This site is about passion, paddling, pulp, politics, participation and positivity.
Pulp and Politics: Gunns proposed pulp mill has now become an issue for all Australians. Firstly, because its environmental impacts will affect us all. Secondly, because it presents an opportunity for a choice - a choice between old style, short-term industrialised resource consumption, and intelligent, sustainable, high-value resource optimisation. The way we make these choices will determine our future.
Click here to find out about Gunns' proposed Pulp Mill, here for sustainable alternatives to the proposed mill, and here for a practical philosophy of sustainability.
Paddling and Passion:. The blogs provide a full account of a 2000km paddling odyssey from Sydney to Hobart, complete with shark stories and celebrities, monster waves and blissful days, adventure on the high seas. As I paddled, the pulp mill proposal developed from a cloud on the horizon into a political storm. The blogs, especially those most recent, provide an eye-witness account as the Tasmanian Government leant on, then circumvented, the Independent Commission in charge of assessing the mill and replaced it with a "fast-track" process which dispenses with public hearings, removes rights of review, and creates loopholes on environmental criteria.
Participation: The decision is now with the Federal Government. To proceed, the mill requires Malcolm Turnbull's signature. This means that all Australians can have their say. You can sign the online petition, or you can write to Mr Turnbull yourself at malcolm.turnbull.MP@aph.gov.au
Positivity: If it proceeds, the pulp mill will drag Tasmania backwards in a dual economic/environmental disaster. However, just as the rose blooms from the dung-pile, positivity is emerging in response to the pulp mill proposal - a Round Table which will provide an alternative to the mill proposal - creating wealth and jobs by enhancing, rather than destroying, Tasmania's precious resources. Click here to make a donation to the Round Table.
Its the future Tasmania deserves.
Arriving Constitution Dock, March 21st, 2007
**Japanese***
きみにも是非この旅に参加してもらいたい。
道すがら、僕たちは手付かずの海岸を探検し、肉体の限界に迫るだろう。そしてまた、僕達世代がもう無視できない環境と経済の問題に向き合うことになるだろう。
ゴールはホバート、そして製紙工場の案をより良い方法に変えること。このsustainableな未来に向けて、請願書にサインしたり、ドネーションで参加できる。
ただこの問題を世界に広めるだけでもいい。
僕とパドルしに来る？
より良い未来に向かって手を伸ばそう。