[Greens-Media] Environment report overwhelmed by Government gloss

[Manderson, Roland]

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ACT GREENS MLA DEB FOSKEY MEDIA RELEASE
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7 Aug 08



Environment report overwhelmed by Government gloss

ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey expressed her concerns that the important
messages in the Commissioner for the Environment's State of the
Environment report - released today - will be overwhelmed by glossy
promotions of ACT Government programs that were a part of it.

 "At a time when the Murray River is dying and nearby alpine habitat and
local grasslands are threatened, I would hope for strong guidance from
the independent Commissioner for the Environment."
 
 "I was most surprised to see this report almost overwhelmed by
one-sided glossy promotions of Government programs that are perhaps
steps in the right direction, but small ones."

"The Commissioner makes the point that as a community with a giant
footprint we need to   face up to the urgent challenge of living on the
planet sustainably.  And that we all have a role to play in using less
energy, wasting less food, managing our environment and our resources
more carefully."

"But I am yet to discover any calls for the ACT Government to set
stronger and more immediate targets (such as intermediate CO2 emissions
targets )in order to help us make the changes. 

 "Nor is there any mention of regulations to make houses more energy
efficient, or community wide programs that can help us shift to solar
energy or hot water."

 "As an easy to read guide on how we can all do more the report works
well.  Historically however, the State of the Environment report has
been much more valuable as a tool to measure how far we have come and
what we have needed to do next" Dr Foskey said. 

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Roland Manderson   Media Advisor
ACT   Greens    MLA  Deb  Foskey  
Legislative Assembly for the ACT 
ph(02)62050551      m 0412241379
==== www.act.greens.org.au ===== 
  
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