With all due respect, we’re doomed. Read more here. To fly around the globe spewing carbon everywhere you go to be just like our former vice president. Read more here.
Archives for January 30, 2009
New ‘Save the Sea Kittens’ Campaign
Who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten? Read more here. [Via Wes George]
A Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo and Two Messages for Australian Readers
THIS beautiful bird, a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, has been sitting in a tree outside my study perhaps wondering when I am going to refill the bird-feeder with some bird seed. The few times I have walked outside this afternoon the bird has squarked, perhaps asking me to “fill it!”
Meanwhile I have been posting a couple of messages at the ‘Community Home’ page.
I am now asking you, particularly if you live in the vicinity of Mittagong to have a look here, and if you are a member of the Australian Environment Foundation to have a look here.
Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, Cacatua galerita, are very common where I live in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. It is not uncommon for a flock of perhaps 20 birds to strut about on my back lawn late in the afternoon before perching in a very tall nearby pine tree where they sleep at night.
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Update, January 31
OK. In response to requests from Janama and Bernard and the Bird, I’ve filled it!
Gillian Hogendyk Finalist in Rural Woman’s Award
GILLIAN Hogendyk is passionate about the Macquarie Marshes and, with her husband Chris, is involved in the restoration of a block they purchased some years ago.
In part because of this work, Gillian has been selected as a finalist in this year’s NSW Rural Industry Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women’s Award. The two other NSW finalists are Janet Bailey from Bundarra and Kim Currie from Orange.
According to her local newspaper The Warren Advocate:
“The three women share a passion for sustaining and promoting rural NSW.
“Gillian, who lives near Warren on an irrigation and dryland farming property with her two sons and husband Chris, wants to involve more rural communities in wetland conservation.
“Described by Spotlight magazine as a ‘passionate environmentalist, conservationist, author and advocate of the cotton industry,’ Gillian donates her time to raising awareness of the Macquarie Marshes and how agriculture and nature can live together in a positive way.
“Gillian launched her book, The Macquarie Marshes: An Ecological History with the help of Don Burke from Burke’s Backyard in 2007.
“Gillian has also worked on a revegetation plan for Auscott, as a wildlife carer for WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service), as a community representative on the National Parks and Wildlife Community Advisory Committee and as Secretary-Director of the Australian Environment Foundation.
“The award is designed to provide women with support and resources to further develop their skills and abilities.
“This year’s award again offers a bursary of $10,000 for the winner and a place in the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ course for both the winner and the runner-up.
“The bursary can be used to increase personal leadership capacity and/or develop knowledge of innovations, industries and markets by participating in leadership or management training; undertaking an overseas tour; attending events or conferences; developing educational or promotional campaigns; or developing training, information, resources or programs.
“The winner will be announced at a gala dinner at Sydney’s Parliament House in March before going on to represent the state at the national award event in Canberra.”
Gillian is also a regular reader of this blog.
Best of luck Gill!
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The photograph shows Gillian at her home in Warren caring for an injured Collared Sparrowhawk.
Bob Carter to Visit Mittagong: February 19, 2009
How Dangerous is Human-caused Climate Change?
The well-known climate scientist, Professor Robert (“Bob”) Carter, will be in Mittagong on Thursday 19 February at 6.30pm at Clubbe Hall, Frensham School, to give a Royal Society lecture [Royal Society NSW Southern Highlands branch] on the science of climate change.
Governments around the world are implementing Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) to combat human induced global warming, so it is extremely important that the underlying science is correct.
The lecture “Testing the hypothesis of dangerous human-caused global warming”, will provide an analysis of many of the aspects of climate science. We are now all familiar with the hypothesis put forward by Al Gore and the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change), that human-caused CO2 emissions will result in dangerous global warming. Bob Carter will address a number of very important issues arising from the hypothesis.
Bob Carter is Research Professor in the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University. He is a palaeontologist, stratigrapher, and marine and environmental geologist. He has appeared as an expert climate change witness before the U.S. Senate, N.Z. parliamentary committees, and the U.K. High Court. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Details :
Thursday 19 February, 6:30pm,
Clubbe Hall, Frensham School, Mittagong (enter off Waverley Parade).
Doors open 6pm.
Cost is $10 (RS members $5). Booking not required.
Following the lecture, there will be a dinner with the lecturer, open to members and non-members at an additonal cost of $40 (including drinks).
Booking is essential for the dinner.
Any queries, and for dinner bookings, please contact Clive Wilmot (Royal Society) 0414621650
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Photograph of Bob Carter taken in Brisbane in October 2008.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.