Eco online

Wildlife: a changing climate is not their only concern

I wish that we could blame the decline of our Australian native species on one major influence such as climate change, but unfortunately that is not the only problem facing our wildlife.
Human impact, in many forms, have been the direct culprit from the moment humans stepped onto this beautiful country.  As the population has increased [...]

Dam opposition well and truly afloat

For a community that Government sources claim is starting to accept a dam, Mary Valley residents and others were showing no sign of it when they took too the river to visibly signpost the three mark in their fight too stop the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam.
Three years to the day since Peter Beattie’s shock announcement [...]

Mid winter update

Inside this edition

World Environment Day Festival news
Outrage over Sustainable Planning Bill
Latest Group Profile – PAGE
Eco Adventures – A tale of two mountains
Carbon, climate and koalas
Eco watch – clean coal
Exploring the past – climbing Mount Coolum in 1927
Whales and eco tourism
Other articles
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For our Queensland readers: [...]

People Advocating Green Energy

The Sunshine Coast Environmental Council (SCEC) is the umbrella organisation of more than 50 community groups. In this issue of ECO, we feature the group PAGE and its work which, if successful, will encourage the State government to get serious about climate change and revise their whole strategy of power generation and distribution.
The latest community [...]

Brownwater Classic celebrates its twentieth

Since 1988 the Brownwater Classic at Moy Pocket has lured both locals and those involved in the environment movement to a patch of riverine forest near Pickering Bridge on the Mary River.
It’s been a celebration of the river, in particular the blackbean tree, for it is the seed pods of this tree that provide the [...]

A tale of two mountains

Mount Coolum and Mount Ninderry are two very striking peaks visible from many parts of the Sunshine Coast, close to each other – only 10 kilometres as the crow flies – but very different in character and offering very different experiences for the eco adventurer.
They’re closely connected in the Dreamtime tale of the Gubbi Gubbi [...]

Carbon, Climate and Koalas

By: Sophia Walter
When CEO of the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) Deborah Tabart began her job in 1988, she never thought she would be engaging in the world of global warming. But new data is showing that the role of koalas in the climate change debate could be much more relevant than anyone had previously thought.
Recent [...]

A complex clock of acronyms

As the Australia Institute rightly points out: “ If a clock can’t keep accurate time, it is pointless describing how its cog wheels mesh together”.
That’s their way of describing the complex structure created around the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) and its inability to measure the amount of renewable energy being produced around the country.
The [...]

Outrage over Sustainable Planning Bill

As the Sunshine Coast continues to push towards sustainability, the state government appears to be doing its best to undermine our local community’s efforts. Narelle McCarthy reports.
Major amendments to the Integrated Planning Act 1997, carrying implications for local planning powers and the critical assessment of applications, have become yet another hallmark of the Bligh Government’s [...]

Seven reasons to take the sun seriously

Even though we live in the ‘sunshine state’ and those of us in south-east Queensland have recently witnessed the impacts of leaking oil tankers, there are some that still doubt the ability of the big ball in the sky to supply clean, efficient and cheap energy. Even though those doubts make as much sense as [...]