Aussie Enviro

FFS!

Evidence is mounting that modern medicines present a growing threat to ecosystems around the world. The chemicals humans ingest to stay healthy are harming fish and other animals.

SMaRT @UNSW

Choice quote from the article,

creates economies of purpose.

I haven't had a chance to read Hanrahan@solarpunk.net 's article about the acceptance of sufficiency yet, but i suspect the microfactorie concept pushes our production systems along a similar path.

George Monbiot and hosts Ebony Bennet and Polly Hemming get stuck into neoliberalisms insidious effect on climate, the folly of carbon offsets, and why incrementalism will never lead to systemic change.

As Ebony Bennet says, the discussion leaves you hopeful change could be just arpund the corner.

Published: 27 September 2024

Protected areas, drought, and grazing regimes influence fire occurrence in a fire-prone Mediterranean region

Máire Kirkland, Philip W. Atkinson, Sara Aliácar, Deli Saavedra, Mark C. De Jong, Thomas P. F. Dowling & Adham Ashton-Butt

Abstract

Background

Extreme fire seasons in the Mediterranean basin have received international attention due to the damage caused to people, livelihoods, and vulnerable ecosystems. There is a body of literature linking increasingly intense, large fires to a build-up of fuel from rural land abandonment exacerbated by climate change. However, a better understanding of the complex factors driving fires in fire-prone landscapes is needed. We use a global database based on the MODIS Fire CCI51 product, and the Greater Côa Valley, a 340,000-ha area in Portugal, as a case study, to investigate the environmental drivers of fire and potential tools for managing fires in a landscape that has undergone changing agricultural and grazing management.

Results

Between 2001 and 2020, fires burned 32% (1881.45 km2) of the study area. Scrublands proportionally burnt the most, but agricultural land and forests were also greatly impacted. The risk of large fires (> 1 km2) was highest in these land cover types under dry conditions in late summer. Areas with higher sheep densities were more likely to burn, while cattle density had no apparent relationship with fire occurrence. There was also a 15% lower probability of a fire occurring in protected areas.

Conclusion

Future climatic changes that increase drought conditions will likely elevate the risk of large fires in the Mediterranean basin, and abandoned farmland undergoing natural succession towards scrubland will be at particularly high risk. Our results indicate that livestock grazing does not provide a simple solution to reducing fire risk, but that a more holistic management approach addressing social causes and nature-based solutions could be effective in reducing fire occurrence.

Humanity’s rapacious consumption is more than Earth and its climate can handle, which is driving an ecological crisis.

Australians are the worst offenders per person due to our excessive resource use.

The Albanese government has given the green tick to three major thermal coal mine expansions in New South Wales, in a move that critics say lays bare the blatant disregard of climate change in Australia’s federal environmental laws.

But it is the “reckless disregard” for the effects of catastrophic climate change that has been the most jarring, with the three projects estimated to lock in as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions – more than double Australia’s total annual emissions.

In short:

A group of Rising Tide protesters have stopped and climbed onto a coal train at Sandgate near Newcastle.

The group is protesting over federal approval of three coal mine expansions in NSW.

The company behind one of the expansions says it will support hundreds of regional jobs.

In short:

The largest known population of night parrots, around 50 birds, is believed to live in a remote Indigenous Protected Area in Western Australia.

A new study suggests the rare parrots may be protected by dingoes.

What's next?

Change is coming to the region with the first piece of industrial development in the area, a potash mine and 350-kilometre sealed haul road, seeking environmental approval.

The time has come to introduce our uninvited guests. We're looking at the top 10 most destructive introduced animals (and plants) in Australia. But why are they so devastating? And how did they end up here? All this and more will be explored as we delve into the world of the ferals.

In short:

Laura Davy was sentenced to three months in jail for her involvement in coal protests that blocked trains from reaching the Port of Newcastle.

She lodged an appeal and was granted bail.

What's next?

The appeal was upheld on the condition Davy does not re-offend.

A (student) article reminding people to rethink using the baits.

What kinds of traps do people use?

I'll out myself as using a medieval wooden snap trap, with a peanut butter bait. Its nasty, but i've not had much luck with humane traps, and baits are awful in so so many ways. It is used inside the house only.

Slightly modified version of the original banner---see if you can spot the difference!

In today's news of a continually deteriorating environment (depressing story before this was more roads being built)

The native bushland on Western Australia's central coast would normally be bursting with springtime blooms but after four years of increasingly dry winters, only a handful of plants are starting to bud.

The Great Barrier Reef will continue to deteriorate, largely to climate change, and the window to secure its future is rapidly closing. That is the sobering conclusion of a major new report into the state of the reef.

The report was released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. It confirms what scientists have long known: humanity is killing the Great Barrier Reef, and other reefs around the world, by failing to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.