In 2024, council elections in Port Phillip give us a rare opportunity to tip the balance of power in favour of environmental protection and social equity. We are very proud of the PECAN members who have announced that they’re running for election in Port Phillip wards. We’d like to introduce them and ask you to support their campaigns. If they’re not running in your ward, but you know people in those wards who could vote for them – spread the word!
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Alex Darton
(Balaclava Ward)
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Of course, our PECAN candidates will be front and centre on environmental issues. Check out their websites for their other policy positions. Our candidates need our support in this very important election – please contact them if you can offer practical assistance.
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Not to be alarmist, but in a new quarterly essay, a respected climate scientist says that we are “on the way to climate hell” and that most Australians do not understand the dangers – for instance, each 1m of sea-level rise typically results in 100m of coastline being lost – think of what this means in Port Phillip! Hearteningly, the technological solutions exist; we just need the political will to adopt them. Volunteer for our Council election campaign if you want to make a difference.
On a more positive note, we are starting to add more resources to the PECAN website. Our first blog entries are about the need to improve biodiversity and coastal hazards in Port Phillip. Happy reading!
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The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy – and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation, and we scientists do not know how to do that.
Gus Speth
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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.
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Councillor voting trends
In a reasonable decision, Council on June 5 decided to extend the private kerbside EV charger pilot for the next four years, or until 100 private chargers have been installed. At least we are getting some action now, rather than waiting for alternative technologies.
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Have Your Say
The City of Port Phillip has a public consultation open about the Urban Forest Strategy (until 7 July). It is vital that we all provide feedback on this important strategy, which will shape our streets for the coming years.
Also, you can become an environmental leader with the City of Port Phillip’s free course kicking off in August! Join our free 10-week course to learn from experts, receive one-on-one coaching and join an incredible network of people responding to the biggest challenge of our time. Apply now to book your place. Places are limited, so get in quick. Register here.
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Take personal action
Greenpeace is asking for 50,000 people to sign a petition to pressure McDonalds in Australia to take deforestation off the menu by being more selective in where it buys beef.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is asking people to sign a petition to keep Australia nuclear free. This is particularly important now that the Liberal and Country Parties are proposing a particularly tone-deaf and stupid nuclear power “policy”. Hopefully, voters will recognise that we must embrace renewable energy generation and batteries as the only credible and low-cost path towards improving the resilience and flexibility of our electricity grid. Hopefully they will also see that we do not want to be living near any potential Latrobe Valley Chernobyls, and that we have no credible way to store nuclear waste for thousands of years. The ACF are asking people to contact their local representatives to tell them we do not want their nuclear nonsense. Solar Citizens also have a comparable email campaign.
The ACF is also running their Wild at Art 2024 threatened species art competition for kids until 12 August.
Environment Victoria is asking people to tell the government that they support efficient and liveable homes for renters. This can be achieved by setting minimum efficiency standards for rental properties. You can make a submission here (closes 1 July).
Here’s a fun way to take action: make your shopping a greener, more community-focused experience by participating in the next Share and Swap on 6 July at Port Phillip Ecocentre. Donate some pre-loved items then browse a pop-up full of treasures for free! Get more details, including what kind of things you can donate, from the Share and Swap Instagram.
Finally, if you like trivia, the Australian Marine Conservation Society is hosting a night of fun on Tuesday 9 July at the Golden Gate Hotel in Clarendon Street South Melbourne. Get your free tickets here.
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Australia’s great gas giveaway
It seem unbelievable to us, but the Australian Federal government is choosing not to collect royalties on most of the gas exported from our federally controlled territorial ocean areas. This gas is owned by Australia – in what world does it make sense to let foreign-owned companies dig it out from under our coastal waters and make massive profits while causing huge massive CO2 emissions? Leave it underground, or at least heavily tax it, and use this income to decarbonise our Australian economy. Learn more here.
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Should You Buy an Electric Bike?
Electric bikes and other personal mobility vehicles are good for the environment and for people personally, especially compared to the car alternative. Read this article from Choice to understand the full pros and cons.
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How Switzerland is getting to Net Zero
Switzerland is an interesting climate-change case study. The impacts are clear (reduced snow) and they are making many changes – this video from the always informative Engineering With Rosie explains their ambitious plans.
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Green iron corridors – the future of green steel-making
The Pilbara region in Western Australia has strong potential to become a part of future green iron corridors if we can invest in renewable electricity generation, green hydrogen production equipment and Direct Reduction Iron processing equipment there. These investments will let us produce green hydrogen (hydrogen made without producing any CO2, e.g. by using electricity to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen). This is then used to pre-process ore into iron pellets before shipment overseas to green steel mills. However, there is plenty of potential competition, and it would be better if more of the local iron ore was a higher grade.
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Net Zero district heating (and cooling)
Especially in Northern Europe, district heating systems that heat water at a central (usually fossil-fuelled) power plant and circulate it to nearby buildings have long been popular. We are now starting to use excess summer renewable power to store heat (in water or sand) for subsequent use in district heating during winter, greatly reducing the corresponding carbon emissions. Learn more here
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A bit of fun…
If you have a spare 15 minutes, you might like to watch this video, in which a very competent and well-respected mechanical engineering YouTuber explains the complete stupidity of creating a car powered by a hydrogen-fuelled V8 internal combustion engine, like Toyota and others are proposing.
As he eloquently and entertainingly points out, the biggest practical hydrogen fuel tank that could fit into the car would only give it a range of about 50 miles, even storing the hydrogen at 10,000psi (a very high pressure). You can make the fuel tank smaller by storing the hydrogen as a liquid at -253 degrees Celsius, but after aout 17 hours of not being actively cooled the tank would have to be vented to the atmosphere to prevent it from exploding!
Interestingly, there are also others spuriously promoting the use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel – see this article. It just seems to be a smokescreen to delay the transition to very practical and cost-effective battery-fuelled electric vehicles.
In a somewhat better solution, the Fins have ammonia-powered internal combustion engines. Water is the waste when you burn ammonia; you can make it in similar ways to hydrogen and it is a liquid at room temperatures, which solves the storage problems. The difficulty is that ammonia is much more toxic than petrol. Learn more.
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