In �The Carpet Wars�, a new book about Afghanistan where conditions are so terrible, and children slaving to make carpets may be their families� only breadwinners, the author also stresses the kindness and generosity of people, despite their poverty. Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro, in their thought-provoking book �Five Past Midnight in Bhopal� not only chronicled the cost-cutting measures that led a formerly safety-conscious company to prepare the way for the frightful disaster in 1984. They also chronicled the lives of the destitute people who made their homes in the bustees around Bhopal. These people were amazingly resourceful and made a surprisingly rich community life despite a complete lack of facilities, insufficient food, and an almost total lack of material possessions. Returning travellers have often commented on the generosity and happiness of people in some of the poorest countries.
This is not to say that everyone displays such good qualities when times are tough. Each disaster also brings its stories of the looter, the profiteer who capitalises on others� problems. Obviously most people have a bit of both sides in their nature; we can all be altruistic at times, mean at others. Fortunately our good side seems to come to the fore in bad times. Extended periods of prosperity seem to make us careless of others� suffering. It almost seems that we would be happier and better people if we were better acquainted with adversity.
We should not need disaster to spur cooperative effort. There are other causes that could do the trick. There is one great trial, that if we rise to meet it, could inspire this cooperative effort. It is the environment, which is in need, worldwide, of just such an effort. We know that, by the day, our soils are getting poorer, water resources more stretched, animals and plants more threatened. We also know that we are the cause of these woes.
We do not need a war on the environment, that is really what has been going on for a long time. We do not need a war for the environment; that would be against ourselves. War rarely provides an answer, whether against drugs, crime or other peoples. What we do need is governments prepared to put as much effort into saving the environment as they currently put into waging a war. We also need altruism and cooperation to solve the problem. We need to understand ourselves and the consequences of our actions, and we need to motivate ourselves to change before a worse crisis is upon us. What will spur us to action? Maybe the current drought and the fires will spur Australians, at least, to get moving.
The combination of drought, high temperatures, strong winds and lightning strikes that has given us such a frightening fire season, has not been �freakish� in any real sense. It is a combination which has occurred repeatedly in Australia and will do so for the foreseeable future. Aridity is Australia�s natural state, whether we call it drought or not. The occasional wet year boosts the average annual rainfall and gives us a false idea of how much rain we can expect. Given the rising temperatures that are likely as human influence on the climate gathers pace, such conditions will be more frequent. It is time Australians worked harder at reducing fossil fuel usage locally and around the world.
As the drought has taught us, we can manage with less water. We can learn to use water more wisely. It does not hurt us to do so. We can learn to make do with less in other fields, too.
There are many technological aids that we can use to reduce our impact on the environment. We can use grey water rather than drinking-standard water for many uses. We can have concrete that absorbs carbon dioxide, coatings on car radiators or paving stones that break down smog-causing chemicals. We can improve the efficiency of engines and build passive solar buildings. All these measures help but even using every technology available or proposed would not provide a complete fix for what we have done and continue to do to the environment. We also have to change our attitudes and behaviours. We have to really understand that using fossil fuels, however efficiently, releases into the atmosphere carbon that has been stored underground for millions of years. Inevitably this will change the composition of the atmosphere. We have to understand that we can, and will, deplete fisheries to a point of no return. We must realise that extinction is for keeps (despite any idea of cloning the Thylacine), and that we are in danger of turning a surprisingly habitable and interesting planet into something much less hospitable.
We also can see from many examples that material possessions mean very little when it comes to the crunch. For a fulfilling life we need kind, considerate and supportive human relationships, a caring community, social capital. Call it what you will, it is more important for the quality of life than anything money can buy.
Forthcoming NSF meetings
19 Feb.
Murray May - Aviation Travel Futures
A background paper on this issue appeared in our Oct/Nov issue. At this meeting Murray will enlarge on the topic, with discussion of the issues involved.
19 Mar.
Andreas Luzzi - The Hydrogen Economy
Andreas is an operating agent of the International Energy Agency Hydrogen Implementing Agreement. He will address issues in the production, storage, transport and utilisation of hydrogen locally and internationally. He says hydrogen is already produced in vast quantities for industry and is set to play a very important role in satisfying our energy needs.
16 April.
Helen James - The politics of sustainable development in Myanmar
Helen James will focus on the reform program outlined in Myanmar Agenda 21, the implications of land tenure arrangements, priority given to agricultural development, poverty alleviation strategies, and conservation of natural resources. She will discuss the linkages between political, economic and social reforms in Myanmar.
ISOS on the Internet
Nature and Society Forum has joined forces with three other community-based voluntary organisations to ensure that information and debate on the urgent and practical issues of sustainability are made available as widely as possible through the internet to people in all walks of life. Our co-organisers are Australia 21, Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) and the Australian Collaboration (an association of peak bodies including the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Consumers� Association, the Australian Councils of Social Service and Overseas Aid, the National Council of Churches and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission).
The ISOS internet conference will run over nine months, from February to October 2003, culminating in a face to face meeting in November to integrate the outcome. Each month will be started with a keynote paper by an Australian expert in the field, followed by up to nine selected contributions from registrants. If you wish to contribute a paper it must be submitted by email and be no more than 1500 words, with a summary of no more than 150 words and no more than 10 suggestions for further reading. The February debate, on Water is already available on the website, as is Tony McMichael�s keynote for the March debate on Human Health and Wellbeing.
The registration fee is modest - $50 for nine months ($35 for concession card holders) or $10 per single month. So enroll now to ensure that your participation contributes to a widespread community-based opinion to influence decision makers on sustainability.
Bryan Furnass, ISOS conference co-organiser
Vaginal lemon juice, contraception and AIDS control
Marie Stopes, the great pioneer of female contraception once recommended inserting a slice of lemon into the vagina as a pre-coital spermicide. This has scientific support from work reported by Roger Short from the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the University of Melbourne. Roger and his colleagues found that a 20% concentration of lemon juice in fresh human ejaculate irreversibly immobilised 100% of spermatozoa in less than 30 seconds. Moreover, a 10% concentration of lemon juice was enough to quickly kill the HIV virus.
This work clearly needs some widespread clinical trials and ethical considerations, but it was well received at the 14th International AIDS conference in Barcelona and at AIDS conferences in Cape Town. A group calling themselves the Lemon-AIDS has been formed, headed by Rob Moody, director of Victorian Health, to promote the idea.
If this initiative finds widespread community acceptance it would fulfill NSF principles for cultural change, namely using a readily available harmless natural substance to achieve both birth control and death control with negligible cost to the consumer.
Bryan Furnass
Where to now?
As most members know, the lovely site NSF occupied in Weston is no more, being one of the victims of the fire storm that devastated parts of Canberra on 18th January. However, like the phoenix, NSF is already rising from the ashes. We have been offered temporary accommodation by the nearby horticultural campus of CIT. Our office has been set up already and evening discussion meetings will be held there, too.
After the fire Gabrielle Williams, our office manager, had our phone line diverted to her home number and kept the office running using her own equipment. We owe her many thanks for her initiative and dedication.
John Schooneveldt, Frank Fenner, Stephen Boyden and others also went straight into action seeking replacement accommodation for the immediate future and longer term. Like everyone else who lost their home, NSF has lost many precious things, including our library which held many books donated or lent by members. We lost all our paper and electronic records, with the exception of the back up disk for recent financial records. Gabrielle has managed to retrieve most of our address list, but it is possible that some members have slipped off it. If you know other members, please check to see whether they are receiving our emails and/or snail mail.
We are seeking help from members who have kept copies of journals, occasional papers, annual reports, minutes of meetings and so on. We would appreciate donations of such items to help us build up our history again.
Several associated organisations shared the Heysen Street Building with us, the Australian National Biocentre of course, but also Australia 21 and AELA (Australian Ecolabelling Association). They also lost almost everything and share our predicament. We hope to be able to provide some of them with a little desk space, as well as sympathy. We also offer our sympathy to Gosta and Pauline Lynga who lost their home and everything in it. The Lyngas have always lived by their beliefs, and so they are part of the solar-building group, Phoenix.
Fortunately the electronic conference In Search of Sustainability (ISOS) can go ahead as planned.
Advice to rebuilders
A paper prepared by members of the above groups to give some preliminary guide to those wishing to rebuild after the bushfire of 18 Jan 2003.
It aims at improved housing comfort, fire safety & environmental concerns.
Generally
Despite the catastrophic upheaval of your life, rebuilding presents a unique opportunity to improve your lifestyle in terms of using the benefits of new technology and new science which has become available since your house was originally built.
For example:
Pie in the sky ? Not so, providing you are prepared to reassess your values, look critically at your real needs and your expectations - and design in an integrated way.
A more detailed look at some of the elements of your house may help you to assess your needs.
Interiors
It would seem that the intense radiant heat entering windows was largely responsible for the vaporisation of many artificial surfaces & materials such as plastic finishes on furniture and on timber floors, wall panelling, plastic based paints, glues & adhesives contributed to the explosions that were heard by many people. It seems very likely that this may have been the start of many fires which would rapidly have spread up into the roof space.
This should make us reconsider how to make the ceiling and the roof structure more fire-resistant.
Roofs
The fire has shown how vulnerable a wooden truss roof, battens and plasterboard ceilings are in a fire. Once the flash point was reached there was little that could be done for a lightweight, flammable wooden roof structure which would have been extremely hot and tinder dry.
It is significant that on several sites the metal tray roofs, although buckled, were largely in one piece with some degree of structural integrity and air tightness. This is better than having hundreds of broken clay and cement tiles which only enabled the entry of oxygen to fuel the fire. This gives an edge to metal roof decking in future.
Timber framed roofs absorb a lot of labour in their erection - trusses, roofing and ceiling battens, sarking, plasterboard ceilings etc., so any alternative should aim at reducing this labour. Although higher in embodied energy, steel as a structural material would seem to have several advantages in a short duration, intense fire.
Another disadvantage of the traditional roof spaces we have come to accept is that on sunny winter days they are usually several degrees warmer than the living spaces underneath. We have never taken advantage of this fact in heating our houses in winter. Perhaps now is the appropriate time to consider a more integrated approach which utilises this heat?
The pitch of our traditional roofs has usually been determined by the type of roof covering - tiles or metal decking - usually 25� down to about 4�. This should now be reconsidered as new solar collecting technology is seemingly best placed on our roofs and requires angles of up to 35� for increased efficiency in collection.
This should be a serious consideration in roof design as we should all be trying to make our own individual electricity through photovoltaic arrays to reduce atmospheric pollution from our generating stations - a prime cause of climate change leading to increased temperatures & bushfires - it is all linked. The pitch of a PV roof would also suit hot water absorbing panels - again saving fossil fuelled electricity.
A further factor about the form of roofs is that gabled pitched roofs facing within 30� east or west of north are much more efficient in allowing rectangular PV arrays and hot water absorbers. Hipped roofs have become very complicated in recent years with many valleys, making it difficult to place any effective size of photovoltaic system.
To assist this requirement (now or in the future) the house plan would be more appropriate as a simple rectangle with a gabled roof facing approximately north.
A very new advance in PV technology is the development of integrated PV surfaces with metal tray decking, thus making one building technique do two jobs - and it reduces cost. This is more efficient, labour saving and a contributor to a more beautiful streetscape - a factor not uppermost in your minds at this particular moment , but one which is of some significance in the long run. Please bear it in mind.
This integrated PV/decking has two disadvantages that the usual non-integrated PV panels do not have. In absorbing the sun�s heat to create electricity the panels radiate the heat component downwards, but, at the same time create shade underneath so that summer sun does not enter into the roof space. This ventilated space is very valuable - so how can we take advantage of this radiated heat with an integrated PV decking?
By placing a second metal tray under the PV tray we can collect the hot air and use it in our living spaces in winter - see the attached drawing. Summer heat collected by this duct would be ventilated through the gable ends, preventing its entry into the house
External roof sprinklers
If you are really concerned about fire striking again and have a swimming pool or a large tank as a source of water, then it should almost be mandatory to install a non-electric pump to supply rotating sprinklers on the ridge of the roof. These are most effective.
Walls
For many years we have been given no alternative by the housing industry to brick cavity walls or brick veneer with the bricks outside. CSIRO research has shown that both these methods have thermal disadvantages, making little contribution to summer cooling or winter warmth freely available from the sun.
Remnants of the fire show that many brick walls have remained standing (although cracked and often dangerous) and all timberwork inside the house has disappeared.
There are a few alternatives that rebuilders might consider as fire & thermally efficient resistant:
Windows
Large glass areas on north elevations are useful for solar gain in winter, but the corollary is that the potential ingress of radiation during an intense fire is a major factor in a house catching fire. From an environmental point of view we should certainly be taking advantage of the free heat intake and the cheerfulness of sunshine on a cold day - a factor we might well be reluctant to give up in the face of an event as rare as 1 in 100 years.
Windows are an indispensable asset, so my attitude is that we should be prepared to protect them during the rare events by means of reflective metal shutters that can be built in or with a series of panels that can be stored in the garage & hung in front of the glass & frames during emergency periods. It would be a fairly expensive exercise, but I suspect that the loose panels would be the cheaper option. Some research should be carried out on alternatives.
From the experience of the recent fire the protection would need to withstand some severe winds, so suction as well as pressure will have to be considered.
Clerestory windows to permit the entry of sunshine into southern rooms are again an entry point for fire and will need the same protection , which is not difficult - just costly.
Apart from northern windows collecting winter sun to heat your interiors, consider the installation of fixed reflectors outside your southern windows to use the winter sun to maximum advantage. They contribute many kilowatt hours of heat into a room for very little capital cost and require absolutely no maintenance or adjustment. It is then possible to have winter sun in every room in the house. Ring 6286 6134 if you wish to see these reflectors in action during the heating season.
Floors
Traditional timber floors with ventilated spaces below may well be a fire hazard, but I suspect they are rather low on the scale as fire generators. From a heat loss point of view they are very inefficient in winter and rebuilders should really consider installing on-ground concrete floor slabs to improve the floor�s thermal efficiency & to guarantee its safety in a fire situation. Although I have no evidence from this fire I know from previous personal experience that a concrete slab floor remains generally intact and gives a good base for speedy rebuilding. This also reduces the rebuilding cost.
The main problem with a timber floor could well be the large area of volatile synthetic finish and, if an older type of particle board substrate was used a large volume of volatile binder could have exacerbated the explosion possibility.
Water
It should be mandatory for every house to collect its own water supply with tanks placed near every down pipe and for each of us to adopt a new mindset which regards every drop of water as extremely precious. The tanks could be used for separate purposes - one for very clean potable water, (near the kitchen), another, larger, tank for non-potable uses such as washing & supplying the WCs or the garden. There is a need for under-the-eaves tanks to obtain a head sufficient for the WCs and the internal taps, otherwise small submersible 12v pumps may have to be used which slightly complicates the operating systems - but not impossibly so. Some rectangular, under-the-eaves tanks are now available.
Grey Water
Conserving this valuable water for a second use should again be mandatory and it can be done with low-level rectangular tanks outside the kitchen window (for sink waste and possibly rainwater as well) or by way of a reed bed system in the garden which cleans the water and supplies the vegetable garden.
You should certainly consider collecting all bath, shower, basins, washing machine & tub outflows for the purpose of watering the garden - but do you really need a dishwashing machine? The levels on your land may or may not favour the use of grey water in this way so it would be wise to consult the specialists in this area. The ACT government has issued a pamphlet guide to the safe re-use of grey water.
Sewerage
In starting almost from the beginning again, give some thought to installing waterless toilets. They do require careful design consideration and specialist advice should again be sought. They have some advantages in that they do not consume valuable water and they eventually produce a rich compost for the garden. If properly installed with appropriate ventilation they do not smell.
Otherwise, if using traditional WCs then consider supplying the cisterns with rainwater from tanks (see Water above).
A difficult issue is whether or not to use the existing drainage lines which are most likely intact. If you are simply replacing the house you had before then this problem does not arise, but if you are taking the opportunity to redesign the house then it would be more economical to link into the existing system. However, as this is a once only chance to improve on the house you had before then this opportunity should have a high priority.
In years to come you will have forgotten the cost, but a missed opportunity also carries a high mental cost. Only you can decide, based on your circumstances.
Stormwater (ground run-off) and garden design
Especially in the construction days ahead and when re-establishing the garden, give careful thought to contouring and swales on slopes to minimise run-off of heavy rain with its consequent scouring, erosion and loss of nutritious soil. Try to retain any water in settlement ponds which could be quite decorative, wet or dry.
Choice of fire resistant trees and bushes around the house now becomes critical as previously we rarely gave any thought to this aspect, let alone their shading potential in summer and their transparency to sunshine in winter. The eucalypt is not a suitable tree for suburban gardens and as a tall evergreen tree can be a real problem in relation to shading of photovoltaic arrays and hot water absorbers on roofs. Do not be tempted to place tall trees on your southern boundary in the thought that they will not shade your roof absorbers - they will certainly shade your southern neighbour�s roof and give rise to neighbourly unpleasantness in future. Tall trees, even 100m away from your house could create problems in this coming solar age, so please be considerate.
There are several deciduous trees which are more suitable. I have a great fondness for the deciduous Box Elder, acer negundo, a maple of about 10m height which provides desirable moist green shade in summer and which permits the sun to shine through to northern windows and the garden in winter. It is unfortunate that this tree has been declared a weed by somebody who has given no consideration to its virtues in the coming solar age.
The shading characteristics of bushes are not so much of a problem, but deciduous vines are very useful on eastern and western walls, minimising heat penetration to walls. Boston Ivy is a particularly good vine, being self clinging & giving extremely good shade in summer. It does not invade brick joints like English Ivy, but it can make repainting a bit more difficult.
Their natural deciduous movements are so beautifully timed for our convenience - it is a wonderfully symbiotic relationship and it�s all free !
Lifestyle
If we are all to make some impact on the damaging effect of climate change it is absolutely essential that we understand the cause & effect relationship our actions of daily living are having on our fragile landscape.
Land clearing has had a detrimental effect on our rainfall patterns & caused massive salting of our productive land.
We cannot continue taking from our land without putting something back and this implies a change in our lifestyles to minimise our �footprint� which is one of the largest in the world.
Reducing, re-using and recycling our wastes into resources is very important, using free natural energies instead of fossil fuelled (coal, oil, wood and natural gas).
Members of the societies contributing to this guide have been putting some of these principles into effect in their own homes over several years and, by trial and error, have learned from experience. Several of their houses were open to the public on the Solar House Day last September.
They are willing to show you what they have achieved and share their knowledge.
We have quickly formed a Phoenix Group to give initial advice on a voluntary basis with no strings attached as we feel it is critical for you to start off in the right direction. In this way you can take advantage of the new science and technology now available to you.
If you wish to learn more, please ring Derek Wrigley 6286 6134 in the first instance so that he can point you to the most suitable person who is willing to advise and /or show what they have achieved. If there is a large demand then we may organise a more public event.
There is much to learn & we are happy to help.
Derek Wrigley OAM
Coordinator, Phoenix Group (associated with Nature & Society Forum, Alternative Technology Association and ANZ Solar Energy Society)
Tel & fax : 6286 6134
2 / 72 Shackleton Circuit, Mawson, ACT 6207
Email : dwrigley@actonline.com.au
Letter to the Editor
Dear Jenny,
In the October/November 2002 issue you included an item on Greenfleet. You also included some comments by Gosta Lynga which throw some doubt on the value of tree planting as a carbon sink to compensate for the CO2 released by driving cars. I, too, have doubts about the value of motorists absolving their consciences by paying to plant trees rather than reducing their driving.
As well, my personal experience has shown that there are better ways of achieving our much needed tree regeneration than through the Greenfleet program. I suggest that anyone who wants to help with revegetation do so directly through a Landcare or Bushcare group which has a holistic program. In my opinion it would be far more effective if governments supporting Greenfleet channelled the same amount of money directly into Landcare groups or Greening Australia.
I am President of the Gudgenby Bush Regeneration Group which is assisting the Parks and Conservation Service to re-establish bush on the Boboyan pine plantation site. There have been two Greenfleet plantings in our area. The first one, in 2000, was of 30,000 seedlings and was reasonably successful, with about a 70% survival rate. In 2001 Greenfleet wanted to plant many more seedlings and 50,000 seedlings were grown in small pots. When only 15,000 had been planted and no agreement had been reached on how the remainder should be put in the ground, Greenfleet made public statements that all 50,000 had been planted. In the end something like 30,000 were actually planted and survival rates were very low, down to about one in 20 in parts of the area. It would be interesting to know what survival rate is allowed for in Greenfleet�s calculation that $30 will establish 17 trees. The $30 does not include a charge for planting; Greenfleet has an arrangement with Scouts Australia so volunteers do that.
Your item stated Greenfleet �choose local varieties and tend them so they will grow successfully.� Greenfleet does not tend the plantings. As you can imagine, the only tending such a large number of seedlings can receive is that they are placed in a protected area, preferably where a volunteer group is working which can then tidy up the tree guards which blow away. The local varieties are chosen by the local organisation responsible for managing that piece of land, in our case by the Namadgi Park management. Although local varieties were used, in the 2001 planting, due to lack of continuity of staffing, they were not sorted for planting in the most appropriate sites.
I personally think that Greenfleet is driven by the need to plant large numbers of trees so that they can generate publicity which will then give them the funds to plant large numbers of trees again. Although some care is taken to negotiate with local organisations, the numbers are too great and funds too small for adequate care. Greater final success could almost certainly be achieved through a direct seeding program, but then one could not say one had planted so many trees.
Eleanor Stodart
The ROCKS Redevelopment Proposal
Gabrielle Breen
Section 21 and its surrounds is a block of land in West Civic offering the opportunity for innovative, sustainable urban development. The site is home to a coalition of community groups known as ROCKS - Residents of Childers and Kingsley Streets, who provide a wide range of activities and services in education, healthy living, recreation, advocacy and research.
The Nature and Society Forum is a member of ROCKS through the Conservation Council, and several NSF members have made significant contributions to the Proposal. Other ROCKS groups include: Canberra and South East Region Environment Centre; Canberra Pensioners Club; Canberra Dance Theatre; Fellowship of Christian University Students (FOCUS); Permaculture ACT; Photo Access; and The Food Co-op.
The Proposal Over the past two years ROCKS has worked hard and consulted widely, to produce the ROCKS Redevelopment Proposal, which was launched in late November 2002. The proposal envisages a showcase multi-purpose development achieved by collaborative partnerships between government, business, university and community organisations.
The development would:
What would this mean in practice?
For the community, office space and a resource centre for existing and future groups, a whole foods cooperative and caf�, artistic and cultural facilities and a childcare centre, are just a few of the options.
For business, opportunities could encompass space for small businesses - especially those involved in environment and alternative technologies and information technology. The site could also house a national and regional environment tourist information centre, a native plant nursery, offices for health practitioners and an environment agency shop front.
Suggestions for educational facilities have included a new facility for the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES), offices for the ANU�s National Institute for Environment and an office for the Australian Association for Environmental Education. Another proposal is for locating the National Information, Communication Technology Australia (NICTA) on the site.
Affordable and adaptable residential facilities are also proposed, including a mix of living and working units for individuals, couples and families, and co-housing, integrating autonomous private dwellings with shared utilities and recreational facilities. Public open spaces would link buildings.
The ROCKS community has been liaising with the National Centre for Sustainability (Australian National Biocentre) for the past few years, due to our many common interests and goals. We hope that this year we can continue to support each other in our respective projects.
To find out more about the redevelopment, or to download the ROCKS Redevelopment Proposal, visit the ROCKS website at www.rocks.org.au, or contact Gabrielle Breen on 0421 822 217 or rocks@ecoaction.net.au.
Farrago
Unions and the Environment
This, the tenth paper in the Tela series, argues that the �jobs versus the environment� debate is misleading and flawed. The crisis in both unemployment levels and environmental degradation has been exacerbated by the tendency of corporations to overuse resources and underutilise labour. The authors examine the record of union action on environmental matters and assess the potential for developing �jobs and environment� tactics.
The authors are Verity Burgmann, of the University of Melbourne, with Colin McNaughton, Monash University and Jennifer Penney, Green Jobs Strategies, Canada.
The Tela series explores the relationships between the environment, economy and society. The series is an initiative of the Australian Conservation Foundation with each paper co-sponsored by another organisation. The second sponsor of �Unions and the Environment� published in June 2002, was the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
All Tela papers are available on www.acfonline.org.au/publications/tela/intro.htm.
Eco-Cement
Every year about 1,700,000,000 tonnes of Portland cement are produced, a quarter of a tonne per person on earth. The conversion of chalk or limestone to cement releases a lot of carbon dioxide, and the energy needed to heat the kilns to 1450 oC releases still more. For every tonne of cement produced a tonne of CO2 enters the atmosphere, accounting for about seven percent of total man-made emissions.
John Harrison of Hobart thinks this can be changed. His firm TecEco has developed an �eco-cement� based on magnesium carbonate, which produces less CO2 and needs kilns operating at 650 o C. The resulting cement is more durable than the Portland variety, and during its �lifetime� will soak up CO2 at the rate of 0.4 tonnes per tonne of concrete. What is more, organic waste such as sawdust, plastic and rubber can be incorporated in the concrete, without it losing strength, locking away even more carbon.
New Scientist, 13 July 02
Smog Eaters
Car manufacturers Volvo and Nissan have started to coat car radiators with a catalyst that converts ozone to oxygen. Mitsubishi have found that a fine film of titanium dioxide on paving stones, walls and buildings speeds up the breakdown of nitrogen oxides from vehicle exhausts into nitrogen and oxygen.
In Japan, the coated paving stones are in use in over fifty towns. In Hong Kong, in areas where the paving has been installed, it is estimated that it removes up to 90 percent of the nitrogen oxides that trigger smog.
New Scientist, 13 July 02
Aeroplane Aerosols
Climate scientists have been puzzled as to why, when global temperatures have been rising over the last fifty years, rates of evaporation have been falling, and continue to do so. This puzzle was solved in the wake of the terrorist attack in the USA in September 2001, when 10,000 commercial aircraft were grounded for three days.
Scientists at the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting analysed American temperature records for the period. They found that the difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures increased by two degrees on the plane-free days, and decreased when flying was resumed.
Just like natural clouds, aerosols emitted by planes scatter light and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. Although higher temperatures would increase evaporation, a reduction in sunlight reduces evaporation.
Australasian Science January/February 2003
Bird Baffler
Fishing firms operating out of the USA and Australia are interested in a sea-going scarecrow invented by New Zealander Keith Brady. The scarecrow, or baffler, has long arms, to widen the beam of a boat, and carries dangling red plastic cones. It takes only minutes to set up and can be left in place to do its job for the entire trip. Sea birds, confused by the baffler, remain out of harm�s way, not scavenging in the fishing gear trailing behind the vessel.
The Canberra Times, 23 December 2002
]]>If both people are reasonably patient and actually want to understand each other it can be sorted out. A little discussion will let you see that the very words used were capable of different interpretations, depending on the preconceptions and preoccupations of the two speakers. If one or both are hasty, will not believe that the misunderstanding is genuine and not malicious, then trouble results.
Some misunderstandings are trivial, others very important. In the anxious days leading up to war or no war they have the potential to affect the lives of millions of people and the deaths of many.
If two people from the same background can so easily misinterpret each other’s quite simple statements, how much more likely are people from different cultures to fail to understand. What is one person’s liberty may be the other’s licence. Thus it is hardly surprising that dreadful tensions arise. This is made worse when there is a complete unwillingness to want to understand. Protagonists tend to resort to the non-verbal techniques of bared teeth and snarls.
The events of the last few months have been instructive as well as disturbing. They would make a fascinating addition to Barbara Tuchman’s splendid book “The March of Folly”, describing some of the all-too-common cases of governments or leaders pursuing policies that are not in their own best interest, despite plenty of warning.
The sight and sound of presidents and prime ministers trying to put their point of view across to their own public would have been amusing if it were not so serious. In this case it is highly likely that both the government and the people mean much the same thing when they talk of freedom, but they still cannot understand each other. Governments in the USA, UK and Australia have been talking of fighting terrorism, but somehow ended up talking about fighting Saddam Hussein. While it is certain that many people in Iraq had experienced Saddam’s version of terror, there seems to be no proof, not even any clear indication that he has had anything to do with terrorism in other countries. How did a war on terrorism transmute into a war on Saddam Hussein? Was it a genuine belief in a connection, or just a convenient excuse? The people are suspicious about the motive.
Also, although many people supported the war on terror, many others did not. Terrorism is by its nature impossible to fight. Certainly, some terrorists, even the major initiators, can be captured or killed, but there will always be others to take their place. This is obvious in trouble spots like Israel. The answer is clearly not more killing, but doing something about the causes. While there are people who see their own culture under active attack, or inadvertently eroded by pervasive western culture; if they see themselves marginalised or vilified, they may turn to terrorism. Doing something about such causes is more difficult than fighting. It requires greater wisdom, larger amounts of patience and probably a lot of money. But it is money much better spent than it would be on war.
Both in the world situation and in disputes within our own community, I keep harking back to John Burton’s talk to us in 1997, and his occasional paper on conflict resolution. He pointed out that leaders of warring factions, of different ethnic groups or in any other divisions of society have to posture in public for their constituents. When, however, these same people can be brought together out of the limelight, with no news reporters present, they can often talk to each other as reasonable human beings, who basically want the same things: peace, security and a reasonable life for their people. It is impossible to imagine Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden sitting down with George Bush for a series of quiet discussions, so things could not have been resolved that way. But public posturings have certainly aggravated the situation and have got governments into situations they would have been wise to avoid.
This war will not have solved any problems. It may just begin to teach governments that winning elections does not give them a mandate to do anything – the ballot is too blunt to reflect the voters’ real preferences. If governments begin to realise they have to really try to understand the issues important to people, and resolve conflicts between different interests, then maybe some good will come out of the whole sorry episode.
Forthcoming NSF meetings
16 April.
Helen James - The politics of sustainable development in Myanmar
Helen James will focus on the reform program outlined in Myanmar Agenda 21, the implications of land tenure arrangements, priority given to agricultural development, poverty alleviation strategies, and conservation of natural resources. She will discuss the linkages between political, economic and social reforms in Myanmar.
21 May.
Emma Murray - Greening your workplace: the example of the Green Team at Geoscience Australia
How an enthusiastic group are working to educate their peers on reducing waste, recycling and generally lessening their impact on the environment.
18 June
Peter Szlapinski - Grey water re-use.
Peter works for ActewAGL and will be talking about ways that grey water can be re-used.
16 July
Walter Jehne - Microbial dimensions to sustainability
Walter Jehne will discuss research on the role and management of microbial symbioses in the uptake and recycling of nutrients and how these govern the development, productivity and sustainability of the biosystems and foodchains on which human sustainability depends.
Coffee, anyone?
Until 1989 the international Coffee Agreement kept the price paid to growers between $4.40 and $5.30 per kilo. In that year the USA withdrew from the agreement and thus caused the deregulation of the market. The World Bank and other organisations were encouraging poorer countries to take up coffee growing to earn export income; oversupply caused prices to fall below the cost of production, to about $1.25 per kilo. Many small-scale farmers had invested in coffee growing and could not afford to switch crops. The collapse in coffee prices on world markets over the last five years has pushed about twenty five million families into financial crisis.
Oxfam has launched a Coffee Rescue Plan to bring the price paid for coffee beans back above the cost of production. The Plan requires the four big roasters Kraft, Nestlé, Proctor & Gamble and Sara Lee, to pay farmers a decent price; to buy only coffee that meets basic quality standards; and to buy more fair trade coffee. It also calls on governments to help farmers grow different crops.
Fair trade coffee is purchased for a fair price above the cost of production, with long-term contracts to allow planning, and using payment policies that allow for local social and economic development. Fair trade coffee, both beans and ground, is available from Oxfam shops. It is labelled by its country of origin, so you know where your money is going.
Oxfam Horizons Feb 03
In Search of Sustainability
This ambitious internet conference continues, with April being devoted to Land use and natural ecosystems, followed by Energy In May.
It would be good if more people get involved. If you personally don’t want to spend more time with your computer, please do at least bring the conference to the attention of others. The more who take part the better - and if you have ideas about how to attain sustainability this is a good place to air them. Internet conferences reduce greenhouse gas emissions!
Visit www.isosconference.org.au
Trapping Cholera
Cholera is a very serious endemic disease particularly in poor regions of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Every year tens of thousands of people die from cholera-induced diarrhoea.
A trial run in some remote Bangladeshi villages showed that simply filtering water through folded cloth from old saris halved the infection rate. In laboratory tests the cloth trapped more than 99 % of Vibrio cholerae. Fortunately the tiny bacteria cling to plankton that are too big to squeeze through the cloth. Villagers quickly took up the practice of filtration when they were shown what was swimming around in their drinking water.
New Scientist 18 Jan 03
The Right to Fly
Our first discussion meeting this year was led by Murray May talking on aviation travel futures. The aviation industry itself sees the future as continuing expansion, with more aeroplanes carrying more people flying further and more frequently. Past trends certainly indicate this, with air travel having grown a hundred-fold since 1950. The world aircraft aviation fleet is expected to double between 1996 and 2016. Continued expansion is seen as an unadulterated good, and is closely linked into regional and national economies. Air travel is seen as essential for business, and growing tourism as vital to economic well-being.
There are, however, stirrings of unease, which aviation companies will have to heed. In many places local people are objecting to the noise and air pollution caused by aircraft. Their protests can delay or prevent the expansion of airfields or construction of new ones, thus limiting “the right to fly”.
It is becoming obvious, at least to a minority, that air travel is or can become a major environmental problem and that tourism is not a “smokeless industry”. At the height at which subsonic planes usually fly, about eleven kilometres, the combined effects of all their emissions – nitrogen oxides and condensation trails as well as carbon dioxide – have three times the effect of carbon dioxide alone. Flying 12,000 km has as much adverse effect as driving 36,000 km. It is generally recognised that transport forms a significant part of total consumption and that it plays an important role in the enhanced greenhouse effect. If air travel increases its share of an expanding industry feeding on hyper mobility then greenhouse forcing must get worse.
There is an interesting theory of travel which suggests that people have a travel budget, and spend an almost constant share of both time and money on it. Surveys from various cities and countries suggest that people budget just over an hour per day on travel. As time available does not expand but incomes do, so people invest in faster transport. They are prepared to live ever further from their workplace and travel to more distant destinations.
Many environmentalists can see the problems this mobility imposes on the world, yet nevertheless fly (mea culpa). Airlines and governments see no problems and fear nothing more than a downturn in the industry. Many developing countries not only pursue the tourist dollar, but see it as an important way to ensure their own culture can survive, as that is what tourists have come to experience. Tourists can indeed provide the funds and interest to help local cultures to survive, but they can also destroy what they travel to see.
In his paper on aviation published in the Journal of Future Studies in August 2002, Murray quoted David Kay who was an UN weapons inspector in 1991-2. Kay thought that the perception of the USA as the agent of Disneyfication, McDonaldisation and vulgarisation of other cultures was a driving force in terrorism. Since then of course tourism and the airlines have suffered from terrorism, whatever its cause. After the Bali bombing, when TV showed pictures of innocent tourists sunbathing on Bali beaches, I personally could see that although the local Hindus were not offended, there were many people in the region who would regard such tourists (and the culture they came from) as deeply offensive.
The airlines have been shocked by such events as that of 11 Sept 2001, have suffered as a result of it, and taken measures to try to prevent future such acts. What they do not appear to have taken account of is the possibility, and almost certainty, of diminishing oil supplies. It seems amazingly short-sighted for any industry that depends entirely on petroleum-based fuels to project accelerating expansion for decades into the future. Their increasing fleets and expanding on-ground infrastructure could turn out to be very expensive white elephants in just a few decades. Maybe they don’t want to mention it, in fear of putting off potential investors and customers. Maybe they are quietly working to find a substitute fuel. Unfortunately, maybe they intend to liquefy coal, which would be even worse for the environment. Certainly they are saying nothing in public about hydrogen.
In his paper, Murray suggested that anyone rewarded with “frequent flyer” points might be encouraged, or even required, to assume responsibility for their contribution to greenhouse emissions. Now, there’s a thought
Jenny Wanless
A Hydrogen Future
The power point presentation on hydrogen, present and future, by Andreas Luzzi was hampered by technological incompatibility with the equipment. This, however, did not prevent Andreas from giving us an enthusiastic and interesting talk. Nor, of course, did it stop the usual flow of questions.
First Andreas pointed out that hydrogen is a strange substance – you cannot see it, smell it or taste it. It is not, in fact, a fuel, but an energy carrier. It is produced in large amounts already, but mainly as an industrial process commodity. At 45 million tonnes the hydrogen produced is equivalent (in energy terms) to about 5% of annual oil production.
Although the Hindenburg disaster gave hydrogen the reputation of being explosive, that accident is now known to have been caused by the electrical properties of the coating of the airship when it was caught in a storm. Modern carbon fibre containers that are bullet and explosion proof are completely safe even in vehicles. There is no problem with all the hydrogen produced and transported these days.
IThere are several ways of producing hydrogen, such as from natural gas. Andreas prefers and promotes photoelectrolytic systems in which thin, multi-layered devices using photoactive substances are immersed in water and lit by sunlight.
The problem, as usual, is the abundance of cheap carbon fuel in oil and coal, although the oil will run out. Meanwhile there is too little money or interest in researching renewable sources, including hydrogen.
Enough is known to be able to power cars and buses by hydrogen, and such a bus will soon be plying the streets in Perth. Iceland is powering both its bus and fishing fleets with hydrogen. The first hydrogen plane flew years ago, but nothing followed. However, Boeing has the plans for a hydrogen powered plane shut away. It will not be difficult to convert planes to this fuel and it will actually have an advantage, as it provides weight savings.
There are hydrogen pipeline networks in several places, including the USA and Germany. But as usual it is a financial problem – no market, so no incentive to develop distribution systems. Canada has gone for small bar-fridge sized refuelling stations for households so people manage their own supplies. Another individual system is a micro one for portable communication and computing.
Both Shell and BP, realising that things will change, are investing half a billion dollars in hydrogen research. China is a country in which major things are happening, in both energy efficiency and renewables including hydrogen.
So a lot is happening, but not enough, always because of lack of will, money and vision. Andreas asked quite seriously, will humans have a future in 200 years? If there is a future, it will be with lots of different renewable energy sources, feeding into the grid and drawing from it as needed. We cannot ever again think of just one or two energy suppliers.
Andreas offered to email his power point presentation to people present at his talk, if they provided their addresses.
You can find out more about hydrogen by going to www.ozfuelcells.com or www.eren.doe.gov/hydrogen/iea.
Jenny Wanless
Proposed ACT Biosphere Reserve Project
David Eastburn
On 26 March, a workshop and a public forum, co-hosted by Nature & Society Forum Inc. and ANU Centre for UNESCO, took place to discuss UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and the process, relevance, and benefits to the ACT of becoming part of this global network. The concept emerged from discussions as a way to authentically address the sociocultural aspects of sustainability, following a series of People and Nature workshops conducted by Dr Stephen Boyden.
The Forum was introduced by Professor Ralph Slatyer, ecologist, and former Chief Scientist of Australia, and chaired by Professor Henry Nix, ornithologist and former Director of CRES. Presenters included: Dr Peter Bridgewater, Secretary, UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program, Paris, France; Mr Ian Weir who had recenty coordinated the nomination of Australia’s newest Biosphere Reserve - Mornington Peninsula & Western Port, near Melbourne; Mr Duncan MacKenzie of Bookmark Biosphere Reserve in the Riverland of S.A.; Dr Maxine Cooper, Executive Director of Environment ACT; Mr Jim Muldoon, Assistant Director, Park, Policy and Management Section, Environment Australia; and Emeritus Prof. Ken Taylor AM who discussed Canberra as a city in the landscape.
Workshop and Forum participants included, Dr Joe Baker, ACT Commissioner for the Environment; representatives of CSIRO, ACTEW AGL, the Office of Sustainability, Environment ACT, ANU Arts, CRES, Environment Australia, Australian National Biocentre, Landcare, Friends of Grasslands, AIATSIS, Birds Oz, and ANU Environment Collective.
Key Messages
Community leadership – ideally, the nomination of an area as a Biosphere Reserve should be a community initiative. The Nature and Society Forum Inc. is offering to coordinate the ACT Biosphere Reserve nomination project but will need the strong and active support of community members, other groups, government, and industry as partners.
A network - the process of completing the nomination form should ideally involve working with and raising the profiles of existing groups and organisations working towards a sustainable future in their areas of interest and expertise, rather than the creation of a separate organisation.
A communication exercise – the process of completing the nomination form should largely be a communication exercise - a vehicle to contribute to the transformation to a sustainable society – rather than a technical exercise
Dynamic - biosphere reserves are not static. Membership is voluntary. They are reviewed every decade and should reflect the unique attributes and developments in each area.
A celebration of diversity – the process of consultation to complete the nomination form should be inclusive to allow community members to participate with ‘experts’ to create a powerful, creative, learning and visioning community within the ACT.
Market – the process of nomination, and acceptence, provide great marketing opportunities for the people, places and products of biosphere reserves.
Reserve’ - the word ‘reserve’ is a product of history and does not accurately reflect the flexibility in the implementation of the Biosphere Reserve concept which is one of its strengths. Biosphere Reserves do not ‘lock up’ land, impose new rules, or exclude people.
What is a Biosphere Reserve?
A Biosphere Reserve is an internationally recognised designation to conserve examples of characteristic ecosystems from the world’s natural regions or to provide a significant model of ecological, cultural, social, and economic sustainability. Each Biosphere Reserve is intended to fulfil three basic functions, which are complementary and mutually reinforcing:
The most recent development in the Biosphere Program has been the application of the concept to urban areas and their hinterlands. Canberra is ideal for this as a planned National Capital with a significant population adjacent to large areas of original habitat and located on the upper reaches of one of Australia’s major inland rivers.
Biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments participating in the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program. The concept is dynamic, flexible and does not ‘lock up’ land or exclude human activity. They remain totally under the jurisdiction of the countries where they are located. Membership of the Biosphere Reserve Program is voluntary and as such it is possible to withdraw at any time without penalty. The global network of Biosphere reserves includes a total of more than 400 reserves in almost 100 countries. Australia currently has 12 reserves..
A focus and a framework for an ecologically sustainable ACT
…our new conservation paradigm must place people at the heart of conservation. … we need to blend scientific and local knowledge, aspirations and experience from all sectors of society, Aboriginal people, bushies, business, academics and environmentally concerned citizens working together. … Science must be the base, but the best science will be for nought if the community is disengaged …
Dr Peter Bridgewater, Sectretary, UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program, Paris
Canberra Times 17/1/02
The process of preparing the Biosphere nomination for the ACT will help to identify and celebrate the natural, cultural, and human resources of the region through participatory activities. As Canberra is a knowledge-based society, it is proposed to involve residents in the presentation of the ‘story’ of the region. Artists and scientists will be invited to assist in the process of developing and sharing new perspectives. All residents will be invited to be involved in activities that will enable them to actively participate in the transformation to a sustainable society.
The benefits to the ACT community:
The workshop and public forum revealed enthusiasm and support for the nomination of the ACT to become a part of the world-wide UNESCO Biosphere Reserve network. It would become the world’s first biosphere reserve to include the whole of a national capital.
Replacing The Boboyan Pines With Bush
With well over half the ACT’s pine forests burnt out and a prefire audit questioning whether they give best value in land use for the territory, it is not surprising the government has announced a review of ACT Forests. In other areas also, the commercial worth of particular pine plantations is being reconsidered. At Eildon reservoir in Victoria it has been decided to re-establish bush over 1500 ha no longer considered suitable for commercial harvesting. Jounama (600 ha), near Tumut, established to test suitability of different pine species at altitude, now falls within Kosciuszko National Park and has been undergoing rehabilitation since the ‘80s. Locally, in the Boboyan Pine Plantation (380 ha) at Gudgenby in the southern ACT, a program of progressive felling and rehabilitation has been under way for the past six years.
All three projects show conclusively that mixed eucalypt forests can be re-established quite readily following a pine plantation; it is not true that only pines grow where pines have been grown before.
At Gudgenby, in almost five years since the first seeding work party, we have established something of the order of 500,000 eucalypts from five species that occur naturally in the area, mainly by voluntary labour. Seed from three species of acacia has also been spread.
The regeneration has done very well this summer, despite the dryness. The largest saplings are now small trees with trunks several inches in diameter, and candlebarks are changing from their round, blue-green juvenile leaves to long, deep green adult leaves.
Because of this growth and the success of the firefighters in limiting the damage done by spot fires, the regeneration area is one of the bright spots in Namadgi today. Fortunately the fire reached the area after the worst days had passed. It even did us a favour by burning felled pine slash that had been waiting for two years for the right conditions for burning. Where spot fires did hit, the saplings are already sprouting at the base.
Most trees in the regeneration have grown from direct seeding. This year, with an unplanned burn in summer, rangers and volunteers got together to do a summer seeding.
The main advantage of direct seeding over planting is that each unit of labour produces thousands more seedlings in the ground. Plantings sometimes have to be replaced, but seed in the ground will germinate over a spread of years, and the natural variability in germination times is retained.
Another factor in the success of the Gudgenby Project was that the Parks & Conservation Service employed contractors to collect an ample quantity of seed in the early stages. In the first three years we spread about 500kg of seed over an estimated 350km of seed line (allowing 4m width for a seed line), and seed was available in store for immediate use after the January fire.
The history of the Boboyan Pines shows why the area is being returned to bush and why volunteers became involved. It was planted in 1966, in an area cleared for grazing, and began badly, with much of it being replanted in 1969 after drought and frost took a heavy toll.
The Proposed Gudgenby National Park Land Use Study (1976) stated that “The plantations are poor and would not have much commercial value. The location relative to market, the fire risk, the age, growth rate, vermin control and management remoteness all reduce the plantation as a commercial enterprise”.
The area is surrounded by some wonderfully unspoilt bushland, however, and was included in Namadgi National Park in 1984. The Management Plan (1986) specified that the plantation would be harvested and replaced with appropriate native species. These are determined by observation of surrounding hills and slopes.
The Land Use Study’s prediction of fire risk came true in 1983 when a wildfire destroyed the southwestern corner of the plantation and damaged much more. The remaining trees were not managed to improve timber yield, but wildings and dead pines were removed from the southwestern corner.
The bush regeneration project began in earnest in 1997 when ACT Forests felled about 80 ha of pines. ACT Parks and Conservation Service felled sections which had no commercial value in 1998 and 1999 and ACT Forests felled a further 30 ha in 2002. The rest were scheduled for felling this summer, but now pines still standing have been partially burnt and we do not know when they can be felled.
After each section is felled, the slash is allowed to dry out for a year. Even where the best timber is removed, plenty of slash and leftover logs remain. These are burnt in the following autumn or winter. The fire clears branches and mess away but leaves the large logs. It kills many weed seeds and pine cones.
The ash provides good nutrients for young seedlings and chemically aids germination. The logs provide valuable shelter for young seedlings and a continuing supply of nutrients as they decay. Seedlings beside the logs grow much faster than seedlings just a metre or so away from them. The first logs burnt are now obviously breaking down.
The Gudgenby Bush Regeneration Group was formed in June 1998 to provide voluntary labour to assist with seeding, planting and weeding. We hopped straight into the job with 80 ha to seed in the first winter. At the start of each work party we faced a desolate scene of bare earth crisscrossed by black logs, often with a crusting of white frost. We toiled away over many weekends, trying out broadcasting, and scraping and covering of the seed.
We were fortunate with the timing of our work, for the winter of ’98 saw the break of the ’97-’98 drought. The site gradually became green with a good growth of weeds, mainly sorrel. It was not until November, when we were digging up briars, that we saw our first eucalypt seedlings. I still remember the thrill as I raised my mattock once again and this time saw a group of tiny snow gums on the ground beside me.
We now have confidence that the seedlings will come up, for we have found that they continue to germinate over several years. We also know that broadcasting the seed is most effective, at least for the eucalypts. One memorable day in August ’99 we broadcast seed as a series of snow showers scudded down from Mt Gudgenby. That has been the only work party when we have retreated to the cars for lunch.
We have had patchy success with the wattles, however. Our best result came where we sowed seed in spring and covered it, so we will try doing that again.
Although most saplings have come from direct seeding, we have also planted tubestock in some of the gaps. Greenfleet contributed by planting seedlings in grassed areas with machine access, mostly areas burnt out in ’83, but the survival rate has not been good.
We have found that some native seed remains dormant for a long time or is brought in by birds. For example, solanum plants have appeared scattered over the site, perhaps from seed dropped before the area was cleared for grazing.
Spreading leaf litter helps obtain a good growth of ground cover plants. We have done this in a number of exclosures (built to prevent kangaroos and rabbits eating the seedlings) to create centres of good vegetation from which plants can gradually spread.
We have found that perennial problem of pine forests, the blackberry, coming up all over the place and requiring repeated removal and treatment with herbicide. Small pine wildings are easy to remove, but some have spread long distances into the bush and grown large. Briar roses regenerate from underground stems and they are common and widespread. St Johns Wort unfortunately has appeared in patches around access tracks.
A project of such a scale cannot depend entirely on voluntary labour. Before it started, the ACT Legislative Assembly voted a special budget of $400, 000 for it. Project Manager, Ann Connolly was appointed to co-ordinate arrangements for felling the pines and collecting local seed.
However, once the trees were felled, remaining funds were withdrawn, and Steve Welch, the new Project Manager, had to fit this extra responsibility around his normal ranger duties. For a while revegetation work depended entirely on volunteers.
Funds were restored over the next two financial years and we had two spells of a full time Project Manager for about six months each. This gave them time and funds to organise more seed collection, spraying of weeds, the building of exclosures and the work of Greencorps teams, as well as the activities of the Gudgenby Bushies.
The $400, 000 has now been fully spent. We probably have enough seed to finish the project, but our manager once again has to fit this responsibility in with other duties, and funds for weed control have to be fitted in with the program for the whole National Park. A policy of rotating staff also means there is now little continuity in the supervision of the project.
The Boboyan Pine Plantation was a misguided initiative of the Federal Government, although administered by the ACT since self government. We have managed to access some Federal funds for the rehabilitation, through the Natural Heritage Trust and through the Greencorps program, but they have not significantly addressed the area of most need, that of weed control.
We can compare our progress with the regeneration that occurred where the pines were destroyed in the ’83 fire. There, only a sparse scattering of eucalypts has become established in almost 20 years, in contrast to our young forest.
It will take another 10 to 20 years before the area begins to look like natural bush, but the project is well under way and Canberrans and bushwalkers of the future will be able to thank the volunteers and their regular monthly workparties for the quality of that regeneration.
The Jounama and Eildon projects have tried different approaches. Both have greater funds available for using machinery and less availability of volunteers.
At Jounama burning has not always been used and wildings and blackberries have become much more of a problem than at Gudgenby. Placing seed on bare ground has been important, whether the ground was cleared by bobcat or fire. Seeding has been done in winter and not directly after burning in autumn.
At Eildon burning was not considered an option. The land is forestry land rather than national park. Fallen timber is piled in rows and the area between is ripped. Eucalypt and acacia seedlings are planted on the edges of the rip lines and seed is scattered over suitable adjacent areas. Contractors have done the work and initial results are pleasing. The project has been underway for two years.
Eleanor Stodart is president of the Gudgenby Bush Regeneration Group. New volunteers are always welcome, contact 6281 5004
Half-empty Houses
Another threat to the environment has emerged over recent decades – half empty houses. According to UN figures for 141 countries for the period 1985 – 2000, more than half the increase in the number of households was caused by a reduction in the number of people living in each house. Demands for houses and apartments is increasing even in countries where the total population is decreasing. If the trend continues it would mean an extra 233 million households by 2015 even if the world population does now grow.(Of course, the population is growing).
The trouble is that a three bedroom house uses the same amount of land and materials to build and the same amount of fuel to heat, irrespective of the number of occupants. In China a fall in the average household size has led to the consumption of more wood for fuel, with a serious impact on panda habitat. Indeed the most dramatic effects of decreased household size are seen in regions with rich biodiversity such as Brazil, New Zealand and China.
New Scientist 18 Jan 03,
Farrago
Elephants
An enterprising student has been studying the dung of African elephants. This can be a hazardous occupation as elephants are dangerous. They kill many people, and in the jungle are hard to see, so the student needed an armed guard at times when she was collecting.
Her work showed that the African elephant is not a single species. There is a distinct West African elephant that has been separated from its eastern cousins for at least a million years. In the east the forest elephant and savannah elephant are also species in their own right and separated about two million years ago.
Studies of dung also enabled an estimate of elephant numbers to be made. There are about 3 – 400,000 savannah elephants, maybe 60,000 forest ones and fewer than 10,000 West African animals.
Science Show, Radio National, 8 March 03
Malawi’s Green Gold
Dr Mfutso Bengo, a senior lecturer at the Malawi College of Medicine and a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee, has ethical and moral objections to the World Health Organisation’s campaign against the growing of tobacco in his country.
Malawi is the most tobacco-dependent country in the world. Tobacco brings in more than 70% of Malawi’s foreign exchange and contributes one third of the country’s gross domestic product. The FAO estimates that 70% of the eleven million population depend directly or indirectly on tobacco for their livelihood.
About 15% of the tobacco crop is grown on a few commercial plantations. Hundreds of people are employed on these and each worker supports about eight dependents. Wages are not high, but there are other benefits for the worker, such as a large midday meal, food subsidies, and help with accommodation, schooling and training.
The bulk of the tobacco crop is grown by small farmers, who also grow food crops. Tobacco only occupies a small area, grows quickly without the aid of bought fertilisers and pesticides or irrigation. The leaves are dried on simple wooden racks, then stored and sold locally for American dollars.
Unfortunately this ideal component of Malawi’s farming economy does not find favour with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, but these organisations have not been able to suggest a suitable alternative, nor has the anti-tobacco lobby. Suggestions such as coffee, cotton or cut flowers for the European market all have drawbacks, such as an oversupply on world markets or more expense and greater inputs.
Few Malawians smoke, mainly because they cannot afford to; cigarettes are very highly taxed. Even if they did smoke they would be unlikely to live long enough to suffer from smoking-related illnesses, as the male life expectancy is about forty years.
Without the income from tobacco the economy would be in ruins and what health and education services there are, would collapse. Yet without the support of foreign aid organisations, most of which oppose tobacco growing, Malawi’s economy would crumble. The country is in trouble either way.
Dr Mfutso Bengo sees double standards at work in the international anti-tobacco lobby, which chooses to overlook the immediate health and economic problems in his country. “In a country where sixty percent of people live below the poverty line, basic health needs are most pressing-things like the prevention of cholera, malnutrition, malaria. Dealing with tobacco-based cancer is a luxury”.
From “Up in smoke” – the Lab, ABC Online
]]>This unfortunate case illustrates one of the pitfalls of promoting a simple solution. While few cases are likely to be as dramatic as the decline of the saiga, similar traps could lie in wait for some other suggestions for saving the world.
Hemp could be a case in point. Hemp is undoubtedly a wonderful plant. It produces fibre that would make excellent, long-lasting clothes, and good quality paper. The original diesel engine was designed to run on hemp oil, so the oil could certainly power cars. The plant produces all these useful products with relatively little need for water and no need for insecticides. Advocates are right to point out all these benefits and try to get hemp legitimised as a commercial crop. But it is a fair bet that, evolution being evolution, if hemp were to be grown on the scale needed to replace significant fractions of our demand for fabric, paper and oil, some insects would develop an insatiable appetite for it. Viruses, fungi and other organisms would attack it. The problem is that our demand for oil, clothing and paper now is so great that supplying any of these things from a single source would cause problems. We run into serious problems with monocultures; we run risks when we substitute one thing for another without adequate understanding.
It is our demand that is the problem. Whales were driven to local extinction in the north Atlantic and into serious decline elsewhere, just by the demand for oil for oil lamps and to lubricate machinery. Then we moved to electricity and petroleum, But human demand for ever more products and ever more resources did not stop. That is the problem of expanding population and even more expanding consumption.
Many people realise that these are major problems. Many hopeful campaigns have been launched, and advocacies attempted to turn society around, into one that can live sustainably on the earth. So far all have failed.
TClean Up Australia (or the World), while noble, wonderful and full of hope, has fallen short of its promise, just as has the ACT �No Waste by 2010�. Recyclables are left lying around as litter or in garbage bins. Despite the lip service to a cleaner, less wasteful world, most people seem not to have taken it really to heart � they litter without thought, shop without foresight, and recycle only when it takes little effort.
Within the Nature and Society Forum there is a running discussion between those who want to advocate certain courses of action, and those who think that until humanity actually learns and completely internalises the understanding of the human place in nature, there is little hope of achieving real and effective change. There is a parallel discussion about the relative effectiveness of changing behaviours or of improving understanding.
The best course of action is probably a mix of all the approaches. Just as substituting saiga horn for rhino turned out to be ill-advised, so many advocacies could turn out not to have a satisfactory outcome. There are people who will learn best by changing their behaviour. There are others who will need to internalise a new understanding of humans as part of the natural world and there are yet others who will have to be forced by regulation or financial inducements.
One certainty is that the only person whose behaviour you can change is yourself. You can try with others, but will probably fail. However, some attempts can succeed. You can read in this journal about the efforts of the Green Team at Geoscience Australia. You may have heard of the decision by residents of Coles Bay, Tasmania, to make their area plastic bag free. So good things can happen on the local level while we try every means at our disposal to educate and change on a broader scale.
Forthcoming NSF meetings
18 June
Peter Szlapinski - Greywater re-use
Peter works for ActewAGL and will be talking about ways that grey water can be re-used.
16 July
Walter Jehne - Microbial dimensions to sustainability
Walter Jehne will discuss research on the role and management of microbial symbioses in the uptake and recycling of nutrients and how these govern the development, productivity and sustainability of the biosystems and foodchains on which human sustainability depends.
New Anti-microbial Agents
As bacteria have shown such an ability to develop resistance to antibiotics, researchers are investigating some of the other ways different species protect themselves from bacteria. One promising lead has been provided by a seaweed that blocks the bacterial communication system, thus preventing bacteria from colonising its surface.
Bacteria use a chemical language to communicate with their fellows, and so organise a cooperative effort and gain strength to successfully invade a new host. Such communication is very important in the formation of the biofilms that foul most underwater surfaces.
Compounds called furanones, produced by the seaweed, keep its surface clean, yet it appears that no strain of bacterium has developed resistance to the furanones. This could be because they do not harm the bacteria, only jam their communication system, so there is no selection pressure to drive the development of resistance.
So far tests with mice have shown that furanones can prevent infection. The next step is to investigate whether furanones can treat disease once it is established.
Many human bacterial infections involve biofilms, from gingivitis in the gums, to lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients, to urinary tract infections, so treating these is very important. Almost all patients who are catheterised for more than three weeks become infected.
One line of defence would be to incorporate furanones directly into the material of which catheters are made, so that biofilms would not form on them.
Australasian Science May 03
Manufacturers Wanted
Because wind speed is so variable wind turbines need a variable speed drive generator, and this in turn has a very expensive electronic component which is many times more expensive than the generator itself. Engineers at the University of Technology, Sydney, have produced an alternative, a brushless doubly-fed twin stator induction machine. This needs only a third or less of the electronics in existing variable drives, and will also need far less maintenance.
Wind power companies are interested in the technology but are not interested in paying UTS for it. The University is examining the possibility of setting up its own field turbine, in an effort to get manufacturers interested.
Australasian Science April 03
The Politics of Sustainable Development in Myanmar
Talk by Dr Helen James who is a visiting fellow at NCDS, APSEG and RSPAS, ANU.
I arrived home from the NSF meeting of 16 April and turned on the radio to hear a BBC broadcaster saying �� and 70,000 child soldiers in Burma.� During the talk earlier that evening we had heard that the Maternal and Child Welfare Association, the country�s largest NGO, had 3m volunteer community workers (in a population of 52m), that there was no net shortage of food in Myanmar and yet 1 in 3 children under 5 were malnourished. These unsettling thoughts were in my mind as I typed up my notes for you.
Helen has been involved as student and academic in SE Asia, particularly Thailand and Myanmar since 1966 and is now at the ANU.
These are some highlights of Myanmar�s history:
Overseas support for Myanmar
Both Japan and Malaysia are supportive of Myanmar in public, but continue to be critical in private. China and Singapore are other supporters. Helen did not have much time for Aung San Suu Kyi; the impression she left was of someone out of their depth buttressed by an effective clique of journalists and inveterate exiled nay-sayers.
Overseas-based opposition groups
Helen referred to the overseas-based and Soros-funded anti-Myanmar groups. She indicated that their officials were in comfortable jobs and had a personal interest in the continued acceptance in the West that Myanmar is a backward, oppressed and stagnating country under a tyrannical and incorrigible dictatorship.
The exile groups have been successful in convincing sufficient US congressmen to withhold their government�s support from World Bank investment in Myanmar. They are not beyond using out-of-date material, some of it from the 1950s and from the worst of the 1980-92 period.
Land
Prior to the 1930s, Burma was a massive exporter of rice from the delta lands held typically by Indian landlords and farmed by Burmese tenants on annual leases.
Currently all land is owned by the state. Despite this, in the more entrepreneurial south larger plots are used as collateral for loans and inherited. Most land parcels are small: there are three million plots of less than five acres - too small to attract the credit necessary to improve their productivity and survive in the market. Landlessness is increasing, despite the large-scale transfer of wilderness into paddy.
Elsewhere in Myanmar land tenure arrangements are local in origin, largely determined by lineage and class; Western property rights do not figure prominently.
Forests
Logging is conducted recklessly in border areas, with illegal felling by Chinese and Thai interests. There is a reforestation program for teak, but the focus of the influential ministry of forests is on trees as a resource for human exploitation in the international market. There is also a greening program for the central dry-zone.
Mangroves provide 80% of cooking fuel, an unsustainable situation.
Water
There is an extensive program of dam-building for irrigation and hydro-electricity.
Human health
Doctors are all civil servants; they have to serve three years in border areas. Their training is high quality and they can easily get positions overseas.
NGOs run 191 of the 192 health-care organizations.
UNICEF criticism of community facilities stimulated mass mobilisation to improve water and sewage disposal.
The country was �in denial� about AIDS for many years.
Education
Universities come under the ministries of their respective subject area: 52 come under education and 17 under health. This leads to overlap in the core areas.
Oligarchy
A typical career path is for politically-interested academics to move into the bureaucracy and then up to a government ministry. The military still dominate the government, but are admitting civilians amongst them.
Minorities
The minorities are being willingly integrated into the Union, despite the exile groups� advocacy of a looser federal structure. Integration is accompanied by a policy of decentralisation, improved transport and infrastructure in the border areas. There is a wariness of Western capitalism in the outlying areas.
Taxation
The public revenue system is underdeveloped and corvee labour is the main means used to build roads etc.
Utilities
Utilities are state-owned and inefficient, providing near-sinecures for those on the inside, a big drain on the economy.
My overall impression from Helen�s talk was that in trying to understand what is happening in places about which we have no direct personal experience, we need to draw on a variety of sources, being especially wary of partisan accounts and also of giving undue weight to anecdotes. A big ask!
Keith Thomas
The Green Team
The Green Team at Geoscience Australia (GA) are an energetic group of about twenty who, with persistence and dedication, are undertaking the task of educating their fellow workers on ways of reducing their consumption of resources. Very interestingly it was the Buildings Manager who approached some of them about two years ago, suggesting the formation of such a group. He had got the idea from a project at BP (British Petroleum also Beyond Petroleum).
Our speaker, Emma Murray, started her talk by pointing out that commercial buildings are major sources of greenhouse gases. She also pointed out that though the design of buildings is very important, the behaviour of the occupants also makes a difference.
The Green Team started with five people, and the blessing of the Executive, who now find the Team provides GA with favourable publicity! Initially the proviso was that all initiatives had to be revenue neutral: the Executive did not approve the purchase of recycled paper, for instance, as it is more expensive.
As the Team grew it involved members from all sections in the building; in a very real sense the Team is owned by the staff. Members are able to include their Green Team work in their duty statement.
Their projects have included:
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The Team monitors their outcomes where they can. They also have links to an outside organisation that monitors GA�s water and electricity consumption, and posts this information on their bulletin. As some savings have been made, management now agrees that the Team can spend some money. This will enable them to set up an organic waste recycling scheme. They may also do some revegetation in the grounds. There were several people at the meeting who would dearly like to emulate this program in their own workplaces. They now know it is possible. They would like to have linkages to share ideas � this in turn could reach out to other government departments and agencies. Jenny Wanless
Some people have successfully introduced aquaculture in the inland to make use of the salt that is otherwise such a nuisance. One such project in Queensland has produced succulent prawns well away from their normal coastal predators and diseases. Black tiger prawns can cope with a wide range of salinity, from nearly fresh enough to drink to as salty as the ocean. This means that water from many different bores is suitable for their culture. Ponds stocked with black tiger prawn larvae on one farm were ready for harvest three months later. A water treatment dam constructed for the project allowed the pond water to be treated and recycled. The farmer concerned is very happy with a yield of three tonnes per hectare, and has already expanded the operation. The idea should be popular with other farmers seeking to diversify. The prawns have already found favour with chefs and consumers, with their sweet taste, distinctive colour and firm texture. Australasian Science April 03
The positive feedback from the workshop and public forum at the end of March suggested that the timing is right for the Nature and Society Forum to work with interested groups and individuals to prepare a nomination to make the ACT the world�s first National Capital Biosphere Reserve. Despite the devastation, the Canberra fires have done one thing which is essential for the achievement of an ecologically sustainable future. They have allowed everyone in the ACT into the conversation about the environment and the future � everyone has an experience to share. A great weakness of our society is its tendency to exclude people from debates - which limits our problem solving capacity and our chances for an ecologically sustainable future. What is a Biosphere Reserve? A Biosphere Reserve is an internationally recognised designation for land or marine areas conserving examples of characteristic ecosystems from the world�s natural regions. Recently, the concept has been expanded to include areas which provide significant models of ecological, cultural, social, and economic sustainability. They were initiated by UNESCO to reconcile the conflicting goals of conserving biodiversity, promoting economic and social development, and maintaining cultural values. They are places where local people, scientists, and government decision makers cooperate to develop natural and cultural resources management programs. People are the central element in the process: �Survival that depends on human attention might be called cultural sustainability. Landscapes that are ecologically sound, and that also evoke enjoyment and approval, are more likely to be sustained by appropriate human care over the long term�. Nassauer, J. I. 1997. �Cultural Sustainability: Aligning Aesthetics and Ecology�. In Nassauer (ed) Placing Nature. Culture and Landscape Ecology, Island Press, Washington D.C. Canberra is an ideal candidate, as a planned National Capital with a significant population adjacent to large areas of original habitat, and located on the upper reaches of one of Australia�s major inland rivers. The Biosphere Reserve concept is dynamic and flexible. It does not �lock up� land, exclude human activity, or introduce new laws. Membership of the Biosphere Reserve program is voluntary but they must be nominated by a national government. The global network of Biosphere Reserves numbers around 420 reserves in 94 countries. Australia currently has 12 reserves. The significance of a �Bush Capital� Biosphere Reserve The ACT as a biosphere reserve would be a significant new development, both nationally and internationally. In Australia, it would help to provide an increased local and national focus on ecologically sustainable development, especially through such proposed complementary activities as an Australian National Centre for Sustainability. Internationally, the proposed reserve could help place Australia at the forefront of global initiatives in sustainability development. The proposed reserve would be the first in the world to involve a national capital. A focus and a framework for an ecologically sustainable ACT The process of preparing the Biosphere Reserve nomination for the ACT will be used as an opportunity to help to identify and celebrate the natural, cultural, and human assets of the region through participatory activities. It will involve and acknowledge as many groups as possible already working towards an ecologically sustainable future. As Canberra is a knowledge-based society, it is proposed to involve residents in the presentation of the �story� of the region. All residents will be invited to be involved in activities that will encourage them to realise their capacities to actively participate in the transformation to a sustainable society. In many countries in the world, it appears that almost the whole population has an intimate knowledge of their land and can enthusiastically discuss concrete and associational aspects of their local landscapes. The process of nominating the ACT as a Biosphere Reserve may contribute to a similar situation in the ACT.
A group of ParkCare Coordinators, pioneers� descendants and experts from the Australian Native Plants Society were taken by bus to visit the still-closed Brindabellas section of Namadgi National Park. Steve Welch, the Environment ACT ParkCarers Coordinator, arranged for us to see the extent and varying effects of the January Bushfires, on 3rd April, 11 weeks after the fires. Passing through the urban affected areas of Chapman and Duffy, it is amazing to see a single house, or just a few homes, remaining intact, where their neighbours had been burnt down, and now stand amidst cleared blocks. Turning into Uriarra Road, the pine plantations are a ghastly space of blackened, burnt trunks, or stumps where they have been felled. The rural properties are green with new growth, but the burnt fence posts and tree trunks reveal where the fires raced across the dried out paddocks. Some rural structures and houses were burnt to a mass of twisted metal, but gladly, many of the homes were saved. It was refreshing to see the lovely Uriarra Homestead with its large dam still intact. The dam providing water for the helicopters which dropped water over so many areas of the bushfires. Climbing up into the Brindabella mountains, the pine plantations, often on very steep slopes, were devastated and have left those slopes vulnerable to severe erosion. The Eucalypts looked so different with their epicormic regrowth creating that fuzzy look to their blackened trunks. We were met and then led by Alan, the Ranger who had been based at Bendora Dam Ranger station before the fires burnt his house and all possessions. He showed us the different effects of the lower intensity post January 8th bushfires which had started by lightning strikes. Some forests had trunks burnt to a metre, and the bush recovering. The worst effect was seeing the tall, gracious stands of Alpine Ash with trunks burnt black up 30 metres, then white for 30 metres and canopies with no regrowth and just thinned to brown branches. It was distressing to see. Along the road through Piccadilly Circus, Bull�s Head and to Mt Aggie, we had a chance to walk about and find many little plants sprouting out of the sooty earth, and to see the greens, reds and pinks of the basal regrowths of the Snow Gums. There will be lots of new Snow Gums. Distant views across the valleys and mountains showed the varying intensity of the fires, with patches of green canopy where the earlier fires burnt with lower intensity, and patches of brown canopy where the raging fires whipped up by the hot, northwest winds which began on January 17th in the mountains, had been so severe. At Mt Aggie, where the National Park perspex sign drooped like a saggy belly, there was a 60 metre -wide, bulldozed fire break, that clearly could not prevent the raging fire. It left the former gate, which had once closed a much narrower track, in a U-shaped bend. Alan said that an area of Alpine Ash, near Bull�s Head, might have survived the fires, and they are concerned about the Brown Barrel trees� regrowth, but the other Eucalypts, Acacias and other plants are regenerating. Brackens and ferns were seen in soaks and gullies. He has seen lyrebirds quite frequently, scratching for invertebrates around roadside soaks. He�s seen wombat scats, some echidnas, and a few people in the group saw a red-necked wallaby. He thought the lyrebirds must have run and fluttered down into the damper gullies, and hid in the streams, or perhaps, as Ian Fraser suggested, in wombat burrows. It is remarkable that any survived both the intensity and speed of the fires, and afterwards, through the ash and soot of the burnt, hot earth, and smouldering tree trunks searching for food. Many of us had seen the maps and satellite photos of the extent of the January bushfires, but to be there and to see and hear about the effects was a powerful experience. Namadgi LyrebirdsThunder rolled over the Brindabellas,
Wendy Rainbird
It was good to get the following comments regarding the April/May issue. a) coffee: an excellent reference is the special issue of WHOLE EARTH on coffee: �The Culture and Economy of a Global Addiction�. b) The Right to Fly; re Murray May quote: i) Notions of speed desperately need definition - as Illich (Energy & Equity, 1976) and others have pointed out. With my students I point out that if you consider the time it takes to earn the money for the commuting auto-system and its infrastructure and divide that into the number of kilometres done by the average commuter car, its speed is something like walking speed. The trick is while on your bicycle to convince yourself of this, as the drivers speed by, between the traffic lights. Auto-commuting really is a lights and mirrors trick [cf.. my The Myth of the Efficient Car, NS: Feb/Mar 2001]. ii) Our DEFAULT approach to transport needs transformation to a meta-default whereby we make quick decisions about HOW to travel when a travel demand presents itself, not just where-to-travel-with-the-car. This is akin to being able to call up the action to relax when you perceive you are stressed, i.e. not just recognise that you are stressed OR, more to the point of the example, when driving on a highway blocked by a traffic jam �of unknown provenance�, to change gear in your head [in order to relax] as well as on the floor of the car [i.e. act on the realisation that you can�t do anything anyhow, the world won�t collapse because you won�t get to where you wanted to be; so, a little self-preservation is on order]. Best regards, Frank Fischer
In 1986 disaster struck Cameroon when a great cloud of carbon dioxide rose out of Lake Nyos and suffocated over a thousand people. An elaborate pipe system has been built in the lake to drain away the CO2 as it forms so that the tragedy will not recur. Other African lakes also contain great quantities of dissolved gas. Lake Kivu, on Rwanda�s border, contains CO2, hydrogen sulphide and methane. Michel Halbwachs, the engineer from France who organised the Nyos pipework, has proposed a system for extracting the methane from Lake Kivu and using it to generate electricity. His suggestion is a single 360 metre long pipe, hanging into the lake from a raft. A small pump would start sucking up gas-filled water. As the water rises the gases bubbling out would pull the water up behind them, so the pump could be turned off. The gases would be bubbled through a chamber of fresh water at the right pressure to make the CO2 and hydrogen sulphide dissolve back into the water, which would then return to the depths. Lake Kivu is so much bigger than Lake Nyos that the returned CO2 is not expected to pose any threat. In tests this system produced 85 per cent pure methane, good enough to burn for power generation. A one megawatt power station is planned; the Rwandan Government has applied to the European Community for funding. The first system should be installed this year. Industrial groups are interested in building bigger power stations. It is estimated that methane from Lake Kivu could power Rwanda for 400 years. It could help to preserve Rwanda�s remaining forests, as the country currently gets 90% of its energy from wood. New Scientist 1 March 03
The Menzies School of Health Sciences in Darwin has reported that arginine, a chemical found in nuts and rice gluten, helps children to survive malaria. The body produces nitric oxide from arginine and it is possible that nitric oxide protects vital organs by preventing infected red cells from blocking blood vessels. It may also reduce the production of damaging inflammatory chemicals. Nitric oxide can also kill the malaria parasite, at least in the early stages of the disease. Whatever the mechanism, it has been shown that most deaths from malaria in children were among those who had low levels of arginine in their bodies. Other studies have shown that arginine is also an inexpensive and relatively safe treatment for sickle cell crisis and vascular disease. Australasian Science April 03
Biodegradable Advantage Potato growers on the island of Jersey in the English Channel are testing a new plastic propagation film, made of a unique biodegradable polymer, dubbed P2, developed by a company called PVAXX in Wiltshire. P2 is available in film, extrusion and injection-moulding grades, all of which can be composted into non-toxic residues under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Leaving the propagation film in place, where it will break down safely into the soil, will cut labour costs and solve a waste disposal problem. Currently propagation film has to be removed before harvesting and used film has to be disposed of � from Jersey it has been transported to Scotland for recycling. Other potential applications for P2 in agriculture are as silage film wrap, chemical dosing sachets and plastic components used for livestock health and veterinary purposes. The Land 6 March 03 Sweet Water Does it matter that a hundred million plastic bottles of water were sold around the world last year? The Sweet Water Alliance from the Great Lakes area in Michigan, USA, would like to reduce the number. They want to shut down Nestl�s Ice Mountain Water bottling plant, which has four high capacity wells sunk into the aquifer. The company paid $85 for a drilling permit, pays nothing for the water and has been given over nine million dollars in tax breaks by the state Government. The company claims they are only collecting what nature can safely replenish: currently they are harvesting 400 gallons per minute, but want to increase that. The Sweet Water Alliance counters the company by saying that environmental impact studies show that flows in local streams and lakes have been reduced. Earthbeat, Radio National 5 April 03 Reverse Vending The Norwegian company TOMRA manufactures machines that look similar to a drink vending machine, but have a hole in which to place empty drink containers. A monetary refund is dispensed from the machine. These reverse vending machines (RVMs) are marketed in Europe and America, often to sellers of soft drink and other beverages who purchase them as a means of managing returnable containers. According to the company TOMRA�s RVMs collect about 25 billion of the 800 billion drink containers sold each year. Australian Ethical Investment�s Aim High April 03 Restoration of the Rhine Major flooding in Europe over recent years led to the realisation that environmental and economic interests coincided. The financial losses caused by big floods downstream could only be mitigated by letting the Rhine flow more freely in its upper reaches. The removal of dykes and other constrictions let the river regain its former floodplains in the upper part of its course, slowing down its flow and lowering flood levels further along. The environmental benefit was a rapid return of fish and insect species, though the same was not true for birds. Opinions on the restoration have varied from �the Rhine is now out of intensive care but still in hospital� to � something that was ruined has returned to something of its former beauty and ecological place�. The Europeans, Radio National 6 April 03 Obese Preschoolers A new South Australian study has found that 19 per cent of boys and 22 per cent of girls aged four and five are obese or overweight. In 1996 nine per cent of preschoolers were overweight. The Canberra Times 17 May 03 |
For a start and for most of human evolution it did not matter what humans did in the environment. They could go on leaving their rubbish around, destroying when they felt like it, just as all species do. It did not matter because nature picked up after them. Other species promptly moved in to remove wastes by using them.
Those times went long ago. As humans got �smarter� and more technically advanced they created wastes that nature could not cope with. For a long time humans have simply lived in the mess they have made, not caring about it at all. Belatedly the realisation is dawning that this cannot go on. Nature cannot cope with our wastes so we must do something about it.
Now we have the choice. We can go on making a mess and having an occasional clean up. We can try to keep our wastes down to a minimum by cleaning up as we go along or we can try not to produce the wastes in the first place.
Continued consumption on the scale to which we are accustomed and which is encouraged by the current economic system, is equivalent to living in a mess all the time. Continued use of fossil fuel for electricity generation then trying to force the resultant carbon gases underground (geosequestration) is just making a big mess and trying to clean it up. It seems a poor way to go; far better to try to make less of a mess in the first place.
We can do this. First we must realise that consumption simply cannot increase forever, so we must learn to use less in the first place. To do this we need to implement every energy saving technique available, and develop more of them. We can make choices in our lifestyle, travelling habits and food purchases to reduce the use of fuel. (The distances travelled by food on its way to our plates are often quite incredible and ridiculous.) Along with all that we can phase in more sustainable energy generation in the form of renewables and phase out the carbon based ones. With changes in our lifestyles we could become healthier and happier and this in turn would be good for the environment.
Our use of water is another huge problem, one that probably will have worse effects than energy use in the very near future. At present it seems that our increasing life spans are being bought at the expense of all waterways and aquatic life. We have known about the problems caused by pesticides, herbicides and industrial effluent for quite a long time. The problem of oral contraceptives causing the feminisation of male fish became known relatively recently. Now another problem is surfacing � the flow through our bodies of the pharmaceuticals so many of us use as we grow older. All this needs some major rethinking, so we need to take our housekeeping seriously. This means reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, making energy conservation a priority, eating food from our own locality when possible, reconsidering all our water use and rethinking sewage disposal.
We cannot avoid making a mess, but for earth�s sake, and our own, we must minimise it.
Forthcoming NSF meetings
17 September
Nature and Society Forum Annual General Meeting
A Nomination form for the AGM is enclosed with this copy of the journal.
Other events of interest
Tuesday 23 September 2003, 9.00am - 5.00 pm, Haydon-Allen Lecture Theatre, ANU
Ian Moore Memorial Synposium on Terrain Analysis (and associated issues in hydro-ecological modelling)
Free but register by 17th September 2003. Contact Jason Sharples on 02 6125 8130 (ph) or jasons@cres.anu.edu.au (email).
9.00am - 5.15pm, 29th September 2003
Symposium - Climate Change And Health: International And Australian Perspectives
Shine Dome, Gordon Street, Canberra. Symposium $350 (Students $200) Phone Rennie D�Souza on(02) 6125 5622 or email:NCEPH_shortcourse@anu.edu.au
Crisis strengthens community
The following letter was written during the 1998 gas crisis in Victoria. Frank Fisher sent it in response to the editor�s suggestion that everyone should have personal experience in collecting and sorting recycling etc.
Once again, an opportunity to consider how we deal with breaks in the provision of essential services. While it may seem tedious to learn this way, nothing teaches like real experience.
One of the really lovely things Victorians with gas-fired homes are now discovering is that the people down the street with electric stoves and solar water heaters are willing to share their temporary good fortune. This discovery will do a lot for us all, as communities and personally.
Instead of vainly striving to build fault-free infrastructures at massive expense, we could build this special social experience into a new way of organising for emergencies.
National service has gone but not all of us bid good riddance to it. While few may want the return of military training, few would deny that cultivating understanding of what it takes to keep society going in the event of failing infrastructure is a good thing.
Could this be a place for civil defence training � a generalisation to all emergencies and to all people of the volunteer fire brigades, surf-lifesaving clubs, neighbourhood safe-house schemes, first aid organisations and so on? Such training would help us understand our communities, their natural resources and the social and technicalinfrastructures they are built on. It would be able to mobilise anywhere, any time when any part of our increasingly complex infrastructures fails because it would be in our heads and in our social frameworks.
If we were organised to deal with breakdown in this way we�d all know a lot more about what it takes to run a hi-tech society such as ours; social responsibility taking would improve out of sight and our technical infrastructures could be built more flexibly. They would be cheaper and built with much greater openness, enabling simpler repair and simpler transformation as inevitable obsolescence overtakes them. Such a national service could also enable a level of socially critical privatisation of infrastructure hitherto undreamed of � because we would then all be responsibly involved in monitoring and maintaining it. It could even give a new meaning to the honest market economist�s dream: consumers with perfect information about the (infrastructure) market they�re in.
Frank Fisher
The Australian, 1 Oct 98
The ISOS Conference continues
Some notes from the energy section are included in this journal.
The keynote paper by Andrew Blakers is available on the website for the internet conference.
The conference is located at www.isosconference.org.au (click energy). If you want to read the supporting papers you will need to register ($10 for one month or $50 for the nine months of the conference. $35 concession).
Other segments of sustainability which are being addressed are : water; human health and wellbeing; land use and natural ecosystems; equity and peace; economic systems; climate; labour force and work; transportation and urban design.
A one day face to face conference, bringing together the ideas of contributing experts will be held at the Shine Dome of the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra on November 14. Early bird (Sept) registration for this is $50, through the website. It is hoped to publish a small booklet giving an integrated perspective of the sustainability contributions early in 2004.
Saving Babies
Tetanus killing new borne babies is not something most of us would have thought of, but Dr Tetanus (Francoise Gosse) has been in Australia talking about the problem. When babies are delivered on earthen or cow dung floors by midwives who have been working in the fields, or where custom decrees putting clay or dung on the umbilical cord, tetanus is all too common. The baby goes into terrible convulsions and dies.
UNICEF has launched a campaign to raise money to vaccinate mothers. Vaccination will protect the mothers for fifteen years and their babies for five months after birth.
For information ring 1300 134 071
Grey water use
Are you considering installing a system to reuse your grey water? If so, you should have heard Peter Szlapinski, our speaker in June. Peter gave a very clear and informative talk on mechanisms, precautions and pros and cons of using grey water. And yes, there are cons. Grey water can be a health hazard; after all the great 19th century public health reforms largely centred around providing clean reticulated water, thereby cutting death rates. Grey water can cause unpleasant local odours. It will add phosphorus and sodium to the soil, and reduced flow in sewers can lead to blockages. It can even increase greenhouse gas emissions by producing methane, using more fuel because small pumps are less efficient than large ones, and necessitating the duplication of many structures. As Peter stressed there is no such thing as a free lunch.
On the other hand the benefits can include reducing water use by up to 35%. Useful nutrients can be added to the soil. Smaller water supply systems may be needed in new suburbs, although this is not a major benefit as the ACT guarantees sufficient water to fight fires. Small quantities of water flowing through large pipes slow down, and lose chlorine thereby becoming less safe to drink.
On the other hand the benefits can include reducing water use by up to 35%. Useful nutrients can be added to the soil. Smaller water supply systems may be needed in new suburbs, although this is not a major benefit as the ACT guarantees sufficient water to fight fires. Small quantities of water flowing through large pipes slow down, and lose chlorine thereby becoming less safe to drink.
Probably the greatest benefit of waste water reuse on our own property is that it gives immediate feedback and responsibility. A grey water system is like having another person in the household, a person who will get sick if fed anti-bacterial cleaners, fats and solids, a person whose health must always be considered.
Moving on to household appliances Peter gave us information on some of the disputes as to which to use, and these apply to everyone, not just the owners of grey water systems. . For washing machines front loaders are definitely better, typically using about 60 litres to toploaders 130 litres of water (In Europe 90% of washing machines are front loaders, but in the USA only 10% are.) Front loaders also use less detergent. But on the topic of detergent Peter�s advice was to always use much less than the manufacturers recommend: their recommendations are based on the heaviest soiling.
IIn washing machines much of the cleaning is just the result of friction, the detergent has nothing to do with it. In a trial, laundry balls were distributed to households. These balls, which come in varied shapes, usually contain zeolites. They are supposed to be a complete replacement for detergent and in the trials many users were satisfied with the balls and continued to use the same one for many months.
Liquid detergent contains a lot less sodium than powdered detergent so is to be preferred whether for washing machines or dishwashing.
Which is better, washing dishes by hand or machine? The volume of water is similar if the dishwasher is only used when fully stacked. Grease from the dishwasher is more emulsified, so is broken down better by bacteria. Make sure no solids go down the sink, always use a sink strainer. Solid wastes should go in the compost and oils and fats on plates etc should be wiped off with paper before washing. Insinkerators should never be used.
Peter provided information and advice, including benefits, drawbacks and costs on home grey water treatment options. He dealt with rain water tanks and water saving devices. He pointed out that many types of grey water treatment plants have been developed in Japan, partly because they don�t have such a well developed sewerage system.
If we wish him to do so, Peter can talk to us some other time on black water treatment. If you are interested let us know.
Jenny Wanless
Education and Economic Development in Myanmar
Prior to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, it was a commonplace of commentary on the East Asian �tiger� economies that their sustained investment in education and human resource development, coupled with an enthusiastic embracing of communication and information technology, laid the basis for their prosperity. Remarkable growth in GDP over a number of years made them the envy of their less developed neighbours in the ASEAN region.
In 1997, Myanmar joined ASEAN, now numbering all ten of the regional Southeast Asian states. Seeing the prosperity of its neighbours, Myanmar, once the most powerful of the mainland Southeast Asian states, sought to put in place a �catch up� policy which, it was hoped, would deliver it the same prosperity. In 1988, after 26 years of socialism, Myanmar officially abolished the legislative framework which had underpinned its economic autarky; it embraced the �market economy� and put in place a new legislative framework designed to encourage foreign investment; permit development of the financial services sectors, and encourage development of the private sector.
Underpinning these reforms was a somewhat tentative realisation that the social sector lagged far behind; that the educational system also needed far reaching reforms if it was to produce the skilled workforce needed to sustain economic development. Declared a Least Developed Country (LDC) in 1987, Myanmar had a lot of catching up to do. In 1996, following a student demonstration, the universities were again closed by the government. They re-opened in July 2000. In the wake of the recent 30 May 2003 crisis arising from a confrontation in Upper Myanmar (Sagaing province) between supporters of the National League for Democracy and supporters of the government during which a number of people lost their lives, the government again closed the universities, fearing that they would be used to stage civil unrest. This is a tragedy all round; for those who lost their lives; for the young who are again unable to proceed with their education; and for the nation which is denying itself the advantage of the skilled resources it needs to become the peaceful, united, modern nation outlined in the official policies.
In that small window of opportunity between 1997 and 2003, the government had moved to put some considerable resources into educational development, mindful of the linkage between social and economic development. Thus colleges were �upgraded�; considerable resources were put into building new campuses; the library network was expanded; in service training seminars for teachers were run almost continuously; international interactions were encouraged; curricula re-vamped; and senior educationists sent to attend seminars abroad. An important aspect of the new education policy was to separate the undergraduate universities from the graduate universities. Three new undergraduate universities were built outside the capital, Yangon; a fourth was built outside Mandalay in Upper Myanmar, and a fifth planned in Shan State outside Taunggi. Many two-year degree colleges were upgraded to university status. Thus considerable effort and resources were invested in the necessary upgrading of the infrastructure. At present, there are 152 tertiary institutions in Myanmar serving the population of 51.12 million people. These institutions are spread across thirteen ministries. The Ministry of Education has responsibility for 63 institutions. The Ministry of Health for 17.
Despite all these efforts, the quality of Myanmar education needs to be considerably uplifted. Senior administrators and community leaders are only too conscious of this. Literacy is high in Myanmar and education is greatly valued. It is often said that teachers are one of the �gems� of society and are deeply respected. However, these traditional values cannot hide the fact that education and human resource development needs a lot of support from the international community in the form of scholarships; academic exchanges; books; opportunities to upgrade qualifications. Trying to do everything at once, senior administrators have sought to increase access to basic education, with some success, since the primary school enrollment rate is very high. But the attrition rate between primary, middle school and secondary is also very high, approaching 50%, a reflection of economic indigence, particularly in the rural areas where parents cannot afford to keep their children in school.
There is a classic catch-22 situation in Myanmar. A country with scant resources, castigated by the international community for its lack of civil political institutions, needing economic development in order to alleviate the poverty which undermines its social sector development, does not receive the international assistance it needs to strengthen the very social sector which in turn would enhance both its economic development and, ultimately its civil institutions. If the international community were serious about wanting to see multi-party democracy evolve in Myanmar, by peaceful means, it seems to me it would embrace strategies which assisted both the country�s economic and educational development, with the objective of eventually growing a critical mass of skilled, educated, experienced individuals from which viable civilian leadership might emerge.
Helen James
Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government and Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies ANU
19 July 2003.
Fisher Parkland
Fisher Parkland is Canberra Urban Parks and Places managed land south of Fisher. Following the January 2003 fire, large areas have been cleared of the former plantation trees and ground cover on safety grounds. With the significant reduction in canopy cover in a number of areas within the Parkland, there are severe reservations about the potential for weed spread and soil erosion.
Fisher Parkland is Canberra Urban Parks and Places managed land south of Fisher. Following the January 2003 fire, large areas have been cleared of the former plantation trees and ground cover on safety grounds. With the significant reduction in canopy cover in a number of areas within the Parkland, there are severe reservations about the potential for weed spread and soil erosion.
One major disaster has been the partial destruction of the Broad-leaved Peppermint (Eucalyptus dives) remnant in the midst of the Parkland on safety grounds. This remnant had around 60 native plant species within its boundary. As there were few who wandered into this area it is hard to see how this act of wanton ecological vandalism can be justified.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has commented that the �stark reality of the need for action on the extinction crisis facing Australia�s environment has been dramatically outlined in the Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment�. This action does not appear to be consistent with any consideration of that document.
It is clear that the whole process has been fundamentally flawed with no general community consultation on the fate of the Parkland, much less the remnant, limited meaningful consultation with a community group, no environmental asessment of the condition of the remnant and damage during the destruction of timber within the remnant.
What makes it worse is that the Parkland began to be effectively managed under the local Liberal government and the Dives remnant looked after and preserved. The Stanhope Labor government has effectively trashed the Dives remnant, making a mockery of Action Plan 27 �Woodlands for Wildlife�.
Alan Ford
Notes on Sustainable Energy
From the �In Search of Sustainability� (ISOS) Internet Conference
Australians, like other wealthy humans, use huge quantities of fossil fuel to produce and transport our requirements all over the nation and the world. We have become oblivious to our dependence on energy and assume our �modern� lifestyle is sustainable. Production of oil will soon peak and the transition to renewable energy will involve a substantial reduction in energy use.
There is now a scientific consensus that since the nineteenth century, combustion of fossil fuels, together with extensive land clearing, has resulted in a steady rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, which through an enhanced �greenhouse effect� has led to global warming and consequent climate instability. This has profound implications for sustainability of both the environment and human health and wellbeing. Industrial agriculture, itself heavily dependent on fossil fuels, has also resulted in devastating land and water degradation, dry land salinity and loss of biodiversity.
Some of these issues were debated in the sustainable energy segment of ISOS conference. The keynote contribution was written by Professor Andrew Blakers, Director, Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australian National University, with seven supporting papers. The following outlines some of the points which were raised.
Energy supply options
There are five available energy sources. These are solar, nuclear, fossil, tidal and geothermal energy. Of these, only solar energy can provide really large-scale energy in a sustainable and environmentally acceptable manner. Solar energy includes both direct radiation and indirect forms such as biomass, wind, hydro, ocean thermal, ocean currents and waves. Most of these forms will be part of the energy mix when solar energy becomes the dominant traded-energy form.
Tidal energy (from the moon�s gravitation) can be collected using what amounts to a coastal hydroelectric system. It is sustainable in the sense that it will not run out. However, the coastline is a scarce resource and the collection of large amounts of tidal energy will have a major environmental impact.
Geothermal energy has its origins in the decay of radioactive elements within the Earth. Heat associated with volcanic regions can be used to generate steam for district heating or to drive a steam turbine to produce electricity. Another form is �hot rocks�, which refers to hot masses of slightly radioactive rock buried several kilometres below the surface of the Earth. Cold water can be forced down to this rock, which is then fractured. Steam can be extracted from another borehole nearby. Geothermal energy is restricted to particular geographical locations. It is sustainable in that it can be harvested with limited environmental damage, although the heat stored in a particular place can certainly be depleted.
Nuclear energy from fission has severe problems relating to waste disposal, reactor accidents, nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism. Nuclear fusion, with the potential of less radioactive waste is still many decades away from commercial utilisation, and is unlikely to be free of negative implications for nuclear weapons proliferation.
Fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) are the principle cause of the enhanced greenhouse effect and are subject to resource depletion. Other problems include oil spills, coal mine accidents, oil-related warfare and pollution from acid rain, particulates and photochemical smog.
Geosequestration of carbon dioxide
In Australia coal burning is by far the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Almost all of these coal emissions come from coal-fired power stations, with the remainder coming from steelworks, alumina plants and cement works. Australia�s coal dependence is perhaps the main reason why the Federal Government refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on preventing global warming.
Substantial government funding and policy support has been and continues to be towards trying to clean up coal, rather than committing resources to renewable energy production. One proposal, supported by the government and its chief scientific advisor is to collect CO2 during the combustion process in power stations, compress it and transport it in high pressure pipelines to long-term storage or �sequestration� points in underground geological formations, such as depleted oil and gas wells, saline aquifers, and deep unmineable coal seams. This proposal carries a number of uncertainties:
Lifestyle choices
Bryan Furnass
Renewable energy & the ecology of energy transformations
At the rate industrialised peoples have grown used to using energy, no energy form can be used, and no energy transformation to electricity can occur, without environmental problems. On the whole all societies are profoundly ignorant of energy as engineers mderstand it and even less aware of energy as ecologists understand it. Hence the title of this article and the impetus behind it.
I should say at the outset that as the instigator of a large [75MW] wind energy project in Victoria, I can hardly be said to be opposed to the use of renewable energies. Nevertheless, I am seriously concerned with the cavalier approach to renewable energies apparent in even our most responsible media.
The very idea of renewables fosters the illusion that our present ignorant ways with energy can continue. The more viable renewables become and the more they are able to compete with fossil fuels - most of whose costs are simply ignored - the more they suppress energy conservation.
Renewables, not conservation, are sold as a panacea. Renewables are marketed on the basis that they will permit us to continue to live in the ways we have grown accustomed to but with �zero emissions�. This is a mischievous and dangerous illusion.
On average each Australian demands some 2kW (three horsepower) of electricity generating capacity and much more than that from our other energy systems (heating, transport etc.). Most of these systems are based on fossil fuels, which are of course not renewable and place a tremendous burden on the environment in transformation to electricity.
Large scale renewable systems involve mining sunshine via plants and the heat and movement the sun gives to the atmosphere and the oceans; hence hydro and wind power. Attempting to fill the current demand with renewables creates a raft of environmental, social and even moral concerns. Take e.g. �energy cropping� for electricity and automotive fuels. Energy cropping means �growing fuels� and burning them directly to generate electricity, distilling alcohol from sugar cane or squeezing oils from other plant materials and then burning these liquids in internal combustion engines to drive vehicles or again, in boilers to generate electricity. In the case of electricity it means wasting 60-80% of the crop because burning it to generate electricity is at best only 40% efficient. As auto fuel however, it means wasting 99%+ because most of it then goes to drive the auto-system and not the motorist. Only twenty percent is turned into motion by the car�s engine then 90%+ of that is used to push the car which is at least ten times heavier than its driver-passenger. Beside all the environmental damage implied here, there is a real case to ask whether it is moral to use potential food-bearing cropland that wastefully? It might be noted that I could ask what all this energy use and travelling is for!? But in this article I shall �restrain� myself to questions of technical efficiency.
For all their relative benignity, solar energies mined through hydroelectric plants (solar energy lifts the water), wind generators and natural draft towers such as the 1km high towers proposed for Mildura, generate a broad range of ecological implications. Just consider the implications of the Snowy Mountains hydroelectric installations for the Snowy River and for the social and ecological systems that lived along and in it. If all humans were to demand the same 2kW from the wind say, as we in Australia currently expect from fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), the energetics of the atmosphere will change as surely as through burning fossil fuels. For the record, it needs to be said that solar cell electricity or photovoltaics is not an answer to the kind of bulk electricity demands we have today. Even here in Australia that�s the case because the quantities available per square metre per day are small, especially after deducting the energy costs of making and installing them.
In addition to ecological effects, all energy infrastructure costs energy to create, transport, install, maintain, dismantle when its life is done and to defend. If more kilowatthours of energy are used to set up, maintain, dismantle and repair damages associated with an energy form than it actually delivers, one can be excused for asking questions about it. That is almost certainly the case with nuclear power and therefore the sanity of its use has to be questioned even before we concern ourselves with issues of radiation and the potential of nuclear terrorism. The reason that this general view is not taken is, again, that virtually no-one sees it and then that we have not yet created the necessarily international structures that would enable us to act upon it.
Wind generators and natural draft towers will unequivocally deliver more electricity than their energy costs. However, they are patently not zero emission generators. Even in service, they suck energy from meteorological and ecological processes with various, as yet largely unknown, effects. In construction, monitoring, maintaining and dismantling, they have the usual multifarious energy and ecological implications.
There simply are no such things as energy and environmental cost-free energy forms. Even conservation requires its techniques to be set in place, monitored, maintained and ultimately, dismantled.
Driver-only automotive commuting is a category of energy use so wasteful that it deserves special mention. It is in a class of inefficiency all its own. The transport energy system pays a 10,000%+ premium for moving each of us. While virtually all of us are engaged in this activity, the scale of inefficiency is such that one is surely entitled to ask whether it is reasonable, let alone moral, to throw 100 units of renewable energy at an urban commuter, to get just one unit of kinetic energy? A task that a bicycle coupled with trains could do faster, more healthily and more ecologically sustainably for a tiny fraction of the energy cost.
Issues such as these however, simply do not figure on the public�s radar because there are no publicly recognised energy indicators, let alone efficiency indicators. Which is not to say that there are no indicators, only that they are not publicly recognised! Few of us actually read our electricity bills, let alone graph the efficiency of our cars. Most of us would not know where to start. Perhaps an energy efficiency meter could be given prominence as a new dashboard indicator!? The problem would be working out with manufacturers what to include in the calculation.
The price of energy is too low, joules and kWh are still too obscure as measures, and most of the really large scale pollutants associated with energy transformations such as water, carbon dioxide and heat are all invisible and, in any case, seem not even to be pollutants. The ecological costs such as the irretrievable destruction of habitats and species� extinctions are, if it�s conceivable, even less visible.
It is theoretically possible to calculate the energies that would have to be found to make good some of this damage, to suck the excess carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester it safely, as in deep geological sequestration. If we were to add these energy-for-ecological-repair costs to the other energy costs of our renewables, let alone of our fossil fuels, few of our current energy sources would make much sense, ie. few would qualify as sources!
With all this in mind, our richest energy lode is unequivocally conservation techniques. So, change that favours the economics and fun associated with conservation and with reuse/recycling generally can be combined with the advent of economic and other incentives that favour low energy productions and pursuits such as in health, sport, communication, the arts, the knowledge industries and so on.
A conservation focus means that while definitely the way to go for new electricity generation, renewables should not be permitted to eclipse conservation. Many of these activities can be pursued by individuals with no help from government but government does have two important roles. The first is to reverse the many perverse incentives that continue to make nonsense of so many energy conserving activities. The second is to educate the whole community about energy matters not just enhanced greenhouse effects. The effects could be transformative both socially and ecologically.
A/Prof Frank Fisher, Monash University
Published in Energy News, J.A.I.E.Sept 2002
Farrago
Medicated Waterways
A study of pharmaceutical products in a western Sydney sewerage works found that many medications are getting through the system. The contraceptive pill is a major one: it is resistant to breakdown and can have a severe effect on fish. Antibiotics in sewage correlate with concentrations of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Anti-depressants are also present and can have varied and unexpected effects in snails and fish. Other compounds of concern are the lipid-lowering drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and common analgesics such as aspirin and paracetamol.
If sewage receives only primary treatment significant concentrations of all these drugs will be discharged. Secondary treatment removes variable amounts but still lets a lot through. Reverse osmosis can remove 99% of the contaminants but it is expensive and uses a lot of energy; it is not widely used. Activated carbon would also provide effective treatment.
Earthbeat, Radio National 5 July 03
Bullock Power
Osmosis is a process in which water molecules diffuse through a semipermeable membrane from a region of low salt to one of high salt concentration, equalising concentrations on both sides. In reverse osmosis the opposite is achieved: saltwater is forced in at high pressure, and the salt concentrates on one side of the membrane and pure water on the other.
Electric pumps are normally used to achieve the pressure needed, but in areas without electricity what else could do the job? Researchers in India have developed a strong gear box to convert the movement of bullocks walking in a circle to drive a pump. At twenty times atmospheric pressure the pump can force about 500 litres of salty groundwater through the membrane each hour.
The cost of the bullock powered system will be less than half of an electric one. It will be able to utilise the labour of India�s plough animals in summer, when they do not normally have any work, and pairs of animals would work in two hour shifts so they are not overworked.
New Scientist, 10 May 03
Overweight Fliers
Regional airlines in the USA, worried by a plane crash, surveyed the weight of passengers and luggage carried on planes with ten to nineteen seat capacity. They had been loading on the assumption that the average passenger weighed 80 kg and took 11 kg of baggage. The reality turned out to be an average passenger of 88 kg with baggage weighing 14 kg.
Airlines have had to do something to reduce their load. One airline now carries a maximum of 17 passengers, not 19. Another service, which used to take enough fuel to fly the return trip between Florida and the Bahamas, now takes less fuel and refuels in the Bahamas. And sometimes airlines do not take all the luggage and make alternative arrangements for its transport.
Flight International 13-19 May 03
Mother�s Milk
Research by Dani-Louise Bryan at Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide has shown that human milk may be able to change its composition to help boost the immune system of a sick infant. The study compared the milk from women who were nursing healthy babies with that from mothers whose babies were infected by respiratory syncytial virus.
Milk samples from sick infants contained more protective cells although the mothers themselves were not sick. In particular there was a large increase in the number of white blood cells that are active in fighting infection. This breast milk would help to prime the infants� immune systems.
The Canberra Times, 3 July 03
Ornithocoprophile - a plant, usually growing on an island that thrives on guano. Seabird guano is a very concentrated fertiliser, rich in phosphates and nitrates, too rich for most plants to grow in.
]]>The idea of trust in economics could cause the same puzzlement that altruistic behaviour between animals has stirred up among evolutionary biologists. The latter have called on the idea of kin selection, arguing that helping near relatives, such as siblings or cousins, can enable more of the helper�s genes to prosper. However, there is a problem with this in that there are even some cases where animals help non-relatives.
In the case of trust neuroeconomists are not calling on genes but on hormones. They think oxytocin may be behind the phenomenon of trust. Oxytocin is a reproductive hormone, important in birth, lactation, bonding with offspring and also pair bonding. Oxytocin production is triggered by pleasant experiences and has a wide ranging role in the nervous system.
Whether hormones are involved in trust can be experimented with and argued over, but the important thing for society is that people get pleasure from being trustworthy. They also get pleasure from altruism and this is good news for society in general.
Trust levels vary significantly between countries and this has an economic impact. Norwegians display the highest level of trust, 65% compared with 5% in Brazil. Countries with a trust level less than 30%, which includes many of those in South America and Africa, risk falling into a suspicion-locked poverty trap. Within a country like the USA different areas have different levels of trust. Interestingly the areas with the highest level of trust are the ones with the highest proportion of the population being of Scandinavian descent.
Although this seems quite clear and reasonable it is not the whole story. A later New Scientist (21 June 03) reported a quite different study. This time a group of social psychologists wanted to find out which cities had the most helpful and friendly citizens. Researchers visited 23 cities and pretended they needed help: they acted as though they were blind, lame or just plain clumsy. Although Rio de Janeiro is one of the most violent cities in the world, with a high crime rate, its residents were the most helpful to strangers in need. Indeed helpfulness was more common in Latin America than anywhere else. The least friendly cites were Kuala Lumpur, New York, Singapore and Amsterdam. Helpfulness seemed to have a negative correlation with high population density and a fast pace of life. But there was not a perfect match. Vienna and Copenhagen were helpful although fast.
One would think that helpfulness and trustworthiness would be linked, so these two studies seem to have produced conflicting results. Social psychologists and neuroeconomists may well have many arguments ahead of them. The important thing for us, though, is to know that both helpfulness and trustworthiness are normal human characteristics a good deal of the time, which is much better than having to argue over how innately aggressive humans are.
In the absence of definitive proof, at least we can all agree that the neuroeconomists prescription for increasing trust would be a good guide for all government policies. Their recommendation for achieving a trusting and trustworthy society is as follows. Ensure independent media, transparency in policy-making, and the rule of law, with equal access to courts and equal accountability. Provide universal education, clean water and environment and public health measures. Strengthen social ties, reduce poverty, promote breast feeding and smaller families. Encourage volunteering, and (somehow) get the population to eat a healthy diet, emphasising green vegetables and legumes.
If governments could be persuaded that these measures will not only increase trustworthiness but will also improve economic performance then maybe they will reverse the cost cutting of recent times and realise that these social goals provide a firm basis for every society. Maybe they could also see that by helping poorer countries to achieve these same goals, then governments could considerably reduce their spending on the military. The money saved could go towards all these beneficial goals and the world would be more peaceful.
Forthcoming NSF meetings
19 November
- Alex Barlow, �Staying young, growing old�
Alex Barlow will be talking about his book that is currently being edited for publication.
Other events of interest
ISOS November Conference
A one day face to face conference, bringing together the ideas of contributing experts will be held at the Shine Dome of the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra on November 14. Registration for this is $60, through the website. It is hoped to publish a small booklet giving an integrated perspective of the sustainability contributions early in 2004.
Accommodation
NSF moved to its new accommodation on October 20, 2003. We will be located in the South West Wing, Weston Primary School, Hilder Street, Weston, 2611. The November monthly meeting will be held at our new premises.
SHINE: Sustainability happening in Education
An initiative of Vanessa Whelan of Wastewise Schools Program has seen the growth of a network of people involved in educating about sustainability in schools and the wider community. Most are education or communication officers of ACT government departments, who are keen to share and to coordinate about what is happening in various school and community environmental education programs.
Wendy Rainbird has been representing the Australian National Centre for Sustainability and the Nature and Society Forum at their meetings. Peter Ottessen, the Director of the ACT Office of Sustainability came to the meeting on 24th September, and said he was very excited to hear that the SHINE Network exists, as education is a key function in delivering on the guiding principles in, �People Place Prosperity : a policy for sustainability in the ACT�.
Increasing numbers of local governments across Australia are beginning to face the challenges about really delivering on sustainability issues.
Our challenge in the ACT and across Australia is how to increase public awareness and community engagement in achieving the changes needed for decisions which incorporate ecological sustainablility issues, and to help communities and governments to keep sustainability issues always as key components of decisions and developments.
Wendy Rainbird, Convenor of the Education Working Group, ANCS.
Microbial dimensions to sustainability - Walter Jehne
On my half dozen visits to Fraser Island over the last 40 years I have never ceased wonder at the biological richness and natural beauty of the place. Notwithstanding the pathetic attempt at sand mine rehabilitation at the southern end of the island, the growing numbers of four wheel drive vehicles racing up and down the beach and the miscellaneous incidents with the dingoes, the grandeur of the remaining stands of rain forest and the pristine freshwater lakes of the interior remain as stunning as they have for eons. It is peaceful in there, and the richness of the relatively undisturbed ecosystems is fascinating.
It was not until Walter Jehne gave a talk at Nature and Society Forum that I realised what an extraordinary place it is. I had long known that Fraser Island is made up of sand that had drifted northwards after the last ice age through wind and ocean currents and rising sea levels. I had read how some of the pristine fresh water lakes were lenses in delicate balance with the salt water all around the island, and some of the raised ones were held in place through some sort of �membrane�. What had not occurred to me until Walter�s talk was how rain forest can flourish in soils comprising pure sand.
Where were the nutrients and the soil organisms? OK so the rainfall was higher than other parts of the coast but this would serve to leach out what little nutrient might have been blown in. How did it get started? Intuitively, watering large piles of shifting sand for a few thousand years, even with the addition of wind blown nutrients, does not seem a productive way to start. Besides there are those other sand islands further south like Morton, North and South Stradbroke and Bribie Islands that have similar rainfalls but differ markedly from each other in the type of vegetation cover.
Walter, a former research scientist with CSIRO, did not set out to address such questions. He was interested in the way root hairs can take up water and nutrients that they come into contact with. He and his colleagues wondered about the pumping action of trees. It has been known for a long time that trees transpire vast quantities of water that has been ultimately taken in through the roots, but even if the millions of root hairs are taken into account, they do not seem adequate to explain this extraordinary take up rate.
The answer, Walter explained, is due to a symbiotic relationship between plants and certain species of mycorrhizal fungi. These colonize the root zone of plants (the rhizosphere) and send out enormously long filaments through decomposing material which give fungi the chemical energy that supports their acticities. Plants, through their leaf litter, fallen branches and eventual death feed the fungi, which in turn frees up the nutrients for recycling to the plants. The fungi not only make the nutrients available, they deliver them to living plants through these filaments. This symbiotic relationship then enables plants to draw in water and nutrients over a far larger area and far more efficiently than if they depended solely on the reach of their root hairs.
But what was even more amazing to me was the speed at which all this happens. In one of his studies Walter and his colleagues used a nutrient which contained a radioactive isotope. As Walter put it, after pouring this on the ground at litter level, they hardly had time to climb the tree with their Geiger counters, before traces of the isotope were detected in the canopy.
This suggests that rainforests (which have long been known to thrive in areas with poor quality soils) recycle nutrients very quickly and highly efficiently and that the mycorrhizal fungi are a key to this recycling process.
Following his work with CSIRO Walter went on to work as an adviser on innovation in the Industry portfolio, but his fascination with plant ecology early in his career is clearly stirring again, as he puts some of the implications of this research into practice on his Braidwood property as he enters the next phase of his interesting career.
John Schooneveldt
Journal feedback
Dear Ms Wanless,
I am writing in response to the article titled Fisher Parkiand published in the August/September 2003 issue of Nature & Society.
I am advised that the parkland is frequently used by the public and that since the fires access is no longer confined to tracks as a result of the greater accessibility to areas cleared by the fire. The tree-removal activities undertaken therefore needed to strike a balance between addressing real public-safety concerns and protecting the environmental values of the site.
The article includes a number of emotive remarks regarding the activities that were undertaken in the remnant area, and 1 would like to take this opportunity to detail the actions and events that occurred at Fisher Parkland.
I am satisfied that officers of Canberra Urban Parks and Places (CTJPP) undertook a very co-operative approach with Landcare members through numerous site visits leading up to and during the tree-removal program. Prior to on-ground activities, CUPP officers and Landcare members identified eleven zones for which zone-specific operational guidelines were developed. Flagging tape and spray marker paint were issued to, and used by, Landcare members to identify sensitive sites and trees. As works progressed and new issues arose, they were addressed in a spirit of co-operation and consultation with the Landcare Group. All guidelines sought to balance the requirements and policies of the Department of Urban Services and the wishes of the community.
In particular, this approach resulted in special consideration being given to the Eucalyptus dives remnant referred to in the article. Immediately before the commencement of tree-cutting activities, a CUPP officer and Landcare members inspected the remnant site and agreed on guidelines, which were subsequently followed between 18 and 20 June 2003 such that:
Officers of CUPP advise that these tailored activities, whilst resulting in some modification, in no way brought about the destruction or damage of the remnant. It was the intention from the outset to minimise the extent and impact of works, and it was therefore decided to consult with the community at a local level rather than the public at large.
An on-site meeting was held on 6 August 2003 to discuss the future management of the parkland. This meeting was organised by CUPP officers, who invited representatives of the Fisher Landcare Group, Friends of Grasslands and the Australian Native Plant Society. The attendees were given maps and guidelines for preparing an action plan for the site. We look forward to receiving the feedback from these groups in order to be able to implement their recommendations in the future management of the site.
The ACT Government is committed to the effective management of our natural environment and will continue to manage this and other sites in accordance with best management practices and principles as recommended in the draft Lowland Woodland Action Plan.
Yours sincerely
Jon Stanhope MLA
Chief Minister
26th September, 2003
"Our Water Future Beyond the Drought and Water Restrictions".
Even without the drought, major water issues have been developing for the ACT. On current population projections, and if we do not reduce water usage by at least 20%, then the ACT might need to build a new dam by 2020.
The ACT Government wants to avoid that option if at all possible. p> The Community Summit on 27th August brought together almost 200 people representing Aboriginal people, the environment, CRC for Freshwater Ecology, relevant ACT Government Departments or Agencies like Environment ACT, ACTPLA, and ACTEW, as well as people from industry and from education.
Among points raised by Maxine Cooper of Environment ACT was the need for individuals to take action to reduce demand from about 300L / day to 215L / day or less. �The community needs sustained reduction�.
It is estimated that population growth in Canberra and the region will possibly peak at 460,000 over the next 50 years. This could be more if fast transport links occur between Canberra and Sydney.
Other water use options include the reuse of treated effluent, which is being started for northside sportsgrounds, and has the potential for watering all that green grass in the Parliamentary Triangle.
Barry Starr presented a grim picture of the decade or so needed for the vegetation regeneration within our main Cotter Bendora-Corin catchment. The severity of the January bushfires, plus storms has led to the most extreme and massive erosion ever seen in his 30 years experience.
He thought the way forward was to continue the good science being done, combined with applying such knowledge to sound management practices, even in the Namadgi National Park, and that community support was important.
Grace Mitchell of �Urban Design and Sustainable Water Management� spoke about the need to change from the 19th Century linear approach of urban water use: dams- big pipes- reticulated to users-wastewater-rivers.
Rather we need to have sustainability as the driver, and look at the total Urban Water Cycle. We must re-use high quality drinking water in various ways, and alter the effects and use of wastewater from impervious surfaces.
We need to use rainwater tanks for toilet water, or for washing machines then into gardens. We could use street-scale stormwater harvesting into swales in public open spaces, or filtered to improve outflow quality. We can use more efficient appliances, and adopt more efficient practices, and reticulation.
Developers could be required to have an approach that works on precincts for solar orientation of dwellings, for water flow efficiencies, dual-pipe reticulation for drinking quality water and re-used water; for grass swales to water open spaces, and bio retention systems.
There are cost issues, health issues and flood protection to be considered.
Other speakers raised issues of climate change with the ACT likely to be drier but experiencing more storms.The reduced runoff into catchments therefore means a serious need to reduce demand.
Stuart White of the Institute for Sustainable Futures referred to Regulations:for appliance standards, for performance contracts, for developers� contracts, and water use restrictions. Incentives could include rebates, pricing buy-backs and help with retrofitting. He also said that the Information Education aspect which involves community engagement, can have a system of monitoring high water users and then helping them to make the necessary changes. He said that it has been found that follow up is very important for changes in behaviour to be sustained.
The workshops at the Community Summit dealt with Water Supply options, and the various pros and cons of different options; the pros and cons of different Demand Management options; and Government programs.
The 19 or 20 working groups had differences of course, but with few considering the building of more dams as a good option. Although there was discussion of the raising of Cotter Dam wall option, and the piping, only as a backup, of water from Tantangara Dam. The effects on the already stressed Murray River was a problem in that regard.
The streaming of water quality into different uses and reuses was discussed: on- site rainwater from the roof for toilets, washing machines, gardens; and from paved surfaces like roads, paths, driveways for parks or gardens. The use of greywater for toilets, or gardens with the need to stop using high salt & high phosphate laundry powders, and to beware of lint clogging irrigation systems. The use of treated effluent blackwater for irrigation of urban open spaces including sports grounds, and for agriculture as in the vineyards near Holt. The high cost and community acceptance were problems perceived with the use of treated effluent to be piped back to the Cotter catchment.
Appliances like AAA flow-restricted shower heads, front -loading washing machines, dual- flush toilets, tap-flow restrictors can all make a big difference to our present water consumption rates.
Garden plants which require less water, use of mulching and drip irrigation, and water flow in landscaping design were mentioned.
Other aspects of Demand Management discussed in the groups were Restrictions, Regulations, Incentives and Education.
Environment ACT will publish the speakers� papers on their website, and a report on the Community Summit in a few weeks, possibly by mid-October. Their website is www.environment.act.gov.au
Wendy Rainbird, Convenor of the Education Working Group of the Australian National Centre forSustainability 27th August 2003
ACT No Waste School's Program
Increasing numbers of ACT Schools are becoming involved in the ACT NOWaste Schools Program. The Education officer is Vanessa Whelan who has set up and running the NOWaste Program at Farrer Primary School, and is now extending the program.
Many schools have been recycling waste for years, but the NOWaste Program goes much further. Farrer Primary School recycles lots of waste including food scraps for worm farms, and for a compost area beside their Environment Centre and garden. Students grow food in the garden. Other schools have hens to feed on food scraps too.
Vanessa has instigated bringing together other Education officers in various sections, like Air, Water, Heritage, to form a network called SHINE: Sustainability In Education.
She has used the Victorian Schools� NOWaste Program, which has been very successful there, and is about to be called �Sustainable Schools�. There are opportunites to discuss more sustainable school building designs, which would be more comfortable than some recently built modern ones, with no eaves, hot sun blazing directly on to students and their work, stifling classrooms in summer, and lots of heating required in winter.
The Education Working Group of the Australian National Centre for Sustainability and the Nature & Society Forum supports these actions, and Wendy Rainbird is keeping in contact with Vanessa.
Birrigai Environment Education And Outdoor Centre
The January 2003 Bushfires destroyed Birrigai�s Resources Centre, the Administration centre, the kitchen, the water supply, the electricity supply and sewerage pump, the paths and steps, and severe burning of the vegetation. Some of the higher ridges with their granite rocks and boulders may be unsafe for extended times, as the rocks are exfoliating in large slabs. By July, 2003, the water supply, sewerage system, electicity and landscaping had been restored at Birrigai.
The Birrigai Principal and staff have been discussing with an architect about �practising what they preach� and having environmentally friendly designs for the re-built buildings.
Birrigai staff have developed Environment Education programs at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands at Dairy Flat and at the National Botanic Gardens. As there have been 296 day-visit bookings to their programs for Semester 2, 2003, their staffing has been brought back to pre-fire levels.
There have been responses from ACT Schools to a SWOT analysis to the Birrigai programs, and there has been the Birrigai Community Forum, where there was input from David Eastburn, John Harris and Wendy Rainbird in planning, and follow-up. David and John gave presentations, and so another audience heard of the proposed Australian National Centre for Sustainability. Also,they were small-group facilitators for the discussions. Wendy sent a paper on �Values, Beliefs and Principles for best practice in Environment Education�, and is the ANCS liaison person with Birrigai staff.
The Earth Charter Learning Exchange website has a paragraph about Birrigai as an example of high quality environmental education programs.
Wendy Rainbird, ANB Board member, and Convenor of the Education Working Group.
Books by NSF Members
Gone Whaling - Stumbling towards Sustainability by Graham Chittleborough. Published by the Jaycees Community Foundation Inc.
Gone Whaling gives an interesting account of the realities of life on Western Australian whaling ships and around the whaling stations in the three decades following World War II.
The last two chapters deal with wider sustainability issues, arguing from Graham�s personal knowledge of whaling as an unsustainable activity, at least as it was practised. As we now know, that is true for most of humankind�s application of marine life, and a great deal of what goes on on land, too.
Graham Chittleborough has been an untiring advocate for the need to change our ways before we damage the world irreversibly.
Other books published by NSF members in 2003 are:
�Because human consciousness is a recent development we are still an adolescent species, particularly in terms of our need for immediate gratification, our need for authority in our lives and our susceptibility to turbulent emotions�.
Doug Cocks on Ockham�s Razor 31 Aug 03
Annual General Meetings
The Nature and Society Forum Annual General Meeting and the Australian National Biocentre Annual General Meeting were held on September 17th, 2003 at the CIT Weston Campus.
A short video titled �The Lower Murrumbidgeee Flood Country� was screened after the NSF meeting had concluded. This documentary highlighted the impacts of lack of water security on the ecology and organic farming of the Lower Murrumbidgee Flood Plain, and the struggle of local residents over the last century.
Nature and Society Forum
The NSF Management Committee for 2003/2004 are listed below:
Co-ordinator -David Eastburn
Deputy Co-ordinator - Wendy Rainbird
Secretary - Jenny Wanless
Treasurer - Alice Thompson
Committee Members - Rory Eames, John Schooneveldt, Andrew Chalken & Dierk von Behrens.
Australian National Biocentre
The ANB Board Members for 2003/2004 are: President - (Temporarily vacant)
Vice President - John Harris & Val Brown
Secretary - (Vacant)
Treasurer - (Vacant)
Board Members - John Reid, Tracy Bunda, Rob Gourlay, Wendy Rainbird, David Eastburn, John Schooneveldt, Gerry Gillespie, Janis Birkeland & Brenday Mackey.
Brendan Mackey has been temporarily appointed interim President of the Australian National Biocentre.
The Fruit Book
Patricia Shanley, an ethnobotanist with the Center for International Forest Research, wanted to give something back to the people of the Rio Capim area in Brazil, after they had helped her to study their land and its ecology. In a study during 1993-4 thirty families weighed everything they used from the forest - game, fruit, fibre, medical plants � and documented its source. Another study was done after logging sales and a major fire in 1997. The fire had a particularly severe impact on forest production. Per family, average consumption of fruit for a year dropped from 89 to 28 kg, fibre collected declined from twenty to four kilos and only about a twelfth as much game was caught.
Using information from the study Shanley produced Fruitiferas e Plantas Uteis na Vida Amazonica, commonly known as the �The Fruit Book�, with information on 35 native forest species. The book is a blend of hard science and local knowledge. It has cartoon-like drawings, recipes and jokes. It is a book to be used by illiterate people, who are encouraged to copy it or pass on information by word of mouth. The locals are now much better able to negotiate with loggers, say no, or just sell their less valuable trees. In many cases they know they can make more money selling fruit than by selling trees.
New Scientist 19 July 03
Farrago
Book for Afghan Children
Monash Science Centre director Patricia Vickers-Rich has written and produced �Animals of the World�, a book for Afghan children. The book emphasises animals native to Afghanistan, with text in Dari, Pashto and English, with maps showing where the animals live. It can be used to teach geography, science, language and to have a good time.
Everything from artwork to transport has been donated or provided at cost. The book comes in a multi-purpose bag containing colouring pencils provided by Staedtler, and three quarters of the packs contain a magnifying glass and ruler donated by National Geographic.
The first print run of 5000 is to go to refugee children in camps. Funds are being sought to extend the program. Donations are tax deductible and can be sent to jenny.monaghan@sci.monash.edu.au
Work is underway on Russian and Spanish versions, the latter to go to poor areas of Argentina. An Iraqi version may also be produced.
Australasian Science July 03
Frog Fungus
A fungus has been blamed for the decline or demise of frog populations in many areas around the globe, but where did it come from? Probably from Africa, say some herpetologists who have noted that African amphibians are not suffering the same fate as populations elsewhere.
The suspicion is that African frogs, exported widely in earlier decades for use in pregnancy tests, could have carried the fungus with them. The fungus could then have spread more widely with frogs travelling inadvertently. It is not at all unusual to find frogs hidden in bunches of bananas delivered to markets or exported. Frogs found are usually released locally, providing a suitable vector for any frog disease.
Catalyst, ACT TV 21 August 03
Compensating for Carbon
The Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting has a web-based tree carbon calculator (www.greenhouse.crc.org.au) It can tell you how much carbon is stored in a tree, based on species and the trunk�s circumference. The site also shows the carbon emission from various activities.
To compensate for a return flight between Melbourne and Sydney you need 14 trees with a circumference of 20 cm. To offset one year�s driving in a family sedan you need a tree of 166 cm girth. So you should get planting well in advance, and of course ensure that the trees survive.
Australasian Science July 03
Coral Decline
Coral reefs of the Caribbean are down to the last ten per cent of the hard coral species that created them. This is a decline from fifty per cent 25 years ago. These reefs have provided a livelihood for millions of people and physical protection for islands and coastal areas from tropical storms, so their decline threatens fishing, tourism and safety.
The decline is probably due to a mixture of natural and human causes. A hurricane in 1980 damaged the Jamaican reefs. They were subsequently smothered by toxic algae when disease killed off a common sea urchin that normally grazed on the reefs.
Other reefs in the area have been damaged by fishing, sewage pollution, cruise ships and divers, soil washing in from deforested areas and record high temperatures.
Some of the reefs show recolonisation by soft corals, but these corals do not build new reefs.
Across the globe a red tide killed 400 km of reef off Sumatra. Smoke from the Indonesian fires deposited nutrients in the water, triggering algae bloom, which used up the oxygen in the water and so killed coral organisms and fish.
New Scientist 26 July and 23 Aug 03
Recycling Plastic Bags
All film plastics (eg; bread bags, glad wrap, grocery shopping bags and other plastic shopping like DJ�s and Grace Brothers) can all be placed in the recycling collection bin at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets throughout Canberra only.
They cannot be placed in the domestic collection system because:
Therefore you could arrange for these to be collected in your school and have someone collect them and place them in those bins for recycling. A good website with more information is www.cleanup.org.au/main.asp
Recycling Paper with Paint on it
Yes, you can recycle paper with paint on it as the paint is washed off during the recycling process.
Hope you�re having fun being Waste Wise!
Vanessa Whelan, Education Officer
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