On May 21 Tim Flannery, Bill McKibben, Ross Garnaut and Clive Hamilton spoke about the evidence of climate change at the Sydney Writer's Festival event, "Have we all been conned". Far from being conned we have been warned.

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, spoke of the urgent need to act now. Not just one action, but many. Reducing damaging climate change requires many efforts on many levels, including an emissions trading scheme.

Ross Garnaut identified Australia as being one of the worst carbon emission offenders per capita. The irony is that Australia's predominantly coastal population and barren country side put it at grave risk. So why is Australia as a nation doing so little?

In contrast China has achieved more than expected in Garnaut's eyes. China is on track to achieve a 40 to 45 per cent reduction in emissions intensity by 2020. Not bad for a country that only seriously entered the talks on climate change last year at Copenhagen.

Clive Hamilton spoke of the folly of allowing national investment decisions to be determined only by GDP. Investing to increase only GDP may make the country richer in the short term, but the costs of inaction will be significantly greater in the long run.

He may have left the country side of McLeod's daughters, but Aaron Jeffery has not left behind his concerns for the environment. Working close to the land on the set at McLeod's daughters made Aaron more concerned than ever about mankind's excessive emissions of carbon dioxide. Like all parents he is concerned about his little girl and how the consequences of damaging climate change will impact the future for all children.

In an interview with Michael Salvatico, Aaron Jeffery - Gentle and Compassionate, Aaron explains how he wants to make a difference.

Sea Change 2030+ is an international urban sea level rise ideas competition for Sydney Harbour. There needs to be some good ideas as sea levels are projected to rise 40cm for 2050 and 90cm for 2100!

Sydney Harbour offers a rich diversity of environments to explore innovative solutions to the long term challenges facing waterfront cities. Landscape architects believe that cities such as Sydney can be early adapters to sea level rise. Especially vulnerable are many well loved public Sydney projects designed by landscape architects such as Long Nose Point, Darling Harbour, Ballast Point Park, Pirrama Park (the former water police site) and Bradleys Head Park.

Participation is encouraged from both design professionals, tertiary and school students. Entries are due by June 30 - Sea Change 2030+.

As the cold weather sets into the southern hemisphere the heaters come out of storage, get a good dusting and get turned on. This is where insulation comes in very handy. Good roof and wall insulation can keep the heat from escaping, or in summer keep heat from being absorbed.

"As a generalisation, in an uninsulated house, 40% of the heat loss from the house takes place through the roof; another 35% through the walls and floor while the remaining 25% escapes from windows or draughts." SA Dept of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure.

Yes! A quarter of the heat loss goes through windows and draughts. Those beautiful big windows and glass sliding doors need to be covered! Lost heat equals wasted energy which equals unnecessary carbon emissions!

CERT 3 (Carbon Emission Reduction Tip 3) is to close those curtains / blinds.

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31 May 2010

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Michael Salvatico