Is slacktivism the new activism?
Posted on 11 April 2013 by e-news
This week we just had to ask that question (is slacktivism the new activism?) We think the answer is most resoundingly … no.
Nevertheless, if you’re housebound, deskbound or overseas bound there is an option for you to get involved in environmental campaigns, and it involves clicking your mouse.
There are plenty of other ways to be involved, though!
News from MACWind
MACWind has just received two funding grants from the McKinnon Family Foundation and Embark, allowing us to continue our work promoting the positive role of renewable energy. While there has been a lot of press around the anti-wind lobbyists, we are confident of continuing to get our message out.
Our work goes on in the Baringhup/ Bradford/ Nuggety area, hosting drop-in information sessions and participating in forums over past month.
Our next job will be to erect the first monitoring tower, and we are preparing that now. While that work goes on, we are also investigating other sites.
We are talking and listening to people, locally and further afield. We need time to let people to inform themselves, and then we will hear from the majority – not the loudest and most reactive – and abide by their decision.
Cheapest power? Greenest power?
Aussie Bill Compare may be “doing” our region. Following a call last week to MASG from Aussie Bill Compare, asking us if we wanted the cheapest power for our office, we politely informed the caller that no, we wanted the greenest and most renewable.
If enough of us do it, renewable will be the cheapest soon enough anyway.
The Hub Plot
All hands on the Garden Round Robin this weekend. Hope to see you there!
Shire waste audit wins three and a half stars
Congratulations to Mount Alexander Shire Council, which recently measured all its office waste at the Town Hall, Halford Street and the Bull Street Depot.
The result showed that all three work sites achieved a 3.5 out of a possible 5-star rating under the National Australia Built Environment Rating Scheme. So there’s still room for improvement … but isn’t there for all of us? Well done MAS.
Bringing in the sun with BSG
The Mount Alexander and Bendigo Sustainability Groups have joined forces to run a series of information presentations in Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon and Newstead, to help people understand what installing solar PV is all about.
We aim to connect people who would like to install Solar PV panels on their roofs and give them up-to-date information about the choices available from a selected group of suppliers.
Slacktivism: click here
Never let it be said that MASG is promoting slacktivism: ie, changing the world by clicking your mouse. It can’t happen.
We recognise that it will take far more than that, some of which means getting outside more, involving yourself in community projects, and heck, even getting involved in protests.
Having said that … in each newsletter from now on we will include some relevant and important campaigns, where the least you could do would be to click your mouse and fill in a form.
Such campaigns may also mean stopping buying certain products, or donating your hard-earned, or putting your body in the way of greed, but you can still contribute in some way by clicking.
Sign the petition:
Dear Prime Minister Gillard & Treasurer Swan:
I support ending fossil fuel subsidies for big mining companies.
The diesel fuel rebate and accelerated depreciation for assets and exploration will cost the Australian people more than $13 billion over the next four years.
End fossil fuel subsidies for big mining companies
Protect native forests – don’t buy Reflex paper
Native forest logging destroys crucial habitat for our native wildlife, degrades water catchments and releases vast amounts of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Australian Paper produces Reflex brand office papers. To sign the Ethical Paper Pledge or for info
End subsidies to polluters
The federal government is spending over $10 billion in taxpayer dollars on handouts to some of the most profitable and polluting companies in the world, more than double what they spend on government schools.
Australian taxpayers should not be paying the diesel bill of profitable mining companies, paying our dirtiest power stations to stay open, providing tax breaks for oil, gas and coal seam gas projects.
Children can’t do it alone, they need a hand. Yours! Sign the petition now
Let’s get Victoria back on a clean energy track, Mr Napthine (click here)
South Melbourne Market goes solar
When rainwater continued to leak through the 40-year-old roof of the South Melbourne Market, despite unsuccessful patching attempts, it was clear a permanent solution was needed.
Last year, the City of Port Phillip commissioned a $4.4 million roof – and also stopped to consider energy efficiency and the future. The new roof was given a “saw tooth design” that was rotated horizontally so that half its surface area faced due north and could accommodate 1000 solar panels, creating about 300 kiloWatts.
Do the Maths tour coming to Australia
After his Rolling Stone article, Global Warming’s Terrifying New Maths, went viral last year, Bill McKibben plunged into a hugely successful tour around the USA, bringing his clear-eyed vision to American audiences and driving a campaign for individuals, universities and local governments to divest themselves of investments in fossil fuels.
Coming our way in June
Clean energy shift to bring major health benefits: UN
What better reason to move the economy to renewables? Air pollution is an underestimated scourge that kills far more people than AIDS and malaria, and a shift to cleaner energy could easily halve the toll by 2030, UN officials said recently.
Read the full story
100% renewables and higher
How Procter & Gamble achieved zero waste to landfill in 45 factories
P&G has achieved double whammy of zero waste status and increasing revenues with innovative technology and re-use.
Read the full story
Last word
… By the time I retired nearly 40 years later, both fire services were sending firefighters across state lines to communities they had never imagined having to protect. This was because the fires were bigger – and more frequent – and local communities simply couldn’t cope with the magnitude of the fires they were experiencing.
Ken Thompson, former Deputy Commissioner of the NSW Fire Brigade
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