Otway community joins call for renewable energy

Posted on 2 May, 2010 by admin

Members of Otway Ranges Climate Action (ORCA) gathered in Apollo Bay on Sunday as part of a national effort to call for renewable energy. Events are happening simultaneously in all states across Australia – with each event calling for Australia to choose a clean energy future.

We have abundant sources of local energy in the Otways such as wind, waves, geothermal biomass and solar. ORCA firmly believes that it is possible for our region to convert these sources to provide 100% renewable energy for our region,” said ORCA Co-Chair, Simon Pockley.

Support for renewable energy is widespread. Community groups from Brisbane to Ballarat, Cairns to Canberra are taking action locally. From rural communities to the streets of the city, from grandparents to students, from farmers to doctors, renewable energy has broad support in the community because it makes sense.

“Right now Australia faces a choice,” said 100% Renewable spokesperson Lindsay Soutar. “We can continue our dependence on fossil fuels, mining and burning coal, polluting our air and water, damaging our farmland and heath, and making an unstable climate or we can make the switch to 100% renewable energy.”

“Australia has an extraordinary natural advantage – access to sun, space and wind — we can use these natural resources to create clean, safe power that will never run out,” she said.

“The 100% renewable campaign is calling for the Australian government to introduce a clean energy bonus scheme – or feed-in tariff – to support renewable technologies from rooftop solar, to community solar and wind projects, to industrial scale renewable energy projects,” Soutar said.

“Renewable energy will create new industries, and lots of new jobs. Right now the rest of the world is investing in clean energy and we don’t want Australia to be left behind – we want to be a clean energy leader,” said ORCA Co-Chair Matt Armstrong.

For more information go to: The 100% renewable campaign

ORCA eNews 15th October 2009

Posted on 14 October, 2009 by admin

Next ORCA Committee Meeting: Monday 26th October 6.30pm, Marrar Woorn Community House, Pengilly Ave Apollo Bay

350 Day of Action in Apollo Bay, 24th Oct
Apollo Bay Free Household Energy Audits
ORCA Meeting Minutes 30th September 2009
Run for a Safe Climate, 26th Nov Apollo Bay

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350 Day of Action! Sat 24th Oct

On the 24th of October, Apollo Bay residents and visitors will come together at the Apollo Bay Community Market to paint 350 hands on canvas as part of the largest global day of climate action ever. The event is being organised locally by ORCA and will be one of more than 2,000 actions in more than 140 nations that same day. Go to http://www.350.org/node/4703 to support our action.

The 350 Day of Action campaign has been coordinated by 350.org to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action on climate change. This is the first global campaign ever organised around a scientific data point: according to the latest scientific data 350 parts per million of greenhouse gases is the safe upper limit for the atmosphere to avoid dangerous climate change. Our current greenhouse emissions are at 385 ppm and increasing. 350 ppm sets a clear and ambitious goal to work toward at UN talks in Copenhagen in December.

So come and visit the ORCA stand at the Apollo Bay Community Market next Saturday morning 24th October to “Put Your Hands up for Climate Action”. You can paint or outline your hand on canvas to help us reach 350 hands in total.

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Free Household Energy Audits

16 ORCA members are now qualified to provide free household energy audits to local residents. If you want to learn how you can save energy and money in your home contact your preferred Auditor listed below.

Anna O’Brien   03 5237 6904   solnanna@vicnet.net.au (Marengo to Wongarra)
Simon Pockley   0418 575 525   simonpockley@gmail.com (Marengo to Wongarra)
Peter Geekie   03 5237 7178   mirrnyong@aapt.net.au   (Wider Region, Wye River to Johanna)
Llewellyn John   03 5237 1001   johlulu@hotmail.com   (Skenes Creek to Tanybryn)
Vanessa Wrighton   03 5237 7717   di_vanessa@yahoo.com.au   (Marengo to Skenes Creek)
Dianne Inglis   03 5237 7717   di_vanessa@yahoo.com.au   (Marengo to Skenes Creek)
Janice Kennedy   03 5237 6856   whyjan@hotmail.com.au   (Marengo to Skenes Creek)
Peter Bourne   03 5237 7207   abcsignworks@gmail.com    (Marengo to Skenes Creek)
Jesse Morrow   0417 289 966   jesse.morrow@hotmail.com   (Wider Region, Wye River to Johanna)
Greg Denny   0433 822 600   altlynx@bigpond.com   (Glenaire to Skenes Creek)
Cate Cousland   03 5237 6997   catecouland@gmail.com   (Marengo to Skenes Creek)
Fern Rainbow   0425 710 380   permaculture@apollobay.org.au   (Wider Region, Wye River to Johanna)
Magaer Lennox   03 5237 9248   magaer@aussiebroadband.com.au   (Glenaire to Skenes Creek)
LeeAnne Koenig   03 5237 0257   wongarra_bb@iprimus.com.au   (Wongarra area)
David Webley   03 5237 6222   dwebley@bigpond.com   (Wild Dog Rd)

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Otway Ranges Climate Action
Committee Meeting
30th September 2009 6.30pm
Minutes

Chair: Anna O’Brien

Present: Pat Williams, Magaer Lennox, Anna O’Brien, Tony Webber, Deb Moore, Cate Cousland and Greg Denny.

Apologies: Simon Pockley, Rob Wertheimer, Matt Armstrong, Vanessa Wrighton and Dianne Inlgis.

Actions from Meeting
1. 350 Day of Action:
- Greg Denney to frame canvas and investigate use of clays for paints
- Simon to purchase some additional paints and pallets/trays in Melbourne
- Magaer to prime the canvas with an undercoat
- The canvas will have the slogan at the top: “Hands up for Climate Action”
- Anna to source marquee
- Simon to provide 350 factsheet for the day
- Anna to create ORCA membership form for the day
- Magaer to discuss with ?? about reserving a stall at the market.
- Anna and Tony to set up on day at 8.30am – any other helpers please?
- Tony, Greg, Cate and Simon to man stall during morning – other helpers please?!
2. Discuss AGM date at the October ORCA meeting, perhaps a BBQ/ Xmas breakup
3. Confirm with Rob what needs to be done before the next AGM.
4. Discuss organisation for Run for a Safe Climate at the October ORCA meetings
5. Put membership cost as an AGM agenda item

Next Meeting: Monday 26th October 6.30pm, Marrar Woorn

1. 350 Day of Action
Everyone agreed at the August ORCA meeting that ORCA will hold a stall at the Apollo Bay market on the morning of the 24th October 9am to 1pm, with a canvas and paints for everyone to paint their hands onto– if we don’t get 350 hands, at least we’ll get 350 fingers. Tony suggested we could also use clays instead of paint.
Actions:
- Simon provided the canvas
- Greg Denney to frame canvas and investigate use of clays for paints
- Simon to purchase some additional paints and pallets/trays in Melbourne
- Magaer to prime the canvas with an undercoat
- The canvas will have the slogan at the top: “Hands up for Climate Action”
- Anna to source marquee
- Simon to provide 350 factsheet for the day
- Anna to create ORCA membership form for the day
- Magaer to discuss with ?? about reserving a stall at the market.
- Anna and Tony to set up on day at 8.30am – any other helpers please?
- Tony, Greg, Cate and Simon to man stall during morning – other helpers please?!

2. ORCA AGM
Action: Discuss AGM date at the October ORCA meeting, perhaps a BBQ/ Xmas breakup.
Action: Confirm with Rob what needs to be done before the next AGM.

3. RMIT Future Scenarios Workshop
The workshop is to take place on Saturday 24th Oct 12-5pm & Sunday 25th Oct 9am-1pm. It will involve community planning for different future scenarios eg. climate change impacts, population growth etc. We have changed the venue from the Youth Club to the CFA meeting room, 28 Pascoe St (opp bowls club). All ORCA members are welcome but you must RSVP with Simon beforehand.

4. Run for a Safe Climate 26th Nov
The Run for a Safe climate organisation has organised a run from Cooktown to Melbourne (via Adelaide) and will be running into Apollo Bay on Thursday 26th Nov. We initially offered to put on a BBQ as the runners came into town. Anna and Simon met with Brendan Condon, the organiser. People might be able to run the last 500m with the group. They will organise talks on local climate change impacts, climate solutions and potentially fire risk. Brendan asked if ORCA would be happy to put on a BBQ as a fundraiser for the event and they will cover the costs. Everyone agreed that ORCA could provide this.
Action: Discuss organisation for Run for a Safe Climate at the October ORCA meetings

5. My Home My Climate Household Energy Assessments
16 ORCA members are now trained Household Energy Assessors. Everyone left yesterday before Anna had a chance to confirm the process with everyone. So to Clarify:
1. Rather than have a central booking system, we have decided to identify all auditors on the advertisement poster/brochure. If you are happy to be on the poster please send me a contact phone number (I have all your emails) and the area in which you are happy to cover. If you do not want to be on the poster, let me know.
2. Once you have organised an audit, you must email/call me to tell me when/who/where the audit is to take place (before it takes place!). This is so you will be covered by insurance.
3. If you do not know the householder very well, then do the audit in pairs or make sure someone knows where you are and what time you’re expected back.
4. Do not take unnecessary risks ie. do not climb a ladder or change light globes if you are not 100% confident in your ability.
5. To obtain light globes, contact Dinh at My Home My Climate (service@myhomemyclimate.com.au) and request the number you think you’ll need to be posted to your address (good to start with 100-150, as they say to expect each house to have 10-15 light globes to replace)
6. Once reports are complete you can either email electronic reports (service@myhomemyclimate.com.au) or post them to: My Home My Climate, 420 Victoria St, Brunswick, VIC 3056
7. My Home My Climate receives payment from AGL for the completed household audits & light bulbs at the end of each month, therefore in some cases you may wait 5 weeks before being paid for the audit. They will pay ORCA directly and then Rob Wertheimer (treasurer) or myself will then organise either a direct money transfer into you account or a cheque. Please note that the auditor will receive $35 (out of the total $40) for each audit completed with $5 going to ORCA
The group discussed whether to divide up the cash return on the exchange of light globes (total available is $2.50). It was agreed that each auditor will receive $1.50 per light globe changed (out of a total $2.50) with $1 going to ORCA.

6. Council News
Tony told of Rob Small (COS CEO) heading overseas to be a judge for some sustainable towns competition and hopes to collect some new ideas. Deb noted that Rob is very knowledgeable in that area and is also a good speaker.

7. ORCA Membership
Discussion was around requesting a yearly membership and whether we increase/set the fee to $5.
Action: Put membership cost as an AGM agenda item

8. Otway Sustainability Centre
SOLN is investigating the potential of an Otway Sustainability Centre where all local environment, sustainability and land management groups sit under the banner, work together and offer a variety accredited courses to undertake locally, concentrating on on-the-job training. Rob Small is supportive of the idea and Simon and Anna intend to formally present the idea to Council in November.

Next Meetings

October Committee Meeting
Monday 26th September 6.30pm
Marrar Woorn Community House, 6 Pengilly Ave Apollo Bay.

Meeting closed 7.30pm

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Run for a Safe Climate, through Apollo Bay

The 2009 ‘Run for a Safe Climate’ aims to highlight the impacts and solutions to global warming in a way that captures the hearts and imaginations of all Australians. Emergency workers are in the front line of dealing with extreme weather events and global warming.

This November, a group of Australian emergency service workers including serving police, firefighters, paramedics, SES and military will run 6000km from Cooktown to Melbourne. Many of these emergency services workers dealt directly with the February 2009 heatwave and Black Saturday fires. The route will see runners pass through capital cities, regional centres and rural towns, engaging with all levels of these communities. In each location where they stop to rest, they will meet with local people – farmers, business people, scientists, politicians and school children – to share experiences about the local impacts of global warming, and share their own experiences and insights into climate change.

The Run will start in Cooktown on Monday 2 November and follow the coast through Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane, Sydney, and Canberra to Albury on the Victoria/NSW border. From here it will follow the Murray River west to Mildura, then on to Adelaide and the Coorong. The final leg to Melbourne will go via Apollo Bay, Ballarat, Kilmore and the towns most affected by last summer’s devastating fires, to finish on Sunday 29 November with a family fun-run along the last two kilometers to finish at St Kilda beach.

Along their journey, the runners will draw attention to natural and agricultural assets under threat – the Daintree Rainforest, Great Barrier Reef and Murray Darling ‘food bowl’ – while also bearing witness to some of the solutions to this crisis: solar, ocean, geothermal and wind energy and biochar. The Run will enable thousands of Australians to see how they can be part of the solution to global warming.

These men and women, our firefighters, paramedics, police, military and SES workers, are donating a month of their annual leave for the Run. They have chosen to volunteer for this feat of incredible endurance because they understand, more than any of us, the urgent need for wide-scale action to secure a safe climate for Australia’s future generations.

DATE in APOLLO BAY: Thurs 26th November, runners to arrive late afternoon.

FOCUS
Wind power and potential for wind to contribute to Australia’s clean energy future.
Vulnerability assessment and global warming impacts for Apollo Bay, the Otways and the Great Ocean Road.
Local climate solutions for the Apollo bay and Great Ocean Road region

SCIENTIST/SPOKESPERSON
Lane Crockett, Pacific Hydro (at Codrington)
Prof John Sherwood Deakin University – impact of climate change on the Otways and Great Ocean Road communities. (At Apollo Bay)
Climate solutions – to be announced (At Apollo Bay)

Switch off Hazelwood – Switch on Renewables

Posted on 6 September, 2009 by admin

Community members wanting to see an urgent transition from coal to renewable electricity for our state today officially launched the ‘Switch off Hazelwood – Switch on Renewables’ day of action.

Pablo Brait, spokesperson for the group said, “We are launching this community campaign here on the steps of Parliament house to make it clear to our political representatives that the social licence to continue burning coal is being revoked.”

“We have signed petitions, written letters and changed our light globes, yet we still see government failing to take any meaningful action on climate change. In fact they are continuing to subsidise the coal industry with our tax dollars.”

“That sort of political and taxpayer support should be put towards a transition to renewable energy – not continuing our reliance on polluting coal. The Rudd and Brumby Governments are not listening to the climate scientists or the community, and they are refusing to stand up to the big polluters.”

“On Sunday September 13, hundreds of ordinary Victorians and Australians, will go to the Hazelwood coal power station, one of the most polluting coal power stations in the industrialised world and declare a ‘Community Decommission Order’ on this dinosaur of the past,” said Mr Brait.

“The thing that is blocking this transition to renewable energy is a lack of political vision and leadership. We have the technology, the expertise and the ability…now the community is leading the way to make the transition to switch on renewables and switch off coal,” concluded Mr Brait.

The Switch off Hazelwood. Switch off Coal. Switch on Renewables protest is being organised by people who care about climate change and want to see a switch from coal to renewable energy. For more information please visit:

http://www.switchoffhazelwood.org

Act now on Feed-in Tariff bill! + help frame the new Deal

Posted on 29 April, 2009 by admin

Press headings below for more information:

Meeting Minutes 27th April 2009 [Word 58KB]
Please send an email (today) to Ted Baillieu
A green ‘New Deal’ for Victoria?
Save power by reducing standby phantom loads [PDF 1.5MB]
School figures for energy saving [PDF 28KB]
Recent media releases: ORCA meets Cheeseman [Word 35KB] and Otway fires [Word 37KB]

ACTION: Please send an email (today) to Ted Baillieu encouraging amendments to the Feed-in Tariff bill.

Use this link: http://www.envict.org.au/getactive.php?c=8

Background

At the 2006 election then Premier Steve Bracks promised Victorians a solar feed-in tariff that would act as an incentive to drive the uptake of solar power across the state. Unfortunately, the Brumby Government has failed to deliver this promise and is poised to deliver Victoria a fake version of the scheme.

It’s now up to the Liberal party to improve the bill in the Upper House to ensure Victoria’s solar future, help us reduce emissions, and create new green collar jobs.

Ted Baillieu and the Liberal party need to know they’ve got the community behind them on this one so they can join with the Greens to force amendments to Labor’s bill.

Write to Ted Baillieu and let him know you support a real feed-in tariff for Victoria, emissions reductions to tackle climate change, and new green jobs to reinvigorate our economy.

A feed-in tariff is a premium paid for electricity produced by a renewable such as a grid connected rooftop solar or wind or wave turbine. It’s usually over and above the market rate. National gross feed in tariff incentives have been established around the world. They result in increased uptake of solar and wind power systems by home owners and businesses.

(thanks to Peter Campbell for above text)
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From Cam Walker: a community response to the recession – a Green ‘New Deal’ for Victoria?

This is a proposal for a collaborative and integrated response to the triple crunch of recession, climate change, and peak oil.

A recent poll (1) suggests that while Australians appreciate the bonuses they are getting from the federal government, they are not convinced that they are the way to find our way out of economic recession. Instead they believe that we should be investing in infrastructure.

But there is also a deeper dimension at play here. We are not just facing one crisis. Australia, in common, with the rest of the global economy, is facing a triple crunch of recession, accelerating climate change, and growing energy costs and insecurity. These overlapping phenomena threaten to develop into a ‘perfect storm’, the like of which has not been seen since the Great Depression.

As jobs are lost at an increasing rate, decisive and visionary action by the state and federal governments is needed to guide us through this gathering storm and to take advantage of the opportunities that these unprecedented events present to us.

A green ‘New Deal’ for Victoria?

A way forward that is finding support in both Europe and the United States is the idea of a transformational policy program aimed at tackling growing unemployment and declining demand on the scale of Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s. This approach involves policies and novel funding mechanisms to substantially reduce the use of fossil fuels while also driving the creation of new ‘green collar’ jobs. This in turn will help us tackle climate change and cope with the energy shortages likely to be caused by peak oil in coming years.

We stand at a pivotal moment in history. To prevent catastrophic climate change we must ensure the global temperature does not rise by more than 2 degrees centigrade above pre -industrial levels.

At the same time we are facing one of the deepest and most severe recessions the world has known, plunging millions into poverty.

Yet these two crises share common roots. A world addicted to fossil fuel, driven by an ideological obsession with letting the market rule has led to economic and environmental breakdown.

These threats are also a major opportunity for our society, and rather than looking for a quick fix that creates some jobs and encourages spending, we must not miss this opportunity to restructure our economy to:

* build resilience to survive the coming changes of global warming
and the end of cheap fuel,
* a ‘steady state’ economy, where the human economy has ceased to
grow, but remains at a healthy, sustainable level.

The bushfires that devastated much of Victoria over the past summer have, and will, lead to considerable changes in how and where we build in fire prone areas. We should ensure that the response to bushfire is fully integrated into a broader response which deals with the recession and builds resilience in the face of climate change.

None of us are as smart as all of us ….

Friends of the Earth has written a discussion paper on these issues. We realise there is a vast depth of good thinking in the community about how to respond to the interlinked threats of recession, climate change and the end of cheap oil. We have launched this paper via a blog, in the hope that others in the community will feel inspired to send their thoughts and suggestions about how to deal with the coming crisis. Ideas and suggestions will be compiled into what we hope will be a compelling document that will argue for the need for a profound and deeply thoughtful response to the challenges we face – individually and collectively.

We would welcome your involvement in creating a broadly supported vision of transformation for Victoria.

It is available at:

http://greennewdeal.wordpress.com

and

http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au

We would appreciate feedback by monday May 18 to allow us to incorporate it into the final report.

(1) ‘Mind and Mood’ report, Ipsos MacKay, April 2009

Otway Ranges Climate Action

for a safe climate

Category Archives: media

Otway community joins call for renewable energy

Switch off Hazelwood – Switch on Renewables

Act now on Feed-in Tariff bill! + help frame the new Deal