Chain Reaction #120 − March/April 2014

National Magazine of Friends of the Earth, Australia

Read online at foe.org.au/chain-reaction or subscribe (details below).

In this edition:
·        Friends of the Earth at the G20: a grassroots human response
·        Koalas and Blue Gum Plantations
·        High ecological value State Forests to be logged in Queensland
·        Watershed on Indigenous rights needed in Victoria
·        Research on nanomaterials is lagging behind commercial developments
·        What's the story with nanoparticles in sunscreen?
·        Digging into EIA − Failures in impact assessments
·        Great Artesian Basin and Painted Desert under threat from Altona's proposed Arckaringa Coal Mine
·        The struggle for the Leard State Forest
·        Legal personality for Great Barrier Reef
·        Connecting with Torres Strait Islander communities on climate change
·        Climate change displacement and the need for pre-emptive, managed migration
·        Seaspray residents vow to do whatever it takes to protect land
·        The lies about renewable energy's cost
·        Electricity privatisation − a record of failure
·        Abbott government's wind energy health review unnecessary
·        Climate change: the situation is hopeless – let's take the next step
·        Australian yellowcake fuels Ukrainian fires
·        The People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy in India
·        Fukushima apologies and apologists
·        Queensland campaign against uranium mining
·        The nuclear renaissance that never was
·        The humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons

Subscriptions:
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* Subscribe online at www.foe.org.au/donate 
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Market Forces is a Friends of the Earth affiliate group, pushing for divestment of fossil fuel investments. 

The fray is heating up for Market Forces, as public and media pressure on fossil fuel corporations and their financial toadies continues to compound. This is in thanks to recent escapades in Annual General Meetings and divestment actions, leading to alarm from the coal lobby, and nation wide press. In response to our actions and the activities of divestment focussed groups, the coal lobby has launched a desperate counter-offensive to try and charm major investment and superannuation firms to the black beauty of coal, despite the industry's crippling financial losses over the last 12 months.

During 2014, MF is only going to continue to ramp up the pressure, with the upcoming Divestment (D!) Day, on the 3rd of May... mark it down in your diaries.

In other news, Market Forces is continuing to detail the emissions financed by major institutions. This builds on debt mapping work revealing that financial institutions have lent $82 billion over the last 5 years to fossil fuel companies, with the big four banks taking out places in the top 10, including #1 for ANZ, who alone has leant $6.53 billion. We're also planning to look into superannuation... so stay tuned!

www.marketforces.org.au/

On March 11th, the PACE collective did a banner drop from the Victoria Bridge on the 3rd Anniversary of the Fukushima disaster (Bridge shots Photos: citizenperth). The following weekend,
Benny Zable and FoE folks headed out with our BrisCAN - G20 banner at the March in March!

Friends of the Earth defend the rights of people and the environment.  We do this by grass roots organising with people affected by threats in their communities:  rural farming communities fighting Coal Seam Gas (CSG) and coal mining, indigenous people opposed to the destruction of their traditional homelands for nuclear waste dumps or mines, urban communities concerned about pollution and new technologies (such as food irradiation and nanotechnologies),  and where voracious development and economic priorities are allowed to override the basic rights of communities to clean, safe environments and protected areas.  Our activities include on-the ground protests and civil disobedience, community organising and training, lobbying and research.  We also start alternative projects to demonstrate better ways of producing the goods and services that communities need, which are not socially and environmentally damaging.  In Brisbane we have been behind the now self-sufficient businesses Bicycle Revolution (who repair and renew old bikes and offer a bike workshop); Food Connect (out of our Community supported Agriculture Project, FC has now expanded to Sydney as a model); and Reverse Garbage (reclaiming clean industrial waste for reuse) who we live with at 20 Burke St, Woolloongabba.  We try to lobby for change while creating that change through practical initiatives based on sound evidence.

Click read more to continue...

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to Friends of the Earth in the last year :)

Join an innovative campaign “Postcards from the Frontlines”, launched on 24 September, aiming to achieve urgently needed recognition and protection for climate refugees around the world.

According to reports, millions of people were forced from their homes due to weather-related events in the year 2012 alone.

Initiated by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) in collaboration with ByPost, the “Postcards from the Frontlines” campaign allows people to send a free postcard from phone or desktop, which will arrive as a real physical postcard at the United Nations secretary-general's office in New York, calling for action on climate refugees. The project aims to reach 100,000 postcards by Human Rights Day, 10 December, when a public response will be sought from the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

Through the postcards campaign people are invited to take a photograph of themselves using the free ByPost iPhone app or website to send a real “petition” postcard to the UN Headquarters in New York asking for concrete measures protecting the climate refugees.

Find out more at http://www.bypost.com/

Queensland gran June Norman has walked 1200km in 80 days to raise awareness to save the Great Barrier Reef. She chats to Sunrise about her initiative. Click here to watch the video.

Reef Walk's parade of colourful banners entered Gladstone streets. The 80 day journey ends with the 72 year old great grandmother arriving in Gladstone. The 1200km walk from Cairns has passed through every town along the Great Barrier Reef coast. 

“I started this journey more than a year ago, with planning and contacting other concerned people, tourist operators and fishermen all along the coast. The last few months have been some of the best days of my life. Every day I met wonderful people with passion to protect the Reef”, said June Norman. 

“One thing life has taught me is there is nothing more important than family, and this journey  (Reef Walk) has been one small thing I can do for my grand children. It's what every mother wants, a good future for their children, and I want my grand kids to enjoy the world and the Great Barrier Reef like I have”, says June.

The Great Barrier Reef is under threat from climate change and from Australia's coal export market and growing coal seam gas (CSG) industry. New major coal ports planned from Gladstone and the Fitzroy Delta, to Abbot Point near Mackay require millions of tonnes of sea bed dredging that is impacting turtles, dugong and dolphins.

“I just don't understand, why are we allowing international companies to come here and destroy this beautiful world heritage reef. The dredging in Gladstone should be a warning to us all, we will see dead dugong and turtles all along the Queensland coast if we don’t stop the new coal and gas ports.”

The cumulative impacts of LNG and coal projects to the reef have not been considered or quantified. The pace of industrialisation is so rapid that marine turtles could disappear before their life cycle is understood. Investigations are rapidly under way to protect Gladstone's Fitzroy Delta Subfin Dolphin before port development begins.

“All I ask is that Mr Newman and Mr Rudd stop for just one day and take a trip to the reef. Stop and feel its beauty. Perhaps then they might consider stopping this madness”,  

“The coal companies are packing up and leaving; they know where the money is and it is not in coal and gas any more. I don't know much about energy but I know the future is in wind and solar energy”. 

Reef Walk is a message that conveys the hopes of many Australians wanting big steps to be taken to protect the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is home to countless marine species and the work place of thousands of Queenslanders supporting the tourism sector.

“I just hope people really think about the election. Choose who you want to vote for. Don't just pick the same old party. Look them up, call them and ask them about their policy to protect the reef,” said June Norman.

June Norman is a 72 year old grandmother of 10 and a great grandmother of 8. June and Reef Walk 2013 are asking that steps are taken towards protecting the Great Barrier Reef.

Media liaison and radio interview booking:
Derec Davies, Friends of the Earth  0421 835 587
June Norman  0438 169 414
Web: www.reefwalk2013.com
Images available via Dropbox in request