Earth Hour 2015 is less than a week away and our signature event Plates in a Paddock has been sold out! However, there will be 10 extra spaces available if the weather is good! If you would like to be added to the waiting list to be a part of this event please call the SCEC office at 0754415747. Those on the waiting list will be notified on March 27, the day before, if they will be added to the event. The evening is looking to be beautiful and unforgettable.

There are a number of Earth Hour events happening around the region if you are unable to join us for Plates in a Paddock. Check out our Earth Hour events calendar or join thousands of others around Australia by hosting your own Earth Hour dinner for your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues- be sure to register your event with SCEC!

Our new financial year will commence on 1st April. To give ourselves the best possible start to the financial year we are looking to recruit 25 new monthly donors. If you have ever considered financially supporting SCEC now is the time to act. Our monthly donations start from as little as $5.- a month, with your support we will be able to be even more effective during 2015.

If you haven't already done so it would be great if you can update your details. Having your details on file enables us to say how many supporters we have in a particular region or electorate which greatly strengthens our advocacy position.

• Earth Hour- What are you doing for Earth Hour this year? Check out all the events happening in our region or register your own dinner or event for a chance to win a print by Maleny artist Gary Myers.

• Hands of Halls Creek- Calls on Minister for Infrastructure and Planning to remove Halls Creek from SEQ Regional Plan      
• No High Rise at Yaroomba- Calls on Council not to amend the planning scheme to facilitate high rise development at Yaroomba

Join our appeal to gain 25 new monthly donors for the new financial year. You can make a monthly donation from as little as $5.- a month. All donations are tax deductible and give us even more opportunities to protect our beautiful environment.

Sekisui House
As the 31 March deadline for Sekisui House to provide Council with a ‘revised concept plan’ following its community ‘consultation’,  the concern about lack of transparency and the disregard of community sentiment about this proposal is not being allayed. A recent media report has Sekisui’s development manager claiming there is majority support for their high-rise mixed use development on sensitive beachfront land at Yaroomba. We know from extensive and importantly, transparent, community feedback drawn from a statisically valid ReachTel poll,  thousands of  emails and texts to Councillors,  community consultation session exit surveys, thousands of signatures on multiple petitions, signs and the ‘talk on the street up and down the coast’ that tells a different but more truthful story to Sekisui's spin. Sustainable development within current town plan provisions, existing approvals, respect for the environment & surrounding amenity has been the community's call. And this doesn't require  undoing the planning scheme or falling for the international hotel red herring. In conjunction with Development Watch, SCEC will be hosting a public meeting on 11^th April in Coolum.
Kondalilla National Parkwe were forced to withdraw our proposal to develop the zip line attraction at Obi Obi....the negative publicity that appeared in the press caused our financial backers to withdraw their funding." We alsobelieve a number of other factors came into this move, however, the importance of community awareness and action cannot be underestimated. With the withdrawal of this proponent, another tenderer may be in the mix so this proposal has not gone away altogether. After extensive and alarming rollbacks in environmental protections under the previous government, we welcome the new state government supporting the cardinal principle for managing national parks to provide, to the greatest possible extent, for the permanent preservation of the area's natural condition and the protection of the area's cultural resources and values. We are seeking assurances that commercial activities within our precious few National Parks don’t proceed or compromise the values of these cornerstones of conservation.

Climate Action

"Sunshine Coast Waste Strategy Falls Short"

The Sunshine Coast Council’s new draft Waste Strategy falls well short of community expectations, according to a submission prepared by SCEC. Read the media release here.

Changing Face of Mary

If you are not heading to Plates in a Paddock, consider going to "Changing Face of Mary." On 28th March, a short documentary film about the future of agriculture in our region will be shown at the Dagun Railway Station. Check out the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee's Facebook page for more info.

"Land Clearing in Queensland triple after policy ping pong." "Last month, early figures were reported suggesting that 275,000 hectares were cleared from Queensland in the last financial year – a tripling of land clearing rates since 2010. Land clearing is the main cause of biodiversity loss. It also exacerbates erosion and salinity, reduces water quality, worsens the impacts of drought, and contributes significantly to carbon emissions. Indeed, vegetation protection laws enabled Australia to meet its Kyoto Protocol target for emissions reductions." Click here to read the full article.

Barung Landcare Retail Plant List-

Looking to fill your property with bird, butterfly or fauna attracting plants or just beautiful rainforest plants? Check out Barung Landcare's List of Plant Species for sale and see what you can put in your yard!

The Permaculture Guidebook

The Permaculture Guidebook "provides knowledge, techniques and skills that will reduce the severity of global climate change and provide adaptation and resilience knowledge and skills to those impacted the most by climate change and who are the least able to afford expensive solutions."

SCEC's Book of the month

An early Tim Flannery book, The Future Eaters, is a thought provoking book each Australian and every citizen of our one and only planet should read in the very near future. In the book, we consider the ecological history of Gondwana and Australiasia until recent times and how specifically our southern lands have been shaped by humans.  Since being published in 1994, new science has emerged to support and further Flannery's findings and also challenge his hypotheses as well. Be sure to read this and find out for yourself!

Sunshine Coast Environment Council
http://www.scec-action.org.au/