Just wondering if any of you well informed types might know if the Press Club speech from yesterday would be online somewhere. I checked the ABC site and couldn’t find anything (but it’s a rather confusing site at the best of times); and there doesn’t appear to be anything on the Press Club site either. I’d much rather listen to the speech than wade through the 600 pages of his report. Off to check my i-tunes. Even if I can’t find Garnaut, there might be an episode of GA I haven’t watched yet.

SueBk said:

Just wondering if any of you well informed types might know if the Press Club speech from yesterday would be online somewhere. I checked the ABC site and couldn’t find anything (but it’s a rather confusing site at the best of times); and there doesn’t appear to be anything on the Press Club site either. I’d much rather listen to the speech than wade through the 600 pages of his report. Off to check my i-tunes. Even if I can’t find Garnaut, there might be an episode of GA I haven’t watched yet.

This one SueBK? you can request it by email.

http://www.npc.org.au/speakerArchive/RossGarn.html

There’s a thread on it over at SSSF. Someone put up this link.

http://www.garnautreview.org.au/domino/Web_Notes/Garnaut/garnautweb.nsf

Bubba Louie said:

There’s a thread on it over at SSSF. Someone put up this link.

http://www.garnautreview.org.au/domino/Web_Notes/Garnaut/garnautweb.nsf

I think the thing that will condemn us all is our ability to fool ourselves.
A new housing development in SA has just won the builders’ award for most environmental development. All the houses are 5 star rated and the stormwater is recycled through wetlands and each house has a recycled water garden tap. Sound good?
The trouble is those 5 star houses are consuming MORE ENERGY than your typical SA home. Because they have windows fully exposed to the sun they leave the air con. on all day. They are full of the latest gas guzzlers in the garage and have every modern electrical appliance known. Some times they can’t open their windows because of the noise of high density living, the threat of burglary, the seasonal stench of the wetlands and most the time they just plain leave their windows shut because their lifestyle doesn’t include anything natural like evening breezes.
So how come this development has won the environmental award? I think the developers have very good report writers. It’s all about good presentation and keywords and catchphrases. That’s what wins.
Soapbox is now for sale.

Solar passive orientation is one of the biggest oversites of so-called ‘sustainable’ housing developments. Big focus on the costly upfront do-dads, but little thought into the long term issues.

We had friends who bought a block in a sub-division that claimed to be sustainable. Had to have grey water, rain water, solar panels. BUT also had to align the front of the house with the alignment of the ROAD! If your house isn’t solar passive, and you’re reliant on AC and heating for living to be bearable, the rest of it makes very little impact.

Our house is almost the right alignment (certainly nothing planned about it). The other night someone walked in during the evening and asked if we had a heater going. So far this winter we’ve only used the heater in the bathroom. It is rather chilly today; all overcast and raining (which is lovely); but I’m rugged up with quilts and socks and furry hottie.

New developments are a joke from a sustainability point of view. Up here, they use a points system. Double glazing will get you points, verandahs get you points. A rain water tank must be installed to run the laundry and dunnies etc. Great idea right?.

So they bulldoze the trees and set fire to them to build the bloody things.
Fair dinkum, i reckon about 100 tonne of trees are burnt for every house that has gone up around me in the last 5 years or so. Push em up and light em. Tallow wood, blackbutt, mahogony, etc. You name it, they burn it. One metre thick trees, beautiful hardwood. Burnt. Then put a house on the cleared block that has no shade left, with bugger all eaves, facing the road, a big heap of western windows but if it’s got a rainwater tank you should be OK and they’ll pass the plan.

I have a recycling septic tank which sprays the treated water onto gardens. Been here for 13 years. Well the laws have changed. They’ve been outlawed and i have 3 more years to put the outfall underground in a grass only area, so it can puddle and be runoff in wet periods. They can get stuffed, i aint changing anything and i’ll take it to court. Wankers. They piss me off. Did you notice?

a bit like the $3 billion desal plant planned for SE Vic..only the area keeps flooding.
Who makes these stupid plans anyway ?

Happy Potter said:

a bit like the $3 billion desal plant planned for SE Vic..only the area keeps flooding.
Who makes these stupid plans anyway ?

I always thought desal plants were huge energy users.
Who is gonna pay for the energy? Taxpayers of course.
But hey that’s OK. We’ll just build a nuclear plant to generate the power we’ll require. If the desal plant is already in use then we’ll have to get the energy from somewhere, so it’ll be the next step.

What’s the bet????

i finally found where rain/wind was driving in into my roof. bought rubberized bitumen at B store and applied to the tile & flashing overlap joins. sure beats trying to do it with silicone.
Garnaut would have been proud ;)

I have a recycling septic tank which sprays the treated water onto gardens. Been here for 13 years. Well the laws have changed. They’ve been outlawed and i have 3 more years to put the outfall underground in a grass only area, so it can puddle and be runoff in wet periods. They can get stuffed, i aint changing anything and i’ll take it to court.
—————————————-
you know you’re right and i can confirm that these new laws are a load of dung.
originally when the ‘experts’ did all the changes to stop the old 8 person-all-purpose tanks and came up with their much bigger systems they had the opportunity to introduce grey water separation. they never did and only pressure from people have forced them to revise. they encourage aerobic systems which are chlorinated and use power – and if you want a sand filter only one place is allowed to provide the sand.
all the new laws are tempered by industry inputs and we never get objective rules any more.