Around The Web
Julian Rutt - The Eco build Experience
Show and Tell - 27 Aug 2014
Julian Rutt’s interest in sustainability in architecture sparked while at university and grew while travelling after finishing his studies. Having spent several years working in London, on returning to Adelaide Julian began getting involved in the professional body, the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) through activity in the Sustainable Built Environment committee and the National Sustainability Committee in order to help sway sustainability policy, which later contributed to him receiving the New Architects & Graduates Award (now known as the Emerging Architect Prize). After 10 years back working for high profile practices on a wide range of commercial and residential projects, Julian began Lumen (Studio), a multi-disciplinary practice with sustainability as a key design driver. His own home was used as a testing ground for numerous sustainable design techniques and theories and recently won a Commendation for Sustainable Architecture at the AIA State Chapter awards and the Adelaide Review People’s Choice Award for new housing.
Julian also provides sustainability consulting for new projects as well as existing home and building retro-fits, has consulted to local government in the area of sustainability interacting with development plans, is a Design Review Panel member with the Office of Design and Architecture SA, has been juror and jury chair for the AIA awards, an expert witness in the ERD court and is a regular tutor/lecturer at UniSA and Adelaide University schools of architecture.
Cast: AdelaideSBN
Review of the Renewable Energy Target
Terry Dolman - The Eco Building Experience
Spotlight Event - 28 August 2014
Terry Dolman is a carpenter by trade and is currently a lecturer at TAFE SA's School of Building, Design and Drafting. He lectures in both sustainability and materials as well as delivers the Certificate IV in NatHERS. He has had interest in the environment since he was 13, after reading about toxic waste dumps in the USA.
Terry is also a keen gardener which led to an interest in permaculture. After meeting a likeminded person, he purchased an acre of land in the Barossa to grow fruit and veg. He is very passionate about social justice, which led him to work in Timor Leste over 4 years, setting up a training program for young people to help get employment which is still running.
All of his life experiences has lead to his current building project of his home in Angaston, SA.
Cast: AdelaideSBN
Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) Recovery Plan
Kangaroo Island Narrow-leaved Mallee (Eucalyptus cneorifolia) Woodland
Invitation to comment on ecological community listing assessment
Country diary: Achvaneran, Highlands: They mesmerised me in the wonder of being so close to them feeding
The first two badgers appeared earlier than usual, so there was no need for me to use the red filtered torch to see them. They were eating the peanuts I had put out earlier on top of an old oak stump only 3 metres from the window at the end of the house.
When I first started feeding them I thought they would eat the peanuts very quickly but, as usual, these two were picking up one or two and chewing them carefully. They began to mesmerise me in the wonder of being so close to them feeding away but then, suddenly, possible confrontation.
Continue reading...Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery
Proposal to take stricter domestic measures to regulate the import and export of specimens of African lion
New maps help protect our native species
Proposal to grant multiple use import permits for perishable goods under exceptional circumstances
Permit requirements for several shark species - effective 14 September 2014
Queensland Marine Aquarium Fish Fishery
Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2014
Mexico urged to act and save world's smallest porpoise – the little sea cow
The world's smallest porpoise faces imminent extinction unless the Mexican government eliminates gill-net fishing in its only habitat, the upper Sea of Cortez, scientists have warned.
Recent studies conducted using underwater acoustic technology show that since 2012 the population of the vaquita marina – Spanish for little sea cow – has fallen to fewer than 100.
Continue reading...Victorian Rock Lobster Fishery
Extreme weather becoming more common, study says
Rise in blocking-patterns – hot or wet weather remaining stuck over regions for weeks – causing frequent heatwaves or floods
Extreme weather like the drought currently scorching the western US and the devastating floods in Pakistan in 2010 is becoming much more common, according to new scientific research.
The work shows so-called “blocking patterns”, where hot or wet weather remains stuck over a region for weeks causing heatwaves or floods, have more than doubled in summers over the last decade. The new study may also demonstrate a link between the UK’s recent flood-drenched winter and climate change.
Continue reading...Sales of shark fin in China drop by up to 70% | Jennifer Duggan
Traditionally a symbol of wealth and luxury, public attitidues towards shark fin are changing in China, according to a new report
A popular dish at weddings and banquets in China, shark fin soup is increasingly off the menu due to a government frugality drive and awareness campaigns and by conservationists, according to a new report.
The trade in shark fins, a symbol of wealth in China and other parts of Asia, has led to the decline in some shark populations by up to 98% in the last 15 years. An estimated 100 million sharks are killed each year with up to 73 million used for their fins.
Continue reading...China: coal mine impact on Yellow river upper basin – in pictures
Muli coalfield is illegally gobbling up a nature reserve, blasting away alpine meadows and destroying the ecosystem of the country’s second largest river, Greenpeace investigation shows
Eat more meat and save the world: the latest implausible farming miracle | George Monbiot
Allan Savory tells us that increasing livestock can reduce desertification and reverse climate change – but where is the scientific evidence?
It doesn’t matter how often miracles are disproved; our willingness to believe in them remains undiminished. Miracle cures, miracle crops, miracle fuels, miracle financial instruments, miracle profits: the continued enthusiasm for these claims reflects the triumph of hope over experience.
Here’s another one: a miracle technique that allows us to reconcile our insatiable demand for meat with the need to protect the living planet. Better still, it proposes, eating meat could actually save the biosphere. A TED talk which makes this claim has been viewed 2.6m times.
Continue reading...