http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/environment/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/could-elephants-save-the-australian-environment/ Three years ago this week, Australia was burning. On 7 February 2009 — now known as Black Saturday — a massive firestorm consumed more than 400,000 hectares in southern Australia. At least 173 people died trying to outrun the fires, defend their homes or seek shelter. That blaze was unusually fierce, but fires are a constant source of anxiety for Australia. The continent is extremely fire-prone, with a distinctive signature of oscillating fire activity that begins in the north during the winter, then moves south during the summer. Lately, the fires have been more intense and widespread, perhaps as a result of climate change — last year, around 5 per cent of the continent was burnt. If only fires were Australia’s sole environmental concern. The continent is also overrun by invasive species. They fill holes created by a mass extinction event that occurred around 50,000 years ago during the Pleistocene, when the arrival of the first Australians coincided with a collapse in the continent’s megafauna, namely giant marsupials (some as large as hippopotamuses), reptiles and birds. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/could-elephants-save-the-australian-environment/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/could-elephants-save-the-australian-environment/#item7660 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/alp-saves-the-alps/ There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/alp-saves-the-alps/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/alp-saves-the-alps/#item7652 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/has-woodside-hit-its-price-point-on-the-environment/ In the iconic Kimberley region of West Australia one of Australia’s biggest recent environmental battlegrounds has emerged in the red cliffs and turquoise waters of James Price Point, about 20 km north of Broome. This is a battle that might ultimately be won in the investor board rooms rather than on the front lines of blockades. The Browse Basin gas hub development has stoked up so much opposition on so many fronts that many investors are now asking if the project is still economically viable, or if in fact Woodside’s ‘social licence’ to proceed has disappeared in the red dust that graces the Kimberley coastline. Australian business is all too familiar with the impact strident community opposition can have on controversial major projects, yet some large corporations and investors continue to discount the importance of maintaining their social licence and protecting the environment. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/has-woodside-hit-its-price-point-on-the-environment/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/has-woodside-hit-its-price-point-on-the-environment/#item7610 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pfft-to-your-fancy-european-power-we-have-electric-ants/ I once tried to explain cricket to a Spaniard. After half an hour of Pictionary-grade diagrams, an English-Spanish dictionary and rubbing my groin with a Granny Smith, all that Fernando had grasped with any certainty was that he didn’t wish to eat the apple. I have lived in some peculiar places and enjoyed some peculiar conversations, but I had to venture to Cairns to have a discussion with a woman about how best to post an ant through the mail. And not any type of ant but an Electric ant, or a suspected Electric ant, hence the conversation. I grew up on Sydney’s forested North Shore, so I’m accustomed to creepy crawlies in the house and have liberated many a spider in the brave space between a cup and a postcard. Postcards were invented for such endeavours. Now that people have stopped sending them, my house resembles the set of Arachnophobia.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pfft-to-your-fancy-european-power-we-have-electric-ants/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pfft-to-your-fancy-european-power-we-have-electric-ants/#item7523 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/leave-this-beautiful-little-country-alone/ Every time NZ Prime Minister John Key’s phone rings, he must fear the worst. Every time your average Kiwi switches on the news, they must dread what they’re about to hear. Our tiny neighbour across the Tasman experienced disaster after disaster in 2011. Unfortunately, the first week of 2012 brought events that jogged painful memories of the events of the previous year - and another tragedy of its own. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/leave-this-beautiful-little-country-alone/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/leave-this-beautiful-little-country-alone/#item7498 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/are-these-men-our-problem-whaling-protesters/ Update - 9.15am Tuesday, January 10: It’s being reported the Australian Government will dispatch the Customs vessel Ocean Protector to collect the three activists, after Japanese authorities agreed to hand them back without charge. Three men board a foreign ship in the dead of night, outside Australian waters, without permission. The crew of the target ship refuses their demands, and sets course for the ocean blue. And now it’s our Attorney-General’s job to fix it. According to the A-G Nicola Roxon, all options are on the table at present, including sending a vessel out to meet the Shonan Maru No.2 and collect WA men Glen Pendlebury, Geoffrey Tuxworth and Simon Peterffy. She’s even been asked if the Navy should be mobilised. This in spite of the bleeding obvious, that Roxon pointed out: “We do need to explain to the public that although we do not support Japanese whaling, if people take action outside our territorial waters, Australian laws will not automatically apply and that does restrict some of the options that the Government can take.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/are-these-men-our-problem-whaling-protesters/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/are-these-men-our-problem-whaling-protesters/#item7495 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/water-water-everywhere-and-all-the-trees-will-shrink/ History is littered with good intentions gone bad and concerns are growing the Government’s recently released draft Murray Darling Basin Plan is a prime example. Frontline environmentalists, who live and work with the vagaries of the rivers, are warning that the Government is heading down the wrong track and could be responsible for allowing wetlands, which not even the worst drought in living memory could kill, to be severely damaged as a result of over-watering. If we have above average rainfall over the next 12 months the world’s largest river red gum forest is facing the very real prospect of being degraded within three years of it being declared a national park, and two years before the Federal Government has signed off on an environmental watering plan. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/water-water-everywhere-and-all-the-trees-will-shrink/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/water-water-everywhere-and-all-the-trees-will-shrink/#item7381 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-plimers-climate-change-book-might-just-work/ Climate change sceptics shouldn’t have to resort to juvenile ‘Gotcha’ tactics to get attention. But Professor Ian Plimer just did. And his target? Schoolteachers. Nice. Prime Minister John Howard aided and abetted him, speaking at the launch of Plimer’s new book, How to Get Expelled from School: A Guide to Climate Change for Pupils, Parents and Punters. The first bit of devious trickery is evident in the title - the ludicrous implication that a student would get kicked out of school for asking questions is just a nod to the conspiracy theorists who think the world’s scientists are engaged in an enormous scam. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-plimers-climate-change-book-might-just-work/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-plimers-climate-change-book-might-just-work/#item7362 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-people-can-the-world-support/ Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-people-can-the-world-support/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-people-can-the-world-support/#item7179 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/watering-down-the-murray-darling-plan-would-be-fatal/ Many of us learnt at school that the great Nile River sustained Egypt through floods that nourished the fertility of the river’s floodplain. Our Murray and Darling Rivers are no different. It’s in Australia’s national interest to protect and restore the Murray Darling Basin. Disconnect the river from the floodplain and you destroy the fertility of the land. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/watering-down-the-murray-darling-plan-would-be-fatal/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/watering-down-the-murray-darling-plan-would-be-fatal/#item7238 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 There was movement at the station for the word had got around that the Feds might have finally gotten something right for a change. Late yesterday, news filtered through that Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and a bunch of other stuff, had put the kybosh on Victorian premier Ted Baillieu’s absurd, cynical and dangerous plan to reintroduce grazing to the High Country. Good. Minister Burke rejected a proposal by the Victorian government to allow cattle into the Alpine National Park for five months a year, arguing it was in breach of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He’s right, too. Parks Victoria is just one reputable body which has produced scientific evidence showing that grazing is detrimental to the High Country.