The sun is seen rising behind the funnels of the brown-coal Hazelwood Power Station in Latrobe Valley, 93 miles east of Melbourne, Australia, on July 4, 2008. Australia should adopt a broad-based carbon-emissions trading sceme that includes energy and transport, but compensates industries whose offshore rivals do not adopt emissions curbs, an official report said on Friday. The 600-page draft report urged Australia to go further than its current goal to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 60% by 2050, and warned of a major dent to the economy if it avoids the hard decisions on climate change.
Image courtesy of Reuters / Mick Tsikas

Amazing Golden Ray Migration

The Telegraph just posted some photos of the migration of golden rays (also known as cownose rays) off the coast of Mexico. It's guaranteed to restore your sense of wonder at the world.
Images courtesy of Sandra Critelli / Barcroft Media

Relief in Sight: Australia's International Disaster Response in Pictures

Relief in Sight is doing a nice job of upsetting the status quo - a photographic exhibition that captures the crucial role of Australian aid workers and volunteers and the aftermath of natural disasters in the Asia Pacific region.

15-20 July 2008
Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie Street, Sydney 2000


Indian Ocean tsunami, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 2005
A survivor tries to salvage anything that may be of use to her family after the Indian Ocean tsunami. In some villages up to 80 per cent of victims were women. In part, this is because many men were at work or fishing at sea when the tsunami hit. In addition to the loss of homes and possessions, women frequently suffer indirect losses in a disaster, such as productive employment outside their home. Through its overseas aid program, Australia creates opportunities for women to play a greater role in shaping their communities and their countries. After the tsunami, AusAID funded programs to help relieve financial and social pressure on female survivors and protect them from discrimination and violence.
Courtesy of Caritas


WORLDLY POSSESSIONS
Indian Ocean tsunami, Indonesia, 2005
‘People were starting to return to look for homes that were no longer there. Picking through rubble in the hope of finding some possessions or the body of a family member so they could give them a proper Muslim burial. Everyone was walking around in a daze, in utter shock and disbelief. Not much public emotion… just an eerie silence. It’s as though the living are dead too.’ Notes from the diary of photographer Stephen Dupont More than 127,000 homes were destroyed and as many damaged in Aceh and North Sumatra and 500,000 people were left homeless and without access to essential services. Australian aid helped rebuild communities and restore basic services. DID YOU KNOW? Weather-related disasters rose from an annual average of 200 between 1993 and 1997 to 331 per year between 1998 and 2002.
Courtesy of Stephen Dupont

Indian Gay Pride Finally Out of the Closet

Sunday's first Queer Pride Parade in Delhi marked a turning point for India's gays and lesbians, who are persecuted under a colonial-era law, Section 377, that criminalizes some sex acts. A high court is considering a petition against the statute.

The Wave of Whale Killing Continues as the International Whaling Commission Meeting in Chile Fails to Halt Japanese Hunters

Workers butcher a Baird's beaked whale in Minamiboso, Japan, on June 28, 2008.
Courtesy of Reuters / Toru Hanai

Perfect Reflection, Beautiful Stillness

Trees reflecting in the still waters of a river (Oregon USA)
Courtesy of Reuters / Mike Blake

A model wearing a creation by German designer Tatjana Warnecke waits for a fetish fashion show to begin in Leipzig, Germany, on June 21, 2008.

Courtesy of Reuters / Hannibal Hanschke

Raul Vera, a mannequin craftsman, works on the hand of a model at a workshop in Lima, Peru, on June 19, 2008.

Courtesy of Reuters / Enrique Castro-Mendivil

Guantanamo detainees

Reuters/Andrew Winning

The caterpillar of the cotton bollworm moth sits on the thumb of a technician in a laboratory in Melbourne, Australia, on June 18, 2008. The genetic secrets of the world's worst agricultural pest will be unlocked within months, scientists say.

Reuters/ Mick Tsikas

The Empire State building is struck by lightning in New York, on June 10, 2008.

courtsey of Reuters/Nic Fulton

White House staff, press, and Secret Service personnel sit outside a luxury trailer where US first lady Laura Bush flies in privacy inside a C-17 military aircraft, during a seven-hour flight from Afghanistan to Slovenia, on June 8, 2008.

courtesy of Reuters/Larry Downing

Pressure to ban plastic bags in stores keeps on building worldwide

Just recently Whole Foods Market, the organic food store chain, has joined the growing number of retailers who are currently banning plastic bags in store, opting instead for reusable green bags or paper bags. The US supermarket chain approached its customers nationwide with several ‘plastic bag bans’ trial runs, which all produced positive results, ensuring their customers’ support for the eco-friendly initiative.
This is what Michael Besancon, a regional president of Whole Foods and the leader of an environmental task force has to say in favour of alternatives to plastic bags:
“The fact of plastic bags is they are not something that has been around forever,” “It was paper for many, many years. It’s not really a hardship.”

via [ New York Times ]

Similarly, in Australia environmental pressure groups seek for a total ban of plastic bags be enforced, after a voluntary scheme among large retailers to reduce their use failed to meet targets.
Following the example of the Irish government, the state of Victoria will impose a 10 cent levy per bag at the checkout from January 2009.

via [ The Age ]

Beach Gets Protected As Heritage Site

It’s Sydney’s most famous beach and it’s one of the cities’ iconic sites, just as the Opera House or the Harbour Bridge. The news of the beach’s inclusion in the National Heritage Listing provides protection with criminal sanctions for any damage caused to the site.

Bondi Beach is the quintessential Australian beach in the imaginary of many. As Peter Garrett, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts puts it: “you can’t get more Aussie than Bondi,”

SHM: You can’t get more Aussie than Bondi

Green Roof Blends Landscape And Structure

Singapore rightfully prides itself with the new ‘green-friendly’ facility housing the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University. Designed by CPG, the five story building features a grassy green rooftop.

This remarkable piece of architecture has been described as ‘a vegetated form that blends landscape and structure, nature and high-tech and symbolizes the creativity it houses’.

The curving green roof distinguishes the building from other structures on campus but the line between landscape and building is blurred. The roofs serve as informal gathering spaces challenging linear ideas and stirring perception. The roofs create open space, insulate the building, cool the surrounding air and harvest rainwater for landscaping irrigation. Planted grasses mix with native greenery to colonize the building and bond it to the setting.

[via Designflute]

PARK(ing) Day

Last month, San Francisco artists and activists took over parking spots around the city and turned them into "PARK(ing)" spaces or temporary public parks!

via parkingday.org

Modern and ancient Egypt in one shot

A fantastic shot of the modern urban sprawl of Cairo with the ancient pyramids of Giza in the background.

courtesy of graspnext [Flickr]

... a pic from Vegas

courtesy of Dirk-Micheal Shulz, a great photographer and friend of mine...

Photography in rough seas...

Corey Arnold is a commercial fisherman and fine art photographer based in Portland, Oregon. He has lived in Oslo, Norway for the past four years while commuting seasonally to Alaska where he works on a crab fishing boat in the Bering Sea.

His recent project is photographing fishermen and whalers in remote regions of Arctic Norway and Alaska. In 2005, he received an American-Scandinavian Foundation grant for the project. Corey's work has been exhibited worldwide, and printed in recent publications such as Italian Rolling Stone, Giant Robot, Outside, Juxtapoz, RE:UP, Norwegian Adbusters, National Fisherman and dozens of national and international magazines this year.

Images courtesy of Corey Arnold

Retro Sound

A clever way to indulge in both old-school aesthetics and modern technology is Science and Sons' Phonofone II. The limited-edition, handmade ceramic sculpture is a functional gramophone, whose soothing curves and well-engineered design turn your music player's puny output into resonant, room-filling sound. Combine your iPhone and a Phonofone, and hear the past and present make beautiful music together.
Phonofone II by Science and Sons, serial limited edition of 200, about $840. For more information and to order, see www.scienceandsons.com

via style.com