Country People Love Renewable Energy

A new survey has shown that country people are even keener than their city cousins for the development of renewable energy.


In rural areas, 85% of people want the government to "make clean energy cheaper quicker, through large scale development of solar, geothermal and wind power in urban and regional Australia". In the city the figure is 82%. Either way, it seems Australians want leadership on renewable energy.

Here Are Some Ideas

At a time when our leaders seem to lack ideas for tackling climate change, Graham Readfern compiled this list of 10 ideas that other countries have put into action.

Apart from possibly being a great 'cheat sheet' for our leaders, it also goes to show how far other nations are ahead of Australia in tackling climate change.

Help For Making Units Greener

It can sometimes seem harder to make changes when you're in a unit block rather than a house. But there are also greater gains to be made when apartment buildings becomes more sustainable.


Green Strata is an online resource, specifically relating to apartment buildings, where you can see what others have done - learn and discuss what you can do - or share what you have done.

EzyGreen Freebies

Today i signed up with the EzyGreen program (run by Brisbane City Council's CitySmart group).


So shortly i should be receiving my free energy-saving powerboard that helps reduce wasteful stand-by power (10% of home electricity). I'll let you know how it goes.

True Green Home

True Green Home is the followup to True Green and gives 100 tips for creating a greener home.


Not all of the tips are directly related to reducing carbon emissions, but the ones that do are very good. This is a handy read for anyone building or renovating a home - and is even useful if you're just looking to run your home a bit greener.

Balloon Ratings

Like the ACF scorecard, the Climate Institute has published its own election ratings of the party's policies. As i write, the greens policies are 2 and a half stars better than the next best party.


Of course, looking at the policies of the two L parties, it's hard not to make the obvious balloon-themed jokes about hot air, wind and drifting along aimlessly. :)

Climate Change Tops Triple J Poll

Triple J (and it's news program Hack) tends to attract younger listeners, so it was great to see this poll showing their top election issue as Climate Change.


Now, if only the more "mature" voters could broaden their focus beyond the short-term and trivial matters.

Global Warming

The sub title of this book (The Causes, The Perils, The Solutions, The Actions) pretty much describes the contents.

Written in 2006, most of the information is covered in other books, but being produced by the people at Time Magazine, the photos are brilliant.

Australia Worse Than US

This interactive map comes from the people at Chartsbin, and illustrates the per-person emissions of each country - from the burning of fossil fuels (with heavy shading indicating high polluting)


Hovering over each country on the map, displays that country's emissions. For the record, Australia's pollutes at about 5 times the world average.

China To Put Price On Carbon

When looking for excuses for doing nothing about climate change, one poitician favourite is the one about waiting for the rest of the world. Apart from being illogical, it's also becoming more and more misleading. In addition to India putting a tax on coal, now China is preparing to start an emission trading scheme.


The move is described as "essential" and industry experts said that putting a price on carbon is crucial for the country. Interestingly, administrative measures (or what some Australian politicians call "direct action") have been found to be less cost-effective than simply putting a price on carbon.

Election Scorecard

In the lead up to the election the ACF is putting out an election scorecard on 4 issues related to climate change. ACF also point out that three-quarters of Australians think we are too dependent on polluting energy sources, and 92% are concerned about the damage pollution is causing.


At the moment, two parties are nowhere near a pass mark. As of this morning, the overall scores are as follows:


Let's hope more announcements are made, and parties can increase their mark.

Are We Dumber Than Fish?

Regular readers know my liking for ABC's Catalyst. A little while ago they did a story on groups of animals making collective snap-decisions.


From research on fish, it seems that the bulk of the group will wait for the 'expert' fish to make a decision, then everyone will follow immediately. Not only are the decisions made quicker (because the expert is deciding) but the accuracy is also far higher than when each fish is left to decide for itself.

I'm sure the link to climate change is obvious. We have the expert advice on what actions we should take - but how quick are we to act? I'm sure if fish were this slow to act, they'd by shark-lunch by now.

India Puts Price on Carbon

One of the flimsy excuses for doing nothing on climate change is the line about waiting for the rest of the world. It's irrational because if every nation thinks that way, nothing will ever happen. But it's also misleading because so many nations are already doing so much more than Australia (and the US).


This week I read that India has introduced a carbon tax on coal. It is expected to raise 25 billion rupees (535 million dollars) which will be used to fund renewable energy.

Meanwhile Australia doesn't even have a carbon price - and the government isn't promising one anytime soon. Apart from the effect on our planet, it's also kind of embarrasing that a developing country like India is ahead of us - a so-called "advanced country".

Soccket Ball

Solving carbon emissions, and health at the same time - that's what the sOccket does. It's the soccer ball that generates energy as it moves, using a small magnet inside the ball.


15 minues of play generates enough energy to run an LED light for 3 hours. This eliminates the need for kerosene lamps - which can have the same effect as smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. Burning kerosene is also responsible for 190 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

The makers hope to sell them in developed countries, and use the profits to fund distribution in places like Africa.

Coffee With Julia

The people at GetUp have recently made this ad for tv - and people are donating to get it on the air. I enjoy their work, because it's both witty and to-the-point.



They sum it up greatly, with a leader saying "Climate change is our greatest challenge ... but it can wait", and the guy from the general public saying "Why don't you just put a price on pollution?"