Tom Blees’ Prescription for the Planet event is now available as a podcast on the EI website.  The Royal Institution of Australia, in association with The Environment Institute, hosted an event with Tom Blees on 3 February at The Science Exchange .  Tom outlined how a trio of little-known yet profoundly revolutionary technologies (such as the Integral Fast Reactor), coupled with their judicious use in an atmosphere of global cooperation, can solve the power, pollution and resource problems facing the world today.

Click here to access each of three downloadable audio files from the event.

10 free passes are available to PhD and Masters students at Adelaide Uni for the CleverGreen conference and showcase.

To apply students must contact the Environment Institute by email, environment@adelaide.edu.au with their contact details and the topic of their PhD or Masters. Applicants must register their interest by the 8^th of February and will be advised of the outcome by the 12^th.

The CleverGreen conference and showcase brings together researchers, government and business to examine and discuss green technologies, market opportunities and innovation for environmental sustainability.

What to expect.

• Join South Australia’s leading Clean Technology innovators.
• View the many South Australian products and services
• that are helping the world to be cleaner and more environmentally sustainable.
• Find out about the world-class research coming out of our Universities and research sector.
• Hear internationally recognised speakers on investment and global trends in the Clean Tech sector.
• Visit some of our best Clean Tech business operators and innovators through industry tours.
• Enjoy world class food, wine and hospitality.

Roger Butlin gave a seminar for the Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity called “Winkles and the origin of species”

Listen to the podcast here

Tom Blees the author of “Prescription for the planet”, will be in Australia in February.  His book the “Prescription for the planet” presents a solution to the world’s energy and environmental crises. Tom is also the president of the Science Council for Global Initiatives, a new international Non-Governmental Organisation, creating the framework for the global energy revolution proposed in in his book. For twenty years Tom skippered a seasonal fishing boat on the Bering Sea, and led a diverse and adventurous life. He then founded a charitable organisation with his wife, to provide safe water supplies to villagers in Central America. While fundraising to launch this project, Tom discovered some lesser known technologies that if properly used, could have a profound global impact. After nearly ten years of research and working hand in hand with scientists who helped develop the core concepts, Blees wrote ‘Prescription for the Planet’.

Tom Blees will be in Australia during the first two weeks of February and throughout his stay he will speak about his book at functions in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Tom will speak at two functions in Adelaide, both open to the general public. The first event, hosted by the Royal Institution of Australia, in association with The Environment Institute, will be a discussion with Tom as he explains his thinking and outlines how a trio of little-known yet profoundly revolutionary technologies (such as the Integral Fast Reactor), coupled with their judicious use in an atmosphere of global cooperation, can solve the power, pollution and resource problems facing the world today.  For more information about this event and to register your interest in attending, please click here.

The second event, presented by The Australian Solar Energy Society, Sustainable Populations Australia and The Zero Carbon Network, will see a debate on “Should we consider Nuclear Power as a response to climate chage?” with Mark Diesendorf and Helen Caldicott for the negative and Barry Brook and Tom Blees for the affirmitive. For more information about this event and to register your interest in attending, please click here.

Freie Universitdt Berlin, Germany

15-17 January 2010

http://www.Technology-Conference.com

This Sixth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society examines a range of critically important themes in the various fields that address the complex and subtle relationships between technology, knowledge and society. The Conference is cross-disciplinary in scope, a meeting point for technologists with a concern for the social and for social scientists with a concern for the technological. The focus is primarily, but not exclusively, on information and communications technologies.

The Technology Conference is held annually in different locations around the world. The Conference was inaugurated in February 2005 at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. It was held in Hyderabad, India in December 2005; Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK in 2007; Northeastern University, Boston, USA in 2008 and in Huntsville, USA in 2009. We are pleased to hold this year’s Conference at the Freie Universitdt Berlin, Germany. In 2011, the conference will be held in Bilbao, Spain.

The 2010 Conference features the following Plenary Speakers:

• Christine Hine, University of Surrey, Surrey, UK
• Karim Gherab Martin, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
• Alfred Nordmann, Technische Universitdt Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

For more information on these Speakers, please visit the Conference website:

http://techandsoc.com/conference-2010/plenary-speakers/

In addition to Plenary Presentations, the Conference includes Parallel Presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. We invite you to respond to the Conference Call-for-Papers. Presenters submit their written papers for publication in the refereed International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society. If you are unable to attend the Conference in person, virtual registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication in the Journal.

The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 24 December 2009. Future deadlines will be announced on the Conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the Conference, including an online proposal submission form, may be found at the Conference website – http://www.Technology-Conference.com

In 2011, the Technology Conference will be held 25-27 March at the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain. Bilbao is the historic capital of the Biscay province and is an important economic and cultural center. The city is perhaps best know internationally for its critically acclaimed Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Gehry. For more details on the 2011 Conference, please visit the Conference website:

http://techandsoc.com/conference-2011/

Listen to the podcast here

Professor Richard Abbott presents a seminar entitled “Gene transfer and plant evolution: What we have learnt from Senecio.” Richard has been at St Andrews University since October 1971 and currently holds a Chair in Plant Evolution. He is also an Editor of New Phytologist, and Associate Editor of Molecular Ecology, and Plant Ecology & Diversity. Richard’s main research focus is on the evolutionary consequences of hybridization in plants using the genus Senecio (Asteraceae) as a system for study. The seminar is available as a slidecast here.

A landmark publication containing world-class soils information will be launched in Adelaide tonight.

The Soils of Southern South Australia is the culmination of a $10 million, 20-year investment by the State and Federal Governments, and presents information and data regarding the soil types and characteristics of South Australia’s agricultural areas in the one volume. The Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation (DWLBC) and the University of Adelaide will jointly launch the publication. DWLBC soil scientists James Hall, David Maschmedt and Bruce Billing co-authored the book, and are fittingly all past University of Adelaide graduates. This book will be highly useful particularly for farmers, grape growers and other primary production industries, providing a better understanding of soils in the environment.

Listen to Donald Hobern here.

Special guest speaker Donald Hobern, the Director of the Atlas of Living Australia, gave a special seminar entitled ‘Building the Atlas of Living Australia’

The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is a partnership between Australian natural history collections and biodiversity research groups.  It is developing systems to provide integrated access to all classes of biodiversity data (including names and classification, geospatial data, images, sequences, literature, identification tools and species interactions).  The central component will be an information repository which catalogues all data sources and makes them available to support research, policy and education.

Alternatively, you can view the slidecast of the presentation here.

Listen to Gus Nathan from the Centre of Energy Technology talk about the potential for integrating renewable energy systems into wine operations at the University of Adelaide’s Wine2030 Blue Sky event on 10 November 2009.

The “Natural History of the Riverland and Murraylands” is the latest in a series of publications produced by the Royal Society of South Australia detailing the natural history of the state’s regions.

Edited by Dr John Jennings, President of the Royal Society of South Australia and Senior Lecturer at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Adelaide, this exciting publication has chapter’s detailing everything from the ecology, soils and climate, through to the vegetation and living creatures of the region.

Contributors to the book are from organisations including The University of Adelaide, South Australian Museum, CSIRO, SA Water, The University of South Australia, The Environment Protection Authority, Museum of Victoria, WA Museum, Flinders University and many different departments within the South Australian Government.

In recognition of this release, The Royal Society of South Australia, in conjunction with The Environment Institute, held a launch on Monday 16^th November in The Armoury Gallery at the South Australian Museum. The Honourable Karlene Maywald the state Minister for the River Murray and Water Security was in attendance.

Karlene Maywald the Minister for the River Murray and Water Security and Dr John Jennings at the launch of Natural History of the Riverland and Murraylands.