Advertisements

The Institute of Public Affairs invites you to the third Brisbane Club Lecture for 2008. Entitled ‘Prescribing the right medicine for a city choked with congestion’ the lecture is on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 5pm in The Brisbane Club’s The Oak Room (241 Adelaide Street, Brisbane CCBD).

After the talk, attendees are invited to come at their own expense to an informal dinner with Ken Willett at the nearby restaurant Zenbar at 7:00pm.

Ken Willett is a Senior Consultant for ACIL Tasman. Ken has worked in project/corporate for more than 38 years and is an expert in urban transport economics and natural resource economics. In recent years he has focused on anti-congestion policy and abatement of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector. Before joining ACIL Tasman, Ken worked in the private and public sectors in three states and headed RACQ’s public policy department for nearly 5 years.

RSVP Andy Poon, Telephone 03 9600 4744, Email apoon@ipa.org.au

“It can be quite tricky traversing a car dominated city by bicycle, particularly when you need to travel an unknown route to a new destination.

“But the chances are, someone has cycled that way before you. Bikely.com makes it easy for him or her to show you the best way.

“Put very simply, www.bikely.com helps cyclists share knowledge of good bicycle routes.”

Read more here: www.bikely.com

I took this slightly out-of-focus photograph from the verandah of my living room, four days ago and in doing so, formally began to re-establish my collection – hopefully, all is not lost.

By way of perspective, I have long suspected that one of the many benefits of living in tropical wilderness is the luxury of going barefoot. I maintain that removing the immediate protection of footwear and restoring direct contact with terra firma, with all its irregularities and unexpected anomalies, optimises one’s long-term proprioceptive interests. But more than mere exercise, an almost infinite combination of sensory variations underfoot, reverberates throughout one’s greater physiology to enunciate, in the most eloquent tones, relations with the natural environment.

The same can be said for the smörgåsbord of pheromones that infiltrate the sensory openings of Jacobson’s organ and target the limbic centres of the brain. By way of contrast and beneath an urban pair of veritable olfactory-ugg-boots, nature’s stimuli are swamped by a tidal wave of highly concentrated pollutants and chemical deodorants.

In this sense, unfettered exposure to the natural environment provides a myriad of sensations, spanning a gamut of pleasures and repugnancies. Indeed, how is one supposed to appreciate the inherent truth of a pleasurable sensation without regarding the agony and inconvenience of its equally unambiguous counterpart?

On this basis, I take some philosophical counsel from the suffering and inconvenience of my recent computer crash. Beyond the catastrophic loss of my entire data-base, save that which might be recoverable from expensive data restoration technology, my appreciation for computer technology is now balanced against my contempt for its sensational unreliability.

Incidentally, the upkeep of this blog can be assisted by using the donate button on the right-hand side of the homepage. Many thanks to those who have already done so.

Lord Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, prominent commentator on the Stern Report, and key member of the 2006 UK House of Lords Economics Committee Report into the Economics of Climate Change will speak on:

‘The Politics and Economics of Climate Change’

Monday, November 26, 2007
12:00:00 PM – 2:00:00 PM

Four Seasons Hotel, 199 George Street, Sydney

$235 per person, table of 10 books available at $2,100
– contact Andy Poon at the IPA on 03 9600 4744.

I may be able to get you (and/or your partner) a ticket at half price, if you contact me in the next two days!

Email jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com

PS I will be there. 🙂

Queensland Democrat Senator, Andrew Bartlett, and I don’t agree on a lot…

Except the power of the internet, the importance of free speech and that the Australian environment is unique and precious.

Anyway, Andrew recently sent me a note including comment that:

“While most people assume the [federal] election will not be called before mid-September at the earliest, it can be called from July onwards, so we’re getting out there early to show we’re ready and rolling.”

In particular, Andrew’s campaign launch is happening this Sunday 8th July. It will be starting from 11am, in the Gardens Theatre at QUT Gardens Point campus, 2 George St in Brisbane City. It should all be over by around 12.30.

You can read Andrew’s web diary at http://www.andrewbartlett.com/blog
His homepage is at http://www.andrewbartlett.com

Hi Jennifer,

The Australian Environment Foundation’s second conference will be held in Melbourne on September 8th and 9th 2007 with the theme “People and their Place in the Environment”.

You can download conference details and the registration form here:
http://aefweb.info/data/Website%20flyer%20&%20Registration%20Ver1.pdf

Registration closes on July 30th.

Topics covered will include global warming, nuclear power, water, forestry, GM crops, environmental impact assessment and wildlife management. Speakers include:

Conference speakers:
Don Burke, Chairman of AEF,
Professor Augie Auer, Climatologist – Climate change from a meteorological perspective
Professor Bob Carter, Marine geologist and environmental scientist – Real Facts and Figures about Global Warming. An analysis of the facts of climate change in balanced context.
Dr Ziggy Switkowski, Chairman of the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation – Peoples future energy needs and the environment
George Warne, CEO of Murray Irrigation – Irrigation farmers place in the environment
Gary Featherston, President of the Institute of Foresters Aust. – Impacts on water from forest management
Calton Frame, Resource Manager Gunns Ltd – The environmental assessment process for the proposed pulp mill at Bell Bay
Professor Rick Roush, Dean of the Faculty of Land & Food Resources at Melbourne University – GM crops: Reducing risks to people and the environment
Dr Grahame Webb, principal, Wildlife Management Int. – Conservation through sustainable use
Professor Aynsley Kellow, Head of the School of Political Governance, University of Tasmania – Social and Political implications of environmentalism

Regards,
Max Rheese
Australian Environment Foundation