The SCEC hosted National Walk Against Warming event will be held on Sunday 11 November 2007 at 10.30 am at Alexandra Headlands Surf club (along Aerodrome Road to Sixth Avenue and back)

Join with friends, family and other Australians for a sausage sizzle, speakers, and music and call for urgent government action on climate change. Be the voice for our environment and our children's future. The 2007 Walk against Warming will highlight the need for political action to reduce Australia's greenhouse emissions through:

Two and a half years after Premier Beattie appointed Andrew McNamara to chair a task force to examine Queensland's vulnerability to rising oil prices, the report has finally been released. It apparently spent many months at the bottom of a drawer.

"The report concludes that the overwhelming evidence is that world oil production will peak within the next 10 years, and recommends that a prudent risk mitigation approach requires a mix of initiatives such as reduction in consumption of liquid fossil fuels, encouraging the development and use of alternative fuels, technologies and strategies, and preparation for demographic and regional changes, as Queenslanders change travel, work and living habits in response to rising fuel prices."

Here's an excellent article about the report by Stuart McCarthy, Brisbane coordinator for the Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil.
http://webdiary.com.au/cms/?q=node/2081

Over the past few months the Sustainable Maleny team has been working hard on a project to make cheap solar hot water systems available to our members. We formed a partnership with Solahart Sunshine Coast and together formulated a two-phase "Solar Hot Water Drive".

The initial phase of the Drive is over and has been a stunning success. Incredibly, 60 people signed up within the first six weeks. 60 solar hot water systems; that's over two hundred tonnes of greenhouse emissions saved every year!

According to our agreement with Solahart, this entitles members of Sustainable Maleny to a 30% discount until the 9th of January 2008.

It seems that we may have a decent chance of seeing a good outcome for the Precinct land, but we need to get busy.

The bottom line is that we need to get as many Council feedback forms filled in as possible, rejecting an 18 hole golf course and supporting Obi Obi Parklands. We have until the 17th of September.

You can get evaluation sheets from the Maleny Library. There is also an information desk there which will be staffed by some friendly pro-garden people.

A number of people have written letters to the Caloundra shire Mayor Don Aldous, on the matter of the so-called "Maleny Community Precinct".

Our sister organisation "Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast" (CASSC) has announced some exciting new projects which are already well under way.

Solahart Sunshine Coast has been run off their feet with orders for systems through the Solar Hot Water Drive. They have over 50 people on their list, and have sold more than 20 units so far. They have someone working full time just on us, and have had to hire another consultant to keep up. Meanwhile, other groups have heard of our success are planning to emulate the idea. So even if we stopped now, we could consider this initiative a roaring success!

If you are planning to order a system and haven't yet, this is your wake up call.

We have had a great response to our solar hot water drive from local residents who are interested in installing a system. We also received many competitive applications from local solar hot water suppliers, which has made our decision-making process more difficult and time consuming than anticipated. Thank you for your patience throughout the process.

We are very excited to announce that the supplier of Sustainable Maleny Project's solar hot water drive is Solahart Sunshine Coast.

Our decision was based on the following criteria that we included in our initial email about the drive:

• Price
• Proven lifespan of installed product
• Availability of a percentage discount across all models
• Australian owned/manufactured
• Warranty
• Availability of payment plans

Brisbane City Council (BCC) convened a Climate Change and Energy Taskforce in August 2006 to advise Council on preparing the city for climate change and peak oil.

Twin Forces

The twin forces of Climate Change and Peak Oil are pushing humanity to change our way of life.

In one ear, Climate Change tells us to stop burning fossil fuels or suffer the upheaval of environmental collapse. In the other, Peak Oil reminds us that we have only a little time left to use our currently abundant oil and gas to effect change.