Update No. [Size]

Contents

Update 66 [445 KB]

End of the Sustainability Network – why, and where to from here; Is recycled water really safe to drink? Poor outcomes for children and youth a negative indicator for the future of our society; Noah’s reminder to the “Low Countries”; Sustainable cities: a new blueprint; ‘Enlightened Agriculture’; Shrinking the ‘food miles’ radius; Greed, overconsumption and morality; Climate change is not the only issue; and feedback on: The biology of global warming; Variability of renewable energy; and base-load electricity generation.

Update 65 [514 Kb]

High-profile feedback in support of re-forestation and a ‘war footing’ to combat global warming; Tropical deforestation – catastrophe in motion; The need for ‘baseload’ power generation is a myth; More evidence of the grass-roots getting the message; A timely reminder about low-hanging fruit in addressing global warming; A deeper ‘inconvenient truth’ in human nature; How to create an UN-sustainable society; Cut emissions by ‘taking the pledge’; A re-think needed for fire management; Wind power variability; and more.

Update 64 [612 Kb]

The biology of global warming and its profitable mitigation; The only ‘just’ war: What we must do to head off the ecological crisis; Domestic energy use; Language as an environmental exploitation tool; Hope for the future from grass-roots action; Why “Earth stewardship” may not be such a good place to end up; Extending biomimicry to “geomimicry”; Fighting planned obsolescence; and more.

Update 63 [440 Kb]

Language as a tool for culture change in agriculture; Designs from nature to capture energy from the sea; Less water and more people – what lies ahead for Australia?; The ‘green’ vs ‘consumerist’ culture clash at home; Backyard billabongs – new look for an Aussie urban icon; Air travel debate – the gloves are off!; and Feedback on: Population – that “unspeakable” issue again!; Misconceptions about wind power; and Abandoning one ‘green revolution’ for another in Indian agriculture.

Update 62 [494 Kb]

Sustainable infrastructure: transport, energy & water - doing more with less by applying eco-efficiency principles; Crude assumptions - the state of the ‘peak oil’ debate; Climate change: scarier than we thought?; Flexibility - the key to our energy future; Too many people - the topic everyone runs from; The wicked waste of war machines; Trend alert - “contraction & convergence”; and feedback on natural resource management in agriculture.

Update 61 [584 Kb]

Soil fertility management for more sustainable farming systems; Sustainable agriculture and the challenge to make it pay; Downsizing product packaging; Eco burial as an environmental donation; Jet travel as a “sin”; and feedback on Nuclear energy.

Update 60 [670 Kb]

Can nuclear power address emissions reduction and climate change? Integrative design for sustainability in the built environment means homes that use only their own sunlight and water are a feasible reality. Thinking with physics - humans as the supreme agents of entropy increase. Why, collectively, are we so unconcerned about climate change? Organics - time to address price, waste and distance.

Update 59 [884Kb]612KB

Centralised, top-down patterns for providing essential services must make way for more natural, nested, bottom-up patterns - water systems are a good example; Today’s consumer culture is not a way of life but a way of death - we need a new human ‘dream’; The energy debate is simpler than we think; Sustainability as the new Campus politics; Yes, we do need organic certification; Taming driver aggression; and more.

Update 58 [505Kb]

The lunacy of equating economic growth with progress; More data from a domestic ‘eco-efficiency’ project; The energy payback of roof-mounted solar PV cells; Planning for energy descent; and feedback on: political inertia on sustainability, used-water treatment, and more.

Update 57 [614Kb]

Taking action for climate change - we have more influence than we think; Urban horticulture and forestry - a vital role in “future-proofing” our society; Many reasons for not choosing to drive your car; The swimming pool as a future “backyard billabong”; The handshake as a greeting is a social liability - let’s ditch it; Massive domestic energy waste is a big opportunity; “Blogging” for sustainability; CSIRO energy & renewables research. Also, more feedback on energy futures, and the non-sustainability of current sustainability thinking.

Update 56 [493Kb]

Our future food security is no longer a given - challenges for agriculture and society; Practical lessons in sustainable design of the built environment at Charles Sturt University, Thurgoona; Hands-on learning for a novice in permaculture gardening; The high cost of corporate mobility; Good news on renewable energy uptake; More debate on Australia’s energy future; and Feedback on the need to re-think “value-adding” systems such as organic certification.

Update 55 [711Kb]

Debt as the driver of economic growth and excessive consumption; The need for ‘right-scale’ technologies; Extreme-proofing cities for a changing climate; Is time running out for capitalism?; Eating ‘local’; Recycling - good but not good enough; Farming the sun; Feedback on: issues around nuclear power, renewable energy and energy demand reduction.

Update 54 [514Kb]

A sustainable energy future is possible - built on energy efficiency and existing renewables; Recycling of organic wastes is vital to the health of people and ecosystems; How can we reduce environmental footprints in the workplace? Feedback on (1) The sustainability challenge is bigger, harder, and more urgent than our actions suggest; and (2) Can we afford to ignore nuclear power? Taking corks out of wine bottles - the long-distance trade-offs; and more.

Update 53 [494Kb]

New approaches to conserving whales, dugongs, and coastal ecosystems; Nuclear energy - we don’t need it; Domestic energy efficiency; Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED); Noise pollution and “digital effluent”; Recycling - good but not the whole answer; and Feature Resource with a new twist on sustainability: “About time - speed, society, people and the environment”.

Update 52 [511Kb]

Intelligent Transport Systems offer quick environmental benefits; The food industry - are ‘green’ consumers a threat or a positive stimulus?; Traditional ecology tussles with the new sustainability science; Is being ‘in the red’ really an excuse for not being ‘green’?; Biomass or biodiversity - should we be acting for the whole Earth system or just component parts?; ‘Clean coal’ - another source of short-term benefits; and more.

Update 51 [582Kb]

Conservation & food production on the urban home patch - new urban responsibilities; Broader understanding of sustainability through new approaches from Integral Studies; Can Homo sapiens survive? Yes, but …!; Global energy demand goes right on growing; New information resources including; TBL analysis of the Australian economy; Co-housing as a more sustainable mainstream option; and more.

Update 50 [521Kb]

Designing cities to reverse environmental impacts; A call for “EMERGY” literacy; Some grass-roots discussion of nuclear power; Keeping up with the Jones’s is a zero-sum game; Feedback on Permaculture in the suburbs; and Feature Resource: A must-read book - “The Natural Advantage of Nations”.

Update 49 [572Kb]

Retrofitting the suburbs for sustainability; The science of deep soils is not just another soil science; What’s really in a can of cola? A frightening reminder of the energy embodied in our global industrial metabolism; Embodied water in food - Why chicken and chips is better than beef curry and rice; More on PVC and why we should phase it out.

Update 48 [520Kb]

Water systems of the future: from large, centralized systems to smaller distributed systems; The links between sustainable agriculture, environmentalism, commerce, philosophy and religion; An “eco-home” in an “eco-village” - the design features; Global dimming - the Devils answer to global warming.

Update 47 [358Kb]

A new world view struggles to emerge through conflicting patterns of consumerism; Can the mining and metals sector move beyond the prevailing compliance viewpoint and reductionist approach? Time for the water industry to update its technology; Australia’s shrinking oil and gas reserves; Another lesson about complex systems - how EU subsidies are putting pressure on African wildlife; The Hydrogen Economy - not just a matter of fuel replacement; A more “sustainable” way to die.

Update 46 [405Kb]

Integration - the central sustainability challenge for governance and education; New technologies for cleaning up contaminated land; Wind power - is the energy really free of climate impacts?; Thoughts on the growing complexity of society; Poverty and the “3 Rs” in Pakistan.

Update 45 [642Kb]

Insects and other small invertebrates: Vital roles for “mini-biodiversity” and “mini-livestock”; Why we don’t need any more new freeways: Peak oil and transport planning; Plants for removal of formaldehyde from indoor air; For juniors: The Home Eco-Spiderweb for checking the sustainability of your family’s lifestyle.

Update 44 [509Kb]

Aquaculture: prawn farming, and inland saline aquaculture; Practicing sustainability in the workplace; People-power in managing environmental complexity; Feedback: more on rain theft, unsustainable gourmet cooking, and policy needs for water.

Update 43 [580Kb]

The looming peak and decline of oil production: An oil industry expert’s view; Oil decline: The voice of the people; Water recycling in Australia; An emerging trend for wastewater and sanitation; “Slack off” for sustainability; Rain theft - and emerging crime? Feedback: More on greenhouse emissions.

Update 42 [1089Kb]

Climate change in Australia & issues for sustaining regions with a changing climate; Environmentally aware (“blinkers-off”) cooking; Ecological wisdom from the past: Japan’s Edo period; More comment on urban planning and children’s quality of life.

Update 41 [464Kb]

Children’s quality of life in cities: Are we impoverishing tomorrow’s leaders? Only when the last tree has died  … will we realize we cannot eat money! Geopolymers as new-old medicine for waste in our material world; Ratting on green promises in the building sector; More thoughts on durability and planned obsolescence 

Update 40 [521Kb]

“Durability” – and the mismatch of materials to purpose; Manufacturing – business of today and tomorrow; Stop seeing microbes as aliens that must be nuked! Changing our attitudes to food waste; Composites – ensuring new solutions don’t cause new problems in third-world manufacturing plants

Update 39 [314Kb]

Can a new saltbush-lamb farming system help to combat dryland salinity? Fisheries sustainability – benefits of grassroots action with fishers; Taking sustainability mainstream in the business world; Japan’s “Slow Life” movement: Happiness before economic efficiency; Is there scope for freeing land for nature? Still working – “taboos” and “sacred sites”

Update 38 [225Kb]

How will we recognize sustainability? Ecosystem health – the answer lies in the soil; Tipping the balance: The trends we need to champion for sustainability; The absurdity of economic growth: Are you really serious about “the environmental problem”? Build the soil; More answers in the soil? – secrets of a lost civilization; More on saving water

Update 37 [323Kb]

Life without water is not on – but do we really need the water we use? Drying out on the “road to Damascus”; Water as an economic good – understanding and accounting the benefits of water; Flooded streets – the price of overdevelopment; Energy misdirected? – Some problems with vested interests in the energy sector; Saying “BOO” to a “BOOT” – build-own-operate versus build-own-operate-transfer; New heights of consumerist folly

Update 36 [391Kb]

Cradle to cradle for carpets and cities – sustainability in manufacturing and the built environment; Sustainability and the Building Code of Australia (BCA); Third world farmers: Organic by default – but at a price! Will China become a black hole for energy reserves?

Update 35 [225Kb]

Dye-sensitised solar cells – the future of photovoltaics? Summary of the ISOS (In Search Of Sustainability) “First Steps” conference; War as “ecocide” – wildlife during wartime; Rural sustainability – appreciating the little things that matter; Is your office paper stacked against you?

Update 34 [242Kb]

Green-black conflict: A place for coal in sustainable development? From being precious to precious being – new relationships to property and people; More on the resource fable and the standing of scientists; Progress on renewable energy development

Update 33 [290Kb]

Dr Yuan Tseh Lee, President of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, looks at meeting the challenges of the 21st century; Hairy, scary, quite contrary – scientific debate over uncertainty; A fable about resource use

Update 32 [724Kb]

Conserving biodiversity in agricultural landscapes; Wire, posts and gates – managing grazing for ecological sustainability

Update 31 [510Kb]

The myth of the efficient car; What is sustainability? – David Holmgren looks at permaculture and sustainable living; Perverse links: The water industry burns too much energy

Update 30 [309Kb]

Tops at recycling – metals in sustainable development; Renewable energy and the ecology of energy transformations; Measuring to manage domestic energy consumption; More discussion of “boundarylessness”; Wry humour in the frustrations of conservation challenges

Update 29 [271Kb]

The money system – beyond greed and scarcity; Corporate philanthropy or genuine social leadership? Principles at work – the key to more humane and sustainable businesses; Can we harvest earthquake energy? “Boundary-less-ness” – terrible word, great concept! More discussion of “cosmic accounting and a global energy currency

Update 28 [385Kb]

Can we design sustainable manufacturing systems? Bamboo – Nature’s “better idea” for the built environment; Beyond oil – the global market situation

Update 27 [477Kb]

The TravelSmart Household Program – reducing car trips; Cosmic Accounting – new economics for a sustainable future; Migrants doing more for the third world than governments

Update 26 [240Kb]

High or low density – how best to design human settlements? Do we fit on the planet – Mathis Wackernagel looks at our ecological footprint

Update 25 [706Kb]

Transport and urban planning for the post-petroleum era; Bogota designs transportation for people, not cars; More on gold; Resistance to change – the danger of accepting the status quo; Technology alert – artificial photosynthesis

Update 24 [356Kb]

Gold footprints – impacts of goldmining; Green chemistry – towards sustainable chemicals industries; More on air transport; Water – human right or trade commodity?

Update 23 [273Kb]

Air transport – is it time for a re-think? Should we fly just because we can? Here come the planes: the effects of a relentless spiral in air traffic; Flying with a conscience; Human fertility and population size: an anthropologist looks at the numbers game; Australians guilty of neglecting the environment; Incinerating waste – will heresy become gospel?

Update 22 [333Kb]

Toward sustainable Australian cities; Can cities be made more habitable and sustainable?

Update 21 [236Kb]

Risk, uncertainty and the interface of science with human perceptions and fears; Listening to the community; Sustainability and our evolving perceptions of risk

Update 20 [424Kb]

Water farming – re-patterning for a sustainable society

Update 19 [794Kb]

Partnership or dominator – the psychological dynamics of sustainability; Convergence in industry clustering – sectoral clusters versus eco-clusters; Time to put money where my mouth is – actioning sustainable living

Update 18 [1009Kb]

Industry clustering for eco-efficient design and minimization of waste; “Glocalisation” – an answer to issues of globalization?

Update 17 [857Kb]

Our Australian environment – a gift from before clocks kept time; A makeover needed for the Australian psyche – fitting ourselves to our environment & challenging our water myths; The “Wentworth Group” of concerned scientists with a new take on “drought-proofing Australia;  Micro-wilderness – the little things that matter

Update 16 [664Kb]

Possible futures; Summary of the Plan of Implementation from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD); What have we done in the 10 years since the Rio Summit – Too much talk and not enough action; A green entrepreneur tackles eco-cements

Update 15 [772Kb]

Harnessing the sun – next generation technology (CHAPS); Food, engery & population – David Pimentel, John Coulter and Sustainable Population Australia examine the links; Greening our restaurants (repeat from 14)

Update 14 [720Kb]

The “magic helicopter” – what geographic information systems (GIS) can do for decision makers; Medicating our environment – the unforeseen effects of drug consumption; Greening our restaurants – a message to “waste not want not”

Update 13 [724Kb]

Science and its social context – blurring the boundaries; Population, consumption and limits to growth – the need for simpler lifestyles

Update 12 [979Kb]

Complexity – a core issue for sustainable development; Where to intervene in a complex system; Australian native foods

Update 11 [715Kb]

Resource flows through the engine of the economy; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); How many people doing what? – the links of population, material flows and agriculture; Complex systems science in food production; Organics and mainstream agriculture – meeting in the middle at last

Update 10 [606Kb]

Listening to “sentinels”; Moving from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance; Capitalism at risk?

Update 9 [609Kb]

Some highlights from the Enviro 2002 conference: Keynote address by Graham Harris; key points for environment business from Greg Bourne, Paul Perkins, Paul Hawken and Bill Rees; Will our major cities escape a water crunch? The Eskilstuna declaration on rail transport

Update 8 [701Kb]

Nanotechnology; Trust me – I’m a scientist; Bacteria for hydrogen production? Bacteria for uranium cleanup? Australia’s poor rankings in sustainability

Update 7 [666Kb]

Ecosystem services; Packaging ecology for business decision makers; Packaging ecosystem science for land managers; The value of trees; Ecology of the global finance system; Role of science & technology in sustainability; “Rio + 10” – the main issues; Some good news on greenhouse

Update 6 [416Kb]

The “triple bottom line” for buildings; Reinventing city neighbourhoods; Sustainable architecture in ten shades of green; Natural design – buildings like trees; Check-list of questions for built-environment design; A proposed solar-thermal tower

Update 5 [545Kb]

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA); The production time bomb

Update 4 [439Kb]

Humans as “terminator” species; The meaning of “sustainability”; Challenges for rural sustainability; The need for creative destruction; Distributed energy & power

Update 3 [541Kb]

Our energy future; Population, consumption & energy; Coming to terms with complexity; The end of cheap oil; The shift to distributed electricity generation

Update 2 [364Kb]

Summary of the CSIRO “FUTURECORP” Forum: Sustainability in the business sector; Clean transport; Green chemistry; Electronic waste

Update 1 [253Kb]

Systems Science “under construction”; Sustainability science

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