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SENG SA News and Events - July 2014

The Minister for the Environment has published the annual list of classes of products the Minister is proposing to consider, during the next financial year, for some form of accreditation or regulation under the Product Stewardship Act 2011.

Scientists have discovered a kangaroo's tail propels it forward with as much force as its front and hind legs combined

The role of kangaroos’ unusually large, muscular tails appears to have been definitely answered, with scientists discovering the tail propels kangaroos forward with as much force as its front and hind legs combined.

Researchers measured the force the tail exerts on the ground and found it is critical in getting kangaroos moving at slow speeds, to a greater degree than even its legs.

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In his presentation, Stuart will discuss urban sustainability design principles the Adelaide City Council is looking to incorporate into their Urban Design Strategy.

Stuart works within the Design Strategy Team at Adelaide City Councils City Design and Transport Program where they are currently updating councils urban design strategy with a focus on improving the quality of the public realm and incorporating sustainability principles. He has qualifications in Landscape Architecture and Industrial Design.

Cast: AdelaideSBN

Ehsan Sharifi graduated with a Master of Architecture (2002) and Master of Sustainable Design (2011), focusing on pedestrian friendly urban design. His research interests cover quality, livability and the sustainability of public space. Previously he worked as a Lecturer at Shiraz University, focusing on the history and theory of urban design and rehabilitation of existing urban precincts. Ehsan was the recipient of UniSA’s President Scholarship and School of Art, Architecture and Design Scholarship in 2012, and a National AAD Travel Grant in 2013 for his PhD at the sd+b Centre. Ehsan is currently an UHI researcher at Zero Waste Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour (sd+b) and workshop supervisor of Sustainable Urban Design at the School of Natural and Built Environment at UniSA, Adelaide.

Cast: AdelaideSBN

'Cardboard' bottle creator produces cup design aimed at cutting 25,000 tones of landfill waste a year

The world's first fully recyclable paper cup will soon make its debut on the UK high street, in a packaging breakthrough that could eventually divert millions of cups away from landfill.

More than 2.5bn cups are thrown away in the UK every year – enough to go round the world five and a half times. But few are recycled and nearly all end up in landfill, creating 25,000 tonnes of waste – enough to fill London's Royal Albert Hall.

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The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on: Natural Temperate Grassland of the South Eastern Highlands and New England Tablelands (listing review for NTG of the Southern Tablelands) ecological community assessment. Comment...

BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit concludes interview with Lord Lawson and Professor Sir Brian Hoskins on climate change and floods broke guidelines on due accuracy

Hugh Muir reports on the leaked decision by the BBC to uphold a complaint about an interview on climate change with Lord Lawson on the Today programme on 13 February.

Justin Webb interviewed both Lawson and Prof Sir Brian Hoskins, chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London, about the link between climate change and the winter floods this winter.

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The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on the listing assessments of three ecological communities in the Sydney Basin Bioregion: Castlereagh Scribbly Gum and Agnes Banks Woodlands of the Sydney Basin Bioregion ...

The Australian Government reintroduced a package of bills on 23 June 2014 to repeal the carbon tax.

The Australian Government reintroduced a package of bills on 23 June 2014 to repeal the carbon tax.

One of Australia’s internationally important wetlands will receive a boost with environmental water being made available to improve the health of the Hattah Lakes Ramsar site.

Emails and meeting notes show group’s finance department has a long history of problems in its handling of the £58m budget

The handling of Greenpeace International’s £58m budget has been in disarray for years, with its financial team beset by personnel problems and a lack of rigorous processes, leading to errors, substandard work and a souring of relationships between its Amsterdam headquarters and offices around the world, documents leaked to the Guardian show.

Coming after it emerged that a staffer had lost £3m on the foreign exchange market by betting mistakenly on a weak euro, the documents show that the group’s financial department has faced a series of problems, and that its board is troubled by the lack of controls and lapses that allowed one person to lose so much money.

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The man who trained more than 66 countries in open source methods calls for re-invention of intelligence to re-engineer Earth

Robert David Steele, former Marine, CIA case officer, and US co-founder of the US Marine Corps intelligence activity, is a man on a mission. But it's a mission that frightens the US intelligence establishment to its core.
With 18 years experience working across the US intelligence community, followed by 20 more years in commercial intelligence and training, Steele's exemplary career has spanned almost all areas of both the clandestine world.

Steele started off as a Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer. After four years on active duty, he joined the CIA for about a decade before co-founding the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, where he was deputy director. Widely recognised as the leader of the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) paradigm, Steele went on to write the handbooks on OSINT for NATO, the US Defense Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Special Operations Forces. In passing, he personally trained 7,500 officers from over 66 countries.

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Mehdiganj plant at centre of protests accused of extracting too much groundwater and releasing pollutants above limits

Authorities in northern India have ordered the closure of a Coca-Cola bottling plant at the centre of protests that it is extracting too much groundwater, an official said Wednesday.

An anti-pollution official said the Mehdiganj plant in Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh had breached the conditions of its operating licence, prompting the order closure earler this month.

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Tepco says it is behind schedule with scheme because temperature of pipes sunk into ground is not low enough

The operator of Japan's battered Fukushima nuclear power plant has said it is having trouble with the early stages of an ice wall being built under broken reactors to contain radioactive water.

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has begun digging the trenches for a huge network of pipes under the plant through which it intends to pass refrigerant.

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Agency application on ecological sustainability - comments close 17 July 2014.

A new study from REMI finds that a revenue neutral carbon tax could create 2.8 million jobs, increase GDP by $1.3 trillion

A revenue-neutral carbon tax or fee is a proposed policy to address global warming that's become increasingly popular, particularly in the US. It's a simple concept – put a much needed price on carbon pollution, but return all the revenue that's generated to taxpayers (for example with a monthly refund) to offset rising energy costs. This approach appeals to political conservatives, because it's a free market solution that doesn't increase the size of government.

British Columbia (BC) launched a revenue-neutral carbon fee in 2008, with the tax offset through a matching reduction income taxes. So far it's been very successful, decreasing carbon pollution while the BC economy performed just as well as the rest of Canada's. The carbon tax has 64% support among BC voters.

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Feral pigs will be targeted under a joint State and Federal Government initiative to aid marine turtle recovery and continue the war on pests.

Social science is being militarised to develop 'operational tools' to target peaceful activists and protest movements

A US Department of Defense (DoD) research programme is funding universities to model the dynamics, risks and tipping points for large-scale civil unrest across the world, under the supervision of various US military agencies. The multi-million dollar programme is designed to develop immediate and long-term "warfighter-relevant insights" for senior officials and decision makers in "the defense policy community," and to inform policy implemented by "combatant commands."

Launched in 2008 – the year of the global banking crisis – the DoD 'Minerva Research Initiative' partners with universities "to improve DoD's basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the US."

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