• an industry panel chaired by Heather Ridout, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group;
• an environmental panel chaired by former NSW Premier Bob Carr, and
• an academic panel chaired by Adelaide’s, Professor Graham Hugo.

The industry and environmental panels take diametrically opposed positions: the industry panel supports continued high population growth, while the environmental panel favours a stable population.

Both the Govt issues paper and the SPA submission in response can be accessed from the SPA website.

Mash-up contest…
Proudly announcing the PACHACUTI MASH-UP CONTEST #1 … $US2000 PRIZE-MONEY

For amateurs under 25, the contest has prize money of $US2,000. Entrants are asked to mash up a video clip to go with the title track from the Project’s imminent album “Pachacuti – Be the Change” (release in Sept).  The track is composed by 2009 Australian Songwriter of the Year, Tony King and is performed by acclaimed Sydney artist Steve Clisby. The contest closes on October 15th 2010. COMPETITION DETAILS.

Pachacuti Album...

We have locked in the album artwork and Tony King has finished the sound track master. We are now in production mode!! On target for a mid September pre-release of CDs … to a fanfare befitting the fantastic music. We aired it last night to the production team … this album is going places!!

ON THE SCREEN FRONT………

The screenplay has now been completed and registered with the Writer’s Guild of America and the film has been proposed in various quarters for investment funding. It is attracting a lot of production and creative interest.  We wait with bated breath………Watch this space……..

PACHACUTI – THE BOOK……

Revised edition is currently with the printers. Due on the street early September. Launches and signings will be conducted in SE Qld in September, NSW in October and Victoria/Tasmania in November.

THE INAUGURAL 'PACHACUTIFEST' ......

We’ve locked in a date and venue for this Bega Valley Earth Rally event.  It will be staged on October 23rd 2010 at the Cobargo Showgrounds.  Program and highlights etc will be revealed over the next couple of weeks.

Negotiations for a follow-up concert on the sunshine Coast in December have commenced and we’re making enquiries about venues etc in New Zealand/Aotearoa for concert/s in 2011 as well. NZA of course is where the film story opens and closes, in case you’re wondering about the connection to the land of the long white cloud……..

Hi there! Wanna win $US1,500? And have a ton of fun while you’re doing it?

Well if you’re an amateur under 25 and like messing about with video and music, why not enter our video mash up contest?

First prize is $US1,500.00.   Second prize is $US500.00. And there are five commendation prizes of project merchandise including album CDs.

Entry cost is just a $AU10 donation to the project. As a bonus, you get to see your work being put to good use – helping to promote the Pachacuti Project and preserve a better future for the coming generation.

What do you have to do to win? It’s dead easy!

HOW TO ENTER

• Download the MUSIC PACK below. It has the contest rules, the lyrics and the MP3 for “Be the Change”, performed by renowned Sydney artist Steve Clisby. It’s one of the tracks on Tony King’s brand new Pachacuti music album about casinospel to be released by the project.

• Mash up a video clip to go with the track.

• When you’re happy with your clip, register as a contestant, fill out the entry form

• Make a donation and

• Then post your clip on YouTube (as well as any other public shared website you like). Email the link/s to george@pachacuti.com.

The contest will receive entries up to 5:00 pm AEST 15th October 2010. The prizes will be awarded at a Pachacuti concert in NSW Australia on 23rd October 2010.

Winning entries will be used to promote the project via the internet.

Sound like something you and your friends could get into? Click MUSIC PACK below to download “Be The Change” and get the ball rolling.

staged at  Central Bardon Conference Centre 390 Simpsons Rd BARDON QLD 4065 on the afternoon of 26th September 2010.

A special afternoon of amazing and intimate engagement with local and interstate performers well and truly launched the Pachacuti Project and released the "Be the Change" album.

EVENT # 2

"BE THE CHANGE" - SOUTH COAST EARTH DAY

This event was staged at the Cobargo Showgrounds on October 23rd 2010. It was an amazing afternoon of family fun and info-tainment with great live stage performances and internationally acclaimed speakers. Our thanks to the many volunteers and participants who worked together and separately to make the event the success that it was. Possibly the most amazing part was to see the tremendous community spirit that prevailed amongst the organisers and participants alike to keep the day progressing in the midst of a major rain-front that came through. Perhaps the preceding decade of regional drought had something to do with that.  

IN THE PIPELINE

We are planning future info-tainment events.   Watch this space.

Around the globe, concern for the human ecosystem and society finds expression in every communication medium imaginable and verse has not been overlooked. This page has been developed in recognition of the contribution that poets are making to the aims of the Pachacuti Project. Our intention is to feature individual verse that has been specifically provided for the project's use and to provide links to the works of poets we believe have made an outstanding contribution to improving society's attitude towards the ecosystem. We hope eventually to have gathered enough original work to publish a book of "Pachacuti Verse."  Please feel free to send us your creative efforts for consideration.

FEATURED POETS

The Australian bard himself. A long loved public performer of classic Australian verse, Jack Thompson has recorded a number of works, all available from the website Finepoets.

MARK O'CONNOR

To head up our list of 'ecopoets', we could not go past Australia's poet laureate, Mark O'Connor, who writes regularly in support of Pachacuti aligned social principles.  His published works of verse as well as his engaging blog are available on his website.

ORIGINAL PACHACUTI VERSE

An original Haiku by George Trembath to kick off.  It has no title and probably doesn't need one.

Nature offended

sees bandit, king nor beggar;

scatters all like leaves.

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As a feature of Pachacuti’s ‘Be the Change’ Earth Day at Cobargo, we ran a poetry competition, judged by Australia’s poet laureate Mark O’Connor.  For a $500 prize, poets of the Bega Valley were asked to submit verse capturing the essence of humanity’s conflict with the ecosystem that supports us. There were two equal winners, Dean Turner of The Crossing and Connie Mason. Upon accepting their $250 prize money, Connie quietly handed hers back. Dean’s became a contribution to the running costs of The Crossing. Presented below are the two poems;

Connie Mason’s Entry – (Untitled)

What colour would blue be if it were not for the sky

Would we ever look up if birds didn’t fly?

Which green would you choose if it weren’t in the trees

How silent our world, if not for the breeze

And the sound of the surf

And the roll of the seas.

In all this grandeur I am so small

Does my footprint matter?

It’s just me – after all?

But one voice becomes louder when joined with another

The planet can hear us, it is our mother

It has given us life and asks us to care

No matter who, no matter where

Can’t you hear the earth calling?

Can’t you hear her plea.

To live with her in harmony.

If not now, then when will it be?

She’s calling to you and she’s calling to me.

—-----------------------------------------------------

And the second winning contribution;

Restore before the dinosaurs wake?

by Dean Turner

Behold the ancient greenhouse haze

Bringing back the raptor days

For we release the radicals free

Oil carbon terror

Burnt life of old seas

Coal carbon power

Of dinosaur trees

The CO2

And floating plastic stew

Our carbon cult grew

Me, my, more, stuff you!

Losing diversity; reefs, forests, rain

Ice and soils going… planet in pain

Depleting and melting

Gaia is shifting

Some land rebounding

While some land is sinking

For ‘Peak Soil’ needs replacing

Through volcanic violence

Or human creating

And every choice

Holds emotion

No away

One Earth, One Ocean

Reuse, restore

Cradle to cradle

No more grave products

To pollute or disable

Design waste as food

Reabsorb and remake

An Earthcare society

Won’t let the Earth bake.

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Our gratitude goes to Dean and Connie for this poignant work by both.