AURG Tree Planting Day Sunday 11 May at Elizabeth Park

by editor | 6 May 2014 | AURG, Event

The AURG is holding a tree planting day in Elizabeth Park on Sunday 11 May. We have two small sites in the north west corner of Elizabeth Park 1 (straight north of the toilet block) and can do some fill in plantings on a previous planting site close by. Entry to the...

Got a spare 10 minutes: Armidale Local Food Project Survey

by editor | 6 May 2014 | SLAM

My name is Woody Jacobson. I am an intern at Armidale Dumaresq Council working with Carol Davies and the Environmental Sustainability Committee on a project about local food consumption. We want to find out more about what drives Armidale citizens to purchase local...

May Thursday Forum: Bulga Decision and Community Rights

by editor | 1 May 2014 | AACSGaM, Event, Monthly Forum

The David and Goliath tussle between locals of a Hunter Valley village and mining giant Rio Tinto will be the subject of an Armidale Forum on Thursday 1st May. Earlier this month the residents of Bulga, a small Hunter Valley village, surprised the mining industry with...

Just moved to Armidale? Welcome

by editor | 1 May 2014 | Event, SLAM

The Armidale Business Chamber is hosting Armidale’s first ever Welcome to Armidale event for new residents on May 1st 5.30 – 6.30pm. “The event will give people a chance to make new contacts and start building the friendships that make a new town...

Calling all ‘people of conscience’ Divestment Day starts this Friday

by editor | 1 May 2014 | SLAM

“People of conscience need to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 11th April 2014 On the 2nd and 3rd of May, over a thousand Australians around the country will do just that – by closing...

Community ‘ownership’ of windfarms is the future

by editor | 1 May 2014 | Starfish

With 4,000 direct jobs in rural NSW and over $6billion in investment in the pipeline you would expect politicians on the Southern Tablelands to be supporting jobs in the renewable energy industry. This industry has become one of the major employers in this region....

World Labyrinth Day – Walk As One at One, Sat 3 May 1pm

by user submitted | 29 Apr 2014 | Event, SLAM

World Labyrinth Day is on Saturday 3 May, and we will be walking the labyrinth painted on the grass in Civic Park, near the corner of Faulkner and Dumaresq Streets. Join us at 1 pm, to walk in reflective solidarity with other people around the world who believe that...

Knitting Nannas at Old Court House tuesday 11.30am – 1.30pm

by editor | 28 Apr 2014 | AACSGaM, Event

Pat and other members of Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas and Mining were arrested during recent actions to protect the Leard and Pilliga Forests from invasive and irresponsible coal and coal seam gas mining. The court day has been set for tomorrow Tuesday, 29th...

Latest IPCC Report Shows Way Forward

by editor | 28 Apr 2014 | SLAM | 1 comment

More than 700 climate scientists and other experts from more than 70 countries spent five years preparing the latest IPCC report (the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Their message – climate change is already happening and there are big risks and...

Mayor Arno coming down under for Community Energy Congress

by editor | 28 Apr 2014 | Energy

Mayor Arno Zengerle of Wildpoldsried, one of Germany’s most reknowned Energy Towns, is confirmed for the Community Energy Congress in Canberra (16 – 17 June). Arno Zengerle is the Mayor of Wildpoldsried, one of Germany’s leading renewable energy villages...

Act on Climate web site goes live

by user submitted | 14 Apr 2014 | Climate, SLAM

If you are interested in or have concerns about our climate, please register on the new web site for Act on Climate (aoc.org.au) which went live today, 14th April. If you have anything you would like to post on the site, all contributions are welcome. Contact:...

How would we recognise a truly sustainable enterprise if we saw one?

by editor | 14 Apr 2014 | Event

Institute for Rural Futures Research Seminar Time: Tuesday, 15 April, 2014, 1.00pm. Location: Institute for Rural Futures Seminar Room (Building CO12) Presenter: Professor Jeremy B. Williams* Background: Westpac was recently ranked no. 1 among the Corporate...

New SLA Action Group: Climate plus Report on CANA conference

by editor | 14 Apr 2014 | Climate, Event

Following the National Day of Climate Action, Colin Hargreaves is forming a new action group in the SLA called simply “Climate” in line with the names of other action groups. Colin Hargreaves is attending the CANA (Climate Action Network of Australia) public event...

It’s time we started selling sustainability

by editor | 14 Apr 2014 | Starfish

A woman walks toward a well through clouds of dust raised by cattle in the wadi outside Louri village in the Mao region of Chad. For generations, the people of this bone-dry region lived off their herds, but climate change has meant that the normally once-a-decade...

Bellingen Workshop: Economically Happy!

by editor | 10 Apr 2014 | Event

NEW! Film showing of “The Economics of Happiness” Thursday, 10 April from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Bellingen Youth Hub. Entry by donation. Helena Norberg-Hodge will be there to introduce the film. For anyone who missed the showing in February or wants to see...

AURG tree planting between Butler and Markham Streets on Sunday 13 April

by editor | 10 Apr 2014 | AURG, Event

The AURG is holding a tree planting day on the North side of Dumaresq Creek between Butler and Markham Streets on Sunday 13 April. Bruce Whan has advised the preparations are on track. The spraying has been quite successful and most of the site is free of weeds. A...

The Future of Poles and Wires in Rural Australia

by editor | 9 Apr 2014 | SLAM

REneweconomy has an interesting article about the future of the Net. It begins: “Network operators in at least two Australian states are likely to ditch parts of their extensive poles and wire networks in regional areas as they realise that the costs of...

Lock On – Pat’s story of civil disobedience

by editor | 8 Apr 2014 | AACSGaM

Everyone is asking how it was to be locked on, so I have written about it. Well it’s an adrenaline rush, scary before I locked on, but surprisingly easy, and not scary when I did lock on. The details- A reported came to the Pilliga camp phone that a PAC truck, which...

Waste Deep

by user submitted | 7 Apr 2014 | SLAM

Food and packaging waste is not simply something that ‘goes away’ when we pop it in the rubbish bin for collection by our garbos. Waste has an insidious, long-term impact on our environment, our wildlife and ultimately our own health. But how do we avoid it? In an age...

April Thursday Forum: Futures Markets and the Divestment Movement

by editor | 3 Apr 2014 | Event, Monthly Forum, SLAM | 1 comment

On 2nd (& 3rd) May 2014, 350.org Fossil Free Australia is organising a national day of divestment action. Customers with accounts at the major banks (Australia & New Zealand Bank, Westpac Bank, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank) will be, en masse,...

The SLA Energy Group Needs New Members

by editor | 3 Apr 2014 | Energy, SLAM

The SLA Energy Group meets the first MONDAY of each month from 1:00 to 2:00pm at the Southern New England Land Care offices in the East Mall–stairs next to the Colour Copy Centre. Come along and see if this is a group you would like to join. We have just...

Coalition May Ban Environmental Boycotts

by editor | 3 Apr 2014 | SLAM

“Coalition MPs and industry groups are using a review of competition laws to push for a ban on campaigns against companies on the grounds that they are selling products that damage the environment, for example by using old-growth timber or overfished...

Armidale residents at Act Up #3

by editor | 2 Apr 2014 | SLAM | 1 comment

On Monday the 31st of March, five Armidale residents joined nearly 100 others in an unprecedented non-violent direct action against the expansion of Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Coal Mine. The expansion will destroy approximately one third of the Leard State Forest,...

UniSuper Dumps Fossil Fuel from Some Funds

by editor | 31 Mar 2014 | SLAM

The $40 billion UniSuper investment fund has announced that it will exclude fossil fuel companies from its “socially responsible” investment options as part of a refocus of its portfolio. UniSuper says the move is part of a strategy to also exclude gaming and weapons...

National Rural Women’s Coalition