by Gerry Georgatos It is indeed now common knowledge that Australian adult prisons are incarcerating children as young as 13. The human rights struggle to free these children from our adult prisons has been an arduous one, with the major obstacle the Australian government and the horrific prejudices and stereotypes they have shoved down throats so as to perceptually modify views. Many have now been freed, some brutally traumatised, one sexually abused, all of them losing some of the form and content of their youth to an unwarranted prison experience. The struggle for their freedom and for the changing of laws and ways on the Australian landscape has now garnered the support of a swathe of lawyers - who advocate the rights of these children, of the Australian Human Rights Commission, of the Australian Medical Association, of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, of UNICEF and of Greens Senators.
Related: Christmas at home for Bali boy however Christmas for many Indonesian children will be in Australian adult prisons -- Campaign Facebook page

Derec Davies used a bicycle U lock to attach himself to a dredger in Gladstone Harbour this morning. The direct action was taken to protect the Great Barrier Reef against the development of Gladstone harbour liquefied natural gas facilities on Curtis Island to export Coal Seam Gas. Massive Dredging of the Gladstone harbour is occurring which fisherman and environmentalists say is causing turbidity in the water and causing illness of fish effectively closing down the local fishing industry. Development is endangering the World Heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef.

Related: In 2010 Conservationists criticised government over coal ship grounding on Great Barrier Reef near Gladstone | Capricorn Conservation Council: The LNG invasion of Curtis Island | ABC TV Four Corners: Great Barrier Grief | Getup! petition to Save the reef

By Michael Woodley, CEO, Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation 7 November 2011. The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation is calling on Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to take action under the emergency powers of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act to stop the destruction by Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) of Yindjibarndi sacred sites and ‘living heritage’ areas that are used by Yindjibarndi people each year for their Birdarra religious ceremonies, which date back thousands of years.

Scientists have been studying the climate change impact on ice shelfs and glaciers for some time in Antarctica, and particularly around the Antarctic Peninsula where there is substantial warming occurring increasing ice shelf melt and the speed and discharge of glaciers. The most recent studies predict a faster retreat for the Thwaites Glacier and that warm ocean currents are already speeding the melting of the Pine Island Glacier and Ice Shelf and Getz Ice Shelf. A NASA Icebridge flight detected a major new rift in the Pine Island ice shelf on October 14 - the start of the calving of a massive iceberg. A recent paper in Nature Geoscience discusses the Stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet in a warming world and the likelihood of collapse that would raise sea level by more than three metres over the course of several centuries or less.

Related: Record Increase in Greenhouse Gas Emissions for 2010 | The Wilkins ice Bridge collapsed in April 2009 as Polar regions felt the heat of climate change. I reported as far back as 2004 that warming in Antarctica was cause for concern with ocean food chain crashing due to Antarctic warming. More recently in April 2011 I discussed Penguin numbers suffering with krill decline due to Global Warming.