Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, The Cove follows a high-tech dive team on a mission to discover the truth about the international dolphin capture trade as practiced in Taiji, Japan. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. 

There's a great post about The Cove's premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival here:

As part of the Green New Deal conference being held in Melbourne this weekend, Bob will be delivering a speech on Friday 23rd October at Melbourne University.

APOLOGIES - Due to technical problems, we were unable to deliver the live videocast to you. But stay tuned, and we'll put the video up online as soon as possible.

The Greening of Politics – Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown
When: 6.00 pm for 6.15 pm start
Where: ‘The Spot’, The Basement Lecture Theatre, the Faculty of Economics and Commerce Building, University of Melbourne.
What: This is a public lecture, supported by the Melbourne University School of Graduate Research.

Ireland will ban growing of GM crops, and a voluntary GM-free label can be placed on all animal products (such as meat, poultry, eggs, fish, crustaceans, and dairy) that are raised with GM-free feed, according to a GM-Free Ireland press release. Ireland joins Japan and Egypt as one of the few but growing number of countries that have banned the cultivation of GM crops.

Today, the Greens launch our Safe Climate Bill - our legislative answer to the climate problem. Christine & Bob will be revealing all at Parliament House in Canberra later today, but we're not leaving out those that can't be there. We've already sent out our call for people to be involved in a phone-in exclusive briefing with Christine straight after the launch, and those that were lucky enough to gain a spot should have those details very shortly.

UPDATE - You can now read our complete plan for a green future.

With all the focus on the chaos in the Liberal Party, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the fundamental decision on what climate path Australia takes will be made by the Government, not the Opposition.

It is up to the Government to decide whether to wedge Malcolm Turnbull, or give him enough rope to hang himself, or, tragically least likely, actually take meaningful action to avert the climate crisis.

The Bonnie Babes Foundation released its new book ‘Small Miracles' at Parliament House yesterday. The book has been published by one of Australia's top publishers Hachette Australia who publish everything from Enid Blyton to Stephen King and many well known titles in between. The book is now available in Target, Kmart, Myer, Big W, Dymocks, Angus & Robertson, Borders, Collins, 180 independent book sellers and specialty stores.

The book is raising funds for the Bonnie Babes Foundation which helps over 17,000 families every year. The Bonnie Babes Foundation provides 24 hour, 7 day per week grief counselling services and funds vital medical research into infertility issues, miscarriage, stillbirth and the charity raises much needed funds for vital equipment for premmie babies. Sadly one in every four pregnancies ends in a loss and one in every ten babies is born prematurely.

Net filtering got a run in senate question time again yesterday. See if you can spot the difference:

Minister Stephen Conroy on 22 December 2008:

"Technology that filters peer-to-peer and BitTorrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial."

Minister Stephen Conroy on 17 September 2009: "

As Senator Ludlam well knows, there has never been a suggestion by this government that peer-to-peer traffic would or could be blocked by our filter. It has never been suggested. So for you to continue to make the suggestion that we are attempting to do that just misleads the chamber and the Australian public, Senator Ludlam, and you know better than that. We are not attempting to suggest that the filter can capture peer-to-peer traffic."

Twenty-five Tasmanians were arrested yesterday on the doors of our Parliament House. Why? Because they were part of a peaceful protest calling on the government to hear the community, redress the Pulp Mill Assessment Act, and begin a Royal Commission into the corrupt approval process surrounding Gunns' plans to build an environmentally destructive pulp mill. About half of the mostly middle-aged, peaceful activists were arrested and charged with failing to obey a direction and later bailed on the condition they did not return to Parliament House for 24 hours. What nonsense! A healthy democracy needs active participation. People have every right to protest outside what is known in real democracies as the people's house. When will our state and federal governments wake up and realise that Tasmanians value their natural environment and their magnificent forests? Tasmanians do not want a polluting pulp mill, and no amount of government heavy handedness is going to stop them from saying so.

The collapse of Prime Minister Rudd's Continue Polluting Regardless Scheme in the Senate yesterday is the best opportunity Australia has had since the defeat of the Howard Government to take meaningful action on the climate crisis.

The CPRS would have locked in failure with its inexcusably weak targets and its $16 billion handouts to polluters. It would have sent a clear message to polluters and investors that they should keep going as they are. Three in four Australians supported the Greens' moves to toughen up the scheme before agreeing to pass it.

The CPRS would have seen our emissions keep rising for two years and not fall below today's levels until 2013! Now that it is off the books in the Senate, we can move on with action to reduce Australia's emissions fast