This Aussie has created quite the wind turbine!
Australia
Eureka: Crazy Carpark Signage
The way-finding-system for the Eureka Tower Carpark in Melbourne Australia is really neat!
Earth Hour Tomorrow
Earth Hour is tomorrow!
It’s a symbolic turning off of electric devices to show some respect for the environment. Everyone ought to join in and make earth hour a daily event.
On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.
With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.
Japan Stops Whaling
This is without a doubt, really reat news. Japan has halted whailing for the year, after pressure from the Australian government. A hat tip to Kevin Rudd and his fellow Aussies for convincing Japan to change their ways.
The country’s chief government spokesman, Nobutaka Machimura, revealed the backdown at a news conference today.
Japan had planned to harpoon 50 humpbacks
He said: “Japan will not hunt humpback whales.â€The country had planned to harpoon around 50 humpbacks on its current expedition, the first time since the 1960s that Tokyo would have hunted the species, which are popular with Australian whale-watchers.
Mr Machimura added: “It’s true that Australia expressed quite a strong opinion to Japan on this.
“As a result, I hope that this will lead to better relations with Australia.â€
Environmentalists Sue Harper, Bali Begins
I’ve never been shy about my dislike of Canada’s current Prime Minister and today won’t be any different. Regular readers of Things Are Good may have noticed that other countries get mentioned often here because their national government take positive action. Three nations, though, get mentioned not because of federal efforts but because of local ones. Those nations are Australia, Canada, and the USA. I’m confident that there is a connection between the lack of good news coming from those national governments and how popular their leaders are. Howard just lost his election and Bush is at an all time low. (EDIT: Australia ratifies Kyoto Protocol! Way to go Rudd!)
The conservatives in Canada are now being sued by an environmental group. I’m sure that the timing of the lawsuit is to draw attention to the potential that Canada has for being a leader in fighting global warming at the UN’s climate change conference in Bali, which started today.
Major policies will be shaped by the countries listed above (among others) over the course of the next two weeks. Stay tuned for the good news that will come from the UN conference.
While in Canada, the environmentalist will continue to fight up north:
The group, Friends of the Earth, alleges that Environment Minister John Baird has broken the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, by ignoring a recent requirement of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act.
The act was passed by Parliament in June 2007.
The lawsuit contends that Ottawa was legally required to publish draft regulations by Oct. 20, 2007, which would have enabled Canada to follow its Kyoto commitments, but failed to do so.
“This new application, while relevant to climate change, is all about holding the government of Canada accountable under Canadian law,” said lawyer Chris Paliare, who filed the legal challenge on behalf of the group.