JJ’s Recent Comments

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  Sprawl

  Wow - black wallaby you are pretty defensive.

  My comment was in regards to the lack of a complete picture in the original post/video, not a discussion on the merits of the city.

  Melbourne has VERY low population density.  Yes every city has suburbs, but the 4mil people in Melbourne don't need to span out 40+k on either side at a density of 496 people/sq km (for example compare this with Los Angeles at 3,168 people/sq km or Paris at 24,783 people/sq km). This sprawl is at the expense of those beautiful forests you mentioned, and very rare native grasslands on the fringes of the city.  

  The video portrays a revitalisation of the city centre (which I am all for - esp love the work currently happening in the city on bike lanes), but its not a great environmental outcome if all those people shown visiting the laneways in the city centre are travelling 50K to do so because their own outer suburbs are developed without complete services.  It is  because I have seen Detroit and LA that I am concerned about this problem.  Melbourne 2030 was an attempt to deal with this problem, but its not working particularly well as the currently developing suburbs (the West is a prime case) are being developed without adequate services, local employment opportunities or quality public transport - which leaves people no option but to jump into their cars and drive into the city - not a great outcome for the environment.On A modern city can be remade posted 1 year, 6 months ago 12 Responses

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  Don't be fooled!

  This whole film is shot in the inner suburbs.  Melbourne's dirty little secret... the SPRAWL.  Some of the worst in the world.On A modern city can be remade posted 1 year, 6 months ago 12 Responses

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  Climate Cleverer

  I thought I'd share an interesting development over here in Australia.

  The Federal Government, long known for its lack of action on climate change, has recently released a PR campaign called "climate clever".  You can view the campaign at:
  http://cc.greenhouse.gov.au/publications/climateclever-tv ...
  The focus of this campaign is on voluntary actions that Australian citizens can make.
  It is no coincidence that this campaign is released just months before a federal election.

  A grassroots green group "Get Up" responded with their own ad campaign "climate cleverer".  You can view the Get Up ad at:
  https://www.getup.org.au/campaign/ClimateCleverer&id=126.
  The focus of the Get Up campaign is to draw attention to the lack of real action by the Federal Government on the climate change issue, and to encourage citizens to vote for parties with real climate action policies.  I don't think "Get Up" intend to undermine the voluntary actions of individuals, just to draw attention to the government using these actions as a PR campaign to hide their own inaction.
  Get Up has managed to raise enough money through donations over the past few days to play the ad during the AFL grand final (Aussie equivalent to the superbowl).

  Casting a vote, donating to grassroots groups and being an activist are voluntary actions too... watch the next Australian election to see how successful they are.On Voluntary actions didn't get us civil rights, and they won't fix the climate posted 2 years, 2 months ago 61 Responses