Australian companies get first shot at green energy cash

AUSTRALIAN companies will be guaranteed the chance to pitch for business flowing from the Gillard government's $10 billion clean energy fund that Labor will announce today in an effort to sell the benefits of green jobs at home. Climate Change Minister Greg Combet will announce today that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which will provide grants and government investment to green projects, will require candidates to show they are giving local firms a fair go to supply parts and services. The announcement comes as a government backbencher launched a scathing parliamentary attack on the Greens' rejection of Kevin Rudd's carbon plan, saying the delay had caused pollution equal to 1 million cars each year.

Funding for communities to protect and showcase their heritage

The Gillard Government has provided more than $9.8 million in funding to support 237 heritage projects around Australia, helping communities preserve and celebrate their important places and stories. Heritage Minister Tony Burke said the projects will foster pride in communities across Australia by helping them record, protect and showcase their important heritage. “Our heritage is fundamental to our national identity and informs us about where we have come from and who we are,’’ he said.

The Environment Is Dead: Long Live Mother Nature

Suzuki's May 2, 2012 blog (The Huffington Post, rabble.ca) on the fundamental failure of environmentalism is ominous. The world faces not only environmental calamities such as deforestation, coral reef depletion, and freshwater shortages, it is also mired in economic crises and harsh political realities. Despite the promise of "Arab Springs" and the global Occupy movement, we are increasingly in planetary peril. Throughout his life, David Suzuki has been a leading educator on planetary health; his conclusion about the environmental movement's failure must be agonizing. Perhaps that's why his blog offered no new way forward.