Climate Action Burwood Ashfield

19 April: Free Presentation – How To Reduce Your Power Bills

greentea12 — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:03:10 +0000

Free presentation by local expert who has helped residents reduce their energy usage for over 10 years. Gain insights that will save you money.

When: Thursday 19 April, 7pm – 9:30pm
Where: Ashfield Civic Centre, 260 Liverpool Rd
RSVP: Ashfield Council
Phone: 9716 1921
Email: sustainability@ashfield.nsw.gov.au

Free sandwiches and drinks provided.

Organised by Climate Action Burwood Ashfield together with Ashfield Council.

To hear about other upcoming events, subscribe to the mailing list!

Carnival of Cultures 2012

greentea12 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 05:37:26 +0000

Climate Action Burwood Ashfield had a stall at the Carnival of Cultures in Ashfield Park on Sunday 18 March.

As at previous festivals, we had a model solar power plant on display which attracted a lot of attention. This allowed us to explain to the general public how modern solar power plants store energy using molten salt, so they can provide electricity even when the sun doesn’t shine. You don’t need coal or gas to provide base load power.

In fact, we could convert all our electricity supply to renewables in 10 years time, without going poor or sitting in the dark (details).

We ran a survey for the Let’s Build Big Solar campaign, asking people whether they think big solar power plants should be built in Australia. The results:

54% of respondents wasn’t aware that other countries already use large scale solar power plants.
94% thought that we should use them in Australia as well.
98% were in favour of government support to get large scale solar power plants going.

Thanks to Terry, Billie, Kirsty, Julian and Matt for making it all happen!

Free workshops on easy ways to save the environment

greentea12 — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:39:24 +0000

Climate Action Burwood Ashfield in partnership with Ashfield Council has organised these free workshops on how to save energy, waste, water and food. Save the environment and a bit of money as well!

Saturday 4 February 2012, 10am to 1pm
Room 2 in the new Civic Centre, next to Ashfield Mall
How to reduce waste and save energy

Saturday day 11 February 2011, 10am to 1pm
Room 2 in the new Civic Centre, next to Ashfield Mall
How to use less water and food

Attend both workshops, or either one of them.

Led by a very knowledgeable environmental engineer and writer, these popular workshops are both fun and informative.
There will be plenty of opportunity for discussion and for meeting likeminded people.

To book your seat, email sustainability@ashfield.nsw.gov.au or call 9716 1921.

Stall at Greenway festival, Summer Hill, October 23

greentea12 — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:02:13 +0000

Terry giving a presentation about the solar power plant

Climate Action Burwood Ashfield had a stall at the Greenway Festival in Summer Hill on October 23, which was very well attended. We invited Beyond Zero Emissions to bring a model of a solar power plant and to give presentations about their plan to generate all of Australia’s electricity with renewable energy (mostly wind and solar, with a bit of bio gas as backup). This and the petition against coal seem gas exploration in the Inner West gained a lot of interest from the public.

Helping out were Julian, Matt, Terry, Petra, Thalie, and Billie and her friend. Unfortunately, Lily couldn’t make it.

About 50 people joined our supporters list on the day. This is a great result, because it will further help get the word out about our events and the need to take action against climate change.

CABA response to Charles Casuscelli’s letter in the Inner West Courier

greentea12 — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 06:58:48 +0000

In a letter to the Inner West Courier on September 8, Charles Casuscelli, Member for Strathfield, claimed that Julia Gillard had decided to introduce the carbon tax simply out of a lust for power. Disappointingly, he didn’t go into the merits or otherwise of the carbon tax itself about which he didn’t seem well informed, and neither did he offer constructive ways to tackle the very real problem of climate change.

Therefore, Climate Action Burwood Ashfield wrote a response to his letter, which was published in the Inner West Courier on 27 September, on page 35. In it we called on Mr Casuscelli to discuss the carbon tax itself, rather than make claims about Julia Gillard’s personal motives. We also challenged several of the statements he made in his letter.

Charles Casuscelli's letter of 8 September

CABA's response of September 27

Rally against Coal Seem Gas mining in the Inner West, Sunday 18 September

greentea12 — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 04:57:30 +0000

You may be aware that in November 2010 the NSW government granted an exploration licence to drill for Coal Seam Gas (CSG) close to homes and schools in St Peters in the inner west – with no community consultation and insufficient risk assessment.

This in spite of the fact that Coal Seem Gas mining creates a lot of ongoing noise from heavy vehicles and heavy machinery. Residents can also be subjected to toxic fumes and dust. You can imagine the effect on property prices. This is the first time a company wants to mine Coal Seem Gas in a city.

The reason this is relevant to people living in the Ashfield/Burwood area is that CSG mining requires lots of spread out wells to be viable. If the mining company does find gas in St Peters, they will want to drill wells all over the inner west.

Regarding greenhouse gas emissions, although burning gas produces less CO2 than burning coal, CSG mining is likely to be even worse for climate change than mining and burning coal. This because 3.6% to 7.9% of the produced gas escapes into the atmosphere. And the gas is mostly Methane, a far worse greenhouse gas than CO2.

The community group Sydney Residents Against Coal Seam Gas (SRACSG) is now organising a public rally, to ask for a moratorium on Coal Seam Gas exploration and production, and a thorough investigation into the environmental and health impacts of the CSG industry.

When: Sunday 18 September, 11am
Where: Camperdown Memorial Park, Newtown (Cnr Lennox and Eliza St)

After assembling, the rally will peacefully proceed to the proposed drill site in Sydney Park.
In Sydney Park there will be food, speakers and music by The Lurkers, Blues artist Don Hopkins and others.

Links to more information about this issue:

Fact sheet about what it means to live in an area where coal seem gas mining is going on:
http://lockthegate.org.au/csg-facts/csg-factsheet.cfm

Answers by the mining company to questions from the community:
http://nogasmininginsydney.com/SomeResponsesbyDart.pdf

About the organisers of the rally:
http://nogasmininginsydney.com/

Free movie “A Sea Change” on 18/8/2011

greentea12 — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:08:10 +0000

Imagine a world without fish

It’s a frightening premise, and it’s happening right now.

Excess carbon dioxide is dissolving in our oceans, changing sea water chemistry. The more acidic water makes it difficult for tiny creatures at the bottom of the food web to form their shells. The effects could work their way up to the fish 1 billion people depend upon for their source of protein.

When: 18 August 2011, 7pm
Where: The Cadigal Room, Ashfield Aquatic Centre, cnr of Elizabeth and Frederick Sts, Ashfield (door to left of main entrance)
RSVP: Ashfield Council, 9716 1921 or sustainability@ashfield.nsw.gov.au

Attendance is free but must be booked. There will be tea and coffee and light refreshments. Presented by Ashfield Council in conjunction with Climate Action Burwood Ashfield.

Awards

Best Green Film, Kosovo International Documentary Film Festival; Grand Prize, Feature Documentary, FICA International Environmental Film Festival; Dumosa Award for Best Coastal Film, Cottonwood Environmental Film Festival; Best Nordic Country Film, Polar Film Festival; Aloha Accolade Award, Honolulu International Film Festival

Find out more

Ocean Acidification Hits Great Barrier Reef

What is ocean acidification?

The Darkening Sea

Results of survey “You and action against climate change”

greentea12 — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 08:25:45 +0000

Earlier this year, over a hundred people who were concerned about climate change were asked how much time they spend on action against climate change, what drove them to become active, how they became involved, etc. The idea was that if climate groups know what are the most common reasons why people become active, that would make it easier to attract more active members.

Click here to download the results of this survey.

Please feel free to give the report to others who may be interested. The more people who know about it, the more useful it is.

Results Croydon door knocking day

greentea12 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:45:33 +0000

Last Sunday, 29 May, members of Climate Action Burwood Ashfield went door knocking in Croydon, asking residents to do a short survey about their attitudes towards renewable energy. Here are the results:

Question	Yes	No	Don’t know
Do you think the government is doing enough to support the development of renewable energy?	7%	82%	11%
Do you think the government should be implementing strong policy to support new jobs and investment in renewable energy?	96%	4%	0%
Do you think we should be introducing more renewable energy to help manage rising energy prices?	79%	7%	14%
Do you think Australia should develop a plan to move to 100% renewable energy?	75%	7%	18%
Should Australia put a price on carbon pollution?	82%	18%	0%

This shows a great deal of support for renewables in Croydon. Remarkably, Croydon is in a state electorate that went to the Liberals at the last election, yet 82% of respondents were in favour of a price on carbon pollution.

On 29 May, show our leaders that Australians support renewable energy

greentea12 — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:08:24 +0000

Can you spare a Sunday afternoon to support the introduction of large scale renewable energy in our country?

On Sunday 29 May, from 1pm to 4:30pm, we’re going door knocking in the area around Croydon station. Goal: 16 door knockers, 200 surveys.

No need for prior experience – training, clipboards, maps, survey forms will all be provided.

Join us! Your help is important. Together we can show our leaders that Australians do support renewable energy!

skip to meeting details

You may have read that the federal government is planning to introduce a price on carbon pollution. This to encourage heavy industry and electricity producers to reduce their carbon emissions.

This is good – but the proposed carbon price won’t be high enough to get large companies to switch to renewable energy.

A solution to this would be to spend the proceeds of the price on carbon on development of renewable energy in our country, along with compensation for low income households. But to encourage our national leaders to do this, we have to show them the extent of community support for renewable energy.

To do this, the national 100% Renewables Campaign has organised a national door knocking day on the weekend after next. Australian men and women of all ages will go out in pairs in their local community and ask residents to do a short survey about their support for renewable energy. The aim is to have 14000 surveys completed nation wide. More than 70 local climate groups will be participating, including Climate Action Burwood Ashfield. It’s a big ask, but together we can do this.

Will you help out in Croydon on Sunday, 29 May, from 1pm to 4:30pm?

It’s ok if you’ve never done this sort of thing before. It’ll be the first time for most people. Now that we have a real chance to gain support for large scale renewable energy in our country, this is the time to act.

Here is the plan:

We’ll come together on Sunday 29 May, 1pm, at the corner of Meta Rd and
Paisley St (across the road from Croydon station)
There will be a short training session, to make everybody familiar with the survey and with door knocking in general. It isn’t hard.
Then we go out in pairs in the local streets. We’ll go from door to door, asking residents to do the survey. You’ll have a script, so no need to memorise the questions. We’ll record their answers on an answer sheet (will be provided). Each pair will have their own area (maps provided).
We’ll return to the starting point at about 4:30pm for a coffee and debrief and to hand in the answer sheets. If you have to leave earlier, that’s no problem.
Bring some water, comfy shoes, your mobile, and a hat. Climate Action Burwood Ashfield will provide training, clipboards, survey forms, maps, etc.

meeting place

I know from experience that going door knocking is a bit scary at first – but after you’ve done the first survey you realise it’s not that hard!

Please let me know whether you’ll help out on Sunday, 29 May, from 1pm to 4:30pm.

If we don’t make our voices heard, the fossil fuel lobby will win by default. Let’s not allow that to happen.

Together we can make a difference.

Thanks for your support,

Matt Perdeck
Climate Action Burwood Ashfield
0466 539 481
matt_perdeck@yahoo.com