Welcome to Issue #21

If you are not already coming, we would love to see you at our PECAN  Meet the Candidates event!

                 4–6pm, Sunday 4 August

                 Heroes Room, St Kilda RSL

                 Acland Street St Kilda

At this event, you can meet the ‘climate-friendly’ candidates standing in the Port Phillip Council elections this October. After 4 years of Council division and denial, electing a progressive Council in the upcoming elections is critical for climate action in the City of Port Phillip, and for collaboration with other nearby Councils as well.

This Council election comes at a crucial point: we need to support progressive, climate-focused candidates as much as we can. We need people power and financial support, so you can donate here, or email us if you can help out with the PECAN campaign.

A recent, and good, opinion article explains how the Albanese Government has taken its foot off the accelerator combating climate change, and it will cost us dearly in the long run.

Our friends at Bayside Climate Crisis Action Group (BCCAG) are holding their AGM and 15th birthday celebration on 29 August, where Tim and Coni Forcey will be speaking. Tim is famous for his My Efficient Electric Home handbook and Facebook group. 

Our friend Gio Fitzpatrick, the naturalist who spoke so passionately about biodiversity at PECAN’s Urban Forest Strategy forum, has a series of fascinating talks on his Instagram feed – take a look!

It is interesting that China, which is often touted as a firm believer in nuclear energy, is now installing the wind and solar equivalent of five large nuclear power stations per week. They should reach their 2030 renewables target this month, about 5 years early! see here for details.

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction..
Bill Gates

We are living and working on the unceded lands of the Yalukit Willam people. We pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land and their ongoing connection to land, waters, sky and culture.

Councillor voting trends

Council’s only action in July was continued support for the Open Space policy.

Everybody should also be aware that enrollments to vote in the upcoming Council elections close on 7 August. Also, unlike State and Federal elections, non-Australian residents can vote in Council elections. Non-Australian renters and ratepayers can both enroll to vote.

We would like to see far more climate action from this Council. However, they do regularly run the excellent Environmental Leaders course, and the next cohort starts on 13 August. Learn more and register

Council is also hosting the popular Swap and Share events, which are an initiative of Environmental Leadership course graduates. Share your pre-loved items and swap them for re-loved treasures, all in a lively pop-up setting. Just like an op shop or garage sale, where everything is free. The next one will be on Saturday 3 August. Register here

Have Your Say

The City of Port Phillip now has climate related public consultations open about:

• Dank Street biolink review and renewal (before 15 August)
• Our coastal future photo competition (until December 2024)

The main issue for our coastline is sea level rises, erosion, flooding and increasing groundwater salinity. We do not see how a competition for picturesque photos of our coastline helps address these future problems for our community.

As always we recommend that you Have Your Say!

Take personal action

Here’s what you can do as an individual climate-change activist this month. 

The Port Phillip EcoCentre vibrant volunteer cohort does great work. To join them, you can attend the next Volunteer Induction Session on Tuesday 6 August. Learn more and register

For the winter months, the Port Phillip EcoCentre has changed the time of its popular Climate Cafes to Saturday afternoon. The next one is on 24 August. Come along to speak to some like-minded people about living with climate anxiety. Learn more and register

Environment Victoria is organising a webinar to ask Federal Environment Minister Plibersek to fix our broken nature laws. It’s at 5:45pm on Wednesday 7 August. Learn more and RSVP

The Climate Council is running an email campaign to ask that our transport ministers refocus on public transport and local personal mobility rather than cars. We need to reclaim our streets for people, and make transport cheaper and cleaner. Learn more and send your email

The Climate Council is also hosting a Don’t Nuke the Climate webinar 11am, Saturday 3 August. Learn more and register here.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is running an open-letter campaign calling on Woolworths and Coles to sell only deforestation-free beef, so that we can stop the destruction of ecosystems and support farmers who are producing food while protecting and restoring nature on their land. Learn more and sign the letter

ACF is also supporting a Friends of the Merri Creek citizen science event to test the health of the creek’s water from 2pm to 3.30pm on 1 September. Sign up to participate

The Wilderness Society is running an open-letter campaign to voice opposition to the despicable ExxonMobil and Woodside plans to abandon parts of their rigs and pipelines in Bass Strait. Learn more and add your voice

On Sunday 11 August and Tuesday 14 August, the Regenerators Team is premiering The Future Council, a film about a group of school kids who go on a European road trip asking questions about climate change. Learn more and book your tickets

Re-wilding is essential for restoring global biodiversity

Planet Wild is a very interesting social enterprise that uses GoFundMe and other means to finance specific re-wilding projects around the world. The project that caught our attention is one that is re-wilding the ground under electricity transmission lines in Switzerland, turning them into insect highways. Watch this video to learn more

Seaweed beats plastic

We loved this video pointing out that much better alternatives to conventional plastic can be made from seaweed. Many seaweeds are also nutritious, so it’s far more versatile than plastic. Another option could be bamboo, another hardy, quick-growing plant that can be used both as a substitute for plastic and for tree-based paper. Watch this video for more information.

Is Direct Air Capture just a dangerous distraction?

Direct Air Capture – using machinery to extract CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester it – sounds good when you say it fast. But given that we’re pumping billions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year, and the machinery can only remove a fraction of that, it’s currently a pie-in-the-sky excuse for large polluters to delay cleaning up their operations. Learn more here.

For another perspective on these issues, read some interesting interviews with CEOs of start-up carbon-removal companies.

The dark side of the mining boom  

Cleaning up the environmental damage left after mines have closed or been abandoned is costing Australian communities millions. And the problem is greatly exacerbated by a lack of government records on what mines are where, and who owns and operates them (and so who is responsible for the clean-up up after they close). Learn more in this excellent report 

Where will the offshore wind-farm support hubs be?

The ‘first mover’ advantages for becoming an offshore wind-farm support-hub port should be huge, with major capital investment barriers for sunbsequent newcomers. At least one coal-shipping terminal has seen the writing on the wall and is staking a claim. Learn more about it

A bit of fun …

Ironically, large diesel generators are used to provide electrical power during the construction of most large solar farms. To cater for solar panels breaking during transport, there are also usually leftover panels a the end of construction. One bright spark of an installer has figured out that if they temporarily set up a big battery and some spare panels at the beginning of the project, they no longer need the diesel generator. A nice environmental win. Get the details

And we were amused by the ‘World’s First Net Positive Energy’ Botanical Gardens in Florida – botanical gardens do not strike us as being big energy consumers, and they naturally offset any CO₂ emissions by all the plants absorbing it from the atmosphere. Learn more