Graduate Environmental Program » News

Comment on Green Paper on VIC Climate Change

simonbatterbury — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:11:40 +0000

Comments are being sought on the new (2009) Victoria Green paper on Climate Change. Read more here

The OEP in Manchester

simonbatterbury — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:55:24 +0000

The OEP’s Director Simon Batterbury attended the Society for Human Ecology’s conference at the University of Manchester, UK in June ‘09. He gave a paper in a session on ‘Directions in Human Ecology Education’ using the example of the University of Melbourne ’s OEP, which was set up in the 1990s by Prof. Mark Burgman and others. Some of the challenges to the Program were also discussed, including changes to its institutional arrangements and funding over time, and the difficulties of coordination and management across the University. Nonetheless, with record enrolments the Program is flourishing (over 240 students, and 55 starting in Semester 2 2009 alone) . Other programs with a human ecology focus were introduced by other speakers, for example at the University of Geneva, the ANU, Free University Brussels, Univ. of Strathclyde, and the College of the Atlantic in Maine (which has an human ecology theme underlying all its undergraduate teaching). The University of Melbourne OEP postgrad model appears to be almost unique in offering just two core units (subjects) with freedom for students to choose the rest of their degrees from across Faculties or as supervised research projects. Publications from the conference session may result.

The conference also touched on the many environmental challenges facing (mainly) the northern hemisphere, including energy supply, urban growth management, water resource planning, environmental governance, and international agreements. The abstracts of papers may be found here.

Safe Climate Australia

simonbatterbury — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:09:17 +0000

A new initiative, Safe Climate Australia has been launched. The University of Melbourne’s John Wiseman is one of the founding members and the launch in Melbourne in July ‘09 included talks by Al Gore. The initiative links research to policies and technical innovation on dangerous climate change affecting the continent. http://www.safeclimateaustralia.org/

High-rise plan to halt the sprawl

pjmorgan — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:10:20 +0000

Rob Adams has produced a plan, funded by the Government and the City of Melbourne, to halt urban sprawl. Read about it in The Age http://www.theage.com.au/national/highrise-plan-to-halt-the-sprawl-20090429-angx.html.

Achieving a Sustainable Campus

pjmorgan — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:52:48 +0000

The Achieving a Sustainable Campus website has now gone live! This is an initiative driven by Property and Campus Services. Check it out at http://sustainablecampus.unimelb.edu.au/.

Economics engages with global warming

environment — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:19:29 +0000

A very useful perspective on the need to teach about, and engage with, the primary environmental challenge of the century. http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/01/20/goodstein

Australia’s emissions reduction targets

simonbatterbury — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:09:10 +0000

Australia’s emissions reduction targets have been announced in a White Paper (15 Dec 08), and the target of reducing national emissions by 5% over the next 11 years (with a possibility of deeper cuts to 15% if other nations follow) has attracted considerable surpise and critical commentary. Much deeper cuts were expected of one of the only Western countries with a budget surplus, through fundamental reconfigurations of energy systems, industrial and agricultural production, transport, and domestic efficiency. The proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme falls far short of what was expected, or what will be needed internationally, in the view of most observers. Prof. Robyn Eckersley of Melbourne University responds in The Age newspaper.

Sustainable Society Index 2008

simonbatterbury — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:21:31 +0000

A composite ’sustainability index’, based on the original work of the Bruntland Commission but updated and extended, has been developed using 22 main indicators. The SSI (Sustainable Society Index) assigns scores to nation states. The methodology and tables, developed by two analysts in the Netherlands, may be found here and are discussed in the online Enyclopaedia of Earth, here. Sweden is top-ranked by the SSI as the most sustainable nation, followed by Switzerland, Finland, Norway, and Austria (New Zealand is 9th). Australia performs pretty poorly at 64/151 and the USA is lower at 66/151. The bottom four are oil-rich states: Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkmenistan (151/151).

Reduction Festival of Environmental & Green Short Films

pjmorgan — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:32:30 +0000

‘Reduction Festival’ is the environmentally-themed creative industries festival dedicated in its debut year to short film and video content. The festival runs from the 10th October to the 19th October 2008 and encompasses film competitions as well as screenings and events.

http://reductionfestival.wordpress.com/

Oxfam Australia – ‘Canvas for Change’

pjmorgan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:47:57 +0000

www.oxfam.org.au/canvas

Climate change will affect everyone, but it will affect poor people in developing countries first and most dramatically. Increasingly intense and erratic weather events (such as storms, droughts and tidal surges) are causing unprecedented land degradation and crop failure which are hurting livelihoods, increasing food shortages and forcing people to relocate. Unless we act now things will get a lot worse.

What is ‘Canvas for Change’?
Oxfam invites post secondary students to create an artwork that tells the climate change story for vulnerable communities in developing countries. The canvas could represent the climate change impacts faced by these communities, tell the story of them adapting to climate change or look at the opportunities and possibilities for the future.

Why should I participate?
A canvas by an Australian post secondary student will be chosen to be part of an international exhibition with works from around the globe at a UN Summit in December. All submitted works will be exhibited in an Oxfam web gallery. There will be an online competition to choose canvases to be used on postcards and posters. It’s your chance to be part of a global project to stop climate change.

When is it?
In December 2008, the nations of the world will gather in Poland, to negotiate a solution to climate change. A selection of canvases will be exhibited at the UN Summit in Poland, others will be exhibited around the world and across Australia over the next year.

The deadline for Oxfam to receive your post secondary student canvas is October 20, 2008.

Physical Specifications of Canvas

The final product should be:
• 2D. Durable and transportable
• Inks, paints and other media should give a permanent end product.
• For post secondary students the canvas should be no larger than (1.8m x 1.2m).

Type of images/themes the project is seeking:
• The impact of climate change upon poor communities in developing countries.
• People actively and strongly confronting the impacts or causes of climate change
• Briefing materials, including video, stories, case studies are available online.

Show the world’s leaders the BIG picture