Wind to power Moreland Council’s electricity
Turbine blades for MREP Crowlands Wind Farm
Moreland Council is one of 14 organisations who have added their purchasing power together to support the development of a new wind farm to supply renewable energy for these organisations.
The 80MW Crowlands wind farm near Ararat, which will be owned and operated by energy company Pacific Hydro, will feature 39 turbines.
The consortium won the 2018 Premier’s sustainability award in the Government category. The Cooling Communities project was also listed as a finalist in the Environmental Justice category. Winners were announced on Thursday 11 October 2018 in Melbourne.
Coffee and climate action: Lobbying Wills MP Peter Khalil in Pascoe Vale
Peter Khalil MP receives a copy of IPCC 1.5C report
Saturday morning in Pascoe Vale and Wills MP Peter Khalil caught up to discuss issues with several constituents at the George Jones Eatery (named after Pascoe Vale’s first shopkeeper in 1841)
Climate action was a top priority for the citizens that had come along, although the ALP’s refugee policy was also mentioned.
Jane presented a copy of the IPCC 1.5C report to Peter Khalil, and Climate Action Moreland Convebnor John Englart also presented a copy of The Elephant in the Sky report (PDF) to him on aviation emissions.
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High Speed Rail advocacy from Moreland Council over aviation emissions growth
High speed rail in Taiwan Via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
High speed rail is being placed back on the political agenda by Moreland Council arising from the problem of growth in aviation emissions as embedded within Melbourne Airport expansion plans, and the necessity to find alternatives to aviation emissions.
Moreland Council passed a resolution at the October Council meeting to advocate “to State and Federal Governments by writing to the Ministers for Planning, Transport and Environment as well as local Members of State and Federal parliament, that investment should be focused on the establishment of a Very Fast Train to connect Australia’s cities instead of expanding the privately-owned airports.”
The Melbourne-Sydney flight route is the second busiest domestic flight route globally.(Note 1) A high speed train service could provide a 3 hour Melbourne CBD to Sydney CBD service as a cost effective and low emissions alternative to flying.
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Cooling the Upfield Corridor – Moreland Council adopts plan mitigating Urban heat
Cooling the Upfield Corridor UHIE heatmap
Moreland Council has adopted the Cooling the Upfield Corridor Action Plan 2018-2019.
It is not nearly enough to cut emissions and have a zero community emissions by 2040 target, we also need to look at climate adaptation in our highly built up urban environment. This too is part of a climate emergency response framework.
The urban heat island effect amplifies temperatures due to the urban built infrastructure and surfaces such as roads and carparks. Our Municipality is especially vulnerable to the urban heat island effect.
In coming decades Melbourne is likely to experience 50 degrees days according to researchers at the ANU, even if we limit global temperatures to 2 degrees or the much more ambituous 1.5 degrees target.
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Submission: Melbourne Airport flying blind on aviation emissions danger
Stop Melbourne Airport Expansion
Melbourne Airport is planning massive expansion of infrastructure, including new terminals and new and upgraded runways, additional flightpaths, which will induce greater travel demand, increasing the number of flights, and a huge increase in the aviation emissions. But the Masterplan fails to talk about the increase in aviation emissions that expansion will bring about.
Climate Action Moreland has done a hasty, but fairly detailed commentary, on the Melbourne Airport Masterplan. This also justifies our call for a moratorium on Melbourne airport expansion, and the growth mantra that is embedded in the Masterplan document that is at odds with climate science, and the Paris Agreement targets of needing to rapidly reduce emissions.
Call for Moratorium on Melbourne Airport expansion
Australia’s increasing aviation emissions – Source: The Elephant in the Sky
In September 2018 Climate Action Moreland joined the global Stay Grounded Network in working to limit aviation emissions, as authorised by our monthly meeting.
“We are strongly advocating for a moratorium on expansion of Melbourne airport infrastructure”, said John Englart, Convenor of local climate group Climate Action Moreland.
Melbourne Airport is the main domestic and international airport for the city and is located just to the north of Moreland municipality. The northern suburbs of Moreland are likely to be directly affected by the flight path of a proposed third runway.
“We are very concerned that the growth dynamic embedded within the airline industry and the private Melbourne Airport Corporation, supported by both the Victorian and Federal Governments, will lead directly to a massive increase in flights and an increase in aviation carbon emissions and climate impact.” said John Englart.
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Latest Emissions report cynically timed for AFL & NRL Footy Grand Finals
Greenhouse Gas Emissions to March 2018 (excluding LULUCF) – Source: Greg Jericho
On the eve of Grand Final weekend for both the AFL and NRL football codes, the Federal Department of Environment released the latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory emissions statistics showing a 1.3 per cent annual rise in Australia’s total emissions.(1)
“This is a cynical attempt to deflect attention from the continued increase in Australia’s emissions” said Climate Action Moreland convenor John Englart.
“Congratulations to Melissa Price, the new Federal Environment Minister, and her department for a very cynical timing of the release of this information on the Friday afternoon before the Grand Finals” said Englart. “Just as ordinary Australians are preparing to enjoying some epic football, our Federal government decided to release the greenhouse report card which shows the Federal government has utterly failed with climate policy.”
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