Friday 29th of March 2024

the last of everything...

last

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has ordered the state's Forestry Corporation to stop tree harvesting at a State Forest in northern NSW, saying two old 'giant' trees have been felled. 

 

Key points:
  • The NSW EPA has ordered the Forestry Corporation to stop tree harvesting at Wild Cattle Creek State Forest
  • The EPA says it has discovered two 'giant' trees have been felled at the site, against regulations
  • The Forestry Corporation says it takes environmental compliance 'very seriously'

 

It's the first time the EPA has issued the Forestry Corporation with a Stop Work Order under new laws which came into effect in 2018.

Regulations, contained in the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval, require loggers to ensure that trees designated as giant — that is, with a stump diameter of more than 140 centimetres — are not logged.

EPA executive director of regulatory operations Carmen Dwyer said recent EPA inspections had discovered the felling of two giant trees in the Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, inland from Coffs Harbour. 

 

"These two old, giant trees have provided significant habitat and biodiversity value and are irreplaceable," she said.

 

"These two trees in particular are more in the order of 170 and 190cm diameter. These are really important trees, they are very precious.


 



 

"Their removal points to serious failures in the planning and identification of trees that must be retained in the forest.

 

"Any trees except blackbutt and alpine ash with a diameter of more than 140cm are defined as giant trees and must be retained under the Coastal IFOA." 

Further site investigations planned

Ms Dwyer said the order ensured that no further tree harvesting would take place in the area where the trees were felled for 40 days, or until the EPA was confident that Forestry Corporation could meet its obligations to comply with the rules to protect giant trees.

"This is a really serious matter," Ms Dwyer said.

"Strong action is required to prevent any further harm to giant or other protected trees which help maintain biodiversity and provide habitat for threatened species like koalas.

"We will have staff in the field again early next week doing further investigations as we now need to investigate the entire site and understand exactly what has happened before we decide if further regulatory action is required."

Gumbaynggirr group concerned for 'koala hotspot'

 

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-19/nsw-epa-stop-work-on-forestry-operations-wild-cattle-creek/12470722

 

 

 

Cartoon at top by Cathy Wilcox. Brilliant...Too close to the bone, unfortunately...

 

morrison — hollywood movie producer...

...

I say that with a certain level of trepidation, because at one level I respect the fact that Morrison has so far kept questions of identity muted in the conversation. His rally around the flag has a practical tone rather than an aggressively nationalistic one. Once you inject national identity into the discussion, insanity often follows.

But if we are going there, and the prime minister is absolutely going there, we do need to broaden the scope. National security is a multifaceted concept. Securing the nation includes ensuring we have the tools to prosper in this century. If you care about security, you should not allow universities to lurch into a crisis triggered by the loss of revenue from overseas students. If this government cared about buttressing the nation, about fortifying and strengthening our collective defences in challenging times, Morrison would not be passive, right now, at this particular moment in history, about the risk of a brain drain.

Being able to rise to the challenges of our age means safeguarding and expanding the national intellectual firepower to prosper and thrive in an age of ferocious competition. Those jobs matter, but the government expresses little enthusiasm for defending them, because defending them is not only costly, it could be seen as a transgression in an ever more deranged culture war that pits faux everymen against alleged elites. Safer to talk about sparkies.

As well as defending intellectuals, researchers, innovators and teachers, any serious debate about nationhood brings culture into play. It is welcome news that the government has thrown a lifeline to Australia’s cultural sector, an important industry hit for six by the pandemic.

But the terms of the rescue are revealing. Take one example. Morrison has been happy to expand the location incentive to help persuade Marvel or Disney to shoot its next blockbuster here, happy to allocate $400m to that aspiration, but local productions – the creative endeavours that tell the story of Australia to itself and the world – have been given a $50m fund.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/18/when-scott-morrison-muses-about-crossroads-hes-really-pondering-his-own-prime-ministership

cry me a NZ river...

Is it time to reassess our relationship with nature?

Made in partnership with The Open University. OU consultant: Dr Eleni Dimou. Earth. Us. Earth. Us. Earth. Us. But, hang on, aren't we part of the Earth? We're organic creatures, made of the same molecules as everything else on our planet— one interconnected ecosystem that keeps us all alive. But are we superior? Different? Or special? Why do we so often feel, well... separate from the Earth?

 

In fact, not everyone does.


Throughout human history lots of cultures have viewed their relationship to the Earth in other ways. Many still do. Animism - the belief that spirit infuses objects, nature and the whole of existence - is a fundamental principle of many indigenous societies. In Taoism, cosmic energy - or life force - is everywhere and is constantly seeking harmony and balance between all things. Ancient Andean civilisations placed the spirit of Pachamama, or Mother Earth, at the very centre of their worldview. And, today, for many indigenous people around the world, like the U'wa tribe in Colombia, the Earth is not just the dust from which human beings are made. It's the spirit of their people and ancestors. It's their history. It is life itself. This isn't always an easy idea for people in today's Western societies to grasp.


The Druids of Ancient Britain did grasp it - focusing their spiritual practices on a reverence and connection with nature. But when Christianity spread through Europe, animism was condemned as pagan and savage. European colonialism enforced these views around the globe, in places like the Americas and Australia - crushing the indigenous peoples and their nature wisdom. Since the birth of agriculture, humans had been manipulating the world around them, harnessing, dividing and selling its natural resources. But under colonization, the Earth became a place to be conquered, dominated, farmed, fished, plundered and mined, on a vast scale. Was there any scientific thinking behind our ever-increasing control over the natural world? 17th Century Europe thought so. In fact thought was all the rage then, as French philosopher Rene Descartes, and other others, like Sir Isaac Newton, helped to kick off the Enlightenment - an era that prized reasoning, science and order.


A new view of the world emerged - with human beings as the thinking, rational, masters, and nature as our unthinking, unfeeling servant. Standing apart from her, humans investigated nature's ultimate questions, dissecting her into smaller and smaller pieces. This brought us great power. And with great power, comes... ... you know the rest. The Anthropocene Age had begun - an epoch defined by one dominant species. Us. On a planet that is billions of years old, in just 500 years, much of the human race has come to see itself as the rulers and centre of all life. Today, we are still trying to bend the planet's environment, processes and biodiversity to our will.


Our vast, sprawling cities have pushed nature out of sight and out of mind. The world is attempting to meet the urgent challenge of climate change. But can anything fundamentally change while we still see ourselves as somehow separate from Earth? There are signs of hope. Other voices are starting to be heard once again. Influenced by a resurgent, indigenous view of Pachamama, Bolivia and Ecuador have passed laws granting all nature equal rights with humans.


And in New Zealand a Maori tribe has successfully fought to have their river - and ancestor - given the same legal rights as a person. In an interconnected world, can we humans find ways to truly reconnect to all life on the planet? A new era might start with one single idea. There is no Earth and Us. We are one. 




https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/is-it-time-to-reassess-our-relationship-with-natur/p08l2xcb

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