Tasmanian timber giant Gunns got another free pass from Labor at federal and state levels this month.

Local NGO Environment Tasmania and three Tamar Valley landowners are seeking a Supreme Court order that the state government explain why its pulp mill legislation prevents the awarding of...
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  You know when I see you spanking your child and screaming out of control. You're a bad mother. Not always, but at that moment, you are a bad mother.

I think we all know that, on occasion, we are all bad mothers.

Today, though I'm...
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Though beset by challenge and turmoil amongst its political allies, New Zealand's centre-left Labour Government has finally passed its ground-breaking emissions trading scheme (ETS) into law - though with a general election only a few weeks...
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The other day I walked into the Hard Core Industrial Offender (HIO) lunch room to see employee A wandering between the recently new chrome coffee maker and the brand-spanking-new chrome espresso machine. She was aimlessly turning this way and that with a plastic bottle filled cardboard box in her arms. She looked confused. Where did the plastic...
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Can anyone really own water? And more importantly, should they? This is the central question of the documentary film Flow (For Love of Water). The film begins with a quote from W.H. Auden, "Thousands have lived without love, not one without water". It sets up a central tenant of the...
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In the 21^st century, as global warming, pollution and rising populations create scarcities, profiteering has again raised its ugly head. This time, though, the target isn't housing, or fuel, or even food, but water. Gone are the days when drinkable water was abundantly present in all but desert climates, and free even to the poor - who had only to take a bucket or pail to the nearest...
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Global warming has inflicted its fair share of damage on the planet in recent years, but one problem growing in scope and severity is a growing cause for concern. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), diseases once specific to developing countries are spreading into more temperate...
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Most people in the Western World have heard of Genetically Modified (GM) plants or crops. Would it surprise you to learn that GM plants are routinely patented by companies? Probably not. What if I were to tell you though that it wasn't just GM plants that are being patented, but plants that have existed, in some cases, for...
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At a time when many of us in the environmental movement are feeling frustrated by offshore drilling and $700 billion in tax payer dollars going to Wall Street instead of renewable energy and green jobs, it is uplifting to watch Paul Hawken's inspiring talk about the Social and Environmental Justice Movement - "fundamentally a civil rights movement, a human rights movement, this is a democracy movement. It is the coming world."

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