THROWING MONEY AWAY

The last time I wrote in this column, I vented my frustration over the malaise that is affecting a vast majority of people when it comes to acting responsibly when facing the challenge of climate change.

I focussed specifically on the fact that, despite knowing that burning fossil fuels will have dire consequences for the planet and future generations, more than 50% of new car buyers in Australia purchased a gas-guzzling SUV in 2022.

It’s not only the additional fuel, but the mass of materials needed to construct them. The average SUV weighs double that of a modest hatchback. That’s double the steel, copper, plastic - you name it. All finite resources that will eventually run out.

That brings me to another big irritation - Australia’s dismal failure when it comes to recycling which, when it all boils down (excuse any suggestion of a pun), has stemmed from the fact that most recycling is not cost-effective.

It’s much more profitable to cut down a forest to manufacture toilet paper than it is to go through the process of cleaning up and reusing waste paper, and the same applies to plastics, minerals and everything else.

Cost-of-living pressures are forcing many consumers to go for the cheaper option, but the afore-mentioned malaise doesn’t stop there. Take a close look at clearly marked communal waste bins and you’ll see even the most obvious recyclables unceremoniously dumped with food scraps and the like into the nearest receptacle.

Everyone knows that cash refunds are available for most cans and bottles, but walk into any fast-food premises, which rarely provide specific bins for recyclables, and you’ll see bins overflowing with refundable items, or often left on tables for staff to clean up.

Would you take coins from your car’s console and casually toss them out the window? No, you wouldn’t, yet our roadsides are littered with discarded cans and bottles.

It simply comes down to this:  most of us are just too lazy and apathetic to do the right thing, and we all need to smarten up; this is serious!

 

-        John Edwards

 

Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , January 10, 2024.

 

 

HABITAT DESTRUCTION AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS

 A recent Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) report has highlighted some major problems with the way the health of our biodiversity is assessed and protected from sliding further towards extinction.  In 2023 the addition of 144 animals, plants and ecological communities to the threatened species list was more than in any other year since the list was established.

Among those listed for the first time were the Pink Cockatoo (endangered), the Northern Blue-tongued Skink (critically endangered) and the Jardine River Turtle (critically endangered).

“Scientists nominated many of these species for listing years ago, so 2023’s high number shows the Environment Minister (Tanya Plibersek) and her department are clearing the backlog and making the list better reflect the reality,” said ACF nature campaigner Peta Bulling.

“The problem is the factors driving species onto the endangered list are not being stopped.  In the last 12 months, 10,426 hectares (25,800 acres) of habitat destruction was approved under Australia’s national nature laws.”

She added that this amount of clearing approved was likely to be a fraction of total habitat actually cleared because land clearing in Australia often happens without being assessed under environmental laws.  Along with many others concerned about biodiversity loss, Bulling wants to see the upcoming reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act address habitat destruction which is pushing our biodiversity towards extinction.

Consultation on the EPBC Act reforms commenced last year with experts and key stakeholder groups.  It is expected that draft legislation will be introduced to federal parliament some time this year.

Since the new federal government was elected, Minister Plibersek has made listing decisions on 223 threatened species and eight ecological communities. These included 130 bushfire-affected species and eight bushfire-affected ecosystems.

While habitat clearing is a major driver of biodiversity loss that affects our region, we now have another major environmental problem – the arrival of fire ants – which requires urgent effective action from local, state and federal authorities – including from our local members of parliament – Hogan and Williamson.

-        Leonie Blain

 Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , January 31, 2024.

 

 

GOVERNMENT SLEIGHT OF HAND WEAKENS GREATER GLIDER PROTECTIONS

North Coast Environment Council Media Release

2^nd February 2024

The NSW Government is being tricky with its numbers, suggesting they have improved protection for Greater Gliders when they have actually weakened it according to NCEC Vice-President, Susie Russell.

Instead of being honest with the people of NSW and acknowledging that we can’t have all the unique and precious animals our forests still support AND a native forest logging industry. The animals need undisturbed forest and the other rampages across the landscape leaving devastation in its wake. It is one or the other. They are lying when they suggest we can have both.

“Today’s announcement by the NSW Environment Protection Authority, removing the requirement for Forestry Corporation to look for Greater Gliders, and other animals home den trees prior to logging is another nail in the coffin of these already endangered creatures.

“It looks like nature has lost and the Government is opting for telegraph poles, pallets, floorboards and woodchips rather than koalas, owls, quolls and gliders.

“The Government needs to immediately begin to buy back wood contracts to take the pressure off our wildlife,” Ms Russell said, “because animals like endangered Greater Gliders die when their den trees die, and they die when their home range is cleared by logging machinery. That’s one reason they are endangered, and the EPA is meant to protect the environment, not the logging industry.”