They are asking, so tell Council “YES” to going back to crockery and cutlery at events and markets. Their question: Shall they stop the use of plasticised-cardboard food plates and drink cups in their operations and at their own or sponsored events, including at local markets on Council land, and instead enforce the use of…
Bob Brown Foundation: “On 22 March we’re marching for forests in 12 locations across the country, including in Lismore (Bundjalung Country), calling for a nationwide end to native forest logging. Right now, native forests across NSW are being flattened, and you’re footing the bill for this destruction. Over the past four years, NSW Forestry Corporation has cost taxpayers…
The opportunity to ‘Have Your Say’ on the Tweed Development Control Plan closes 5pm Friday! We’ve attached the CEC submission document for your interest, and for copy and pasting all or parts of as your own submission which is allowed and we encourage. Please do make a submission, it is quick and easy on the…
The Tweed Development Control Plan (DCP) is the Plan by which Council Controls Building and Development Works. Section B2 of the plan, ‘Preservation of (Urban) Trees and Vegetation’, applies restrictions on the clearing of vegetation. The CEC support that the draft includes a new protection level for urban local natives at 3 m or higher,…
The Wollumbin / Mount Warning shield volcano and its erosion caldera is a unique volcanic landform which has functioned as a refugium, over the 20 million years since it’s formation, for a core area of Gondwana rainforest flora. The Caldera is located in a major climatic transition zone, between temperate and tropical floral and faunal…
Key purposes of the Act until now have been: to ensure that ‘development’ is done in an environmentally sustainable way; to protect the environment; to ensure community participation – they are rewriting it so that they can ignore all of those things. Example: One of the many changes is a new assessment pathway that is…
In 1823 John Oxley was the first European to see the Tweed Valley, and he wrote of it: “A deep rich valley clothed with magnificent trees, the beautiful uniformity of which was only interrupted by the turns and windings of the river, which here and there appeared like small lakes. The background was Mt. Warning.…
Plastic does not decompose back to its original naturally occurring elements. The plastic existing today, if exposed to sunlight, temperature change or abrasion, will degrade into smaller particles, though those particles will still exist, hundreds of thousands to millions of years from now. The CEC note the growing awareness of the public to the issue…
Sunday December 14th 3pm & 7pm. You might have caught Follow the Rain on Netflix; Steve Axford and Catherine Marciniak’s gorgeous stop-motion fungi imagery and documentary, affectionately known as “the Fungi film”. As a special event for the arts and nature lovers of Murwillumbah, the world-class musicians behind the music to Follow the Rain are coming to perform live at…
NRG: The NSW Far North Coast Regional Water Supply Project will be assessing regional options to improve long-term water security in our region. Several information sessions will be held to inform the public about the project. One will be held online; the others will be local drop-in sessions. See details below, as provided by the project: Online…
Below is a concise summary of legislation changes over the past 30 years that have removed existing legal protections and increased the destructiveness of logging of native forests. . 1. Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1997 (NSW) – [Later replaced by the [even worse] Native Vegetation Act 2003: The 1997 Act claimed to regulate land clearing…
There has been some hope that the Federal changes to the EP(BC) Act (the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act) may result in improvements for native forests, such as by adopting and applying strong environmental standards that over-ride RFAs, though an assessment of the new laws by EJA maintains that we will be worse off…
This is the most significant reduction in development controls in 50 years, and it’s being done with zero public consultation. If passed, these reforms will be a giant step backward for environmental protections in NSW and significantly undermine the progress we are aiming to achieve. If passed this Bill will:
At the next Tweed Council Monthly public access meeting is a plastics issue, namely mowing it smaller vs picking it up first. Plastic does not decompose, it may degrade into smaller pieces when exposed to sunlight or temperature change but it will always remain. We either pick it up or live with it as forever…
Councillor Nola Firth has submitted to Council the following Notice of Motion: In Tweed shire we are currently collectively dumping 320 tons of soft plastic into landfill per year. There is considerable community concern on this issue. Single use soft plastic is recognised as a serious waste of our precious finite resources and as a…
BBF: “Connect personally with our campaign team — and to hear from us about our campaign to end native forest logging and ask any questions. “We’re in Byron Bay with our Forest Roadshow. “From Adelaide to Brisbane, our Forest Roadshow will keep building our movement as we connect, upskill, and build unstoppable momentum for forest protection. …
NCC: “The NSW Government’s proposed changes to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act opens the way for reckless developments of all kinds. “This is a code red for environmental protection in NSW. If passed as is, the reforms on the table would have devastating consequences.” “These extreme changes to our environmental protection laws would strip away…
The revised Development Control Plan(DCP), when it soon goes on exhibition for Public comment, will be an opportunity to support stronger protection of both native and non-native trees. Greens Councillor Nola Firth comments: “Tweed Shire Council compared to other NSW Councils has had scant protection for non-native urban trees. “Non-natives here in the Tweed were only protected if they had a diameter of more than 80cm at…
“The many benefits of trees in urban areas are recognised through Council’s Cool Towns: Tweed Shire Urban Forest Program which aims to increase the average total canopy cover in urban areas from 26.8% to 35% by 2030 and then to 40% by 2040 [!]. “We’re [TSC] asking everyone to help restore our urban forest when trees…
From The Nimbin Good Times, by Mark Pestell. In 1972, a group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the top five Universities in the USA, published a groundbreaking report that would shape the global environmental debate for decades to come. Entitled ‘The Limits to Growth’, commissioned by the Club of…
ON 7 SEPTEMBER THE NSW GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED THEY ARE GOING TO CREATE THE FULL GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK, AN HISTORIC CONSERVATION WIN AFTER A 10 YEAR CONCERTED COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN. NEFA: “This park will protect 12,000 Koalas and enable their populations to recover as their feed trees regrow. This is the sort of action we need…
From the Byron Echo Volume 40#32 January 14 Australian researchers have discovered a hidden climate superpower of trees. Their bark harbours trillions of microbes that help scrub the air of greenhouse and toxic gases. It’s long been known that trees fight global warming by consuming carbon dioxide (CO2) through photosynthesis. But a new study published…
CEC Co-ordinator Rhonda James (pictured left) presented at the NSW Weeds Conference. Rhonda spoke on the keys to the successful 30 year bitou bush management program in The Tweed and Byron Shires. Rhonda is notably also the Convenor of the Caldera Environment Centre. “Weeds are one of the top three causes of species extinction (along…
Petition from Invasive Species Council for Action on the sale of weeds from nurseries. Australians know that weeds like lantana are choking our streams and bushland. An astounding three-quarters of all listed weeds in Australia are escaped garden plants, sold legally to unsuspecting shoppers in nurseries or online. These weedy plants have already contributed to…
1. We object to the proposal on ecological grounds. Ecological systems are collapsing around the planet. We are living in the age of The Ecological Crisis, the collapse of the ecology, the collapse of the systems of interrelated and interdependent lifeforms on this planet. In that context we must rescue and protect ecologies, in this…
CEC: “Claims by government agencies that Native Forest Biomass Fuel, fuel for furnaces in the generation of electricity, is ‘Ecological Sustainable’ comes to mind as ‘greenwashing’. The Parliamentary Inquiry however is unlikely to look at the governments own inflated and misleading greenwashing claims, claims which are enabling and subsidising their policies of destruction of native…
NEFA: Please object to the Restart of Redbank Power Station by burning 850,000 tonnes of native forests each year, obtained from landclearing. SUBMISSIONS NEEDED BY 5:00pm on Monday 18 August 2025. MAKE YOURS NOW. This month NSW’s Independent Planning Commission is deciding whether to approve a massive increase in landclearing in western NSW to burn…
“The Upper Tweed affords scenes of beautiful fertile valleys, lofty mountains and hills, bold cliff and rugged bluff, all having rich and varied vegetation. “… a great wealth of choicest timber trees, including Cedar (red and white), Teak, Beach, Baligum, Sasafras, Cudgera, Black and Redbean, Rosewood, Beefwood, a large variety of Fig trees, and numerous…
NEFA have started a campaign for 56,200 hectares of public native forests in the southern Richmond River valley and on Richmond Range (south of the Bruxner Highway) to be created as the Richmond River Koala Reserves. This is largest stronghold of koalas in the Richmond catchment, a genetically different population from that found in the…
The festival on 13 July celebrated biodiversity and climate solutions in the Northern Rivers. The World Environment Day Festival returned to Murwillumbah on Sunday 13 July, bringing together the community for a day of environmental education, live music, and collective action from 10am to 3:30pm. Hosted by Tweed Landcare and the Caldera Environment Centre, this…
Cardboard take away coffee cups are coated inside with plastic, because, if not, the cardboard cup would soak and fall apart when filled with liquid. When the plastic lining of the take away cardboard coffee cup goes through the temperature change of being filled with the hot liquid, thousands of micro and millions of nano…
TSC Tweed Link: 1000 trees community tree planting for National Tree Day! Col Wiley Park, Byangum,Sunday 27 July, from 9 am to 12 noon to help improve water quality, protect wildlife and reduce river erosion. Also, grants of up to $4,000 for Tweed farmers for sustainable land management for projects that improve soil health, water…
“Discover some of the rare and remarkable animals, plants and habitats that make Border Ranges National Park special, with our [NPWS] interactive 360-degree images. The Border Ranges is a special place where primitive plants and animals have evolved and landscapes have barely changed in millions of years. As a refuge for many threatened species, some…
TSC residents can attend a special local meeting with Premier and Cabinet on July 30 Twin Town Club 12 noon -1:15 to talk about Tweed issues.. (People have to register.) It could be a chance to ask for koala protection across the whole state not just on the coast, permission for Council to have an environmental levy, or more…
Open letter to Premier Minns and the NSW Government January 10, 2025. IT IS PAST TIME FOR THE MINNS GOVERNMENT TO STOP LOGGING THE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK. THEY MUST HONOUR THEIR COMMITMENT TO PROTECT IT. The Minns’ Government was elected on a promise to save Koalas and create the Great Koala National Park, but…
“Listen to our (NPWS) Gondwana Rainforests soundscape on the NSW National Parks, to be transported to this incredible part of Australia. Border Ranges National Park forms part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, which stretches past Newcastle to south-east Queensland. The Gondwana Rainforests are globally recognised as home to the most extensive areas…
We are all becoming more aware of unwanted ingestion of plastic molecules and the retention of these molecules in our bodies. The paper of many popular brand tea bags are strengthened with plastic because otherwise the paper tea bag would fall apart in the hot water. When a plastic strengthened tea bag goes through the…
