Biochar Trial for Australia’s Top End

by | 8 Oct 2013 | Starfish

This week an organic farm at Lambells Lagoon, near Darwin, has spread biochar onto a two hectare block of zucchinis, cucumber and watermelons. Biochar is essentially charcoal, and is created by converting biomass or feedstock into a charred product under...

Inland rail gains momentum

by | 1 Oct 2013 | Starfish, Transport

The Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail Alliance (MBIRA) and the Border Regional Organisation of Councils (BROC) co-hosted a Strategy Meeting in Moree to identify ways to support the creation of an inland rail line and logistics system for freight movements in the vast...

HyperVillage ~ The New Rural

by | 26 Sep 2013 | Starfish

The HyperVillage is an idea for an alternative to uber-urban-cities, which seem to be the predominant view of many commentators as the most sustainable future way of living for humans. But what about rural and remote communities? HyperVillage is about imagining a...

Materialism vs Sustainability

by | 17 Sep 2013 | Starfish

Australian’s have one of the highest environmental footprints per capita in the world. If everyone in the world lived like Australians, we’d need more than four Earths worth of resources and capacity to satisfy the demand. Yet despite the absurdity in that...

Global fossil fuel incentives top $2.4 trillion per year

by | 9 Sep 2013 | Starfish

In the hotly politicised energy arena, public attention is rarely drawn to the fact that fossil fuels receieve incentives which are far greater than those provided to support clean and renewable energy. Government incentives are widely accepted as being critical to...

Earth Overshoot Day comes earlier again in 2013

by | 9 Sep 2013 | Event, Starfish | 1 comment

August 20 was Earth Overshoot Day 2013. This marks the date when globally we have consumed all the resources the earth has created for the year. Our consumption and footprint for the rest of 2013 will be further degrading the planet’s capacity to support life – ours...

95% likelihood of human created climate change

by | 9 Sep 2013 | Starfish

A leaked draft of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report has revealed scientists are almost certain human activity is causing global warming. Drafts of the fifth assessment report says it is 95 per cent likely that humans were the...

Farm productivity, the natural way

by | 23 Aug 2013 | Starfish

At this time of year, on the cusp of spring, much of the NSW Central West is grazed as closely as a bowling green. “Allendale”, though, is a landscape lumpy with green-shooting grass tussocks. Some of these paddocks host up to 59 species of plants in their pastures,...

100% of new Australian power plants are wind or solar

by | 23 Aug 2013 | Starfish

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has reported that all new electricity generation proposals received in the last 12 months have been either for large scale wind farms or solar facilities. Of the 1,000MW of new generation committed in the past 12 months,...