enews April 13th
Posted on 13 April 2007 by e-news
Post FESTIVAL blues….no way..
Many thanks to all our great volunteers who made our MASG carbon neutral program so successful. Over the 10 days we:
* Recruited over 110 businesses to use green power during the festival
* Celebrated our local foods by having the Providore open every day and visited by hundreds of patrons, by having two major dinners and two breakfasts
* Celebrated our young children with a children’s festival and two story telling events
* Encouraged people to walk and cycle by producing a walking map, providing free cycle hire and organising 5 guided walks around town
* Celebrated cycling by helping to organise the river of bikes at the opening celebration
* Reduced waste by helping organise recycling facilities and having a wash against waste trailer at the Bendigo Winemakers final day in the gardens.
Plus the amazing outpouring of media interest in the festival and our program…well done. MASG will have a more comprehensive evaluation of our festival program including photos up on our website soon.
but most importantly ….MASG will be holding a thank you celebration for all our volunteers on Friday 27th of April starting at 5.30pm. Put it into your diary now.
To whet your appetite here are a few more photo highlights of our MASG festival activities
OTHER MASG NEWS
We thought we might be slowing down after the Festival, but then came our
Busy Thursday the 12th when:
*MASG met with Environment Victoria project manager Hanna Burgess and representatives from the Community House and CADARG to discuss possible projects to assist marginalized members of our community.
*MASG hosted electric car builder Mr Rex Blade and prominent local automotive industry business people to investigate what business opportunities exist in this emerging industry. See his website for details of the new Australian made electric car retrofits.
*MASG met with local federal MP the honorable Mr Steve Gibbons to discuss our work and future opportunities for working with the Commonwealth.
*MASG was on ABC regional radio with Jonathan Ridnell talking about our impressions of the State Festival and how the Carbon Neutral component will be carried out.
Other events – not endorsed by MASG
*Ballarat: Big BREAZE Brainstorm on Sat. 21st April between 12:30 – 4pm. Gathering of community, experts, council, and media people to toss around ideas around emissions reduction, priorities, strategies to implement etc. Possibility of getting a bus of MASGers down for the brainstorm to do some cross fertilization. If you are interested, contact Nick Lanyon on nlanyon@ncable.net.au or the MASG office 54706978.
Final word
USA Supreme Court acknowledges C02 as a pollutant.
From Lateline ABC 9/04/07 interview with author and Climate change advisor Rob Gelbspan
The US Supreme Court decision to give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new motor vehicles is a potentially major breakthrough in the fight against global warming.
The Court found that carbon dioxide has a very potential harmful effect on human health and welfare and, therefore, it ordered the EPA to regulate emissions from autos. The flows on effects from this are potentially very large as it’s widely agreed that that same ruling will also extend to power plants and industrial emissions and so forth.
When asked about the roll of the Orwellian called “clean coal” in addressing global warming Mr Gelbspan replied…
“I think…there are a number of reasons why carbon sequestration, mechanical carbon sequestration is flawed, but if you step back and look at it from a larger perspective, I think, basically, that sort of represents a full employment act for companies like Bechtel and Halliburton. The real issue is cost and the question is how many windmills could you build for the cost of one carbon sequestration plant? I think the answer is very, very many windmills. I think what’s really a much more economical and a much more viable way to approach this transition is not by spending lots of money on carbon sequestration technology, but by spending it on windmills and other non polluting sources of energy, and maybe maintaining a coal fire power grid of about so 10 or 15 per cent of current levels for the days the wind doesn’t blow in certain areas and the sun doesn’t shine in others.”
Comments are closed.
