Low Impact

Strange as it may sound, Australia’s current tax rules have the side effect of encouraging people to pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  The main culprit is Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) - a tax on benefits that an employer offers its employees, specifically the rules on company cars.

Consult an accountant for the details, but the following description should give you the idea.  Basically, FBT is designed to ensure that people don’t evade tax by having their employer provide something to them as part of a salary package (”Join us and we’ll pay you $40,000 a year, plus a new TV!”) - where an employer provides something that is of personal benefit to the employee, the… Continue reading

Greenfleet is an organisation we’ve mentioned before - they’re a non-profit organisation who have been around for over 10 years and provide an offset service where they will offset your carbon emissions through tree-planting. The idea is that as the trees grow, they take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it in their trunk and roots. Initially this was targeted at offsetting people’s emissions from the family car, but has since expanded to include any household emissions.

Their recent accomplishment is to receive accreditation as a “Greenhouse Friendly” Abatement Provider. The “Greenhouse Friendly” Abatement Provider accreditation program is one set up by the Australian Federal Government to provide some measure of… Continue reading

In Australia, George Monbiot isn’t exactly a household name. In fact, I’ve yet to run into any of my colleagues who even recognise the name. Until I picked up a copy of “Heat” at my local bookstore, I’d never heard of him either so I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this densely packed book.

The theme behind the book is simple - Monbiot, a regular writer for The Guardian newspaper in the UK, contends that the science is clear that we need to cut our emissions by 90% by 2030 to prevent dangerous climate change, and he proceeds to analyse the different areas of our lives to determine if such a cut… Continue reading