Posts filed under 'Hazelwood'
How not to conduct an interview
As a part of working with CAM I’ve needed to find some new skills. A few of those skills are:
- keeping your banner from drooping in the middle when at a protest march.
- writing to politicians, demanding action on the greatest moral challenge of our time, without swearing.
- knocking on a complete stranger’s door and asking them to help close a power station.
But the most recent skill that I’ve acquired, in order to bring you all the best local climate news, is how to conduct an interview. And my first interview ever was with long-serving member for Brunswick Carlo Carli.
First rule of journalism, be prepared
After playing email tag for a couple of weeks it was proving difficult to find a mutual alignment of our diaries. Thinking I’d have better luck arranging a date and time using the powers of speech rather than type, I decided to ring Carlo’s office.
I was expecting Carlo either not be there or to be unavailable to take a call. So was somewhat surprised when I got straight through. Carlo kindly suggested that we do the interview over the phone. Diary at the ready I was also surprised when Carlo suggested we just do it now. “Yes, thanks – that’ll be great” was my reply – but in my head I was thinking What – now! C**p, I’m completely unprepared. (more…)
Add comment July 20, 2010
Morelanders protest government stance on dirty power giant
Members of a local community group will protest on Sydney Road on Saturday as part of an ongoing campaign to replace Australia’s dirtiest power station at Hazelwood in the La Trobe valley. Community groups around the country are mobilising to call for the closing of Hazelwood, and Climate Action Moreland has played a crucial role in putting pressure on State and Federal politicians. (more…)
Add comment July 16, 2010
Brumby can’t see the world’s biggest polluter through the smokestacks!
The problem is Hazelwood but Brumby can’t see the solution
Our campaign to close the Hazelwood power station is working. How else would you explain the Brumby government, four months out from the State election, leaking to the Age that they are contemplating closing one quarter of Hazelwood? But … one quarter? That’s only half of half the job!
The announcement is big news and shows that all our efforts are really making a difference. It shows that grassroots campaigning, like door knocking and holding community stalls, is really successful. (more…)
Add comment July 11, 2010
“Replace Hazelwood” says local Federal MP to Parliament
Local Federal MP Kelvin Thompson has called on the Federal Parliament to support replacing Australia’s dirtiest power station. “Australians are hungry for action to tackle carbon emissions” stated Thompson, who acknowledged that he has been contacted by many of his constituents urging “strong, effective, urgent action” to reduce emissions.
Kelvin Thomson
Thompson championed Environment Victoria’s report: Fast-tracking Victoria’s clean energy future to replace Hazelwood power station, which outlines a plan for transitioning to other energy sources by 2013. He noted that “replacing Hazelwood will not only cut Victoria’s carbon emissions by over 10 per cent; it will free up 27 billion litres of water each year”. (more…)
Add comment July 10, 2010
Hazelwood power station – A brief history
Everything you wanted to know about Hazelwood, but was afraid to ask.
THE EARLY YEARS
47 years of pollution.
1949 – The State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) begins developing the brown coal reserves at Morewell, also known as the ‘Morwell Project’.
1959 – Hazelwood Power Station is approved. It’s planned to consist of six 200 MW generating units, giving a total generating capacity of 1,200 MW.
1963 – Growing demand for electricity forces the SECV to review this capacity.
1964 – Hazelwood begins its commission.
1965 – Approval of two additional units is granted.
1971 – After twelve years Hazelwood is finally fully functional producing 1,600 megawatts of base load electricity. (more…)
Add comment June 15, 2010
Climate Action Moreland goes national
It was late January when Climate Action Moreland decided that this year we were going to embrace the Hazelwood campaign, and push ourselves into an activity that we’d never tried before – doorknocking house to house. In this double election year, we knew this was the time to take our message out there, to the streets and the people of Brunswick (watch the video here).
Climate Action Moreland members at the Hazelwood protest Sept 2009
And not only has our campaign been successful in Brunswick, but it’s now spread throughout Melbourne and Australia. Inspired by the depth of community support for our campaign in Brunswick, climate action groups around the country are using our doorknocking techniques in their local areas, groups like Climate Action Newtown and Parramatta Climate Action Now in Sydney, as well as our neighbours Darebin Climate Action Now, Yarra Climate Action Now, and Inner West Climate Change Community. (more…)
Add comment June 15, 2010
Door-knocking success with Hazelwood campaign
40 supporters of Climate Action Moreland have door-knocked and leafleted more than 2500 Brunswick homes to launch a new strategy to engage the community on climate issues in this key election year.
The door-knocking, on 17 April and 2 May, will continue at least once a month, with a focus on the campaign to replace Hazelwood power station, the dirtiest in the developed world. It was supposed to close in 2005, but the government extended its licence for another 25 years. Hazelwood is a national embarrassment, 80% foreign owned and responsible for 3% of Australia’s and almost 15% of Victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate Action Moreland wants it shut down by 2012 and replaced with renewable energy. We want the government to make shutting down Hazelwood an election promise, but they’ll only do that if we can show there is real community concern on the issue. So we’re taking the issue to the streets of Brunswick… door by door! (more…)
Add comment May 11, 2010
Replace Hazelwood With Renewable Energy Video
Thanks to Andrew at The Vagabond magazine for putting together this fantastic video. It shows volunteers from Climate Action Moreland, 100% Renewable Energy and the Climate Action Centre door knocking in Brunswick to demand that Hazelwood, the most polluting coal-fired power station in the developed world, be replaced with renewable energy.
2 comments May 6, 2010
Replace Hazelwood
In 2005 WWF Australia named Hazelwood the “most polluting of all power stations operating in the world’s major industrialised countries”. At the same time the Victorian Government stated its intention to reduce the State’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 8.3 megatonnes a year by 2012. That’s less than two years away and it is every increasingly apparent that the state government has no intention of taking serious action on climate change. You can not have your coal cake and eat it!
Hazelwood power station and open-cut brown coal mine (Click image for more detail)
A Victorian disgrace
If being the home to Australia’s dirtiest polluter wasn’t enough encouragement for the Brumby government to take action against the brown coal dependent industrial dinosaur of a bygone era, you would have thought that Hazelwood being responsible for over 15% of Victoria’s carbon pollution (not to mention 3% of Australia’s), would hit home that the monster needs to be replaced. (more…)
Add comment April 11, 2010
