Kangaroo burgers can save the planet: switch from beef cuts GHGs by 12mt, says UNSW report

A report by the director of the sustainability centre at the University of NSW, Mark Diesendorf, said a 30 per cent reduction in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 was achievable but would need both energy efficiency and renewable energy measures, as well as a change of diet, wrote Mathew Murphy in The Age (11/10/2007, p.B1).

“Rednecks” to go green and hold hands-out for carbon credits for land action or non-action: NSW Farmers Association plan

The NSW Farmers Association’s annual conference called for research to quantify agriculture’s ability to sequester carbon, and for a wide range of policies to address climate change, including more flexible environmental and natural resource legislation, reported The Land (26/7/2007, p.14).

Seven plants currently being considered as promising biofuel crops banned as noxious weeds in parts of Australia

The Queensland-based Invasive Species Council has assessed weed risks posed by 18 biofuel crops currently proposed as solutions to cutting greenhouse emissions, wrote science and environment reporter Rosslyn Beeby in The Canberra Times (4/10/2007, p.11).

Eco-Carbons to convert cereal-grain ’seconds’, husks, fruit stones, nut shells, even straw, into renewable energy

A pilot factory based in Gunnedah, NSW, and perhaps a second unit in Toowoomba, Queensland, could spearhead the emergence of an industrial process able to turn farm wastes into charcoal beads, providing a new source of renewable energy, wrote Graham Fuller in Queensland Country Life (4/10/2007, p.23).

Tax-incentive legislation will assist major corporations, take rural land out of agricultural production, says Greens Party MP

Christine Milne MP (Greens Party Senator) speaking against proposed tax incentive legislation, stated that the legislation would result in water and land being removed from agricultural production.

Livestock methane emissions easy target for governments; should not be compared with emissions from coal-fired power stations

Mick Keogh of the Australian Farm Institute said while many media stories automatically align methane emissions from livestock with methane emissions from coal-fired power stations, in reality the two were very different, wrote James Nason in Queensland Country Life (4/10/2007, p. 7).

Methane emission producers able to sell reductions; avoid potential high levels through growing fodder trees, says consultant

Agricultural consultant Alan Lauder, who had just released a methane discussion paper on his carbon grazing website http://www.carbongrazing.com.au, argued that growers who introduced more efficient grazing systems to reduce methane would also receive win-wins in the form of more production per hectare, an ability to withstand droughts for longer, and more dollars in the hip pocket, wrote James Nason in Queensland Country Life (4/10/2007, p. 7).

Greens Party MP Milne says proposed tax legislation will harm farmers, needs appropriate scientific scrutiny

Christine Milne MP (Senator, Greens Party) stated that a whole-of-government approach to climate change was needed, on 20 September 2007.

Recycled water better than mains water to irrigate grapevines; no difference in yield between the two, fewer pathogens in soil

Recycled water was more beneficial than mains water to irrigate grapevines, local research has found, wrote regional reporter Cara Jenkin in The Advertiser (6/10/2007, p.58).

Casualties of global warming: QLD and NT bear brunt of declines in health and productivity

According to Siobhain Ryan, some of Australia’s biggest greenhouse polluting industries, such as coal, iron and steel, and agriculture, could see major cuts to their output by 2050 if no action was taken to contain global warming, reported The Australian (5/10/2007, p. 7).