The Good News Global Round Up

AUSTRALIA: AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS SORRY TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, delivered one of the most important and symbolic speeches ever delivered in Australian Parliamentary history.

This speech from the Prime Minister was on behalf of parliament, and apologised to the
Stolen Generations of Australia’s Indigenous people for the forced removal of their children and the breakup of their families. This apology is an important step in the process of healing between Australia’s black and white communities and is greatly welcomed by many Australians.

Apology and Prime Minister's speech: www.aph.gov.au/house/Rudd_Speech.pdf

DRC: PEACE AGREEMENT SIGNED

The peace agreement signed last month by rebel groups and the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been hailed as a milestone in the war-torn country's quest for peace. The accord and tentative ceasefire grew out of a UN-backed peace conference held mid-January. WWW.care.org

BANGLADESH: BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION AWARDS CARE $5 MILLION GRANT FOR DAIRY FARMERS

As part of its focus on reducing global poverty through agricultural development, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has granted CARE $5 million to increase the productivity of small-scale dairy farmers in Bangladesh. Bill Gates announced the grant in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum. CARE will use the grant to help rural farmers enhance their milk production and incomes. Today, 90 percent of all milk in Bangladesh is produced by poor, rural farmers, whose households average two or three cows. WWW.CARE.ORG

AUSTRALIA: PAVING THE SOLAR HIGHWAY FOR BUSINESSES

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett has opened the largest single roof mounted solar power system in New South Wales. “The rooftop solar highway here at Cadbury Schweppes is truly spectacular – if you stood its 640 solar panels end to end they would tower above Sydney’s Centrepoint Tower,” The Cadbury Schweppes factory in Sydney’s Blacktown is the first business to take up the commercial solar power offer under the Blacktown Solar City project.

For more information visit:

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/solarcities

http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2008/pubs/mr20080201.pdf

USA: THREE WALL STREET BANKS ANNOUNCE FUNDING RESTRICTIONS FOR NEW COAL POWER PLANTS

Three major investment banks, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, have announced new environmental standards that are expected to make it more difficult for large coal-fired power plants in the United States to get funding. The standards anticipate some form of cap-and-trade program becoming law in the U.S. in coming years and seek to force utilities to plan for the inevitable; coal plants seeking funding would first have to prove they can be financially viable under a cap-and-trade system. The three banks said that they would consider funding energy efficiency measures and renewable-energy projects ahead of coal plants and that when funding coal projects they'll heavily favor plants that can successfully capture and sequester their carbon emissions. www.grist.org

IRAQ: IRAQ RATIFIES THE KYOTO PROTOCOL

While presumably having plenty else to worry about, Iraq has found time in its busy schedule to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Iraq will not be subject to emissions reductions under the treaty, but its official ratification is still notable in that Iraq's government elected to ratify an agreement that its primary occupier, the United States, has shunned.
www.grist.org

AUSTRALIA: $7.1M SOLAR POWER PLANT FOR COOBER PEDY

Australia’s largest off-grid solar power station is set to be built at remote Coober Pedy in South Australia’s far north. Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett and South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced the $7.1 million project at the 3rd International Solar Cities Congress in Adelaide. “This is a groundbreaking solar project – a spectacular example of the Rudd Labor Government’s commitment to a clean energy future,” Peter Garrett said. “There will be 26 dishes, each one 14 metres high and tracking the arc of the sun – an Australian design, delivering the nation’s most efficient solar power station.”

For information on the Australian Government’s Renewable Remote Power Generation program:

http://www.environment.gov.au/renewable/rrpgp

http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2008/pubs/mr20080219.pdf

CHINA: CHINESE FACTORY TURNS ENVIRONMENTAL BANE INTO BOON

China is beginning to take advantage of an unusual energy source: cow gas. Cows emit a significant amount of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, when they belch and flatulate. According to People’s Daily, the world’s largest cow-dung methane power plant started operation on January 21 in China’s Inner Mongolia region. With an investment of 45 million RMB (roughly $US5.7 million) from the country’s largest milk producer, Mengniu Dairy, the plant is able to supply 10 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to the national power grid. www.enn.com