be violent by particular ideologies such as “environmental or economic concerns, or ethnic or separatist causes”.

I particularly like the mention of the “alternative music scene”…

One would have hoped that the removal of Abbott would curb such nonsense…

Cam Walker, from FoE Australia, reports:

We had our ‘day in court’ yesterday [Sept 21], appearing at the House of Reps hearing into green groups.

We had a solid and well prepared team at the table: Sam Castro, Julien Vincent, Nicola Paris and myself.

We had a fantastic support team, who helped us prepare (thanks to Ben Courtice for the research, Andrew Laird for channeling his inner George Christensen and grilling us with lots of hard questions, Leigh for media strategy, Phil for great images, and many people like Lou Sales and John Glue, who commented on drafts of our presentation).

And lots of people turned up at the hearing to support us.

Then we had the ‘defend the defenders’ rally outside the hearings, which had an awesome turnout. We had a great presence at that – nice visuals from yes 2 renewables, and Phil even handing out membership forms!

Pics here: https://www.facebook.com/events/430687940462368/

I think we presented really well, we mostly controlled the frame of the debate and questions, and they got no ammo to use against us. Strangely, the arch nasty, George Christensen delivered a very lacklustre performance. The many months spent on responding to ATO and Dept investigations paid off, as we were able to remind the committee we have been investigated 3 times, and been found to be compliant each time.

There’s a bit of commentary here: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/21/green-groups-call-on-malcolm-turnbull-to-keep-tax-deductible-status

Its certainly not over, but we are past a watershed moment in the government’s campaign against the movement. Thanks everyone, we pulled together and done good.

onwards

Cam Walker,

Campaigns Coordinator

An interesting review of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2015 (WNISR 2015) in the current Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Nuclear heavyweights. In both France and Japan, two of the three countries with the largest installed nuclear capacity (the United States is number one), the nuclear industry is in deep trouble. Although Japan still has 40 reactors that are counted as installed capacity, none of them operated in 2014. It was the first time in 50 years that Japan was without nuclear electricity for an entire calendar year. And no lights went out. As of today, it appears likely that two reactors, at most, will restart in Japan this year.

In France, long the world’s role model for how to successfully develop nuclear energy, the National Assembly passed an energy bill that defines a target to reduce nuclear’s share of the electricity mix from three-quarters to half by 2025. The French state-controlled energy group Areva—the self-proclaimed global leader in nuclear energy—went technically bankrupt after reporting massive losses for four years in a row. Credit-rating agencies have downgraded Areva’s long-term debt to “junk,” and the company’s share price plunged to a record low earlier this month, a level 90 percent below its record high in 2007.