Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Myths about Australian Farming

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IT  is often stated that not only were the early European settlers in Australia hell-bent on making a little Europe/England, but also that the farming systems used since are still part of such an attempt and therefore should be abandoned…

[In fact] the settlers were quite prepared to use things native: local trees for timber and honey, their bark for tanning; kangaroos for meat, native fish for food; but above all, native grasses for what was for nearly a century to be their mainstay, the sheep industry. They greatly valued these grasses, and soon called them by local names—kangaroo and wallaby grasses…

Some make much of the kangaroo foot being softer than the sheep—ignoring the enormous damage done by the softest foot of all, the rabbit! It is grazing habit and pressure that matter…

I’m quoting from a new piece at Quadrant Online by  David F. Smith, Melbourne University, entitled ‘Green Myths About Australian Farming’.  You can read the complete text here:  

https://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2009/4/green-myths-about-australian-farming

Uneven Population Growth

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Although the population of the world continues to grow substantially, 79 million a year, the rate of growth has declined by nearly half in the last 40 years – from 2.0 to 1.2 per cent per annum.  It have varied significantly by continent … Read more here.

Given Uncertainty of Sea-level Rise, Don’t Stop Development Now

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IS it fair to take away the development potential of real estate because sea levels may rise by up to 0.8 m over the next 100 years? 

According to a recent presentation by Barrister and Practising Planner, Clem Newton-Brown, at the Planning Institute of Australia Annual Conference, last year’s decision by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to refuse development of low lying land in Toora over one kilometre from the sea, due to the potential for inundation by rising sea levels in the future, has implications for the development of all low lying coastal land in Victoria. 

Indeed, the Victorian State Government has now set a level of 80cm as the predicted sea level rise over the next 100 years and planners have been directed to apply this prediction to future planning applications.  

[Read more…] about Given Uncertainty of Sea-level Rise, Don’t Stop Development Now

AGW Activists Wishing for Warmer Weather

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THEY went to the Arctic lamenting global warming, but ever since they got there they have been wishing for warmer weather.

I have been feeling sorry for the three Brits who set off for the North Pole in February.  I’m all for adventurers pushing themselves to their absolute limits but after pulling a 1,000 kg sledge all day, image having to crawling into “a frozen sleeping bag” on “a raft of sea ice” knowing there is a polar bear nearby.  I guess there is always a percentage of us that feel the need to suffer for the common good.

Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and photographer Martin Hartley were dropped somewhere in Canada at the end of February to pull their fully laden sledges more than 1,000 kilometres to the North Pole.  The objective of the adventure is to measure ice thickness and draw attention to the issue of global warming.  I suspect that the latter objective, drawing attention to global warming, is why the team includes the photographer. 

Called the Catlin Expedition, it has run into unusually cold weather with a dip in Arctic temperatures over the last couple of months, but apparently temperatures are now recovering along with the spirits of the adventurers. 

Given the team set off concerned the planet was overheating, they could perhaps be a little happier about the recent unusually cold weather.  

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Notes

Arctic diary: Explorers’ ice quest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7897392.stm

Graph from Anthony Watts, http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/04/bad-news-for-catlin-expedition-satellite-data-shows-arctic-cooling-in-feb-march/ .  Click on the image for a better/larger view.