Our July Environmental Book Club reading was Sunburnt Country; the History and Future of Climate Change in Australia by Joëlle Gergis. In this history of Australia’s climate and the meteorology that recorded and analysed that climate, Gergis brings understanding to climate fluctuation through natural forces and demonstrates how human action is intensifying climate variability and exposing us to new climate extremes.
Category: Nature NSW
Vale Peter Hitchcock AM
The recent death of Peter Phillip Hitchcock AM was met with grief among conservationists world-wide. The Sydney Morning Herald obituary https://www.smh.com.au/national/peter-hitchcock-champion-of-nature-conservation-20190522-p51pwt.html summarises his background and national and international achievements in nature conservation. Peter was awarded the Order of Australia and international accolades.
Celebrating Kosciuszko’s 75th anniversary
Graeme Worboys, (Honorary) Associate Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University
The 75th Anniversary of the establishment of Kosciuszko State Park falls on the 19th April 2019. The Park was famously established by Premier William McKell to protect the nationally important mountain water catchments; restore soil erosion caused by burning off and over-grazing by stock and to provide opportunities for visitor use and enjoyment. Kosciuszko is one of the Australia’s greatest national parks; it is a National Heritage Property protecting priceless Australian heritage and receives more than 1 million visits a year. The Park enjoyed 74 years of bipartisan support for conservation until regressive 2018 legislation was passed to retain thousands of feral horses within the Park.
Citizen Science projects wrap up
‘Wild Wild Inner West’
The Wild Wild Inner West (WWIW) project aims to engage young adults (18-35 years old), a group which is under-represented in council environmental activities, with the local urban environment.
Murray Darling Fish Kills – an environmental catastrophe
Dr Frank Gleason
The recent and massive death of fish in the Murray-Darling Basin caused by harmful algal blooms is an environmental catastrophe.
Read More “Murray Darling Fish Kills – an environmental catastrophe”
Climate Change: Emissions for Export
David Teather
Emeritus Professor and long-standing NPA member
The Paris agreement on climate change, of 2015, has been adopted by 196 countries. It aims to limit global warming to 2 degrees C by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. Researchers at University College London (McGlade and Elkins, 2015) calculated that in order to limit warming to 2 degrees, a third of the world’s oil reserves, half the gas reserves and over 80 per cent of current coal reserves must remain unused during the next 40 years. Meanwhile, in Australia (as if on another planet) coal barons and corporations were jockeying for position to begin mining the Galilee Basin – one of the world’s largest untouched coal deposits.
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