Dust Storms, Turbulent Climate and Survival

While the life-supporting fabric of planet Earth is being undone, a turbulent 21 century is rushing towards us. Self-inflicted 'intertwined global-scale challenges' are unleashed leading to uncertainty. Climate disruption, decimation of biodiversity and rapid depletion of materials and energy are some the achievements of the anthropocene. The overheated Earth is being pulverised in the human stampede. Human-generated aerosols, sediments from parched river beds, mining and anthropogenic (toxic) junk space combine into 'dust'. Vigorous storms distribute the ambient particulate matter into their breathing organs which did not evolve to be vacuum cleaners. They choke.

Dense orange pollution cloaked south eastern Australia. "But despite this obvious sensory input, people... seemed to be essentially oblivious to the poor air quality and went about" business as usual. First things, first: The oversized suvs had to be freed from particles with a lot of water. Simply "defending national ideals". As "the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter per capita" there has to be some pride in standards. "Sleepwalking into an environmental disaster" is not on for the sporty nation - driving, or racing with the aid of 3629 kg might be.

But now you can ensure the survival of your family. Just like your suv, this is "a self-contained living system a gated community for one". Whatever the disaster will be, "at least you can weather all (dust) storms". Buy now SurvivaBall Model X7


Video via survivaball, You Tube Channel

Emission Intensive Events at Manly Beach

Events in Manly are announced via a BIG CO2 footprint. At the beach front/Corso plastic banners are hung into the pines to announce an event. The banners and plastic strings weighing a few grams are being put up and taken down with a maximum of petrol usage and noise pollution.

Also a huge section of the public pedestrian space is taken up by parking a suv, a trailer and a crane in it. With the machinery running, the worker extracts the bit of plastic.

It is especially ironic that 'green events' are being advertised in this emission rich manner. Digital channels do exist. It seems incompatible with the council's 'Sustainability Strategy for Future Generations'.

The 'green family fun' event at Manly Lagoon also degraded the sound scape for the waterbirds/wildlife and adjoining residents. Amplified noise or anthropogenic noise pollution are not beneficial for wildlife. A high impact event.

NB In image 2 note the plane trails of high emission in the blue sky celebrating the aerial combustion engine as well. Families were fascinated with the pollution and the disappearing atmosphere for their off spring.

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 - Spoooky for Australian Children

WOOHOO! - It's Halloween again. Let's see what spine-chilling, scary and weird spook lurks in the closet this season.

It has been found that educated and mature parents, capable of long-term thinking/planning produce healthier and smarter kids "Children with highly educated parents, and from families with two working parents, display higher cognitive ability and appear to have fewer behaviour problems." Depressed and immature parents are probably not ideal carers.

The 'One minute a day-dad' is probably steering his attention towards electronic interactivity, just as the mother/carers are not investing in interaction with the child.

Not learning to focus in a social setting could lead to 'Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder' (ADHD). “Drugging unruly children is a method of social control “ in Australia and the U.S. especially. Being under six years old for 'the pharmacological solution' seems no barrier. Later, cognition can be chemically enhanced and psychotropic medication usage becomes prevalent for young adults.

“ Drinking as a means of self-medication” is usually adopted in the parental milieu and might be advanced into "binge drinking" or a “Culture of Extreme Drinking” and self-abuse.

The 'home' environment is a dangerous place: No, not spooky bats, but family dogs maul helpless children to death (here, here, here & etc) or transfer their diseases (image). Nothing is done. Alone in deep water (pools) is also a high risk environment(2 yo, 15 mo, 2 yo). Just mower injuries are considerable.The media is awash daily of violent crimes committed by the 'hand of the carer' against helpless infants, toddlers and children. In 2003 "almost 3,500 children under the age of 15 die from maltreatment (physical abuse and neglect) every year in the industrialized world." (UNICEF 2003, pdf) Nothing much seems to change.

Scaffolding society does not seem to lend much support either, in fact the human balance sheet is sliding into that of a 'developing' country: Australia "continues to accept mediocrity for our young people" at a time when we top the rankings of some global prosperity indices....I'm disappointed in the way Australia has become smug about being top of the pops in wealth and sport, but for the most important element for the future of the country, our children, we're way behind the eight ball," says Professor Stanley.

• Dying very early: "Australia ranks 20th out of 27 nations for infant mortality.""The infant mortality rate for Indigenous Australians is more than double the non-Indigenous rate - we rank in the bottom third of the OECD nations for infant mortality."
• Violence: "There are too many "deaths from injuries and non-accidental deaths...These are children who are killed - neglected so much that they die."
• Children getting children: "Teenage pregnancy rates are much higher than the OECD average, and rates for Indigenous young Australians are the highest in the OECD"
• Lack of sustainable public mobility: Youth road deaths are 12 times higher than Portugal. Chuck mum's SUV. "We need to get kids walking to school, so they can get both exercise and get to know other children.”

• Choking on Pollution: "Australia's asthma mortality rates are one of the highest in the world" pdf
  
• Mental health: - Australia ranks "13th out of 23 OECD countries on childhood mental health".
• Food/Socialising: Australia ranks "21st out of 27 for children eating meals with their parents."
• Communicating: "We have half the rate of parents just hanging out and just talking to their children than Hungary does for example - Hungary is the best in the OECD," Professor Stanley

Adults being addicted to CO2 pumping private mobility reduce the quality of urban air. "There are almost three times more asthma-related deaths in Australia than in Europe" Having the highest asthma rates in the world (pdf), kids are choking. Foetuses are shrinking and harmed, children have reduced cognitive abilities from their externalities. Scientists are urging the government to reduce emissions, to not take that 'sky dome' covering the Earth from very harmful rays away. UV rays increase skin cancers and will sizzle the DNA.

A crowded, hot, water-less and polluted world, without all the other species will be very unhealthy.
The environmental heritage left behind is far from inter generational equity according to this report:
All will have to deal with bio-accumulation:

• Groundwater and surface water contamination,
• PCBs, Radioactive waste and uranium mining, mining activities generally
• new emergent chemicals/toxins
• Urban air quality
• Untreated sewage

In Manly businesses are eager that all immerse themselves in plastic gadgets and costumes, which will soon end up in the tip, or worse the ocean. Trick or treat for advanced children ends up nasty and violent and only keeps the authorities busy.

The best green 'party' (celebration) people could offer the little ones would be to face up to their actions, access their values and act responsibly towards themselves, their offspring, the other species and the remaining biomes and give the Earth a chance. Quality interaction and doing things from scraps can be a lot of fun .
See also: "Manly- It's kinda spooky 2007"
Images: All public art works by young people o.s. Known here as 'graffiti', as it often just is the initials of the scribbler in Manly.
Links

• The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth -ARACY Report Card on the Wellbeing of Young Australians,
• Never better - or getting worse?The health and well being of young Australians, Australia 21, Richard Eckersley, pdf, 369KB
• John Pilger, Under cover of racist myth, a new land grab in Australia, Claims of child abuse are proving a fertile pretext to menace the Aboriginal communities lying in the way of uranium mining. The Guardian, 241008
  
• A conversation with Professor Fiona Stanley, (Professor in the school of paediatrics and child health at the University of Western Australia, and UNICEF’s Australian Ambassador for Early Childhood Development. NHMRC, 0708, podcast
• Garnaut, Climate Change Review
  
• Intergenerational Justice, 2008, Stanford, Philosophy
• Top ten World's worst pollution problems 2008, Green Cross & Blacksmith Institute
• Australia’s health 2008, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, pdf
  
• Costume suggestion for 2008 : Plastic choked mermaid at Manly Beach
  

Manly Beach 2048

“Pungent brown sewage spews into the Pacific ocean. In the background, cranes put up hotels and beachfront apartments."
So runs an intro to another Pacific tourist spot where uncontrolled coastal tourism development kills the 'golden goose' for investors, residents and visitors. Pressures to intensify and commercialise the protected 'green and blue' leads to the degradation of all. Squeezing the proverbial 'goose' to death means a loss of human health, life quality and economic gain. Even more of the Australian species, plants and animals would lose their habitat, that is their right to life.

Imagine!
Manly in the 21st Century could be consumed in the same way, if there is no refraining from grabbing 'what's left'. Developing the trends would give the following constellation:

The pressure is already on (pdf) to convert 'nature' (Sydney Harbour National Park, North Head, Quarantine, Dobroyd, and Garigal National Park) into more of the same, a tide of 'accomodation' and sprawling sub-urban McMansions with their associated infrastructure.

Manly 'town' could become 24/7 neonlit buyosphere which customers could immerse themselves in. Alcohol merchants and casinos high-rise, Las Vegas style could frame the beach. Experiences and bodies could be organised via animators from the entertainment industry. Roofed domes would lessen the deadly uv radiation from scrambling the DNA. Organised 're-creation' is conducted on flood-light filled arenas. All are of course attending in respective plastic uniforms. Sports ovals, swimming pools and golf courses are also day & night air-conditioned and lit. Plastic lawns have long replaced water gobbling/toxic lawn transplants.Every inch of the Earth is paved over with coastal real estate: tourism development (hotels, resorts, restaurants, etc.), and the infrastructure supporting coastal development (e.g. marinas, beaches, recreational fishing facilities.) Breakneck developments turn the area into ear-piercing noise waves on every corner.

The sky is also filled with constant noise: Jumbo planes are seen 'spinning' over the beach, belching poisonous gases and consuming non-renewable energy while delivering more 'customers'. Helicopters and small plane 'joy-rides' are now so numerous that they are on a clear collision course with each other and the many UAVs. Brand names are 'written' into the clouds for all to see, that are not in-dome. Blimps urge all to accelerate the buying of anything now!

The ocean:
Surfing and swimming has long being abandoned, as the nutrient over-enriched coastal waters have turned into a permanent red tide. This anoxic "dead zone," is devoid of fish, but still very rich in stinging jelly blooms. The entire coastal marine ecosystems has been consumed. The sand is so e coli laden, that it is not to be touched. The 'ocean spray', full of HABs, is a health hazard.An industrialised ocean horizon:
Private boating also ceased, due to oil shortages and the unavailability of territory to give these motor-boats 'a good spin'. A dense network of aquaculture infrastructure clutters up the coastal waters. Further out, the ocean horizon is studded with chains of giant artifacts: Desalination factories (pdf), gas- and oil drilling and extraction structures and huge data platforms. No whale has been seen for years that could navigate this dense human ocean clutter.

More frequent violent storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and giant waves mince up the entire set-up due to human-caused climate change. The thick layer of human debris and waste floating on top of the Pacific also gets washed onto the shores. Various chemical spills and scrambled infrastructure do not make 'clean-up' operations easy.

Due to the many desalination factories, the water guzzling life style could be kept up. Visitors on the whole are consuming double the amounts of water via hotels, swimming pools, golf courses and personal use etc. But locals also all have their personal lap pool by the 'beach'. The exotic plants still are watered with petrol pumps as before.

The demand on energy leads from time to time to a crash into 'a candle economy'. Many suffer in their air-conditioning dependent dwellings in the long black-out periods. The nuclear option seems to keep this power-ful life-style alive.

Sewage, another plentiful anti-product which is a slight challenge to the aesthetic and olfactory appeal, could also pose a possible loss in revenue for tourism. The dead zone of the coastal waters is fueled by this waste-water contaminated with toxins and pharmaceuticals.

But all is not without life, people now have their dearest darlings cloned in multiples. One can see them, as before in cafes with up to 6 harnessed dogs.
Huge cats, as well as packs of dogs have gone 'feral' roaming gated estates. The only surviving bird is the Indian myna, seen in millions coating all with its feces. Many black rats are seen living on the garbage. Large swarms of flies, mosquito and ticks are still posing a challenge.

Australian animals can now be admired (for a fee of course) in an event space, previously known as a museum. There they are, the bandicoot, the little penguin and so many more - all stuffed, just like in the 19th Century. Most Australian plants are gone. Some invasive plants and pests are still about, despite the increased toxicity of the weapons used in aerial helicopter spraying.

Uncontrollable fires shroud the area in suffocating smog. Even though there are only weeds left to 'back-burn', the scarcity of water, threatens the 'real estate'.

Many argue that tourists were not drawn by all that 'environmental stuff', they didn't give a hoot about the unique ecology of Manly. They were seeking to spin their body around, often with the aid of petrol or ingestid toxins . This constituted 'fun' and sold well. Human generated 'attractions' have to be erected to offer a peep here or a spin there. Once contained, money could be collected in this Disney-like hybrid simulacra world. Neither locals nor visitors are remembering or missing that 'biodiversity and landscape attractiveness'. The problem is though, that the place has become indistinguishable from so many other (coastal) places in the world and that is a challenge. Like malls and airports, one doesn't know anymore where one is.
Looking after the Country in the future:
Myopic objectives could gamble away 'nature' and 'uniqueness' that has no substitute. Unchecked developments and mobile destruction (mass tourism) degrade a place and its resources. 60 % of Australia already has been degraded by relative few people in a short time. 'Customers' flee the degraded tourist traps, locals desert the uninhabitable places seeking refuge in the remaining 40% 'new-found-land'.

Returning North Head, Sydney Harbour National Park, Quarantine Station, Dobroyd, and Garigal National Park to their owners might guarantee a halt to the tidal wave of destruction.The National Parks and reserves are an essential refuge for endemic plants and animals. They also are of great ecological and economic value in framing Manly as a desirable and unique place on the Earth.
Images:
1 North Head, Manly and the Northern Beaches, Google Earth
2 North Head, Dobroyd and part of Sydney Harbour National Park, Google Maps
3 Dobroyd, SHNP viewed from Manly Cove
4 The Pacific ( uncluttered) viewed from North Head
5 North Head cliffs and the Pacific Ocean

Links:
Manly Council Submission to Taskforce on Tourism in National Parks, PDF
Players:
The NSW Government
The Environmental Trust, The Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC)
Manly Council
NSWALC, NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Land Rights Act
National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974
NCC/NPA Submission to Taskforce on Tourism and National Parks, Submission of The Nature Conservation Council of NSW and the National Parks Association of NSW and the Blue Mountains Conservation Society. 0808, pdf 1,2MB
Areas to 'exploit' and 'open up':
Sydney Harbour National Park (SHNP) North Head, Quarantine Station, Dobroyd, and Garigal National Park.
Coastal Recreation and Tourism:
- UN Atlas of the Oceans
- United Nations University (2008, June 4). Coastal Management Cooperation, Enforcement Key To Avoid Pending Crisis For Millions, UN Experts Report. Retrieved September 22, 2008, via Science Daily
- Mike Davis , House of Cards, Las Vegas: Too many people in the wrong place, celebrating waste as a way of life, Sierra Club
Footprint:
-"You can't have one species growing indefinitely on a planet that is finite." Prof. Bill Rees

Update:
" The vast majority of the Australian population is clinging to the east coast, running out of land and running out of water...2043, when 43 per cent of the Gold Coast has been abandoned to ever-rising sea levels. Australia's swelling population could be accommodated in desert cities." SMH 201209

Clothing and Manly Demographics

The immersive consumer market moved along with Manly's demographic trend. Mainly 20-39 year old Anglophones. Postindustrial society seems to provide few stay-at-work-incentives so a nation of 'stay-at-home moms and a few stay-at-home dads' is encouraged. The professional home-maker does not need work-clothes of course, instead a plethora of body-hack shops have sprung up. The make-over services range from blonding without an end, podiatrists' income generators, known as footwear and lots of 'scents to die for'. Internal bras are sure to come, plastic surgery for all is creeping in. Clothing is mainly synthetic and tends to look like life-long maternity wear.

In a post-factual world, lingerie fantasy-wear seems to be the new gear for hard yakka. No, it has nothing to do with the position of women in servitude submission or bondage. As undergarment or mainstream attire it is the uniform of many female 'success stories' that would 'make mum proud'. The drudgery of depressed motherhood is just part of this unsustainable fantasy game.

Consuming Manly - 'in the Lap of Luxury'

The Australian Conservation Foundation put Manly on the map as one of the greediest and most wasteful suburbs. Patterns of consumption are quantified in terms of greenhouse pollution, water usage and the ecological mega-fauna footprint (land/resources required to sustain a person's lifestyle). A mentality of 'more is better and big is best' is depleting the Earth's resources for generations to come.

“The newest status symbol for the nation's most affluent families is fast becoming a big brood of kids.” 'Competitive birthing' is complementing the perpetual house-renovating/flipping, 2-3 cars, (mostly 4x4s) and packs of dogs (varying with fashion). Many home functions are outsourced such as food to Cafes and Eateries. Large amounts of food are being returned there, at home the waste economy continues. “ This report has highlighted the crucial relative importance of consumption of food and other consumer products, which far outweigh the direct impacts of energy and water use in the average Australian home...The eco-footprint of this volume of wasted food is greater than the footprint of all household expenditure on transport combined” (ACF report,pdf)

Sustainability, inter generational equity or consideration for other species are not on the mind of the 'I, me & myself'.

We are told, that everyone can do their bit..."facilitated and coordinated by an ambitious and effective framework of government regulation and support.”(ACF,pdf) In a systemic deregulated and privatised civic and economic turbo environment that is pushing the hype of consumerism at every corner, it might just be a well-meaning bit of hot 'recommendation'.

As the basic fabric of this society is based on individual possessiveness and the private good, the concept of the public good and the idea of sharing goes against the grain of the acquisitive Homo economicus. Any form of regulation is seen as a restriction of the individual's neo-liberties. 'Education', dead-tree information & litany falls on sealed ears.

This affluent society is based on the exclusion of others from the national riches. Some take the prerogative to grab the 'lion's share'. In a stratified system members seek to privatise and maximise a chunk of the world's resources. The anti-products are shared generously. The jubilant victors' celebrations/parties over the gains do not tolerate being disrupted by 'restraints'. The 'top of the heap' does not believe in limiting its right to luxury and exclusiveness.

After “liquidating the planet's ecological resources” they sure will 'discover' another two to three spare planets to 'harvest'.
Images: 'Lap of Luxury' images, Manly Beach promenade

On the Use of Water - Or the Creation of Dead Zones

Red tides, or more accurately harmful algal blooms (HABs) are produced by abusing the world waterways as a garbage dump (eutrophication). The resulting 'murking' up of the liquid of life is toxic for most living beings. Ancient, toxic bacteria thrive in these human produced conditions. Finally, the degraded environment collapses into a dead zone.

The Mash-up in Australia:
The water bodies of the Earth are being used as a cost-effective way to dump the unwanted. The picture for Australia in 2006 reads:

“The discharge of sewage and stormwater, land runoff, groundwater and river inputs of nutrients and sediments to estuaries and the coastal waters...
All capital cities discharge sewage and stormwater to estuarine and marine waters, and much of this receives only minimal treatment—stripped only of solids and rubbish, but not of nutrients, hormones, disinfectant breakdown products, nor of a range of resistant viruses. Stormwater from urban areas is discharged after minimal treatment to reduce large solids (such as plastics and industrial rubbish), but otherwise contains untreated road and garden runoff, with oils, rubber particles, fertiliser, nutrients and sediments. River catchments are major sources of nutrients, sediments and a range of agricultural and veterinary chemicals, all of which affect estuarine flora and fauna; where river inputs are large, coastal ecosystems are adversely affected.”

“ Runoff from agriculture and development, pollution from septic systems and sewers, and other human-related activities increase the flux of both inorganic nutrients and organic substances into terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal marine ecosystems (including coral reefs).” (Wikipedia)

This process of eutrophication is Australia-wide (14.7 million square kilometres of ocean and about 36 000 kilometres of mainland coastline.)

The Liquid of Life is lost, toxic organisms grow:
These human activities create favourable conditions for micro organisms, they changes the aquatic ecology. Water loses its translucent quality.

See, smell, use your senses:
A walk at the beach might reveal red-brown patches and a pungent hazardous smell ( HAB-laden aerosols) mingled in the salt spray. At night the sea is aglow in neon-blue surf. The drinking water smells.Image by msauder at Flickr, CC "Bioluminescent dinoflagellates (Lingulodinium polyedrum) lighting a breaking wave at midnight. The blue light is a result of a luciferase enzyme ... Under the right conditions, the dinoflagellates become so numerous that the water takes on a muddy reddish color (hence the name "Red Tide"). The bioluminescence is only visible at night."

Dead Zones - No Life here:
The dumping of nutrients, solar irradiance and warmer temperatures are a sure recipe to increase the biomass of toxic phytoplankton.
There are 146 dead zones in the world already. The ecosystems have collapsed due to lack of oxygen and no life can take place in them.

The "Cost":
Most of these fossil bacteria are a toxic to humans and animals.
They affect the drinking water, food and yes beaches are closing. “... HAB events adversely affect commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, and valued habitats, creating a significant impact on local economies and the livelihood of coastal residents. “ It is not beneficial for the human economy.

Sydney's Drinking Water:
The recent find of blue-green algal bloom ('Microcystis aeruginosa' (image))in the Sydney region poses 'no public health risk ', but you might 'notice a change in taste and odour.' Elsewhere they are treated as a neurotoxin. In developing countries this harmful algal bloom causes the death of fish (pdf).

Keeping an eye on it:
The Australian 'state of the environment ' report of 2006 claims:
“There is no systematic monitoring and reporting of algal blooms in Australia’s estuaries and coastal waters, so there is no way of knowing if eutrophication is increasing or decreasing as a national problem.”

International bodies, such as UNESCO and The International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae aim to manage the problem.

The citizen-based group Red Tide Florida is not just combating red tides but also a 'government in denial'.

Keep an eye on that living water-body...

Drinking Water and Healthy Water Bodies Pt II
Video: Bioluminescent Bacteria in Oceans
NSW Algal Information

Update 210907 " We are dumping industrial waste in the ocean. Changes in ocean chemistry within the ranges predicted for the next decades and centuries present significant risks to marine biota. A large team of scientists state that human-induced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will alter ocean chemistry to the point where it will violate U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Quality Criteria [1976] by mid-century if emissions are not dramatically curtailed now."

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.

Lawn Transplants 'that cost the Earth' - Manly style

Transplanting turf on an o.g. basis that requires noisy and polluting watering via two stroke pumps and o.g. petrol intensive mowing is unsustainable.

Council workers, residents and visitors are exposed to the polluting out-fall of these ineffective maintenance machines.

As part of their 'duty of care' council should also disclose to the stakeholders what chemicals are contained in the imported turf transplants (at the beach and in the suburbs).Toddlers and adults roll on it.

The 'Ethical Standards' of Manly Council aim at:

“Sustaining the environment - We will act with care and caution towards the environment, protecting the biosphere, its biodiversity, and using its resources sustainably for present and future generations.”

Although, they recommend native grasses, their practices set the example for a mono-culture of petrol and water intensive regime of foreign grasses (lawn), noise, air and soil pollution.

Chemicals in lawns and their health effects
National Toxic Network Australia

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.

Tasmanian Salmon marinated in...

Next time you go out and have that nice salmon dish – think again.
Salmon from underwater factories contain huge amounts of antibiotics and they also may contain dioxin and PCBs. The Tasmanian salmon industry “...has used nearly double the amount of OTC (Oxytetracycline) than was anticipated under the permit application.” The use of antibiotics on salmon and trout "...has jumped from just 12 kg a year a decade ago to eight tonnes in the first three months this year.”
High population densities of fish lead to stress and dis-ease. Pathogens are fought cost-effectively with these high doses of anti-bio-tics.
Some of the drugs cause allergic reactions in some humans and there are concerns of huge amounts of these drugs entering the human food chain and having negative effects on our health.
Aqua- 'culture' has also negative impacts on the water quality and increases probabilities of emerging diseases spreading to aquatic ecosystems. One disease expert is concerned that Australia “...may not be well enough prepared to counter emerging disease threats from aquaculture.”
The industry is worth $250 million dollars and received its last tax boost of $1.285 million recently.
You can make a decision by choosing organic fish from your shop or restaurant and supporting the sustainable management of fishery stocks and marine ecosystems.
Plundering the aquatic pantry
food
Update, 250907
"Sea lice from salmon farms threatening wild Pacific salmon...In some cases, sea lice originating from salmon farms are estimated to have killed up to 95% of the wild juvenile salmon. We can expect long-term wild salmon stock decline if farmed salmon are not quarantined. When our government ignores the immutable natural law that disease is amplified when host populations are crowded, we pay the price of irreversible loss of a very valuable resource."
Scientists writing a public letter to the Canadian government, as "a sense of duty to future generations".Via Science Daily

Attracting more motorised vehicles to Manly beach

Some cities aiming for sustainability introduce 'pay as you drive' schemes. Transportation in Sydney is 'going nowhere', killing many, endangering health and hotting up the Earth for all to come.

But Manly is going the other way, parking out the beach will become even cheaper. Beachfront parking already increases traffic and the associated noise and air pollution. Foul smells and deafening noises enter the eateries and cafes at the beach and the CBD. Hot bombs fly along unrestricted. Even on the beach promenade the negative impacts can be heard and smelled. Sometimes even there are motorised vehicles on the pedestrian path. The stated goal of 'maximise (car) parking' seems contrary to any proclaimed goals of sustainability.

Just one look at the many parked bikes and walkers and one can see that residents and visitors want bikeability and walkability in a unique place. Yes they do shop too and spend money in restaurants. But in the absence of 'a chambre of non-motorised residents and visitors', no one seems to consult these stakeholders. Lets not consume the uniqueness of Manly beach in one gulp.
Consider a car-free beach, even a walkable, cyclable town.
A world for cars

Unsustainable noisy petrol - 'gardening' Manly style

There is a lot of circus and warm recommendations about 'sustainabiltiy' in Manly. The council itself is modelling via their actions that polluting petrol-gardening is ok. Putting in 'pansies' and other exotics that require petrol-powered watering is also ok. Apparently in charge of noise (annoys) management, it regularly bestowes a noisy hurricane of petrol-powered equipment 'when the council does the 'nature' strip'. It is hard to believe these machines have 'noise labels' and conform to the prescibed noise level of 80 dB(A). In other places the debris-blowers are already illegal.
Who controls and enforces this health endangering noise?
Who controls private providers when one wakes up on a Saturday in 'Timbertown'?
There is talk of 'tougher restrictions on neighbourhood noise' but are the 'managers of noise pollution' exempt?

When will council show the way and rip up the lawns of suburbia, plant self-sustaining native tufts of grass, that do not need, petrol, water, pesticides or high staff-intensity?
How does council ensure that pesticides on suburban lawns and constant beach turf transplants are not endangering life?
Where is the guarantee to toddlers/people that the lawns/turf are not saturated with poisons?
That their immune system will not be affected by 'mystery diseases'?

In many cities of the world people have taken sustainability seriously, they eliminate their carpets of conformity and put in sustainable plants that do not cost the Earth or inflict noise and toxic pollution onto the environment.
Visitors and tourists would also know that they are not in the Europe of the pansy or the Sth. Africa of exotica, but could see what unique flora Manly has to offer. Additionally it could become a quiet beach-resort and not another interchangable Anywhere-place.
More on lawns and pesticide
Images: Monoculture lawn of anywhere and local native grass tuft