A few links :

Scoop.co.nz - Michael Lockhart's Econation: What’s The Guts?

Only Governments can save us from climate change. Don't get me wrong, anything an individual does to reduce their impact is good. But you can insulate your house, recycle your rubbish, grow your own vegies, use public transport and then undo all that good many times over by voting for National or for ACT or by not voting at all. It is almost impossible for an individual to be truly sustainable because the problems are systemic. In the words of William McDonough all we can do at the moment is be "less bad".

There is far more that Governments could and should do to accelerate investment in low-carbon energy, housing and transport infrastructure and help individuals to do more to tackle climate change. But they aren't. Why? Short-term electoral cycles mean that long-term strategies don't show enough, if any, immediate payback to be politically advantageous. There is limited power of single nations in respect of global markets. Vested interests combine with an ideological distaste of so-called government interference i.e. taxes, subsidies, laws and regulations. The fact that the full effects of climate change may not be evident for decades or even centuries means it is easy to ignore them now. All of these factors make a recipe for doing nothing.

New Matilda - Leading A Dumb Horse To Water

If you invented a revolutionary source of renewable energy, you'd think Australian authorities would be very interested. But you'd be wrong, writes Nick Toscano

If an economist had a fail-safe strategy to alleviate the financial crisis, world leaders would be falling over each other to get to it. If a mining company announced it had struck enough oil to end the global shortage, government licences and co-investment contracts would be jamming their letterbox. So why is it that when Gippsland farmer and inventor, Fred Sundermann, devised a breakthrough renewable energy alternative which could be used to help tackle a similarly serious global problem, our governments apparently don't want to know about it?

Pigs Will Fly - Relocalisation Taking Off? Visit www.livelocal.org.au

Once again - amazing. No sooner do I realise Victoria is getting into relocalisation and Transition Towns than I see Sydney is right into it too - and involving Robert Pekin of Brisbane’s successful Food Connect.

The live local website http://www.livelocal.org.au was launched last night in Sydney’s Surry Hills. Green Pages reports that the function was well attended by experts in sustainability, business leaders - including Lucy Turnbull - social media gurus and TV personalities including Guerilla Gardener, Mickie Quick.

And another - Bloomberg - Contact Wins Bid to Delay New Zealand Wind Farm Hearing

he Hauauru ma raki project is Contact’s third generation project facing delay.

Earlier this month, the company deferred its 220- megawatt Te Mihi geothermal project after demand weakened and funding costs rose.

In April, its bid for planning approval to build a 177-megawatt wind farm at Waitahora near Dannevirke was rejected.

The Australian - Port in equation for LNG complex.

NSW coal seam gas producers have held talks with Newcastle Port to build a liquefied natural gas plant, using the coal harbour as a second east coast export hub.

The Australian has learned that Santos, one of five proponents of CSG-to-LNG plants at Queensland's Gladstone port, has spoken to authorities about the possibility of using Newcastle as an export port for up to 40 petajoules of CSG it has in the Gunnedah Basin in the state's northeast.

A Newcastle Port Corporation spokesman confirmed there had been "very preliminary" discussions with more than one party about building LNG plants at the harbour, but would not name them.

Eastern Star Gas, which also has ground in the Gunnedah Basin, said it was one of the parties that approached the port.

"It is at a very, very preliminary stage, but we are looking at the possibilities of Newcastle Port," Eastern Star managing director David Casey said. He also said Eastern Star was looking at supplying the gas, which the company is still shoring up, to domestic industry in the Newcastle region, among other possibilities.

Most analysts are reluctant to put a price on potential exports from the NSW CSG fields, which are a long way behind the rapidly developing Queensland fields. "It is not something we've focused on, but it makes sense that they (Santos and Eastern Star) would be investigating the potential," Patersons Securities analyst Scott Simpson said. "You could make the same arguments for an LNG hub in Newcastle as you could for one in Queensland."

Santos says it has huge undefined gas resources in NSW and plans to drill 20 exploration wells over 20,000sqkm of ground this year. The company believes its NSW ground could hold twice that of its LNG partner Petronas's in Queensland.

The Innovators (ABC Rural) - Innovators 4: Working Off Farm

Michael Mackenzie: Now conventional wisdom does suggest that to be an innovative farmer, you actually need to be working on the farm. But our guest today has a different theory. His philosophy is to use innovative practices on the farm to free up time to work off farm. But how can you be an innovative farmer if you're spending half your time away from the business?

It's something that cropping and cattle farmer Bruce Maynard, from Narromine, on the Central West Plains of New South Wales knows all about. Bruce not only runs a cattle and cropping property that's almost sustaining itself, he also works three days a week for his local Landcare office and on top of that, he has a number of other offshoot businesses that help to fill the coffers. Some of his mates call him lazy; he sounds more like a genius to be, and Bruce Maynard has popped into our Dubbo studios to have a chat. Hi, Bruce.