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Campaign updatesClimate change is proving the existenceof a parallel universe. In the real universe, thissummer’s annual melt of the arctic ice sheetbroke records, and exceeded the gloomiest ofall forecasts. Compared to the 1979–2000 summeraverage, an area of ice the size of Tasmania,Victoria, New South Wales and Queenslandcombined, is missing.In the unreal parallel universe of Australianpolitics, Tony Abbott blamed the carbon taxfor the decision by BHP to shelve its massivenew uranium mine at Olympic dam. BHP didnot even mention the carbontax, instead pointing at ‘fallingcommodity prices’ (meaning,uranium is not worth asmuch as it was since Fukushima).It’s impossible to believethese wildly juxtaposed eventstook place in the same week.ACF chooses to work withthe real universe. Campaigningfor more renewables usingtop shelf research, taking itstraight to the politicians, andworking with other groupslike the 100% renewables campaignto ensure that our politiciansface a wall of pressure toincrease the renewable energytarget. It’s no easy feat — industrysuits are wandering the corridors of parliamenttrying to explain why weakening therenewable target is a good thing. But we havesomething they don’t — the support of millionsof Australians who vote.In the real universe renewable energy is givingold, dirty fossil fuels a thrashing. The priceof coal went up 500% in the last decade, whilethe cost of solar power has dropped by 75% inthe last four years and 45% in the last 12 months.Over four million Australians now have solaron their rooftop. In the United States, over 120coal fired power stations have been shut downin the last few years. By next year 850 Millionpeople will be living in countries with a carbonprice. Change is happening in the real universe,and it’s inspiring.For updates visit:www.acfonline.org.au/climate-changeTony MohrClimate changeprogram managerDr Paul SinclairHealthy ecosystemsprogram managerFor updates visit:www. acfonline.org.au/be-informedIf your friends think you’re in the middle of reading Australia’slast State of the Environment Report (SOE), chances areyou won’t get many invites to dinner or the local pub.Don’t let that deter you. Take it slowly. A good option is tostart by looking at the SOE maps. The results of your investigationwill be startling.You’ll see that on one hand, the fertile crescents of south eastand south west Australia are critical to producing food and sustainingmillions of Australians. On the other, the soils, vegetation,rivers, wetlands and estuaries of these crescents are the most degradedand degrading on the continent.Is there a greater threat to Australia’s long-term prosperity?There’s a delusion spruiked by public relation consultants thatsociety has to choose between jobs or the environment. You’llhear that delusion playing out in debates over the Murray DarlingBasin, Australia’s fledgling national network of marine protectedareas or Tassie forests.But there are more Australians now who recognise the ‘jobsversus environment’ story as fairy tale. These people might voteLiberal, Labor, National, Green or few in between. They live allover the country. I met a few people the other week on a beautifulNSW estuary trying to do just that.They were working hard to make a big difference to their rivers,towns, farms, forests and estuaries. They were successfullyfinding ways to really value the tangible ‘hold in your hand’ benefitsprovided by their local environment — clean water, healthysoils and lifestyles — and the intrinsic wealth represented in abeautiful landscape and migrating sea turtles.One of the optimistic developments out of the Rio +20 EnvironmentConference was the production of a natural capital declaration.A dozen or so big financial institutions signed on to thedeclaration, committing to integrate natural capital — like Australia’ssoils, wetlands, forests and estuaries — into loan, investmentor insurance decisions.Lots of people now seemwilling to value the connectionsbetween ourselves, ourfuture, nature and the promiseof a decent economy. Findingpractical ways of buildingthese connections should be asource of great hope.We’ve got to keep workingtogether to secure and replenishthe power of these environmentsso they can keepsustaining our livelihoodsand wellbeing. If we’re successfulit could mean that afuture SOE report will showmaps documenting the risinghealth of Australia’s fertilecrescents, and make for betterdinner party patter. Thatwould be worth celebrating.30 habitat
Climate change · Healthy ecosystems · Northern Australia · Sustainable AustraliaAndrew PiconeNorthern Australiaprogram managerFor updates visit:www. acfonline.org.au/northern-AustraliaIt occurred to me the other day; we use the word ‘economy’more than we say ‘ecology.’The way we communicate with media, our dialogue withpoliticians, and our in our material, we are always articulatingour belief that sound environmental policy pays a long-term economicreturn.Whether we’re talking about James Price Point in the Kimberley,World Heritage on Cape York Peninsula or uranium inKakadu, there are always complex social and economic considerationsthat cannot be ignored.To effectively engage in environmental issues across the north,or anywhere for that matter, requires a solid understanding ofthe unique set of social and economic circumstances faced acrossvarious regions. In every aspect of our work, we look to ensureconservation outcomes manifest as opportunity for culturallyand environmentally appropriate economic development.This is particularly important for remote and Indigenouscommunities.In August this year, we released out third Investor Alert onWoodside’s Browse LNG project at currently proposed for JamesPrice Point. ACF economist Simon O’Connor suggests the time isright for Woodside to look elsewhere, and grab a life raft.In plain language, it will cost too much to build an industrialgas processing hub above the red cliffs at James Price Point. Thiseconomic reality, combined with the cultural and environmentalimpacts of the proposed gas hub and community opposition,make it a bad investment.The key to our engagementhowever, is that we are workingto ensure royalties promisedto Kimberley TraditionalOwners form the inevitable exploitationof the Browse Basin,flow to the region despite processingoccurring somewheremore appropriate. In partnershipwith Traditional Owners,we are calling for the establishmentof a trust fund that supportsa range of Indigenousinitiatives including land management,tourism, the arts andcultural practices.ACF’s involvement in protectingthe Kimberley is asmuch about social equity ineconomic opportunity as it isabout the region’s outstandingnatural and cultural heritage.Building on the theme of the lasthabitat update, I continue to ponder how wecan deal with the challenges in our cities, andtruly learn to live within our ecological means.Thanks to all those who wrote to me to continuethe dialogue.In his correspondence, Anthony James proposedthe techno optimists view, that technologyhas always and will always improve ourlives, is left wanting and recommended DavidOwen’s latest book The Conundrum. He said,“We need to engage not just politically but alsowith our ‘whole selves’ ... with what makesus more wise, compassionate, sensitive andthoughtful people living in and as nature”.Harry Johnson wrote that we need to bemindful of the manufacturing inputs that gointo every product: material, energy, water, aswell as air and water pollution and landfillwaste and post-consumerwaste. He quoted from PaulHawken, ‘We must take less[from the Earth], make less,waste less and want less’.This brings me to the ongoingtheme of cities and how welive within them. More than50% of the world’s populationnow residing in cities — aprofound shift for the humanspecies from rural-centred tourban-centred. How do we engagecommunities in co-creatingour future cities?These ‘wicked’ problemsneed to be faced and until ourglobal and local and virtualcommunities have a sharedunderstanding of the problemswe face, finding solutionsthat are commensuratewith the challenge, will be almost impossible.As Alan AtKisson, author and sustainabilityconsultant, has said, “For me, sustainabilitywork today means … continuing to move asfast as possible to change the course of that exponentialgrowth rocket, to avoid or reduce asmuch collapse as possible, indeed create somethingbetter. But we also need to be preparingfor, and engaging in — from a whole-system,sustainability perspective — the world that actuallyis emerging. Whatever that world is”.Monica RichterSustainable Australiaprogram managerTO continue the dialogue:m.richter@acfonline.org.auhabitat31
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