FoE Adelaide Annual Report 2014/15

August 13, 2015

Friends of the Earth Adelaide has two main collectives.  The Fair Food Adelaide collective works on food sovereignty issues including March Against Monsanto, and the Clean Futures Collective focuses on Mining and Energy; and is pro-renewables, anti-nuclear and anti-fracking.

Fair Food Adelaide

This financial year Fair Food Adelaide focussed on events for Fair Food Week held each October where we held two events – a bicycle community garden tour, and a forum on food poverty co-hosted with Foodbank SA. After a local food Long Table lunch and an end of year picnic, we’ve had a quieter 2015 as two of our main organisers have had to step down due to new jobs.  Our monthly Urban Orchard food swap is continuing, and instead of rallying on the anniversary of the first March Against Monsanto we wrote letters to SA’s Agriculture Minister to congratulate him on standing strong to continue SA’s GM moratorium and championing soil improvement rather than GMO crops.  We also lobbied the federal Agriculture Minister and Health Minister asking them to ban the weedkiller Roundup (glyphosate) in light of the recent announcement by the World Health Organisation that it probably causes cancer. We have received replies from Barnaby Joyce saying the approval status of glyphosate is under review.  We are also collecting signatures for a petition to Bunnings asking them to stop stocking the neonicotinoid pesticides that harm bees. We also work with the GM-Free Australia Alliance as one of its member groups. Member Kim Hill hosted workshop on The End of Agriculture at the Students of Sustainability conference in July.

We’ll continue to keep members up to date with information on our Facebook page, Facebook group, googlegroup and website.

See www.facebook.com/fairfoodadelaide and www.facebook.com/groups/MarchAgainstMonsantoAdelaide

Sign up for our fortnightly e-newsletter at the bottom left side of our home page www.adelaide.foe.org.au .

Clean Futures Collective

The Clean Futures Collective regrouped and decided to become more active in the area of renewables as an alternative to nuclear energy early in the year – just in time for the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel “Cycle” to come along.  Our Premier Jay Weatherill thinks this is a way forward for the state with jobs and a solution to climate change that will help the economy – we strongly disagree with him and want to see a renewable future. The Royal Commission has taken up most of the group’s time since February. We have hired a part-time Campaigner for 6 months  to November and are meeting weekly to progress plans. We have a major fundraising appeal to extend the campaign to the end of the Royal Commission. We made two submissions into the Commission’s Terms of Reference, attended each of the three Adelaide based community ‘consultations’ and are currently writing submissions for each of the four issues papers on uranium mining, enrichment, electricity and nuclear waste.  Unfortunately the Adelaide Advertiser seems to be part of the formidable pro-nuclear campaign running articles with extremely biased and factually incorrect information such as nuclear power can provide free energy and abolish state taxes!  It has been very difficult to counter such propaganda with actual cold hard technical and economic facts.

We are working closely with the Conservation Council of SA and Nuclear Operations Watch Port Adelaide (NOWPA) and are an active part of the newly formed statewide anti-nuclear coalition. We also work closely with FOE Australia’s nuclear free campaigner Dr Jim Green. Once the Royal Commission submissions are complete by early August we will move towards more community campaigning against the nuclear fuel chain.  So far we’ve worked with the SA anti-nuclear coalition contributing to a fundraising poetry-slam picnic, a remembrance media conference on Fukushima Day March 11th, were part of a nuclear-free contingent at the March in March rally, held stalls at nuclear forums, supported Aboriginal people at a nuclear free forum in Port Augusta, and member Dr Philip White held a nuclear power workshop at Students of Sustainability conference along with Dr Jim Green. We participated in the ANFA led banner drop at SOS, and an action in Rundle Mall to support Aboriginal people around community closures/protecting the Murray River/protecting country from the nuclear industry.

We also made submissions to the Senate Inquiries into Wind Farms and the SA Inquiry into gas fracking.  We co-hosted a film evening with the Conservation Council, screening “Farmlands not Gaslands” about the success of the Victorian community campaign to keep their farmland free of gas fracking.

Members and friends can keep up to date with progress via our googlegroup, fortnightly e-newsletter, general Facebook page and website.

See www.facebook.com/friendsoftheearthadelaide and www.adelaide.foe.org.au

Sign up for our fortnightly e-newsletter at the bottom left side of our home page.

Contact Secretary Robyn Wood robyn.wood@foe.org.au for more information about either collective.

PDF version FOE Adelaide Report 2014-15

 

Clean Futures, Climate, FoE, Mining, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications, Renewables, Reports, Sustainability, Weapons proliferation

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Energy Storage Opportunities for SA – Monday 17 August

August 13, 2015

People interested in renewable energy storage may like to attend this Alternative Technology Association event:

ATA Adelaide Branch Meeting – Energy Storage Opportunities for SA

When: Monday, August 17

Time: 7.30pm sharp

Where: Goodwood Community Centre (Banquet Hall), 32/34 Rosa St, Goodwood. Goodwood Community Centre is convenient to the tram, buses and train. Enter the car park via Florence St.

Cost: ATA members $2, non-members $5. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

Presenter: Dean Spaccavento of Reposit Power

South Australia enjoys a high penetration of solar energy but electricity consumers pay high electricity prices by world standards. We have a volatile energy market and energy companies pay very high spot prices to generators when demand is high. All of this makes solar, energy storage and intelligent control a more attractive prospect for SA than elsewhere.

Dean will speak about the GridCredits software that allows householders to trade on the energy market. Using parameters such as a home’s energy consumption habits, weather, grid demand and future energy prices, the software automatically decides whether it’s advantageous for a system to store the solar energy or sell to the grid, allowing the household to profit. GridCredits is integrated into Tesla’s Powerwall battery storage system.

Dean has considerable technical expertise in the Australian, North American and Asian-Pacific electrical supply industries.

Other events

Adelaide Cleantech Network will hold their Tonsley Tour and refreshments on August 26 at 4pm. Click herefor details and free registration. Presentations include new Siemens facility.

Adelaide Sustainable Building Network: Graeme Hopkins and Janelle Arbon will present on Connecting with Nature on August 26, 6.30-8.30pm at 87 Gibson St, Bowden. Details and registration:https://guestlistapp.com/events/338700

Q&A

ATA meetings put people with questions in touch with people who might have answers. The Q&A session is an open discussion about sustainability topics.

ATA Adelaide Branch meetings are open to ATA members and non-members. They aim to be informative and interactive in helping people learn about living and building sustainably. We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

ATA Adelaide Branch Committee & Steve Jenkins, Convenor.

Phone: 0418 852 234.

Clean Futures, Renewables, Sustainability

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Media Release: Nuclear is the wrong direction for SA

August 13, 2015

MEDIA RELEASE     13 August 2015

Three leading environmental organisations – Conservation SA, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of the Earth, Australia – have submitted a detailed joint submission to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission which forensically details an extensive series of nuclear myths and false assumptions.

“South Australia’s future lies in renewable energy, not nuclear.  It’s cheaper, safer and quicker to roll out,” said Conservation SA Chief Executive Craig Wilkins.

“This week’s axing of hundreds of jobs from Olympic Dam should raise huge questions about growth potential in the nuclear industry. With renewables, we can be in charge of our own destiny, not dependent on decisions made in corporate boardrooms on the other side of the world,” he said.

“Much of the nuclear promotion in SA is premised on the idea of a global nuclear ‘renaissance’, said lead submission author Dr Jim Green. “In fact, the nuclear renaissance is stone cold dead.

There are fewer reactors now than there were a decade ago. Nuclear fuel cycle markets for enrichment, conversion and fuel fabrication are oversupplied. And as the continuing job losses at Olympic Dam demonstrate, the uranium market is extremely weak and will remain so for years,” he said.

As well as highlighting the contested and constrained status of the current nuclear sector the 248 page report makes a compelling case that the industry’s future will be no brighter.

“So-called Generation 3 reactors projects such as the French EPR and Westinghouse AP1000 are in trouble, with multi-year delays and multi-billion dollar cost blowouts,” said Dr Green. “So-called Generation 4 reactors are decades away and, as a recent report by the French government concludes, safety claims made by Generation 4 advocates do not stand up to scrutiny.”

Many environment, public health and Aboriginal groups have expressed concern that the Royal Commission is being used by the nuclear industry as a Trojan Horse in an attempt to open national and international radioactive waste dumps in SA.

“Australia has yet to find a lasting, responsible solution to domestic radioactive waste so it beggars belief that some are promoting Australia as the solution to the world’s nuclear waste problems. Proponents of a deep underground nuclear waste dump in Australia have been coy about the fact that the world’s only deep underground nuclear dump – in the US state of New Mexico – has been shut down following a February 2014 explosion,” Dr Green concluded.

Attachment 1: Two page submission briefing.

Attachment 2: Joint submission to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission by Conservation SA, Australian Conservation Foundation, and Friend­­s of the Earth, Australia.

Contacts:

Craig Wilkins:­ 0417 879 439

Dr Jim Green: 0417 318 368

Clean Futures, FoE, Media releases, Mining, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Reports, Weapons proliferation

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FoE Submissions to the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel “Cycle”

August 13, 2015

Friends of the Earth Adelaide have been busy the last few months preparing submissions to the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle.

The issues papers are on the Royal Commission website along with many others.

Issues Paper 1: Exploration, Extraction and Milling

FOE Issues Paper 1: Mining Expansion Submission Final July 2015

Appendix 2 Pt Augusta Statement

 Issues Paper 2: Further Processing and Manufacturing

FOE Issues Paper 2: Enrich-Final
Issues Paper 3: Electricity Generation

FOE Issues Paper 3: Electricity Generation Final July 2015

Appendix 1: Nuclear Power – Still Not Viable Without Subsidies

report by the Union of Concerned Scientists

 Issues Paper 4: Management, Storage and Disposal of Waste

FOE Issues Paper 4: Nuclear Waste Submission

Appendix 1 Pt Augusta Statement

CFC member Philip White’s individual submission addressing Issues Paper 3: Philip White Submission

Clean Futures, FoE, Mining, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications, Renewables, Reports, Weapons proliferation

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CANE Update

August 11, 2015

FOE Adelaide has of late been focused on critical engagement with the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. Submissions have been made on all four of the Issues Papers, which cover the four areas the Royal Commission is tasked to consider – the expansion of uranium mining, nuclear energy generation, processing and waste storage. Last month our anti-nuclear campaigner travelled to Copley to attend a community meeting about the Royal Commission and to support submission drafting. FOE Adelaide has also been convening the anti-nuclear coalition meetings, held every 3 – 4 weeks at Mad Mouse Alley.

FOE has communicated to the Royal Commission concerns regarding various issues that have arisen since the Royal Commission was announced that seriously undermine its claimed impartiality, including:

• The lack of balance on the Royal Commissions Expert Advisory Committee between proponents and critics of the nuclear industry

• The pecuniary interests in nuclear related companies of the Royal Commissioner and some of his staff

• The potential conflict of interest of Expert Advisory Committee member Tim Stone, who is non-executive director of Horizon Nuclear Power, a UK nuclear energy company, and wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi

• The restrictive and formalistic submissions process, including the requirement that they are signed by a Justice of the Peace

• Failure to produce the Issues Papers in any Aboriginal language, despite the fact that the nuclear industry disproportionately affects Aboriginal communities in South Australia, and that in some Aboriginal communities English is not spoken as a first language

• A factual error in Issues Paper 1, misrepresenting the legal framework of Aboriginal Heritage in South Australia, and completely omitting any reference to the extraordinary legal exemptions enjoyed by BHP Billiton at its Olympic Dam mine and the surrounding area, which would also apply to any future expansion by the company

FoE, Old_Notes