Climate change

Below is an index of a few different aspects of our campaigns on climate change issues:

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1. Act now – the future is!

Coal mining and climate change

A stocktake of greenhouse gas emissions caused by mining and burning coal.

2 Degrees to Midnight

The Greens MPs' Guide to Climate Change Action

Coal-fired power plants are death factories

James Hansen, director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, warns of the threat to all life on earth

World leaders told to act on climate before it's too late

Statement issued on behalf of 2,500 scientists from 80 countries

Climate Futures campaign

The Greens campaign for responsible production of our future energy needs.

Time to Phase Out Coal Power

Dr John Kaye discusses the Greenpeace report: ‘False Hope: why carbon capture and storage won’t save the climate’

Australia's system most polluting

If we continue on Labor’s current path, our renewable energy industry is set to decline by 3% over the next 15 years.

Australia Faces Collapse

Australia is the canary in the coal mine for climate-driven desertification

2. Labor and Coal Industry path

Mining industry and Government Response

In 3 words, their response is “More, more, more . . .”

Hunter coal expansion shatters Labor’s credibility on global warming

Greens MP and mining spokesperson Lee Rhiannon will join protesters from across NSW today at a Newcastle climate change protest targeting expansion of the coal industry.

Labor's climate change flaw

Approving more coal mines and power stations is how NSW Labor is combating climate change

Labor approves Moolarben mega coal mine, ignores climate change dangers

Minister Sartor’s approval of the massive Moolarben coal mine, the largest new coal mine proposal in NSW, again shows Labor is failing the climate change challenge.

Queensland Labor Dept of Irony

The Qld Dept of Infrastructure and Planning, just like the NSW Dept for Planning, also has a healthy sense of humour.

3. Don’t listen to spin, listen to the experts

Experts critical of clean coal

What some of the experts have to say about the "clean" coal con.

Global cost of coal: €360 billion

Greenpeace analysis showing that the global cost of coal was at least €360 billion last year alone. by looking at very modest CO2 damage costs, health costs and mining accidents.

Open letter to the Prime Minister

Failure of the world to act now will leave Australians with a legacy of economic, environmental, social and health costs that will dwarf the scale of national investment required to address this fundamental problem.

Decision at Anvil Hill by Justice Payne

Justice Payne of the NSW Land and Environment Court on the approval of Anvil Hill mine

Doctors for the environment

The important thing to realise is that there are other issues besides economics.

Fossil fuel charts

World energy use: its sources and electricity production.

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4. Leaked to the Greens

Leaked coal mining report

A report produced by the Dept of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) and leaked to the Greens details the damage created by NSW's coal mining industry.

NSW climate change crisis: leaked cabinet documents

Cabinet documents leaked to the Greens show the NSW government is failing dismally to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets in the State Plan (Sydney Morning Herald, page 6).

5. Further reading:

Click here to read the Regional and Rural Task Force submission
Articles relating to environmental impacts
Index to reports on water-related, mining concerns
Consult our references section here for our source and reference material

Latest News:

Time to introduce 1km buffer on southern coalfield waterways: Greens MP and mining spokesperson Lee Rhiannon has called on BHP Billiton to agree to a one kilometre buffer around all creeks and waterways on its mine sites, following news of the company’s record $16.68 billion profit for the last financial year.
China links coal use and birth defects: In further evidence that China's love affair with coal is drawing to a close, government officials admitted for the first time that there is a link between the rise in birth defects in certain regions and high levels of pollution. By Tom Young, BusinessGreen, 02 Feb 2009
Farmers rally at NSW Parliament for Greens bill: cross bench MPs hold key to vote: Hundreds of farmers from the Gloucester and Liverpool Plains regions rallied outside NSW Parliament this morning, alongside Greens, National, Liberal and Independent MPs. They were there in support of a Greens bill being debated today that is designed to protect prime agricultural land being destroyed coal mining.
Govt, Nile, Shooters unite against Greens bill protecting prime farming land from mining: Government MPs, the Shooters Party and Rev Fred Nile today indicated they will vote against a Greens bill in the NSW Upper House designed to protect prime agricultural land from mining. Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said farming communities from the Gloucester and Liverpool Plains regions would be understandably disappointed at the outcome.
Greens move to protect prime farmland from mining – bill up for debate in NSW parliament: Greens MP and mining spokesperson Lee Rhiannon has kicked off debate in the NSW parliament on the Greens bill to stop mining and mining exploration on prime farmland in NSW to protect precious water resources and food production.
Labor approves Moolarben mega coal mine, ignores climate change dangers: Greens MP and mining spokesperson Lee Rhiannon says Minister Sartor’s approval this afternoon of the massive Moolarben coal mine, the largest new coal mine proposal on the table in NSW, again shows the Iemma government is failing to step up to the challenge of climate change.
Liverpool Plains water study welcome, but Greens mining bill still needed: Commenting on unconfirmed reports that the Minister for Mining Ian Macdonald may today announce a catchment-wide groundwater study in the Liverpool Plains region, Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said that she would welcome the study but that the Minister's announcement should not be used to detract from another key aim of the Liverpool and Gloucester farming communities: protecting their land from mining.
Mining stalwart sees no future in carbon plan: Kevin Rudd should meet Graham Brown before he decides to spend billions of dollars on carbon capture and storage. A coalminer for more than 20 years, Brown retired in 2007 and is happy to call a spade a bloody shovel. (Paddy Manning, Sustainable Investing, Sydney Morning Herald - Business section, April 25, 2009)
NSW’s carbon burial gamble is a coal-fired distraction: Drilling for sites to store small amounts of liquefied carbon dioxide near Munmorah power station is being used as an excuse by the Rees government for inaction on developing a renewable energy industry, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
NASA scientist links Australian coal exports to species destruction: Leading NASA scientist James Hansen says that Australian coal exports "guarantee destruction of much of the life on the planet" (7 January 2009).

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