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Showing posts from July, 2021

Lies, damned lies and emissions per capita

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  When you hear a politician talk about emissions per capita , you should immediately be on your guard - it is most likely an attempt to deflect and deceive! This measure can reveal useful insights - for example, about the relative emissions of people in different countries.  In 2016 Australia’s emissions per capita was 17.10 tons [1].  For comparison: United States: 15.52 tons China: 7.38 tons Global average: 4.79 tons Bangladesh (one of the most climate vulnerable nations): 0.47 tons So, yes, this can give us a measure of our relative responsibility to slash our emissions.  The more so for Australia when you consider that our emissions per capita does NOT include emissions from burning the vast quantities of coal, oil and gas that we export. But when you hear it used by politicians from the “go-slow” brigade, when you hear it used to defend indefensibly inadequate records and policies, then you know you are being deliberately misled. In recent correspondence with this writer’s fe

NSW Local Government Elections Postponed

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  The NSW local government elections have been postponed until Saturday, December 4. https://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/Elections/Local-government-elections/Local-Government-Elections-2021/Postponement-of-the-NSW-Local-government-elections   This will mean that all the key dates for the election will change accordingly and we will share an update on that in the coming days, after the NSW Electoral Commission have completed their work. For this page, this means that we will adjust our timetables too.  We will slow down a little, post less frequently for the next couple of months and save our ammunition for the campaign period. Fortunately, the election is still scheduled for 2021, so we do not need to change the name of our page 🤣 Thank you for your support so far.  Please stay with us and be a part of the revived and re-energised campaign as it ramps up in about October.  This blog and our Facebook page and our administrators are not affiliated with any party or candidate standing in Th

Hawkesbury Responds to Student Appeals

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  The preceding is an extract from the August 2020 report Climate Leadership - It’s All Around Us .  Extracts from the report are reproduced here with the permission of the authors Hills 4 Climate Action (part of the Cattai Hills Environment Network ). This blog and our Facebook page and our administrators are not affiliated with any party or candidate standing in The Hills Shire Council elections in 2021.  Nor do we receive funding from any individual, party, institution or corporation.  Our very constrained expenditures are financed by the page administrators themselves acting in a personal capacity.  Our only interest is in a safe climate for current and future residents of the Hills Shire. Email: climate.matters.hills.2021@gmail.com Message: m.me/ClimateMattersHills2021 Facebook: facebook.com/ClimateMattersHills2021 .

Are all councils elected the same way?

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  No, councils are not all elected in the same way.  Briefly: Mayor : All the voters in the Hills Shire elect a mayor for a four year term.  But in some other local government areas, the voters elect only the councillors and the council then elects one of their number to serve as mayor for a two year term. Councillors :  The Hills Shire is divided geographically into four council wards. Voters in each ward elect three councillors, for a total of 12 elected councillors.  But some other councils are undivided (no wards) and all the voters elect the councillors for the whole council area. For example, Hawkesbury City Council is one of four council areas immediately adjacent to the Hills.  In Hawkesbury the mayor is not elected by popular vote.  And, in Hawkesbury, all the voters elect their twelve councillors for the whole council area. The number of councillors also varies from one council to another.  Another adjacent council, Hornsby Shire Council, has nine councillors, three elected

Cool Cats Reign in Penrith

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  The preceding is an extract from the August 2020 report Climate Leadership - It’s All Around Us .  Extracts from the report are reproduced here with the permission of the authors Hills 4 Climate Action (part of the Cattai Hills Environment Network ). This blog and our Facebook page and our administrators are not associated or affiliated with any party or candidate standing in The Hills Shire Council elections in 2021.  Nor do we receive funding from any individual, party, institution or corporation.  Our very constrained expenditures are financed by the page administrators themselves acting in a personal capacity.  Our only interest is in a safe climate for current and  future residents of the Hills Shire. Email: climate.matters.hills.2021@gmail.com Message: m.me/ClimateMattersHills2021 Facebook: facebook.com/ClimateMattersHills2021 .