Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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New Website, New Blog, New Photographs: A Note from Neil Hewett

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Hi Jen,

After a torrid month or so of blundering around a web-design application and with the help of the team at Wild Lime Media, we have finally published (and hopefully de-bugged) our new website; complete with a ‘Rainforest Revelations’ weblog.

Now that that’s done, I can return to some semblance of a life. In my absence from your blog, I have captured some interesting images.

The Daintree Cape Tribulation rainforest is at its most vibrant in the wet. Some of its best-kept secrets are revealed in circumstances that are frustratingly uninviting to visitors. Nevertheless, we at Cooper Creek Wilderness carry on with our tours and share the wonder of the wet with a privileged few.

This image of a brush-footed trapdoor spider was captured two nights ago at the entrance to its burrow, deep within the buttress roots of a Javan Ash.

Brush-footed Trapdoo#260290 blog.JPG

Primitive spiders lack trachea and have very limited respiratory capabilities. Their gill-like book-lungs confer a greater proximity to an aqueous pre-existence, than the more modern and mobile Araneomorphs. They are also less able to travel great distances from the protection of their burrows and tend to have more immobilizing venom.

Also known as whistling spiders, barking spiders or Australia’s Tarantulas, they are subject to concerning pressures from collectors who sell them as pets for around $400 each. In an attempt to control these impacts, their trade has become regulated by licencing requirements (I wonder if this is having any success).

The other interesting image is a magnification of a longicorn beetle’s head, Batocera sp., whose family includes Australia’s largest beetle.

Longicorn blog.JPG

Their powerful mandibles rip into timber and their large, white and fleshy larvae are favoured bush-tucker for Cape York bama.

All the best from Cooper Creek Wilderness,

Neil Hewett.

Eco-Freaks: A New Book by John Berlau (Part 1, DDT)

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I occasionally get emails from the other side of the world with a query about something environmental that is uniquely Australian.

It was not so many years ago that John Berlau emailed me about the Murray River and also bushfires. He was writing a book. It’s now published. Called ‘Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism is Hazardous to Your Health’ the book includes chapters on DDT, Asbestos and Hurricane Katrina.

I’ve only read the first three chapters. There could be something in the following few about the Murray River and Australia or he may be saving that for another book.

Anyway, while the focus in ‘Eco-Freaks’ is on America, the issues Berlau chooses to explore are relevant to the whole world.

The second chapter on DDT, and entitled ‘Rachel Carson Kills Birds’, will have Tim Lambert in a spin. In fact Berlau references Lambert’s blog ‘Deltoid’ (footnote number 128). But it’s not complementary.

I have read a lot about DDT, Rachel Carson and environmentalism, but I still learnt a lot from that chapter.

And I was amused by the anecdotal. In particular, that Joseph Jacobs, a chemist who worked to mass-produce DDT to protect American troops during World War II, ended up with DDT poured over him when the valve at the bottom of a large vessel was accidentally opened. In his autobiography, Jacobs wrote:

“When it dried, I had DDT an inch thick all over me. In my hair, in my ears, and in my mouth and nose. I took off my clothes, showered, and scrubbed, but probably ingested more DDT during that one incident than is today considered safe to absorb over any years.”

Berlau goes on to comment about the fate of Joseph Jacobs:

“After all, in the years after Silent Spring, DDT was called ‘double death twice’. One touch could kill you. And sadly, after being exposed, Jacobs did die – more than sixty years later in 2004, at the tender young age of eighty-eight.”

‘Eco-Freaks’ is available from Amazons.com.

www.whalephoto.com

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Congratulations to whale and wildlife photographer, George McCallum. His revamped website is back online with a thousand or so images including of minke whales, humpback whales and killer whales:

http://www.whalephoto.com .

The website includes albums on ‘European birds’, ‘oil platforms and rigs’, and also one entitled ‘weather and water’:

http://www.whalephoto.com/2007/thumbnails.php?album=24.

For more information on George: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/001650.html.

wb0845b.jpg
www.whalephoto.com

Interested in the Environment? Looking to do a PhD?

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A new partnership between the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) and the University of Queensland has resulted in the creation of a new ‘Science and Environment Research Group’ and 3 PhD Scholarships in Environmental Science and 1 in Environmental Law.

Funding is available for 4 PhD scholarships to undertake evidence-based research into environmental issues with the aim of providing improved information and frameworks for prioritizing environmental need, quantifying the costs and benefits of conservation initiatives, developing agricultural policies and appropriate legal frameworks.

Successful applicants will become research fellows at the IPA and PhD students at the University of Queensland. The recipient of the scholarship in environmental law will become, in addition, a Research Scholar of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law (CPICL) in the T C Beirne School of Law.

Areas of research

The PhD research topics will be determined by the successful candidate through discussion with their advisor(s) and the IPA. Environmental Science projects will involve students using an evidence-based approach to quantify the costs and benefits to the environmental from government policies in areas such as, but not limited to:
• agricultural practices and chemicals
• genetically modified organisms
• water use, conservation and environmental flow management.

The Environmental Law candidate will survey and evaluate the legal and administrative frameworks for environmental management in Australia to determine their fairness and efficiency for achieving environmental goals. The environmental law research topic will be in these broad areas:
• use of evidence to develop environmental protection policy and law
• the suitability and efficiency of current laws and administrative processes for determining environmental goals, impacts, options, costs and benefits and the development of regulatory models that allow the application of sound science and appropriate economic instruments in meeting the challenges of environmental management.

The Person

First class honours or Masters graduates from a relevant discipline such as but not limited to biological or environmental sciences or law. Potential candidates will want to contribute to the environmental policy debate and pursue a career in research and public policy, communicating science to the public or advising Government and Industry oin environmental issues. The research fellows will be selected based on demonstrated academic achievement and their allied interest in the goals of the Science and Environment Research group. The personal skills and attributes should also include:
• Ability to access, analyse and evaluate data in topical and controversial areas
• Developed oral and written communication skills
• The ability to participate in the public debate on environment issues
• Understanding of evidence based non-partisan assessments.

Remuneration

These are full-time scholarships for a fixed-term of 3 to 3.5 years at $25,000 per annum with a generous allowance for operating and travel.

Contact

For more information about the projects and to obtain a position description contact Dr Jennifer Marohasy from the IPA at jmarohasy@ipa.org.au or look online at www.ipa.org.au.

For general scholarship information contact Marijke Schmidt Research, The University of Queensland, m.schmidt@research.uq.edu.au.

Closing Date for Applications: Monday, 29th January 2007.

Mine Your Own Business, But Don’t Miss the Movie

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Mine Your Own Business is a powerful film about the hopes of people living in poverty and about misguided environmentalism.

Directed by former Financial Times journalist Phelim McAleer, Mine Your Own Business exposes the motivations of those attempting to stop economic development in the name of the environment.

The Institute of Public Affairs will be screening Mine Your Own Business at the following locations

Melbourne, 20 November 2006
Arthur Streeton Auditorium, Sofitel Melbourne, 25 Collins Street.

Hobart, 21 November 2006
Old Woolstore Theatrette, 1 Macquarie Street.

Sydney, 22 November 2006
Dendy Opera Quays, Shop 9, 2 East Circular Quay.

Perth, 23 November 2006
Cinema Paradiso, 164 James St, Northbridge.

Screenings at all venues begin at 6pm. The film will be followed by a discussion with Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney. $10 donations welcome. Payment can be made at the door.

To register contact Georgina Hamilton on 03 9600 4744 or ghamilton@ipa.org.au

For more information on the film click here: http://www.mineyourownbusiness.org/index.htm
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Update 10th November

Following comments (see below) quering the motivations of Phelim McAleer in making the movie I’m updating this blog post with profiles of the films directors and producers:

Ann McElhinney

Ann McElhinney is a Fellow of the Moving Picture Institute, a not for profit dedicated to advancing liberty through the medium of film (thempi.org). She is also is a journalist, broadcaster and producer and joint managing director of New Bera Media, an independent documentary production company.

Ann McElhinney directed and produced “Mine Your Own Business” (2006).She is a co-producer and presenter of “The Search for Tristan’s Mum” (2005) an hour long documentary for RTE. The documentary
featured the case of Tristan Dowse, who was adopted by an Irish couple at birth and then abandoned in an Indonesian orphanage two years later. Tristan’s plight provoked a wave of sympathy and outrage in Ireland and “The Search for Tristan’s Mum” followed journalist Ann McElhinney in a search to find his natural mother in Indonesia.

As a result of McElhinney’s undercover investigations into Tristan’s case where she posed as a woman hoping to adopt she revealed an illegal baby selling ring. Further investigations by the Indonesian police saw the leaders
of the ring sentenced to nine and eight years in prison.

“The Search for Tristan’s Mum” was selected by fellow industry professionals from across the globe and showcased at Input 2006 in Taiwan in May 2006.

McElhinney was an Assistant Producer on the BBC Spotlight documentary “Romanian Twins” (2004) and featured
in CBC’s “Return to Sender” (2005) as the investigative reporter who discovered the story of Alexandra
Austin. McElhinney also worked with CBC as an associate producer and researcher on “Return to Sender”. Previously McElhinney worked as a journalist with the BBC, Irish Times, RTE, Sunday Times and Sunday Tribune.

She has regularly contributed reports and analysis for RTE’s Six One News, Morning Ireland and World Report and has been a regular contributor to Orla Barry’s show on Newstalk 106 and Today FM’s The Last Word show.

Phelim McAleer

Phelim McAleer is a Fellow of the Moving Picture Institute, a New York-based non-profit that identifies
and nurtures promising filmmakers who are committed to protecting and sustaining a free and prosperous society (www.thempi.org). He is also the joint managing director of New Bera Media, an independent documentary production company. McAleer directed, produced and wrote “Mine Your Own Business” (2006) the world’s first anti-environmentalist documentary. The documentary hacks away at the cozy image of environmentalists as well-meaning, harmless activists. He was also an Associate

Producer, second unit director and researcher on the documentary “Return to Sender” which aired on Canada’s CBC in February 2005.

From 2000 to 2003 he was the Romania/Bulgaria Correspondent for the Financial Times. He has also written for The Economist from the region. Previously from 1998 to 2000, he worked for the UK Sunday Times in their Dublin office.

McAleer started his career as a journalist working for a local newspaper in Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh known as Bandit country for the ferocity of the IRA campaign in the area. He then moved to the Irish News in Belfast. At the Irish News, Northern Ireland’s largest selling daily newspaper worked as a journalist covering the Northern Ireland troubles and peace process before becoming night editor.

He devised and co-produced “The Search for Tristan’s Mum” which was broadcast on RTE 1, the Irish State television station, in 2005. It featured the case of Tristan Dowse, who was adopted by an Irish couple at birth and then abandoned in an Indonesian orphanage two years later.

The Search for Tristan’s Mum was selected for and shown at Input 2006, a showcase for the best programs
from national public broadcasters from around the world, the programs was selected by fellow industry professionals and showcased at Input 2006 in Taiwan in May.

He has been a regular contributor to RTE and BBC radio and television.