Newsletter Content Issue 7 Dec 06 - Jan 07 - Ethos Foundation       (Back to the top of this web page)

Old words with new meanings

What's on in December and beyond

Issue 7 Dec06-Jan07 - Ethos Foundation

Old words with new meaning    Back to the top of this newsletter

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A new word seems to be appearing in a few circles these days. 'Contraction'.

In a human world that is largely built on the word 'growth' (particularly economic growth) this new word, which is of course an old word, is welcomed by a few, thought-provoking for some and probably akin to heresy for many, if they are even aware of its re-emergence.

Around the world, governments, politicians and policy makers are beginning to focus their attention on a number of emerging crises - water scarcity for human and environmental uses; increases in greenhouse gas emissions and consequent impacts on global temperatures and weather patterns which in turn are beginning to affect human and natural systems; human energy use outstripping energy production; and the impact of climate destabilisation on agricultural production just to name a few.

The race has begun to find 'cleaner and greener' technologies that will address these crises and still allow humans (those humans living in developed nations at least) to continue to live the lifestyles they are accustomed to. Desalination plants and nuclear power for example, are also on the agenda and touted by some as the answer to our woes.

There's no doubt that the aim is to have our cake and eat it too, despite the spiralling increase in obesity rates in developed nations - surely one of the most confronting symbols of our unsustainable lifestyles.

And so we return to the word 'contract'. In his November/December 2006 Resurgence editorial "A Far Cry from Christmas" Satish Kumar suggests that as Christmas approaches we are continue to see rampant consumption and little spirit, peace or relationship. Satish writes:

"By all means let us replace fossil fuel with bio-fuel where appropriate, but we have to do more than that - we have to replace our quantitative consumerism with a qualitative lifestyle. We need to move away from more and global to less and local; from accumulation of unnecessary clutter to enjoyment of the good things in life like art, music, friendship and free time. We need to shift from waste to frugality, from consuming to making, from illusion to imagination, from desire to delight and from consumption of natural resources to an appreciation of the natural world. If we do that then Christmas will again be an occasion of great celebration rather than an excuse for more consumption. And then again the secular and the sacred, the material and the spiritual will be recognised as being two sides of the same coin."

This Christmas season let us revisit the old maxim "think globally, act locally" and bring more of those renewable, global resources - spirit, kindness, heart, peace, friendship and love - into our lives and homes and for the sake of the earth, consume less stuff. If the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, then those of us who understand and care about life and peace on earth could mindfully and diligently try this in our own homes.

It has been a busy year for the Ethos Foundation in 2006 and we're about to take some time away from the office to restore ourselves. That's why we have a combined December/January e-news. We look forward to connecting with you again in 2007 and we wish you a peaceful, relaxing, loving and fun-filled holiday season. Thank you all for your interest and support in 2006!

Peace and love,

Sally, Emily, Tom and the Ethos Foundation Board - Andrew, Susanne, Phillip, Alastair, Tim and John

"The destruction of the planet has begun through our over-exploitation of our lands and seas. These are not times for blame nor accusation. There is a task ahead of all of us to address the outcomes of our avarice and sloth. We must all begin to understand the finite nature of our land, our seas and our rivers and to accept our responsibilities as custodians with rights to enjoy but with responsibilities to sustain and nurture the gifts of creation" (Patrick Dodson - Yawuru man who leads the Lingiari Foundation, an independent self funding Aboriginal organisation focusing on the sustaining of the social, economic and cultural values of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley. From "Common Belief: Australia's faith communities on climate change", The Climate Institute, 2006)

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Nature's Notes

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Ethos Land Care Update

By Tom Caamano, Ethos Environment and Land Restoration Manager

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A land care milestone was reached at Ethos in December with the first group of willing workers from Conservation Volunteers Australia arriving onsite. They were accommodated in the Akoonah cottage for a few nights and while they were here, got stuck into the lantana and establishing the Ethos nursery. Their efforts made a huge difference to the ridgeline and northern nature corridor sections of the Ethos property.  Through the careful and strategic removal of large amounts of lantana, the team has facilitated the re-emergence and survival of indigenous flora, and helped to develop the future nature corridor from Back Creek to the western ridge of the site.  

Thanks so much to the CVA crews for their enthusiastic help.  So far we have had participants from 7 different countries, ranging in age from 20 to over 50.  All have been very hard working, and genuinely great people to be around.  We are looking forward to future teams, and the valuable contribution they are making to our environment.

Our relationship with CVA is rapidly growing and we look forward to working with them at many levels to develop not only on-ground restoration initiatives but a range of related learning and eco-tourism programs.  We look forward to some more after work campfire cookouts too.

Work in and adjacent to Back Creek reserve has begun and will increase early in the new year.  We will have a Green Corps team working in the area for approximately 6 weeks in early 2007.  They will be taking on rainforest regeneration and revegetation work, as well as seed collection and propagation of local rainforest plants.  Contractors and volunteers will also start restoration work in the reserve supported by Beaudesert Shire Council's Environmental Assistance Grant, The Ethos Foundation and The Ridge on Binna Burra.

We are currently calling for volunteers interested in contributing to our nursery and permaculture projects over the December/January period.  We are offering accommodation in the Akoonah cottage in exchange for minimal daily hours of light horticultural and maintenance work for the plant nursery and food gardens- An easy working holiday in paradise!  Contact tomc@ethoscentre.com for details.

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Two new Fellows appointed to the Ethos Foundation

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Rodger Spiller is a Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Accountant. He is Managing Director of the personal investment advisory and financial planning firm, Money Matters (NZ) Ltd which he established in 1993. He holds a PhD in ethical and sustainable business and investment as well as a Master of Commerce. Rodger has researched in the ethical investment field for 20 years, been a regular media commentator on ethical investment, spoken internationally on the subject at academic and practitioner conferences and has written extensively including chapters for several books and numerous articles such as for the Journal of Business Ethics.

Between 2000 and 2002 Rodger was the Executive Director of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, a coalition of over 40 leading New Zealand businesses. He also represented New Zealand business at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development and has been the Executive Director of New Zealand Businesses for Social Responsibility. Since 1998 he has been Executive Director of the New Zealand Centre for Business Ethics and Sustainable Development, a research and education partnership between leading tertiary institutions.

Ian Oelrichs is chair of his family's investment company Break of Day Investments that focuses on sustainable investments and projects and is active in a number of conservation projects in Indonesia.

Ian was appointed for his third term to the Northern Rivers Regional Development Board (NRRDB) in 2004 and appointed chair. Throughout his involvement with the Development Board he has been responsible for presenting a sustainable and strategic approach to the development of the Northern Rivers of NSW. He was instrumental in forming Invest Northern Rivers, the investment attraction arm of the NRRDB. He has had an involvement in several regional organisations over the past decade including Northern Rivers Tourism, the Northern Rivers Regional Strategy [as deputy chair], the Nature Tourism Task Force [as chair] and served on the Technical Advisory Committee of the Far North Coast Strategy, the regions planning strategy prepared by the NSW Department of Planning.

He has served on a number of Federal, State and private sector advisory committees including a PPP Advisory Board for Macquarie Bank.

Ian set up the Urban Design Initiative (UDI) in the Northern Rivers to foster quality design and development. The UDI runs the regional design awards program and has developed an urban design protocol for the region.

With over 30 years experience in the development industry Ian specialises in ecologically and socially sustainable economic development, tourism planning and development and natural resource management. Till 1990 Ian was Managing Director of EDAW Australia, the Australian arm of an international site and environmental planning and landscape architecture firm. He was the national president of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects and has extensive experience internationally on resource management, development planning and strategic planning.

The Ethos Foundation is thrilled to welcome Rodger and Ian as Fellows. We are indeed privileged to be working with renowned community, scientific, ethical financial and regional leaders in Morag Gamble, Dr Stephan Harding, Dr Rodger Spiller and Ian Oelrichs.

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Registrations open for Transforming Energy in March 2007

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Book your place now for our March 2007 Courageous Conversation "Transforming Energy: Inverting power, transitioning to renewables, preparing for climate change". This will be an important event for business, government and community precisely because it brings together key players from these different sectors to deeply explore the questions, issues and implications of (a) climate destablisation on human and natural communities and (b) transitioning to deep energy sustainability.

While there seems to be an increasing media-led babble about climate change and recognition of the issue has gone mainstream, the Ethos Foundation believes it is now time to gather together leaders and emerging leaders from science, education, local, state and federal government, business and industry, the arts, community and activism to share insights, thinking, understandings and blind spots and begin to strategically and collaboratively plan how our communities can transition to deep sustainability in the face of profound instability. We will be helped in this endeavour with input from some of Australia's leading scientists (Ian Lowe, Graeme Pearman, Keith Lovegrove, Kelly Thambimuthu, Peta Ashworth), Yugambeh Elder Diane Watson, business and engineering leaders (Philip Bangerter, Kelvin Genn) and community choir leader Rachel Hore.

This Courageous Conversation will be held at Binna Burra Lodge between March 26 and 30 2007 and an information/registration package is now available. A detailed program overview is also available.

In addition to the 5-day conversation, the Foundation is hosting a regional 1-day industry and government Think Tank on March 28 2007 called "Planning for Climate Change and Accelerating Sustainable Energy in SEQ and Northern NSW" for high level business and government leaders.

It is hoped that both programs will lead to the formation of a collaborative, multidisciplinary task force for the SEQ/Northern NSW region and support ongoing strategic conversation and action about the transition to sustainable energy and community.

For further information or to book your place please contact Sally MacKinnon Ph: (07) 5533 3646; Em: sally@ethosfoundation.org

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"Animate Earth" available from the Foundation

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Earlier this year his book Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia was published by Green Books and it is now available in Australia through the Ethos Foundation. Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work states "For depth of understanding of Earth functioning and our human role in the process, Stephan Harding's Animate Earth is the finest of recent studies."

We had the priviledge of reading an advance copy of the book some months ago and think it is an extraordinarily personal, accessible and compelling description of the systems and cycles of our living Earth. We congratulate Stephan on this marvellous book and highly recommend it to our readers.

To order your copy of Animate Earth ($32.95 + postage and handling) simply contact the Ethos Foundation office by phone: (07) 5533 3646 or email: info@ethosfoundation.org

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Health Wealth and Happiness Handbook for Gold Coast readers

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Gold Coast-based business Go Girl Enterprises recently published the Health Wealth and Happiness Handbook, a compilation of customer specials, savings, incentives and bonuses by 100 ethical natural wisdom providers from the Gold Coast.

At the launch of the handbook in November a raffle organised by Go Girls raised $500 for the Ethos Foundation. $10 from the sale of each handbook is now being donated to Gold Coast community organisations including the Ethos Foundation, Silkwood Steiner School and the Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council.

If you live on the Gold Coast and would like to purchase a copy of the Health Wealth and Happiness Handbook and take advantage of the amazing special offers available and in addition, support local community organisations, please contact the Foundation by phone: (07) 5533 3646 or email: info@ethsfoundation.org Cost is $55 per handbook + postage.

Big thanks indeed to Mina Hunt and Go Girl Enterprises for their enthusiastic support not only for the Ethos Foundation but for our community colleagues Gecko and Silkwood Steiner School.

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Ethos goes to the Woodford Folk Festival

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Foundation's Annual Report now available

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AGM update

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Membership Reminder

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Introducing the Ethos Foundation's Consulting Service

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A vitally important revenue stream supporting the Foundation's education and land care work is our consulting service which works with progressive local governments and businesses in projects which are closely aligned to our mission of nurturing the values, thinking and action necessary for sustainability at personal, organisational, community and social levels.

The Foundation's consulting service specialises in the areas of publishing, strategic and business planning, teaching and facilitation, and community engagement. The service is currently working with:

- Gold Coast Water to support its Recycled Water Strategy Advisory Committee process and Infrastructure Planning branch

- Gold Coast City Council to support the Natural Areas Management Unit in business planning and community engagement about bushfire management planning

We have also worked with consulting organisations including Geolink in northern New South Wales and Performance Frontiers in Brisbane.

As well as helping to support the Foundation's education and land care activities, the consulting service is now working with six small businesses at Beechmont which have specialist skills in our areas of expertise - copywriting and publishing, project management, community engagement, business and strategic planning, and workshop facilitation. We are collaborating closely with these local consultants to grow the Foundation's consulting opportunities as well as mentor and support local business enterprise in areas relevant to our work. This is an exciting process that is benefiting the Foundation, our local community and local businesses.

If you would like to know more about the Foundation's consulting service please contact Sally MacKinnon Ph: (07) 5533 3646; email: sally@ethosfoundation.org

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Ethos Foundation's Teacher Spotlight - Dr Graeme Pearman AM, FAA, ATSE, FRoySocVic, BSc(Hon), PhD

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We welcome Graeme Pearman as a Catalyst Presenter at the upcoming Transforming Energy programs in March 2007. We are honoured to have the opportunity to work with Graeme - one of Australia's foremost climate scientists - and thank him for his support.

Dr Graeme Pearman was trained as a biologist at the University of Western Australia. He joined CSIRO, in 1971 where he was Chief of Atmospheric Research, 1992-2002. He contributed over 150 scientific journal papers primarily on aspects of the global carbon budget. In 2004 he left CSIRO to run his own consultancy company. He is contracted to Monash University to develop a new sustainability science program.

Graeme was elected to a Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science (1988), the Royal Society of Victoria (1997) and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (2005). He was awarded a United Nation's Environment Program Global 500 Award (1989), Australian Medal of the Order of Australia (1999) and a Federation Medal (2003). He was a finalist in the Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year in 2002.

His current interests and activities include: energy futures; sustainability and sustainability science; scientific capacity building; public communication of science; and the role of science in modern societies.

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This month's resources

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This month we're going local to present four Beechmont organisations and websites. We're increasingly realising that Beechmont is home to an amazing depth of creative and sustainability leaders in the arts, business, education and food/agriculture. It's our pleasure to introduce you to a few of these organisations:

1. interNATIONAL PARKtours (IPT) is an ecotourism operation that organises walking tours in Australian and overseas. In 2007 IPT will host its first tours to Cuba (February) and Bhutan (April). Visit www.parktours.com.au to learn more.
2. Eden Seeds is an Australian icon and would you believe, is based here at Beechmont. Their aim is to distribute Old Traditional Open Pollinated varieties of vegetable seed, preferably old Australian varieties and organically or bio-dynamically grown where possible. Visit www.edenseeds.com.au to learn more.
3. Future Native is a fabulous, funky, rock/folk band that tours nationally and internationally to festivals and special events. We're really proud to call them Beechmont locals. Their website is: www.futurenative.com
4. Beechmont State School is a completely unique primary school. With an enrollment of about 190 children, Principal David Murphy with the staff and parent community has created a vibrant, child-centred, family-focused place of learning. Beechmont State School offers a wide variety of activities to suit the interests of all children including chess, art, sports, music and choir, languages, leadership as well as the foundations for literacy, numeracy and informed citizenship. Visit www.beechmontss.eq.edu.au for more information.

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Feature article of the month - "Friendly Fire: Most of those advocating the new energy technologies are not suggesting any reduction in overall energy consumption" by David Ehrenfeld

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This month's feature article is from Resurgence Magazine November/December 2006. We thank Resurgence for their permission to reproduce it in our e-news.

There is a critical issue in the energy debate which has not received the attention it deserves: the problem of 'friendly fire'. Friendly fire is the euphemism our military and press use to sugar-coat the presumably accidental killing of soldiers in battle by their own comrades.

The first time I saw the term 'friendly fire' used in a non-military context was in the book "The Argumentative Indian" by the brilliant Nobel laureate economist, philosopher and historian Amartya Sen. In Sen's words: 'Sometimes the very institutions that were created to overcome disparities and barriers have tended to act as reactionary influences in reinforcing inequity." One example he gives is the contrast between the immense government stockpiles of food in India alongside the largest undernourished population in the world. He states: 'The positive hopes of equity through high support prices of food and payment of subsidies have tended to produce exactly the opposite effect.' This is friendly fire.

What does the idea of friendly fire have to do with the problems, especially the environmental problems, related to the energy crisis in the US? This becomes clear if we look at possible solutions to the energy crisis. I group them in two categories.

The first category includes all technological solutions. There is no need to describe them in detail: nuclear power, biofuels, hydrogen, efficiency gains in transforming, transporting and using energy, non-biological renewable energy, and others. Each has major advantages and serious limitations. Most have the same drawback: they are much more expensive than sticking a pipe in the ground and letting the oil flow out of a tap. Nevertheless, it is clear that some combination of these technologies will allow us to stretch our energy supply a good deal farther than our current practice allows.

The second category of proposed solutions to the energy crisis includes the various methods of conservation of energy based on a simple lifestyle. It means, for North Americans, consuming less and reusing more.

The US has opted for the first category: technology. It's easy to see why. Our present economy is geared to constantly increasing consumption, and dependence on goods and services we no longer provide for ourselves. There is a deadly combination of a sense that we are entitled to all these goods and services, and a fear that we need them and that we can't survive without them. We don't worry about the ultimate cost, because we haven't the faintest ideas what it is. In fact, we act as if there will be no cost. Thus, in the US most of those advocating the new energy technologies are not suggesting any reduction in overall energy consumption.

Indeed, the opposite is likely to be true - continuing low prices encourage us to use still more energy. But there are two hitches: first, even taken together, all of the new energy technologies will probably not be up to the job of replacing cheap oil in running a high-consumption, high-waste society (although - and you can see where I'm heading - they will be critically important in running a responsible-consumption, low-waste society).

The second hitch is more serious, and here is where the friendly fire idea comes into play. If we use the gains from our new energy technologies to continue to increase our consumption and waste, we will find ourselves in a vicious spiral that decreases resources and increases environmental damage - even as our energy technology improves.

Marine fisheries are a good example of this kind of friendly fire. Fossil fuels are the major energy inputs to the world's fishing industry. In the year 2000, 50 billion litres of fuel, mostly diesel, were burned to land a little more than 80 million metric tons of marine fish and invertebrates - this amounted to 1.2% of global oil consumption, about the same as used by the Netherlands, with an annual emission of 310 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The energy content of the fuel is about 12.5 times the protein energy content of the catch. Fleets catching luxury species - shrimp, tuna, swordfish - for the US, Japanese and similar markets have the highest energy consumption: 2,000 litres of fuel per ton of catch. But the energy efficiency of the fishing fleet has been declining steadily over time, because every year the boats need to fish longer hours and deeper in offshore waters as the over-exploited fish populations progressively fail. So even if we improve the efficiency of diesel and gasoline engines by 10% or 20% which is conceivable, and if our new technologies make more cheap fuel available, energy consumption will continue to rise in most fisheries until one by one they collapse, like the North Atlantic cod fishery. Abundant energy in the absence of scientifically regulated fishing strategies is killing the fisheries.

Similar stories come from global forestry - one of many examples is the use of energy-guzzling helicopters to assist in the logging of steep slopes. Our insatiable demand for timber and timber products thus results in soil erosion and permanent deforestation in mountainous areas. The new energy technologies, in the absence of other moderating influences, remove a potential restraint on our ability to carry out destructive forestry. More friendly fire.

There are additional connections between increasing energy efficiency and accelerating environmental and social damage. Global trade, which is heavily energy-dependent, transmits introduced diseases of humans, plants and wildlife, and promotes costly spread of exotic species. (The annual cost of fighting exotic species in the US is estimated at $120 billion). And there are other side effects. For instance, the importation from Mexico into the US of luxury foods such as fresh green peppers, tomatoes and string beans in winter is subsidized by huge inputs of energy for industrial agriculture and transportation. The side effects, regardless of whether the energy is sustainably produced or not, include the poisoning of Mexican workers by pesticides, chemical and mechanical impacts on Mexican soils, and the destruction of native Mexican cultures as community economies are disrupted by introduced subsidised commodities and the national demand for cheap, landless labour.

Here is another example of friendly fire: aquaculture is now providing a substantial amount of the fish consumed in the US. The aquaculture facilities themselves require large amounts of energy to run, especially in the case of carnivorous fish such as trout and salmon, whose animal protein is supplied by fish meal made from smaller fish caught by the same global fleets mentioned above.

There are many damaging side effects of aquaculture - these include genetic pollution of native fish stocks by escaped fish, global spread of diseases such as infectious salmon anemia (which is caused by a virulent virus that has adapted itself to intensive aquaculture), the destruction of the marine sea floor by bottom trawling, and marine pollution by food and wastes from the farms.

Ecotourism, which is also dependent on cheap energy, is often a great boon to conservation. Yet ecotourism has its dark side. The problem of overuse of sensitive ecosystems is obvious - sensitive plants and soils react poorly to trampling even by friendly feet, and endangered animals do not always thrive when watched by large numbers of friendly people in Land Rovers and tour boats.

Some negative effects are more subtle: it appears that ecotourism may be responsible for the first recorded introduction of a primary human pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, into free-ranging populations of wild animals: banded mongooses in Botswana and grey meerkats in South Africa.

And most of these consumptive uses of energy release greenhouse gasses that work to alter global climate, which is raising sea level and appears to be increasing the frequency and intensity of large storms. Positive feedbacks add to the problem. Global warming itself is causing widespread melting of Arctic permafrost, with th release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from saturated peat, and CO2 from unsaturated peat. These gases raise temperature still further.

As long as energy technology helps North Americans keep their same consumptive lifestyle, we have friendly fire on a massive scale. If energy were the only limiting factor we faced, perhaps our total faith in a technological fix would have some justification. But there are many limiting factors acting within the highly interconnected economic system that controls all of our lives. Forests, soils, fresh water, climate, ecosystem balances, emerging diseases, the growing gulf between rich and poor, and other environmental and social variables are all approaching critical limits. Even if we can maximize efficiency in production and use of energy, that does not necessarily solve the other problems - some, including the plight of environment and biodiversity, will be made worse by the continued availability of cheap energy. Like most enablers, energy technology is not a villain. We need it desperately, but we need it in a new and saner context of living.

What, then, is likely to happen? Ideally, the advances being made in energy technology could be employed in the US in concert with needed changes in lifestyle - lower consumption and waste. This would have many positive environmental and social effects around the world, although it would admittedly cause at least short-term economic disruptions in our major suppliers of goods and services: China, India and others. But at the moment, a responsible change in lifestyle in the US seems a number of years away, although economic circumstances must inevitably force it to happen.

Perhaps India, despite present appearances, can be different. In India, the idea of a sustainable lifestyle has a long and honourable tradition, notably expressed in Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts about the vital relationship between ecology, sustainability and consumption patterns. Gandhi knew that the Western model of development - perpetual growth in consumption was the wrong model to follow, not just in India, but in the West as well. Gandhi would not have liked some of the new energy technologies, but he might have approved of those that lend themselves to careful and gentle human use in a culture of moderation and restraint. Today, there are many dedicated environmental and social activists in India, North America and elsewhere who understand that technology and sustainability must go hand in hand, and are working hard to bring about the necessary changes to make it happen. We can only hope that their efforts will prevail, and that the Earth will be rescued from this deadly rain of friendly fire.

This article is based on the third annual Khoshoo Memorial Lecture, 'Energy and Conservation', delivered by David Ehrenfeld in June 2006 at the India International Centre, New Delhi.

David Ehrenfeld is Professor Biology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Jersey. He is the author of Swimming Lessons: Keeping Afloat in the Age of Technology.

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News from Beyond the Ethos Foundation

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Beechmont Means Business

The Foundation's November e-news mentioned the launch of the Beechmont Business and Enterprise Network (BBEN). It's a pleasure to announce that the launch which was held on November 2 at the historic Beechmont Community Hall was a great success and attracted over 100 people, over 50 local businesses and a multitude of product displays. The event was catered for by local food growers and producers and 90% of the evening's nibblies were locally grown and made. Beaudesert Shire Council's Economic and Community Development Manager Nick McGuire described the evening as the best community enterprise event he'd ever attended.

The BBEN is now finalising the first Beechmont Business Register which currently lists about 100 local businesses, enterprises and community organisations. The register will be distributed to every Beechmont household early in 2007.

The Beechmont Foodies are now helping Council to organise a regional food forum in 2007 and are steadily growing their enterprises to supply as much food as possible for purchase by the local community.

Kinsale Energy Descent Plan 2005-2021

We discovered a fascinating document this month from the Irish community of Kinsale. Called the Kinsale Energy Descent Plan 2005-2021, it sets out how this community intends to dramatically reduce its energy consumption, increase its sustainability opportunities and transition to deep sustainability over the next 15 years. The plan was led by a group of Permaculture students from the local vocational education  college and collaboratively involved the broad community of Kinsale. It's a very inspiring and practical document which could easily support Australian communities to plan similar transitions. Download a copy of the report from: http://thegreatturning.net/PDF/KinsaleEnergyDescentActionPlan.pdf 

Border Ranges Rainforest Recovery Plan

The Border Ranges, which stretch outwards from Mt Warning through northern New South Wales and south east Queensland, are one of Australia's (and the world's) most important biodiversity hotspots - that is, an area of extremely high biodiversity which is also under grave threat from human development, pest invasion (not just humans but weeds and feral animals), species extinction and so on. In an Australian first, a cross-border (NSW and Qld) protection plan is being developed for the Border Ranges by a coalition of organisations including SEQ Catchments and the Qld EPA. A community consultation process is currently underway to collect on-ground information about ecosystems, flora and fauna, and communities in the region. If you would like to contribute information to the planning process, contact Liz Gould at SEQ Catchments: lgould@seqcatchments.com.au 

2005 atmospheric carbon dioxide  levels highest on record

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has reported that in 2005, globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere reached their highest levels ever recorded. The WMO's 2005 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, published in early November, said quantities of CO2 were measured at 379.1 parts per million (ppm), up 0.53 per cent from 377.1 ppm in 2004.

The 35.4% rise in carbon dioxide since the late 1700s has largely been generated by emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels.

Around one third of nitrous oxide (N2O) discharged into the air is a result of human activities such as fuel combustion, biomass burning, fertilizer use and some industrial processes.   

Human activity such as fossil fuel exploitation, rice agriculture, biomass burning, landfills and ruminant farm animals account for some 60% of atmospheric methane (CH4), with natural processes including those produced by wetlands and termites responsible for the remaining 40%.  For the full Bulletin: http://www.wmo.int/web/arep/gaw/ghg/ghgbull06.html

Orange Roughy Declared Threatened Species

Orange roughy is set to be the first commercially harvested fish to be added to Australia's threatened species list, to protect it from over-fishing. The Federal Government says scientific advice indicates orange roughy is under considerable pressure and needs protection to try to secure its long-term survival. Huge catches of orange roughy were made during the 1980s, before the stocks were given some protection. Orange Roughy are found in south-eastern and south-western Australia, the Great Australian Bight and around Tasmania and can live for 100 years.  More information at: www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1785098.htm

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What's on in December and beyond

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Dec 15th  

Gecko Awards Night "The Geckos", 139 Duringan St, Currumbin.  

Dec 11-12  

National Emissions Trading Summit www.informa.com.au/emissions-trading or registration@informa.com.au  

Dec 23  

Gecko New Clear Future working group meeting, 12.30-1.30pm, 139 Duringan St, Currumbin  

Dec 25  

Christmas Day  

24 Feb  

Frogs of Brisbane ID Workshop, 1-4pm, Downfall Creek Bushland Centre, McDowall, Info: Jenny Holdway ph: (07) 3366 1868  

26-30 Mar  

 Transforming Energy 5-day Courageous Conversation at Binna Burra Lodge, Info: Sally MacKinnon ph: (07) 5533 3646; em: sally@ethosfoundation.org  

3-15 May  

Satish Kumar tour to Australia (SEQ, Northern NSW, Sydney, Melbourne)

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