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Doctors for the Environment (Australia) - DEA

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DEA PowerPoint, The Science & Health Impacts of Climate Change

DEA with Professor Garnaut

Doctors for the Environment Australia Management Committee met with Professor Ross Garnaut author of the Garnaut Climate Change Review in Adelaide, November 5 2009.
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Things To Do

How to make your household and business carbon neutral
Click here. A charter for all medical practitioners by Bill Castleden

DEA in the Community

GreenClinics

This initiative by ACF and DEA assists doctors and practice managers to identify simple changes they can make in their clinics to save energy and water, reduce waste, and help their patients and communities to live more sustainable and healthy lives. download...

Public Transport is a Climate Change and Health Issue

To read DEA's "A Public Transport and Green City Manifesto for the Federal Election" Click Here and to read "Moving Australians Sustainably, transport policy in the national interest" courtesy of the Public Transport Users Association. Click Here

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Carbon Offsetting Your Personal Footprint- A Guide

Submitted by David Shearman on Sat, 26/01/2008 - 18:58. Reports on Climate Change

Many members of Doctors for the Environment have asked us whether they should offset their travel and how should they do it. They have expressed concern about how they choose a scheme and how they assess whether the planted trees will be kept alive and have the prospect of living for 100 years and indeed whether they will be relaced if they die.

Offsetting can be done through mechanisms other than forestry with renewable technologies and energy efficiency projects. Critics of these mechanisms argue that they would be done anyway without your support. By contrast forestry has additional tangible benefits in rural support, payments to farmers for stewardship etc

Others argue that the fundamental flaw in offsetting is that it is a guilt free pass to carry on as normal (George Monbiot of The Guardian) or the worst form of "get out of jail free card" (Charlie Kronick of Greenpeace)

I confess that i havent offset my travel so I determined to look into the schemes and report to members. I went to see Leonard Cohen, Director, Design and Innovations, Canopy one of the offsetting companies which is based in Adelaide. This company is featured in the article at http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23013750-36437,00.html which will answer many of your questions.

In your quest for information you should first go to www.carbonoffsetguide.com.au to look at the Carbon Offset Guide Australia a report from RMIT University in partnership with the Victorian EPA and Global Sustainability. There you will find a summary of providers and particularly details of which guidelines they adhere to, for example those issued by the Australian Greenhouse office (now the Climate Change Office) The steps to calculate your footprint are described in the Daily Telegraph Article

I suggest that those who want to offset digest this information before coming to a decision. My view is that offsetting is worthwhile if you do your homework.

Please describe your experiences and problems through the blog so that others may benefit from them

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