Habitat Australia articles from April 2005

Habitat Australia archives from April 2005

Going Native.(green VIEWS)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... Thank you for your magazine's review of Going Native--living in the Australian environment. I agree that the commercialisation of nature (surely an oxymoron) and salvation by biotechnology are problematic. Another recent text The Biology of...

Production.(green VIEWS)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... I agree with Professor Ian Lowe's assessment that "Most people living in our cities just don't see the link between the choices they make... and the damage we are doing to the natural environment". I think this is the key challenge. Most of us...

Population.(ACF Discussion Boards)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... It is unfair for Australians (and "Developed" countries) to squander and overuse resources, while people in developing nations suffer without even their basic needs. But how is it fair to prevent these same underprivileged people from having...

ACF--Central Coast supports Waterfall Springs Sanctuary.(green VIEWS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... On behalf of the Waterfall Springs Sanctuary at Kulnura near Gosford, the ACF Central Coast Branch is asking for support and active help for the sanctuary, which is concerned that their endangered wallaby breeding program will fail unless more...

ACF--Central Coast AGM.(green VIEWS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... At the AGM of the Central Coast Branch of the ACF the following people were elected to the executive of the branch: John Wiggin--President, Mark Snell--Vice President, Mark Ellis--Secretary, Mirsada Karodzic--Treasurer. ...

A word from the President.(green VIEWS)(Transcript)
April 1, 2005... It is a real honour to be your new President. I look forward eagerly to working with the staff of ACF, the Council and members to advance the cause of conservation. Where should ACF focus its efforts in the next year or two? That issue...

The speckle-necked eastern grey.(Sommerville)
April 1, 2005... (Discus Ubiquitus). Delicate, silver flecked breast, spindly legs and dark ringed eyes. Double plume on crown. HABITAT: Hillocks & suburban malls.

The wedge tailed broadband.(Sommerville)
April 1, 2005... (Loomis sterili), Irridescent flanks, cobalt tail & frilled neck. Mates by building bower of old SMS texts. HABITAT: Reserves & National Parks.

The northern red-tipped scaffold.(Sommerville)
April 1, 2005... (Radiata tumus). Chrome-streaked loins, wiry bill & fawn rivets. Moves cross-country in single line packs. HABITAT: Inland lakes & pre-schools.

Protecting Tasmanian forests.(campaign TRAILS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The newly-elected Coalition Government has committed itself to protecting significant tracts of Tasmania's old-growth forests, particularly in the Tarkine and the Styx Valley. If properly implemented, the policy can save over 125,000 hectares...

Darling Basin initiative gets off the ground.(campaign TRAILS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... About 150 people from across the Darling Basin, gathered in Moree in northern NSW on February 25th to discuss the future management of the Basin's rivers. Due in no small part to the number of ACF members and supporters present at the meeting,...

Consultation on Reactor Operating License.(campaign TRAILS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Imposition of nuclear risk in Sydney has taken another step with the federal nuclear regulator ARPANSA now consulting the public on a Reactor Operating License application from the Federal government. NSW government opposes the reactor plan...

No glow zone: Mirarr win a veto over Jabiluka.(campaign TRAILS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The campaign against further uranium mining in Kakadu took a big step forward recently when the Mirarr people signed an Agreement with mining company ERA that includes a veto on any future development at the stalled Jabiluka mine-site. The...

Prestigious Conservation Award nominations now open.(campaign TRAILS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Nominations are now being invited for the 2005 ACF Peter Rawlinson Conservation Award. This Award is presented in recognition of outstanding voluntary contribution in aiding Australia's conservation efforts. The prize consists of $3000 to spend...

Let the whales swim free.(campaign TRAILS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... In March 2004 conservationists gathered at Parliament house, Canberra, to commemorate a quarter of a century of combined effort by the Australian Government and the Australian community to protect whales. Almost twenty five year earlier in 1979...

From the ACF/Rehame newsroom.(campaign TRAILS)
April 1, 2005... When the Kyoto Protocol took effect on 16 February, ACF kept in touch with responses to the ratification through the media monitoring service provided by Rehame. The Sydney Morning Herald (16/2) had Opposition leader Kim Beazley ranking...

Life-long love of the bush: Pat Wessing AM.(campaign TRAILS)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
April 1, 2005... An energetic ACF Councillor (Tasmania) in the 1970s, Pat Wessing passed away on 19th October 2004. She has been awarded an Order of Australia, posthumously, for her contribution to conservation in Tasmania. A great champion of the...

ANZ donations program.(campaign TRAILS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... A new ANZ bank initiative launched in February which will see the bank match internet banking customer donations up to $1000 made through its matched charity customer donations program. Internet banking customers at ANZ bank have access to the...

Australian Conservation Foundation Inc.: minutes of the 38th Annual General Meeting.
April 1, 2005... Saturday 4 December 2004, 7.50pm ACF's Melbourne Office, 60 Leicester St, Carlton 1. Welcome Vice President Penny Figgis spoke to the recent appointment of Professor lan Lowe as President of the Australian Conservation Foundation and...

Climate change brings risk of disease.(climate CORNER)
April 1, 2005... Scientists are linking a rise in new and previously suppressed infectious diseases with the dramatic environmental changes now sweeping the planet. Loss of forests, road and dam building, the spread of cities, the clearing of natural...

Clean cabs improving London's air.(climate CORNER)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Taxis in London will have to meet tough new anti-pollution standards as part of the Mayor of London's plan for the United Kingdom capital to become a low-emission zone by 2007. Mayor Ken Livingstone said that London's air will become...

Human activity heating the sea.(climate CORNER)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Strong new evidence shows that ocean temperatures are rising because of human activity, and the impact on people and ecosystems worldwide could be severe, scientists on a American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) panel have...

Too blooming early.(climate CORNER)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Researchers at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston have established that the spring-flowering trees and shrubs bloomed, on average, eight days earlier from 1980 to 2002 than they did from 1900 to 1920. Flowering times appear particularly sensitive...

Population? No problem: contrary to what population boosters would have one believe Australia does not have a population crisis, a fertility crisis or an ageing population crisis. Mike Krockenberger reports on the population dilemma.(Cover Story)
April 1, 2005... Nor is Australia an empty land waiting to be filled. Its geographic size is deceptive. Only about 6% of Australia is arable land. The USA has four times as much arable land as Australia, despite being only 20% larger in total area. And much of...

Working with the neighbours: as the focus of post-tsunami work shifts from emergency assistance to long-term reconstruction and prevention of future disasters, attention is turning to the protection a healthy environment provides.
April 1, 2005... The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has welcomed a report by the United Nations Environment Program on the environmental impact of the Boxing Day tsunami and the need for environmentally sensitive reconstruction in tsunami affected...

Renewable energy targets around the globe: with the Kyoto Protocol now in force, thirty industrialised countries are legally bound to meet quantitative targets to reduce their combined emissions of six major greenhouse gases to below 1990 levels. Australia is not one of these countries.
April 1, 2005... ACF CLIMATE CHANGE coordinator Erwin Jackson believes that as a nation, Australia faces a significant dilemma. "We are very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and if we are to avoid these impacts, the world must wean itself largely...

Push to double Australia's uranium exports.
April 1, 2005... Heard of lot of nuclear industry public relations lately? A nuclear push is on to mislead the public with claims that nuclear can be an answer to climate change and to try and lock Australia in as the nuclear fuel supplier to the world nuclear...

Freeing the last wild horse: large mammal reintroductions are fraught with difficulty. In one of the most ambitious, the world's last wild horse is being returned to its native steppe, also the focus of a major conservation effort.
April 1, 2005... THE TIMELESS LOVE OF PEOPLE for wild horses is testified in beautiful images that adorn the 17,000-year-old walls of the Lascaux Caves in France--but this last survivor of the great Ice Age has long vanished from the vast Eurasian grasslands it...

The Travel Book--a journey through every country in the world.(Ideas in Print)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... The Travel Book--a journey through every country in the world Lonely Planet RRP: $75.00 This is quite simply a fabulous, glossy and engrossing coffee table book. Not only does it answer the question as to exactly how many countries there...

The End of Oil.(Ideas in Print)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... The End of Oil Paul Roberts Bloomsbury RRP: $35 The End of Oil, Paul Roberts, Bloomsbury, London 2004 How can the United States simultaneously improve energy security, tackle climate change, improve urban air quality, and deprive Middle...

Making Your Home Sustainable.(Ideas in Print)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... Making Your Home Sustainable Derek Wrigley order online at: www.derekwrigleydesign.id.au or by fax: 02 6286 6134 or mail to: Derek Wrigley Design, PO Box 158, Mawson, 2607, Australia $39.00 plus postage Want to get your home ready for the...

State of Fear.(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... THERE'S A GREAT SCENE in the film Jurassic Park where the odious computer geek Dennis Nedry, played by Wayne Knight (Newman in Seinfeld), gets his head chopped off by a dinosaur. Every time I see that scene I'm cheering for the dinosaur. ...

Tim Fisher.(ACF MEMBER PROFILE)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... When Tim Fisher walked into the ACF offices for the first time 14 years ago, he was in his twenties, had a job title he didn't really understand and a passion to contribute to saving the environment. "It was a shocking title: Victorian Agency...

Green ways to make hot water: water heating accounts for up to 40 percent of the average Australian household's electricity use. So if you are looking for a way to cut your household's greenhouse emissions, installing solar hot water could be a terrific start. Kirsten Blair profiles a couple of great products that produce greenhouse friendly hot water.(consuming CHOICES)
April 1, 2005... In the field of solar hot water systems, there have been some great advances in recent times. These days, in addition to the traditional flat plate solar hot water system (which is still a great option), eco-wise consumers can choose from...