Thursday, December 21, 2006

Fancy a Green Christmas

Photo Source: Environmental Denfense
A time of goodwill and celebration often accompanies by extra environmental impacts, such as seasonal increases in eating, drinking and spending which results in million tonnes of extra waste with our christmas funs. (PingPad Dec 2005: Hidden Costs of Christmas). Lots environmentalists proposed that a Green Christmas can be even more satisfying than a white one when it means giving and receiving gifts that can help keep the planet healthy long.
There are heaps of way we can make this holiday season helps the world to be a greener place. Says, our gift can be some donations to environemntal NGOs or adopting an animal/ a tree, by donating in the name of our gift recipient who will receive a certificate showing what he or she helped save. Such greenbacks not only bring joy to friends, relatives, but also to our mother nature. Adopting an animal or a tree is a usual practices in western countries (such as Australia you can adopt a shark or the U.S.). But this type of donation is till not common in most Asia countries including Hong Kong.

Other things we can do is to decorate with energy-saving Christmas lights to replace old lights. We can also send an e-card instead of a paper christmas card. If giving holiday cards is necessary, giving a card which is made from recycled paper, and using reusable or recyclable wrapping paper. Choosing gifts that help reduce environmental impacts, durable and not over-packaged (e.g. plants, reusable napkins or reusable shopping bags, educational items). Choose toys that can wind up or use rechargeable batteries.
If everyone can use the Christmas to reconsider about our everyday habits and actions to be more environmentally friendly. I am confident that we can make a huge difference in our future!

More Info: How to have a Green Christmas (Time.com)
Guide to Green Holiday Gift Giving (Environmental News Network)

Monday, December 18, 2006

Taz


Another thing i learnt in Tasmania is I recognised "Taz" in the Looney Tunes is originated from Tasmanian Devil. Or I should say "Taz" itself is a Tasmania Devil.
Tasmanian Devil is the world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial, which has a thick-set, squat build, with a relatively large, broad head and short, thick tail. Its spine-chilling screeches and reputed bad-temper led the early European settlers to call it The Devil.
However, "Taz" is under seriously threat of distinction as a devastating disease is sweeping through their population, killing more than 90% of adults in high density areas and 40-50% in medium-low density areas. What make their life even worse is they are also threaten by the fox predation as the population of fox in Tasmania increases in the last couples years. This leads to a state-wide Fox watching (or killing) campaign call "Fox Free Tasmania". A 24 hour Fox Hotline also set up to encourage people to report immediately about all sightings or suspected evidence of foxes.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Tasmanian Devilry

Although Tasmania is famous for its natural environment and it is home to some of the world's tallest and oldest trees, its old growth forests are being logged at an unsustainable rate and a lot of them are being destroyed and replaced by mono-plantations. Some australia's threathen species (such as giant gum trees and Wedge-tailed Eagle) are also being threatened by these unsustainable logging practices and deforestation.
During my time in Tasmania, I passed through few old growth forests. It is really hard to see from outside about the logging and land clearance areas as the timber industrys are using some tricky "strategies" to avoid public attentions of their partices. A local Tasmanian told me that loggers will only remove the trees in the middle of the forests and they will leave about 5m-10m tree-fronts,which faces to the roads or highways. So, when tourists drive through they can still see a lot of trees and believe that deforestaions problem is sort of overstatement by environmentalists.


However, when i looked down from the plane, I could see there were a lots "big holes" in the middle of the forests, which are resulted from substantial land clearance and logging practices. It is believed that eighty percent of Tasmania's old-growth forests have already fallen victim to logging or development. Only 13% of all the island's Wet Eucalypt Forests are left.

Campaigning to raise public awareness of preventing the logging in Tasmania's old growth forest is always one of the major issue among the environmental NGOs in Australia. Recently, overseas paper companies such as Mitsubishi Paper Mills decided not to accept old-growth woodchips from Tasmania. This was a positive step forward for Tasmania’s environment and encouraging outcomes for the campaigners. However, since the timber industry is a major part of the stagnant Tasmanian economy, generating sales worth more that $1 billion and employing thousands, both the state and federal governments have stepped into the breach in order to protect the state economy. Some logging company even tried to sue protestors into silence.

The battle between NGOs, government and the timber industry is still a long way to go.

More Information: Environmental Destruction in Tasmania

Tasmania Forest Campaigns- The Wilderness Society



TASMANIA FACTS

* Tasmania lies about 155 miles off the south coast of mainland Australia. It is about the same size as Ireland, and its population - 472,000 - is around the same as that of Liverpool.
* Only five per cent of Australia - the driest inhabited continent on Earth - is forested. Much of this is in Tasmania, Australia's southernmost state. Native forest covers around half of the island.
* Endemic, rare and endangered wildlife includes the Tasmanian devil, Forester Kangaroo, Fairy Penguin, Quoll and eleven bird species found nowhere else on Earth. The legendary Tasmanian Tiger, officially declared extinct in 1936, may still survive in remote parts of the ancient forests.
* Tourism in Tasmania - much of it centred on the state's wilderness - provided an
estimated 22,000 jobs in 2004; at least twice as many as the logging industry.




TASMANIAN FORESTRY FACTS

* An average of 20,000 hectares of native forest are clearfelled and burned in Tasmania every year.
* 80,000 hectares of native forest have been converted to non-native plantations in the last seven years.
* Tasmania exports more woodchips than every other state in Australia combined; it is the only state that clears and woodchips native rainforest.
* An estimated 90% of wood taken from native forests on public land become woodchips, for export mainly to Japan. No more than 4% become sawn timber.
* In 2003, 14,600 hectares of native forest was clearfelled and burned. Only 6180 hectares - just over 40% - were replanted with native trees. The rest became fast-growing plantations or were converted to 'non-forest use'.
* The rate of logging in Tasmania has quadrupled over the last decade. Logging companies' profits, too, have steadily increased. Logging jobs, meanwhile, have declined. Five thousand jobs have been lost in the last 25 years, as the industry has mechanised and 'downsized.'

- Source: Paulkingsnorth.net

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Tasmania - The Land Apart

Caption: Wineglass Bay at the East Coast. It is one of the world most photographic scene.


"If I was obligated to emigrate I certainly
should prefer this place..."

- Charles Darwin, On visiting Hobart Town aboard The Beagle in 1836

I think I share a similar view with Charles Darwin after my trip to Tasmania before i left Australia in early December. Compare with other Australian states (except Western Australia as i haven't been there yet}, Tasmania is my no. 1 state in Australia. I've already fallen in love with the green forest, clear sky, blue ocean, white beaches and the clean air. I believe I will visit Tass again in the future.

Unfortunately, just heard from the news that there is a serious bushfire in the Northern Tasmania. The fire has already burnt 11,500 hectares and the fire front was 70km wide. It is still not yet sure when the fire can be under controlled. I believed the fire must be a huge one as this news also appeared in Hong Kong's TV. I really hope that the fire will be put out asap with minimal impact to the lovely environment .

Photo Highlight:





























More photos: Oz-Tasmania Album