Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Invitation to The Land’s Gala Centenary Dinner

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 Set down for Saturday, February 26, 2011 at Sydney Olympic Park Homebush, The Land’s gala Centenary Dinner will officially kick start a year of celebrations designed to acknowledge those who have supported us over the last 100 years.

The Land is the flagship paper for Rural Press and I’ve been a fortnightly columnist since about April 2004.  

To be held inside the Badgery Pavilion, the dinner will be the major fundraiser for The Land’s designated charity, The Rural Doctors Association of NSW.

Seating has been restricted to 750 guests and will include a sumptuous three course gourmet meal, full beverage service plus live and silent auctions on the night.  Monies raised will go towards establishing two scholarships for young rural doctors.

Tickets are available at $150 with a special 10% discount for tables of ten.

If readers and commentators of this blog would like to join me at this special event email or leave a comment below.  If there are ten of us we can have our own table.

http://thelandcentenary.com.au/centenary_dinner.html

Free Burma’s political prisoners

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Dear Jennifer,
Fantastic news!
After spending 15 of the past 21 years unjustly under house arrest, Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is finally free.
But the Nobel laureate was just one of 2,200 political prisoners in Burma punished for simply engaging in peaceful political activities. Now, as the people of Burma rally around Aung San Suu Kyi, we must remember her words that “the release of political prisoners is the most important thing for all those who truly wish to bring about change in Burma.”
Stand with Aung San Suu Kyi and call for thousands like her to be freed.
This morning in an ABC radio interview, Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledged your contribution to her freedom and the people of Burma’s. Yet her unfair treatment is only the tip of the iceberg of human rights violations in Burma. Imagine: if the government can subject her to such arbitrary detention, we can have little doubt about how vulnerable, less well-known individuals are treated.
People like Mie Mie – a 39 year old mother of two who was arrested in a violent crackdown following an anti-government protest. She is currently serving a 65 year sentence in a prison that is over 1,200 km from her family, making it almost impossible for her children to see her.
Or 32 year old Myo Min Zaw, arrested as student activist – and reportedly tortured – in 1998 for distributing leaflets and organising student. He is currently serving a sentence of 52 years in a prison.
These are only two of over 2,200 people unfairly imprisoned inside Burma: join us and others worldwide to demand the military junta free all prisoners of conscience.

http://www.amnesty.org.au/action/action/24153/?utm_source=assknov10&utm_medium=email-sf&utm_content=link2

Together, we have been campaigning for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi for over two decades. Thank you for everything you’ve done — your letters, demonstrations, phone calls and discussions with friends, family, and colleagues. Now Aung San Suu Kyi has her freedom, please help her achieve real change for Burma.
In hope,
Jenny Leong
Campaign Coordinator (and Aung San Suu Kyi admirer)
Amnesty International Australia

John Williams, Wentworth Group, to debate Jennifer Marohasy, Australian Environment Foundation

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The Future of the Murray Darling Basin

Dr Jennifer Marohasy | Dr John Williams | Sydney

Writer, biologist and founding member of the Australian Environment Foundation, Dr Jennifer Marohasy will debate the future of the Murray Darling Basin with commissioner of The Natural Resources Commission, Dr John Williams.

The NRC reports to the NSW Premier on a range of natural resource management issues including land, water, and biodiversity. Dr Williams is also a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.

Alarmed that public policy on environmental issues is increasingly driven by moral crusading rather than objective science, Jennifer seeks to provide a counterpoint in public debate.

Monday, 15 November, 6pm for refreshments, 6:30pm – 7:30pm – Talk including Q&A

PP McGuiness Library, Level 4, 38 Oxley Street, St Leonards, SYDNEY
Cost: Non-members – $11.00; Members – no charge. Click to register  or call (02) 9438 4377.

Learning Dust Lesson to Fight Wildfires

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untitledIT is generally agreed that the worst dust storms since European settlement were during the 1944-1945 period.  

In his book Out of the West: A Historical Perspective of the Western Division of NSW, former Western Lands Commissioner, Dick Condon, says there were 34 severe dust storms at Wagga Wagga during the period 1944-45, many so bad that it would have been necessary to turn the lights on in order to see inside the average sized house.  

Mr Condon suggests the dust storms during the 1982-83 drought were not as bad as those during the period 1885 to 1945 because of the much improved conditions of the landscape in the semi-arid and arid grazing country in western New South Wales.

In contrast, it is generally agreed that bushfires are getting worse.   [Read more…] about Learning Dust Lesson to Fight Wildfires

New Atlas of IPCC Rainfall Projections

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atlas global water cycleRESEARCHERS from The Australian National University have created the world’s first comprehensive visual atlas of global rainfall projections over the next 100 years based on all of the models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its most recent report.

PhD researcher Wee Ho Lim and Dr Michael Roderick from ANU have created the Atlas of the Global Water Cycle, which contains some 300 pages of global maps and tables showing current and projected measures of rainfall, evaporation and runoff.

The atlas illustrate the projections of each of the 20 computer models used by different countries to forecast future water cycles – data drawn upon by the IPCC in its reporting on climate change, but not visualised in the same way and place until now.

“We know that as the world warms there is likely to be more rainfall on a global average basis,” Dr Roderick said. “But where is this increased rainfall going to occur, and which areas might get drier? These are simple questions to ask, but it is surprisingly hard for an individual to get an answer, whether they’re a farmer, civil engineer, teacher or interested citizen,” Dr Roderick said.

Read the rest of the media release here.