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Climate Red - News and Views on Climate Change Issues.

Climate Red - May 2007

I know there is nothing new about banks ripping off the little guy but here is another example and this is a true story.....So my Dad calls me today and starts asking about the change to Super Laws and the fact you can put $1million into super get the deduction bla bla.....I cut him off, my father does not have a Million Dollars or anywhere near it....BUT the Bank (Iprobably shouldnt name which one and hey they are all the same really) had called him to offer to lend him $1mill so he could participate in the Super opportunity then move the money into a shelf coy and take advantage of the Super Law as he is the right age.......I guess this isn't really bad but wait there is more...my Dad like anyone would; said he was interested at looking at their proposal and the terms etc who turns down free money??????......NEXT thing you know they send a $1,000 bill for his troubles....hmmmmm they approached him then send him the bill.


Do any Orblers know if it is actually financially viable for someone to borrow the money and actually benefit from the scheme, I haven't paid attention being way to poor and young. It seems to me that it only benefits high income earners to offset income tax it doesn't seem that it could work if you didn't have the money and borrow it.....

As for the bank it seems like they are taking advantage of this to glean more dodgy fees without any care if the client is suited to the opportunity or not.....

Surely if they offer something they can't charge for the privelidge,,,but I guess they can do what they like because they are banks....rant over, maybe i am wrong......
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A digression from my usual topic...Integrity an interesting quote

Not my usual topic I know and I am not trying to be a philosopher or pretend to be a guru on the topic of integrity, I often question my own as I am sure we all do...... but I was wandering the halls of Sydney Uni last night and I came accross a quote left on a black board. There was no source attached so I am not sure if an Anonymous lecturer made it up or if it is an age old cliche that you will all find boring but i liked the quote and thought a few others might like it too...


" Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us"

If anyone knows the source a heads up would be great, plageurism is a terrifying prospect......

Happy orbiling
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Apparently there was a grilling in Question time yesterday, during which the opposition leader questioned Mr. Howard on a rumored $60million Ad spend for Climate Change awareness post Thursday’s Emissions Trading task group report. I am all for awareness but I am sure Thorpies show being aired on commercial TV woulda been cheaper........
The AFR page 5 says the governments Ad campaign will be called “climate clever” ,,,,,hmmm genius and will among other things feature an old lady boiling a kettle…grab the pop corn guys……

At a business council dinner last night it is reported the PM said “it is important very important that we don’t have a knee jerk reaction. We cannot pretend that Australia can remain out of the action, we can’t stop the planet and want to get off when it comes to something like this” WOW maybe Johnny has finally woken up…but hello has he really just noticed? I am not one for political bashing but that is f#$cking embarrassing he is our Prime Minister he should well and truly be above stating the obvious like that, and he wasn’t talking to school children. Might be interesting watching (ok not really) if Peter Garret ramps up and really gets stuck in on this issue, you could take an Ipod and have some background music going or something.

On a positive note he did state that adopting a National emissions trading scheme that could link up globally could be the way to go over time so there is something good going in.

Expect more of this over the next few days.

Happy Reading Carbon8tor
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The Climate Institute warns on Emissions trading policy

Pretty good article to get a clear picture on how inaction will hurt our hip pockets directly. click here for full article
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Carbon Footprints for Beginners Part III – Solar Power, Windmills and Hybrid Cars

The expensive end of the going green market


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Japan shifts Emissions Policy

May 25th 2007 00:23
Japan has made life a little harder for a country with no current clear Emissions policy. Yesterday the Japanese PM announced they would increase their Greenhouse Emissions reduction target to a huge 50 percent the AFR reports page 4, this article states and I agree that this move is going to place a greater focus on Australia's lack of policy.
I knew there was posturing going on coming into thr release of the PM roundtable submissions but I didn't realise Japan would jump on the bandwagon.
You may ask why this is signigicant for Australia well we export a LOT of our coal there (remember we didn't sign Kyoto because we wanted to save Coal owrkers jobs) a major shift like this by Japan would see less demand for Coal, of course the flip side is more demand for cleaner fuels like Natural Gas. But as we know perception is greater than reality and if Australian companies don't get with the program the implications could start hurting the bottom line. As Global awarenss grows people will start to look at the corporate philosophies of those they do business with, a CEO who has had to spend a lot of time and cashola reducing emissions certainly will expect his/her core business partners to do the same and perceived polluters could really be facing a huge image problem. Especially if they are behind their Global Competitors. Beg's the question, will there be a cost of not going Green


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Scales weighs in on Carbon Debate

May 24th 2007 01:28
Sorry about the title, I couldn’t resist, rooky error I know. I will get back to the topic of Carbon Footprints soon especially now Thorpy is making it so popular - here is the link to his show’s website it is going to be really good. click here - but there is a lot of important politics going on re Australia’s Carbon policy at the moment.

Bill Scales the Chairman of the Council of Australian Governments Energy Reform Implementation Group – what a title – put his two cents worth in yesterday. He stated that Australia’s lack of National Policy was harming investment decisions by large companies in the Energy sector naming Electricity suppliers as the group most affected


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Do you ever feel like you are a day behind? Well there is so much press on Emissions trading at the moment I feel a week behind and it is only going to get worse as we come into the due dates for the submissions to the PM Committee…….an interesting article on the back page of the Fin review yesterday – yes somehow I missed it until it was about to go in the recycling – Chanticleer got on the bandwagon highlighting the need for a National Emissions trading scheme to stop all the side deals that are currently going on ie States incentivising big companies to build Carbon reduction schemes in return for various forms of Carbon Emission immunity.
The success of any scheme introduced – in whatever form it arrives – is highly dependant on a level playing field being established, not just here but globally. The reason for this is that for a market to be successful it must be accepted, acceptance will be hard if everyone has a different base. So Chanticleer is on the money...the ball is in the Govts court well and truly.

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Some good progress

RIO Teams up with BP on Green Energy link
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Wires, wires and more wires…..

May 19th 2007 03:58
Major digression here but I need to vent…..today I had to move my house around which meant moving my office. Now I consider myself to have wireless EVERYTHING, internet, keyboard, mouse the works and still I found myself in a sea of wires all morning…no matter how hard I tried to keep them untangled and in some semblance of order they would be tangled and in absolute chaos…….…..at certain points after I would untangle them lay them out neatly along side each other mysteriously without me even touching them they would be tangled again……I am at a loss as to how this can happen…… I think there must be some higher wire power looking from above twisting and turning them every time I look away….even now they look like a tangled mess down behind my desk and yes they are bound……I can’t wait until everything in my house plugs into one power point and that is that…NO MORE WIRES………does this happen to everyone or am I the only one who Is out of favour with the wire gods? or am I just crazy
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Reducing your Carbon Footprint 102
Again apologies if I state the obvious or if I am preaching to the converted………….
So we got as far as saying we need to start by being aware of our Emissions and reduce them to reduce our Carbon footprint. To be really serious about the whole thing we are supposed to have an Emissions Audit then work out a plan. My logic and let me know if you agree is that every little bit should help so we could start with the little things and work our way up


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Article page 10 of the Fin review this morning.
I digress from yesterdays posts (I'll get back to it...) as there is an article in todays Fin Reveiw that is excellent reading if you want to get a handle on the lay of the land for the bigger picture in the Climate Change debate and where Australia sits.

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It is one thing to watch a documentary and want to change the way we live our lives it is another thing entirely to know how to go about this.

I’ll try not to state the obvious but it is better to start simple, I found this all very confusing in the beginning and I figure I might not be alone so here it is as I see it …apologies if I am going back way too far


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Welcome to my new Blog

Hi Welcome to my new Blog site!!!!!..In blogging world I think I am pretty late to the Climate change bandwagon. However I can assure you I have been watching this topic evolve and heat up for a long while but until a friend asked me to work on a project a few weeks ago I haven't been directly involved nor felt educated enough to put myself out there


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Middle Menu Section

May 13th 2007 06:35