World leaders in climate change
research meet at Paluma II
This time last year we headed to Paluma for some geeky banter regarding climate change. This year, a month earlier, we’re at it again. More of the same, with new data, new faces, and new priorities. As we find out more about the Wet Tropics and climate change, the more we end up with “known unknowns”. For example, we know that species with restricted mountain-top habitat requirements are in serious danger, but will they be able to negate warmer conditions by getting deep under piles of boulders during the heat of the day?
Unfortunately my paper on climate change and freshwater fish isn’t much further along than it was 12 months ago. Although, having said that, I have managed to rank all the species in the Wet Tropics according to their potential vulnerability to future climate change. Not surprisingly it’s the species with specific habitat requirements, especially a dependence on good stream flow, that are most at risk. These are usually specialised endemic species, like the Mulgrave River goby, that like shallow riffle habitats in upland streams.
In any case, the weekend was a blast. We chilled out (literally), slept relatively badly, ate pretty well, drank very well, and got up at the crack of 7 (like true gentleman birders) and went down the western slopes to check out the eco-tone, where the rainforest turns into wet sclerophyll forest dominated by Eucalyptus grandis. I saw about 9 new-to-me (NTM) birds, which was great, with the help of a few pro-birder types. I’ve replaced last year’s photos with a new batch, including my favourite, a Golden Whistler…
July 11th, 2006 at 7:09 am
It seems that you are producing some interesting results - if stream flow is so important, then all the current debate on water rights/flow etc becomes even more urgent.
I was surprised over the weekend.
I got out some birds books that we used when we roamed in Victoria in the 1970s. In those books there are some birds that are described as common and in my new and wonderful bird book (thanks T&Z) are described as vulnerable and/or endangered.
And just in those 30 years while we have been fooling around having babies, working and endlessly paying the mortgage - and we haven’t done anything to try to ensure that these things didn’t happen - we have had some great trips into the bush, though blissfully unaware really.
However, we have assisted one environmental scientist and one environmental engineer to go forth and hopefully influence these things.
Does that count?
July 11th, 2006 at 7:50 am
There are other things you can do which have a tangible impact, such as making better choices as a consumer (i.e. not supporting brands like Kraft, which is owned by Philip Morris - the tabacco giant who is now making safer cigarettes - bless ‘em, or McDonalds, which continues to rape South American forests), riding your bike instead of taking your car (you might not have a choice in the future), paying a little more for renewable energy, eating organic foods, drinking organic beer
etc… none of which are particularly hard. The problem is, the developers have got NO idea when it comes to this sort of stuff. They’re happy to chop down low open woodland because it isn’t rainforest and is of low conservation significance. Tell that to the brahminy kites, native mammals, snakes, and trees that used to live there (and the fish downstream). Even James Cook University, which should know better, is guilty!
July 11th, 2006 at 8:12 am
All good advice - we do still have some vegemite in the fridge but never macd.
As for the bike, I really can’t see that happening in Sydney in the near future - those who ride down the highway each morning are very vulnerable and probably more in danger than the swift parrot, as tim would agree.
We try for organic food as best we can but Woolworths who have a small section for organic F&V and meat have them all on polystyrene plates and wrapped in plastic, which really seems to defeat any gain. And the local organic market is just soooo expensive. Maybe we should make more of an effort to grow our own again.
We are much more successful with the beer…..
July 11th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Much better to grow cows in S. America than cut down rainforests in FNQ.
It’s only S. America and who wants to go there? Full of cigarette smoking gauchos!
July 11th, 2006 at 9:44 am
The forests in S. America are in FNQ - get it?
July 11th, 2006 at 10:07 am
what everyone needs is access to some friendly local Ho Bros. horray!
July 11th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
Isn’t it amazing what goes on in TSV
Charge over hidden change room camera
A 26-year-old man has been charged with privacy breaches after a hidden camera was found in the change rooms of a popular waterfront park in North Queensland.
A hidden webcam, which allows images to be downloaded directly to a computer hard drive, was discovered in the change rooms adjoining the Strand water park in Townsville yesterday.
The camera was dismantled by a male visitor before police were called to investigate.
The man charged over the incident was eaten by a crocodile yesterday.
He was due to face court, on a date yet to be set, on charges of recording in breach of a person’s privacy.
Northern Region Crime Co-ordinator Detective Inspector Warren Webber said today there was no evidence to suggest the man had uploaded any images to the internet.
“Our indications are that it wasn’t there for very long,” he said.
The free water park is often swarming with children and PhD students seeking to escape the sub-tropical heat.
Comment was being sought from the Townsville City Council, which oversees the park and change rooms.
July 11th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
ahaha, was probably a council initiative!
http://www.abc.net.au/northqld/stories/s1550271.htm
July 11th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
This is what those pesky greenies get up to
Rare flower was a plant: developer
Email Print Normal font Large font Flower power … meadowfoam.
July 11, 2006
When the sudden appearance of an endangered flower halted a controversial housing project in the heart of California’s wine country, the developer, Scott Schellinger, suspected he was the victim of a set-up.
Now, after calling in experts from the state’s fish and game commission, who have backed his findings, he is claiming that the “discovery” of rare and protected Sebastopol meadowfoam on the eight-hectare site near San Francisco was the work of opponents who transplanted the flowers from elsewhere.
“It looked like a bad toupee,” said one botanist, who observed the small, white flowers - latin name Limnanthes vinculans - growing through clods of “alien” soil.
The row has escalated into a scandal known as Foamgate. The controversy has parallels with the Tom Sharpe farce Blott on the Landscape, in which opponents of a motorway project employ a variety of ruses to stop construction.
But the residents of Sebastopol, a town of 7800 environmentally conscious residents in the centre of Sonoma County’s grape- and apple-growing region, deny any wrongdoing.
Bob Evans, a retired grammar school teacher and leading campaigner against the $US70 million ($93 million) development, says he came across the meadowfoam while walking his dog. “It’s our job to protect endangered species,” he said. “I didn’t plant it. No one planted it. It’s clearly a natural plant that grew there because that’s where it belongs.”
But Mr Schellinger insists the reappearance of the bowl-shaped blooms is evidence that his opponents are desperate. “The people who planted it mistakenly believed that it would be the silver bullet that killed the project,” he said.
Sebastopol’s council has ordered the parties to mediation to try to find a compromise that could include a scaled-down development. And the state has ordered that the plants be removed after deciding they were deliberately introduced.
“They didn’t belong there. It was appropriate to remove them,” said Eric Larson, a regional manager of the California Fish and Game Commission.
Mr Evans, however, said an official of the California Native Plant Society and a professor of biology at Sonoma State University had visited the site and agreed the meadowfoam could not have been transplanted.
The Guardian
July 11th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
Unfortunately decisions for real change only get made quickly in a crisis, when something becomes a “political issue”. On other occasions the powers that be will always default to the status quo. Forcing everyone to take responsibility for the environment will not get politicians into government. It’s hard enough to get the govt to force people to stop using plastic bags in supermarkets, which is a no-brainer. But even that doesn’t extend to department stores and clothing shops etc. You have to beg for them not to insist on a great big plastic bag. I took Em to Melbourne last weekend for a couple of days shopping for her 18th birthday and she bought a dress which you could scrunch up into the palm of one hand. It came in a bag that would have been 80cms x 50 cms. Impressive bag but what a waste. And everything we bought came in a plastic bag. There are a heap of these issues. Meat on plastic in supermarkets is another, but at 5pm on a Sunday there’s nowhere else to buy it and the supermarket offers no alternative packaging. And why do they have to have open refrigeration that just pours cold air into the open supermarket? Why doesn’t the govt support electrical cars or the Prius and other hybrids instead of allowing them to be twice as expensive as they should be? But you have to keep banging away and get some gradual change. There are more whales now than 30 years ago, and cars and planes are more fuel efficient, the world is less dependent on oil than it was 20 years ago, and we recycle a lot more than we ever did. But there’s no leadership from on top, and without that leadership change will be incremental until they are forced into making change. We can vote for the greens and hope they get the balance of power without stuffing it up like the Democrats did.
July 11th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Zoe and I just got back from the shops with ingredients for dinner, in plastic bags. My attitude is that it’s extremely difficult to live a modern lifestyle with 100 Mbps internet access, and maintain a very low ecological footprint. Instead, I try to do the best I can, when I can. Like the political process, my life is a compromise.
I once heard a radio interview with a guy who runs an arboretum in south-eastern Australia. Everyday he made a pact not to kill any living creatures. He said he failed almost everyday, but that in making his commitment he was more aware of his actions. I get frustrated when people don’t even know/admit what they’re doing.
Luckily IMDII is only 20 days away!
July 11th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
my jersey is ready!!
July 11th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
by the way I would like one polka dot jersey for the mountain stage..
July 12th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
guess what tom? I got more bamboo extracted from my foot yesterday (for the third time in 3 weeks)! haha! might have to have my foot cut open and “washed” in a few days. Not sure that will be too fun, but nothing compared to your nasty leg adventure. still, accidentally imbedding bamboo in your foot in the middle of freaking nowhere is _not_ dominant
July 20th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
remember Jodi amputation is a sport in SE Asia