Geelong Sustainability

"Australia's early bushfires this year may be part of an ongoing trend towards an increase in both the overall fire danger and the length of the bushfire season."

"This week, after another tumultuous summer of scandal and the third prorogation of his tenure as prime minister, Stephen Harper will deliver his throne speech to Parliament to be read by the Governor General. The advance word has it that the focus of the speech and the legislative agenda it ushers in will be the protection of consumers."

"Bill Gates sees meat alternatives a a big part of the future of food. On his blog, The Gates Notes, there is a feature called The Future of Food, where he explains how food scientists are starting to reinvent meat, and how this could help the whole world. Gate explains that worldwide meat consumption has doubled over the past two decades and is expected to double again by 2050 when, as we know, world population is expected to reach at least 9 billion. It is just over 7 billion now."

"A week ago, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delivered to massive media coverage an unsettling message - climate change is real, humans are the main cause of it, and unless we stop the warming of the planet, in 50 years life as we know will be no more. The problem now, is that despite in numerous attempts, world consensus on how to do it has proved impossible."

"People never seem to question science when it underlies something easily valued - like iPhones and other handheld devices. We either take it for granted or celebrate science-based products like G.P.S., Global Positioning Systems, which guide drivers and pilots and allow heavy machinery or a farmer's tractor to be operated with a precision that approaches ballet. And people are always eager to take advantage of the latest advances in medicine."

"Innovation in solar, wind and other renewable power is booming worldwide, especially in China, and is now eclipsing that in fossil fuels - an about-face that occurred in just one generation, new research shows."

"Early Thursday morning, Google announced it was investing $103 million in Mount Signal Solar, a plant which claims its finished project will source enough energy for about 80,000 homes on the San Diego Gas & Electric line. In a blog post, Kojo Ako-Asare, head of corporate finance at Google, said Google was "celebrating Halloween early with [their] 'lucky thirteenth' renewable energy investment.""

"All over the world, people are learning to work with each other, technology, and the earth, to create systems that are better, cheaper, and more resilient than conventional systems. Join us as we explore what lies beyond sustainability. A more peaceful, abundant, beautiful world is possible. Welcome to the Symbiosis Project."

Moveo is a foldable bicycle-weight scooter that becomes an everyday commodity by its flexibility, its simple storage, security, comfort, aesthetics or its ease of recharging. It is easy to use; it is efficient even in crowded urban traffic. It operates silently, with minimum energy consumption and does not pollute the environment directly.

"Solar is not like other energy sources. Photovoltaic cells are a transformative technology, Alexis Madrigal, The Atlantic's senior technology editor, argues in the short video above. The faster the price of solar energy falls, the more viable it becomes as a source of clean power -- and the sooner we'll see it on roofs across America. Animated by Lindsey Testolin, this clip is part of a six-part video series in The User's Guide to Energy special report. "

"In Economics in Plain English, the new economic explainer video series from The Atlantic, business editor Derek Thompson answers big and small questions selected from hundreds of reader submissions. Up first: Why is bottled water so expensive? In less than three minutes, Thompson explains what goes into the price of bottles, why all water is more expensive than you think, and why the most expensive component in some bottled water is neither the bottle nor the water."

"Upwards of 5 billion people in the tropics will soon find temperature and other weather conditions falling outside anything experienced in modern record-keeping, according to a groundbreaking study published Wednesday. What's past is no longer prologue. We are outside of our experience. The study, by a team of University of Hawaii researchers led by professor Camilo Mora, is the first to map the timing of "climate departures" - when a particular region's climate conditions escape the bounds recorded over the past 140-odd years by modern instruments. Among the team's surprising findings: The tropics will depart first, even though all climate models and data show the Arctic is warming fastest. And the transformation, underway now, will happen very quickly."

"One evening in the small village of Ashton Hayes in Cheshire, England, someone started a conversation about climate change and energy at the local pub. It was 2005. Two years later, residents had cut their carbon dioxide emissions and energy costs by 20 percent. Ashton Hayes now aims to be England's first carbon-neutral community."

"United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the battle for global sustainability will be won or lost in the world's cities. Cities and urban areas are estimated to account for 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and more than half of the world's population live in them, so what we do in our urban centres will, to a large extent, define the future of our world. Governments are struggling to agree on action against climate change, but thankfully many city authorities are just getting on with tackling the problem as best they can. Element takes a look at what authorities in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are expecting, how they are trying to minimise the damage and preparing for the worst, and how their plans shape up against those elsewhere."

"Ask a Wall Street analyst and all but the most extreme contrarians will tell you that over the long run, the market is going to go up. Sure, over the last century there have been some downturns, and some flat periods of little growth, but if you invested over the long haul you were virtually guaranteed to make money. Now consider the question: Is the planet warming?"

"In its draft form, the fought-over paragraph declared that, to have the best chance of not exceeding the international target for global warming of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, society can burn no more than about 1 trillion tons of carbon, in the form of fossil fuels, and spew the resulting gases into the atmosphere. More than half that carbon budget has been used already. Moreover, the draft made it clear that if countries want to be safe and take account of other gases that are warming the planet, the carbon budget would be even less than a trillion tons. At the rate things are going, we will exceed the budget in 30 years or fewer."

Waterlife is an interactive story about the water cycle in the Great Lakes. Waterlife is a twenty part story through which students can learn about the role of water in our lives. Through the story students learn about things like fishing, pollution, invasive species, wetlands, and the politics of water conservation. When students select a part of the Waterlife story they will be able to hear narration, see visuals, and read the text of the story. Some parts of the story also contain links to external resources that student can explore.

"The cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells has declined an incredible 99% since 1977. Consequently, a growing number of solar markets are very close to hitting grid parity, Think Progress has reported."

Right now, the Napthine Government is charging forward with plans to develop a major new brown coal export industry from Victoria. We must act to protect Victoria from this disaster before it's too late. The first stage of the plans - the $90 million cash and free coal giveaway - is just around the corner. Please, sign this petition now and help us protect Victoria's future. Say no to brown coal exports.

"Researchers at the University of Alberta are developing a new kind of silicon-free, spray-on solar cell, which promises to be much cheaper than more conventional solar cells. The solar cells are flexible enough to roll up and use in such things as window blinds, according to CBC. They can even be applied using spray coaters used for the touching-up of automotive paint."