I agree that the entire world needs to move completely away from fossil fuels but I am also a pragmatist and I realise the size of the industry here and the huge damage it would do to our economy if we suddenly stopped so I believe that the coal industry’s research efforts into developing clean ways to use coal make sense.  And selling these technologies to China along with the coal also makes sense.

I know this makes some people very angry and someone recently said to me “clean coal – I’d like to see that!”  The problem with being angry about something is that the people who are angry stop communicating and only tell.  Unless the dialogue is two way, there is no communication and the differing viewpoints never meet to find the best outcome.  It is a bit like swimming in a rip – fight it and you drown.

I believe we need a mix of energy sources and would like to see large scale development of solar because we have so much sun in Australia and especially at times when demand for air-conditioning is greatest.  Our small scale domestic solar installations are very expensive to install and while great for the environment are out of the reach of most people.

The USA are installing very large scale and economic solar plants to power entire towns in Arizona and the large scale technology has been in use in California since the 198s and is well tested and reliable.  There is a process using huge amounts of salt that can store the solar heat to enable the power generation around the clock.

When wind, wave, solar and geothermal energy is in mainstream use and alternative technologies are developed and economically viable together with attitudes and behavioural change we will able to reduce our energy use without much changing out quality of life.  At that time the cost of coal and oil will rise to become uneconomical unless they can be audited as having worked out how to effective reduce their emissions.  Their incentive will be the cost of their carbon emissions.

There are other very exciting new technologies emerging for retrofitting established buildings to make them energy efficient.  I suspect there needs to be support to get these out into more visible demonstration sites.

Developing these technologies, including clean coal, and reducing dependence on coal and oil requires a national and global vision plus implementation and incentives.

Humans are very good at change and adaptation when they know their backs are against the wall but the problem is they do not all recognise the need for action now.

There is a lot of action and thought going into green roofs where, subject to structural checks, people are putting soil and plants on their roofs. Some were very interesting and beautiful The ideas including much improved thermal insulation and also CO2 absorption. This was especially suggested in cities.

So perhaps we will go forward to “caves” but high tech ones with plants on the roofs rather than back to caves as we reduce our energy use. A well designed high tech “cave” with heaps of light from skylights and huge double glazed widows around a courtyard and a wonderful roof garden would be the one thing that would tempt me out of my apartment - providing I found a location like where I live, on a bus route, within walking distance of the city CBD and of shops. I would LOVE to be involved in building and living in ssomething truly sustainable

I have deep sympathy for the bereaved families BUT my major sympathy goes to the fishermen who were terribly traumatized by this accident and to both boat owners who have lost a vital part of their business, possibly for months while the Coroner investigates the two, now impounded, boats.

Poor business owners is my take on this. I do and have done a lot of work on occupational safety in the fishing industry and I know how seriously fishers take this.  Sorry if I offend anyone but I was horrified by the behaviour of these 14 people. What goes around!

Companies and managers face increasing liability from a range of environmental laws. The new National Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reporting Act 2007 is the latest.

The fact is that we need to comply with legislation in our business as well as  in the rest of our live.  If you drive over the speed limit with a hight alcohol level you do not expect sysmpathy when you get caught.  Similarly with environmental law.

The worry for business is whether they are at risk from their employees and their contractors inadvertently breaking the law and leaving the owners and managers liable.   This is an area tha tneeds to be taken seriously and Enviro Action can help here.

Enviro Action is about reducing carbon and other environmental impacts which is the major step we need to take. We were very busy & I also spoke at the conference.

It was most interesting seeing what is on offer. The entire carbon trading area is still in a premature muddle with a mixture of tree planters and others. The auditing requirements are not yet set, the tree planters, while mainly very well meaning need to be clear on both how much carbon they really sequester and from when, the effect a bushfire will have on their operation and very importantly the ecological impact of their planting and what the ecology was of the land they are planting on. There are some horror stories about unsuitable trees being planted on what was an natural ecology that did not “look like forest” but actually worked better than the artificial community put there with wrong species.

I am NOT against tree planting and as a member of a volunteer group in the past, have planted thousands. I have responsibly collected local seed, dried it (taking over almost the entire northern side of a previous house I owned) and direct seeds and well as tending tube stock.

I have been a member of Trees for Life for around 15 years and am now a sponsor because I like the fact that they collect local seed, work with local landowners and are very ecologically responsible. But i fail to see how you can do accurate carbon accounting on this even though it is very good for the environment and the planedt.

The real issue is reduction and there is a huge interest in this. The accountancy firms are taking on more people in their sustainability and assurance services and accounting sooftware firms like MYOB are apparently exploring how to help facilitate the process.

The big emitters like coal and oil are lobbying hard to try to be exempted ye gods! Predictable but ludicrous if they get away with it. I guess the big dilemma for the Labour government is their dual commitment to the people who voted them in for their perceived “green” credentials and promise to sign Kyoto vs their huge membership in the outer suburbs where there is limited public transport, major mortgage stress and petrol prices are very sensitive.

These two key greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere rose sharply in 2007, and carbon dioxide levels this year are literally off the chart, the US government reported today.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global climate change, rose by 0.6 per cent, or 19 billion tonnes last year. Reported by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in ts annual index of greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of methane increased by 0.5 per cent, or 27 million tonnes, after nearly a decade of little or no change.

Methane’s greenhouse effect is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide’s, but there is far less of it in the atmosphere. Overall, methane has about half the climate impact of carbon dioxide.

The primary source of carbon dioxide is the burning of fossil fuels, which is increasing, said Pieter Tans, who studies greenhouse gases at the laboratory. China was now the world’s biggest emitter, followed by the United States.

Usually glass bottles are thrown in tubs and lifted into large co-mingled recycling bins. Because of factors such as breakage and contamination, at the recycling plants smaller pieces cannot be sorted and go to landfill. The BottleCycler helps stop this occurring.”

About 80 other venues are also trialling have taken up the two-month trial offer in Melbourne and the program is about to commence in Sydney, with the Department of Environment and Climate Change also coming on board to support the project.