The Age
5 October 2008
Recreation and environmentalism go head to head in suburbia.
A MOVIE scriptwriter might call it The Battle for Alphington Tip. Greenies would say it is Pooches v The Environment and dog groups see it as another unnecessary assault on the rights of dogs and their owners.
So far there have been two confirmed casualties: one dead kangaroo and the dog that mauled it, which was put down. Mix in a divided community, fears of dog attacks, fearsome 'roos, toxic sludge, a council master plan, the safety of native animals and an election campaign and you have the stuff of a minor epic. Homer made the Iliad from such a local row.
At the heart of the battle is Darebin Parklands, about 40 hectares of park in the inner north just eight kilometres from the CBD...
Read the full article here.
09 October 2008
URBAN PARKS: "Let slip the dogs of community park war"
WASTE MGMT: "Council plan for $2 levy to pick up your butts"
AdelaideNow.com.au
6 October 2008
A METROPOLITAN council wants smokers to pay a $2 levy to help cover the clean-up costs of discarded butts.
The council says the State Government should impose the levy on every packet of cigarettes.
It will seek support from the state's other councils at the Local Government Association's annual general meeting on October 24. Councils spend between $1 million and $2 million each year cleaning up litter, which included cigarette butts...
Read the full article here.
SUSTAINABILITY: "Green solution just outside your door"
The Sydney Morning Herald
7 October 2008
THE English have their allotments; in Sydney we use the streets. In a variation on guerilla gardening, Sydneysiders are moving veggie plots from the backyard to the street verge, and converting formerly fallow public land into mini-market gardens.
"Environmentally, ethically and, from a community perspective, it's a great thing to do," says Eva Johnstone, a landscape architect, who with her husband, Bill, has been growing vegetables on their Marrickville street verge for the past two years...
Read the full article here.
02 October 2008
FUNDING: 'Caring for our Country' outcomes released
The document 'Caring for our Country Outcomes 2008-2013' outlines the specific outcomes that the Australian Government 'Caring for our Country' funding program will deliver in its first five years of operation, and the potential strategies for achieving these outcomes. The document places these outcomes in the context of 20 year projections of the results the Australian Government expects Caring for our Country to deliver in each of the six national priority areas, which are:
- the National Reserve System
- biodiversity and natural icons
- coastal environments and critical aquatic habitats
- sustainable farm practices
- natural resource management in northern and remote Australia, and
- community skills, knowledge and engagement.
Caring for our Country will be delivered in partnership with regional natural resources management groups, local, state and territory governments, Indigenous groups, industry bodies, land managers, farmers, landcare groups and communities.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT: New Report, 'The Second Plank – Building a Low Carbon Economy with Energy Efficient Buildings'
Australia's building sector could cut the projected price of carbon trading permits by 14 per cent – and generate annual savings of $38 billion by 2050 – with energy efficiency measures that complement the federal government's proposed carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS), says a new report commissioned by a cross section of peak building industry and environment groups.
'The Second Plank – Building a Low Carbon Economy with Energy Efficient Buildings' report was commissioned by the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council's (ASBEC) Climate Change Task Group in response to the CPRS Green Paper. The report provides an economic analysis of the greater benefits that energy efficiency measures for buildings can deliver, with a policy mix offering better incentives for the building sector to invest more resources to increase energy efficiency.
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