Fossil Fuel Beach Rake and Beach Vegetation

Fossil fuel machinery ensuring no beach stabilising vegetation takes hold of the eroding beach. The tractor-drawn beach rake destroys the endemic flora/habitat, but leaves most of the plastic and cement rubble behind. A tidy event space!Carpobrotus glaucescens, (Pigface)
See also
Anxious settlers awaiting tool supplies brought in by ships from the motherland 0611

Herbicide Use in Manly

Herbicides kill unwanted plants

Biocides "have been designed to disrupt biological systems, causing death to target organisms, such as insects or plants"

They have been used in warfare to make the leaves fall off the trees in the rainforest(Agent Orange). The damage was great on all life and some victims fought a class action lawsuit about the poisoning.

These chemicals are not just used in warfare for eradicating life, they can also be put to use as chemical weapons to remove unwanted plants for example.
Once a place industrialises, that is it relies on fossil fuel machinery and chemicals for 'vegetation control' then the costly “rapid knockdown ability” of these toxins saves the labourer from bending down and picking up a weed.

Lately there have been many signs of the use of such substances in public areas that are highly frequented by people, pets and wildlife.

At the end of Bower St at the Shelly Headland Loookout where some Bitou weed (Chrysanthemoides monilifera*ssp) needed to be 'managed' a whole swath of native plants are dead or dying: Mangrove Boobialla (Myoporum ssp.), NZ spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides) and Saltbush (Enchylaena). All of the endemic flora provided habitat for native marsupials and birds. It appears to be a very inefficient 'by-kill'. The location is on the cliff's edge so runoff is an issue. Why the remaining woody shrubs and trees are butchered is another question.

Around immersive Manly Town many poles have that iconic Australian 'one grass' sprouting at the bottom. The same signs of herbicide death. Even at the beach, the vegetation at the sandstone wall also shows the same signs. A sign of surface runoff?

Who knows what the turf along the pines contains which children and dogs are rolling in. Both toddlers and dogs are low to the ground and stand to be in closer contact.

Council's website was last updated in 2007 on the matter and reads:

"The aim of this plan is to meet the community’s general right to know about pesticide applications made to outdoor public places that are owned or controlled by Manly Council. The plan allows members of the community to take action to avoid contact with pesticides if they wish. Manly Council aims to ensure that pesticides are applied to public places in a safe, responsible and humane manner, minimising harm to the community and the environment."

In a more current document council mentions that "70 litres or less of herbicide is to be used annually".

• How is the public informed?
• How is information made available?
• How can residents/visitors/pets reduce exposure to land or beach where hazardous chemicals have been applied or have run to?
• Why aren' t there any signs?

A community of users might have certainty at the moment, but history has taught that the Precautionary Principle is always a good guide. The impacts on peoples' health, the well-being of pets or the environmental impacts will, as usual come years later.

Images:
1 & 2, Poles with dead grass in Manly town, close to Manly Beach
3 Dead vegetation at the beach stairs. Run off?
4 Various Mangrove Boobialla at Shelly Headland Loookout dying.

Links
Endocrine Disruptors
Some Reasons to not use Herbicides
Glyphosate

Update:
040509
North Head , Lady Fairfax walk and lookouts also seem to be befallen by the great 'browning'. Weeds especially along the fences are doing well. Endemic plants are hit. Eutrophication down the cliff from the lookout.

260609
" Weed killer kills human cell... Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells." Environmental Health News, 220609

Nora Benachour and Gilles-Eric Sralini, Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells, Chem. Res. Toxicol., 2009, 22 (1), pp 97–105 DOI: 10.1021/tx800218n Publication Date (Web): December 23, 2008

Manly Beach Video with 'Announcements'

Manly Beach video made with a mobile, mashing up some of the audio-scape of the life guards' announcements and the sounds of the Pacific ocean. More ocean animations full screen...
Via DotAtelier

"Stinky weeds" at Manly Beach

In "Help! It's the stinky kelp" the SMH claims that "The smell comes from a tubular weed called cunji which was ripped off the rocks at the same time as the kelp". Cunjevoi (Pyura stolonifera) are animals, when they decay they smell. The giant sea tulip (Pyura spinifera) was also washed up along with the kelp. Such is beach ecology.

Out of sight 'management' of the unwanted parts of nature, such as "landfill" appear to be opportune ideas to " silence community complaints".

It is a mystery that this "community" never complains about the deadly petrol fumes along the cafes/restaurants, the beach and surf. Not a word about sewage odors or the plastic debris. But the unsightly "stinky" seaweed and the nuisance of decay ought to be removed from tidy town so that business as ususal can continue.
How will they react when the red tide or the oil slick hits?

Managing Busy Beach Environments

Benidorm in Spain went from a small fishing village "formed by two crescents of fine golden sand" to a 2.6 million tourists a year high-rise beach - "the Dubai of Europe". Intensifying alcohol- fuelled festivities in a mass tourism location distracted visitors that might have sought the uniqueness of a place.
Benidorm now wants to turn around and secure just this one-off status by seeking to protect and promote its world cultural and natural heritage. To become a Unesco World Heritage Site one has to clean up their act, so they drafted a 73-article code of conduct for beach users:

€1,000 ( 2,011.50 AUD) Bathing under "red flag" conditions
€750 Fishing (€1,100 with a harpoon)
€1,100 For Bonfires
€250 Bringing glass containers on the beach (€750 if that container breaks)
€250 Taking animals on the beach
€300 Drinking alcohol, selling merchandise (conducting outdoor businesses)
€150 Urinating or defecating in sea or sand
€120 (£102) Playing ball and paddle games outside authorised areas
€150 Early staking-out of a prime spot on the beach for later use
€750 Using the beach (for a party, sex, stroll) from midnight to 7am

Source: The Independent

Marine Conservation and The Use of Beaches

Marine Parks - the only way to go
The battle over 'No Take' and 'Grab it all Now' is grinding along Australia's coastline. Moreton Bay Marine Park , rich in biodiversity is having 16 % of the Bay declared free from fishing and boats have to "go slow" to not continue injuring the dugongs and turtles. It is " home to 750 species of fish, 120 species of coral, an abundance of dolphins, migratory whales and the world's largest population of dugong next to a capital city.""Each year some 200 turtles are found dead, sick or injured in Moreton Bay Marine Park and an average of 15 dugongs die from human impacts." The Australian Marine Conservation Society says that at least 30 % of the bay should be protected. "It exposes actually a whopping 84 per cent of the marine park to intense fishing pressure".
Manly Cove, Sydney Harbour and the Pacific hugging the Northers Beaches should also go 'slow' and have an effective 'no take' Marine Park to conserve some of the biodiversity for the future.

An observant person on Bribie Island wanted to report a loggerhead turtle stranding. He rang the Environmental Protection Agency's hotline just to be diverted to a call centre in Indonesia. The stranding was never followed up. Sounds soo familiar... abc 201008

A whale sanctuary has been created off Chile's coast, ensuring save passage for the cetaceans migration over 3,400 miles (5,500 km). Here, news of entanglement, starvation etc is almost daily. Noisy obstacles, such as human infrastructure off shore probably do not aid the journey of the giants.

Taking the beach away to attract beach holiday seekers
It is interesting to see how far 'developers' in the tourism industry go: They carted their biggest asset away, 500 truck loads of beach sand to build a a $1 billion resort with it. In the absence of the key feature, the project is now on hold. It will take 100 years for the forces of nature to replace the stolen sand. BBC

Choking on the air and pulverised stuff
"Australia's asthma mortality rates are one of the highest in the world according to a new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare." HealthInsit.au does not mention car pollution as a 'cause'. It all seems a matter of 'managing' it by medical professionals, not preventing it by involving urban planning. Elsewhere, they have found that tree-lined streets can make a difference.

Privatising public spaces
At dark, Manly's coach-led body-fitness customers are cluttering up the paths, dipping into the doggy lawn and punching into the night. All apparently unregulated. Most businesses have to pay the rent, events have to register and pay a fee, but feral businesses occupying public space with business activities seem to be exempt. "City of Yarra and several other municipalities are following the lead of five bayside councils, which recently moved to clamp down on boot camps that operate on beaches and foreshore parks.But Yarra has gone a step further and proposed a ban on commercial exercise groups of more than six people from 18 public parks in Fitzroy, Clifton Hill and Richmond. Fitness classes will also be prohibited from exercising within 10 metres of playgrounds or 15 metres of picnic sheds and park benches." It might be... "reasonable to pay a fee to conduct a business in a local park", but is it desirable to privatise public spaces?

Smoking and its socialised effects in Manly

Secondhand smoke exposure in Manly's public places, such as the beach, the streets, lanes and out-door eateries is causing direct physical injury to people wishing to share these public spaces. Lunch-time would be a prime time to enforce the law in these places. The no-smoke signs are a prefered smoking location.

After the big rain, the beach was thick with butts, causing the leaching of toxins into the environment. The paved environments are also carpeted with this toxic anti-product.

Mega litter and toxic run-off into beaches and waterways:

• 7 billion cigarette butts are littered by Australia's 3.7 million smokers every year.
• Cigarette butt litter still accounts for around 50% of all the litter in Australia

Cause of dangerous and costly fires:

• "..for every 1,000 smouldering butts that are discarded, 40 fires could result."
• 7% of Australia's bushfires are caused by discarded cigarettes - that's over 4,500 fires a year caused by cigarettes and smoking materials.

Facts via Planet Ark

Jellyfish wading and Noise pollution at Manly Beach

Jellies in a Hot Ocean
Manly Beach swim today was like wading in sago. Tiny translucent jellyfish filled up the surf and the beach. No they were not Bluebottles.

How to repel visitors to Manly
Council did its best to chase visitors away by blowing the sand off the many stairs with a very loud debris blower. Just months ago this work was done with a broom. Additionally, the 'green machine' stood on the walkway for ages with the loud motor running and not cleaning. Again - people fled the space. Both machines were causing pollution right on the beach promenade. In other places blowers are banned as a noise nuisance, some places restrict these inefficient gadgets.The industrialisation of the beach is degrading a potentially beautiful and unique environment.

Aqua-motoring in Manly - an Accident Waiting to Happen

The aquatic space is used the same way as the terrestial space – just a space to rev motors along. Just as the asphalted Earth is becoming too congested to get anywhere, the little bays, coves and even beaches become race-courses to blow the abundance of fossil fuel away. Problem is, there are these pedestrians and wildlife 'cluttering up my road'. In the blue waterbodies and oceans, swimmers take the fun out of 'having a good spin'.

Whatever takes place on the roads, is taking place on the water. Out of control, under the influence of alcohol these motors are being steered into bodies. Here a child is being hit by a jet ski on their rubber duckie, there another gets their face shaved off by boat propellers. Another gets 'mangled' by a speedboat while swimming. Speeding jet skis on Narrabeen Lagoon endanger the life of people, as well as eliminating swans and pelicans. They even insist to race The Big Dry Murray.

In Manly the season for mixing water & petrol is truly open. At Manly Beach the fumes of the speeding 'life-saving' boats are breathtaking. The proximity to swimmers of all boats is a great danger to people in the water, at Shelly Beach and Manly Beach.

Convenience & Garbage at Manly Beach

Update at the end of the day at Manly Beach. Garbage all over the beach, overfull bins, smashed glass and flies everywhere, as every year. Such a convenient life style... (Flies via DotAtelier)

Bits - birds, the beach, noise, energy & green stuff

• Two Gannets cutting through the air at North Head and diving. Wonderful sight, many disappear as 'by-kill' of human fishing, or plastics (pdf)
  
• Yes, they did find the algae Noctiluca scintillans at Manly and many other northern beaches. It loves the 'nutrient-rich water' and does glow neon blue at night.
• At Yamba, the Pacific turned to giant froth (images), not a word in the MSM here.
• Leaf-blower rage in Perth. A man lost his cool over another unleashing the noise and pollution terror onto the neighbourhood. The dirt was blown (as usual) with the help of petrol fumes from the walkway on to the road and into the stormwater drain as is customary all over Manly.

• Interesting reading on the short life of ducks, fish and turf workers on large tracks of 'nutrient-rich' land devoted to 'sport'. Elsewhere they use fewer pesticides and imaginative methods (video)
• In five years there will be no more energy in Sydney for giant 'air-conditioners'. Lights go off..
• And there are dogs regularly on Manly beach in the middle of the day now.

Image: 1. The Pacific, 2. Drains to Manly Beach, Pacific

Water Quality at the Beach

Elsewhere “sewage and contaminated runoff from outdated, under-funded treatment systems” is polluting beaches that are increasingly being closed to the public.

“ ...Careless urban sprawl in coastal areas is devouring wetlands and other natural buffers such as dunes and beach grass that would otherwise help filter out dangerous pollution.“

Boat discharges and dog feaces increase the load.
The mash up of water, sewage and toxic industrial waste has a long history of “deceit and collusion”.Local beaches are ranked here for both faecal coliforms and enterococci. Some of the waterborne illnesses like gastroenteritis, dysentery, hepatitis, respiratory ailments etc. probably hit people 'out of the blue'. Toxic waste such as heavy metals etc also show their effects only after some time.
Manly beach mix
Suburbs draining toxins into Manly beach
More on Human Waste on Beach

Collaborative satellite maps of Manly

Now you can be a bird and fly over Manly to see how the Earth is cared for.
Fly over North Head and watch it disappear. Some of the building sites are here or proposed. Check out the Corso 'before pictures'. Watch Shelley beach car-park expand and the bush disappear. See how much land is devoted to push balls around, rather then develop it as a community park with fresh water for native animals. Watch the blue harbour converted into a boat-park. Check out that Beach strip being privatised with gear and ads. Don't' forget to count all the many pools,re water shortages.
You can enter significant places of Manly on this Wikimapia
On the Australian version you can collaboratively enter Manly sites or place local comments. Do zoom in!
Wonderful tools to check developments and missing trees.
More: On homeless Bandicoots

Suburbs draining toxins into Manly beach & lagoon

Suburbs drain toxins and faeces to Manly beach and Manly lagoon as a way of disposing of these unwanted substances cheaply. Removal of collective effluent (anti product), also known as 'stormwater' can take place by labour - 'sweeping' - or 'God-sent rain' to 'flush it down' for free as a handy 'solution'. The ever increasing amounts are turning waterways into a cheap mode of transport and beaches into toxic deposits costing the Earth. Authorities are searching for cost-effective ways ("more bang for our buck...") to attempt to collect it via different means ('sweeping', blowing, traps and diversions). The production of this toxic cocktail draining from the subs is not in question and is 'regulated' via 'recommendations' and a culture of 'tidyness'.
Perpetually-running cars, petrol-powered equipment blowing, chipping etc, giving the motor boat a good blow out, washing the motor form the inside (on a water restriction day of course) are all common everyday practices. Blowing (via petrol) all unwanted dog faeces and other garbage, away from one's property into the public gutter belongs to the tidy mind-set. Chemicals galore, from pesticides, herbicides, paints, foamy carwash and oil are freely liberated into the public drain. All the everyday actions of the everyday people are then drained into the non 'my space'. Maybe the council will 'suck it up' or the rain will transport it with ease away, away…

Next day down at Manly beach or the lagoon for some of that iconic free nature, only trouble is, it contains the invisible collective anti-product that is very toxic.

"The lagoon has a reputation of being one of the most polluted waterways on Australia's eastern seaboard...Such is the level of contamination in stormwater that the NSW Environmental Protection Agency also recommends no human contact with surface waters at Manly Beach and Sydney Harbour for 24 and 72 hours respectively, after rainfall."

"Mr Galloway found that concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, copper, lead and zinc in Manly's stormwater exceed ANZECC guidelines for pollutant concentrations in waterways by between two and 168 times."

The environmental science study has found "…that high levels of sediment, nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) and heavy metals (copper, lead and zinc) are being swept down gutters and deposited into Manly Lagoon and local waterways."
More:
Image: Manly Beach mix
Lawns & pesticides

Update:
American Chemical Society (2009, August 21). Homes Pollute: Linked To 50 Percent More Water Pollution Than Previously Believed. 220809 via Science Daily

Sydney riots III, beaches & exclusionism

Ubiquitous Exclusionism in Australia
The recent violent riots in Sydney attracted international attention. Often the incident was treated as a racist aberration of one section of the Australian population against another. The fact that the progrom was just a spike in a continuous theatre of operation was understated.Only in 1992 did Australia come around recognising that the land grab of the Southern Land was not an 'empty land', but actually inhabited by indigenous Australians. Once settled, the White Australia policy sought "The total exclusion of undesirable alien races". The official policy, backed by all mainstream parties and the unions aimed at excluding non-white people from taking part.

While once the slogan was for an 'inclusive' "Australia for the Australians", the reality today is that more and more are excluded from the 'pie'. Radical redistribution and the trend to hog resources are ubiquitous in Australian society. Violence can be committed with a beer bottle, a pen, a keystroke or simply with a decision. Systemic violence does not have the 'sex-appeal' of a 'mob on rampage'. All participate in the system, but especially the 'haves' decide who is "one of us".

Recent research found that the Anglo-Saxon population in Sydney, living in the "wealthy areas in city's east and north, such as Woollahra and Mosman" are the most 'intolerant', holding 'extreme attitudes' about 'race'.

Sydney is held to be synonymous with an "…epidemic of consumerism, money-hunger and affluenza… In Sydney, more than any other part of Australia, a person's worth is measured by money. Money and what it can buy have become the great dividers, the symbols that mark out the winners from the losers." The 'invisible hand' excludes the losers and puts them 'in their place.'

The affluent act metropolitan in their exclusive Australian 'village atmosphere', wishing they could be in Tuscany, N.Y. or Zurich engaging in some more compulsive acquisitive behaviour.

Another report about Melbourne also states that the gap between the haves and have-nots has grown. "Financial comfort" is clinging to the metropolis and poverty is "increasingly suburbanised". "Howard's Battlers" dwell in low income sub-urbia and the suburbs are full of "mortgage stressors". The poorest struggle to survive in the "rust belt regions" with the "worst levels of youth unemployment."

The 'lock it up for the locals' is by no way confined to the well to do. Parochialism runs through most of the social strata and demography. Keeping out international tourism from 'our NSW beaches' so that a man can still drive his 4WD on it, kill a few sharks and empty the dogs. Friendly, myopic bullies abusing public national parks for racing, killing, etc.

On the well-to-do side there are numerous examples of excluding others from their beaches. ( For non-Australians it might be mentioned, that the beaches are the only true public spaces: 'Life's a beach' around here.)In 1998 Baywatch intended to film a few episodes at Avalon beach. The response was: "…It's our beach and how dare anyone who doesn't live around here get any benefit from it or interfere in any way with our enjoyment of it". The well to do WASPS stated a clear: NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). Other Australians are excluded with 'building standards' and market prices, as the "boat is full".

Bondi beach managed to keep "Westies" (the non-affluent,from the hot inland suburbs) out by preventing public transport to the place being built. "The locals love living by an international icon. They just don't seem to like outsiders actually visiting the place."

With time and different constellations, 'the other' who is to be excluded, shifts. Tags like: 'dark', 'coloured', 'foreigners', other 'races', other religion, other cultures or other ethnicities change. The key is that a certain group holds and enlarges power and wealth, implicitly denying access to privatised resources for the 'others'. Once all owners, foreigners, tourists and willing business people are excluded, the fight starts inside the group to gain 'lion shares' and power. In the end they can just turn against each other on a 'dog eat dog' island.

The effects of such ubiquitous exclusionism are damaging to the whole country. The illusion of locking oneself up on a 'self-sufficient' island from the world is delusionary. The managed absence of a civil society encourages progroms to spike in greater quality and quantity and finally even towards the 'top'. The international reputation for a 'tourist country' should not be underestimated. The high economic and political costs of reserving it all for a few to use up quickly are enormous.
Riots I
Riots II
2005 Cronulla riots, Wikipedia

Update 0714
"This Sunday, every Aussie in the Shire get down to North Cronulla to support Leb and Wog bashing day” SBS Documentary

ABC Four Corners - Riot and Revenge video

Combating Racism, Reclaiming Patriotism, Dr Tim Soutphommasane speech, Race Discrimination Commissioner, 29.07.2015

 

Sydney riots II

An update to 'Sydney riots':

• There is an Wikipedia '2005 Sydney race riots' about.
• The Sydney riots have now also entered Wikipedia's 'list of riots'.
• Politicians and law makers are ready to change the law 'to give police extra powers.'
• A Sydney cabbie, 'man of lettuce' gets around and has a lot of commentary and pictures.
• Technorati: 'Sydney riots' or 'Cronulla'

Update: 14.12.05:There are also the Technorati tags: 'Kristallnacht Australia' and 'ethnic cleansing Australia'.

2005 Cronulla riots, Wikipedia

Sydney riots - defending the turf

"No man's land", Terra nullius was taken over by the British in a colonisation which included attempted genocide of the indigenous population and brutal massacres. In 1860 the turf had to be defended against Chinese miners by Caucasian miners, known as the 'Lambing Flat massacre'.
In boom times the turf wars just retreated to desirable spots such as beaches. (60's battles between surfies and westies.)

These days, civil unrest by youths has erupted in Sydney's southwest (Macquarie Fields) and Sydney's southern beach Cronulla. Not an isolated occurence as just this year the streets of Europe (France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland) went up in flames. Just the 'Paris riots' are said to run up to €200 Million.

Various social policies, but foremost youth unemployment, lack of perspective and integration have been made responsible for these phenomena. An ILO study claims that "Half the world's unemployed are under 24". Australia has had persistently high youth unemployment.

In the very recent riots, were 5000 Australians of 'Anglo-Saxon' appearance engaged in racist violence against Australians that had an 'Middle Eastern' appearance, '25 people had been injured and 16 arrested, about 40 cars were vandalised'. The case of 'yob vs yob' made the news internationally, tourist operators and residents are anxious.

A specific social milieu just 'liberates the party animal'. Scarcity of resources makes it appear that 'the other' is one too many in the queue. The next step is:

"Ethnic cleansing
the practice of forcibly removing (or even killing) a group of people from an area so that the people who remain all belong to the same group - so that, the area is 'ethnically pure'."

Quotes form the mainstream media:
"It was like Australia Day gone crazy…"
"Were all looking for a party."
"Never in my working life did I ever imagine a mob, a drunken mob, turning on a woman"
"…Tensions had been simmering within the primarily Anglo-Saxon community against people of Middle Eastern descent for some time."
"Defending the Aussie way of life"
A Kristallnacht?
Keywords:
Pride, party, celebrate
Chants used:
"string him up"
"Aussie, Aussie Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi"
"Kill Lebs"
>>Riots 2009
Cronulla riots 2005, Wikipedea

Cabbage Tree Bay

Cabbage Tree Bay is one of Manly's nicest beaches. It is part of a marine reserve and is right next to Shelley Headland, an area of regenerated bushland. It is unusual for headlands in the city near beaches not to have houses packed onto them. This is the only west-facing beach in Sydney.
The bay was named after the cabbage tree palms which grew around the beach and up the creek. When Sydney was first colonised, the edible hearts of these beautiful palms were used for pig food and all the palms were cleared. All that remained of them was the name of the bay, and most people did not know why it had that name.
For the last several years, the Manly Council has been replanting cabbage tree palms at the beach and around the waterfront. Once again Cabbage Tree Bay has cabbage trees growing on it. Again there are palms on the beach where they belong.
Unfortunately, large motor boats have started using this bay as a parking lot on weekends, spoiling the visual unity of the bright blue water and the green headland and pumping petrol fumes into the fresh air where people are swimming.