Friends of the Earth on August 5 accused the Queensland government of unacceptable industry bias in its handling of Australia’s first ever attempt to involve members of the public in development of nanotechnology policy recommendations. Of the many members of the “Nanodialogues”, initiated this week, there is no other representation from nanotechnology stakeholders who have been critical, eg environment, health, civil liberties, social justice groups, unions, or ethicists.
Environment groups today applauded the Brumby Government’s announcement to create a chain of new River Red Gum National Parks along the Murray, Goulburn and Ovens rivers in northern Victoria. Groups described the commitment as one of the most significant in Victoria’s history.
Friends of the Earth today released Australia's first consumer guide to avoiding high risk 'nanoparticle' ingredients in sunscreens. 18 of 68 Australian brands surveyed have claimed that their sunscreens are now free of nanotechnology ingredients.
Friends of the Earth Australia today called for bans on the use of Simazine in swimming pools in Australia. Simazine is a herbicide, registered for use by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Association (APVMA) for a number of uses including swimming pools. Simazine also kills algae in swimming pools, dams, troughs, ponds and freshwater aquariums. The US EPA banned the use of Simazine in swimming pools in the United States in 1994.
The government's carbon trading scheme and emissions targets announced on monday are a recipe for disaster and will not deliver a safe climate. More than 60 environmental and social groups have joined together to denounce these targets. There are community protests around the country in response to the low target.
Conservationists have this morning again set up blockades in the controversial Brown Mountain logging coupe in East Gippsland, calling on the Brumby government to immediately protect the area.
Almost 40 per cent of the Victorian Government’s 2006 election promises on the environment have been broken or are at risk of not being delivered by 2010, leading environment groups said today.
Indigenous and environmental campaigners will highlight the ecological and social impacts of BHP Billiton's operations in Australia and overseas at the company's AGM in Melbourne today.
One year into its term in office, the Rudd government is in danger of failing its nuclear test according to national environment group Friends of the Earth.
Plans have been revealed today for a national community backlash to anticipate weak emissions reduction targets in the Federal Government’s White Paper, due to be released early December.
A British Royal Commission report to be released today has called for “urgent regulation” to manage the serious toxic risks posed by nanomaterials now in commercial use. The Commission drew particular attention to the toxic risks of carbon fullerenes or ‘bucky balls’, which Friends of the Earth has found in several cosmetics and face creams now on sale in Australia.
Recently over 70 people crowded into the Friends of the Earth (FoE) bookshop to learn more about the innovative Eco Market project that promises to create a truly sustainable alternative to shopping at the supermarket.
Energy policy has never been more prominent in a national election, and rarely have the results been so clear. Today’s landslide election of Barack Obama and pro-environment candidates across the country signals a strong rejection of the failed energy policies of the last eight years and a historic mandate for large-scale, transformational change.
The Australian Safeguards and Non-proliferation Office (ASNO) is today bringing itself into further disrepute by accepting an award from a pro-nuclear lobby group, the Australian Nuclear Association (ANA).
On Saturday the 27th of September Friends of the Earth will commemorate the 52nd anniversary of British Atomic Tests at Maralinga on the steps of Parliament House. From 9am, Adelaide artists will display banners depicting the explosions and effects of the testing on people and country.
Friends of the Earth Australia has described Garnaut's report as a "recipe for disaster" and called on the government to reject his proposed low-end carbon pollution targets.
As part of a national week of actions on climate change, the Climate Cleaning Ladies have taken to Flinders St. Station in Melbourne to see if there is such a thing as clean coal.
National environment and medical groups have welcomed today’s move by the Australian Greens to repeal former Howard Governments laws aimed at imposing a nuclear dump on the Northern Territory.
The Greenhouse Mafia representing major polluters from the fossil fuel industry were out in force this morning capturing Government, and their climate policy, to make sure business as usual greenhouse emissions continue in the face of dangerous climate change.
Australian regulators continue to down play the harmful effects of a chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA), which is extensively used in plastic consumer products. According to a new report released today by Friends of the Earth, 'Blissfully unaware of BPA: reasons why regulators should live up to their responsibilities' regulators need to act urgently to protect consumers.
Friends of the Earth today welcomed the release of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties' report on a uranium export agreement signed by John Howard and Vladimir Putin last September.
Local community climate groups across the country have joined with environment organisations in a last ditch call for the Garnaut Review to take a stronger stand on climate policy.
Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has released the Review of Australia's National Innovation System. Far from being a turning point for the future of innovation in Australia, as he has claimed it to be, it is more of the same old fare.
The 2008 Alliance meeting was held on Limilngan country near the Mary River, in the top end of the Northern Territory from August 29-31. The meeting celebrated 11 years of solidarity and effective resistance to the nuclear industry in Australia. Alliance members reaffirmed their commitment to continue active campaigning for a nuclear free Australia and agreed on a range of plans and strategies for the coming year.
Hydrogeologist Dr Gavin Mudd has today condemned environment minister Peter Garrett's decision to approve a six-fold expansion of the Beverley in-situ leach (ISL) uranium mine in SA and to allow the dumping of liquid mine waste directly into groundwater.
Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) and Friends of the Earth (FoE) today warned that tomorrow’s Science in Parliament briefing on nanotechnology, organised by Queensland’s Chief Scientist, shows unacceptable pro-industry bias and ignores nanotechnology’s serious new risks.
Over 100 representatives of non-government organisations from across the Asia-Pacific - including the main Pacific peak bodies and NGOs - have made an urgent call for Australian PM Kevin Rudd and NZ PM Helen Clark to do more to help the Pacific with climate change, in particular increased immigration and resettlement.
Protect Murray River Red Gums -- please act today for the river, the climate and our wildlife! After a three year investigation, the Brumby government has received recommendations for a 170,000ha network of national parks lining the River Murray and its tributaries.
Friends of the Earth Brisbane and the Peace Convergence are concerned at a proposal to build a new coal port on Australian Defence Force land at Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland. The port puts at risk Queensland's largest coastal wilderness area and increases the states contribution to climate change.
Friends of the Earth Brisbane (FoEB) and the Shoalwater Bay Wilderness Awareness Group (SWAG) reject the proposed coal port near Yeppoon. The port proposal currently being fast-tracked by Premier Bligh is a serious threat to the unique RAMSAR listed wetland area and the cleanliness of local residents drinking water. The port, in conjunction with the three proposed coal mines, is being pursued at cost to local and global environment and will contribute to climate change.
Today the federal parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCT) is holding a public hearing in Melbourne regarding the Australia-Russia Nuclear Agreement which includes provisions for the export of Australian uranium to Russia. The JSCT will hear that there have been no International Atomic Energy Agency inspections in Russia for many years - information which the Australian Safeguards and Non- proliferation Office and the Department of Foreign Affairs have conspicuously failed to provide to the Standing Committee.
On July 13, Make Poverty History launched its new report 'See the Bigger Picture: Australian Action on climate change: a guide for Garnaut and the Government'. It urges the Rudd Government to establish an international coalition to accept ‘climate change refugees’ when a country becomes uninhabitable because of rising sea levels, as outlined in Labor’s 2007 National Platform.
The G8 leaders meeting in Hokkaido from July 7-9 have failed to respond to the gravity of the climate crisis confronting the global community.
Friends of the Earth (FoE) today condemned the announcement by the Brumby Government to give approval to a new coal-fired power station in the La Trobe Valley.
Canada has become the first country ever to be brought to court for failing to comply with its legal commitments to combat global warming.
Before the election Labor condemned the Howard government’s process for siting a radioactive waste facility and also promised a method of addressing radioactive waste management issues which are ‘scientific, transparent, accountable, fair and allows access to appeal mechanisms’ and to ‘ensure full community consultation in radioactive waste decision-making processes’. Now we have federal Minister Martin Ferguson talking about fast-tracking a nuclear waste dump.
Friends of the Earth Brisbane has expressed disappointment at the Queensland Government as yesterday’s budget announced spending of more than $700 million on coal infrastructure, dwarfing spending on climate change initiatives and renewable energy.
Conservation groups Friends of the Earth and Friends of Gippsland Bush (FoGB) have today announced concern over the State Government's May 30 announcement regarding forest protection in the Strzelecki ranges in south eastern Victoria.
In a report launched at the COP 9 Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Bonn, Friends of the Earth (FoE) has criticised the Australian government for the ongoing logging of Australia’s native forests, causing widespread loss of biodiversity, despite being a signatory to the Convention.
Friends of the Earth in the USA has found that commonly used baby and children's products and upholstered household furniture contain dangerous levels of toxic chemicals called halogenated fire retardants.
Food, packaging and agricultural products containing manufactured nanomaterials pose a toxic health risk and should be suspended from sale until new safety testing, laws and appropriate labelling are created, a new report says.
Dutch lawyers representing the communities affected by Shells operations in the Niger Delta have summoned Shell to clarify its role concerning oil spills. Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said, in response to this action: `In a globalised world, European companies should be held accountable in their home countries when they operate overseas in ways they would never dream of in their own backyard.'
Environmental organisations Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Friends of Gippsland Bush (FoGB) have today announced concerns that the $7 million Cores and Links Deal to save Strzelecki Rainforest is no closer to resolution 18 months after a Heads of Agreement to protect the area was signed.
Organisers of Australia's first "Camp for Climate Action" say they plan to block a coal train line as part of a climate protest to be held in Newcastle in July. Up to a thousand people from across Australia are expected to converge on Newcastle to take action at the world's largest coal exporting port.
FoE Australia campaigner Natalie Lowrey and Neville "Chappy" Williams, Wiradjuri elder and spokesperson for Mooka and Kalara United Families are currently in Toronto as part of a speaking tour of communities affected by Barrick Gold mining operations. Check here to see campaign updates, press releases and briefing papers and a statement on carbon trading by the Indigenous caucus presented at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York.
National environmental organisation Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) has joined the growing chorus of outrage coming from around the country following the call for a government taskforce which would support carbon capture technology.
National environmental organisation Friends of the Earth (FoE) says that today's public launch of the CO2 CRC carbon sequestration trial in the Otway Basin is an effort in burying carbon – and our heads – in the sand. It takes attention and funds away from what is required for a meaningful response to climate change.
Twenty conservationists remain in two old growth logging coupes this morning south of Bendoc on the Errinundra Plateau in far eastern Victoria. Two 30 metre high tree platforms remain in place and are preventing logging from commencing.
Friends of the Earth Australia has welcomed Professor Garnaut's strong opposition to free permits in his proposed emissions trading scheme, released today, but warned of the dangers of allowing international offsets and industry compensation to undermine the scheme.
Friends of the Earth, Australia has welcomed statements by the Minister for Immigration Chris Evans that he is considering ways to assist climate refugees.
The federal Coalition’s reversal of its aggressive pro-nuclear position and the new political consensus against nuclear power as an energy option for Australia has been welcomed by Friends of the Earth.
National environmental organisation Friends of the Earth welcomes Professor Ross Garnauts’ statement that Australia must make deep cuts to our greenhouse gas pollution emissions.
National environmental justice organisation Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) joins with other Australians in welcoming Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations. We believe this is a necessary and significant step in beginning to acknowledge the depth of the impacts of the removal policy on the people who were removed, their families and more broadly their communities.
"Climate Code Red: The case for a sustainability emergency" This new report, prepared by Carbon Equity and the Greenleap Strategic Institute, argues for the need to declare an climate emergency.