THE Mandurah Surf Life Saving Club in Western Australia started its the 2009/10 season with an annual beach clean up last Sunday.

Volunteers walked the beach in cold, windy conditions to remove rubbish that had accumulated over winter.

Items collected ranged from street barricades to logs, an old barbecue, bottles, buoys, plastic and ropes.

One young member even found a $50 note in the sand dunes.

Bakers Delight Meadow Springs provided with scones and morning tea.

Club members want everyone to keep the coastline clean and safe.

Courtesy Mandurah Mail.

Great effort: Members of the Mandurah Surf Lifesaving Club

celebrate after cleaning up the beach in San Remo last Sunday morning.

I, for one, don't want that to be OUR FUTURE as I intend spending the rest of my life in it.

I was reading an article from the Courier Mail 8-9, 2009 P4 headed State in a power dilemna. "Queensland will need a massive injection of at least a dozen electricity generators costing billions of dollars over the next 20 years, according to energy expert Keith Orchison".

My simple (perhaps simplistic) question is why?

All the time we hear reports from all levels of government telling us about the population growth we will have in south east Queensland whilst we who live here are already feeling our lifestyles negatively impacted by infrastructure lag (roads, public transport, hospitals, schools, electricity and water). We are already paying more for less so how can more people make it better for anyone or anything? or in other words, if population growth is the answer then it must have been a stupid question.

Why do our government's have such a fatalistic view and at times their predictions of population growth seem to be reported as if they think it is a good thing and something we should want to thank them for?

Now I know we can't put up the full house sign and there may be economic argument that some growth is good.

When negotiating with my children I found that saying NO was giving away any power I might have and was almost as useless a technique as an unconditional YES. I found that YES IF was by far the best strategy so lets apply the YES IF strategy to our shared challenges.

YES there can be some large scale greenfield development IF that development can generate and manage all its electricity, water and waste on site.

Can residents have a reasonably priced waste collection service? - YES IF the bin capacity is half the current volume - any more and you pay a big premium.

Can Queenslanders have reasonably priced electricity & water? - YES IF they can keep their demand to much lower levels. If we use more than a low level we pay through the nose (and so we should).

I am convinced our challenges can be solved by a blend of education, demand management and clean technology solutions. It appears that many of the answers may be about decentralising power, water, food production and waste management. Looking to the solutions used by people who live away from centralised power and water supply and the way things were done in the 1950s and 1960s may provide many solutions eg. collect and reuse water on site; generate some of our power on site eg. solar hot water & wind plus minimize the energy we need and get our food as locally as possible (with minimal packaging).

Is there room for more people in south east Queensland?

YES IF (and only if) we all take a less wasteful attitude to water, electricity, transport, waste and food production.

Kind Regards,
Don Parry B.Bus.
ECOSURF COORDINATOR MUDJIMBA SLSC

Thanks to Don for this article. Food for Thought!

x jo

Jo Cooper | Ecosurf Manager
Surf Life Saving Australia
t: 02 9300 4000 | f: 02 9130 8312 | m: 0418 475 400
Locked Bag 2
Bondi Beach NSW 2026 Australia
jcooper@slsa.asn.au
www.ecosurf.org.au
www.slsa.com.au

Wind power for urban areas: ATA launches new research

When: Tuesday 2nd June, 2009

Time: arrive 6:00pm onwards for a 6:30pm start

Where: The Banking Chamber theatrette, Ground Floor, KPMG, 147 Collins St, Melbourne. Disabled access via 161 Collins St.

Costs: $15, $10 for ATA members (ATA couples $15). Refreshments provided.

RSVPs required: Email Wendy Clarke at wendy@ata.org.au or ph:(03) 9631 5407. www.ata.org.au

Join the ATA as they launch the Alternative Technology Association’s (ATA's) latest report The Victorian Urban Wind Resource Assessment undertaken by ATA for Sustainability Victoria. This report looks at typical wind regimes at 10 sites within 25 kilometres of Melbourne’s CBD and comments on the suitability of urban locations for installation of micro wind turbines.

Presenters include:

Matthew Warren

Matthew is an environmental economist and joined the Clean Energy Council (CEC) as CEO in 2008. CEC is an amalgamation of the Australian Wind Energy Industry Association (Auswind) and the Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE). Matthew will look at the current status and future prospects of the Australian wind industry.

John Edgoose

John is a Senior Project Manager in Renewable and Distributed Energy at Sustainability Victoria who provided the funding for The Victorian Urban Wind Resource Assessment. He will provide an introduction to the report by covering the history of this project.

Mike Bagot

Mike has a background in Mathematics and Engineering and has been working with ATA since early 2008. He is the author of the report and will present an overview, covering the measurement methodology, the sites where the anemometers were installed and what the data collected suggests in regard to the operation of Micro Wind Turbines in urban areas.

Brett Dutton

Brett is one of the nine voluntary directors that manage Hepburn Wind. He has a long-standing interest in renewable energy and has project managed the installation of over 200 MW of wind farm projects in both Australia and NZ. Brett will present an update on the progress of Australia’s first community owned wind farm. 

Dan has been involved in the redevelopment of seven clubs on the Central Coast including Wamberal, Terrigal, North Avoca, Avoca, Ocean Beach (Umina), Killcare and Copacobana. The most recently completed project is the Surf Life Saving Club at Terrigal, where greywater from the showers and hand basins is captured, treated and then used to flush toilets.

Dan says Gosford Council has been very proactive about water conservation, energy that is obviously fuelled by the fact that Gosford and Wyong Shire councils also have a role as a water authority.

Council has opted to put in big underground tanks at the surf clubs as this is seen as the most expedient way of improving water efficiency.

In our area, the best long term, cost efficient option is to stick in big tanks, said Dan. Its definitely the most expedient way of reducing the draw and reliance on town water.

Greywater systems require ongoing maintenance and that can be expensive and you also have additional administrative hurdles to leap.

At Terrigal for example, we found we ran into regulatory obstacles when we proposed using recycled water to wash boats, as there was concern that the recycled water would end up in the stormwater.

Consequently, we elected to use the treated water to flush toilets and so we installed the biggest underground tanks we could, as beyond installation tanks are cheap to maintain.

The funding is part of the Rudd Government's Reef Rescue initiative, under Caring for our Country.

Caring for our Country is taking a new, coordinated approach to environmental management in Australia, built on a set of consistent national targets.

The Ministers said Reef Rescue was helping natural resource management groups, government and non-government organisations, industry and farmers in the reef's catchment to work together to protect and improve local wetlands.

"Wetlands in coastal catchments are vital to the health of the Great Barrier Reef," Mr Garrett said.

"Like the kidneys of the environment, wetlands play such an important role in filtering water moving from the catchment into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, absorbing pollutants, providing habitat and on the coast, wetlands also help protect our shores from wave action."

Mr Burke said farmers already understood the importance of improved land management practices and were leading the way.

"Farmers will be the first affected by climate change and they will continue to adapt the latest research and development to improve sustainability on-farm," he said.

"Many of Queensland's wetlands are situated on private land so the Rudd Government will continue to support landholders in managing those wetland systems."

Other wetland activities funded by the Rudd Government through Reef Rescue include projects in the Wet Tropics, Burdekin and Burnett Mary regions, delivered in partnership with peak agricultural industry groups and non-government organisations such as Wetland Care Australia. These projects are helping land managers to integrate wetland management activities into their farm management systems.

For further information go to www.nrm.gov.au

According to Environment Minister Peter Garrett the system will generate more than 500 megawatt hours of clean renewable electricity every year in the Alice.

“Less than six months in the making, more than 1320 photovoltaic panels now rest on the roof of the Crowne Plaza in Alice Springs,” Mr Garrett said.

The Crown Plaza project is part of the Alice Solar City – one of the seven cities selected for funding under the Australian Government’s $94 million Solar Cities program designed to assist the community in taking practical action on climate change.

Member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon said it is wonderful to see Alice Springs as the showcase for the largest solar power system of it’s kind in Australia.

“The Crowne’s 305kw system will cater to around 50 per cent of the hotel’s electricity needs daily, but this figure will grow to around 80 per cent during low demand periods, thanks to the Crowne Plaza’s focus on being energy smart and upgrading a range of fixtures and fittings throughout the hotel,” said Mr Snowdon.

“Visitors to the Crowne Plaza will be able to view the amazing PV array on the roof of the hotel from the ground, and then learn about the hotel’s solar energy performance on the in-house ‘solar channel’ displaying twenty four hour real time information.”

The Australian Government provided $1.5 million toward construction of the project.

“The Government is committed to an expanded renewable energy target and to investing in projects such as this that will support our goal to have 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity from renewable energy by 2020,” Mr Garrett said.

Earth Hour is a terrific example of how small actions can make a difference to global warming. This ‘lights out’ initiative began in Sydney in 2007 as a public awareness raising campaign (when a spectacular two million people switched off the lights) and is now an international event – in 2008 50 million people switched off their lights around the world and the target for 2009 is one billion!

So far 75 cities have said they are ready to flick the switch in 2009, including Moscow, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Rome, Manila, Oslo, Cape Town, Warsaw, Lisbon, Singapore, Istanbul, Mexico City, Toronto, Dubai and Copenhagen. Beijing has also recently announced they will participate.

Lights will be switched off at some of the world’s most best known icons including the world’s tallest building in Dubai, the Burj Dubai; the tallest free-standing structure in the Americas, the CN Tower in Toronto; Moscow’s Federation Tower; the tallest town in the Southern Hemisphere, Auckland’s Sky Tower; and our own Sydney Opera House.

Why would you bother
Earth Hour provides a unique opportunity for us to send a powerful signal that we are watching our leaders and expect action on climate change.

Executive Director of Earth Hour Global, Andy Ridley said, “Recent events have shown that the world can unite in a time of crisis. The global economic crunch is an example where, when it matters, decisive multi-lateral action by powerful nations has been shown to be achievable.”

David Miller, Mayor of Toronto and chair of the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group said, “The C40 Climate Leadership Group is about cities working together to drive down greenhouse gas emissions and that is why as Chair of the C40 I support Earth Hour. It's crucial that cities and the public come together to take action against climate change and Earth Hour provides a great platform to do that.”

Andy declared that 2009 was the planet’s ‘destiny year’, with critical decisions needed to be made at the Copenhagen meeting on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“2009 is the year we decide the future of the earth. It is the year when the world meets to agree on a plan to reduce carbon emissions across the globe. This is the time to invest in new ways of doing business in a new low carbon economy. We must all step over the line together if we are to succeed.”

What can your club do?
Earth Hour isn’t just about turning off the lights for a single hour, it’s about changing the way we operate on a daily basis. Your club has a role to play in encouraging people to consciously think about their energy consumption and to help both the club and its members use energy resources responsibly.

For more information and to sign up for Earth Hour 2009 visit www.earthhour.org

Ocean Care Day is an annual event on the first Sunday of December each year.

This year Manly Ocean Care Day celebrated the ‘International Year of the Reef’ – The Reef in our Backyard – that is, Cabbage Tree Bay, and like the ocean, this year we experienced the full gamut of weather conditions for Ocean Care Day.

Highlights of the day included the opening ceremony with Simon Reeve, from Channel 7’s Sunrise program, and special guest for the day, Valerie Taylor.

Valerie was recently awarded the Australian Geographic Society 2008 Award for Lifetime of Conservation for her work in Marine Conservation and she was ideally placed to provide a picture of what is under the water and how to protect it.

Following the official launch, young Ellis Cooper-Frater, recently recognised as a Coastal Ambassador by Coastcare, led the parade playing his bagpipes as children carried the ‘Life on the Edge: Discover your living beach’ banner (which was then hung from the South Steyne promenade wall). They were accompanied by the wonderful harmonius sounds of the Maori cultural group, Te Papa Wawata KeTi Moana.

Over 65 eco exhibitors stretched along the beachfront, from The Corso to Manly Surf Life Saving Club, where talks were held and and films screened. Speakers included photographer and film-maker George Evatt, maritime archaeologist Tim Smith and Chris Pash, author of ‘The Last Whale’.

The Australian Surf Museum displayed over 100 years of surfing history and in the Art Tent, twenty artists showed their interpretation of ocean/environment in their various mediums.

‘The Penguin Plaza’ at South Steyne Beach was  run by Penguin Warden Angelika Treichler, also recently nominated a Coastal Ambassador for her work with the Little Penguins. Angelika talked about the Little Penguin colonies around Manly.

The Entertainment Tent was always crowded and featured wonderful live music including Ami Williamson and Beatwood Mac. Keep an eye out for rising star Amalia Fitzgerald.
The day also featured lots of activities for children including the Zoomobile. Dave Baxter from Pro Dive revealed lots about underwater creatures such as the blue ringed octopus and at the Maori Pavilion children enjoyed drawing, face painting, song and dance.

All in all a splendid day so flip open that calendar and circle the date for next year’s Ocean Care Day on 6 December, 2009.

Further information visit www.mec.org.au

Achievements can be on a small scale (the savings you make by turning the tap off while you clean your teeth) or a big scale (installing water efficient shower heads at home), but if you really want your savings to add up, actively support group initiatives such as the Australian Governments Water for the Future program.

Under this programs national rainwater and grey water funding initiative, every surf club in Australia is eligible to apply for up to $10,000 to help with the installation of water saving and water efficient devices.

Seriously?
Abolutely. The grants are available for the installation of water saving/efficiency devices in surf life saving club premises owned, leased or permanently occupied by the club, and will be administered via SLSAs Ecosurf program.

Applications can be lodged via the Ecosurf website from 18 December 2009 for works to be completed by May 2010.

The Ecosurf site has been designed so that clubs can progressively update their draft application, submit their finished application and track its progress online.

Our club already has tanks or Our club is new 
Even if your club is ahead of the pack and has already installed water saving devices or tanks, theres bound to be more that you can do.

How do we start?
A water efficiency audit will help your club identify site specific opportunities for water saving, collection and recycling and will provide guidance about the changes you can implement eligible for funding as part of this grant process, as well as providing valuable information for future planning.

Preferred supplier
SLSA is investigating the feasibility of appointing a national preferred supplier for water audits so that we can develop a comprehensive database that will map current and potential water capture, recycling and reuse at Surf Life Saving Clubs around Australia.

This will also mean that clubs will get a high quality audit, capped at $500 (single audits may cost clubs up to $1,000 each) and will include a water assessment/audit report for the club as well as a strategy document for the club premises.

SLSA and DEWHA believe that there is great merit is auditing all clubs, even those who already have obvious water saving devices such as tanks, push button taps and water efficient showers installed as it will help to provide advice on other eligible alternatives for water saving under the grant scheme.

How do I find out whats happening?
First up, ask your patrol captain whats happening at your club and check out the Ecosurf website.

You can subscribe to receive this free newsletter there too and join the Ecosurf online discussion group so you can throw your own ideas into the Ecosurf hat.

The article is reprinted here with the kind permission of Sunshine Coast Daily – see the full article and this photo of Mudjimba Surf Life Saving Club Captain Kaitlyn Akers (centre) with Sheridan Holford and Michelle Jones online at http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/nov/28/mudjimba-beach-surf-life-saving-ecosurf/

Foreshore foresight
A Sunshine Coast surf life saving club has joined a national program which aims to better protect the ecologically sensitive coastal environment in which it operates.

The Surf Life Saving Australia Ecosurf program wants clubs to accept greater stewardship of their coastal location through environmentally-friendly practices, education and awareness and engagement in the active care of the dunal systems.

As such, Mudjimba Beach Surf Life Saving Club will begin morning turtle track patrols of Maroochy River north shore beaches.

This will be one more step in its engagement with a program that may also see it form alliances with groups like Coolum District Coast Care and the Mudjimba Residents Association.

Club captain Kaitlyn Akers was excited about involvement in Ecosurf.

She said it aligned with the Coast’s future direction of being sustainable and green and also that the club hoped to engage across all community groups.

“It’s not just about the surf club, it’s about Mudjimba and the future we all want for Mudjimba, our members and our kids,’’ she said.

“We hope this will encourage members to look at their own workplaces and homes to develop sustainable practices.’’

Mudjimba SLSC will look at reducing its clubhouse energy use and has applied for a grant to install a water tank to allow it to come off the water grid.

To better manage waste, they will place rubbish bins on the beach, which would be removed at the completion of patrols.

“They’re just little things but they can make a big difference,’’ Ms Akers said.

Coolum Coast Care is working with the Mudjimba Residents Association to establish a dune restoration group, something in which the surf club may also become involved in.

During the last turtle nesting season, there were three identified loggerhead turtle sites between Mudjimba and the river mouth.

Ms Akers said it was a “no brainer’’ that the club, which runs four roving patrols a day along that stretch of beach, should become involved in identifying nest sites so that they could be adequately protected.

Member Don Parry, who is assisting in the club’s Ecosurf engagement, said surf life saving clubs occupied privileged positions on the foreshore and needed to take their responsibilities seriously.

Mr Parry said if they wanted to retain the position they now held, clubs needed to not only be responsible and do the right things but also to look at ways they could actively sustain that environment.

“There are no walls between this club and the community,’’ he said.

The club has already been approached by two University of the Sunshine Coast students doing sustainability majors who want to get involved in the project.

“We are hopeful that other coast surf life saving clubs will also get involved,’ Mr Parry said.

Surf Life Saving Australia hopes that a nationally cooperative approach to protecting the coastal and beach environment will benefit all surf lifesavers and associated communities.

It sees those as beach protection and sustainability, waste and pollution reduction, a reduction in environmental impacts on ecosystems, conservation of natural resources and improved water quality.

Each year over 7 billion cigarette butts are littered in Australia, and one in ten of these will end up in our waterways.

According to Bug Littering Trust's Executive director, Wendy Jones, one of the big challenges is helping people appreciate the huge environmental, social and economic cost of dealing with discarded cigarette butts.

Councils spend tens of millions of dollars annually on butt collection but some ten percent will still find their way into drains and waterways where they leach toxic chemicals that threaten the quality of the water we swim in
and the wildlife habitat.

You can help change the behaviour of smokers around you by making sure they are aware of the negative impact of butts in our waterways.

'Butt it and bin it' couldn't be a simpler message ­ help spread the message by signing up for the Butt Free City Campaign, from 23-27 March, 2009. It's national, so wherever you are you can participate and help encourage smokers to dispose of their cigarette butts responsibly.

For more information visit www.buttlitteringtrust.org

This event was supported by Surf Life Saving Australia’s Ecosurf program to promote a waste-wise ethic among beach users and nippers.

The event also featured short talks and other aspects with a varied educational function, including a children’s recycled art competition that encouraged the re-conceptualisation of waste in creative and innovative ways. A researcher from Sydney University took that notion to another level by discussing the use of industrial off-cuts in different commercial uses.

Representatives from Coastcare and the Ecodivers also spoke and were quite entertaining, discussing pertinent issues of the effects of marine litter on our local beaches. A speaker from the Manly food coop talked about the benefits of bulk purchasing and a speaker from VISY recycling talked about the recycling process and statistics relevant to Manly’s recycling output.

The Fridge Buy Back program (recycling old fridges) and Council’s Battery Recycling program were also promoted.

The event included displays and brochures for passers by on the day and featured some entertaining mascots, including Billy Box and Reggie Recycle.

Nilushi said Manly Council (in fact any council) would be happy to hear about future requests and opportunities for involvement in similar educational initiatives that seek to raise awareness about beach litter and the re-use, and reduction and recycling of common household waste. In a practical sense, these activities teach kids what can be recycled in Council’s recycling bins, but they have a wider purpose in explaining what recycling is and why it is important.

Could this work at your club?
Nilushi says that, in hindsight, the speakers were better suited to an indoor, perhaps evening, event, however the Recycling Olympics worked well in the carnival context. More in-depth waste concepts could be explored with older kids.

Little Manly Beach was also prominent among award winners at the annual awards event.
 
The NSW Clean Beach Challenge Awards comprise an overall state award and seven other ‘sponsored’ state and regional award categories acknowledging specific projects, programs and initiatives.
 
The overall State winner, North Steyne Beach, will now compete against other states in the 2009 National Clean Beach Challenge.
 
Of the seven sponsored categories of ‘Clean Beach Challenge’ awards, North Steyne Beach won the State and Sydney Regional ‘Water Conservation Award’; the State Sydney Regional ‘Young Legends award’ (outstanding accomplishment by youth or by a beach community) and the Sydney Regional ‘Community Partnership and Action Award’. North Steyne Beach was also highly commended in the State ‘Resource Management Award’.

Meanwhile, Little Manly Beach won the Sydney Regional ‘Friendly Beach Award’ and was highly commended in the State ‘Friendly Beach Award’ and the Sydney Regional ‘Community Partnership and Action Award’.
 
Award submissions were made both by North Steyne Surf Life Saving Club (for North Steyne Beach) and Manly Council (for Little Manly Beach).