Creative destruction “is the essential fact about capitalism”, wrote the great Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942. New technologies and processes continuously revolutionise the economic structure from within, “incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one”.
COVID-19 has curtailed the activities of millions of people across the world and with it, greenhouse gas emissions. As climate scientists at the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station, we are routinely asked: does this mean carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have fallen?
The first stages of the approvals process for the Delburn wind farm have met with State and Federal Government approval.
OSMI is committed to a holistic benefit-sharing model based around sharing the profits of the wind farm fairly and creating a positive long-term legacy in the region. OSMI values the community’s contribution to the development of the Delburn Wind Farm, and is engaging with the community to ensure that the Delburn Wind Farm project is well supported and designed appropriately, and to that benefit sharing is tailored for the local context.
For me, thinking about what is important for the future, first and foremost, it’s the climate and the environment. This is really the backbone of life. Next in priority is equality:equality of race, of gender, of opportunity. This is the backbone of society. After that, it’s important to have food security, a fair minimum wage and housing affordability.
Delburn Wind Farm Proposal-Submission date looming (July 3rd)
The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) is open for comment now and the community only have up till the 3rd of July to submit their comments. The Strzelecki Alliance Group have put together a page on the strzelecki community alliance website.
The Victorian Government is supporting an open and orderly restart of the onshore conventional gas industry, with the Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 passing the Legislative Council.
Production of the estimated resources could generate as much as $310 million annually for regional economies and create up to 6,400 jobs over the lifespan of these projects.
It’s likely that many readers drive through the Black Spur bends along the South Gippsland Highway between Koonwarra and Meeniyan.You may have noticed the delays and disturbance as highway re-alignment works proceed. You may not have noticed the platypus and Sacred Kingfishers that inhabit the adjoining wetlands.
Thinking about post-Covid-19, the environment is my number one issue. I was disappointed in the federal election result, disappointed that we elected a government which refused to even utter the words ‘climate change’.
One of the state’s most endangered native animals has been brought back from the brink of extinction thanks to a conservation program backed by the Victorian Government.
The re-establishment of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot on Phillip Island is the first time in Victorian history a species declared extinct in the wild has had its decline successfully reversed.
Our world consists of two basic parts; the ground on which we stand and what is going on in our heads. Normally (and we all like to think we’re normal enough to survive), there should be some kind of connection and congruence between these two basic parts. But oh, how easy is it for us to be picked up from the ground and wafted away on the wings of some seductive dream!
A group of us in and around Fish Creek have been thinking about a future based on a fair society with a sustainable environmental footprint. Around the planet the climate-change issue has driven a lot of people to do this with the tag lines of Just Transitions or Green New Deals. It seeks hope in dark times, but things have gotten even darker.
Critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrots have been released into the wild, as part of an innovative trial funded by the Victorian Government to save the species from extinction.
With less than 50 adult Orange-bellied Parrots remaining in the wild, the four-year Mainland Release Trial aims to increase the size of the birds’ population in conjunction with increasing their survival in the wild.
We have an update to the article in the last issue on the Victorian government’s scrapping of the temporary moratorium on onshore gas drilling.
A recent report from The Australia Institute argues that ‘analysis of the Government’s own Victorian Gas Project Progress report finds the decision is based on misleading claims that exaggerate benefits, understate costs and ignore alternatives.’
Scientific advice to governments and communities is one important thing scientists do. There are many scientific voices in the media, so it can be confusing. These voices can also often lobby politicians for vested private interests rather than for broad community benefit. That is why CSIRO is important – it is largely funded by the public for public benefit in Australia. It is regularly scrutinised in open senate estimates committee hearings to test its integrity and it is an independent statutory agency, not a government department controlled by a Minister.