Eco online: environmental news, features and opinion from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
Environmental news from Eco online, Sunshine Coast and Queensland environmental news, with indepth sections including interviews, sustainable business, eco adventures, green living and wildlife
The passion is palpable, so is the sense of frustration and underlying anger. Yet like a seam of silver there’s healthy gleam of humour occasionally exposed. To assay Dr Ben McNeil is an interesting task. He’s in the stop strata of the academic rocks of intelligence that deal with climate change research and he has an urgent job at … [Read more...]
Sustainability most simply means ensuring continued access to adequate nourishment. This is a common and vital need. It is not an ‘extreme greenie’ notion, nor should it be a shallow marketing tag. In essence it is the difference between basic comfort and desperation. Ultimately it is the difference between life and death. Its pursuit … [Read more...]
We finally got a government after the most protracted post-election negotiations in my lifetime. While the process was not edifying, I think the result is as good as we could have hoped for. It is a lot better than the only two outcomes that looked possible during the election campaign: either the return of the Gillard government, or an … [Read more...]
Queensland's first Greens senator Larissa Waters, while all fired up after her recent election success, now has to be patient as she faces a long wait before she can take her Senate seat in Canberra. While she can’t take office until the new Senate term starts next July, senator-elect Larissa will be keeping busy by going back to her old job … [Read more...]
By Paul Mischefski The movement towards a return to living in communities is one that is growing in momentum in Australia and world-wide. Smaller micro-communities and larger ventures are springing up alongside others that have been long-established. Yet many people also consider a move to community living with a mixture of curiosity, dread, … [Read more...]
Cob builders use their hands and feet to form lumps of earth mixed with clay, straw and sand. It is a sensory and aesthetic experience similar to sculpting with clay. Cob is very easy to learn and inexpensive to build. Because there are no forms, ramming, cement or rectilinear bricks, cob lends itself to organic shapes: curved walls, arches and … [Read more...]
The mainstream media excites their readers and listeners with many things. Fall under their spell and you would almost be forgiven for thinking that the biggest threat from climate change, if you still believe the scientific facts as opposed to columnists’ opinions, will be upon the size of your wallet. Professor Roger Kitching reminds us of … [Read more...]
With Ian Christesen A recent opinion poll commissioned by WWF of 4000 residents showed that 79 per cent of respondents believe Australia should either begin reducing carbon pollution before other countries, or start reducing regardless of when other countries choose to act. Rudd has duped the electors by refusing to take action on … [Read more...]
The Sunshine Coast Environmental Council (SCEC) is the umbrella organisation of more than 50 community groups. In this issue of ECO, we feature a group and its role in resisting the tsunami of development that threatens the Sunshine Coast. Survey after survey has confirmed the sentiment of most Sunshine Coast residents -- “We … [Read more...]
By Simon Baltais Southeast Queensland is one of Australia’s biological hotspots. It is an area where the sub-tropical and temperate regions known as the McPherson/MacLeay Overlap Zone are a region of diverse landscapes from mountain rainforest to open woodland and wallum wetlands to huge sand islands, mangroves forest, seagrass meadows and … [Read more...]
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