Join Kath & Kim in the fight for our natural Aussie icons

What do a footballer, a cook and two foxy ladies from Fountain Lakes have in common? All are speaking out for Australia’s iconic places at risk of disappearing unless Australia provides stronger action on climate change over coming months.

The Australian Conservation Foundation has launched a new report and website ‘Who on Earth Cares about our special Australian places?’ highlighting ten of Australia’s top natural icons at serious risk from climate change.

Visit www.whoonearthcares.com/saveicons to find out which of our favourite places are threatened from climate change, and send a postcard to our leaders from your special place calling from greater leadership and stronger action to save these icons while we still have the chance.

You’ll be in good company – many of Australia’s best known faces from stage, screen and stadium are also speaking out for their favourite Australian places, from our world-class wine regions and Kakadu’s wetlands to the Great Barrier Reef and our beaches.

Garnaut Climate Change Review

The Garnaut Climate Change Review presented its Final Report to the Prime Minister of Australia and the eight states and territories on 30 September 2008.

The Review was an independent study conducted by economist Professor Ross Garnaut, commissioned by Australia's Commonwealth, state and territory governments in 2007.

Although the Review is now complete, the Garnaut Climate Change Review web site will be available as an ongoing resource where you will find all materials released by the Review, including reports, papers and transcripts from public addresses. Submissions to the Review are also available.

Personal Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator

Ben Rose, a climate change consultant from Western Australia, has created a comprehensive greenhouse gas calculator which includes all emission types (and even embodied energy) from air travel, waste, grocery shopping etc. You can download the calculator from www.ghgenergycalc.com.au

Climate Change Workshop

On the morning of Monday 30th June the Central Australian Research Network based at CDU in Alice will host the first of two scenario-building workshops on Central Australian Climate Change.

The workshops are part of the CDU's School of Environmental Research's program to develop regional models of climate change.

This month's workshop in Alice will be facilitated by Professor Stephen Garnett and will be used to develop an initial trial set of scenarios to be re-analysed later this year.

We would like the workshop to be attended by people, not just with
an understanding of the way the landscape in central Australia is
lived in and used, but also the imagination to envisage a future
thirty years hence.

For more information, or to register your interest in participating please email
rolf.gerritsen@cdu.edu.au

Students of Sustainability 2008

Students of Sustainability (SoS) is a five day conference for anyone interested in creating a more ecologically and socially sustainable world.

SoS '08 will be held at the University of Newcastle from the 5th to the 9th of July, with camping close by. Students, community and Indigenous activists, academics, public intellectuals, environmental educators, social change agents of all stripes and from all over Australia will come and participate in a range of educational, practical and participatory forums and workshops. SoS is about imparting the inspiration, tools, motivation and education required for participants to inspire and educate others when they return to their own communities.

The conference includes
- Workshops on environmental and social justice issues
- Planning for a sustainable future
- skills and planning sessions for taking real action
- High Schools Day (Monday 7th July)
- Community Day - Linking the local to the global

Serviced campsites provided

The conference will take place at the University of Newcastle from 5th-9th July.

For more information check out the website

The conference will be followed by the Camp for Climate Action, which is also being held in Newcastle from 10th to 15th July

ENERGY AND EQUITY - Preparing Households for Climate Change: Energy, Equity and Immediacy

Energy and Equity, a report produced by Australia’s leading environmental, consumer and welfare organisations, says energy efficiency is potentially the quickest and cheapest way to cut greenhouse pollution. Energy savings of 30% are possible using immediately available effective technologies. The report recommends that efficiency improvements be complemented by appropriate utility tariffs and safety net measures.

The report, a joint project between the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and CHOICE, says five percent of existing homes should be retrofitted each year with energy and water saving technologies such as insulation, solar hot water and rainwater tanks to offset inevitable increases in utility prices resulting from emissions trading and other factors.

http://www.acoss.org.au/upload/publications/papers/4204__EnergyEquity%20low%20res.pdf

ClimateXchange: How’s your world?

Questacon and ASPAC have made a climateXchange website for the Asia Pacific region.

climateXchange is helping to raise awareness of climate change and its impacts on local communities across the Asia Pacific. The site provides a space to gather stories on climate change from schools and communities and to share the great things that schools and communities are undertaking.

Submissions can include pictures, written pieces or videos that examine the effects of climate change both locally and globally.The collection of submissions are presented on the climateXchange website where users click on a location and view a story about climate change in that area. Visitors can see stories from areas as diverse as The Great Barrier Reef, the Snowy Mountain and Antarctica through the eyes of people who live and work there.

Examples of stories include a video from a primary school in Sydney showing what they are doing to make a difference or an interview with a scientist who is battling hard to save the rare mountain pygmy possum.To get involved and share your story go to the climateXchange website

Al Gore's new thinking on climate change

TEACHING CLIMATE CHANGE

The Australia Institute, sponsored by Australian Ethical Investment co. has recently released this great free, web-based resource. It includes nine modules for teaching climate change including up-to-date, local data, student questions and activities. It covers the environmental, scientific, political, economic and ethical aspects of climate change and would be most suitable for humanities, science or integrated classes.
www.teachingclimatechange.com.au/

HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW

When the weather changes daily, how do we really know that Earth's climate is changing? A new book from Lynne Cherry and co-author Gary Braasch, written especially for middle schoolers, How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming (Dawn Publications, March 2008) presents the evidence behind the headlines-gathered by scientists from all over the world, sometimes with the assistance of young "citizen scientists" and told in an age-appropriate manner with clarity and hope.

http://eelink.net/cgi-bin/ee-link/newclick/4365716

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH EXPLORER

Exploratorium site links to real-time NOAA imagery and graphs on atmosphere,hydrosphere, global effects, etc. Students can explore scientific data relating to the atmosphere, the oceans, areas covered by ice and snow, and the living organisms in all these domains.
http://eelink.net/cgi-bin/ee-link/newclick/4365714

HIPPOWORKS

HippoWorks Helps Teach Kids about Global Warming

HippoWorks.com has just produced a new 12-part cartoon series "One by One, Ton by Ton, Let's Stop Global Warming!" to help teach kids about this important environmental issue and what they can do to stop it. A new episode will air every week.

As an educational tool for teachers, each episode concludes with questions and a glossary for a follow-up classroom discussion. Previous cartoons from Hippo Works have promoted energy conservation, awareness about animal extinction, and green living. The weekly cartoonlets are a free offering, for subscribers or for your Web site!

Thinking about Climate Change - A Guide for Teachers and Students

Thinking About Climate Change: a guide for teachers and students is now available for download at www.theweathermakers.org/tacc

A joint initiative between Professor Tim Flannery, the Purves Environmental Fund and Text Publishing, this guide is constructed for students between years 7 and 10 across the curriculum disciplines of Maths, Sciences, the Humanities and Information Technology. Adapted from Tim Flannery’s seminal book, We Are the Weather Makers, Thinking About Climate Change offers lesson plans, research aids and discussion suggestions to allow teachers and students to explore the implications and complexities of climate change and to learn and practice relevant skills. The guide has been compiled and tested by curriculum professionals and practising teachers and fact-checked by respected climate experts.

Thinking About Climate Change was distributed free to every secondary school in Australia in November 2007. It can also be downloaded for free from the Learning Resources tab at www.theweathermakers.org. This site is regularly updated with activities, news, links and additional teaching resources.

iNet student online conference on climate change

Students at your school are invited to take part in the 2008 series of iNet student online conferences, ‘Whose world is it anyway?’

These four online events for primary and secondary students are a chance to discuss big global issues with young people from around the world. Students can also share creative work exploring the issues.

This year’s themes are:

New technologies: a threat or a promise?
Online message boards active 25 - 29 February
*no new contributions can be accepted for this first conference.

Climate change: whose problem is it?
Online message boards active 10 -14 March
Extended deadline for sending in creative work: 25 February

Do you live in a 'global village'?
Online message boards active 28 April - 2 May
Deadline for sending in creative work: 17 March

If you could change the world to create a better future, what would you do?
Online message boards active 16 - 20 June
Deadline for sending in creative work: 12 May

For more information, visit www.ssat-inet.net/haveyoursay
Register to take part

To make sure you are kept updated, register to participate at www.cybertext.net.au/studentreg3.htm

Students may register online individually. Teachers can also register themselves and then pass information on to all their students.
What kind of creative work can be submitted?

· written work: essays, stories, poems, newspaper articles . . .
· videos
· audio recordings
· presentations
· websites

Students providing material for the online conferences are invited to submit an avatar, rather than a personal photo. The two sites that could
be used to create these images are: http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html and http://www.weeworld.com/default.aspx
(teachers may need to set up an account for students or students may wish to draw their own picture and send as a jpeg file).

For more detailed information, please visit www.ssat-inet.net/haveyoursay

All contributions, with students’ age, name, school and country, must be sent to Ms Debra Brydon at brydon@cybertext.net.au by the
deadlines specified above.

Students who aren’t able to submit any creative work by the deadline are still welcome to join in the discussion on the message boards.

If you have any questions about the conferences, please contact Debra Brydon: brydon@cybertext.net.au

Sustainability Wiz Online Program

Based on best-practice international research and Gould Group's practical experience with thousands of schools, Sustainability Wiz guides schools through the steps essential to incorporate sustainability in meaningful ways into curricula, operations and culture - and from there into homes.

Using a range of fun online tools and resources, engaging and empowering activities, and through a community of support, Sustainability Wiz provides a one-stop shop for schools and their wider communities.

Importantly Sustainability Wiz allows students from around the world to engage in addressing climate change through actions in their school and the community and tackle issues such as carbon footprint, and water and energy usage to create schools for the future.

Making sense of global environmental change

Do you want to stay up-to-date on the latest science and policy related to conservation and global environmental change, but just don't have the time to make sense of it all?

GreenFacts, a Belgian NGO, has put together dozens of information 'digests' on topics ranging from climate change to biodiversity. Many of their reports (in five different languages) are produced in conjunction with international bodies such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Check out the GreenFacts website for a full list of available digests and other information

Too young to vote but have stuff to say?

You may know some students that are too young to vote but still want to have a say about climate change and other issues relating to environment and sustainability.

Turning the Tides is a music project by Australian artists calling for action to address the grave threats posed by climate change in a manner that respects all those who share our planet. The voices of traditional Aboriginal elders are interspersed amongst songs from leading Australian artists including Missy Higgins, John Butler, Ghostwriters, Lior and more. The album features fresh material, some produced especially for the album from a range of Australia artists including Wolf and Cub, After The Fall, Good Buddha, Ben Fink, Watussi, Declan Kelly, Gelbison and more.

On the website you can learn great skills such as how to write a letter to politicians, find out information on various issues such as nuclear power aswell as the opportunity to upload your images and creative response to issues you feel passionate about onto the website.

Let the politicians know what you think real leadership means this election and what they should do about climate change.

A Youth delegation will take all Too Young To Vote messages to politicians in Canberra a week before the election.

For more info contact: TTTclimateaction@gmail.com and check out the turning the tide website at http://www.turningthetide.com.au/

International Painting Competition on the Environment

The International Children's Painting Competition on the Environment is organized annually by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE), Bayer and Nikon.

It has been held since 1991 and has received over 190,000 entries from children in over 100 countries.

This year's competition will focus on climate change.

The children's paintings can focus on concrete actions such as using renewable energy, introducing energy saving light bulbs at home, sharing vehicles and using public transport, or planting trees.

The competition will run until 15 January 2008. Visit the UNEP website for full details.

Beating the Carbon Cops

Have you been watching the Carbon Cops on ABC TV during the holidays? I bet some of your students have. Now might therefore be a great time to dedicate a couple of lessons to the ways that we use energy and and produce carbon dioxide in our own homes, communities and lifestyles.

Imagine the difference we could make if all households reduced their carbon production by 50%.

Lessons on this may be supported by the Carbon Cops website which includes fact sheets and an emissions calculator. Another great website for this topic would of course be the official website of An Inconvenient Truth. This website includes an Education Guide which you can download. Copies of the DVD have also been sent to all schools.

Please feel free to share your your thoughts on these ideas or any practical examples of when you have studied this topic with your class.