The Nullarbor - from diversity to BIG monotony

The Nullarbor is the world's largest piece of limestone.The vegetation consists mainly of “ bluebush and saltbush plants, hardy shrubs that are drought-resistant and salt-tolerant." The area is arid and almost treeless. The karst stretches over 200,000 km² (77,200 sq miles). Some of the “the worlds largest semi-arid cave karst system ” is protected by National Parks.

Aboriginal people have occupied it for 1200 generations, “compared with a maximum of 8 generations of European occupation.” The Nullarbor Plain has many indigenous historical sites, five known cave art sites and numerous hand stencils (pdf). Preserved meteorites are in the area.

Additionally the fragile limestone caves have been found to be an “palaeontological "treasure trove" “ of extinct marsupial lions.
The Great Australian Bight “receives very little...runoff “ and is home to whales, sharks, albatrosses, leafy sea dragons.

The most recent occupants (and visitors) tend to be only mobile in motor-cars. "Most people try to traverse the [Nullarbor] journey as quick as possible and they just endure it..” Maybe this is not a remark about the Nullarbor, but about a way of perceiving the environment (in Australia) when racing to get to 'it' or 'getting away from it all'. Knowledge and a positive disposition to the land (scape) would probably aid 'seeing'/understanding. The inability to see 'country', makes Australians pop BIG artifacts into the landscape, usually after it has been shaved. Then there is a reason to travel to 'it' and pay for 'it'.

The answer to the 'unused space' of the Nullarbor is to put “the world's biggest golf course” on top of it. It will be “ three times the size of Japan, twice the size of Texas.. 1,300 kilometres across the Nullarbor Plain”. “..Hopefully this is the catalyst for actually slowing people “ are the hopes of the tourism industry.

Already impacts by increasing visitor numbers is resulting in damage. The N.P. is the size of Tasmania and enforcement is limited by staffing. Golfing is associated with huge water needs and mostly toxic run offs. This would impact significantly on the diverse marine and terrestial flora and fauna of the area.

Could the Federal Government not fund its unique natural assets, instead of furthering another unsustainable venue, that might eliminate what is special about Australia. Local or o.s. tourists are unlikely to visit such a venue. Keep the natural, indigenous, paleontological heritage of the Nullarbor plain as an asset.

Ecological Communities - A Biological Survey of the Nullarbor Region, S.A.gov
The Nullarbor Plain - world’s largest limestone karst landscape, The Wilderness Society
Great Australian Bight, BBC documentary
Cave art in Australasia, Robert G. Bednarik
Image: Eora handstencil on Sydney sandstone

Toxic waste from Australia to Germany

The once prestine bay in Sydney, called Botany where British colonialisation started off, habours highly toxic waste form the industrial age. To 'keep Australia clean and beautiful', they are planning to off-shore their industrial waste to Germany.
“Orica Australia is proposing to export 22,000 tonnes of highly toxic hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste to Germany. The waste is supposed to be incinerated in Leverkusen, Dormagen, Herten and Brunsbuettel. Two of the incinerators are run by the Chemical company Bayer.” “Orica, the $5.4 billion parent company of Dulux, Cabot's, Selleys, Yates and Thrive, and the world's biggest maker of explosives, owns the waste, and says it cannot be properly destroyed in Australia.“
Hexachlorobenzene (HCB)
Petition against in Germany, Bund-N.R.W.
Image: Graffiti, Berlin

Our Plastics in our Oceans - video

To visualise the previous post on ocean pollution, this video is worth watching.
The Algalita Marine Research Foundation depicts the problem of marine debris in our ecosystem.In the video entitled "Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea" it is claimed that "80% of marine debris is land-based and 90% of floating marine debris is plastics."

Hack, mix, distribute and eat – your plastics

Since the beginning of time human beings have utilised the 71 % of the Earth's watery surface to dump their rubbish. What has changed, is the massive population and the nature of the artificial anti-products that are now disposed in the world oceans by individuals and industry. Apart from the cost-effective discarding of 'millions of tonnes of sewage and toxic waste' gigantic amounts of plastic is added. ”80% of marine debris originates from land based sources.” Just the plastic alone floats for hundereds of years on the surface and is distributed/ 'flushed' with the ocean currents to all corners of the globe (map). With time the pellets of domestic and industrial waste develop into ever smaller particles. They are given the cute term: 'Tears of the Mermaid'. These toxic, microscopic particles then enter living organisms in the ocean at all levels. They remain and accumulate in the aquatic and terrestial living beings.The degradation of the entire food-chain is the inheritance left behind.
The issue is unfortuntely not sufficiently important to act on, there have been various reports over the years – all in wane. Some attention is generated now as there is a financial impact on large boats having trouble getting thorough the plastic debris.
More on causes and effects
Disposable Oceans, Greenpeace
Mother Jones defending oceans

Strawberries costing the Earth

Huge strawberries were on offer at the market yesterday. The WWF is calling to boycott this Spanish produce, because their cultivation is leading to an "environmental catastrophe". The majority are grown around the national park Coto Donana. Germany and France are the largest importers of this water intensive and polluting crop. WWF claims that ”that strawberry cultivation is highly polluting, resulting in 4,500 metric tons of plastic waste each year and pesticide pollution.“ If you buy them before April, they are most likely destroying the Iberian natural milieu.
Graffiti:Berlin_mitte

Ivory mobile, disappearing species, climate comforts

- On the gadgets market, the latest ivory-clad Nokia is sure to be a trophy. Maybe exemptions have been made for this casing.

- Rare rhinos are disappearing in Nepal. There are still 26 one-horned Rhinoceroses left to be possibly pulverised into aphrodisiac.

- A new species of fish called: By-Product has been discovered. Despite plundering the oceans, there are still wonderful fish remaining, even in the deep oceans.

- The record temperatures of a world burning up can not be alleviated by artificially creating cooled habitats for Humans. It has been found that their air-conditioned urban places of aggregation have a raised temperatur of 1 to 2ºC.