Old_Notes

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Biden pledges to slash emissions by at least half by 2030, Japan and Canada follow suit

April 23, 2021

In one of the landmark moments of the decades-long climate debate, Biden’s commitment to cut emissions from 2005 levels by 50-52 per cent by 2030 came as he hosted more than 40 world leaders in an online two-day summit designed to re-boot efforts to deliver on the Paris climate treaty.

[…]The US pledge was designed to encourage others to follow suit. “We have to take action, all of us,” Biden said. “Countries that take decisive action now will be the ones that benefit from it. Time is short. We really have no choice, we have to get this done.”

It was quickly followed by news that Japan and Canada – often peers of Australia in the global “naughty corner” for dragging their heals on emissions – would follow the US example by increasing their targets.

Japan, one of the biggest customers of Australia’s fossil fuel exports, said it would increase its 2030 emissions reduction target to a 46 per cent per cent cut from 2013 levels – from its previous target of 26 per cent.

Prime minister Yoshihide Suga told the summit this was equivalent to a 70 per cent increase in its climate targets. He said the focus would be on decarbonising the power supply and increasing its use of renewable energy. Read: Japan’s pivot to renewables will kick Australian exports right in the thermals

Read the details in the Article by Giles Parkinson on the RenewEconomy website.

Old_Notes

‘Junk agroecology’: How corporations are co-opting peoples’ solutions to the food crisis

October 27, 2020

FoE International reports:

A new report launched October 13th exposes how agribusiness corporations like Nestle, Cargill, Unilever and Pepsico, together with the World Economic Forum, are using public private ‘sustainable agriculture’ initiatives to promote an environmentally and socially destructive model of food production, while undermining genuinely sustainable food systems and their democratic governance. With the backing of some high profile conservation NGOs, global agribusiness giants are using these initiatives to co-opt and weaken concepts of ‘sustainability’ and ‘agroecology’, allowing them to pursue a corporate profit-driven agenda and shape global public food policy in their interest.

“Junk Agroecology: The corporate capture of agroecology for a partial ecological transition without social justice” examines three high profile public-private initiatives:

  • “Sustainable Agriculture Initiative” (SAI);
  • “New Vision for Agriculture” (NVA);
  • “New Food and Land Use Economy Coalition” (FOLU).

It is published during a UN Committee on World Food Security virtual meeting in which world leaders are discussing how to transform global food systems and tackle the devastating impacts of COVID-19.(1)

“Under the umbrella of public-private initiatives such as SAI, NVA and FOLU, global agrifood corporations are attempting to portray themselves as holding the solutions to problems they played a key role in creating. Their ‘junk agroecology’ allows them to continue profiting without addressing the socio-economic, political and ecological injustices on which the agrifood system is based, or the exclusionary and short-sighted ideology that legitimises it.”
— Katie Sandwell from the Transnational Institute (TNI).

More details at FoE International

Food, Old_Notes

Adelaide FoE meeting this Thursday at 6pm

October 27, 2020

David Noonan is our guest speaker at this meeting, talking about matters nuclear: the waste dump and Olympic dam mine.

BHP now faces a $6.3 billion (US dollars) law-suit in the UK on behalf of 200,000 Brazilian people. The case alleges the Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP was “woefully negligent” in the run-up to the 2015 dam failure that led to Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.

Mayors of two towns wiped out by the Samarco disaster assert that BHP has been using delaying tactics to avoid paying compensation to thousands of people affected by the flood of tailings waste.

There have long been calls from environmentalists and others for Australian mining companies to be required to apply Australian standards to their overseas mining operations. The logic is sound given the often inadequate practices of Australian mining companies overseas.

But the logic is also a little shaky given that mining standards in Australia leave much room for improvement. Olympic Dam is a case in point.

BHP orchestrated approval in 2019 for a massive new tailings dam at Olympic Dam ? Tailings Storage Facility 6 (TSF6). This tailings dam is to be built in the same risky ‘upstream’ design that featured in both the Samarco disaster and the January 2019 Vale Brumadinho tailings dam disaster that killed over 250 people – mainly mine workers ? in Brazil.
— “BHP betrays international safety efforts” by Dr Jim Green and David Noonan, in The Ecologist

Zoom details: FoE Adelaide meeting
Time: Thursday, Oct 29, 2020 6:00pm Adelaide
Part One: Guest Speaker David Noonan, talking about Nukes — Oct 29, 2020 6:00pm Adelaide time
<tea break> 6:40-6:50
Part Two: Oct 29, 2020 6:50pm More discussion with David,
followed by details of the Transforming SA document,
and a discussion of FoE Adelaide activities.

Come along! It’ll be good to see you.

… Read more >>

Nuclear, Old_Notes

Do you want to help?

October 21, 2020

We’ve noted a few tasks with which we’d like some help from members.

Specifically, we’re looking for people who can contribute their time and knowledge to the following:

  • Drafting an SA version of transforming VIc
    — there are sections on food, transport, energy etc which need local examples of action in SA added
  • Writing content for the Adelaide FoE website
  • Looking after our facebook page and responding to queries
  • Preparing leaflets/banners for upcoming events

We will discuss this further in part two of the online meeting Oct 29th, or you can contact the secretary at adelaide_office@foe.org.au

Old_Notes

Dumplings not Dumps

November 25, 2019

Everyone likes dumplings, but no one likes dumps.

The Federal government is trying to impose a radioactive waste dump in South Australia, despite State legislation that makes them illegal, opposition from Traditional Owners and a truly flawed plan that’s done nothing but cost money and divide communities.

Please support the communities of the Flinders Ranges and Kimba by sending a submission to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

Get friends, family and co-workers together, eat dumplings and say NO to nuclear waste in SA and host a “Dumplings not Dumps” session.

Better yet, if you’re in Adeliade, bring your laptop and write yours on the night while having a dumpling dinner.
Where: The Joinery, 111 Franklin St, Adelaide
When: 6pm – 8pm
Date: Monday 25th November
Faceboook event

 

dumpling noun

dump·?ling | \ ?d?mp-li?

Definition of dumpling

1.

  1. a small mass of dough cooked by boiling or steaming
  2. a usually baked dessert of fruit wrapped in dough

2

: something soft and rounded like a dumpling

especially : a short fat person or animal

  

dump noun

\ ?d?mp  \ dumped; dumping; dumps

Definition of dump

1

  1. an accumulation of refuse and discarded materials
  2. a place where such materials are dumped

2

  1. a quantity of reserve materials accumulated at one place
  2. a place where such materials are stored ammunition dump
  3. a disorderly, slovenly, or objectionable place
  4. an instance of dumping data stored in a computer
  5. often vulgar : an act of defecation —usually used with take

Write a submission to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science

  • Write submissions against the radioactive waste dump proposed for SA
  • All the info you need to write a submission is at www.foe.org.au/have_your_say
  • You can use this online proforma and either use the existing text or edit to suit or you can write your own submission
  • Submissions are due by 12th December 2019

Eat dumplings, have fun

Dumpling options: There are so many types to choose from – momos, wontons, ravioli, kreplach, pierogi, gnocchi, Jamaican patties, gyoza, knishes, empanadas, samosas and more.… Read more >>

Nuclear, Old_Notes