Back to the future from 1980's for the Wilton airport proposal.

So what noise levels can be expected for the Illawarra ?

Here's some 70dB noise maps for the Holsworthy options from the SMEC EIS Review report of the late 1990's.  These  showed the 70dB contours impacting the northern Illawarra right down to North Wollongong

Presumably the Wilton options would show the 70dB contours impacting more of the Central Wollongong and Wollongong's southern suburbs than the Holsworthy proposals of the late 1990's.  

Note - The SMEC report was "binned" within days as it indicated that Holsworthy had more environmental & risk issues than Badgery's Creek - Holsworthy was meant to be the "fall back" option if Badgery's Creek failed.

Mood:  chillin'

I've travelled to Japan a few times a long time ago - lots of good and some funny memories.

So I was delighted to discover some Bloggers & Tweeters from Japan :   BlogLinkJapan & Japan_Blogs which are being Twittered from bloglinkjapan  & Japan_Blogs really fun and interesting.

A few more Tweeters I like to follow : Shibuya246, Tokyo2016Today, Green Net Guy Tokyo and KimonoBox

 Here are RSS feeds - Tweeters from Japan ... - also from Gundam Manga Anime Harajuku Cosplay

Mood:  incredulous

Notwithstanding the dire warnings of the late 1990's by writers such as Hans-Peter Martin & Harald Schumann in their "The Global Trap", I am just totally gobsmacked at how this whole global financial crisis is unravelling everything.

There were fears expressed just over 10 years ago at would could derail countries - interesting times ... too interesting. The faces and images of this crisis are haunting, with "credit crunch" tent cities around cities like Sacramento. It was chillingly similar to the squatter shanties I witnessed bulldozed by the government in New Delhi in the mid 1980's (associated with later civil unrest)  and to images of the 1930's.

Pink's controversial 2006 song "Dear Mr President", with its words "What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?" was prophetic - however "many radio station DJs had been told they couldn't discuss the track if she was a guest, and that she wasn't allowed to perform it on other U.S. television shows" (Wikipedia). Nevertheless 2009's full reality had been relatively invisible .. albeit reported by some, including Nobel Prizing winning economist, Paul Krugman for some years, Canada's Janet Eaton, American Alliance for Manufacturing, also youtube.... But its highlighting to Middle America by Oprah Winfrey and subsequently the images and stories told in blogs,   & by the world's media, has spurred  great generosity.

Many might also have expected major global massing over the global financial crisis. What so many protested about has actually happened - or even worse than could have been imagined. And yet to some it seems to be a surprising global silence from the antiglobalization quarter ... many journalists and academics are questioning - where did they all go? Yet it seems there are voices out there.

In the late 1990s' it had been feared that unfettered globalization forces might see global corporations having  more power than governments. Reacting to this, MAI groups sprang up around the world, connected by Web 1.0 technologies of the fledgling internet and email  - see links below. As a then elected City Councillor I was one of many concerned at the threats posed to the sovereignty and independence of national, state and local governments. It was important to us as elected representatives that we have the right to make decisions on environmental planning - and not have it determined by the WTO or the like. It seemed like a very broad coalition from those who considered themselves as world citizens and those who could be better described as "economic nationists", eg One Nation followers in Australia and Global Trade Watch in the USA.

As one economist said at the time - it is not globalization itself that is the problem - it is the way that it is proposed to be managed without sufficient governance. The movement continued to build and also veered into Y2K Millennial Survivalism & other areas. Ultimately the MAI was overturned, however the globalization agenda of the WTO continued.  Much of the DFI (Direct Foreign Investment)  negotiations continued on a bilateral, rather than a multilateral, basis. And much of the original MAI documentation was to be implemented into organizations like the WTO.China would be admitted to the WTO in 2001. Along the way, I was one of many however who found the violence, that occurred from Seattle on, was repugnant and alienating. My position had always been one of non-violence. 

Subsequently many have claimed that the antiglobalization movement is dead. At conferences such as that held in Sapporo in 2008 there were more police than protesters. Various reasons have been given for its alleged demise.

• although the movement protested greatly it did not develop solutions
• were some of the early thinkers, who were not violent-hardliners, repelled or squeezed out, by a movement that generated adrenalin through mass violent action - especially when anti-globalization began to be equated with terrorism
• the violence, while attracting many, also alienated those who were more mainstream from joining in at all
• after September 11 2001 the movement evolved into an anti war and anti global warming movement
• possibly the actions became more locally focused than a connected global network eg NAFTA in North America, EU in Europe, ASEAN & APEC in the Asia-Pacific.
• and undoubtedly some became older, frailer and their ever patient families finally needed more attention

2009 has brought some amazing statements - most notably that by Alan Greenspan, "who for decades was regarded as the high priest of laisser-faire capitalism". Greenspan, in his epiphany, stated that "the US government may have to nationalize some banks on a temporary basis to fix the financial system and restore the flow of credit." Joe Firestone in his blog states, "But now is not the time for unshakable faith in the false God of the free market. It is the time for finding out what works, and for support of a President who will take us to that place wherever it leads, and ideology be damned."

The G20 will have plenty to discuss in March-April  2009 and beyond, and protectionist style "economic nationalism" approaches could arguably just exacerbate the crisis. And although it might be asked if there will be responses from the vestiges of the antiglobalization movement ...  it looks like the G20 could in fact be getting an interesting welcome in London.

MAI related Links from 1990's - 2009:

• Mai-NOT Archives - more - the role of the internet - more by Martin & Varney
• Australian groups, Kerrie Christian's MAI / Brian Jenkins (more)pages & parliamentary inquiry- Hans-Peter Martin & Harald Schumann  ("The Global Trap") in Australia
• From 2000 on - Canada -  Downward Bound & Activism Wiki  / UK / USA - Anarchist Views & Media Mouse

Mood:  special

As a former City Councillor who supported E-Tools for community consultation, I observed some great examples of community social capital, including Web 2.0. So Toronto's Web 2.0 Summit sounds intriguing. Billed as an interactive forum to explore how Web 2.0 technology can change the way governments interact with citizens, create policies and make decisions - see agenda. The Web 2.0 Summit is an opportunity to:

The Web 2.0 Summit is an opportunity to:

Share ideas about how Web 2.0 and social media (such as wikis, blogs and social networking profiles) can increase civic engagement, reach all communities and improve City services.

Learn new ways for elected officials to engage communities on the services that affect their quality of life.

Help build the Web service strategy for Canada's largest city.

The Summit features Councillors, Community Groups, Council officials, industry reps eg Anthony D Williams of Wikinomics - "Government 2.0 :Unleashing Wikinomics in the City of Toronto". Also Mark Sturman, whose Keynote Address was well received. Interesting how he used Mozilla Wiki to develop speaker notes and invite collaboration, also referencing Beltzner's Changing the World slides (large). I liked Sacha Chua's blog posting on her experience as a Gen Y panelist.

It seems so many cities around the world are doing Web 2.0 events. In San Francisco Al Gore "addressed the San Francisco audience at the Web 2.0 Summit with an urgent appeal to assign a purpose to Web 2.0 tools. His address focussed on three themes, in cluding the democracy crisis: television has removed the democratic view of truth, and interactive Web TV - (Current tv) has the potential to restore it."

Now even Second Life features a Government 2.0 discussion group, according to Rialtas - Web 2.0 to Government 2.0 in Ireland — e-Government and e-Democracy !  More at Mybloglog.

So it will be interesting to see how Toronto compares with Australian Cities such as Wollongong. There, community activists are using E-tools in their campaign to regain its local democracy, from the NSW State Government appointed administrators. The previous council axed Neighbourhood Committees. Now a new Engagement Framework is  introduced - see Community Engagement Calendar & Activities.

Also interesting to see former councillors, such as Graham Wilton, previously not known for being part of IT geekdom, getting into blogging to voice their views.

Mood:  cool

We'd planned a day in the city months ago  to see a matinee theatre performance - then the 14 yr old had begged to visit the Japan National Foundation centre at Chifley Square in Sydney's CBD, to see Oz students' Japanese performances.  Theatre-goers, we'd seen the Wharf Theatre Revue's "Waiting for Garnaut", with its strong satirical messages on climate change. So we weren't surprised to see people carrying climate change & global warming banners, T-shirts with slogans on the train to Martin Place.

The JNF was closed, and instead we found ourselves in the middle of thousands of people at Martin Place in the WWW.WalkAgainstWarming.org Sydney protest rally on climate change - see Katrina's pic - one of a number around OZ.  It's happened again ...  2 years ago, in Athens, we had walked out into a teachers protests on our hotel doorstep as we were checking out. Actually, the number of rooftop solar panels, glinting away in Athens' sunshine was astonishing! And the realities of the Australian government response on climate change ? Still "Waiting for Garnaut" ? Not necessarily ... despite the activists' claims ?

"No Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050!" was the cry of a climate change researcher from UNSW. (His timeline seemed remarkably close to  Andrew Campbell's in his ACTKM 2008 paper, ie the world will run out of oil in 30-40 years.) He expressed concern that key aspects of climate change had not been stated by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) in its documents. Notwithstanding the global credit crisis, speakers urged that governments recognise the global carbon crisis & get behind Renewable Energy. However renewables exploiting solar, hot rocks, wind, ocean & hydro still need engineering materials for construction, ie polymers, coatings, steel, non ferrous alloys etc, each with their own carbon footprint.

Maria Tiimon, of Kiribati spoke of what it all  means for her country and her people, as they build defensive sea walls to combat  erosion, increasing storm surges & inundation of her island. "It is an issue of human survival," an emotional plea, "we need human rights for climate change victims in Kiribati." (more from Maria Tiimon)

The rally, part of a national climate change coalition, was a build up for December 6's  "Day of Action on Climate Change". The Walk also fell just as Australia's Federal Cabinet are deciding on our national emissions target for 2020; and just before the crucial international climate talks in Poland with the "Road to Copenhagen". 2009.  This follows the  Post Kyoto Framework on Greenhouse Gas Emissions -from  Vienna 2007.

The feeling of the rally was not angry. Well controlled with a friendly police presence, St John's Ambulance support & lots of rally marshals. Not violent, but passionate, caring & embracing, with so many different people there, from babies to great grandparents. Incredible diversity. The Save the Red River Gum crew with their garbage can drums/tap dog style band, along with the jazz musicianists, and concerned OZ  residents, hailing from Asia to the Middle East.  All anxious about the planet and wanting solutions. Not necessarily happy with the Garnaut Report.

Rally Attendees - the usual "lefty" assortment of newspaper sellers, Green Left etc, along with people who could have been at the local shopping centre, the conservatively dressed grandfather & "20 something" grandson in suits with wind turbine lapel pins - not that many dreadlocks - very very suburban, to be honest.

I remember, as a newbie community activist in an embryonic group, NIRAG, in 1984, calling for research into Clean Coal & cogeneration technologies.  Well informed, and alert to potential climate change issues, I had feared global warming. As a WCC councillor I had achieved unanimous support for resolutions supporting initiatives on Johannesburgh 2002 climate change & Kyoto Agreement on Greenhouse gases. But I had expected that climate change would not be a problem for my 14 year old daughter, until she reached middle age. I didn't expect the devastating evidence, such as Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", so soon. She expressed her fears for what sort of world that her children might face.

I have heard Gen X/Y's lean towards Nuclear as a solution for climate change. Amazingly, with nuclear power back in favour, the US's Nuclear Regulatory Commission had to weigh in this year. Dodgy concrete and reinforcing steel being used in construction of  Savannah River's $US 4.7 billion dollar nuclear plant project. Along with the US's NIST embarrassment, over the plutonium spill incident in Boulder, Colorado.  Ignoring the R's - don't forget RISK MANAGEMENT !! Squandering the best opportunity in 30 years to demonstrate their cred to nuclear-phobes & skeptics. Absolutely astonishing ... so no wonder, 30 years ago, the  Fox Commission Mining Inquiry findings, whilst supporting uranium mining, also called for a "rigorous, robust regulatory regime".  The US Navy learned that risk management lesson the hard way in the 1960's with their loss of their nuclear submarine,  USS Thresher & her 129 men. (Later they shared their approaches with NASA, after its space shuttle disasters - NASA set up "Lessons Learned".)

The night before the climate change rally,  we had discussed Hot Rocks Renewable Energy approaches with UOW's Professor Paul Cooper (Head of School Mechatronics & passionate Futureworld member), as he also considered piping of CO2, as part of CCS (carbon capture sequestration-storage) raised in a recent APIA conference (also refer CO2 CRC & CFMEU perspectives). There are many issues, including legal, to be faced by the newly setup CCS taskforce. A few months back, in a technical scientific LIST Server discussion group, I had sought comment on challenges (corrosion, crack arrest etc) & technologies for piping CO2, mentioning the climate change imperative. Unintentionally, I set off an international flame war, of climate change skeptics vs climate change realists vs climate change realists who saw nuclear as our  only saviour. Noteworthy, that the US was represented on all sides of the flame war.

Sasha Hunter, a North Coast high school student & just out of HSC exams inspired the rally. She urged attendees not to be crushed by the usual disempowering  global warming catastrophe messages. Instead, to .. "Embrace the opportunity to solve the Global Warming Problems." a view shared by Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore,"How dare we be optimistic .... history has presented us with a choice .... we need a sense of urgency ... what we need is another hero generation .... we need a sense of generational mission .. to rise to the challenge of our best efforts ... more than we knew we could do."
There are different ways to create solutions & our global survival requires respecting those different paths. To be inspired by US Democratic President-Elect Obama's commitment for 2020, supported also by Republicans such as California Governor Schwarznegger....& perhaps also by Nelson Mandela, just as he created synergies in building bridges between opponents.

We had been at UOW the previous night, attending the annual Creative Engineering Design Project Team Finals. The design project, running since 1971, is  mandatory for first year engineering students. The 2008 finals showed "functional" winning out over "fun".  For the first time that I can remember, half the Design Project Team finalists had developed climate change solutions, macro & micro ... addressing both  1st world & 3rd world issues. 

The "Lads from the Land" (Lachlan region?) showed their tractor trailer concept for planting 1000's of trees & to withstand drought,  by delivering water to the rootball to increase local soil moisture levels in the crucial early period. Their target markets were mining companies, local councils and landcare groups in rural & remote mining areas involved in large-scale reafforestation.

Also participating in the "Engineers Without Borders" Challenge, one team designed & built an electricity free washing machine for Cambodian families. They'd even included a filter to eliminate phosphates & reduce drinking water pollution. Clear winners of the "People's Favourite" Prize! Internet online trading technologies enabled them to price their design's components from Phnom Penh outlets, instead of the local Bunnings hardware megastore. Ingenuity is expected of UOW's 1st year engineering students!

Another team showed their whirly bird /ceiling vent, modified to generate small amounts of power & fix humidity related indoor air quality (IAQ) problems. Their analysis also showed the surprising carbon footprint of construction materials for renewables such as solar. A small step, but each a small step to achieving the Triumph of the Commons, and not the Tragedy. Maybe we can't all achieve Michael Mobbs' "The Sustainable House", but BHG magazine each month encourages its readers to make that "one change" to save our planet. 

The UOW Creative Design Project is about teams forming, identifying & together using their individual abilities to solve real problems, not theoretical approaches.   For them the 20th Century activists, Ghandi & Mandela, might seem irrelevant, but in a practical way they are. Consider Nelson Mandela - "Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that generation”.

And, Ghandi's words (part of his philosophy of personal transformation), just as relevant for engineering students, as inspiring, for the Sydney Walk Against Warming crowd. "You must be the change you want to see in the world" ... to make a difference ... for the climate change movement's new poster child, Suki Reid, a preschooler. What sort of world will she find?