Tag: environment

Word Power: on humans acting irresponsibly, idiotically…knowingly

Published November 6, 2024 by Pelidoug

Word Power: on humans acting irresponsibly, idiotically…knowingly

This post is a pointer to two opinion pieces.

Both are particularly worth reading in light of the re-election – as leader of “our” planet’s most powerful “democracy” – of an incorrigible liar, felon, bully, ignoramus, narcissist, jingoist, misogynist (probably, also a “sex offender”) and racist.

Just published by ABC News, Carrington Clarke’s is an immediate response to Donald Trump’s victory.

The October 2024 edition of The Monthly published Tim Winston’s more finely-crafted essay, which makes absolutely no direct reference to the American presidential election.

Winter Light, Flinders Ranges, 05/06/2023 (#4 in series: fully-qualified survivor)

Published July 22, 2024 by Pelidoug

Winter Light, Flinders Ranges, 05/06/2023 (#4 in series: fully-qualified survivor)

Clearly evident: this tree is no youngster, it has not merely seen fire and rain, and is still alive, probably some centuries on from the relevant seed’s germination.

Commonly known as the river red gum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis is the most widely-distributed of any eucalyptus species; it is almost-proverbially hardy/“enduring”.

River red gums are the “gum tree” best-beloved by Australian members of Homo sapiens.

In 21st century Australia, this “iconic” species is in big trouble.

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Port River (#4 in series: good [?] ship BBC Venus)

Published March 30, 2024 by Pelidoug

Port River (#4 in series: good [?] ship BBC Venus)

Britain’s now severely-underfunded national broadcaster may well be looking – urgently – for “new means of generating revenue”.

The BBC Venus is not one of them.

Very obviously the youngest ship berthed at Port Adelaide on 07 March 2024, this bulk carrier was launched in 2023.

Under its current “flag of convenience”, the vessel’s ostensible “home” is Liberia.

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Tidal creek (teaser)

Published March 24, 2024 by Pelidoug

Tidal creek (teaser)

Mangroves thrive here.

Heavy industry is also here.

This river is also part of a substantial port, within a metropolis of circa 1.4 million humans; the heart of its CBD is just 14 kilometres inland from the featured photo’s vantage point.

Your eyes are probably telling you that the location is somewhere within the tropics.

But where, exactly?

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“Late” in a very “early” southwest WA “spring” (1 of 2 teasers)

Published November 28, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Late” in a very “early” southwest WA “spring” (1 of 2 teasers)

How do “the seasons” actually work in southwest Western Australia?

In 2023 one could reply, “they don’t, anymore!”

However, even back in the “good old days”, anyone who paid attention already knew that “seasons” in WA had precious little to do with any calendar’s dates, nor with European notions of “four seasons”.

This was already the case long before the coining of terms like “global warming”, “climate change” and “the Anthropocene”.

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Still here, alas (#25 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 24, 2023 by Pelidoug

Still here, alas (#25 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Do you fondly imagine that Australia has overcome its “rabbit problem”?

This post’s 2023-vintage photo was taken recently in a “well-managed”, much-loved National Park.

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Beautiful, but… (#24 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 23, 2023 by Pelidoug

Beautiful, but… (#24 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

To my eye, Coober Pedy is an ugly town, albeit a singular one.

So, I was delighted to see something so lovely, growing not many footsteps away from a hideous shopping venue and car park.

I love the way such tall grasses look, especially when wind whiffles through them.

Alas, however, I was admiring a very “bad” plant.

Buffel grass – Cenchrus ciliaris L, pictured above – is “arguably the greatest invasive species threat to biodiversity across the Australian arid zone.”

Some beef producers, however, still view it fondly as “great cattle feed”.

The relevant legal requirement in South Australian Arid Lands:

Land owners in this region to take reasonable steps to kill plants and prevent their spread. Enforceable by the South Australian Arid Lands Landscape Board.

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Cool morning in Coonoor (#7 in series of single-image south India teasers)

Published March 16, 2023 by Pelidoug

Cool morning in Coonoor (#7 in series of single-image south India teasers)

Coonoor (in Tamil Nadu’s northwest) is the second largest town in the Nilgiri Hills, which are part of India’s Western Ghats.

At 1,850 metres – more than 6,000 feet – this attractive town sits at a higher altitude than does any Australian settlement, ski villages included.

Coonoor was the one Western Ghats location where we stayed “in town”, I took the photo from the road in front of our hotel at 6.59 am on 02 March 2023.

Can you notice anything “dead wrong”, environmentally speaking?

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Char char char (#15 in Namibia single-image series)

Published December 18, 2022 by Pelidoug

Char char char (#15 in Namibia single-image series)

A Wikipedia list of 182 counties, ranked by average annual precipitation, has Colombia allegedly wettest and Egypt driest – respectively, 3,240 mm and 18 mm.

155 nations are allegedly “wetter” than Namibia; its reported annual average of 285 mm is a little more than half of the figure given for nation #141 – Australia.

Yet Namibian-harvested hardwood is the basis for an industry which currently yields more than 70 million Australian dollars worth of annual export income…and that figure is set to soar.

It has nothing to do with construction timbers or wooden furniture.

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Word power: “soundscape enrichment” entices oysters…

Published October 29, 2022 by Pelidoug

Word power: “soundscape enrichment” entices oysters…

From a research article published this week in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology:

Our results suggest that the enrichment of natural soundscapes using underwater speakers may provide an efficient solution for boosting early recruitment and habitat building by oysters.

However, caution the researchers, restoration practitioners must consider the potential for negative impacts from speaker enrichment.

A question for you, dear reader:

before you read the quoted words, had you ever contemplated oysters’ “hearing”, much less their response to sounds played through underwater speakers?

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