Ever since humans have worn garments, they have had to wash them. Where to put the garments to dry has a fascinating history. We always think that pegs hung them. However, clothes pegs only have a relatively recent past. Before the nineteenth century, laundry was hung on bushes, limbs or lines without fasteners to hold the clothes in place. … Read more
The humble clothes peg Read More »
“The fundamentals of science are you do not tamper with the original evidence. That has happened with our temperature record, where the past has been cooled and it makes it look as if we’re warming. That is fraud.” Ian Plimer
“BOM are right often enough to be considered, but wrong often enough not to be relied upon.
Fudging the figures Read More »
This is a story to illustrate an instructive lesson on active land management. It involves animals including humans, plants and forces of nature.
My story is a call to arms to highlight that our land management issues are not straightforward and the solutions require the fortitude to go against elitist and misguided orthodoxy.
A fable about land management in the tropics Read More »
“And of course there were ignitions by the fistful. Lightning kindled some fires, but most emanated from a register of casual incendiarists that reads like a roster of rural Australia: settlers, graziers, prospectors, splitters, mineworkers, arsonists, loggers and mill bushmen, hunters looking to drive game, fishermen hoping to open up the scrub around the streams, foresters unable to contain controlled burns, bush residents seeking to ward off wildfire by protective fire, travellers and transients of all kinds.
The 1939 fires – a blame game Read More »
In April 2021, I wrote a blog about memorable fauna stories. You will note that I didn’t mention leeches, mainly because I never panicked when they were on me. I didn’t like them, but I tolerated them. I had to when walking in the wet bush all day, especially in the always moist forests in north-west Tasmania.… Read more
More fauna stories – leeches and ticks Read More »
“They are farming us of our money, not farming the wind or solar.”
“Queensland will be covered in glass and steel to meet ambitious renewable energy targets”
In a previous post, I wrote about the mad scramble by federal and state governments to force a rapid transition to renewable energy despite insurmountable engineering constraints, costs blowouts by a factor of 20 from $78 billion to $1.5 trillion in 2030 and $9 trillion by 2050, and the refusal of our federal minister, Chris Bowen to face up to reality, even after a relentless stream of delays to major renewable projects hits the news each month.
Killing koalas to “save” polar bears Read More »
Introduction
This month marks the 55th anniversary of the worst fires experienced in the Bellinger Valley since European settlement. The late spring and early summer of 1968 was one of the worst fire seasons experienced in New South Wales. Spring was exceptionally dry in coastal areas, with Sydney only receiving 29.5 mm for the season, easily the driest on record.
Three days of hell in the valley Read More »
“Sadly, our climate and energy policy remains in the grip of an intelligentsia that lacks the wisdom to recognise the boundaries of its own ignorance”. Nick Cater
“…destroying the landscape with inferior technologies that cost more and do not achieve the desired policy aim of Net Zero is insane”.
Wake up Australia – renewable energy won’t save the planet if it costs the earth Read More »
Today is the first day of spring in Australia, a day we celebrate nationally as Wattle Day. It is the time of the year when some wattles flower producing an abundance of yellow inflorescence. One of the 1,070 wattle species is our floral emblem – the golden wattle (Acacia pycantha).… Read more
Celebrating Wattle Day Read More »
“The greens are like goldfish. No matter how much you feed them, they always want more.”
The Terania Creek forest blockade
Interest in Whian Whian and Goonimbar State Forests by locals was first raised in a letter in July 1974 to the Forestry Commission of New South Wales (FCNSW) about their plans to log at the head of Terania Creek.… Read more
