By Geoffrey Curtis
We are entering the New Year with ‘Environmental Corner’ which has served the community these past few years with topics ranging from Adaption, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ethics, Recycling, and much more. To whet the appetite here are a few snippets to contemplate.
My aim is to be informative, interesting, diverse, probing, and controversial when necessary and to give readers insight into local, regional, national, and global topics. If it causes conversation around the kitchen table or over a cup of coffee, all well and good. It is all part of our social education. You may not agree with me yet, but what will be published in the future may resonate with some of you and prompt further probe.
There has been quite a lot of academic research into the anxiety and suffering some people have over Anthropogenic Climate Change. This upsets me because tens of thousands of adults and young children feel they have little or no recourse to save our precious planet. Instead, many worry and feel isolated and abandoned. You may be one of these caring individuals, and I want to reassure you that I understand your concerns.
There are several research articles on this subject two of which are listed for those of you who wish to find information. Equally important is for you to seek medical help either through your general practitioner or someone who will listen to your concerns. Above everything else please do not suffer in silence. https://www.thelancet.com ‘Climate anxiety in children and young adults’ and https://www. Sciencedirect.com/science ‘Climate anxiety, wellbeing, and pro-environmental action’.
For those of you who have concerns with over use of plastics from grocery bags to car seats and where it can end up look no further than our oceans as depicted. Since the 1950’s over 8billion plastics have been produced of which 10-15million has ended up today in marine environments. Recently the fifth ‘Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC-5) on plastic pollution took place in Busan, South Korea to try and develop a mandatory treaty with plastics. The aim was not to stop using plastic (impossible in today’s consumer society) but rather to reduce the amount including determining where it can end up once discarded.
The obvious result from all of the discussion was the outcome. As one journalist put it the biggest producers of plastics hijacked the whole meeting tantamount to little being achieved. Does this suggest who does not have much control over the planet from a human perspective? You are invited to read more in-depth from the HDS Earth Negotiations Bulletin Summary Report website https://enb.iisd.org on this subject.
Endeavoring to show some positive outcomes by looking after living organisms on our planet can be difficult as many of us know. It occurred to me passing several of our vineyards why they were using pesticides in between the grape growing rows. Many farmers including one of our largest horticultural producers locally have been trialing ‘companion planting’. In simple terms, they deliberately plant one or more ‘sacrificial plants’ that detract insects (one method is the aroma given off ) from the main crop such as strawberry or broccoli, thus saving the food source, the soil, and money spent on insecticide spray.
In recognition of the invisible heroes, thank you! These are the hidden people who walk the trails, walk the streets, walk the alley-ways, and wander the countryside in their own time, picking up the litter that gets thrown out of vehicles or blown from a building. Councils cannot be expected to do all the litter pick up. There will be more to say on this matter in a forthcoming ‘Environmental Corner’.
Finally, there are two Tasmanian environmentalists of the year. Congratulations to Sam Elsom the founder of ‘Sea Forest’ which uses seaweed to reduce methane emissions from cows. This is a vital step forward in the food cycle by lowering CO2 greenhouse gasses. And congratulations to Jim Everett-puralia meenewmatta in recognition of his outstanding decades of environmental activism and work to protect endangered species habitats.