Showing posts with label Fossil Fuels. Show all posts

Thursday, 11 February 2016

Dale Hess Calendar - Dates for your diary

Thursday 18 February – Thursday 3 March: Transition Film Festival. The Transitions Film Festival is visionary program dedicated to spotlighting the complex challenges, cutting-edge ideas, creative innovations and mega-trends that are redefining what it means to be human. We present positive, solutions-focused films and showcase cutting-edge ideas from around the world, along with the creative, academic, governmental, community and business leaders who are creating change locally. http://www.transitionsfilmfestival.com/melbourne-program-2016/

Thursday 18 February, 6.30 pm – 8 pm: Market Forces Campaign Launch. Market Forces believes that the banks, superannuation funds and governments that have custody of our money should use it to protect not damage our environment. We're planning to make this year massive. Massive campaigns, resulting in massive change. We have climate change commitments from banks that need to be turned into concrete action that moves finance out of fossil fuels. We want to turn divestment from coal, oil and gas from a steady stream to an unstoppable torrent. And of course, we have new dirty coal proposals here in Australia and overseas that need to be stopped in their tracks. Venue: Treasury Room, Imperial Hotel, 2 Bourke St, Melbourne (corner Spring Street). Food provided, drinks at bar prices. Free entry but bookings are essential as places are limited. RSVP here. Market Forces is proud to be an affiliate project of Friends of the Earth Australia and a member of the BankTrack international network, connecting us with passionate campaigners, environmental issue experts and advocates of environmentally sustainable behaviour from the finance sector.

Get the details and RSVP for our Melbourne campaign launch here.

Saturday 20 February, 5.02 pm – 7 pm: Peace, Faith and Solving Conflict. Invited speakers: Prof. Gary Bouma, UNESCO and Rev.Victor Kazanjian, Global Director United Religions Initiative. Venue: Cultural Infusion Centre, 49 Vere Street, Collingwood College Theatre (entrance from Campbell Street). Sponsored by Cultural Infusion and United Religions Initiative. Free event. Refreshments provided. Bookings:https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/culture-talk-tickets-21240877035

Wednesday, 24 February, 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm: Syrian Conflict Information Evening. The Amnesty International Bayside Team are hosting an information evening on the current Syrian crisis. Presenting an impartial account of the current internal armed conflict in Syria, as well as information about the settlement process for refugees and asylum seekers. From 7.30 pm we will have three speakers, discussing the current Syrian crisis, intake of refugees and settlement services for refugees and asylum seekers here in Australia. Tim Redfern from Amnesty International Bayside, Alanna Attard from AMES and Panos Massouris from AMES will be speaking. Venue: The Sandy Beach Centre - 2 Sims Street Sandringham. Register here.

Saturday 5 March, 9 am – 11.30 am: Oases Breakfast Conversation: Listening to Indigenous Voices. Dr Robert Hoskin will share insights from his listening to his Kimberley friends relevant to relating with land and community. Together we will explore how listening means a change of heart, if not our change in approach to life and relationships, and discuss how knowledge of the past might save us from endless repetition in the future. $30/$20 Concession. Main Hall, Habitat Centre for Spirituality, 2 Minona Street, Hawthorn. To book:http://www.oases.edu.au/breakfast/

Monday 11 April; Sunday and Monday, 24 April and 25 April; Sunday 1 May: Ecological Literacy. Ecological literacy was initially used byDavid W. Orr and physicist Fritjof Capra in the 1990s, to understand the Earth as a living system whose well-being was dependent on our thinking in terms of the interdependence of all living systems. In his Web of Life Capra writes of the emergence of a new paradigm challenging the old mechanistic and linear view of the universe and challenging notions of continuous growth and development and with it consumerism and commodification as the “normal”. Ecological literacy is about using this interdependent view of the world to help address the complex dilemmas around the destructive impact that humans have had on the world bringing us to what is often called the Anthropocene… And together we'll draw on the experiences and wisdom of all participants, and the 'natural world' around us. Cost $800. Further details: info@oases.edu.au.

Monday 25 April – Friday 29 April: Living the Peace Testimony with Greg Rolles. Explore the connections between war, militarism, climate change, colonisation of Indigenous peoples, racism – and your own urges to help bring peace. Silver Wattle Quaker Centre, 1063 Lake Road, Bungendore, NSW. Telephone:02 6238 0588

Friday 10 June – Monday 13 June: Indigenous Spirituality and Culture with Karen Kime. Journey into Aboriginal ways of teaching country, kinship and cross-cultural issues in work and community. The workshop will also include examples of other indigenous people. Silver Wattle Quaker Centre, 1063 Lake Road, Bungendore, NSW. Telephone:02 6238 0588

Monday 11 July; Sunday and Monday, 31 July and 1 August; Saturday 10 September: Recreating our Organisations. We live in a world of organisations, educational, familial, work…each with its own culture and processes and each creating its own set of experiences for those who interact with it. Whilst we cannot escape from the reality of organizations in our lives, we can learn to better understand, work with and change (for the better) the organizations in which we play a part…In this unit then our central question addresses the possibilities of recreating or re-imagining the way we organise that would create more soulful, meaningful, value based, collaborative and generative organisations that are relevant for 21st century sustainable and socially just organisations. Cost $800. Further details: info@oases.edu.au.

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Green Left Weekly Activist Calendar - 2015-02-11


	Green Left Weekly Activist Calendar

	February 11, 2015

Public meeting: The Greek elections, Syriza and the fight against austerity in Europe

Thursday, February 19, 6:30pm (meal from 6pm). Speakers: Dick Nichols (Green Left Weekly European correspondent, covered Greek elections); Afrodity Giannakis (resident in Greece, active in social movements and Syriza until mid-2014). Multicultural Hub (Old Drill Hall), 506 Elizabeth St (opposite Victoria Markets). $10/$5. Presented by Socialist Alliance & Green Left Weekly. For more info ph 9639 8622. Facebook event

ACTU day of action: Fight for our rights

Wednesday, March 4, 10am. Trades Hall, cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton South.

This is the regular Melbourne activist calendar compiled by Green Left Weekly. Emailed to subscribers each Wednesday fortnight, it is a one-stop listing of the main left and progressive events in Melbourne and Geelong.

Since it began in early 1991, Green Left Weekly has offered an indispensable alternative to the lies of the big-business media and has helped build the various movements for social change. To subscribe toGreen Left Weekly, visit our secure online website for rates and payment or call our national hotline on 1800 634 206.

You can also contact us at the Resistance Centre, 5th floor, 407 Swanston St, City; ph 9639 8622. In Geelong we are at the Activist Centre, Trades Hall, 127 Myers St (opening hours: Mon 2-4:30pm, Fri 10am-4:30pm); ph 5222 6900.

New email address? Not already receiving this calendar regularly? Want to subscribe someone else? Let us know at Greenleft Melbourne.

Until Sunday, March 1

Sustainable Living Festival. Raises awareness and provides tools for change by showcasing leading solutions to the ecological and social challenges we face. It will again present a rich program of home and lifestyle solutions including talks, workshops, art, film, performance and markets to educate and inform the audience about their state of sustainability. For agenda visit SLF.

Thursday, February 12

Forum: Preventing crimes against nature? How can the legal system be changed to better protect nature and sustain life? Speakers: Nicola Rivers (Environmental Justice Australia); Alessandro Pelizzon (Southern Cross University); Kate Auty (former Victorian Government Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability); Ellen Sandell (State Greens MP). 6pm. Entry Free. The Deakin Edge, Federation Square, City.

Public meeting: A report-back on the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons. Speakers: Robert Tickner(CEO, Red Cross), Phoebe Wynn-Pope (Red Cross), Tilman Ruff, Vanessa Macedo and Michael Hamel-Green (Victoria University). 6pm. Australian Red Cross, 155 Pelham St, Carlton.

Friday, February 13 - Friday, March 6

Transitions Film Festival. Australia’s largest sustainability film festival is dedicated to showcasing inspirational documentaries about the social and technological innovations, revolutionary ideas and trailblazing change-makers that are leading the way to a better world. For more info visit Transitions Film Festival.

Friday, February 13

Sustainable Living Festival Great Debate: To collapse or not to collapse? Pushing for economic ruin or building a 'great transition'. As the climate crisis continues to unfold so too does the polarisation of core strategy within the environment movement. At one end of the spectrum, there are those who remain firmly dedicated to building a mass global movement to achieve a full-scale emergency, wartime -like transition of our economy. Counter to this position, some environmentalists are fueled by a strong belief that speeding up an implosion of the global financial system is the only thing that can prevent catastrophic climate change. Speakers: George Monbiot (video link); George Marshall; Jess Moore; David Holmgren & Nicole Foss. 6.30pm. $25. The Deakin Edge, Federation Square, City.

Concert: Apology day celebration. In celebration of the anniversary of the apology to Australia's Stolen Generations. Featuring: Christine Anu, Archie Roach, Frank Yamma, Jimblah, Thelma Plum, Kurcha Edwards, Tim Rogers, Clare Bowditch, Horror Show and Blue King Brown. Singer/songwriter Eddie Perfect and actress Miranda Tapsell will take on hosting duties. Entry free. Sidney Myer Music Bowl. More information is available from Healing Foundation.

Saturday, February 14

Global Divestment Day rally: Break up with fossil fuels. 11am. Star Lawns, Alexandra Gardens, behind the boat-sheds. Facebook event

Forum: UK climate change communications specialist, George Marshall. Given everything we know about climate change why do many still ignore it? Climate communications specialist George Marshall helps us understand the psychological and social mechanisms behind our failure to engage with the urgency and seriousness of the issue. 2pm. RMIT, Building 80, Lecture theatre 80.02.007.445, Swanston St, City. Entry free but register here. Presented by Psychologists for a Safe Climate & Sustainable Living Festival.

Sunday, February 15

Anatolian Peace & Friendship Festival. Special guest performer: Ilkay Akkaya. Live bands; dances, food, art & craft stalls. 11am-7pm. Coburg Lake Reserve.

Tuesday, February 17

Rally: Commemorate one year since Reza Berati was murdered in Australian detention on Manus Island. One year ago, PNG mobile squad, detention staff and locals launched an attack on the refugees held in the Manus Island detention centre, and killed Reza Barati. The attack left others with slit throats, lost eyes, and countless injuries and trauma. To date, no one has yet been convicted for his murder. Reza Barati was the first victim of Australia's offshore detention hell. Speakers: Reza Yarahmadi (Iranian refugee); Arnold Zable (writer and human rights activist). 5:30pm. State Library, cnr Swanston & La Trobe Sts, City. Organised by Refugee Action Collective.

Thursday, February 19

Public meeting: The Greek elections, Syriza and the fight against austerity in Europe. Speakers: Dick Nichols (Green Left Weekly European correspondent, covered Greek elections); Afrodity Giannakis (resident in Greece, active in social movements and Syriza until mid-2014). 6:30pm (meal from 6pm).Multicultural Hub (Old Drill Hall), 506 Elizabeth St (opposite Victoria Markets). $10/$5. Presented by Socialist Alliance & Green Left Weekly. For more info ph 9639 8622. Facebook event

Monday, February 23

Public meeting: The plight of Tamil refugees. Come find out more about the plight of Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka, at a special Refugee Action Collective forum. 6:30pm. Australian Nurses Federation, 540 Elizabeth St, City (just north of Victoria St).

Tuesday, February 24

Public meeting: Just transitions: Moving Australia beyond fossil fuels. Keynote speaker: Bob Massie (US economist). Entry free; register here. New Council Chambers, Trades Hall, cnr Victoria & Lygon Sts, Carlton South. 6pm. Presented by 350.org. Facebook event

Wednesday, February 25

Public meeting: Roundup: miracle weedkiller or cause of disease? Guest speaker: Don Huber (Professor Emeritus in Plant Pathology at Purdue University, Indiana, USA). He is an award-winning, world-renowned scientist. He opposes the use of Roundup weedkiller and genetically manipulated (GM) crops and foods, after seeing the negative impacts of farm chemicals on the control of soil plant pathogens. 7pm. Fitzroy Town Hall, 201 Napier St, Fitzroy. Tickets: book your seat online Roundup or $10 at the door. Presented by MADGE, GM-Free Australia Alliance & Friends of the Earth.

Saturday, February 28

Film premiere: Chile's Student Uprising. Director Pablo Navarrete will talk after the screening. 6:30pm. $8/$5. RMIT, Building 80, Level 9, Room 12, 445 Swanston St, City. Presented by LASNET. Facebook event

Wednesday, March 4

ACTU day of action: Fight for our rights. 10am, Trades Hall, cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton South.

Sunday, March 8

Rally & march: International Women's Day. 1pm. State Library, Swanston St, City.

Saturday, March 14

Feminism & socialism discussion afternoon. 1:30pm (lunch from 1pm). Resistance Centre, Level 5, 407 Swanston St, City (opposite RMIT). Presented by Socialist Alliance. For more info ph 9639 8622.

Wednesday, March 25

Protest: Student national day of action. We proved last year that protesting works when the Senate rejected Pyne's 'reforms'. But Pyne hasn't gotten the message yet. Let's redeliver it on March 25. 2pm.State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston St, City.

Saturday, March 28

Rally: Stop terrorism in Australia by bringing Aussie troops home from Syria, Iraq & Afghanistan. 1pm. Federation Square. City. Facebook event

Sunday, March 29

Palm Sunday rally: Walk for justice for refugees. 1:30pm (speeches start 2pm). State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston St, City. We will then proceed down to Queen Victoria Gardens (opposite the NGV on St Kilda Road).

Thursday, February 19

Love makes a way Bendigo court case. On October 21 nine Christian leaders were arrested at the Bendigo office of Senator Bridget McKenzie after a peaceful prayer vigil. They were speaking out against the detention of refugee children. They will be facing court on February 19. If you would like to stand in solidarity with the group, please join us for prayer at 8:30am on the lawn of the Military Museum. From there we will head to Bendigo Magistrates Court at 9:30am. You are also welcome to join us in court to witness the hearing. After the group's case is heard we'll head back to the Military Museum for speeches. 8:30am. Bendigo Military Museum, 37–39 Pall Mall, Bendigo.

Friday, February 20

Red Cinema: Ningla A-Na (Hungry for Our Land). The establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. Proudly screening on Wathaurong country. 7pm (meal 6:30pm). Entry by donation. Downstairs, Trades Hall, 127 Myers St, Geelong. For more info ph 5222 6900. Presented by Socialist Alliance.

Australia Kurdistan Solidarity. Meets regularly to build solidarity with the Kurdish freedom struggle in Rojava (liberated zone in northern Syria), Turkey and elsewhere. For information ph Gulay 0412 926 706 or Aran 0410 197 814.

Australian West Papua Association (AWPA). Struggles against the Indonesian occupation of West Papua and against environmental destruction and resource theft. For info 9510 2193 or email AWPA.

Climate Action Moreland. Meets regularly to develop action on climate change in the Moreland area. For information ph Andrea on 0424 508 535 or email CAM.

Friends of the Earth's Anti-Nuclear & Clean Energy (ACE) collective. Meets every second Tuesday. FoE office, 312 Smith St, Collingwood. For meeting times & more info email Zin.

Indigenous Social Justice Association. The Indigenous Social Justice Association was established in January 2005 campaigns to permanently stop Aboriginal deaths in custody. During 2013, ISJA will meet the first Thursday of every month. For more info visit ISJA.

Quit Coal: No New Coal Power for Victoria. A Melbourne-based collective which campaigns against expansion of the coal industry in Victoria. We believe this is important because building new coal infrastructure locks in decades of dirty, old technology, when we should be moving towards clean, renewable energy. Quit Coal meets each Wednesday at 6pm, at FOE, 312 Smith St, Collingwood. For more info visit Quit Coal or email us.

Refugee Action Collective. Established in 2000, RAC is a democratic, grassroots activist collective, representing a broad cross section of the community. It aims to mobilise opposition to Australia's inhuman refugee policies. For more info ph 0413 377 978 or visit RAC.

Timor Sea Justice Campaign. For info visit TSJC, email Tom Clarke or ph 0422 545 763.

Just out!

184 pp, $20. Available from Resistance Bookshop, Level 5, 407 Swanston St, City & New International Bookshop, Trades Hall, cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton South.

Monday, 23 April 2012

Sign here please .... for viable baseload solar power stations - URGENTLY

BABY BOOMERS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION

HAVE LAUNCHED A PETITION:

ASKING GOVERNMENT TO KICKSTART SOLAR

BY FUNDING LARGE BASELOAD SOLAR POWER STATIONS.

~~~~

It would mean a lot to us if you took a moment to add your name because:

• Unless CO2 emissions drop dramatically in the next few years, the planet is likely to heat up by 4°C by the end of the century, making parts of it uninhabitable for most species, including ourselves.

• Australia is on track to becoming the world’s fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter, and one of the planet’s biggest contributors to climate change.

• This is because of the massive amount of coal we export for coal-fired power stations, as well as our own domestic use. And our coal exports are rising rapidly.

• Australia therefore needs to take urgent action to switch to renewable energy and break our dependence on fossil fuels.

• A plan for Australia to make a complete change to renewable energy by 2020 has been designed and costed by Beyond Zero Emissions, using technology which is now available. This plan includes Baseload Solar Power Stations, which can store energy. The designers of the BZE plan suggest NSW, SA and Queensland as the most suitable locations for the initial three power stations. All Members of Parliament have been presented with the BZE plan.

• The switch to renewable energy is possible but needs full government support to get started and encourage investment. The cost of three Baseload Solar Power Stations is estimated at approx. 1 billion dollars.

• The Carbon Tax introduced in 2011 was a good start but will not have an effect on investment in renewables for around 15 years, which is too late.

• We believe the government needs to take the hard decisions to fund large baseload solar power stations and make them viable as a matter of urgency.

http://www.communityrun...org/petitions/fund-construction-and-development-of-of-three-baseload-solar-power-stations

After you've signed the petition please also take a moment to share it with others. Together we can reach heaps of people and help create change around this important issue.

Thank you!

Naomi and the BBCCA group

Saturday, 26 June 2010

Russian billionaires : HSBC : Kazakhstan : Ethics

Click the text section to enlarge to read

I was travelling into the CBD this morning on the train and took The Good Weekend magazine which accompanies Saturday's The Age with me. I got to page 9 and found this disgusting advertisement (picture above is in two parts - the scanner wouldn't couldn't handle the full size in one).

Who do HSBC think Australians are - dumbclucks? Do they think we know nothing about them and the way they conduct business? Do they think we know nothing about how Russian billionaires are making their billions? Is HSBC highly amused at all this? Well, I might have been born at night, HSBC, but it wasn't last night.

HSBC was a significant player in that greedy and larcenous event known as the American subprime mortgage crisis. You will remember this event, dear Networkers. It is when the banks put their proud ethics on display for us all to see You will remember that it cost people their homes, their jobs, their retirement funds. The fall-out has been felt around the globe, even in Australia.

From Wikipedia:

In November 2002 HSBC expanded further in the United States. Under the chairmanship of Sir John Bond, it spent £9bn (US$15.5bn) to acquire Household Finance Corporation (HFC), a US credit card issuer and subprime lender.^[23] In a 2003 cover story, The Banker noted "when banking historians look back, they may conclude that [it] was the deal of the first decade of the 21st century".^[24] Under the new name of HSBC Finance, the division was the second largest subprime lender in the US.^[25]

In March 2009, HSBC announced that it would shut down the branch network of its HSBC Finance arm in the U.S., leading to nearly 6,000 job losses and leaving only the credit card business to continue operating.^[26]^[27]

Chairman Stephen Green stated, "HSBC has a reputation for telling it as it is. With the benefit of hindsight, this is an acquisition we wish we had not undertaken."^[28]; analyst Colin Morton said, "the takeover was an absolute disaster".^[27]^[29]

Networkers, the names and profiles of HSBC's Australian executives can be found here.

The Head Office of HSBC is located in Sydney:

Level 32, 580 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Telephone: +61 2 9006 5888
Facsimile: +61 2 9006 5440

You might like to be in touch with them, Networkers,

when you find out from material below

how billions can be made in Russia

and, shhhhhhhh, I haven't used the phrase

Russian Mafia

- or did I?

My guess is that there is a purpose in this advertising - and not just something bright and breezy attractive to young aspirants. Could this have something to do with it? Is HSBC scratching across the world for dollars to support this Kazakhstan venture? Kazakhstan, you may recall, was part of the old U.S.S.R. These days the -stans are eyed off for their resources. Kazakhstan is eyed off for its mineral resources, its petroleum and its natural gas. But I wonder if people who would respond to this dubious advertisement would reap huge rewards - or whether, should there be rewards, they will go directly and no further to HSBC, its Board, its Executives, and its already wealthy allies - probably Russian billionaires.

"Potatoes were guarded better:" stealing nuclear fuel from the storage building at Sevmorput was - and may still be - easy. (Russia): An article from: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Russian Billionaires: Roman Abramovich, Boris Berezovsky, Oleg Deripaska, Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, Alexander Lebedev, Mikhail Prokhorov

Tycoon - A New Russian

Further reading:

Oligarchic Capitalism in Putin's Russia: The Khodorkovsky Case
Russia May Sell State Assets Without Auction, Shuvalov Says
State Asset Expectations Lowered for 2010

The Network