Logan & Albert Conservation Association

Eating - if we are fortunate - is a healthy enjoyable activity we each do three times a day. And in Austalia that is mostly true - but not for all. We believe too that as the world's population increases we need to grow more food. However while there are many people who do not have access - or have little access to enough safe healthy food some of us are hungry.

In addition to quantity there are other issues as the world's peoples grow fatter and eat inapproriate foods obesity and diabetes have become two of the biggest heath issues in Australia and globally.

Worryingly the food currently produced would feed the current global population and more but our distribution processes let us down.

What we eat and how and where our food is produced are complex issues that most of us are totally unaware of. Being a conscious consumer is an important part of living a responsible and sustainable lifestyle.

The theme for this year's World Environment Day celebrations is Think.Eat.Save. Think.Eat.Save is an anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages you to reduce your foodprint. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger.
Given this enormous imbalance in lifestyles and the resultant devastating effects on the environment, this year's theme – Think.Eat.Save – encourages you to become more aware of the environmental impact of the food choices you make and empowers you to make informed decisions.

                     Think before you eat and help save our environment!

OUR CALL TO COUNTRY

People who love our country are being asked to take deliberate steps and actions to restrict inappropriate coal and gas mining. An astounding 437 million hectares of our land is covered by coal and gas licences or applications. That's more than half of Australia and an area 18 times the size of Great Britain.

Even our greatest international tourist icons are not safe, with at least 11 of our 16 National Landscapes at threat.

For a larger version of the map click on this link.

LOCK THE GATE has united farmers, first peoples, conservationists - ordinary folk who believe our country is too precious to be exploited for the profits of big business who bank off shore. View the website. http://www.lockthegate.org.au/calltocountry. 

What is waste?

There is no waste within the natural world unless we consider what humans have wasted. Nature recycles everything – even water - so that everything contributes to the overall benefit and survival of eath's natural system.

By comparison, many of us discard potential resources carelessly because we no longer value them for ourselves. These potential resources often end up in the waste stream. In the recent past we may have been very keen to buy the products which having  served their original purpose are thrown away.

No other species creates such waste as humans do .

Unfortunately in our haste for a fast convenient lifestye some products that we produce - mostly from by products of the fossil fuel industry - may survive for a very long time in the environment and take up space on land or water which could be better used. Within the natural world a clever closed loop system has many organisms benefiting as items are returned to the soil or earth.
Waste is a major global problem as we try to cope with items tossed away. Even some food which we need to sustain us is considered as waste instead of a beneficial resource. No food needs to be regarded as a disposable commodity to end up in landfill. Spoiled food is valuable to return nutrients to the earth and there are many ways to achieve this such as worm farming and composting. Food waste is a complex challenge at all levels in all countries. This Guardian article raises some issues  

We all need to send this letter - EPBC potential loss

PETITION TO SIGN!

To date the most important piece of legislation in Australia to protect the natural environment from greedy exploitative practices and unsustainable development is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, EPBC.

It provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities and heritage places — defined in the EPBC Act as matters of national environmental significance.

Under pressure from big business Federal, State and Territory governments are moving forward with an aggressive plan to wind back our environmental protection laws. By cutting 'green tape', handing important federal approval powers to the states, and fast tracking approvals for large development, federal protection for our most special places and wildlife will be removed, and mining and other destructive development in our forests, woodlands and along our coasts will be accelerated.

History has shown us that the Federal government has a critical role in protecting matters of national environmental significance. Short-sighted development proposals have threatened Australia's natural heritage several times in the past and the Federal government has stepped in to prevent irreversible harm.

Without Federal intervention, the Franklin River would be dammed, there would be oil rigs on the Great Barrier Reef and pristine Shoalwater Bay would be home to a large coal port.

Without Federal protection the KOALA will be doomed to extinction.

The Places You Love campaign was founded by a group of 30 organisations, including HSI concerned with the proposals to wind back our system of environmental laws. We strongly believe that the reforms proposed will set us back decades on hard won protection for our land, water and wildlife

 FRIENDS OF THE EARTH have arranged a petition - very easy step to sign to send to Prime Minister Julia  Gillard. You might like send to other politicians - by email or snail. Read text of letter you can use or adapt here and

The World Bank has published an educational graphic explaining the main challenges faced by biodiversity conservation efforts, as well as the value of biodiversity for humankind.The infographic presents species decline rates, main threats to biodiversity, why biodiversity matters, and signs of hope, which derive from the declaration of protected areas around the world and private sector investments in biodiversity.

Click on image aside to see infographic.

Biodiversity conservation, protecting vulnerable landscapes and sustaining livelihoods in developing countries are all projects to receive funding from World Bank.

Overexploitation, habitat destruction, introduced invasive species all contribute to loss of biodiversity - worldwide - and especially in SEQ South East Queenland - a biodiversity hotspot.  

Clearing greenfield areas to replace with human settlement preceived needs - housing, roads, hard infrastructure items will destroy the values that draw people to SEQ.

We are paving paradise to put up a parking lot in the words of Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell.

A healthy functioning ecosystem depends on the long term survival of the species which have adapted to live in the area. Maintaining these healthy ecosystems is esssential for human health and well being.

Bushland areas and wetlands provide more than visual amenity. Clean air, clean water and productive soils with their living creatures provide the comfortable  liveability of our human places.

At a local level LACA has been alerted to proposed changes to extend the urban footprint in SEQ. This is alarming and LACA's immediate response has been to send a letter to the Premier, and Deputy-Premier Hon. Jeff Seeney MP Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning. Our already endangered koala could face further threats.

Read our letter here.Amendments-to-SEQRegionalPlan_Sept9-2012__letter.pdf231.33 KB09/09/2012, 18:41