Friends of
the Earth's Anti-nuclear and Clean Energy (ACE) campaign has been working
creatively against the nuclear industry for over 35 years, because of its
treatment to indigenous people, its contribution to nuclear weapons
proliferation risks and its serious, long-term environmental impacts. We
promote clean energy solutions to climate change & the current energy crisis.
Get involved and come along to the collective meetings every second Tuesday
Next meet to be held upstairs @ FoE 312 Smith St Collingwood, Melbourne
Tuesday 4th June 2013, 6 - 7:30pm The ACE Collective meets on Wurundjeri land and recognises that sovereignty has never been ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Click on the play button to listen to a track by Casey and Hudso.
Banner picture: Mound Springs on Arabunna country in SA, natural oases that have been vastly depleted by the water usage of BHP Biliton's Olympic Dam mine, further south on Kokatha country.
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DONATE to the ACE Collective
We
run the collective on the smell of an oily rag. Please donate to help
us fund more resources, actions and campaigns. A little goes a long way
with the ACE Collective...!
Donate to FoE's ACE Campaign |
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Sunday 5th May, 3pm
Torquay Bowls Club
Roll-up Fundraiser featuring
Noriko Tadano and A.YA
Raising funds for ICAN and MAPW
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Thursday May 16- 2013
In support of the Lake Eyre to
West Papua Land and Sea Convoy for Peace and Justice, ‘The Kinship’ brings to
you a night of high quality hip-hop, strut-hop, folk-hop and any other kind of
hop you can shake your booty to.
Featuring a
stellar line-up:
Izzy Brown (Combat Wombat)
Rachel By The Stream
Project NRT (feat. members of Pataphysics)
Mattriks
Nodes
Show your solidarity and come join us for a night of epic tunes, phat beats and
awesome lyricism; celebrating the infinite possibilities that open up when we
work together. All proceeds go to the convoy!
Thu 16th May, Doors open 8pm - $10
The Gasometer/484 Smith St/ Collingwood
http://lizardsrevenge.net/lake-eyre-to-west-papua/
http://www.facebook.com/events/170955086380426/?fref=ts
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Stepping out against uranium mining
Media Release 2nd May 2013
This Saturday 4th of May people from across Australia and around the World will be meeting with local Aboriginal people, Wangkatja people, to embark on a 3 week walk from Yeelirrie - WA's largest uranium deposit to Leonora. The 2013 walk will be the third walk through the Goldfields stepping out against uranium mining.
This year has increased support and growing opposition to uranium mining after the Federal announcement to give a conditional, but not final, approval for Toro Energy's proposed Wiluna uranium mine. This year the walk will incorporate campaign training from the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union to help support communities who want to oppose uranium mining on their country.
Kado Muir chairperson of the West Australian Nuclear Free Alliance and Yeelirrie Traditional Custodian, "Everybody is concerned about the potential for uranium mining. We all want to do our bit - to send the message that we don't want uranium mining on our country. We've fought against uranium for over 40 years. We know uranium is different. Yeelirrie, in my area, is known as the place of death. We've always know that uranium must be left in the ground."
"Between Wiluna and Leonora there is the potential for three uranium mines, that's all the country we travel across, live on and hunt our kangaroos and goanna and emus on. If these uranium mines go ahead, we'll lose our country for the next 10,000 years. We've already had mining in this area for over 100 years; we're still waiting to see any significant benefit. It is talked about but there's no evidence. Every new company comes in with new promises but we never see any change."
Marcus Atkinson, walk organiser and campaigner for the Anti Nuclear Alliance of WA said "The walk has been so important in connecting people with the local communities and the environment teaching people that the area is important."
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"Since the Federal conditional
approval for the proposed Wiluna uranium mine more and more people have
joined the walk. This is a new beginning for action and opposition to
the proposed Wiluna uranium mine and other proposed uranium mines in the
area like Yeelirrie, Lake Maitland and Mulga Rocks. We are determined
to keep WA nuclear free" he concluded.
www.walkingforcountry.com
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26 April 2013
High risk, low return: uranium industry’s poor record demands inquiry
Australia’s uranium industry is a
minor contributor to employment and the economy, a major
source of domestic and international risks and is overdue for an
independent inquiry into its
effects on the environment, health, safety and security,
according to a report released today on the anniversary of the 1986
Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
The report,
Yellowcake Fever: exposing the uranium industry’s economic myths, released
by the Australian Conservation Foundation, shows uranium accounted for only 0.29 per cent of national export revenue and less than 0.015 per cent of Australian jobs in the decade
to 2011.
In the last financial year, revenue from uranium was four times lower than Australia's 20th biggest export earner, eight times lower than Australia’s 10th
biggest export earner and 103 times lower than the biggest earner, iron ore.
“While
Australia’s uranium sector remains an economic minnow, it is a
leviathan when it comes to the damage it does to communities and the
environment and the risks
it spreads,” said the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Dave
Sweeney.
“It
is time for an independent and credible cost-benefit analysis of this
sector and for decisions to be based on evidence, not self-interested
industry enthusiasm.”
The most recent independent assessment of the Australian uranium industry – a
Senate Inquiry in October 2003 – found the sector characterised by
underperformance and non-compliance, an absence of reliable data to
measure contamination or its impact on the environment and an
operational culture focussed on short term considerations.
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“In
the decade since that Senate Inquiry, leaks, incidents and accidents
have continued to dog uranium mines, Australia has sold uranium to more
nuclear weapon states
and Australian uranium has fuelled the continuing Fukushima tragedy,” said
Dave Sweeney.
“The
Australian Uranium Association’s push to reduce independent scrutiny of
uranium projects shows why this sector does not enjoy community
confidence or a social license.
“We call on the federal government to establish an evidence-based inquiry into the operations and impacts of this industry, particularly in
the shadow of Fukushima.” The report can be accessed here.
Contact: Dave Sweeney, 0408 317 812 |
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Dividing communities as well as
atoms
Dave
Sweeney ABC Environment 23 Apr 2013
Uranium mining may be attractive
to those seeking to boost state coffers, but it leaves the land poisoned and
communities divided.
COMMUNITIES
IN REGIONAL Queensland are increasingly concerned about Premier Campbell
Newman's decision to open the Sunshine State to uranium mining — and with good
reason.
The
decision was made behind closed doors in response to pressure from industry
lobby groups and — by the Premier's own admission — without reference to
independent economic analysis or advice.
The decision
also broke a promise. In a letter to the Australian Conservation Foundation
dated 11 October 2012 Premier Newman stated: "I take this opportunity to
reaffirm my statements, made before the last election, that the State
Government has no plans to approve the development of uranium in
Queensland". Two weeks later the Premier put out the welcome mat for the
uranium industry.
Queensland
is no stranger to mining, but uranium is different... (article continued here)
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Jim
Green, New Matilda, 22 April 2013
The dangers of nuclear power and
proliferation are acute, but hard to quantify. That hasn't deterred ex-NASA
climate scientist James Hansen from his high-profile nuclear advocacy writes
Jim Green
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Earlier this month, James Hansen resigned from his
position as director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in order to
devote more time to campaigning to cut global carbon emissions.
In addition to his scientific research on climate change,
Hansen has been arrested several times in recent years at protests against coal
mining and tar sands mining. Bravo James Hansen — precious few scientists and
academics live and breathe their politics as he does.
But when it comes to proposing solutions, Hansen is on
less solid ground. A loose parallel can be drawn with Tim Flannery, who Clive
Hamilton describes as a "talented science populariser" but a
"policy flake"... (article continued here)
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Muckaty protest enters sixth yearA
rally and march were held today in Tennant Creek (25 May 2012) to mark
five years since the Northern Land Council voted to nominate Muckaty as a
potential site for a national nuclear waste dump. 120-150 people
attended the rally and speakers included Muckaty Traditional Owners,
Minister Gerry McCarthy (NTG), Barkly Shire President Barb Shaw,
Larrakia activist Donna Jackson and Maurice Blackburn lawyer Lizzie
O’Shea. The march went from Peko Park to outside the Northern Land
Council office where Traditional Owners spoke about the lack of
consultation by the NLC before the Muckaty site was nominated.
Picture: Flagstaff gardens post Federal Court case hearing in Melbourne, June 25th 2012. | |
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