Manly Cemetery Doubles Up as a Dog Loo

There are few cultures in the world where a public space such as a cemetery doubles up as a dog loo.

There appears to be no land-use conflict between the "sleeping place" of dead people and pet owners liberating their canines off leash into the Manly Cemetery Heritage.

Mourners probably do not want to linger amongst the tree-less and unkept burial grounds full of dog poop.

Maybe it is a new cultural convention of pet society where dog deities as protectors of the deceased fertilise the public green space with their feces and urine. Once locals have emptied their pets they get chauffeured back into the manicured back gardens with the help of a lot of fossil fuel.

On the connection of the living and the dead

Egyptian dog-headed god Anubis attending the deceased.

The Paper - an iconic culture that needs your help

The dead tree media is dying. Yes, they are still being delivered daily to many doorsteps via petrol in sub-urbia. Lovingly wrapped in plastic, thrown on the manicured lawn at 6 am. In cafes they still get into THE paper rage to do the crosswords first. On Saturday, fight over the glossy sections to be in the know what the latest 'must have' should be. Sometimes the paper is just blowing about on Manly Beach.

But now YOU can support the struggling industry. There are also many more examples how you can use the paper: When retreating from the coast, pack all your stuff in it. Start the next BBQ with it or just do clean up that dog§*+" from the walkway.

Video via Slate videos

Seven Little Penguins killed by a Dog at Manly Beach

Seven endangered Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) were butchered by one dog in their "protected" habitat in the National Park. (Images). This is the last and only colony in N.S.W.

Dog owner's attitude: ‘what’s one penguin against my dog’s freedom’ Manly Daily 060709

Mnly Blog points to an abundance of dogs being illegally allowed to be on Manly Beach (daily), in penguin habitats, Shelly Beach, North Head NP and the National Parks. There seems to be very little enforcementt and a lot of encouragment of the introduced canine obsession. The unleashed dogs are gaining territory, as wildlife is lacking a sponsoring industry.

Many cafes have dogs INSIDE, and outdoors they have their snouts on the same plates as the customers. Staff fondle the saliva of dogs and then continue to serve human beings.

But then in a society where children are mauled by dogs, people have their face ripped off, little flightless birds only get a few lines, before its back to serious business.

It is a state of poverty to exchange rich biodiversity for a monoculture of dangerous animals mauling people and Australian wildlife.

Questions:
How many convictions (on-the-spot fines) have been served on dog owners for illegal behaviour?
What proportion of resources are being devoted to the protection of wildlife?
What is the ratio of dog sponsorship by council, compared to the effective enforcement of the 'critical habitat' law?
Which tourist/visitor will want to see packs of dogs?

Update: 170709
T E N endangered penguins killed. Mnly Tweet
Penguin Habitat, Manly Cove

Manly Beach Spirit

SUV driver aiming to plough their way across pedestrian strip, despite the pram, three adults and dog. All non-motorised beings had to dodge to survive. Pedestrian crossing, Sth Steyne/Victoria Parade.

Marine Corps style female fitness runner banging into walkers (obstacles) on 'their' gym track and injuring them. 'Fitness Boot Camp': I, me & myself, get out of my track. Shelly Beach Walkway.

Black suv racing , endangering others. Sydney Road, along Ivanhoe Park.

Families mistake the severe beach erosion as an adventure playground: Small children are playing amongst the dislodged rocks, cement chunks, crevasses, debris, fibrous mats, dunes and backwash. The 'stormwater' run off pipes (eutrophication) draining the suburbs, seem to be the highlight of small toddlers. Manly Beach

Manly Beach Riot Day

Following a long celebration period, during which adults modelled marathon drinking in sub-urbia, Australia Day or Invasion Day should be the final bang of the same thing.

To flee sub-urban misery, the oversized cars where packed with plonk, meat, dogs and kids. THE public space in which it all has to take place is of course the beach in Australia. Walkers invest their life racing no less than three dogs in harness (on average) along the beach to empty them there. Schoolies had settled on their towels with endless containers of alcohol and smokes. National flags covered the Corso, most bodies and their skin.

From beach to town the ubiquitous primal sound of "woo hoo" could be heard. The utterance of 'winners' borrowed from another culture and sphere has long replaced the endemic home-grown articulations of "cooee".

Public intoxication, violence, rage and glassing are not foreign to Manly. "Violent attacks have risen on the northern beaches by almost 10 per cent in the past two years." Violence is often said to be 'alcohol-fuelled' amongst mostly young men. Even businesses on the Corso are 'feuding' and 'brawling' diplaying violent behaviour in public.

Later in the day a group of 80 young Australians arrived (by public transport?) also clad in the national flag and said to be sedated by alcohol. Their utterances are claimed to have consisted of: "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’’, "Aussie Pride", "f*** the pigs’’ "f--k off we're full", "we’re celebrating we are Australian, f*** the ethnics", "lets go f--k with these Lebs" and "tits out for the boys" .
Their deeds were violence against people and vandalism towards objects."They jumped on top of cars and smashed windows as they ran up and down Manly's Corso." "An 18-year-old Asian female in one of the cars was showered with shattered glass, giving her numerous cuts to her arms... A taxi driven by a Sikh Indian was also targeted". Manly Police and the riot squad attempted to restore civic order.

"Australia Day became a scene of brawls and vandalism across the state - with anger spreading from Shellharbour in the south to Port Macquarie in the north." "Ambulance crews were called to a fight at Sutherland train station with reports of a 10-person brawl, with a glassing and a female with a fractured finger." "Police say about 1,000 people were involved in the fight at Burleigh Heads". Head injuries at Batemans Bay. A "massive brawl"erupted on the Queensland's Gold Coast.

The 2005 Cronulla riots in NSW also come to mind. District battles for the golden 'public' sands away from unsustainable hot sub-urbia.

Previous:
Sydney riots I, 05
Defending the turf II, 05
Sydney Riots, Beaches and Exclusionism, III, 05
Spooky for Australian Children, update: 040109 abc
Other:
Rebel Without a Cause
Riots With a Cause
Update:
Manly 'morons' rampage was racist: academic. SMH 270109, " racism dressed up as nationalism"

Movie: The Bards who lived at Manly Beach

Now the movie: 'The Bards who Lived at Manly', Henry Lawson. Made with Xtranormal, Text2speech, 3D movie editor - first try.

Buy Nothing Day - Give the Earth a Break

Buy Nothing Day
is a halt from converting the earth into a junkspace, whilst eyeing for spare planets to exploit. Unravelling our own biosphere on Earth and replacing it with artifacts sprawling over the globe: human biomes. The anthropocene, a geological age of our own making might engineer us out of a place hospitable to life - as we know it. The ecological destruction and the mass consumption of Homo consumes is threatening the survival of all humans and life. Meanwhile other species are being pushed off the planet, as 'we' already consume beyond the capacity of this planet. The externalities are generously socialised for all to come.

Homo consumens' habitat
The corner store is eaten by shopping streets, they are in turn swallowed by 'towns', shopping towns are gobbled up by malls. The storage space in Mc Mansions' Bland-burbia is never enough. The combustion vehicles bloat in size to transport the cargo. Mega-cities burst at the seams. "The world in which we were trapped is in fact a shopping mall..." The privatised artificial buyo-sphere controls 'appropriate behaviour' via CCTV, 'advertising' (unsolicited messaging), security personnel and urban 'design'. Space for citizens and human beings shrinks rapidly. Niches get occupied by commercialised 'recreational activities'. "In the end, there will be little else for us to do but shop".

"If space-junk is the human debris that litters the universe, junk-space is the residue (hu) mankind leaves on the planet’ The virus ascribed to junkspace is in fact the virus of shopping itself; which, like Disneyfication, gradually spreads like a toxic moss across the known universe. "

'Shop till you drop' - Having or living?
Having outsourced self-management and creativity to infotainment and traditional culture, it's an easy ride. Just follow the 'must have', 'must do', 'must go', 'must eat' etc track like a zombie. Benchmark 'identity' via consumption patterns. Become an array of designer labels and body hacks. Jump start the casino machinery. The pathological addiction to shopping, is usually accompanied by other forms of addictive consumption.
Wasting one's life, 'killing time' leaves a void amongst all the stuff. "There is a certain sickness in this drive for ever-increasing consumption and the danger is that, by being filled with a need for consumption, the person does not really solve the problem of inner passivity, of inner vacuity, of anxiety, of being depressed -- because life in some way doesn't make sense."

Give the earth and yourself a rest – Buy Nothing!

Immerse yourself in Life!

Links
Fredric Jameson, Future City, New Left Review 21, May-June 2003
Rem Koolhaas, Junkspace, OMA
Erich Fromm , On Being Human- Homo Consumens, 1997
The photographic art of Chris Jordan depicts Grand Canyons of our rubbish on this planet.

Buy Nothing Day, UK
Video, Manufactured Landscapes
Video, Piggy consumes the earth
Affluenza and downshifting in Australia, Wikipedia
The Story of STUFF, Free Range Studios, a teaser:

Halloween – it's kinda spooky

Manly Council is attempting to facilitate 'community' top down. The chosen event this time is Halloween. “Make your Street Spookier” goes the postcard-blurb. We should engage in a “creepy” orgy of consuming and line the streets with debris (plastics): “fake cobwebs, bats" etc., streamers and sugar/coloured lollies and spend big on costumes. Strange ideas for a council that purports minimising waste and has a sustainability statement. The promise is that the road will be closed, but no mention is made where the many spectators will park and what the increased traffic hazard means for wildlife and adjoining streets capes.

Halloween has its origin in the agricultural rites of death and renewal for a new sustainable year. Part of the produce had to be sacrificed to the land spirits and shared within the community. Dark forces had to be soothed with gifts and bonfires held darkness and death at bay. This renewal festival has long been co-opted and commercialised to flog off (mainly plastic) merchandise. Australia has just recently hopped on to this bandwagon.
The are a lot of spooky skeletons in the Australian closet. The plastic bats, spiders, owls, crows, skeletons, the cats, werewolves, haunted houses and zombies might be contemporary props to ward off the the inevitable hot dry future created by mischief-making adults. The horror is ususally projected onto the living native spiders and bats etc - till the ritual spray or habitat destruction puts an end to the spook. The defense mechanism must lay the blame on a sacrificial being, to heal the denial, the anxious state of being. Halloween is a welcomed purging as well as an economic healer now.

Children are very anxious about the future. A world without water and food , but permanent engulfing “bonfires” does not fuel much optimism. Responsible elders not looking after our only common home make the decisions to heat it up unbearable for all, make the sea rise and melt the ice. Daily, many members of this common household have to go forever. The land, waterways and air are used as rubbish tips and all loose their health. Degraded land and toxic landscapes are part of the inheritance. This 'house of horrors' might well be less inhabitable than what their parents inherited and squandered. The disruptive nature of economic and ecological inter generational equity is creepy. Apart from these many “natural disasters” of a turbulent future, children go through horror scenarios of neglect and child abuse in Australia. Irresponsible use of cars, guns and dogs also sacrifices many young lives. Haunted human relationships propagate in a spooky Zombie culture. It is bewitched how young people are denied independence and maybe a future too.

Till then, put on the big magical denial party and celebrate...
Images: 1. Children at Manly Beach, 2 & 3 Street art Berlin

Dog-walking in Bushland Degrades Biodiversity

“Operation suburban storm”
Australia's growing population sprawls into 'nature', not because they like the 'bush', but it is a cost-effective way 'to get away from it all'. They take their unsustainable cultural luggage with them to not miss out on that sub-urban feeling. The unpacking happens, but on a bigger scale. First they create tabula rasa in the 'wide open spaces'. After that, the packages of McMansions, hummers, pets and lawn monoculture gets unrolled. 'Operation suburban storm' is the annihilation of Australian animals and plants. Should any creature survive this invasion, then the next growing together of the frontier settlements would run them out of a home. In no time the human settlements take up all the land-scape and resources. Destroying what is unique about Australia
The refuges for wildlife are fast disappearing in Australia. But even the 'protected' areas are being conquered and annexed for suburbia with a vengeance. From Manly to Byron Bay to all-over the wildland-urban interface is a battle zone where Australian wildlife is eradicated. One main cause for the ecological vandalism is the anti-social behaviour of dog owners, walking their foreign animals in the last reserves for Australian creatures. There is an abundance of signs, but very little enforcement is taking place all over NSW. It seems to be tolerated that the suburbs just annex 'their bush' as their dog loo.

Vested bestial Interests
Being one of the largest pet owning communities per capita with substantial commercial interests backing it, this is a veracious force. Americans spend $41 billion p.a. on their pets, “ more than the gross domestic product of all but 64 countries in the world.” One could only guess, that Australia is not far behind. Locals consuming their 'annexed' “wilderness” hits a 'blind spot' with its guardians.

Some consume all the land-scape
Dog owners consume and degrade parks & reserves and deprive others of their enjoyment. It would be interesting to quantify the economics of this 'local consumption only' and compare it to the loss of the eco-tourism industry, even locals and visitors who would also like to immerse themselves in a green space, rich in bio-diversity. The canine community lobbies to not be 'restricted' from areas, where in fact it is them that deny the existence of wildlife or of visitors enjoying what they came for - wildlife.The loss of biodiversity is price-less (so far).
Study: Dog walkers degrade Australian Bush

New research has found that “Dog-walking in bushland significantly reduces bird diversity and abundance...We show that dog walking in woodland leads to a 35% reduction in bird diversity and 41% reduction in abundance, both in areas where dog walking is common and where dogs are prohibited...The effect occurs even in areas where dog-walking is common and where they are prohibited, indicating that birds don’t become accustomed to continued disturbance by dogs. This evidence clearly supports the long-term prohibition of dog-walking from sensitive conservation areas...Ground-dwellings birds appeared most affected: 50 percent of bird species observed in control sites were absent in dog-walked sites. The effect of dog-walking was most pronounced in the area immediately adjacent to the site where dogs were walked...There were 76 fewer birds within 10 metres of the trail when dog-walking occurred compared to control sites, suggesting birds were seeking refuge away from the immediate vicinity of threat." (Peter Banks and Jessica Bryant, Four-legged friend or foe? Dog walking displaces native birds from natural areas.)

Unchecked dog epidemic in Manly threatens rich biodiversity
The overabundance of dogs in Manly and the anti-social behaviour of their owners degrades the refuges of native animals (and plants), but also robs bushwalkers of their rights to experience these places unhassled. Some of Manly's unique residents such as the Little Penguin, ground dwelling and flight-less, the Bandicoot and many others are too often killed by dogs.

Let's keep Manly special and unique, and effectively protect our rich green areas from irresponsible vandals.

Previous:
On the Annexation of National Parks on the Cheap
Extinction and a world full of poodles
Leave some of Manly as Penguin habitat
ASBO,Dogs allowed to savage
When Rangers knock off...
Links:
More interesting reading on Manly ecology by Dr. Banks et al
Do Australian small mammals respond to native and introduced predator odours? BENJAMIN G. RUSSELL, PETER B. BANKS (2007)
"Introduced predators such as foxes and cats are twice as deadly as native predators to Australia’s unique native animals."

Sustainable mobility as core value

New citizens to this place must answer such essential questions such as: Who is the Queen's representative in Australia? To merge into the dominant norms and values they have to do it in the local lingo (Professor Michael Clyne, Danger! Monolingual Australians in global job market: MP3) of course. (SMH)

In Denmark they are going beyond "fundamental norms and values“ and are teaching new-comers how to use the dominant mode of transport: the bicycle.

Maybe Australia should deliver 4x4 classes for immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees for free.

Australian culture and its refugees

Found this plaque at Circular Quay today. I looked into her reasons why she does not live in (Manly) Australia.

She claimed that: Australia is a sports-obsessed suburban wasteland devoid of cerebral stimulation

Suburbia:
"For the vast majority, life in Australia is neither urban nor rural, but suburban. The reality is not Uluru or the Sydney Opera House, but endless, ever-expanding replications of Ramsay Street that spread out as rapidly as oil stains on water, further and further from the tiny central business districts of the state capitals. Each street has a nature strip; each bungalow faces the same way, has a backyard and a front garden, all fenced, low at the front, high at the back. Somewhere nearby there’ll be a shopping centre with fast-food outlets and a supermarket.”

The country side:
"It’s different in the countryside - but nobody lives there except a few squatters and graziers, flitting hordes of British backpackers and some remnant populations of Aborigines.”

The CBD:
"Marooned in oceanic tracts of suburban doldrums, the downtown central business districts don’t expand at all. They still occupy the same tiny nucleus of streets that they did 100 years ago. Indeed, the Sydney commercial district has actually shrunk in the past 40 years.”Reasons for living o.s.:
“The pain of watching its relentless dilapidation by people too relaxed to give a damn is more than I can bear.”

All quotes via The Scotsman

Manly suburbia, then and now - all in pink

This historical video of the 50s is soo(retro) Manly. As if nothing had changed in the 21 st Century, just the proportions. Still in the sprawl-and-mall age, happy families consuming (images) and producing more consumers. 'Stay-home-mums' and 'cafe mums' in a pink world of multiples. Theme-parks provide shopaholics with a break. Nature comes as 'pets', in poodle or pit bull variety. 'Footpath' is still a foreign word in a pedestrian-hostile asphalt & lawn land-scape. Kids are send out with bikes on non-existing bike-paths to challenge the three tonne 4x4s. Lawns and pink pansies command the 'infinite' water resources to frame the sub-urban 'property'.
Watch the insatiable appetite of an ever-growing population outstrip its finite resources.
This video is probably best viewed with the sound off and your local ambient sound on.

Manly culture

Saw this long thing today on the Corso, written in 1906 by an Australian worker that wrote “on the side” and ended up begging in the streets. Yes, culture is an expensive thing to create and maintain for individuals or societies. Anti-intellectualism then and today makes this a long but very contemporary read:
The Bards who Lived at Manly, Henry Lawson

The camp of high-class spielers,
Who sneered in summer dress,
And doo-dah dilettante,
And scornful “venuses”—
House agents, and storekeepers,
All eager they to “bleed”—
The bards who tackled Manly,
Were plucky bards indeed!

With shops that feared to trust them,
And pubs that looked askance;
And prigs who read their verses,
But gave them not a glance;—
When all were vain and selfish,
And editors were hard—
The bard that stuck to Manly
Was sure a mighty bard.

What mattered floors were barren,
And windows curtainless >>>>

Reading Manly library

Manly library's change of focus might reflect the new demographic trend.
On the shelf:
'How to get pregnant',
'Childcare for your baby',
'Parenting your complex child',
'Surviving divorce',
'What dog breed is that?'

Hibiscus or digger intersection

On a busy intersection of Manly (Cnr. Wentworth/ Darley) is a large old Cottonwood tree in a tiny patch of soil. The tree and a large sandstone monument of the public school provide the much needed shade in the hot cement desert of this crossing. When there is a market on the school premises many people gather in the shade of this large Australian Hibiscus. Often the freshly planted small plants underneath got trampled.
Now, most of the earth has been removed and a statue erected on a cemented patch. Most bottom branches of the old tree have been shaved off (as it is a new Manly convention to turn public trees into toothpicks, irrespective of species).

The hero to be unveiled is a digger of the so much loved 'bygone area' providing the young with nourishment for their days in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq. In the absence of a concept for a sustainable future and a lack of providing contemporary direction, one just models the old paradigm.

The Cotton tree (Hibiscus titialceus) is salt tolerant and flourishes on sandy beaches. A known shade tree of many Australian holiday locations it sprouts large yellow hibiscus flowers. As part of the 'natural heritage' the young could be informed how the Aboriginal people utilised this resource. Weapons, rope, fire-sticks, fishing nets, weavings, medicines and other artistic artefacts were gained from this dense and bushy tree.

Some councils seem to be aware to increase their natural canopy cover, but Manly gets further cemented out. There is no concept/planning of greening the CBD or even retaining existing endemic/native vegetation.

On gardening the mind

"…Most gardens reject the local environment."

The Old Country, Australian Landscapes, Plants and People, George Seddon, Cambridge University Press 2005, p.83 (Manly Library, 581.994 SED)

Extinction and a world full of poodles

"Nearly three times as many endangered species are on the brink of extinction than have died out in the past 500 years…" (The Guardian) At the moment 800 species are 'on the edge' (map) if no action is taken.

No problem, we are content with a mono-culture of poodles. X-mas is the time to support the pet industry, which has doubled in the last decade. Buy that new puppy, chuck that white fluffy thing (see local papers) or the pit bull and get an 'allergy-free' puggle. The latest 'must-have accessory', a designer dog, sure to fit into that cute hand bag. "It's like mixing a Versace bag and a Coach bag together" Further accessories for Barbie-doggie could be a mobile, his/her own radio programme, Satellite tracking, jewellery (Manly market), designer clothing or a doggie magazine. Designer x-mas presents for the dog/s. If there is uncertainty about a future, consult the dog horoscope.
There should be no more worries about getting your face chewed off or kiddies mauled. Yes it still will take petrol to empty the dog in the local park or at the beach.

Lawn obsession II

Mnly reported on the lawn obsession in Australia. An article by Sarah Rich in World Changing recaps the situation for Los Angeles. Two references mentioned there, Archinects and CCA especially provides a very elaborate cultural history of the lawn in sub-urbia. A must-read! Also no shortages of good ideas how to turn these lawns into fruit.

"North America now has more than 32 million acres of lawn under cultivation, occupying more land than any single crop, including wheat, corn, or tobacco. Americans spend $750 million a year on grass seed alone and more than $25 billion on do-it-yourself lawn and garden care, making the lawn and landscape industry a booming sector of the economy." (CCA)

Image:'toxic uniformity'

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

Proud to defy rules, o.g.

Cattlemen defying ban on grazing in the National Park.
Fishermen defying ban on extracting seafood from Aboriginal-owned land.
Tourists defying ban on feeding protected wild-life (dolphins).
4 WDrivers defying ban to drive in Hat Head National Park, vandalise gate.
Dog walkers defying ban to jogg dog on Manly beach (17.10.05, 7pm)
NSW farmers defying ban on 'broadscale land clearing' of native vegetation.
Recreational fisherman defying ban on marine park.
etc.