Habitat Australia articles from June 2003

Habitat Australia archives from June 2003

Language barrier. (Green Views).(Letter to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... I strongly object to the use of "Canberra" in the postcard [depicting the nuclear reactor in Sydney] that was enclosed in a past Habitat. The ACT has two only representatives in the House of Representatives and two only in the Senate. If you...

Recycling of newspaper. (Green Views).(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... I was disappointed that you published a cartoon in Habitat which seemed to give the wrong information. The cartoon showed the decimation of forests and people reading about this in their newspaper, implying that the newspapers were a major...

River red gums. (Green Views).(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... River red gums and she-oaks have declined to extremely low numbers on the Murrumbidgee River upstream of Wagga Wagga. While river red gums are the most widespread species of eucalypts in Australia, it is important to retain them in this area....

Writing to politicians. (Green Views).(Letter to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... Last week I sent letters to certain Ministers to raise concerns about several issues, as outlined in the Habitat Feb 2003. I'd like to know though, is it okay to paraphrase what you have written and, in some cases, do it word for word? Lyn...

Recycling by numbers. (Green Views).(Letter tothe editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... In your December issue your Consuming Choices page had an article on recycling, "Talking Garbage". The section on plastics in the article indicated that the products labelled 1,2 and 5 were currently recycled whereas types 3, 4, 6 and 7 were...

Bush rats. (Green Views).(Letter to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... I live in the bush proper and occasionally a bush rat or antichinus does take up residence in my house. Contrary to the advice given to your reader, relocation using a live animal trap has been the only humane way I have found to remove...

ACF Sydney Branch. (Green Views).(Australian Conservation Foundation calendar)(Calendar)
June 1, 2003... The ACF Sydney Branch meets every second Tuesday of the month at 29-35 Shepherd Street, Chippendale (ten minutes walk from Central Station). Meetings begin in the First Floor Meeting Room at 6pm and include environmental news, campaigns and a...

ACF in WA. (Green Views).(Australian Conservation Foundation in Western Australia)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... ACF members in Western Australia will be happy to know there is an ACF office in WA. Environment House 61, 8th Avenue Maylands is an office for ACF, the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of WA and Cool Communities. We generate our own electricity and...

A laugh along the way. (Green Views).(Letter to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... Governments are only a reflection of the society that elects them. So one can only assume that the majority of Australians have become a homourless, uncaring lot. Mr Lloyd [Letters, February 2003] says, "The way to convince politicians...

A word from the president. (Green Views).(Habitat Australia's 30th anniversary)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Welcome to the 30th anniversary edition of Habitat and a warm thank you to our loyal readers for your support along the way! Launched in June 1973 by Gough Whitlam, the then prime minister of Australia, Habitat was the first full-colour,...

Teen leadership program. (Green Views).(Canada)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Leadership Initiative For Earth, a Canadian charitable organisation, is seeking young Australians (aged 14-18) who wish to take part in Tongtana Challenge, a two-week, global education program that will take place in the rainforest of Western...

Call for council nominations. (Green Views).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... A reminder to nominate for the next three-year term on ACF's governing body. We are looking for committed, passionate ACF members with wide ranging skills, interests and experience to set our policy and direction for the next three years, and...

Brisbane--"Tree of Hope" rally against land clearing. (Green Views).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Help carry the giant Tree of Hope and present it to Premier Peter Beattie at the Queensland Labor Party State Conference at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Wear green, if possible. Meet midday, Saturday 7th June, at Musgrave Park, Cordelia...

Member milestones. (Green Views).(Australian Conservation Foundation)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... ACF would like to extend its warmest thanks and congratulations to the following people who, during the months of April and May 2003, reached the milestones of 30 and 25 years' membership. 30 Years Mr P Barr, Glen Waverley, VIC Dr...

Coal: public enemy number one. (Climate Change Campaign).(Australia )
June 1, 2003... Coal is the number one cause of Australia's greenhouse problem. As much as 84 per cent of Australia's electricity comes from burning coal but, unfortunately, coal is the number one cause of Australia's greenhouse problem. This means that clean...

Papua New Guinea progress. (Asia Pacific Campaign).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Climate change-induced drought is becoming a more regular occurrence in many parts of PNG. This situation creates severe hardships for rural communities there. ACF recently facilitated a shipment of plumbing materials to villages in the...

Living culture, living green. (Northern Australia Campaign).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... "Living Culture, Living Green: Creating Working Models in Northern Australia" is a seminar program jointly hosted between ACF, Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, James Cook University and CSIRO, which occurs every second Thursday at JCU...

Proposal to stem land clearing welcomed. (Land Clearing Campaign).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... In an extremely encouraging move, Federal Environment Minister David Kemp and Premier Peter Beattie have put forward a proposal to rapidly end broad-scale clearing of remnant bushland in Queensland. Environment groups have come together to...

Victoria commits to a healthier Murray. (Land And Water Campaign).(Murray River, South Australia)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Victoria's Environment Minister John Thwaites has made an in-principle commitment to restoring the Murray River to health. In a recent Parliamentary statement, the Minister committed Victoria to permanent water restrictions, established the...

South Australia introduces a specific River Murray Bill. (Healthy Rivers Campaign).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The South Australian Parliament has introduced the River Murray Bill, which will coordinate and integrate management of the river into a single ministry with its own Minister for the River Murray. This makes SA the first state to introduce...

Keep Australia GE free. (Gene Ethics Campaign).(Genetically engineered canola)
June 1, 2003... Chemical giant Bayer is seeking a licence for the unrestricted commercial release of genetically engineered (GE) canola, which would end Australia's GE-free status forever. The herbicide-tolerant crop would be over-sprayed with Basta...

Budget leaves environment high and dry. (2003/2004 Federal Budget).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The Australian Conservation Foundation has deep concerns about a static core environment budget and cuts to salinity expenditure in the federal budget. Says ACF Executive Director Don Henry, "The Prime Minister had promised that salinity,...

SA Marine Park mining ban welcomed. (Marine Campaign).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The Great Australian Bight Marine Park is one of the largest in the world--spanning South Australian and Commonwealth waters. But despite being set up to protect the endangered southern right whale, mining is still allowed for in most of the...

Somerville. (Campaign trails).(Whalers)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... WHALERING: The skilled tradition of hunting whalers The best time to hunt whalers is the winter months. The magnificent beasts migrate in dense numbers to smokey clubs and bars, driven by powerful instincts to breed. When initially...

Habitat turns 30! Dusting off the archives of past Habitat issues, we unearthed a catalogue of 30 years of Australian environmental reporting, photography, activism and visionary thinking.
June 1, 2003... "HABITAT WILL PLAY ITS PART in making each of us a little environmentally wiser than we were before," said Gough Whitlam when he launched the first issue of the iconic environmental publication in June 1973. In his opening editorial...

Global acclaim for desert defenders: aboriginal activists the Kungka Tjutas are honoured with a prestigious Goldman Award for their labours to protect our country from nuclear waste.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... IT'S A LONG WAY FROM THE dusty opal fields of Coober Pedy to an award ceremony overlooking Sydney Harbour but for Mrs Eileen Brown and the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjutas the recent trip was another step on their journey to protect country and culture....

Taking stock. (Special Habitat Supplement).(State of the environment in Australia)
June 1, 2003... In this special report, Habitat weighs up the condition of our fragile country and we uncover what ACF is doing to resolve the critical issues. In particular, we put the spotlight on the parlous state of mammal extinctions in Australia....

Losing strands in the web of life: thousands of bushland ecosystems threatened with extinction, continued waves of mammal extinction, and 1595 native species on the brink of disappearing. Such is the picture revealed in a new biodiversity report prepared for the federal government.
June 1, 2003... THE AUSTRALIAN Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment is the biggest stocktake of the country's wildlife and natural areas ever conducted. Undertaken by the National Land and Water Resources Audit, it includes the first ever list of Australia's...

Loggers on the Prowl: largely unknown to most of the world, the Tarkine in Tasmania is Australia's largest tract of ancient, untouched rainforest. It doesn't even feature on the tourism maps but it is uppermost in the minds of Forestry Tasmania.
June 1, 2003... IN THE TARKINE'S RAINFORESTS, in every direction, gorges, hills and valleys are blanketed with a cloth of dense greenness. As far as you can see, temperate myrtle rainforest, that ancient relic of Gondwanaland, dominates your line of sight....

Floor Plan for the Reef: it's time to pick up the pen and endorse increased protection for the Great Barrier Reef.
June 1, 2003... TRAWLING FOR PRAWNS and scallops is like raking and vacuuming the sea floor. A single pass of a trawl can remove up to a quarter of seafloor life, and repeated trawling removes nearly all seafloor life and other threatened species. More than...

Sustainability sweeps into Broome: public housing looks set for a makeover in this WA town.(Western Australia)
June 1, 2003... IT MIGHT COME AS A SURPRISE but the building sector is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases in Australia--yes, even higher than transport. Because energy efficiency has not traditionally been factored into building design, Australians...

Fence me in! The history of the bilby in Australia has just turned a remarkable corner.
June 1, 2003... IT'S EASTER SATURDAY. The big old woolshed sitting on the red soil of Currawinya National Park in far southwest Queensland has a mob of hundreds of people in front of it. They are joining Frank Manthey and Peter McRae in making a piece of...

Frame work: distinguished photographer David Tatnall talks about the cameras ability to transport the viewer. (ACF Member Profile).
June 1, 2003... THIRTY YEARS AGO as the first edition of Habitat was being put to bed, David Tatnall, a budding photographer with an interest in walking, was carrying his camera on a hike through the Victorian Alps. What were intended to be photographs of...

Hinchinbrook Island. (Ideas in Print).(Book )(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... Steven Nowakowski Little Ramsay Press RRP: $34.95 A campaign to halt a massive marina and residential subdivision in the narrow channel which separates Hinchinbrook Island from mainland north Queensland was the inspiration for photographer...

The Sacred Balance. (Ideas in Print).(Book)(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... David Suzuki & Amanda McConnell with Maria DeCambra Allen & Unwin RRP: $59.95 In this arresting photographic version of the earlier book of the same name, Suzuki and McConnell celebrate the web of life that unites all living things. Suzuki...

Field Guide to Australian Sharks and Rays. (Ideas in Print).(Book)(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... R K Daley, J D Stevens, P R Last, G K Yearsley CSIRO Publishing RRP: $24.95 This compact guide is written mainly for commercial fishers and scientists, but its clear layout with diagrams, photos and text make it accessible for anyone...

Tip of the rice berg. (consuming choices).(Rice farming)
June 1, 2003... Given that rice production requires an enormous amount of our precious rivers' water and it is a major player in the salinity crisis, can you suggest which rice I should buy? Dan Lander Newtown, NSW There is no easy answer to this...