Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for June 15, 2005

Platypuses Can Live with Supermarkets

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There seems to be much excitment about the discovery of lots and lots of playtpuses at Maleny, 100 odd kms north of Brisbane, where some locals have been trying to stop the building of a Woolies for many, many months.

The ideas is that because there are Platypuses there should be no supermarket. Indeed according to ABC Online:

Opponents of the development of a major supermarket at Maleny, in south-east Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland, are hailing extensive research they believe may sound the death knell for the development.

They say a team of scientists has irrefutable proof of a large colony of platypuses, living under the site and they have called on Environment Minister Desley Boyle to intervene to stop construction of the supermarket.

Under the Nature Conservation Act it is an offence to knowingly disturb a platypus habitat.

One of the scientists, Graham Kell, says more than 50 platypus burrows have been discovered on the site and all have been photographed and their location fixed by satellite tracking.

Mr Kell says it is a remarkable discovery.

“There’s a lot more activity at the proposed Woolworths site than I’ve seen in many regions before…the burrow activity at Maleny is just phenomenal,” he said.

Yeah, And isn’t the development well back from the watercourse and aren’t there platypuses in the Yarra as far downstream as the suburb of Heidelberg in Melbourne.

The idea that wild animals can’t coexist with development, and using the presence of wild animals to block development, may not be in the longer term interests of this and other platypus colonies.

Should Academics Play E-Politics?

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What role might Universities play in the “small-p politics” of the environment? This is the subject of a piece in today’s The Australian in which I am quoted as saying, academics should foster informed debate but not be “advocates of a particular perspective”.

Professor Peter Fairweather from Flinder’s University is quoted, “We (academics) have to primarily give the scientific view first because nobody else can really do that.”

I note the word “scientific view”. I would like to think it was a poor choice of words.

It seems to me that academics increasingly confuse evidence, facts, theories and hypothesis, from arguments, from knowledge. Then there is opinion and there are views. And then there is the truth.

The Professor goes on to suggest that, when scientists spoke in the policy debate they should make this clear since as citizens they did not “necessarily have any more importance than anyone else, because everyone’s got a view of what we should do policy-wise,” he said.

What waffle! There are views and views and views. But it requires discipline and knowledge to build a robust argument.

The piece in The Australian is reporting on a decision by the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee to consider a role for universities in environmental politics.

I do think it is good the issue is being considered. But let us not pretend that Universities are not already involved in environmental politics. I know a professor in a Life Science Faculty that has unashamably very publicly driven campaigns for WWF.