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'Wind Energy, Myths and facts'
Animated Film Released

A reminder of the bigger picture:
renewables vs fossil fuels

'Wind Energy, Myths and facts' is a short
animated film which has been created in
response to the common myths and
confusions that threaten the future
development of wind farms.

Wind farms have been seen by some as being
invasive and even threatening to public
health. By separating science from
speculation, this film aims to reduce the
spread of anxieties associated with wind
turbines. It was also made with the hope
that in considering individual wind farm
proposals, we will remember that the
current health and environmental impacts
of burning fossil fuels are far worse than
anything that can be found resulting from
wind turbines.

The film has been produced by Pablo Tochez
Anderson.

'Wind Energy, Myths and facts' has been
produced as part of Friends of the Earth's
Yes 2 Renewables project.

The film can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FriendsOfTheEarthAUS

Direct link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP-KlpLQOJU

Withdrawal of Coal and CSG
Applications a Great Outcome

In the second community victory in a
month, Mecrus Resources, the mining
company who had applied for exploratory
mineral mining licences throughout SW
Victoria, has taken Coal Seam Gas and Coal
off the list of resources they will
explore for.

We believe this is a wonderful outcome:
for the local community, the environment,
and common sense. The time for investment
in new coal is long over. The community
does not want CSG operations in this
state.

FoE was proud to have played a part in
this outcome

You can see our full response here:

http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=node/981

Lets get the Premier Focused on
Renewable Energy

Recently, the Weekly Times  [
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2011/08/03/364485_print_friendly_article.html
] has reported that Premier Baillieu had
taken control of delivering the
Coalition's election promise on wind
energy. This is consistent with what we
have been hearing.

It appears that the government still
intends to implement the remaining aspects
of their policy in the spring and summer
sessions of parliament. Which means we
have very little time to ramp up the level
of pressure on the Premier.

We need to demonstrate that a majority of
the Victorian people see the need to
support appropriately sited wind energy.

We will be letter boxing in Ted’s
electorate in coming weeks.

If you would like to help, please contact
Ben: ben.courtice@foe.org.au

If you have not signed our postcard to the
Premier, please do so, you can send a
message here:
http://yes2renewables.org/2011/01/10/action-alert-keep-wind-energy-going-strong-in-victoria/

If you can help distribute postcards in
your community, workplace or via your
networks please contact Ben.

Thanks!

Call for Victorian Government to Ban
Coal Seam Gas Mining

As Victoria faces a wave of exploration
licenses for coal seam gas (CSG), coal,
and shale gas, there is a growing
community movement against this spreading
industry.

In response, FoE has called on the
government of Ted Baillieu to act rapidly
to ban any further coal, CSG or other
on-land gas developments until a full
assessment has been made of the likely
social and environmental impacts of these
industries.

You can find our full release here:
http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=node/983

CSG roadshow

Central and western Victoria, Sept -
October 2011.

This spring FoE will be organising a
series of speaking events to highlight the
threat poised by Coal Seam Gas (CSG),
coal, and shale gas across rural Victoria.

It will feature Drew Hutton from
Queensland.

Drew is a leading figure in the campaign
against CSG in that state, is the key
spokesperson for Friends of the Earth on
the issue, and the president of the Lock
the Gate Alliance.

We hope to use the roadshow to highlight
the risks of new fossil fuel expansion to
landscapes, communities and climate
change.

We hope to build on our call for the state
government to ban all new fossil fuel
projects. See here for full details:
http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=node/983

If you may be interested in hosting a
local meeting, please get in touch asap.
Cam: cam.walker@foe.org.au or 0419 338
047.

For details on our campaign, please check
here:

http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=cc/home

World at a Crossroads: Climate
Change - Social Change Conference II

 http://climatechangesocialchange2011.wordpress.com/

Friday, September 30 – Monday, October 3,
2011
Sidney Myer Asia Centre, Melbourne
University

The second Climate Change-Social Change
conference aims to contribute towards
understanding and collective action, in
Australia and internationally, to urgently
address the climate and social emergencies
that we must overcome. The conference will
be addressed by more than a dozen
international guest speakers and many more
of Australian activists, experts and
academics.  The conference will include
three days of feature talks, panel
discussions and more than 20 workshops to
discuss solutions for a world in crisis.

International guests include:

JOHN BELLAMY FOSTER, renowned US writer on
economics and ecology, Monthly Review
editor;
IAN ANGUS, a founder of the Ecosocialist
International Network and editor of
climateandcapitalism.com;

Plus:
Ly Pisey and  Chrek Sophea, Cambodian
marginal workers organisers
Joethi Sahadevan, lecturer in
communication - Malaysia
S.Arutchelvan, Socialist Party - Malaysia

Angeline Loh, refugee rights campaigner
ALIRAN human rights organisation –
Malaysia
Farooq Tariq, Labour Party Pakistan
Sonia Qadir, Women Workers Help Line -
Pakistan
Sue Bradford, former Greens MP & now
Mana Party – New Zealand

Right click here to download the
preliminary agenda in PDF format
http://climatechangesocialchange2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/ccsc-2011-preliminary-conference-agenda.pdf

Organised by Green Left Weekly, Resistance
and the Socialist Alliance;  Sponsored by
the Office for Environmental Programs,
Melbourne University

Co-sponsors: Friends of the Earth
(Melbourne), Australia-Asia Worker Links,
Left Unity Adelaide, Adelaide Climate
Emergency Action Network (CLEAN), 3CR
Community Radio Melbourne, Action Aid
International, climateandcapitalism.com,
Links International Journal for Socialist
Renewal, Labour Party Pakistan (LPP),
Sydney University Political Economy
Society, Socialist Party of Malaysia
(PSM), Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM –
Philippines)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW
http://tinyurl.com/ccsc2011

Bhp AGM Planning meeting

Wedneday 21st of September
Friends of the Earth CO-OP
312 Smith St, Collingwood
6:30 til 8pm

We are calling out for climate activists,
artists, media spokes people & more..

This years focus on the TOXIC TRADERS will
be 'DIRTY ENERGY'

'Dirty Energy' refers to sources of energy
that are extracted at great cost to the
global climate, the environment, and local
communities. They often destroy habitats,
biodiversity, pollute our air and water
and threaten the health, lives and
livelihoods of communities around the
world. BHP Billiton's dirty energy
operations include coal, gas, oil and
uranium.

The Bhp AGM will be held in Melbourne this
year on the 17th of November at 10:30am
(location TBC)

We are calling on all environment &
social change groups to be involved in
making the 'big Australian' accountable
for it's TOXIC TRADING!

Contact: Tully McIntyre 0410 388 187
tully.mcintyre@foe.org.au

Wind energy: Action alert!

We have been campaigning all year to put
pressure on the state government to not
enact it's anti-wind energy policy. It
seems that now Premier Baillieu has
personally taken on the issue, from the
planning minister. Just yesterday, an
already-approved wind farm at Ryan's
Corner (near Warrnambool) had it's
planning approval overturned by the
minister at the request of the local
council, Moyne.

Wind energy is the cheapest and most
mature of the large-scale renewable energy
technologies available. If state
governments in Victoria and NSW are able
to stop the growth of this industry it
will seriously compromise our ability to
move to clean energy for the future.

Please visit our website at
yes2renewables.org/take-action and send a
letter if you haven't already. We are
planning to campaign directly in the
Premier's seat, Hawthorn. If you would
like to help with letterboxing or other
campaigning in this area, please get in
touch! ben.courtice@foe.org.au or phone
Ben on 9419 8700 (extension 10).

ART ACTIVATE AUCTION FUNDRAISER

The Friends of the Earth Anti-nuclear and
Clean Energy Collective (ACE) is holding
it’s annual art auction on Sunday 9th
October. The auction is a fundraiser for
the ACE campaign and to raise money for
the keep Muckaty nuclear free campaign
(BNI). We would also like to raise funds
for the travel costs for International
& Australian Indigenous people to
attend the Bhp AGM in Melbourne this year.

Featured Artists Daniel Boyd, Kate Smith,
Trevelyan Clay, Masato Takasaka,
Christopher LG Hill, Jake Walker, Amber
Wallis & more

Speaker: Dave Sweeney from Conservation
Foundation Australia Auctioneer: David
Hansen from Sotheby’s Australia

Sunday 9th October at Utopian Slumps, 33
Guildford Lane Melbourne 3000.
Viewing and drinks start 4pm
Auction begins 5pm.

Contact:
Tim Price 0407 914 173
skilledengineers@yahoo.com.au or
Tully McIntyre 0410 388 187
tully.mcintyre@foe.org.au

HACKATHON SKILLSHARE

For Drupal geeks with a social conscience

Join a crew of passionate tech heads and
laypeople to help build the whizzbang new
Friends of the Earth Australia website!

Come and use, share and develop your
Drupal and CSS skills.

Food, booze and internet access will be
provided. BYO laptops and tech gear.

The workshops will be facilitated by Glenn
Todd http://glenntodd.net and FoE
campaigners.

Co-facilitators are welcome.

Building the new website in Drupal based
on the prototype developed by the FOE team
(we will publish prototype soon)

migrating content from plone into drupal
improving user and audience experience
syndicate content from numerous FOEA sites
upgrade and improve other FOEA drupal
sites
create user guides

Please RSVP to Glenn Todd gt@dvize.com and
Elena McMaster
elena.mcmaster@foe.org.au

We like to support the initiatives
of a wide range of groups and
community organisations. Listing here
does not necessarily imply endorsement
by FoE.

For a comprehensive list of climate
action events see The Victorian Climate
Action Calendar (The VCAC) The VCAC is
intended to inform, educate and inspire.
The VCAC covers events in Victoria and
major events elsewhere. Weekly updates are
e-mailed out. To subscribe or to add an
event to the calendar e-mail
decortis@bigpond.net.au  
Online updates are available at:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1097247/cen/VCAC.DOC 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1097247/cen/VCAC.PDF
and
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1097247/cen/VCAC.HTM

Film Screening: TAPPED

Tuesday 6th September and it’s a 6pm
start!

Ross House film night, THE BIG PICTURE is
back!

Films for social justice and environmental
sustainability on the first Tuesday of
every month.

Our first screening is a douzie,from the
makers of 'Who Killed the Electric Car'
and winner of all sorts of awards, TAPPED,
the role of the bottled water industry and
its' effects on our health, climate
change, pollution, and our reliance on
oil.

Hosted by DO SOMETHING.

Thursday 6th September, Hayden Raysmith
Ross, 4th floor at Ross House, 247
Flinders Lane, Melbourne. Entry by
donation.

Evolving Spirituality From 8pm 22-25
September 2011

Moora Moora Cooperative Community
Healesville

“Human spirituality emerges from
co-creative participation in an always
dynamic and undetermined mystery” Ferrer.

This workshop will explore the meaning and
experience of being a partner in the
evolving expression of spirituality. How
does spirit enable us to be
self-transforming to meet a challenging
world? How are we being invited to partner
spirit so as to create a vibrant future
for all of life?

Facilitators: Dr. Peter Cock and Dr.
Caresse Cranwell

Moora Moora Cooperative Learning Centre.
$600 / $400 unwaged (includes
accommodation and food).

Contact: peter@mooramoora.org.au  Tel:
0422 426 144

For more information and registration
visit www.ecoevolutionaries.com

Peace Brigades International
presents:

‘This is a Warning, Not a Trick’: Human
Rights Lawyers at Risk in Mexico

6pm, Wednesday, August 31

Monash University Law Chambers

555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Peter Eckersley has just returned from a
year as an ‘unarmed bodyguard’ for Peace
Brigades International protecting human
rights lawyers and other human rights
defenders in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Human Rights Lawyer Alba Cruz describes
Oaxaca as ‘a laboratory of repression’ in
which ‘the powerful can abandon social
norms’, where the exploitation of natural
resources is aided by institutional
violence and paramilitary groups who live
amongst the people.

Peter will recount his experiences as a
Peace Brigades International volunteer and
provide a full briefing on ongoing human
rights violations in Mexico, including
threats made to Cruz and other human
rights lawyers carrying out their much
needed work. Find out how you can directly
support human rights defenders at risk.

All welcome. Refreshments by donation.
Supported by Amnesty International. For
more information please see
www.pbi-australia.org

Info night on CSG, Sept 16

Otway Ranges Climate Action (ORCA) and a
group of very concerned residents in
Forrest are organising an information
session on Coal Seam Gas Extraction: what
it is; the dangers; landowners legal
rights; and other issues.

This Information Session will be held on
Friday 16 September at the Forrest

Public Hall at 7.00 pm. So come along if
you are even the slightest bit concerned
about the implications of this sort of
mining happening in our region.

Our water and farmland are precious
resources, which can’t be replaced if

damaged. Our lives depend on both.

Further information:
magaerlennox@gmail.com

(a FoE campaigner will be speaking at this
event)

Save Sylvia Creek!

Local community members and forest
campaigners have been blockading a logging
coupe in the Yarra ranges for 5 weeks, in
the area that was spared the Black
Saturday fires. 12 people have been
arrested and more supporters are needed on
the blockade. My Environment have taken
Vic Forests to court over the logging of
this precious habitat. You can find out
more at http://www.myenvironment.net.au/

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