{"product_id":"to-save-a-beach-the-story-of-reckless-renewable-by-sandra-bourke","title":"To Save a Beach : The Story of Reckless Renewables by Sandra Bourke","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTo Save a Beach\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Story of Reckless Renewables\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSandra Bourke\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eForeword by Chris Uhlmann\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRelease date: Mid-October 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback, 350+ pages, $39.95\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eISBN: 9781923568969\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen plans for offshore wind turbines reach Hawks Nest, Sandra Bourke believes she is fighting to save one beach: endangered petrels, migrating whales and the community bound to its shore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe discovers a much bigger map of Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith Bruce and campervan Rogue, Sandra crosses rainforests, cattle country, coastal towns, farming valleys and polling booths, meeting Australians resisting turbines, grid solar, pumped hydro and transmission lines as the machinery of government rolls on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut beneath the campaign runs a darker current: intimidation, division, and hatred gathering force while those in power look away. The closer Sandra comes to power, the clearer the pattern becomes: warnings dismissed, dissent vilified, the government pressing on without listening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Save a Beach is a hard-hitting narrative non-fiction about reckless renewables, political power, and democracy. It asks what remains of the social contract when government stops listening, and what Australians do when looking away is no longer an option.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the author:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Sandra Bourke is an Australian former federal law enforcement officer, national security specialist, and political advocate. She is currently the Director of Myall Coast Consulting Services. In 2024-25, she served as a spokesperson for ADVANCE, a conservative political group, and is a prominent critic of large-scale renewable energy projects in regional areas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGems from the book:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur energy security is being eroded, our costs are rising, and our environmental footprint is getting bigger. Look at the land and the sea being taken. We are walking towards the top of a cliff, blindfolded, and the cliff is collapsing towards us. It’s a kind of stupid, self-destructive national suicide. \u003cem\u003eChapter 9: The Cost, Professor Stephen Wilson, Brisbane, Queensland.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat is happening out here in rural communities is out-of-sight and out-of-mind for city people. Out here we see the destruction first-hand. The stories from communities around the country are horrifying, and we are ringing the alarm bells. Once we lose our precious Australian landscapes and habitats, they will be gone for good. \u003cem\u003eChapter 14: Katy McCallum, Borumba Pumped Hydro, Black Snake Range, Queensland.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcross the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone, developers have drawn up more than fifty wind and solar projects. If they all proceed, this district will carry upward of a thousand turbines and nine million solar panels, along with the transmission lines and substations that follow them. Build all of it, and the embodied energy swallows any benefit the machines might ever return. What stays behind is the local wreckage: productive farmland surrendered to steel. You would struggle to invent a worse way to make bulk electricity. It ruins the countryside and turns neighbour against neighbour. I want to stay.  So, one question sits with me from waking to dark: how do we stop this?\u003cem\u003e Chapter 13: Grant and Annette Piper, Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe mass media in Australia is not asking our politicians the hard questions. Can Chris Bowen please show us a map of where these renewables are going? Where are they planned? Where are they proposed? What’s the cumulative impact? What are the issues for regional communities, high-value agriculture, high-value biodiversity?\u003cem\u003e Chapter 10: The Cartographer with a Camera, Steven Nowakowski, Ravenshoe, Queensland.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Connor Court Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52286933795104,"sku":null,"price":39.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0919\/0191\/9520\/files\/Tosavethebeachupdated.jpg?v=1788224336","url":"https:\/\/www.connorcourtbooks.com.au\/products\/to-save-a-beach-the-story-of-reckless-renewable-by-sandra-bourke","provider":"Connor Court Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}