Posts on sundry matters of life the universe and everything: Culture, Environment, Life, Politics & Government, Science, Social Science and Society, Technology etc.
Australia’s agreed fire ant eradication program, joint-funded by all states, territories and the Commonwealth, is in jeopardy because only Queensland and new South Wales have met their funding commitments. As a result the containment and eradication work agreed under the plan has been cut by more than 50%.
On this basis, the plan fails and the fire ant wins. Urgent action is required to reinstate the full program, or the consequences to sport and leisure, to a wide range of agricultural industries, plus tourism, to the survival of many native species, and to the simple enjoyment of back yards will be dire. Continue reading Australia drops the ball on fire ant invasion→
I’m late this year, but I’ll start the year again with that Thai new year’s greeting which means means:
May you find compassion, loving kindness and equanimity along your paths over the next year!
2. The adults are back in charge
Last year I said most people felt well rid of 2021, and hope for better in 2022. Unfortunately hope is hard to find. Greta Thunberg and David Spratt have both said that hope has to be earned. Overall I think we come up short, but politically it is good to have the adults back in charge. Continue reading Weekly salon 26/1→
Until I find a better image of our fair city, I’ll continue to use this one.
2022 went so fast I think I may have missed it. Still my camera says a few things happened.
Although Covid was pronounced ‘over’ we continue to take precautions, so our social life is constrained, being aged and vulnerable. I think this is the first year since I was a young child that I have not been to a movie theatre, a concert or a sporting event.
I’ve been meaning to do a new open thread for a while (last Salon was 12 January). When I saw news of the first entry below I thought it was too good to pass up!
1. Morrison’s ultimate gift to the world
His agent described him as “virtuous globalisation mastermind”
“The time between recurrent events is increasingly too short to allow a full recovery of mature coral assemblages, which generally takes from 10 to 15 years for the fastest growing species and far longer for the full complement of life histories and morphologies of older assemblages.”
I’ve taken it back to months before the 2019 election, which was on 18 May 2019, to show that the situation now is not like the situation then. With six days to go, incumbent PM Scott Morrison is looking for a miracle. Simon Benson, Political Editor for the Oz, wrote after the penultimate poll:
According to the latest Newspoll, Labor would not only win government but it would win with a comfortable majority.
Any notion of a hung parliament is extinguished on these numbers, irrespective of whether any Climate 200 independents get elected or not.
Morrison needed the the contest to tighten with only two weeks to run. Newspoll has shown the opposite.
In large part, yes, because they certainly want to talk about each other, and the media do not want to talk about policy, having settled on the notion that neither side has any, although any journalist who is interested can find Labor’s policies here, the Liberal Party’s story book (plan) here. The Nationals’ Plan is much the same, but slightly different. For The Greens, it depends what you click on when you go to their site, but this is headlined as their Election Policy Platform.
My concern is that the future plans for coal and gas do not sit well the latest science and with what the world must collectively do to prevent the current climate crisis from becoming a tragedy. Within that I have a specific concern about the plans relating to the fracking of gas in the Channel Country. Relevant to these concerns I’ll make four statements with some supporting notes. (Last updated, 27 February 2022) Continue reading On fossil fuels, Queensland needs to pause and consider→
Climate change, sustainability, plus sundry other stuff
Australia’s agreed fire ant eradication program, joint-funded by all states, territories and the Commonwealth, is in jeopardy because only Queensland and new South Wales have met their funding commitments. As a result the containment and eradication work agreed under the plan has been cut by more than 50%.
Until I find a better image of our fair city, I’ll continue to use this one.
