It鈥檚 the best news on climate change for years, and you鈥檝e probably not heard about it.
Spain鈥檚 new Gemasolar power plant produced uninterrupted clean energy all day and all night for the first time on July 3. That鈥檚 24 hours of zero emissions power, here and now.
Gemasolar is a concentrated solar thermal power plant. It uses a field of mirrors to concentrate solar radiation in a central tower.
What鈥檚 new about Gemasolar is that the plant can store solar energy for up to 15 hours. That鈥檚 baseload renewable energy, supplied all through the night.
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About 50 people attended a forum on July 8 titled "Rebuilding from the Ground Up: alternatives to the failed NT Intervention".
The meeting heard from Valerie Martin, a Yuendumu resident in the Northern Territory, which is one of the "hub towns" under the government鈥檚 Northern Territory Intervention.
She took part in the Prescribed Area People's Alliance conference in Darwin in June, which launched the 鈥淩ebuilding from the Ground Up鈥 document.
Plans to give refugees deported from Australia a 鈥渟pecial barcode鈥 when they arrive in Malaysia were revealed by the June 29 Daily Telegraph. A final refugee swap deal between Australia and Malaysia is likely to be announced this month.
More than 340 refugees have arrived since Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the plan on May 7 to 鈥渟wap鈥 800 asylum seekers in Australia for 4000 鈥減rocessed refugees鈥 in Malaysia. The refugees affected by the deal are being held in various stages of isolation on Christmas Island.
Under an agreement endorsed by the federal court, the Quandamooka Aboriginal people of North Stradbroke Island, 22 kilometres off the Brisbane coast, have gained partial native title over the island. Speaking at a July 4 handover ceremony, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the agreement opens the way for settlements of other native title claims in the Brisbane region, the July 5 Australian reported.
Eastern Star Gas were forced to halt coal seam gas workat a site in the Pilliga state forest on July 5 after an activist scaled a 25-metre high rig dropping a banner that read 鈥淣o Pilliga CSG鈥.
The activist, Warrick Jordan, was on the rig for almost 16 hours as part of a protest against ESG's proposal for 1100 coal seam gas wells and their associated infrastructure in the Pilliga.
At the protest, about 20 people, mostly residents of nearby Coonabarabran, staged a peaceful day-long blockade of the gates of the Eastern Star Gas site.
Ever spent time in Dubai airport, on the shores of the Persian Gulf? You might have reflected that human beings can live quite well when temperatures exceed 50掳C.
Vivienne Porzsolt, a member of Jews Against the Occupation and the Socialist Alliance, is one of four Australians on the Canadian boat Tahrir, part of the Freedom Flotilla attempting to break Israel's starvation siege on Gaza. She reports on what happened when Greek authorities acted to stop the boats from sailing on July 4. A protest was held outside the Greek consulate in Sydney on July 7.
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More than 500 Malaysians and their supporters gathered in Melbourne's Federation Square on July 9 to call for free and fair elections in Malaysia. They were decked out in yellow shirts and held banners and placards. The rally, called in solidarity with the Bersih 2.0 democracy movement in Malaysia, chanted slogans in Malay and English, ranging from "Bersih bersih" (Clean, clean) to "change is possible".
The campaign of repression, slander and sabotage against the Freedom Flotilla II in its efforts to break the blockade of Gaza shows how desperately Israel and its supporters wish to keep the conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave out of the world's view.
In June, four Australian set sail as part of the second Freedom Flotilla to Gaza with the aim of highlighting the suffering of its people at the hands of Israel鈥檚 illegal blockade.
The flotilla, involving a dozen boats with hundreds of activists from more than 50 countries, aims to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
The convoy coincides with the deep process of revolt occurring across the Arab world 鈥 against regimes that often collaborate with Israel.
The fight to stop the James Price Point gas hub in the Kimberly in Western Australia's north reached a critical point on July 4 as police arrested dozens of people.
Community Voice 鈥 a united grassroots ticket to contest Wollongong City Council elections 鈥 was officially launched on July 8 at Wollongong Town Hall.聽
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