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  Banking on the feel good factor

  Sioned Guard     |      July 10, 2008

  Doesn’t it make more sense to adopt better, more sustainable, more socially responsible ways to run a business, rather than continue with outdated unsustainable business practices?

  Sometimes in business you just need to go by your instincts, and back in 2003 when I met my business partner Sinead Roberts, that’s what it was like.

  She was looking for someone to go into business importing the Moltex eco-nappies into Australia, she’d used the nappies in Europe and couldn’t believe that a similar product was not available for Australian families.
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  Trees For Life and its revegetation mission

  treesforlife     |      July 10, 2008

  Trees For Life has been revegetating and protecting remnant native vegetation for nearly three decades. It has now initiated a carbon neutral program that allows you to take personal responsibility for the carbon dioxide emissions you create with your car, flights and energy use.
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  If you can’t beat them…

  patrickcallioni     |      July 10, 2008

  Rather than struggling against government regulation, businesses should be looking for opportunities to use it to their advantage.
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  Survey on Indigenous Housing

  JoeyPin     |      July 9, 2008

  Hi there, A student here just wondering if I could get people to participate in a study on Indigenous housing (no pranks please or abuse). Thank you! ___________________________________________________________________ Housing issues in Australia and Social Justice in Australian communities This survey is designed for educational purposes only by students of the Western Sydney Institute of TAFE. […]
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  What we need today

  Martin Duursma     |      July 9, 2008

  There’s definitely something to be said for finally having a minister dedicated to the areas or research development and innovation in the Federal Government. And certainly when I met with Senator Kim Carr together with a group of IT industry representatives a few months ago, he’s making the right noises regarding the sorts of approaches which would lead to a more innovative economy.

  What we need to see now is some action. Specifically we need the government to adopt legislation which encourages what might be termed a "virtuous circle of innovation" within the Australian economy.
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  Videoconferencing is Green

  editor     |      July 9, 2008

  By Philip Siefert

  A large organisation can replace upwards of 20,000 round-trip, short-haul flights annually with video meetings, saving 2,200 tons of CO2 from being released into the environment.

  For companies to "go green," they need solutions that positively impact the environment without raising costs or sacrificing productivity.

  However, to make an impact, we all need to take personal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The longer we wait the more difficult it is going to be.  The point is to get started doing something now.  So I say, accept that this rebellion is real and realise that the time for taking action on global warming is not tomorrow, not even today, but this very minute.

  The key to engaging enterprises in this endeavour is to identify CO2 reduction programs that do not raise costs or sacrifice productivity.  It is possible to be environmentally responsible and stay competitive, without breaking the bank.  Companies must be presented though with workable steps that they can take today to reduce their carbon footprint.
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  Are economic increase and environmental sustainability incompatible?

  andrewgaines     |      July 8, 2008

  Our answer to this question will shape many other considerations.

  Australia has strong ties with the global economy.  At the moment neither Australia nor the global economy are ecologically sustainable.  Global warming is a key indicator; there are others.

  To a significant extent economic increase drives environmental deterioration – at least in the affluent parts of the world.  This is because economic increase is based on increasing the production and consumption of material goods, which currently involves increasing CO2 emissions and industrial toxins.

  Thus it would appear that in our present industrial civilisation economic increase and environmental sustainability are incompatible.  This might be called The Great Contradiction.

  Below I will show some graphs from Prof Will Steffen (ANU) showing the correlation between economic increase, population growth and increase in global economic activity…
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  A New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century

  microsoft     |      July 7, 2008

  By Bill Gates

  We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well.

  Thirty years, twenty years, ten years ago, my focus was totally on how the magic of software could change the world. I believed that breakthroughs in technology could solve key problems. And they do, increasingly, for billions of people. But breakthroughs change lives primarily where people can afford to buy them, only where there is economic demand, and economic demand is not the same as economic need.

  There are billions of people who need the great inventions of the computer age, and many more basic needs as well, but they have no way of expressing their needs in ways that matter to the market, so they go without.

  If we are going to have a chance of changing their lives, we will need another level of innovation. Not just technology innovation, we need system innovation.
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  Tiny feet treading lightly

  Sinead Roberts     |      July 3, 2008

  Each baby leaves their own ecological footprint before they’ve even learnt how to walk.

  Approximately 260,000 babies are born in Australia each year and most of these use some form of nappy for the first 2-4 years of their lives. All nappies have an environmental impact so each baby leaves their own ecological footprint before they’ve even learnt how to walk. The good news is that parents no longer have to choose between just terry cloth nappies and synthetic disposables.  There are so many options available today that it’s now much easier for parents to make a greener choice.   
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  What do you really know?

  Angeline Penrith     |      July 3, 2008

  

  A bit more knowledge of Aboriginal history would go a long way in taking down the assumptions and stereotypes against which Aboriginal kids struggle every day.  

  I don't play sport, I just don't enjoy it. I don't know the rules to footy, and wouldn't know what to do with a cricket bat, and don't want to spend hours running in circles around a field. But that's not what people assume when they meet me.

  I come from a really successful family. We've had sporting stars, school captains, school duxes, readers, thinkers, leaders in all kinds of fields. But that's not what people assume when they pass me on the street.

  I come from a proud people, an ancient nation, and a strong community that's survived genocide, and forced removal, and grand theft, but that's not what people think about when they shake my hand.

  That's not what they think about, because they are ignorant. 
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  By the People for the People

  Bronwyn Penrith     |      July 3, 2008

  If the current government really wants to make a difference, it should be going into the community and building on existing success.

  It’s hard to explain in words how the policies of removal and dispersion are still being felt amongst by Aboriginal people. It’s hard to explain to people who weren’t part of the stolen generation the intergenerational effects it’s had and is still having amongst Aboriginal people today.
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  Indigenous renaissance

  Kevin Fong     |      July 2, 2008

  

  We need Government to understand that Aboriginal stories aren’t all of crisis and despair, but also of growth and renewal.  

  In February this year the Western Australian Coroner Mr Alistair Hope, handed down his findings into tragedy caused by the abuse of drugs and alcohol in the Kimberly region, and again the focus of mainstream media and many of our politicians was narrowed.

  The problem being, when their vision narrows they lose sight of all the other stories that are going on, stories of hope and rebirth and opportunity.