My appeal against WA EPA’s decision NOT to assess a crazy wave park proposal on the Swan Coastal Plain.
(If you are in Perth and want to lodge one too, you have until tonight)

The Perth Surf Park (PSP) proposal will require the removal of up to 5.26 ha of native vegetation, including 3.156 ha of Banksia Woodlands which is a State-listed priority ecological community and a foraging habitat for threatened species of black cockatoos, and 1ha of wetlands.
The clearing would also release 534 tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere.

The proposal contravenes several EPA objectives:

1. The objective to protect flora and vegetation so that biological diversity and ecological integrity are maintained
The proposal would lead to loss of 3.156ha of foraging habitat for Black Cockatoos species that are on the brink of extinction.
The argument that the clearing is “unlikely” to impact the overall survival of endangered Banksia woodland because there are other ‘better quality’ Banksia woodlands nearby is wrong and in direct conflict with the law, which seeks to protect all threatened ecological communities.
Banksia woodlands like these are essential ‘stepping stones’ used by black cockatoos to move between increasingly fragmented foraging areas.

2. The objective to maintain the hydrological regimes and quality of groundwater and surface water so that environmental values are protected
The initial filling of the lagoon and the annual top up of water, equivalent to more that 14 olympic sized swimming pools, will be drawn from the ground water of Perth’s aquifers. The site is located within the Resource Zone of the Jandakot groundwater management area which is protected under State Planning Policy 2.3 and states that aquatic facilities are an incompatible land use in this area.

Perth currently draws 36% of drinking water from underground aquifers and with the increased drying of the state due to climate change - as highlighted in the strongest possible terms in the AR6 Synthesis Report released by the IPCC this month - this source of water is increasingly vital to the survival of every species in our region. Wasting this water on a Surf Park is an insane response to the climate emergency we are in.

There has not been a full and proper assessment of whether ‘the application area occurs within an Aboriginal Site of Significance’. The application area has not undergone due diligence procedure for Tier 3 Activities according to the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act (2021) including: (a) assessment involving recent ethnographic and archaeological surveys, (b) the creation of an ACH, as required. The application area is relatively undisturbed and needs to follow correct process for engaging with the Whadjuk people, the traditional owners of the land.

Finally it is worth noting that the development’s sustainability claims, which include a 5-Star Green star rating, ‘net-positive environmental outcomes’, ‘zero embedded carbon concrete’, composting and no single use plastic, are initiatives that do not guarantee outcomes that are in line with the scale of action required to curb global heating, and should not be used to distract from - and green-wash - the negative environmental impact that this development will have on our biological and ecological diversity.

#architects working on the Neom mega-project in Saudi Arabia, including the 170-kilometre city The Line, must decide whether they are content to be complicit in an "ecological and moral atrocity", writes @adamgreenfield

Well, let's name them. So far:

- Zaha Hadid Architects
- UNStudio
- Aedas
- LAVA
- Bureau Proberts
- Luca Dini Design and Architecture

Norman Foster and Carlo Ratti were involved, but have recently distanced themselves from the project.

Any more?

#architecture #ClimateCrisis #humanrights #neom

https://www.dezeen.com/2022/11/02/neom-the-line-saudi-arabia-architects-opinion/

Running Orders
BY LENA KHALAF TUFFAHA

They call us now, before they drop the bombs.
The phone rings
and someone who knows my first name calls and says in perfect Arabic
"This is David."
And in my stupor of sonic booms and glass-shattering symphonies still smashing around in my head
I think, Do I know any Davids in Gaza?
They call us now to say
Run.
You have 58 seconds from the end of this message.
Your house is next.
They think of it as some kind of war-time courtesy.
It doesn't matter that there is nowhere to run to.
It means nothing that the borders are closed and your papers are worthless and mark you only for a life sentence in this prison by the sea and the alleyways are narrow and there are more human lives packed one against the other
more than any other place on earth just run.
We aren't trying to kill you.
It doesn't matter that
you can't call us back to tell us
the people we claim to want aren't in your house that there's no one here except you and your children who were cheering for Argentina sharing the last loaf of bread for this week counting candles left in case the power goes out.
It doesn't matter that you have children.
You live in the wrong place and now is your chance to run to nowhere.
It doesn't matter
that 58 seconds isn't long enough to find your wedding album or your son's favorite blanket
or your daughter's almost completed college application or your shoes
or to gather everyone in the house.
It doesn't matter what you had planned.
It doesn't matter who you are.
Prove you're human.
Prove you stand on two legs.
Run.

#gaza #freepalestine