eco - shout

Welcome to eco-shout: the internet portal to Melbourne's green underbelly. If you've never visited before, start with the wombats below.

Eco-shout began in Melbourne.
Visit the mothership.

Eco-shout is a catalyst to action for anyone who wants to be part of creating environmental and social justice in Australia. Use it any way you can to lighten your footprint and get involved: from ethical shopping to joining a group, to launching your own campaign.

Eco-shout belongs to the social change movement, it is your tool. Use it any way you can to promote your campaigns, get people involved and get your message out.

Quick Links:

> add your group to the active groups directory
> add an event to the calendar
> send in a press release for the homepage
> add a housing notice
> add a job vacancy or ongoing recruiting notice
> add a sustainable business to the green directory
> join us so we can continue to grow
> download a poster and help spread the word

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Don't know where to start? Here's five big campaigns in Tasmania that need you now:

> protecting the ancient forests of the Weld Valley
> opposing the Gunn's pulp mill
> protecting the Tarkine rainforest
> protecting endangered wildlife
> lobbying for effective climate change policy

If it seems like there's a big emphasis on Tasmania's forests and their wildlife, that's because there is. These ancient places hold remnants of our Gondwanic history and include the world's largest remaining temperate rainforest (the Tarkine).

If it seems like many of these campaigns lead back to one source, that's because they do. With the support of the Tasmanian government, Gunn's Timber has been turning Tasmania's wilderness into woodchips for decades with no end in sight. The practices of Gunns are of local, national and international concern.

Meanwhile the timber company positions itself as the custodian of Tasmania's forests, running tourist ventures and environmental education programs. You can get involved in any number of campaigns from forests to wildlife to water and you will be joining a campaign to reduce the impact of Gunns.

To find out about all the different groups working on a particular issue, choose a topic in the active groups directory. There you'll find listings of small local groups, student groups and larger NGOs. There's heaps of different ways to get involved.

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Here's six areas in Australia of national/international significance under threat from logging, mining, toxic waste or large scale industrial development:

> old growth forests of East Gippsland, VIC
> Lake Cowal migratory wetland, NSW
> Daintree tropical rainforest, Qld
> Kakadu and other sacred aboriginal land, NT
> McArthur River, NT
> the Kimberley wilderness, WA

If you've never visited before start here:

For the latest forest news and grass roots events in Tasmania visit Tasmania's independent media site at Tasmedia

Eco-shout Tasmania has been designed as an activist and campaigning tool for anyone who is concerned about what's happening to Tasmania's environment. There is currently no one moderating the site. If you are interested in taking on that role and promoting the site so that environment groups know that it is available for their use, contact us. The site can be adapted to the needs of Tasmania's environment movement and used to create strong networking and communication across groups and campagaigns. It can also be used to create a comprehensive directory of sustainable businesses in Tasmania so that people know where to go to get the real thing and avoid greenwash that is rife in other directories. To see how it's working in Victoria, visit www.eco-shout.org

Swedish firm Sodra, one of the world's biggest producers of pulp for paper, has commissioned a consultant to report on the Gunns Tasmanian pulp mill project ahead of an imminent decision on a joint venture. That report, by Australian-based project consultants, will be presented to Sodra this week in time to allow a potential announcement with Gunns by the end of the month. It is understood Sodra has hired Sydney-based consultants Evans & Peck to report on the position of stakeholders, including opponents of the mill, before making a final commitment. You can send a message to the CEO of Sodra and sign the petition calling for a halt to the financing of the project > Help stop the mill.

The Greens and Liberals are joining forces to urge the South Australian Government to keep mining out of Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the Flinders Ranges. SA Greens MP Mark Parnell, Liberal Senator Nick Minchin and the state Liberal MP Iain Evans are holding a forum in Adelaide today to push for an end to mining exploration at Arkaroola. More than a year ago, Marathon Resources was caught illegally dumping waste there from exploration work. Senator Minchin says he usually supports uranium mining, but it is inappropriate to mine what he says is one of the most beautiful parts of South Australia. "Constructing a uranium mine would be completely and utterly incompatible with Arkaroola and all that is precious about Arkaroola," he said. Marathon's exploration licence expires next month and the SA Government says it will consider renewing the licence after sanctions in the Mining Act have been tightened.

Western Australia's Premier Colin Barnett says he will do all he can to protect whales from being affected by a gas development in the Kimberley. Green groups say an aerial survey has recorded large numbers of humpback whales near James Price Point. The area, 60 kilometres north of Broome, has been selected by the WA Government as the best place to locate a processing hub for gas taken from the Browse Basin. Environmentalists have been campaigning against LNG developments being located on the Kimberley coast. The Wilderness Society, the Conservation Council, and Environs Kimberley say James Price Point should not be an industrial site. Campaigner Richard Costin organised the aerial survey. "Over a two-hour flight, we recorded about 102 pods, which represented 162 individual whales, which is one of the highest concentrations anywhere in the world," he said. "I think that Colin Barnett and also the Federal Government and (Federal Environment Minister) Peter Garrett need to really carefully consider what's going on here. "They need to actually do a lot more comprehensive studies in the area, probably over the next couple of years, before they actually jump in and make any decision on putting an industrial complex there at James Price Point."

Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, has released a new report which finds that climate change is happening faster than earlier thought and the risks are more serious. Prepared by Professor Will Steffen, Executive Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute, ‘Climate change 2009: Faster change and more serious risks‘ draws on the science of climate change since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2007 Fourth Assessment Report. Key findings of the report include: the climate system appears to be changing faster than earlier thought likely; the need for effective reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is urgent, to avoid the risk of crossing dangerous thresholds in the climate system; and once thresholds in ice sheet and carbon cycle dynamics are crossed, such processes cannot be stopped or reversed by human intervention. Report

The campaign to prevent a Hunter Valley coal mine increasing its discharge into a local river is mounting, with more than 100 people attending a conference opposing the move. A conference was held in Booral on the weekend to discuss Gloucester Coal's plans for a major expansion to its Duralie Mine, near Stroud, which are currently before the New South Wales Government. The company has also applied to increase the amount of waste-water it discharges into the Mammy Johnson's River. Conference organiser Amanda Albury says people came for all over the state to support the fight to have the waterway protected. "Taking people into the Karuah River downstream of the coal mine where there is a definite change in the water in the river system and it is noticeable - salt on the rocks and iron oxide discharge like that's left in the water, suspended in the water or is sitting under the rocks," she said. "So it shows people that we do have a problem here and this is happening."