Chain Reaction is the journal for Friends of the Earth Australia.

The August 2016 edition had the following two articles written in the Far North by FoE FNQ president John Glue and Margaret Pestorius.

Will militarism block the climate change movement?

At the start of the election campaign Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt visited Cairns to re-announce $50 million in new projects to boost water quality, including efforts to keep sediment, fertilisers and pesticides off the Great Barrier Reef. This re-announcement was partly to allay concerns over research showing 93% of the Reef had been bleached and dire predictions that the Reef will be terminal in as little as 5 to 20 years.

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The Queensland Labor Party is backtracking on pledges it made before the last election to repeal water reforms which deregulated the use of groundwater by resource companies, giving big mining operations rights to billions of litres of water without the need for a licence.

Gas Pipelines Planned For Cape York and Across Northern Queensland

Two members of FoE Kuranda and CSG Free Kuranda along with 120 people from around the country attended a Lock the Gate conference in Lismore. Some of the new gas proposals for our region that were discussed was the gas pipeline from New Guinea through Cape York as well as the gas pipeline coming across from the Northern Territory and on down to export facilities at Gladstone. These pipelines would also enable gasfields to be developed all along their route. Currently over half of Queensland and Australia is covered by coal and gas licenses and could be turned into gasfields.

Here is an inspiring example of what community action was able to achieve on related forestry issues in Northern NSW.

This article also names the chemicals used in forestry operations.

No Spray, No Way community fights chemical weed spraying in Gladstone state forest

March 16, 2015 in Media

It has been described as a laid-back, tree-fringed town with a community that prides itself on making a living out of organic farming and healthy lifestyles.

So when residents around Bellingen in the state’s north were told that the nearby Gladstone State forest was about to be aerially sprayed by the Forestry Corporation with a cocktail of chemical weed killers they reacted angrily and immediately mounted a campaign to stop it.

“We set up camps in the forest, on the helipad site and the entrance to the forest to run around-the-clock on-ground vigilance at all times,” said resident and No Spray No Way campaigner Susan Weil.

“Forestry Corporation was not allowed to conduct any aerial spraying while there were community members in the forest and we took full advantage of this protocol,” Ms Weil told Fairfax Media.

Trouble started with the announcement from the Forestry Corporation that an area that had become overrun with weeds after it was logged for hardwood was going to be sprayed from a helicopter to kill the weeds before a new plantation of timber was planted. Forestry Corporation said it was planning to mix four chemcials and herbicides: Glyphosate, Metsulfurin Methyl, Fluroxypyr and Simazine and the adjuvants Liaise and Pulse, to do the job.

Friends of the Earth Kuranda has deep concerns about the latest draft plan for this region. 

Noting the Mareeba Shire Council seems intent in having its new Shire plan finalised in the near future, we urge anyone who shares our concerns to take action NOW.

There are a few things you can do..

• Write now to the State Government asking that this unsatisfactory plan is not approved. It's best to write to the deputy premier who is responsible for considering approval [email protected] and cc to Craig Crawford our [email protected]
• Protest to Mareeba Shire Council
• Come to the public consultation meeting run by Council in Kuranda on Monday November 2nd
• Come to the public meeting organised by Friends of the Earth Kuranda on Tuesday 10th November.
• Talk about the issues with family and friends and encourage more people to get active

Here's some details about our concerns -and also to show the difference between the old, amalgamated Tablelands Regional Council Draft Plan 2012 and the latest Mareeba Shire Draft Plan 2015:

A innovative new way to protect and preserve the environment is to bestow legal personality to significant ecosystems.

Legal personality means that a person or entity has rights and duties in law. These rights commonly include the right to be free from unlawful interference, and the rights to exist, persist and reproduce. Where the rights of a legal person or entity are breached, they have the right to seek enforcement and a remedy through the legal system.