Thursday, August 18, 2011

Environmentality 17 August 2011

Dear Environmentality listeners.

With Jaime away on holiday for five weeks and Peter leaving the show after today for his move to Benalla today's show was the last until about the 21st of September. Assisting us in the studio today was Alicia who does all the guest research and organisation to get them on the show and was a great help today in getting our guests on the phone during the show.

Our first guest was Sarah Day from Ross House and eco-shout. Our second guest was Damien Moyse from the Alternative Technology Association who brought us up to date with the ATA's concerns about possible moves by the Victorian Government to change the premium feed in tariff for grid connected solar photo voltaic systems.

Sarah told us about Ross House and its influence in supporting over 50 small non-profit groups working towards environmental and social justice by providing affordable, accessible office space. The heritage listed building is situated at 247 - 251 Flinders Lane in the heart of Melbourne. It is easily accessible by the many groups who use its facilities. Ross House also offers affordable meeting room hire and other resources to anyone who might like to use them.

The Big Picture film nights presenting social justice and environmental docos are back at Ross House. Held on the first Tuesday of the month the next film is Tapped which investigates the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil. Hosted by DO SOMETHING on Tuesday 6 September at the Hayden Raysmith Room, 4th floor at Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. Entry is by donation and all proceeds go towards environmental campaigns.

Ross House is part of the Melbourne City Councils “1200 Buildings” sustainability initiative. See Sarah and Michael Griffiths, the Facility and Sustainability Officer talking about Ross House sustainability actions on you tube.

Sarah is also runs her own Ross House organisation called eco-shout which is a catalyst to action for anyone who wants to be part of creating environmental and social justice in Australia. See herstory about eco-shout. You can use Eco-shout any way you can to lighten your footprint and get involved: from ethical shopping to joining a group, to launching your own campaign.

The eco-shout active groups search engine is a listing of groups searchable across nearly 30 categories from active spaces to wetlands. You can promote your own group by being added to the active group directory.

Anyone with a sustainable product or service can be listed on the eco-shout green directory. All listings are scrutinized to ensure listings meet sustainability criteria to avoid green washing.

Visit eco-shout to learn more about environmentl issues and see how you can help environmental and social justice organisations or get help for your own actions.

Thanks to Sarah for telling us about Ross House and her own organisation eco-shout.

Our second guest was Damien Moyse energy projects and policy manager from the Alternative Technology Association which is Australia’s leading not-for-profit consumer-based organisation promoting renewable energy, sustainable building and water saving. The ATA understands the Victorian Government is on the verge of making an announcement to slash the feed-in tariff, which has supported the boom in solar power systems across the state and is calling on the Victorian Government Coalition to honour its 2010 election commitment and hold off on making major changes to the Victorian feed-in tariff for rooftop solar systems before an independent review is held. See the ATA's media release on this issue.

Damien spoke to us about how the feed in tariff works and its use in assisting the development of a renewable solar energy industry. The early phasing out of the tariff would be a blow for the industry reducing the incentive for people to install home pv systems and pushing out the time when solar generated renewable power is on a price parity with fossil fuel based non-renewable power.

In keeping with our tradition of asking our guest to select some music Sarah provided us with two songs to choose from by two Melbourne based bands; Qwest by Combat Wombat, and Moment of Truth by Blue King Brown. Unfortunately we could only play Moment of Truth which Alicia brought into the studio.

With Smokey’s selections you got to hear:

  1. Can’t Be Sure by Sundays
  2. Moment of Truth by Blue King Brown
  3. Gold Lion by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  4. Cowboys by Portishead
  5. When I First Met Your Ma by Paul Kelly
  6. Chills by Ben Lee

Another great show with two interesting guests. Thank you to Alicia for coming into the studio and assisting Smokey and Peter produce today's show.

Listen to or download the show!

Remember the show is in recess until about September 21st.

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