Home/Posts Tagged ‘australia’
Posts Tagged ‘australia’
Animals, Videos & Documentaries, Aug 14th, 2012,
After posting about sharks yesterday I stumbled upon a remarkable and tragic story containing humans and sharks, which occurred just last week. Three men left on a ill-fated fishing trip on the night of August 9th off the coast of Western Australia. Then tragedy struck. Two of the men were pulled from shark infested waters, one found naked after treading water for 20 hours. The other man was later pronounced dead. The third, the nephew of the (so far) lone survivor, is still missing. Read more about the situation in WA Today and watch the following video of the rescue.
Tags: australia, fishermen, sharks, video
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Jun 26th, 2012,
Australian surfers described the phenomenon as “insane” and “out of control” and probably said “dude” a lot, but since it was Australia they may have just said “mate”. What they were talking about is the frothy, thick sea foam that covered areas of ocean along the coast of Victoria, an area popular with surfers. According to the Herald Sun the sea foam stretched 5km offshore and was meters thick. Sea foam is sometimes a “natural” phenomena caused my the agitation of organic matter such as decomposing algal blooms. However, pollution, raw sewage and stormwater can contribute to these algal blooms…
Tags: australia, sea foam, surfers
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 6th, 2012,
In some coastal areas climate change means a rise in sea levels, leading to an increase in water salinity, which in turn means a high salt content in soil. Increasing salinity in fresh water and soil poses problems for agriculture and fish farming. This is a particularly tricky aspect of climate change adaptation, but coastal communities as well as scientists are finding ways to cope. Hardy varieties of rice, wheat and vegetables are one way, as is shifting from freshwater fish farming to raising saltwater species such as crabs. In Sri Lanka, rice farmers, together with the United Nations Development…
Tags: australia, Bangladesh, farming, fish, India, rice, salinity, salty soil, water, wheat
Climate Change, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 20th, 2012,
China may still be overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels for power (especially coal) but the country’s rapid economic boom and consequent insatiable hunger for energy is causing it to explore and exploit all avenues, including massive wind and solar projects. While the US is going natural gas crazy and despite plenty of solar possibilities, Australia is still in the thrall of cheap coal, China is embracing greener energy sources. Bear in mind China is still the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses and has a less-than-stellar record when it comes to toxic pollution. But the market is driving this still centrally…
Tags: australia, China, desert, energy, Gansu, Green, Solar, wind
Politics, Pollution, Mar 14th, 2012,
The government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard (Labor), recently passed a law called ‘Stronger Futures’, an extension of the previous governments ‘NT Intervention’ laws. Both laws have received criticism because they treat Aboriginal Australians differently then the rest of the country. Stronger Futures has drawn comparisons between Apartheid era South Africa and segregation policies in America’s Southern States before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. According to the AAP, 27 ‘prominent’ Australians have written a letter to the leaders of the major parties in Australia’s Parliament in protest of the legislation, claiming it violates the Racial…
Tags: Aboriginal, australia, law, Muckati, NT Intervention, nuclear, racist, Stronger Futures
Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 28th, 2011,
If you thought this post would be about the Rupert Murdoch-owned American right wing media outlet, you are mistaken. But now that I’ve lured you in with such a clever pun, why not stay a while and read about what our furry friends – actual foxes – are up to around the globe? Let’s start with the US state of Florida, shall we? On Florida’s Panama City Beach, red foxes are eating up loggerhead turtle eggs, much to the consternation of local egg-guarding environmentalists. Though the foxes aren’t the biggest threat to the turtles, they have been spotted digging up…
Tags: australia, beach, egg, Florida, foxes, loggerhead, red fox, turtles
Conservation, Videos & Documentaries, Nov 5th, 2011,
The 3-year old daughter of the owners of a zoo in Queensland, Australia has some new unusual playmates: two cute cuddly little African lion cubs. Both cubs were born at the zoo, but one’s mother wasn’t producing enough milk to feed it, so the Robinson family took in the little cub, along with another cub to keep it company, and are looking after the two little lions in their home. The little girl’s father is quoted in an APP report: African lions are now threatened in the wild, with only about 25,000 remaining. These little cubs will one day…
Tags: African, animals, australia, lion cub, little girl, Robinson, zoo
Climate Change, Health, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 1st, 2011,
Researchers from Kings College London are studying the symbiotic relationship between coral and algae living in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. They found that in order to survive in strong sunlight, coral produces compounds that act as a natural sunscreen. Scientists hope to use genetic engineering to recreate the compounds in a laboratory back in the UK and eventually develop a sunscreen in pill form. Since the compound is already present in the food chain in the coral reefs – small fish ingest it while feeding off the coral, larger fish eat them and so on – the scientists hope it…
Tags: australia, coral reefs, king's college, london, pill, sunscreen
Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 9th, 2011,
Sea lion populations have declined in New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands by 40% between 1998 and 2009. The islands are one of only two breeding locations for sea lions in New Zealand. The other location, Campbell Island, saw a gradual increase of pups during that same period. Reasons for the Auckland decline may be partly environmental, but research from New Zealand’s University of Otago suggests that the main culprit is the local squid fishing industry. From Science Alert: Researchers noted that the Auckland Islands has a strong squid fishing industry within range of the sea lions, where as Campbell Island…
Tags: australia, California, fishery, fishing, Marine Mammal Center, New Zealand, sea lions, squid
Health, Aug 1st, 2011,
Luxury pet products are a huge growth industry. Many of us have seen “accessory” dogs wearing jeweled collars and being carried in designer Louis Vuitton bags by members of the botox set. Often the idea with high-end food and gear for pets is just to show off. No dog worth its canines cares if the diamonds around its neck are real or cubic zirconia. Likewise – as with human food – nutritional value doesn’t always correspond with price. Nevertheless, a lot of people like to “pamper” their pets and it’s not just vacuous Americans. In Germany the trend is…
Tags: australia, dogs, Germany, Hendra, pets, strays
Climate Change, Jul 26th, 2011,
The premise is pretty simple: There are places in the world where the wind blows fairly strong. This free, natural source of power has been used for centuries to grind grain and now it’s increasingly being harnessed by turbines to generate electrical power. Renewable, basically free electricity. Who could possibly have a problem with that. OK, fossil fuel companies might not like clean energy moving in on their business. And then there are those wealthy folk who flee the noise, congestion and pollution of the big cities in search of a bucolic idyll. They don’t like wind turbines spoiling their…
Tags: australia, energy, Europe, power, Romania, wind, wind farm
Climate Change, Politics, May 31st, 2011,
Climate change is back in the news and on the global political agenda. Sort of. It isn’t trumping nuclear power, but these two issues are related. Germany is planning to phase out its nuclear plants and ramp up its already strong renewable energy sector, though this has much more to do with the disaster in Fukushima than with climate change. Across the Atlantic, however, German support is crucial to a fund that seeks to preserve Ecuadoran rainforest land rather than exploiting the area for oil and pushing off indigenous peoples. From Deutsche Welle: Chief negotiator Yvonne Baki and a delegation…
Tags: australia, carbon tax, Climate change, Ecuador, emissions, Germany, nuclear
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Oct 3rd, 2010,
Like something straight out of the Bible, swarms of locusts are spreading throughout the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. Australia’s wettest September on record followed years of drought, providing ideal conditions for a massive locust plague. It is feared that millions of euros worth of crops will be damaged in what is being described as the worst locust invasion in 75 years. From an ABC Australia report: …the Australian Plague Locust Commission is working very hard with state agencies to ensure that the resources are on the ground, and the pesticides, and the work…
Tags: australia, Australian, crops, locusts, pesticide, plague
Conservation, Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 21st, 2010,
Today’s Creature Feature can be found in Australia. It was discovered rather recently—1994, to be exact—and it’s the only species of the Wollemia genus. Oh, and there’s one more interesting thing to note: the Wollemi Pine isn’t a type of Pine tree at all. Wollemi Pine trees are actually closer to related to species of the Araucariaceae family. These trees can be found in temperate rainforests and the last known fossil of the Wollemi Pine dates back 200 million years! Because of this, it is commonly referred to as a ‘Living Fossil’. Currently, these trees can be found along a…
Tags: australia, Creature Feature, critically endangered species, dinosaur trees, Living Fossil, Wollemi Pine
Climate Change, Nature, Politics, Aug 20th, 2010,
The mismanagement of irrigation, compounded by drought and a drop in commodity prices, has spelled disaster for Australia’s most important agricultural region. The waters of the Darling River and the massive Murray irrigate a region that produces almost half of Australia’s fresh produce. But the worst drought in over 100 years has plunged the Murray-Darling Basin into crisis causing economic hardship and many farmers to pack up and leave. Australian climate scientists see the country as ‘extremely vulnerable’ to climate change and the Murray-Darling Basin as a ground zero for global warming. Climate change advisors to Australia’s government have warned…
Tags: agricultural, australia, Australian, Basin, climate, Climate change, Darling, drought, Independent, Kathy Marks, Murray, Murray-Darling, region, river
Climate Change, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Aug 14th, 2010,
From Australia to China to Pakistan to Russia and central Europe, this summer has so far been characterized by extreme weather events such as torrential rains, flooding, drought and wildfires. In the following video report by ITN News, climate scientist Thomas R. Karl explains how the current extreme weather events across the globe are linked and most likely connected to human activity. Karl is the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Services office in Washington DC. From an article by the Associated Press: Russia and central Asia this year happen to be the epicentres of very…
Tags: australia, China, climate, events, extreme, flood, flooding, Karl, Pakistan, Russia, scientist, summer, Thomas, weather, wildfires
Conservation, Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 5th, 2010,
This week’s Creature Feature takes us to Lord Howe Island, located approximately 370 miles (660 km) off the eastern coast of Australia. This particular creature is special because it’s been referred to as the “rarest insect in the world”. The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect (also known as the Land Lobster or the Lord Howe Island Phasmid) is a critically endangered species that was once believed to be extinct. In the 1930s, it was presumed that there were no remaining members of this species; however, they were amazingly rediscovered in 2001. Although the name suggests this Stick Insect is from…
Tags: australia, Ball’s Pyramid, black rats, Creature Feature, critically endangered species, extinct, Land Lobster, Lord Howe Island Phasmid, Lord Howe Island Stick Insect
Nature, Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 16th, 2010,
The history of this planet is an awesome thing to learn about and there are so many ways you can do that. You can go to a museum, read books, check out a historical reenactment event, or specialize in the hunt for fossils and other artifacts. Some people say history comes alive, but what if it never died in the first place? Australian scientists have stumbled upon an amazing find at Osprey Reef, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. With the use of special low-light sensitive cameras, researcher Justin Marshall and his team discovered a number of prehistoric…
Tags: australia, cameras, creatures, discovery, fish, Great Barrier Reef, history, Osprey Reef, prehistoric, research, scientists
Conservation, Jul 14th, 2010,
A recent study published in the scientific journal Nature found that quality is more effective than quantity when it comes to nature conservation strategies: Replacing the least cost-effective 1% of Australia’s 6,990 strictly protected areas could increase the number of vegetation types that have 15% or more of their original extent protected from 18 to 54, of a maximum possible of 58. This approach to conservation may seem businesslike or even Darwinian, but human beings have already, in a manner of speaking, ‘won’ in terms of outcompeting the rest of the world’s species. However, if humanity’s successes go too far,…
Tags: australia, biodiversity, Conservation, Philippines, rainforest, species
Climate Change, Pollution, Recycling, Jul 13th, 2010,
Eco-warrior and youngest air to a banking fortune, David de Rothschild set out in April on a well-publicized trip from California to Australia aboard a vessel constructed from recycled plastic bottles. The raft, christened the Plastiki, is set to arrive in Sydney in about two weeks time. The purpose of Rothschild’s journey: To draw attention to marine pollution – particularly from plastics – and the overfishing of the world’s oceans. Oceanographers estimate that there may be as much as 100 million tons of plastic suspended in the waters of the eastern garbage patch, a soup of plastic and other trash…
Tags: australia, Climate change, David, fish, marine, ocean, plastic, Plastiki, Pollution, Rothschild, Sydney
