friends of the earth adelaide!

2007-09-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

Friends of the Earth Adelaide has a new website!

As of September 2007, this blog will no longer be updated. However, all of its content and much more is now available from http://www.adelaide.foe.org.au.

See you there!

2007-07-31T04:12:00.000-07:00

Art Auction!

This Saturday 4 August, Friends of the Earth Adelaide will be holding a fundraising art auction! Held as part of the SALA Festival, the auction features over 40 works by accomplished and emerging South Australian artists, as well as Indigenous artists from around the country, including:

- Tjanpi Desert Weavers: Aboriginal women weavers from the NPY lands, as featured at WOMADelaide 2007
- Mitch: Aboriginal artist and activist from Engawala Community, Alice Springs
- Laura Wills: Winner, 2006 Environment Youth Art Prize; Second Prize, 2007 Environment Youth Art Prize, recently closed a successful solo exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Centre of South Australia and currently on an artist’s residency in Austria, supported by the South Australian Youth Arts Board
- Alisa Teletovic: multi-award winner
- Fleur Elise Noble: multi-award winner, including the 2002 Pro Hart Scholarship, the Vicki Nottage Memorial Youth Art Award, the Mitsubishi Youth Scholarship and the Emerging Artist Award
- Aly de Groot: multi-prize winning weaver, currently based in the Northern Territory
- weaving by Deni Odlum, Judy Grey-Gardner and Amanda King, earthenware by Sam Jeffries, prints by Julia Wakefield and much more.

Date: Saturday 4 August
Venue: North Adelaide Institute, 176 Tynte Street, North Adelaide
Time: Viewing from 4.00pm, Auction from 7.00pm.
Food and drink will be available.

A full catalogue can be downloaded here.
Written bidding forms can be downloaded here.

All funds raised from this event will support Friends of the Earth Adelaide’s ongoing work for a just and sustainable future, in particular, supporting Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory in their campaign to protect their traditional country from nuclear waste dumping.

For more information, feel free to contact Sophie Green on 0422 487 219, or sophie.green[at]foe.org.au - and bring your friends and family!

2007-07-10T00:44:00.000-07:00

JAMES LOVELOCK and NUCLEAR POWER
Professor James Lovelock recently visited Adelaide as a speaker for the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, among other things, he spruiked nuclear power as a solution to climate change.

Professor James Lovelock is the originator of 'The Gaia Hypothesis', proposing that all parts of the earth’s biosphere are interdependent on each other and that the planet could be represented as a self-regulating organism. While Professor Lovelock’s work has profoundly shaped our perceptions of the world, when it comes to the nuclear chain, he has got it very wrong.

In the face of catastrophic climate change, Professor Lovelock has argued that nuclear power is an unpleasant but necessary medicine: "I see in the end that we must get our energy from renewable resources but I don't see it happening in under 50 years. I don't see nuclear as the ultimate solution, I see it as a kind of medicine, which is an unpleasant medicine in some ways that we have to take while we're curing ourselves by fossil fuels." (ABC Science Show, 2001.)

Chernobyl
“You get things like Chernobyl but what happens? Thirty-odd brave firemen died who needn't have died but its general effect on the world population is almost negligible." (Quoted in Radford, 2000.)

To describe the global impact of Chernobyl as "almost negligible" is absurd given the myriad of well-documented impacts, not least the permanent relocation of about 220,000 people. Furthermore, applying a standard risk estimate to the collective dose gives an estimated human death toll of 24,000.

"The land around the failed Chernobyl power station was evacuated because it was unsafe for people, but it is now rich in wildlife. We call it nuclear waste and worry about its safe disposal. I wonder if instead we should use it as an incorruptible guardian of the beautiful places on Earth. Who would dare cut down a forest which was a storage place of nuclear ash?" (Quoted in Walsh, 2005.)

While Lovelock describes the area around Chernobyl as “rich in wildlife”, recent studies by biologists suggest otherwise. A University of South Carolina study on birds described a high proportion of those studied as suffering from “radiation-induced sickness and genetic damage”, as well as reduced reproductive rates and high mortality rates. A study from Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris, also highlights that a third of barn swallow nestlings studied in the Chernobyl area had malformations.

Nuclear Waste
"I have told the BNFL ... that I would happily take the full output of one of their big power stations. I think the high-level waste is a stainless steel cube of about a metre in size." The waste would serve two purposes, Lovelock says: "One would be home heating. You would get free home heat from it. And the other would be to sterilise the stuff from the supermarket, the chicken and whatnot, full of salmonella. Just drop it down through a hole. I'm not saying this tongue-in-cheek. I am quite serious." (Quoted in Radford, 2000.)

Weapons Proliferation
Lovelock rarely comments on nuclear weapons proliferation, yet when he does his remarks are inaccurate. On ABC’s Lateline in 2006, he commented that "Modern nuclear power stations are useless for making bombs". Yet former US Vice-President Al Gore recently remarked, “For eight years in the White House, every weapons proliferation problem we dealt with was connected to a civilian reactor program, and if we ever got to the point where we wanted to use nuclear reactors to back out a lot of coal ... then we'd have to put them in so many places we'd run that proliferation risk right off the reasonability scale."

- A typical power reactor produces enough plutonium each year for about 30 nuclear weapons. There is no serious dispute that this 'reactor grade' plutonium can be used for weapons.
- Most of the technologies used in support of nuclear power programs can also be used in support of a nuclear weapons program.

Links to the nuclear industry
According to Nuclear Spin (http://www.nuclearspin.org) Lovelock has long-standing ties to the nuclear industry and its supporters. He is Patron of the British organisation Supporters of Nuclear Energy (SONE), with links to nuclear power organisations British Energy and British Nuclear Fuels Limited. In addition to promoting nuclear energy in the UK, SONE has also actively opposed the development of renewable energy.

Nuclear power and climate change
Because electricity generation only contributes to around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, replacing coal-fired electricity generating plants with nuclear energy would only make a small dent in carbon emissions. Even if nuclear power could be doubled by 2050, greenhouse emissions would only be reduced by 5%. This is less than one-tenth of the reduction required to stabilise atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Nuclear power is no solution to climate change:
TOO SLOW: climate change demands an urgent response, yet it would take an estimated 15 years before a nuclear reactor could power a single light bulb in Australia. Renewable energy could be delivering energy within a year and energy efficiency technologies can cut pollution tomorrow.
TOO DANGEROUS: nuclear power carries the risk of a serious accident like Chernobyl and, in an increasingly unstable would, the uranium and nuclear power industries both increase the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation and are themselves a real terrorist threat.
TOO DIRTY: uranium mining and nuclear power create highly toxic waste that remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. For example, BHP Billiton’s Roxby Downs uranium mine in SA already has a radioactive waste stockpile of over 70 million tonnes, and at the Beverley mine in the state’s north-east, radioactive waste is simply dumped into groundwater. Uranium goes on to become high-level nuclear waste at reactors around the world, and there is still not a single repository on earth for the long-term disposal of this waste. Nuclear waste means permanent pollution.
TOO EXPENSIVE: even after more than 50 years of massive government subsidies around the world, nuclear power still can’t pay for itself. Its requires billions of dollars to build and run a plant and more to manage the radioactive waste produced and to decommission the reactor itself when it reaches the end of its life.

MORE INFORMATION
Nuclear Power: no solution to climate change
http://www.foe.org.au/campaigns/anti-nuclear/issues

James Lovelock and Patrick Moore
http://www.foe.org.au/campaigns/anti-nuclear/issues

Reasons not to glow, Orion Magazine
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/316

2007-07-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

Northern Territory traditional owners with local activists at the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre, Warriparinga

FROM THE HEART, FOR THE HEARTLAND

Mt Everard traditional owner Audrey McCormack

In mid-June, the Northern Territory Traditional Owners Speaking Tour, "From the heart, for the heartland", kicked off in Adelaide. Hosted by Friends of the Earth Adelaide, the main event of the speakers 3-day stay was a speaking event attended by a 100 people, and co-hosted by the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at UniSA.

Muckaty traditional owner Dianne Stokes

The speakers, Audrey McCormack from Mt. Everard, Mitch from Harts Range, Dianne Stokes from Muckaty, Donna Jackson (Larrakia Nations) and Natalie Wasley from the Arid Lands Environment Centre in Alice Springs, described their campaign to protect traditional country from Federal plans to impose a nuclear waste dump on the NT.

Donna Jackson, Larrakia Nations and Top End Aboriginal Conservation Alliance

The speaking delegation met with members and representatives from the local Kaurna community, non-government organisations, politicians and federal candidates, before continuing their journey to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.

Mitch, Harts Range

Recordings of the speeches are available for radio or private use, contact Friends of the Earth Adelaide for more details. All photos by Kathy Whitta.

More information at http://www.no-waste.org/

=============

Owners warn of tremors at nuclear waste dump site
Andra Jackson, The Age, June 20, 2007

TREMORS have twice been felt in a proposed Northern Territory site for a nuclear waste dump site, according to Aboriginal owners.

"The last one registered 2.5 on the Richter scale," traditional owner and Warramunga-Warlmanpa woman Dianne Stokes from the Muckaty Land Trust told a meeting of non-government organisations in Melbourne on Monday night.

Two weeks ago, the other members of the trust — with the backing of the Northern Land Council — secretly negotiated a deal under which the Federal Government would pay $12 million to use the 2241-square-kilometre Muckaty Station as Australia's first national nuclear waste dump.

Ms Stokes, an elected spokeswoman for the Warramunga and Warlmanpa tribes, said the deal was made by just one of the 16 family groupings represented on the trust.

The Northern Land Council failed to listen to the other families, she said.

Ms Stokes, a mother of six, was one of four traditional owners of four proposed nuclear waste sites in the Northern Territory who spoke at a public meeting at Melbourne's Trade Hall Council on Monday night.

"I came here with all my spirits from my ancestors to keep my country alive," she said.

Ms Stokes, who lives just half an hour's drive from the site of a proposed nuclear waste dump at Muckaty, said it would kill the area environmentally and culturally.

The surrounding country was a source of bush tucker and a place of burials in both the ground and trees, which were home to ancestral spirits, she said.

Priscilla Williams, a member of the Hart Range community, the site of another proposed dump, said the community closest to Muckaty Station had a primary school that got its water from a river which ran around the proposed site.

While the Federal Government had insisted there had never been an accident with a nuclear waste dump anywhere, "we're worried about what will happen if our water gets poisoned because we get it from under the ground", Ms Williams said.

The delegation briefed the Wilderness Society and called on state premiers to oppose a national nuclear waste dump.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/owners-give-nuclear-waste-dump-warning/2007/06/19/1182019116363.html

2007-05-23T00:03:00.000-07:00

CALLING ALL ARTISTS!!

Friends of the Earth Adelaide are seeking your artwork for an ART AUCTION to raise funds to support Indigenous traditional owners from the Northern Territory in their campaign against the Federal government’s attempts to impose a nuclear waste dump on their traditional lands.

All works are accepted (including sculpture, weaving, glassblowing, jewelry, framed and unframed paintings, new and old works etc), and specially produced works are particularly welcome.

Works are needed before 20th July 2007.

To register your interest and find out more, contact Sophie at sophie.green@foe.org.au or 0422 487 219.

Expose your work to new audiences!
Support Friends of the Earth!

www.foe.org.au
http://cleanfutures.blogspot.com

2007-05-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

Friends of the Earth Benefit Party!

On Saturday 12 May, McLaren Vale's Singing Gallery hosted the first-ever Friends of the Earth Benefit Party, featuring Musical Sherpa, DJ Jimi, Chefism, a raffle, chai, cakes, excellent company and much dancing! A massive thanks to Greg, Sarah, James, Bert, Elly and all those who helped in pulling this amazing event together!

2007-04-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

Pedal Australia for Clean Energy

Friends of the Earth Adelaide

MEDIA RELEASE – 27 April 2007

Cycling across Australia for a Clean Nuclear-Free Future

On the first day of the ALP National Conference, Pedal Australia for Clean Energy and Friends of the Earth Adelaide call on ALP delegates to retain their long-standing no new uranium mines policy and move to phase out the uranium industry.

In the final stretches of their bicycle circumnavigation of Australia to educate about clean and renewable solutions to climate change, PACE emphasises Australia’s positive role in exporting clean energy technologies to the world, rather than uranium with its attendant, unresolved issues of weapons proliferation and long-lived radioactive waste.

“It’s ironic that the ALP should be contemplating an expansion of Australia’s uranium industry only days after the 21st anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe. Labor recognises that nuclear power is not a safe or responsible path for Australia’s energy future, yet many delegates are willing to dump nuclear risks and problems on communities overseas for short-term economic gain,” said Friends of the Earth Adelaide campaigner Sophie Green.

“In the best case scenario, more uranium mining in Australia will lead to the production of even greater volumes of high-level nuclear waste overseas for which there is still no safe disposal method. In a likely scenario, more uranium mining here will increase nuclear weapons proliferation given the emergence of a nuclear black market and clandestine nuclear programs. In the worst-case scenario, we could see more nuclear catastrophes and ‘near-misses’ such as that of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island,” said Ms. Green.

PACE cyclist Melanie Szydzik stated “The majority of the public remains concerned by uranium mining. A May 2006 Newspoll found that 66% of all Australians and 78% of all ALP voters are opposed to any expansion of uranium mining. As we have cycled around the country we have engaged with communities, schools and individuals and have listened time and again to serious concerns about the uranium industry.”

Ms Szydzik continued “The real solution to climate change lies in energy efficiency and renewable power technology. Australia is uniquely positioned to make the most of exciting opportunities presented by these technologies: We are able to benefit from our natural abundance of renewable sources to power this nation, and to reap the economic rewards of exporting clean energy technologies overseas.”

Pedal Australia for Clean Energy (PACE) are circumnavigating the continent powered only by pedal power (bicycles). They have cycled 9000km and have arrived in Adelaide this week.

Contact and Photos:
Sophie Green 0422 487 219 sophie.green@foe.org.au
Melanie Szydzik 0412 145 003 info@pedalaustralia.org.au
Severin Staalesen 0428 293 597 info@pedalaustralia.org.au

2007-04-01T19:34:00.001-07:00

Palm Sunday Peace Carnival!

Tarndanyangga/Victoria Square became the site of the 2007 Palm Sunday Peace Carnival. Falling on April Fools Day, the Carnival was a perfect opportunity to call for a clean, responsible response to climate change rather than involving Australia further in the nuclear fool cycle; and to call for the ALP to retain its long-standing 'no-new-uranium-mines' policy.

With performances from local musicians including cult childrens' performer Peter Combe, acoustic groover Heather Frahn, hip-hop outfit Poetikool Justice, funk band Star Step Evolution, the classic Trade Union Choir, Raw Honey's Miranda Bradley and Adelaide music scene veteran Soursob Bob and Emma Luker, and ringed by community stalls, hundreds of people passed through the carnival over the afternoon.

The carnival paraded around the square to the State Administration Centre where nuclear free campaigner David Noonan (Australian Conservation Foundation) gave an overview of the current state of SA's uranium industry. At this, the crowd promptly collapsed into a mass die-in in protest of Premier Mike Rann's moves to expand uranium mining in South Australia.

Dr. Jason Garrood (Medical Association for the Prevention of War), Rev. Dr. Lee Levett-Olson (Uniting Church), indigenous lawyer and academic Dr. Irene Watson and acclaimed author Nicholas Jose delivered speeches, with Sarah Hanson-Young (Greens), Ruth Russell (Democrats), Steve Georganas and Steph Key (ALP) and Kris Hanna (Independent) offering their points-of-view in a 'Politician's Open Mike' (all political parties were invited to present, but some failed to show).

Friends of the Earth Adelaide was one of over 25 environmental, community, political, church and residents' groups involved in organising the Palm Sunday Peace Carnival. Nationally, over 90 organisations were involved in endorsing and coordinating events in 11 cities and towns. More information can be found at http://www.nuclearfoolsday.org.

"Where's your bag, dad? Your bag? / You left your bag dad, in Baghdad," as heard on Iraqi Radio, circa 1991.

Poetikool Justice

Soursob Bob and Emma Luker

2007-03-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

PALM SUNDAY PEACE CARNIVAL
for a peaceful, nuclear free future

1.00pm, April 1, Tardanyangga/Victoria Square

Join us for a picnic, carnival and concert

FEATURING: Heather Frahn, Peter Combe, Poetikool Justice, Soursob Bob, DJ Jimi and many more to be announced!

Details as they emerge at http://www.nuclearfoolsday.org/adelaide

...

This year Palm Sunday falls on April Fools Day, and all around the country, groups are preparing to mobilise for carnivals against the foolish wars and nuclear foolishness proposed for Australia.

Well over forty organisations have endorsed plans for an April Fools Palm Sunday nationwide, with events planned in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Alice Springs, Darwin, Perth, Canberra and Sydney.

The Adelaide Palm Sunday Peace Alliance, currently composed of about 25 environmental, social justice, political, church and community groups, is organising a carnival at Victoria Square, calling for Australians to not be fooled by the nuclear push, but rather to work "for peace, for nuclear disarmament, against uranium mining and exports, and for a renewable, nuclear-free future".

There are plans for permaculture contingents, for bicycle contingents, for puppet troupes, anti-nuclear choirs, masquerade groups, giant octopi and much, much more; so decorate your bike! Come in costume! Make a mask! Make noise! Fly a kite!Plan choreographed, nuclear-free dances! And bring all your friends! Pass this on to everyone you know...

2007-03-18T19:40:00.001-07:00

Friends of the Earth at the Fringe Open House!

Friends of the Earth was selected as one of only six community groups to participate in the Fringe Festival's Community House project at the opening of the 2007 festival. With a conceptual kitchen to work with, eager Friends of the Earth's circus for sustainability spilled into the streets with appearances from the now-famous performing white elephant, a ringmaster, battery-free games, solar-powered lighting, the five-seater family bike and, making a special side-show appearance, replete with 1950s charm and teacups of green goo: the NUCLEAR family!

A huge thanks to all those who were part of putting this together.

2007-01-30T17:17:00.000-08:00

Screenprinting Workshop launches new FoE Adelaide t-shirt bonanza!

On Saturday 27 January, Friends of the Earth Adelaide conducted the first of its monthly campaign-skills workshops at Single Step Printing, Burton, producing boxes full of hot, new screenprinted t-shirts, singlets and hooded jumpers.

Long-suffering collective members and innocent bystanders were co-opted into modelling the new range which have nuclear, uranium and bicycle themes.

The garments come in too many colours to list, with a size for every punter, all new garments are sweat-shop free, and discounted recycled and slightly imperfect garments are available at absurdly low prices.

One less car

The Bicycle: clean, silent, non-violent (as worn by a three-headed green kangaroo)

Classic design by Lyn Hovey: birds in the sky, fish in the sea, uranium in the ground

Save Mound Springs!

All garments are available from Friends of the Earth Adelaide - coming soon to a stall near you!

A huge thanks to Single Step Printing for their support and Lyn Hovey and Shani for their fabulous contributions to the t-shirt designs. More t-shirt designs and ideas are always welcome.

Stay tuned for info on our next campaign skills workshop to be held on Tuesday 27 February. All welcome!

2007-01-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

Technology: the NEW, the NASTY and the NEEDED

Dr. Rye Senjen and Georgia Miller, from Friends of the Earth's Nanotechnology Project, express their concerns about the potentials and applications of nanotechnology.

On Thursday 18 January, Friends of the Earth held a public meeting at Caos Cafe, Hindley Street, on 'Technology: the new, the nasty and the needed'. The meeting featured Dr. Rye Senjen and Georgia Miller of Friends of the Earth Australia's Nanotechnology Project, discussing the potential risks of this new technology; nuclear free campaigner Michaela Stubbs discussed the Federal Government's current nuclear push and Dr. Paul Downtown, from Ecopolis Architects, discussed renewable energy technologies.

Michaela Stubbs, Friends of the Earth nuclear-free campaigner discusses the nuclear industry's attempts to reinvent itself in the face of climate change.

2006-12-13T14:54:00.000-08:00

>>>NIGHTRIDER<<<

Join Adelaide's finest wheeled wonders for the third Ready, Set ... Ride! community bicycle adventure!
This Friday 15 December
Meet at 8.00pm, Victoria Square, near the monstrous plastic pine tree.

"Light up the night, decorate your bike!"

All bikes welcome!

2006-12-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

Dr Bill Williams, from the Medical Association for the Prevention of War has recently published this excellent article on the health effects of radiation, with specific reference to the Prime Minister's Nuclear Taskforce report, overseen by Ziggy Switkowski. You can read the full article at Online Opinion: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5249

NO SAFE DOSE
By Bill Williams - posted Tuesday, 12 December 2006
The recent zeal among conservative politicians for expanding Australia’s nuclear industry should raise questions about its potential impact on the health of humans and their habitat. Unfortunately, the recently released Switkowski Report on Uranium Mining Processing and Nuclear Energy brings little serious critical analysis to bear on the subject.

We exist in a naturally radioactive environment: the rocks and mountains, the sun in particular, produce a “background” level. Average exposure to “background” ionizing radiation worldwide is measured at 2.4 millisievert (mSv) a year. About half of this is from radon gas and its decay products.

However, human activities in the past century have greatly increased our exposure to ionizing radiation, through atomic weapons development, testing and use, as well as uranium-mining and nuclear electricity generation. The ongoing atmospheric fallout from the nuclear weapons testing in the 50s and 60s adds an average extra dose to us all of 0.02mSv per year.

These doses are estimated to have already resulted in 430,000 additional fatal cancers worldwide by the year 2000, and a total of 2.4 million extra cancer deaths long-term.

Unfortunately there is no level of radiation exposure below which we are at zero risk: even low-level medical exposures such as chest X-rays (0.04mSv per test) carry a quantifiable risk of harm. While high doses of ionizing radiation will cause greater health damage, even low doses are associated with adverse environmental and human consequences.

Using the “linear no-threshold” risk model, the 2005 US National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII) estimated:
- over a lifetime, a dose of 1mSv creates an excess risk of cancer of approximately 1 in 10,000. Higher doses are associated with proportionately higher risk, for example a dose of 100mSv would cause 1 in 100 people to develop cancer;
- approximately 1 individual in 100 persons would be expected to develop cancer from a lifetime (70 years) exposure just to background x and gamma rays (excluding radon and other high LET radiations)

It should be noted that while these are average risks, the risks in vulnerable groups of the population may be considerably higher. BEIR VII assessed women as having about twice the radiation risk for solid cancer incidence as men, and 38 per cent higher cancer mortality risk than men.

Children are at even greater risk - radiation during infancy for boys results in three to four times the cancer risk as between 20 to 50 years of age, and female infants have double the risk of boys.

[...]

2006-12-10T21:32:00.000-08:00

Solar hot water overlooked in rush to reduce pollution
Wendy Frew, Environment Reporter, The Sydney Morning Herald
December 9, 2006

WHILE federal and state governments argue over nuclear power and carbon capture and storage, one of the easiest ways of cutting greenhouse pollution is being ignored, energy experts say.

The greenhouse gas emissions generated by Australian homes could be cut by at least 20 per cent if consumers converted their hot water systems to solar hot water.

The technology has been available in Australia for more than 50 years but because of cheap coal-fired electricity it still remains a more expensive option in the short-term and is in only 5 per cent of homes. But industry figures show if even half of Australia's households converted to solar hot water it would cut greenhouse pollution by 14 million tonnes - the equivalent of taking 4 million small cars off the road every year.

On average, the cost of a solar hot water system can be recovered within five to 10 years, depending on the system, the manufacturer Solahart says.

[...]

Read the rest at http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/solar-hot-water-overlooked-in-rush-to-reduce-pollution/2006/12/08/1165081157714.html

2006-12-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

LA Times published a major 4-part series on the impacts of uranium mining on the Navajo Reservation. It mostly focuses on the legacy of death, disease, and contamination, with the last part supposedly about the new threats of uranium development.

For those interested, go to

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-navajo-series,

2006-11-26T16:10:00.000-08:00

Uranium mine blamed for high Aboriginal cancer rate

Liz Minchin and Lindsay Murdoch
November 23, 2006

CANCER cases among Aboriginal people living near Australia's biggest uranium mine appear to be almost double the expected rate, a study by the Federal Government's leading indigenous research body shows.

The study also found there had been no monitoring in the past 20 years on the Ranger mine's impact on local indigenous health. Yet since 1981, there have been more than 120 spillages and leaks of contaminated water at the mine, located in the world heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.

The Herald believes the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies paper will be submitted to the Government's nuclear energy taskforce, led by Dr Ziggy Switkowski, which this week released a draft report backing the expansion of uranium mining.

The study compared the number of Aboriginal people diagnosed with cancer in the Kakadu region with the cancer rate among all Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory from 1994 to 2003. It found the diagnosis rate was 90 per cent higher than expected, with 27 cases reported.

While the study's authors stressed it was only a preliminary finding, they concluded the higher cancer rate was "a cause for serious concern and further investigation is clearly warranted".

They also called for ongoing health monitoring for all indigenous communities living near current and proposed uranium mines, at a cost of $450,000 a year.

Energy Resources of Australia, which operates Ranger, yesterday denied that people living in Jabiru and other communities near the mine were being exposed to abnormal levels of radiation.

Last month ERA, which is majority-owned by mining giant Rio Tinto, announced it would extend the life of Ranger by six years to 2020, so it could extract an additional 11,000 tonnes of uranium from low-grade ore stockpiles.

In 2003, a Senate committee found that regulation of the Ranger mine was "flawed, confusing and inadequate".

Three years on, the Howard Government has still not responded to the committee's recommendations.

Last night the traditional owners of the land backed the need for independent monitoring of the mining's health effects.

A spokesman for the Mirarr people said that while the federal Office of the Supervising Scientist monitors the mine's environmental impacts, "scant attention has been paid to the health effects of this development".

A spokeswoman for the federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, said the study's findings on cancer rates were "questionable".

The Northern Territory health department's chief executive, Robert Griew, also said the report did not prove any link. "The excess cancers found are not typical of cancers caused by radiation but rather cover the range of cancers that reflect lifestyle issues such as smoking, diet and infection.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/uranium-mine-blamed-for-high-aboriginal-cancer-rate/2006/11/22/1163871481956.html

2006-11-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

Friends of the Earth campaigners had the opportunity to talk backstage with John Butler after the John Butler Trio's recent amazing performance in Adelaide. John expressed his admiration for the work of Friends of the Earth, and sends FoE all his "love, respect and energy". The John Butler Trio is donating $1.00 from every ticket on their current tour to supporting campaigns against uranium mining.

2006-11-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

Friends of the Earth Adelaide at the G20 Carnival!

On the weekend of November 18-19, Finance Ministers and Reserve Bank heads from across the world descended on the golden halls of Melbourne's Grand Hyatt to plot the roll-out of neo-liberal, free market policies across the world. High on their agenda was "energy security", with nuclear power expected to be pushed as some kind of solution.

Friends of the Earth Adelaide linked up with Friends of the Earth Melbourne to premiere Adelaide's new nuclear white elephant in the G20 Protest Carnival, together with other organisations and NGOs from around the country wishing to express their visions of a society beyond fat profits and multinational monopolies. The white elephant was enormously popular, with several punters telling us that it had "restored their faith" and it was their favourite thing from the day. We even got an interview with Chinese TV!

Estimates of up to 3000 people participated in the carnival through Melbourne's streets on Saturday morning.

The fabulously inspiring latest edition of Friends of the Earth's national magazine 'Chain Reaction' addresses the G20 and alternatives; you can get your copy from the FoE office - phone 08 8227 1399.

2006-11-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

WALK AGAINST WARMING!
November 4 2006: Adelaide Airport to West Beach

November 4 was the International Day of Action on Climate Change, organised to coincide with UN talks on Climate Change being held in Nairobi. Friends of the Earth Adelaide was among several other groups and over 1000 community members who managed tear themselves away from the Christmas Pageant to walk from the Airport (potentially the high-tide mark with predicted sea-level rises of 6m this century) to West Beach.

At West Beach, the crowd assembled itself into the words "SEE CHANGE" for the benefit of a TV helicopter.

2006-11-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

The 2007 People & Planet Diary has arrived!

This amazing diary is published by Global Trade Watch in partnership with Friends of the Earth Adelaide and is now available for only $18.00! It's filled with amazing photographs from around the globe and information on numerous organisations working in Australia for a just & sustainable future. Buy one for every member of your family! Perfect for Christmas! Profits go towards supporting Friends of the Earth Adelaide.

And: if you're one of the first five people to become a financial member of Friends of the Earth Adelaide you get a copy ABSOLUTELY FREE!

To get your copy or to join, ring Friends of the Earth Adelaide on 08 8227 1399, or email joel.catchlove[at]foe.org.au.

2006-10-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

From a little bang to huge blockbuster is not that difficult
October 12, 2006, The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/from-a-little-bang-to-huge-blockbuster-is-not-that-difficult/2006/10/11/1160246195478.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
The spread of nuclear power makes weapons proliferation easier, writes Alan Roberts.

WHEN North Korea exploded its nuclear bomb on Monday, seismographs throughout the world registered the way the earth shook. In a different way, it came as a shock to most of us.

Unhappily, North Korea may be only the first in a long series of recruits to the "Nuclear Weapons Club". Why? Two reasons:

First: more people are starting to see as the greatest threat facing humanity the way we are changing Earth's climate — the "global warming" due to the billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide with which we go on polluting the atmosphere. And in appreciating this threat, they are, I believe, quite right.

Second: some of these people look to nuclear power as a solution, at least partially, to the frightening prospect of a world damaged beyond recovery. This view is not confined to nuclear industry spokesmen and some politicians, who have their own reasons for pushing nuclear power. It is shared by well-intentioned people who believe nuclear power can make a major and useful contribution to averting this catastrophe.

Everyone knows about the tremendous store of energy locked up in the nucleus of an atom. At least on first glance, there is something very attractive about the prospect of letting it trickle out in a controlled and useful way. At the opposite extreme is the case in which all that contained energy is released suddenly in one gigantic burst: the nuclear bomb.

An obvious and unavoidable question is: given a reactor designed and operated to keep the energy coming out in a trickle, how easy is it to reshape it into the "burst" mode, to make a bomb?

There has been a lot of argument on this question over the years. The plutonium produced in reactors is certainly the material used in bombs. But, it can be said, maybe so, but it's mixed with a lot of other stuff that lowers its explosive power. To which others retort, yes, but you can run the reactor in a way that gives less of that unwanted stuff and so on. What is the truth?

Prominent people are now urging the revival of nuclear power after its many decades of stagnation, a revival that could see reactors operating in countries that never knew them before. So this question is pretty important: given a reactor, how easy is it to make a bomb?

Perhaps the most authoritative answer has been given by Victor Gilinsky, in his chapter on the topic in a book published on the internet in June, Taming the Next Set of Strategic Weapons Threats. Gilinsky was reappointed under three US presidents to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

He treats in considerable detail the ways of getting a bomb from the fuel used in the most common reactor type, the light water reactor. His conclusions are summed up in his final sub-heading: "Light water reactors are less proliferation-resistant than usually assumed in policy discussions and are dangerous in the wrong hands."

This moderate statement hardly does justice to the detailed case he presents. He gives references, for instance, to documents describing how to build a "quick-and-dirty" plant for extracting the plutonium from used fuel elements. Time required: four to six months with an area required of about 39 metres long and much less wide. A production rate of about a bomb a day, meaning "dozens of bombs before the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) could count on detecting it".

He includes a table giving the likely explosive yields, in TNT equivalents, of bombs made in this way. To grasp it, we should recall the 10-tonne bombs used in WWII, known as blockbusters for their power to destroy a whole city block. If the early reports of the size of the North Korea test explosion are true, it amounted to "only" about 100 blockbusters or a bit less. He indicates that, with better technique, or more luck, it could have got into the range of 600 to 4000 blockbusters.

The advocates of nuclear power on climatic grounds may be right or wrong. (I happen to be strongly of the view that they are wrong.) But in any case, they need to reckon with Gilinsky's analysis, showing that any country with the (common) light water reactor is only a few months from having atomic bombs if it wants them. Are we entering a future in which disputes will not uncommonly reach the nuclear level, and threaten death to whole cities?

Alan Roberts is a physicist and former member of the nuclear safety committee of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.

2006-09-26T22:41:00.002-07:00

BHP BILLITON WINS GOLDFISH FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD!

The inaugural Blinky Award was won this morning by mining corporation BHP Billiton. Friends of the Earth Adelaide staged the official award ceremony out the front of BHP Billiton's Adelaide offices this morning to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Maralinga atomic tests - and in particular, to draw attention not only to BHP Billiton's massive environmental impact but also the unjustifiable legal privileges it holds under the Roxby Indenture Act.

The ceremony went off without a hitch - except that, strangely, no representatives from BHP Billiton could be lured outside to accept the award. We left the award and certificate on the doorstep, with a rather humourless security guard demanding their immediate removal.

Friends of the Earth joined groups around the country in marking Maralinga today - in Melbourne, a 7.00am Vigil was conducted at St. Kilda, followed by an 8.00am action at BHP Billiton Headquarters, also focussing on the Indenture Act and its impact on Aboriginal Heritage. In Alice Springs, a tree was planted in Todd Mall to commemorate the detonation of the first Maralinga atom bomb, codenamed 'One Tree'. In Darwin, Maralinga was remembered at an event in Raintree Park, and in Brisbane, a vigil was held in the evening at ANZAC Square.

You can listen to the Blinky Award being held on 'The Wire', the national community radio current affairs show, at http://www.thewire.org.au/daydetail.aspx?SearchDay=2006-09-27#2

Friends of the Earth will be hosting a community commemoration and picnic for Maralinga this Sunday, 12.00 noon at the North Terrace War Memorial. Please join us.

...

Maralinga marks atomic test anniversary, ABC News Online,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1749681.htm
September 27, 2006

The first British atomic bomb test was conducted at Maralinga in South Australia's outback 50 years ago today.

Seven atomic tests were conducted there in 1956 and 1957 and minor trials continued into the early 1960s.

Maralinga was officially closed in 1967.

Remediation work at the site began in 1996 and was completed four years later.

Most of the former Maralinga test site is considered safe for unrestricted access although permanent residency is restricted to a small section.

The anniversary will be marked by an anti-nuclear group this morning, with a mock red carpet ceremony in front of BHP Billiton's offices in Adelaide.

The self-styled "world's largest diversified resources company" and "world's fourth largest producer of uranium", BHP Billiton operates the Olympic Dam uranium, copper, gold and silver mine in SA's north.

The company will be awarded a "Blinky", a three-eyed goldfish statue, for its contribution to climate change.

Joel Catchlove from the Friends of the Earth says the radioactive fallout from the Maralinga tests highlights why companies need to be environmentally responsible.

"The patterns we see in the way that Indigenous communities in particular are continuing to suffer the legacy of Maralinga, we feel that's certainly being carried on in certain aspects of the nuclear industry today," he said.

...

Protests mark Maralinga tests anniversary, news.com.au/AAP
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20485559-2,00.html
September 27, 2006 05:23pm

ANTI-nuclear campaigners have held vigils throughout Australia to mark the 50th anniversary of the first atomic bomb tests at Maralinga.

Wreath-laying ceremonies also were held in some capital cities today to mark the anniversary of the first of seven atomic bombs detonated at Maralinga in South Australia's north.

The British atomic tests were staged at Maralinga over 13 months from September 27, 1956.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth said the legacy of environmental contamination remains half a century after the initial Maralinga test.

"Almost the entire Australian continent was dusted with radioactive fallout from the British bomb tests and millions of Australians received small radiation doses," Friends of the Earth spokesman Jim Green said.

"The legacy of environmental contamination remains to this day.

"The impacts on indigenous communities were severe, including radioactive contamination and forced relocation to missions."

The initial British test detonated a 12.9 kiloton atomic device, similar in size to the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki in Japan during World War II.

Mr Green said vigils were held in Adelaide and Melbourne outside BHP Billiton offices - the operators of the Olympic Dam uranium mine in SA's north.

"We are calling on BHP Billiton to relinquish its legal privileges, in particular its exemption from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act in relation to the Roxby Downs uranium mine," Mr Green said.

"BHP can choose which Aboriginal groups to consult with, determine the nature and manner of any consultation with Aboriginal communities, and decide the level of protection, if any, that Aboriginal heritage sites receive.

In Melbourne, a wreath-laying ceremony was held at the city's War Memorial before anti-nuclear campaigners protested outside BHP's Melbourne headquarters.

Sydney activists staged a vigil on the steps of the Sydney Town Hall, while a similar silent vigil was held at Brisbane's Anzac Square.

In Alice Springs, a single tree was planted at the Uniting Church lawns in Todd Mall to commemorate the "One Tree" test 50 years ago.

Anti-nuclear campaigners in Adelaide staged a mock red carpet ceremony outside BHP Billiton's inner-city office and awarded the company a Blinky Award - a three-eyed goldfish statue which they said was recognition for the company's commitment to "short term profits at the expense of a healthy society and environment".

Australian Democrat MP Sandra Kanck said the Maralinga tests took an appalling toll on the local Maralinga people and poisoned a large chunk of Australian bush for the next 250,000 years.

She said the legacy of the tests also demanded that a high level of scrutiny be attached to any future exports of uranium from Australia, which could be used in the nuclear arms industry.

"Learning from Maralinga means not just continuing to ban the export of uranium to countries that haven't signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, but also refusing to sell uranium to countries that have nuclear weapons programs," Ms Kanck said.

Maralinga was officially closed in 1967. Remediation to clean-up the site started in 1996 and concluded four years later.

2006-09-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

Suzuki criticises NT uranium push

International environmentalist David Suzuki has criticised the Northern Territory Government's push for more uranium mining in the region.

The Canadian author is travelling Australia to promote his recently released autobiography.

NT Chief Minister Clare Martin says she supports increased uranium mining, but she is against the jurisdiction becoming home to a national nuclear waste dump.

Dr Suzuki says the Government's policy is crazy.

"Well, I mean, obviously there is a recognition that this is not material like chemical pollutants, this is something more different and I would say if a state or a country is not willing to ... deal with the waste it's manufacturing, they've got no business manufacturing it," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1749418.htm

2006-09-20T01:29:00.000-07:00

Gore Unveils Global-Warming Plan - Cutting Emissions, Restructuring Industry and Farming Urged

By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; Page A02

NEW YORK, Sept. 18 -- Former vice president Al Gore laid out his prescription for an ailing and overheated planet Monday, urging a series of steps from freezing carbon dioxide emissions to revamping the auto industry, factories and farms.

Gore proposed a Carbon Neutral Mortgage Association ("Connie Mae," to echo the familiar Fannie Mae) devoted to helping homeowners retrofit and build energy-efficient homes. He urged creation of an "electranet," which would let homeowners and business owners buy and sell surplus electricity.

"This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue -- it affects the survival of human civilization," Gore said in an hour-long speech at the New York University School of Law. "Put simply, it is wrong to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every generation that follows ours."

Gore was one of the first U.S. politicians to raise an alarm about the dangers of global warming. He produced a critically well-received documentary movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," that chronicles his warnings that Earth is hurtling toward a vastly warmer future. Gore's speech was in part an effort to move beyond jeremiads and put the emphasis on remedies.

He took a veiled shot at the Bush administration: "The debate over solutions has been slow to begin in earnest . . . because some of our leaders still find it more convenient to deny the reality of the crisis." But he saluted a Republican, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for helping to push through sharp reductions in carbon emissions.

Gore noted that few politicians of any party are willing to step into the "no politician zone" of tough steps needed to address global warming.

Gore cautioned against looking for a "silver bullet" policy reform that would address global warming, a view many scientists share.

"There are things that you can do today and in the midterm, and things to tend to in the long term," said Gavin A. Schmidt, a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. "You have to think on all the scales at once, and even that will only help you avoid the worst scenarios."

A spokeswoman for the President's Council on Environmental Quality said Monday that the Bush administration has committed $29 billion to climate research and programs and has reduced greenhouse gas intensity. That is not, however, the same matter as reducing total carbon emissions, which continue to rise.

Gore touched on nuclear power as a palliative for global warming but made it clear that this is at best a partial solution. Nuclear power inevitably raises questions of nuclear arms proliferation, he said.

And he warned against thinking that the recent drop in oil prices offers much help: "Our current ridiculous dependence on oil endangers not only our national security, but also our economic security."

Staff writer Juliet Eilperin in Washington contributed to this report.