Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Sweden’s Smallest Owl

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Hi Jennifer,

We run a small animal rehab centre north of Stockhom in Sweden. Due to some problems with rooms, activity has slowed downed a bit. Usually we have about 1200 patients each year – all species of birds and small mammals (mostly hedgehogs). Mortality rate is about 50 percent. This is not too bad as the patients usually arrive in a pretty bad shape.

I’m sending you a pictures from the centre of a Sparrow owl, Glaucidium passerinum. This is Sweden’s smallest owl.

ANsparrow hawk.jpg

The owls are are not much bigger than a sparrow, but very greedy bird which eats prey much larger than themselves!

This individual suffered from a broken wing.

Cheers,

Ann Novek.

A Few Thoughts

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I apologise for not posting very much over the last week. I have been somewhat preoccupied with my trip to Indonesia. I am leaving next Thursday for 10 days.

I am not sure whether I will have good internet access while I am away. I will be visiting Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi. This is the place where mining giant Newmont is accused of dumping mine waste which some claim poisoned the local fishing village and coral reef.

I have of course, prepared for trips before without slowing down with the blog postings, but I shall admit to finding some of the discussion here a little bit repetitive of late.

Perhaps, I am also slightly taken a back by the extent to which public discussion on environmental issues in Australia is now so totally dominated by global warming hysteria. Of course, this is not always the case at this blog.

But I do find it quite extraordinary, for example, that the Australian government is going to get involved in forestry issues in Indonesia, not because of the intrinsic value of these forests, but to “save the world” from climate change.

I did enjoyed watching the expression change on the face of this journalist as she interviewed climate change sceptic Professor Ian Plimer:

http://www.video.news.com.au/newsinteractive/videopage/videoplayer/?channel=National+News&clipid=1094_102085&bitrate=300&format=wmp

Professor Ian Plimer, a geologist from Adelaide University, is apparently unaware that there is a “consensus” amongst scientists on climate change.

Anyway, the number of blog postings from me might slow down a little for the next little while.

I invite readers and commentator to send me in potential guest posts. Make sure the text is self explanatory and include relevant links. Readers also like wildlife photographs, and its best if the photographs are already in jpg format and a suitable size for the blog.

Another Pedia

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It’s not on the net, but it’s in the hard copy of today’s The Australian(pg 36), an article entitled ‘Wikipedia references a source of anxiety‘ detailing how “male, crude and given to the concerns of the rich middle class” is the internet, but, not subject to the xanax control of media barons.

The article begins by outlining how Middlebury College in Vermont, in the US, has banned its students from citing Wikepidia and goes on to quote Wikipedia’s founder Jimmy Wales suggesting that the school should also ban the Enclyclopaedia Britannica because all ‘pedias “stand several degrees of separation away fron the events on which they report”.

The article also makes mention of British journal Nature’s critique of the Encylopedia Britannica and Wikipedia which found the two sources comparable as regards reliability.

In short, the article was all about ‘the internet’ suggesting those who attempt to shun it will lose out eventually, because it’s here and it’s influential.

And it all reminded me of a note I received from David Tribe some weeks ago introducing what he described as a
“better alternative to Wikipedia” at http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page.

It’s all explained in an article ‘Citizendium aims to be better Wikipedia’ which you can read here: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2007-03-25-wikipedia-alternative_N.htm

Koalas Extinct in 7 Years: I Don’t Think So!

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“Extreme drought, ferocious bushfires and urban development could make koalas extinct within seven years, environmentalists are warning,” in an article in new online journal The Brisbane Times.

“Alarms about the demise of the iconic and peculiar animal, which sleeps about 20 hours per day and eats only the leaves of the eucalyptus tree, have been raised before.

“But Deborah Tabart, chief executive officer of the Australia Koala Foundation, believes the animal’s plight is as bad as she has seen it in her 20 years as a koala advocate.”

I don’t know.

I reckon Debbie might be exaggerating.

In fact, it might well be concluded that the economics of conservation in Australia currently favour ignorance and failure. I’ve written that before: http://www.ipa.org.au/files/57-2-arekoalasindecline.pdf

And that was before I visited Gunnedah, ‘The Koala Capital of the World’: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/001916.html.

Despite Climate Crisis, Surge in World Cereal Production

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For a long time now its been predicted that the world will run out of food. According to Jared Diamond and other doomsayers, we are mining our soils, depleting our water reserves and now, according to Al Gore, we also have a climate crisis.

The latest United Nation’s report on climate change** was, however, surprisingly upbeat for agriculture stating that:

“Crop productivity is projected to increase slightly at mid to high latitudes for local mean temperature increases of up to 1-3°C depending on the crop, and then decrease beyond that in some regions.

“At lower latitudes, especially seasonally dry and tropical regions, crop productivity is projected to decrease for even small local temperature increases (1-2°C), which would increase risk of hunger.

“Globally, the potential for food production is projected to increase with increases in local average
temperature over a range of 1-3°C, but above this it is projected to decrease.

“Adaptations such as altered cultivars and planting times allow low and mid- to high latitude cereal yields to be maintained at or above baseline yields for modest warming.

“Increases in the frequency of droughts and floods are projected to affect local production negatively, especially in subsistence sectors at low latitudes.”

Then yesterday I read at ABC Online that the United Nations predicts a surge in world cereal production:

“A United Nations food body is predicting world cereal production will increase by nearly 4.5 per cent this year, to a record 2 billion tonnes.

“The Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates the bulk of the increase will be in maize, with a bumper crop already being gathered in South America and US plantings up sharply.

“It is also forecasting wheat production will rise 5 per cent to 626 million tonnes.”

Even in Australia, with this terrible drought, I’ve been told the prediction is for a record, or near record, wheat harvest this season.

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** Working Group II Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report
Climate Change 2007: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Summary for Policymakers
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM6avr07.pdf

Government Will Legislate to Store Greenhouse Gases?

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I can’t image anyone complaining about having carbon dioxide stored under their house, but in an article entitled ‘Carbon storage won’t be optional’ Matthew Warren, writing for The Australian, begins with the emotive statement that:

“Australian may be stripped of their right to block the storage of greenhouse gases beneath their land under laws being considered by the state and federal governments.

“The capture of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from power stations and their storage in giant underground reservoirs, a process known as geosequestration, have been backed by the Howard Government and Labor as major steps in helping Australia and other nations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
Experts claim the technology could be commercially viable in Australia by 2015.

“A geosequestration law expert has warned that if proven viable, the new technology will need new laws based on oil and gas exploration and extraction that override landowners’ rights to veto storage underneath their properties.”

Read the complete article here: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21530480-2702,00.html

I’d be happy to have the carbon dioxide stored under my place and I’ld be happy if they build a nuclear power plant in the neighbourhood and I’m hanging-out to drink recycled water.