PAPAL ENCYCLICAL - PRAISE BE TO YOU - ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

Posted with permission from Advocacy

The latest papal encyclical was released to-day, 19 June 2015 AEST - 18 June in The Vatican.  The encyclical will take time to read closely and carefully, to digest it, and comment thoughtfully upon it.

Advocacy is indebted to Crux in providing the encyclical in a number of formats to make it easily accessible to people.  Advocacy has embedded the encyclical in this post where it can be read on-line or downloaded.  However, it is also available on Crux here in linked chapter by chapter outline for easy access and reading. Linked here is the encyclical as it was posted on The Vatican website.  Crux also contains recent commentary.

Comment

ABC - Australia: Key excerpts from the Pope's encyclical on the environment

The Age - Neil Ormerod: Pope Francis's views on global warming cold comfort for Canberra

The Guardian: The pope's encyclical on climate change - as it happened

The Washington Post: Ten key excerpts 

The Sydney Morning Herald:  

Papal environment encyclical a win for the Greens, challenge for Abbott

Ballarat citizens protest to-morrow, Sunday 28 April, at the big subsidies to big polluters

Community members cancel cheque to big polluters

This Sunday the 28th of April at 11am community members from the electorate of Ballarat will be

‘cancelling’ a giant $65 million cheque to big polluters at local member Catherine King’s office.

The event is part of a series of rolling actions happening across Victoria in the lead up to the Federal budget calling for a substantial reduction in $10 billion dollars in fossil fuel subsidies currently handed to big polluters every year.

Local resident, Micah Demmert says “Every year over $10 billion of taxpayer money is spent subsidising big polluters, including some of the world’s most profitable mining companies. That’s the equivalent of giving them $65 million from people in this electorate alone. We would much rather this money was spent in the community on health, education, or making Ballarat a more sustainable city”

A broad coalition of environmental groups, including Environment Victoria, Australian Conservation Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and many others have launched a major nation-wide campaign calling on both the Government and Opposition to commit to a substantial reduction in tax payer funded subsidies set to be given to the country’s biggest polluters at the upcoming Federal Budget.

A campaign website was recently launched featuring a petition to government and an overview of the top four polluting subsidies.

Environment Victoria Safe Climate spokesperson, Victoria McKenzie-McHarg said, “The federal government committed at the G20 meeting in 2009 to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. This should be a serious and urgent priority to free up money for government priorities such as health, education or public transport, and stop the gravy train for polluting industries.”

Leading international organisations including the World Bank, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations have all called for an end to government subsidies for fossil fuels.

Polling this year by Essential research indicated that a majority of Australians - 64% disapproved of the current petrol and diesel subsidies (over $2 billion) to the mining sector.*

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More information about the campaign and a backgrounder on the key beneficiaries of fossil fuel subsidies is available here: www.paidtopollute.org.au

Local Contact:             Micah Demmert                             0407 060 108

Environment Victoria:     Victoria McKenzie-McHarg           0428 480 409

  Polling reference:            http://www.marketforces.org.au/ffs-polling.html*

Clean Ocean Foundation clean up at Wonthaggi

From John Gemill and Clean Ocean Foundation:

Last weekend saw the very successful beginning of our ongoing project Operation Sea Eagle.

We got a great deal of media coverage including this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co-SfpG6er0

We collected a great deal of scientific data and underwater  footage - including of the desal outlet that you can see on the facebook site  www.facebook.com/OperationSeaEagle

Operation Sea Eagle is already building strong links with the scientific, scholastic and general communities to keep an "Eagle Eye" on the Bass Coast and marine pollution including outfalls, ocean acidification, climate change, plastic pollution .... and of course the desalination plant.

John Gemmill
CEO Clean Ocean Foundation
PO Box 475 Wonthaggi Vic 3995

Doctor Denis has a chance to do the right thing - please sign this petition and ask him to do so

Petition by Friends of the Earth Australia

Ted Baillieu's resignation presents the Coalition 

with the opportunity to dump the former Premier's 

regressive anti-wind farm laws (called VC82).

Research by Friends of the Earth estimates that the wind policy 

championed by Ted Baillieu has cost Victoria 

around $887 million  in lost or stalled investment.

Meanwhile, much of our best farmland is under exploration for coal or gas. 

Gippsland produces food worth $1.3 billion each year, 

yet the fossil fuel industry is hoping 

to greatly expand mining operations across this region.

The new Premier must show he is listening to 

community concerns about new coal and gas.

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To:  The Honourable Dr Denis Napthine, Premier of Victoria Let's get Victoria back on track: clean energy, protect our farms Congratulations on your appointment as Premier of Victoria. This gives the   Coalition the opportunity to dump the former Premiers regressive  anti-wind farm laws (VC82). Research by Friends of the Earth estimates that the wind policy championed  by Ted Baillieu has cost Victoria: • Around $887 million in lost or stalled investment. • 650 direct jobs lost or stalled in construction. • 54 on-going jobs in management of wind farms. • 1,408 indirectly associated (flow-on) jobs. South Australia has been the main beneficiary of VC82, with substantial   development of the wind sector in recent years. Job opportunities, investment,  and income for farmers and local Councils have moved west as a result of the  barriers that have been placed in the way of this clean energy source. Please commit to re-writing these laws and return balance to the planning system for renewable energy. Last year, the Coalition government acted to respond to community concerns about  the threat posed by new coal and gas operations across southern Victoria by implementing a moratorium on the process of Fracking in gas production. Victoria must learn from the example of NSW and Queensland, where on-shore   coal and gas is devastating rural communities. Please act to permanently protect  our precious farmland. I urge you to maintain the current moratorium on fracking, and extend it to any exploration activity for coal or gas. Please initiate, as a matter of urgency, a thorough investigation into the  likely impacts of this industry on: • water resources, • farmland and food security, • local communities and natural biodiversity, and • greenhouse emissions. Without this data it would be negligent to allow any further development of the fossil fuel industry in our state. Sincerely, [Your name]

Call to Country ... it's also a call to care for country

This has come in to-day from Lock The Gate Allicance....

Brigid -- Today we have launched our Call to Country. It's a call from the heart of this country, from us, the people who love it, to demand real action to restrict inappropriate coal and gas mining. Our new mapping shows that 437 million hectares of our land is covered by coal and gas licences or applications. That's more than half of Australia and an area 18 times the size of Great Britain. Even our greatest international tourist icons are not safe, with at least 11 of our 16 National Landscapes at threat. Today, our Call to Country will be plastered to the window or pinned to the door of almost every federal electorate in Australia. But this is just the beginning. We're asking you to take our Call To Country and meet with your Federal Member of Parliament. Our Federal politicians have shirked their responsibilities for too long - but they have the power to actand now they need to use it. Watch our Call to County video We are calling on our federal government to: 1. Put in place an urgent moratorium on coal seam gas and other unconventional gas mining.2. Create no-go zones to protect productive agricultural land, national tourism icons and all residential dwellings from coal and gas mining. 3. Strengthen the Federal environment laws to exclude coal and gas mining from important water sources, cultural heritage sites and sensitive environment areas. 4. Put in place national standards on coal and gas pollution and enforce compliance. 5. Stop using taxpayers' money to provide handouts to big coal and gas corporations and make the miners pay their fair share in taxes. 6. Reject current development proposals for coal ports, mega-mines, dams and unconventional gas wells in significant areas. 7. Conduct research into greenhouse gas emissions from mining and make sure they are properly accounted and fully paid for. 8. Hold a Royal Commission to investigate the management of coal and gas resources by all Australian governments. What you can do Call your Federal MP and arrange a meeting Talk to your friends and family about the campaign Share these images on Twitter using #calltocountry Tweet this, some ideas to share this campaign on Twitter Share these Call to Country images on Facebook Watch and share our Call to Country video Find your federal MP on Twitter or Facebook (or email) and share this campaign with them Join Lock the Gate and help us protect our land, water and future Thank you for being a part of this movement to protect our great country and its future.

Lock the Gate Alliance · PO Box 864, Chatswood, NSW 2057, Australia This email was sent to misseaglesnetwork@gmail.com. You can also keep up with Lock the Gate Alliance on Twitter or Facebook.

More pollution for Gladstone, Queensland following oil shale processing development

Thanks to Denis Wilson of the Southern Highlands of NSW and The Nature of Robertson for drawing my attention to this Media Statement from the Queensland Government regarding Oil Shale.  I would ask Networkers to read the material at the link I have inserted. As Denis points out in his comments - and the linked article does too - there are real causes for concern.  Denis comments:

Queensland Government is determined to take their State back to the Dark Ages.

Oil Shale was the very earliest oil industry in Australia - several operations here in NSW Southern Highlands, at Joadja and Welby in the late 1800s.

Those operations were closed down early, because the project was inefficient and dirty. No doubt they will tell us that the new extraction processes are much smarter than the old ones.

But then again, it sounds a lot like the operations in the Marcellus Shale in the USA. And we all know how disastrous that is turning out to be.

Please spread the word.

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Further to Denis's comments above and the Media Statements below, Miss Eagle finds it interesting to compare the locations of oil shale deposits and the Great Artesian Basin.  Miss Eagle wonders what questions governments or local communities may ask themselves with regard to this feature of interest.

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Media Statements

JOINT STATEMENT

Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection
The Honourable Andrew Powell

Minister for Natural Resources and Mines
The Honourable Andrew Cripps

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Newman Government approves oil shale industry

The creation of new jobs and broad economic benefits are expected, following the Newman Government announcement that it will allow the development of a commercial oil shale industry in Queensland under strict environmental conditions.

Natural Resources and Mines Minister, Andrew Cripps, said the Government’s new oil shale policy sets rigorous environmental controls on the industry and will allow existing oil shale operator QER Limited to progress its trial plant at Gladstone to commercial stage.

“Queensland currently has around 90 per cent of Australia’s known oil shale resources, which are equivalent to approximately 22 billion barrels of oil,” Mr Cripps said.

“As the world supply of conventional crude oil diminishes, there are strong prospects for oil shale to become the next major source of liquid fuel supplies in Australia, and Queensland is well placed to lead that charge.

“The industry has the potential to create thousands of new jobs in the construction phase alone, and provide royalties and other economic benefits for our regional communities and the broader economy, which is great news for Queensland.”

Minister Cripps said the new oil shale policy would:

• recognise the strategic importance of oil shale to contribute to energy security, and encourage private sector investment in high quality oil shale extracting technologies
• ensure project proponents must first demonstrate their oil shale technology will meet high environmental standards and community expectations
• allow, in general, the consideration and development of other oil shale deposits in Queensland, pending thorough environmental assessment on a project by project basis
• continue the existing 20-year moratorium suspending development of the McFarlane oil shale deposit near Proserpine until 2028

Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection, Andrew Powell, emphasised that strict environmental controls would apply to any proposal to mine and process oil shale.

“To date, there has been extremely limited commercial application of oil shale in Australia and overseas,” Mr Powell said.

“That’s why any proposed oil shale development will be subject to detailed environmental assessments on a project-by-project basis. 

“We will consider these proposals on their merits and require a trial stage to determine the feasibility and environmental performance of any unproven technologies.

“The approval process for any oil shale development will demand that operators adopt best practice environmental management techniques and comprehensive monitoring of the process, its emissions, wastes and impact on the community and environmental settings.

“Under the new policy, existing operator Queensland Energy Resources Ltd (QER) will be able to proceed directly to commercial production, but new entrants to the industry will need to prove their oil shale extraction technologies through trials.

“Importantly, both existing and new operators in the oil shale industry will need to prepare full Environmental Impact Statements for their projects.”

Mr Powell said the QER pilot plant near Gladstone has successfully demonstrated the viability of its processing technology.

“The report into the QER plant demonstrated it operated well within the environmental performance requirements of its Environmental Authority issued by my department,” he said.

13 February 2013

Further Information:

Oil shale is a fine grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter called kerogen. It is a completely different industry and extraction process to shale gas or shale oil.

Hydrocarbons are derived from oil shale that has been mined and then heated in a processing plant.  This process produces vapours which are condensed and converted into synthetic crude oil, and then refined to produce ultra-low sulphur transport fuels.