Boom then bust

Over the last few months we've all seen images of central Australian plants and animals responding to higher rainfall and water in creeks and swamps, we've seen images of lakes like Lake Eyre that have earned the title 'lake'. Scientists have been out in the desert areas trying to document huge increases in bird numbers, breeding events, plants germinating from long-dormant seeds, mammals and insects that are finding the larder full for a change.

On our recent trip to the area round Alice Springs we found numerous Budgerigars breeding in River Red Gums along watercourses - it was a delight to watch their antics - and noted Zebra Finches simply everywhere. Seed supplies must be plentiful and water too. It would be wonderful to be able to explore places like the Simpson Desert and the Channel Country now, when they're at its best.

Scientists are gradually building up knowledge of how Australian plants and animals respond to the semi-arid conditions that cover 70% of our country, how they cope with long dry periods and times of plenty after rain events. Some of the experts were asked to contribute chapters to a book called Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country edited by Libby Robin, Robert Heinsohnn and Leo Joseph. It is an award-winner (the Whitley Award and the NSW Premier's Award) and our Eco Book Group decided to make it our study book this month.

We all agreed that Boom and Bust was a most enjoyable read and it generated a lively discussion. Each chapter of the book concentrates on one bird species' response to good times. We learned about woodswallows, zebra finches, grey teals, emus, koels and black-tailed native hens. And pelicans, and brolgas. And the extinct genyornis that couldn't cope at all well with changing climate and vegetation. And night parrots. So many interesting stories told well. We learnt that humans will have to learn to adapt to changes too and that there are lessons to be learned from observing the behaviour of white-winged choughs - all very charming and cooperative when food is plentiful but watch their true natures appear when there isn't enough food to go around. War is declared.

This is a book about birds but non-birders would enjoy it as well.

Bottlemania

Water went on sale and we bought it. Remember the time when we didn't carry water in labelled plastic bottles?
I nearly always have a bottle of water with me, but at least I can say that I only bought the bottle once and have refilled it from the tap numerous times. The bottled water industry has already passed milk and beer in sales (in the US at least), the empty bottles are fodder for land fill and cost a lot (environmentally) in transport and manufacture terms. And where does the water come from? Who owns the water?
At our last Eco Book Group we discussed Bottlemania: how water went on sale and why we bought it by Elizabeth Royte. Most of Royte's examples are US based, but the same principles apply world wide. The success of the commercialisation of the water industry when people already had good water to drink is a phenomenon that she tries to explore. She discovers that not all tap water is perfect. And, that bottled water does have its place but it's often no better than tap water.
Why would you pay some multinational company a lot more for a litre of the stuff?

On Borrowed Time

David Lindenmayer has written a book called On Borrowed Time: Australia's environmental crisis and what we must do about it. It was the subject at our Eco Book Group discussion this week.

Our discussion was lively, wide-ranging, thought-provoking and informative - just like all good book group discussions. On the whole we agreed with Lindenmayer's passionate arguments and agreed that he has presented them in a very 'easy-to-read' format. Australia's environment is unique. We do have huge environmental problems. We are at crisis point.

According to Lindenmayer these are the 10 key environmental problems:
1. The serious financial and logistical underinvestment in Australia's environment
2. The unsustainability of almost all of Australia's natural resource-based industries
3. The ecological over-commitment of Australia's landscapes and seascapes, including our precious water resources
4. The lack of credible yardsticks to measure environmental progress and management effectiveness
5. The need for institutional reform
6. The strong likelihood of repeating past environmental mistakes
7. The limited understanding or appreciation of our environmental problems and the need to focus on key issues
8. The lack of planning for our human population size and level of resource consumption
9. The need to develop new economic models that take into account the effects of population growth and resource consumption on the environment
10. The lack of forward planning to deal with climate change

The sticking point was - what are we as individuals going to do about it? It seemed to us that a lot of the effective decision-making has to be done at Government level. We suggested that every politician and councillor read David Lindenmayer's book.

The (weekly) times they are a changin'

For our Eco Book Group meeting this month we decided to each buy the four issues of The Weekly Times published in October and see what was written about the natural world. When we all turned up with coloured plastic flags pointing to many highlighted paragraphs we realised that The Weekly Times and its readers actually have a lot to say.

The lively discussion ranged over the subjects of weeds, feral animals, water resources, native grasses, conservation of remnant vegetation, climate change, Landcare, Trust for Nature, alpine grazing, Red Gum forests, fishing and drought. We didn’t always agree with what was written but on whole we thought much of it was positive and informative.

In the last year we’ve read Maathai (tree planting), Flannery (weather), Pearce (water) and Pyne (fire). Next time we’d like to move away from the reference section of the bookshelf and into the realms of fiction. Any suggestions?

When the rivers run dry ...

Our Eco Book Group met to discuss When the Rivers Run Dry: What happens when our water runs out? by Fred Pearce. And it certainly caused some lively discussion. We were all a bit depressed after reading his stories about the use and abuse of fresh water in the world. He paints a terrifying picture of the global water crisis, and he's such a good story-teller that complex situations are illuminated for us mere mortals.
Chapter headings are:
When the rivers run dry ... the crops fail
When the rivers run dry ... we mine our children's water
When the rivers run dry ... the wet places die
When the rivers run dry ... floods may not be far behind
When the rivers run dry ... engineers pour concrete
When the rivers run dry ... men go to war over water
When the rivers run dry ... civilisations fail
When the rivers run dry ... we go looking for new water
When the rivers run dry ... we try to catch the rain
When the rivers run dry ... we go with the flow
The final chapters are quite optimistic but book group members were quite pessimistic. Here in Geelong we're on Stage 4 water restrictions and the authorities are tapping into aquifers, talking about desalination plants. The Moorabool River, which flows into the Barwon at Geelong, is not getting any release of water from the reservoir upstream because Ballarat needs it. And they are planning a new subdivision to accommodate 50 000 people. Where are they going to get the water from?
In the meantime people are installing rainwater tanks. Our neighbour had his delivered this week and it's sitting on his nature strip because his house is on a steep slope and now he has to figure out how he's going to get it to the top of his block. I hope I'm home to watch it all happen. I bet there will be lots of arm waving and swearing.

Unbowed

I belong to two book clubs.

One is a regular Council of Adult Education book club. Books are provided through a membership fee. We meet monthly to discuss the chosen book, and literature of all genres is covered. Many interesting and stimulating (noisy!) discussions are generated by the questions is the guide that is provided each month. It's a lot of fun.

The second book group I belong to is run under the umbrella of our Field Naturalists Club. It's called the Eco Book Group and we meet whenever there is a fifth Tuesday in the month, about four times a year. We have to buy or borrow our own copy of the chosen book. A local book shop gives us a 'book club discount'. This year we have discussed Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers, Stephen Pyne's The Still-burning Bush and Unbowed: My Autobiography by Wangari Maathai. We're trying to select books that have a strong environmental message, and, given the current interest in climate change, there are plenty to chose from.

Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work with the women of Kenya. She was concerned that after years of exploitation only 2 percent of indigenous forests remained in Kenya and set up a nursery herself, but later encouraged the rural women to plant and tend trees. This is now called the Green Belt Movement. They have planted millions of trees. Wangari had many disappointments, setbacks, political interference and challenges but continues to nurture the movement and the environment.

Her autobiography is written in a personal and straightforward way and our Eco Book Group enjoyed discussing various aspects of her work and her life. What an inspiration she is.

I'm looking forward to reading and discussing Fred Pearce's When the Rivers Run Dry at our next meeting.