WEEK 15! THURSDAY 20 AUGUST 2009

News and Views
YMCA Perth Sustainability Officer Jenny Newman joined Kate and Rachel in the Studio for a chat about the Y's new environmental initiatives!

During 2008, the YMCA Perth’s environmental initiatives, with direction from the Board, have achieved:

• 100% reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) from electricity consumption at YMCA Perth head office. This initiative is saving approximately 38 tonnes of GHG per annum and has reduced head office's total emissions by 53%.
• 100% reduction in GHG emissions from electricity use at our seven childcare centres, saving 60 tonnes of GHG per annum. This initiative has reduced total emissions from the child care centres by 31%.
• 21% reduction in electricity consumption at head office through a range of targeted energy efficiency actions. Initiatives included:
  reducing by half artificial lighting load;
  introduction of energy efficient globes where possible;
  installing timers on all hard plumbed hot water urns; and
  reduced air-conditioning use by minimising running times and using optimal temperature settings.

For 2009 Jenny has implemented a Waste Wise Grant which has seen over 15 worm farms be installed in Childcare centres across the Perth Metro area.

Stay tuned for more green updates from the Y!

WEEK 14! THURSDAY 13 AUGUST 2009

THE BIG SWITCH EXPERIMENT:
Como Senior High School Year 10 student Luke McMillian was invited into the studio to chat to the Millennium Kids Corner (MKC) about The Bright Green Youth Conference and Climate Change.

MKC: What is the Bright Green Youth Conference all about?
LUKE: The Bright Green Youth Conference is a climate change conference for kids, where kids from all over the world come together and share their ideas with one another and make energy projects out of it. It is the youth version of the conference (COP 15) in December which has adults but has the same idea.

MKC:What are you hoping to learn from the Bright Green Youth Conference?
LUKE: We are hoping to learn about alternative energy sources and climate change and how we can use this type of technology in Australia

MKC: How are you helping the MK team in Denmark?
LUKE: I am their ground manager, I advise them on what sort of photos to take, what they need to do and I manage the blog spot which is www.thebigswitchexperiment.blogspot.com.

MKC: What is your school doing to help with climate change?
LUKE: At school we have run a few workshops on what we like about our community, what we don’t like about our community and what we want to change in our community. Also in our most recent workshop we were finding ways on how to conserve the Swan River and what we can do to help it.

MKC: Why are you concerntrating on Energy Projects?
LUKE: Fossil fuelled energy (electricity) is one of the worst contributors towards greenhouse gases and if we have a different, clean energy we would not make so much carbon emissions.

MKC: What effect has climate change had on Como beach and the South Perth foreshore?
LUKE: The effect of climate change on Como beach and the foreshore is absolutely massive; the foreshore is about 100 metres off of where it used to be and Como Beach has lost a fair bit of beach and water because where the freeway is now used to be all water and beach.

MKC: What can we do to help reduce our own carbon emissions?
LUKE: Cutting down your emissions can be as simple as just having shorter showers, walking more, riding your bike, turn off appliances at the wall once your finished with them, and opening a window instead of turning on the air-conditioner it is as simple as that

International Youth Day
On 17th December 1999, the World Conference of Minister Responsible for Youth recommended that 12 August be officially declared as International Youth Day.

It is meant as an opportunity for governments and others to draw attention to youth issues worldwide. Concerts, workshops, cultural events, and meetings involving national and local government officials and youth organizations take place around the world in honor of International Youth Day.

Yesterday the Western Australian Minister for Youth, Donna Faragher held a special morning tea for some WA young leaders. Millennium Kids Corner reporter Kate Laurendi was lucky enough to be invited representing Millennium Kids and HypeFM. Find out more here

WEEK 13! THURSDAY 30 JULY 2009

Red Cross PROUD YOUTH FESTIVAL

Youth Advisory Council Member Breony and Red Cross Education Services Officer Mel Brewer join Kate in the Studio.

On Sunday 9 August, young people from all over Perth will descend on Herb Graham Recreation Centre in Mirrabooka for the Proud Youth Festival. From 3 - 6pm, Red Cross will showcase what a group of diverse young people have learnt through its World Aware program.

The Proud Youth Festival will feature an exotic blend of performances of Bollywood dance, theatre arts, a photography exhibition, recorded music production, and a short film display; the final product of what these young people have been working on for the past four weeks through the World Aware program.

World Aware is a ten week leadership program which aims to build resilience and promote well-being among refugee and migrant youth by connecting them with other young Australians from the community.

Participants explore issues like culture, self expression and communication while raising awareness about the things people can do to promote mental health through dance, photography and theatre arts. The program begins with a leadership program which engages the young leaders to develop four streams to promote these values. Through the chosen streams - Bollywood dance, drama, music production, documentary making and photography – the participants learn how to express themselves.

The Proud Youth festival is the culminating event for this program, now in its third year. As well as the performances created through World Aware, some new and emerging multicultural artists will also be performing thanks to the support of Kulcha.

WEEK 12! THURSDAY 23 JULY 2009

Today Frank Macri from HypeFM's new show HyperBeam Radio joined Kate on the Millennium Kids Corner!

THE BIG SWITCH EXPERIMENT:
The Millennium Kids Corner looked into the Nuclear Power debate and checked out what Uranium is and where it comes from.

What is Uranium?
Uranium is a very dense, radioactive metallic element, naturally occurring in most rocks, soil, and even in the ocean! It is not at all rare, and in fact occurs more commonly than gold, silver or mercury. Uranium is found as an oxide or complex salt in minerals such as pitchblende and carnotite. It is formed from volcanic activity and has an average concentration in the earth's crust of about 2 parts per million.

Uranium was named after the planet Uranus, although the metal is not very common in the solar system. It does, however, provide the main source of heat inside the earth. Uranium is mined for many different purposes and has been used to produce energy for more than forty years.

When was Uranium discovered in Australia?
Although known to exist in Australia since the 1890s, uranium was first discovered at Mount Painter in the Flinders Ranges in the early 1900s. It was not until the 1930s that uranium ore was mined at Radium Hill in South Australia. Most of Australia's known uranium reserves are in South Australia. In fact, Olympic Dam is the world's largest known uranium resource. Over the past decade, Australia has earned more than $2.8 billion in income from more than 50,000 tonnes of exported uranium.

Nuclear Power and Uranium
Uranium, as it is mined from the earth's crust, is not directly useable for power generation. Much processing must be carried out to concentrate the fissile isotope U-235 before uranium can be used efficiently to generate electricity.
More so than other energy resources such as coal, oil and natural gas, uranium has its own distinctive and very complicated fuel cycle.

PLUS: Compared to coal power, Nuclear power does not emit hardly as many CO2 Emissions, it is a much cleaner form of energy.

MINUS: Nuclear energy has a great amount of radioactive waste that is produced as a by product of the processing of the Uranium. This waste is very toxic to humans and needs to be stored.

YOU DECIDE: Should we use Nuclear Power to solve our Greenhouse emission problem at the sake of a mass Nuclear Waste issue?

Millennium Kids Corner would like to thank Uranium South Australia for the facts about Uranium http://www.uraniumsa.org/about/what_is_uranium.htm

WEEK 11! THURSDAY 16 JULY 2009

WEEK 10! THURSDAY 2 JULY 2009