Minister Joyce has announced the opening of the National Landcare Programme Sustainable Agriculture Small Grants Round 2015-16 (Small Grants Round). Grants of between $5 500 and $55 000 (GST inclusive) are available for projects that will achieve the objectives of the programme. The programme objectives are: increase the capacity and knowledge of farmers and fishers…
‘Travelogue of the Tweed’ screening as part of Tweed River Festival
See rare footage of Tweed’s early days 1923 film ‘Travelogue of the Tweed’ screening as part of Tweed River Festival Rare moving images of the Tweed River and surrounding districts will be shown at a special screening of the historic film Travelogue of the Tweed 1923 at Murwillumbah ’s Regent Cinema on Wednesday 28 October. …
World Climate Change Rally
Tweed elects its first Greens mayor
Luis Feliu Tweed shire has its first Greens mayor after Cr Katie Milne’s name was drawn out of a box in a surprise election ballot last night. Cr Milne’s luck was sealed when a tied 3-3 vote with factional opponent Cr Warren Polglase had to be split by council’s returning officer Neil Baldwin drawing a…
Northern Rivers Guardians and the Environmental Protection act
Scott Sledge, Lois Levey and Greg Reid (Photo and article from Tweed Daily News) ENVIRONMENTAL group the Northern Rivers Guardians have called for local residents to unite against the Federal Government’s proposed change to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The changes would repeal an ability for individuals, communities and environmental groups to…
What Every Environmentalist Needs To Know about Capitalism
A Citizen’s Guide to Capitalism and the Environment by Fred Magdoff and John Bellamy Foster There is a growing consensus that the planet is heading toward environmental catastrophe: climate change, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, global freshwater use, loss of biodiversity, and chemical pollution all threaten our future unless we act. What is less clear is…
CEC on Geo-Engineering, Fluoride, EMR, nano-particles etc
The Caldera Environment Centre The CEC is a serious environmental organisation and is concerned with tangible environmental issues such as land-clearance, illegal development, and enforcement of environmental regulation. The current energy being devoted to issues such as geo-engineering, chem-trails, fluoride and other conspiracy theories is not something we support in any way at all. The…
Time to get the economics of environment right
Ross Gittins You get the feeling Tony Abbott doesn’t lie awake at night worrying about what our economic activity is doing to our natural environment. In which case, those of us who do care about ecological sustainability – including many Coalition voters and, in all probability, Abbott’s successor, whether Liberal or Labor – will have…
A Win for The Environment in Hague Court
Marjan Minnesma, Director of Dutch NGO Urgenda. Just under a month ago, Marjan Minnesma stood weeping with joy in a Dutch courtroom, as three judges handed her and nearly 900 co-plaintiffs a resounding victory in their battle to force the Netherlands government to adopt more stringent climate action targets. Now she is in Australia with a…
Objection to Repeal of North Coast Regional Environmental Plan
Hi everyone, DoPE are proposing on getting rid of the North Coast Regional Environmental Plan (1988), apparently because it requires a variety of environmental values to be protected in environmental zones in Local Environmental Plans. This is part of their plan to stop far north coast Councils from implementing their environment zones. It would be…
The Trans-Pacific Partnership : A Free Trade Agreement?
21.06.2015 Author: James ONeill New Eastern Outlook The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) currently nearing its final stages of negotiation purports to be about increasing trade and economic co-operation among its twelve negotiating parties. These twelve countries include the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Significantly, it does not include China. The agreement is being…
Reduce Energy Use in the Home
By Andy Yeomans (from his presentation at the W.E.D Festival June 7 2015) Whilst renewable power generation and storage are rapidly becoming cheaper in dollar terms, they still require significant resources. We should not be wasting any resource so energy efficiency is still very important. Two main…
The TTP [TPP] and TTIP Trade Agreements: “A Dystopian Future in which Corporations Rather Than Elected Governments Call the Shots”
By Eric Zuesse Global Research, May 06, 2015 The Obama-proposed international-trade deals, if passed into law, will lead to “a dystopian future in which corporations and not democratically elected governments call the shots,” says Alfred De Zayas, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order. These two mammoth trade-pacts, one…
World Environment Day Festival 2015
The Caldera Environment Centre (CEC) is pleased to announce that their Green Energy and waste wise event will highlight the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) “International Year of the Soil”. The CEC with support from Tweed Shire Council will run an environmentally affirming Family Fun Day in Knox Park, Murwillumbah on Sunday 7 June, from…
Danish climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg’s “Consensus Centre”
The University of Western Australia announced last Friday that it would no longer house Danish climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg’s “Consensus Centre” – a fantastic outcome for science. Unfortunately, Lomborg’s Centre is still trying to establish itself in Australia, and this is deeply troubling. We’re concerned that the Centre would be focused on spreading misinformation presented…
Organic Farming Changes Agriculture from a Huge Carbon Source to a Carbon-DESTROYER
Posted on April 30, 2015 by WashingtonsBlog From Source of 35% of All Carbon Worldwide to Carbon Sink Science China Press reports (via the American Association for the Advancement of Science): Approximately 35% of global greenhouse gases (GHGs) come from agriculture. Some argues that human can reverse global worming by sequestering several hundred billion tons…
Fukushima Worse than Chernobyl- ENENEWS
Fukushima Worse than Chernobyl: “Effects of Radiation Have Become Much More Severe” — “Enormous Decline” in Animal Species By ENENews Global Research, April 21, 2015 ENENews 17 April 2015 Dr. Tim Mousseau, USC biologist: “The declines have been really dramatic… now we see this really striking drop-off in numbers of birds as well as numbers…
Technology To Decommission Fukushima Needs To Be Invented: Tepco
By Richard Wilcox Global Research, April 06, 2015 Activist Post 5 April 2015 Anyone with a brain could have told you back in 2011 at the time of the Fukushima nuclear triple meltdown that Tokyo Electric (Tepco) was lying about the true condition of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant No. 1 (“Dai-ichi”). Four years later,…
Fracking will ruin sacred, preserved sites in the ‘American cradle of civilization’ – lawsuit
Published time: March 14, 2015 16:37 From rt.com A Navajo advocacy group has asked a federal judge to halt hydraulic fracking permits in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, claiming that drilling threatens a historic UNESCO heritage site considered sacred by Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo peoples. Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and three…
Shutting off Tap Water: Revenge of the Rainforest
by Robert Hunziker / February 27th, 2015 From Dissident Voice Imagine this scenario: The following is a Public Service Announcement by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Water, July 4, 2015: Because of low water levels in state reservoirs, the Division of Water proclaims a statewide water-rationing program. Starting next month, on…
Building Resilience and Limits To Growth: Nicole Foss
We are approaching many limits to growth over the next decades: Economic contraction, peak energy and geopolitical stress. Nicole Foss explains how the deflationary dynamics that always follow finance and property bubbles will rapidly impact individuals and communities, while the longer acting forces of peak oil and climate change will limit the nature of any economic recovery. So how can we adapt?
Nina Lucas WED 2014 Environmental Laws presentation
Clearing Vegetation
Seeds and Soil vs. the Tyranny of Corporate Power: A 2015 Message of Hope
By John Queally Global Research, January 04, 2015 Common Dreams 1 January 2015 It has been declared ‘the International Year of the Soil,’ but the year ahead, according to Dr. Vandana Shiva, will also see key developments in the global fight to overthrow corporate power with true democracy. Last year, the United Nation’s Food and…
Limpinwood revisited: History repeats
———————————————————————————————— LIMPINWOOD REVISITED: ———————————————————————————————- Tweed planners back off prosecuting over illegal works Tweed Shire Council Chief Planner Vince Connell has recommended that council not proceed with the prosecution of the developer whose unauthorised land clearing caused a major pollution event at Hopping Dick Creek, Limpinwood. The pollution event destroyed a well-known and loved platypus habitat. It also deposited tons of sediment and construction debris into Hopping Dick Creek. This…
10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code of Practice – Submissions by November 14
(From Nature Conservation Council) The pressure is mounting on the Baird Government over the 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code of Practice (the Code) which is seeing thousands of trees cut down across Sydney and the state. Due to the public outcry the government has announced a review of the Code. Please see our submission guide to…
Updated Chlamydia Vaccine
DEAR KOALA SUPPORTERS, We have great news : the launch of a “Pozible” crowd funding campaign for a vaccine to protect koalas from the deadly Chlamydia virus Research scientists at Sunshine Coast University have developed this vaccine and now need to test it on koalas in the wild Team Koala believe this to be the…
Toxic Outer Environment = Toxic Inner Environment
Toxic Outer Environment = Toxic Inner Environment by Dr Jimi Wollumbin – Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine. (facebook-drjimi wollumbin) You don’t eat too much junk food, you drink moderately and have cut down on your Cuban cigars – so you probably don’t need to detox right? Wrong! The latest studies show that even the…
Worm Farm Fix-it Guide
CEC – NSW Biodiversity Review submission
Boorman’s Rd Limpinwood Development Application Knocked Back by TSC
[AKA Boorman’s Road Unauthorised Development] Tweed Shire Council Planning Committee Meeting 4th September RECOMMENDED that Development Application DA14/0013 for a boundary adjustment at Lot 2 DP 1130911 No. 707 Limpinwood Road, Limpinwood; Lot 136 DP 755724; Tyalgum Road, Tyalgum – BE REFUSED FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS: 1. The development is not considered to be consistent…
When Profit Trumps Democracy – by Aidan Ricketts
How dare Metgasco seek taxpayers money from the government to ‘compensate’ them for their own poor business judgment? What an outrageous sense of entitlement it reveals. Whatever happened to the old idea that businesses made profits partly because they took risks. This insidious idea that speculative companies have some right to be compensated for democracy…
Gold Coast Airport Concerns
[From Lindy Smith] Above Referral was listed on the EPBC site 10/7/14. It includes the proposed clearing of extremely significant vegetation of the entire southern development area in NSW (GCA site S/E) of 31.7ha, realignment of Coolangatta Creek (GCA now reference as airport drainage reserve) and earthworks. The Referral falsely states,“Coolangatta Creek commences at Betty Diamond…
Tweed developer to face NSW Land and Environment Court
ORIGINAL LINK: http://calderaenvironmentcentre.org/?p=1998 ***Update: Unauthorised works Boorman’s Rd, Limpinwood *** DEVELOPER TO FACE NSW LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT At the last Tweed Shire Council Planning Committee meeting, it was recommended that: 1. Issues a Notice of Direction to take clean-up action under Section 91 of the Environment Operations Act 1997, to the owner of the…
Limpinwood Pollution Event Linked to Earthworks, Land Clearing
On the 18th of April 2014, members of the Caldera Environment Centre attended a location at Boormans Rd Limpinwood, identified as Lot 127, DP 755724, to investigate allegations of unauthorised earthworks and land clearing. The impetus for this investigation was a significant flood event that resulted in a massive industrial debris and sediment load entering…
Land Clearing Information from Local Land Services
Clearing that requires approval Native Vegetation Act 2003 Native Vegetation Regulation 2013 NCLLS NVA General information – North Coast Local Land Services – Information about administering the Native Vegetation Act 2003 OEH – List of current RAMAs – Office of Environment and Heritage – Routine Agricultural Management Activities OEH – Rural Infrastructure RAMAs buffer distances – Office of…
Clearing the laws on vegetation clearing – By Nina Lucas
Originally published by EchoNet Daily 19/06/2014 – http://www.echo.net.au/2014/06/clearing-laws-vegetation-clearing/ Nina Lucas Proposed NSW government changes to the rules governing the clearing of native vegetation on private land could undermine the current ban on broadscale clearing. Native vegetation plays a vital role in supporting biodiversity and ecosystems which is particularly important in the northern rivers as one…
Successful Activism – Powerpoint Presentation
Submission to TSC re: Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy 2014
Find out more about Environmental Offsets
Save Ballina’s Koalas Campaign – Friends of the Koala
Media commenced yesterday on the Save Ballina’s Koalas Campaign. With the release in November of the Koala Habitat & Population Assessment for the Ballina LGA, the declaration of the entire Woolgoolga-Ballina upgrade as a “controlled action” under the EPBC Act and funding cutbacks there may be a long shot possibility of changing the [RMS] preferred…
Sustainable Energy Solutions
Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change Stephen Bygrave reviews this new bookMark Diesendorf, Associate Professor and Deputy Director at the Institute for Environmental Studies, University of New South Wales, has a new book, Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change. I’ve had the opportunity to have a quick read and it is a nice complement and…
Letter to TSC re Reclassification of Mt Nullum- 04-Feb-2014
Submission to TSC re Knox Park Redevelopment- 20-Jan-2014
Kings Forest Letters of Objections to EPBS Referral
Message from Caldera Environment Centre and Team Koala Thank you to everyone who filled in a letter of objection or submitted their own objection. The following Letters of Objection were today delivered to James Warren and Associates In Ballina. • 2,142 letters as per attached (this includes 123 with detailed additional comments and 82 with…
Climate Change in the Tweed- Greg Reid
Message From Yasser at: TweedCAN <info@tweedcan.org.au> Date: Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 12:31 PM Tweed Climate Action Now member Greg Reid sent us a report he compiled on the impact climate change has had on the Tweed Shire in the last 5 decades. I’ve included it below, and as an attachment. It’s well worth reading.…
Lock the Gate- “Fractured Country” Video November 2013
Lock the Tweed invites you to: – See the latest 30 min video from Lock the Gate “Fractured Country” – Hear about the latest developments in the Northern Rivers and beyond. – Defend your community and the Tweed Valley! – Discuss: Where to now? $10 entry (includes meal) FUNDRAISER FOR LOCK THE GATE AND THE ANTI-CSG CAMPAIGN Starting at Tyalgum: Community Hall Sat…
TSC launches Tweed Platypus Project
Message From: Matthew Bloor [mailto:MBloor@tweed.nsw.gov.au] Sent: Wednesday, 23 October 2013 4:38 PM Dear Caldera Environment Centre, Tweed Shire Council is undertaking a brand new Platypus Project with the aim of protecting platypus habitat and reducing threats to Tweed platypus populations. The project aims to use community education to harness community support and involvement. The project will…
Planning Bill introduced- Your Rights bulldozed
Message from Kate Smolski- Nature Conservation Council of NSW [mailto:ncc@nccnsw.org.au] This week, after two years of preparation, Planning Minister Brad Hazzard introduced the Planning Bill 2013 to the NSW Parliament. Government has made a number of concessions in response to widespread community concern about the draft planning laws. But the revised legislation still falls…
Red Alert for Pilliga forests [NCEC]
North Coast Environment Council Email From: Susie Russell Sent: Sunday, 20 October 2013 11:27 AM Message from Naomi (Wilderness Society Newcastle) LATEST MESSAGE FROM NAOMI – re the Pilliga Red Alert: “Hi everyone, Thank you so much for the amazing level of support that has been shared today from far and wide. It is very heartening…