A thought provoking article http://www.theage.com.au/national/playing-god-20140905-3ezcf.html
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It may be that they have other priorities. Graziers I know prioritise good grazing for their cattle – hence the proliferation of transformer weeds such as gamba and buffel and para grass etc. Developers clear blocks of all vegetation because it’s cheaper to build that way. One builder, seeing my friend Sue, a builder/developer, had left quite a lot of native bush around the house she was building, sent his bobcat driver into to “tidy it up”. Sue was in tears. And then there’s ignorance. Sue told me that many purchasers would replace the native plants she had so carefully saved as did the woman next door to me (Sue built our duplex). She told me she “knew nothing about native plants”. At least people seem to know more about birds, but that’s of little help to avifauna when suburban gardens consist mainly of lawns, golden canes and introduced variegated plants, and very little or no bushland. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia Founding Member: Australian Federation of Graduate Women Northern Territory 043 8650 835 On 9 Sep 2014, at 8:35 am, Peter Shute < pshute@nuw.org.au> wrote:
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Be careful when quoting polls, some organisations might use the results to promote differing agendas…. Tom On 09/09/2014 10:25 AM, “Denise Goodfellow” < goodfellow@bigpond.com.au> wrote:
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Eric as a birding guide for 30+ years I agree with you on the complexity of birders. And my research shows that as well. Kind regards Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia Founding Member: Australian Federation of Graduate Women Northern Territory 043 8650 835 On 9 Sep 2014, at 8:33 am, Eric Jeffrey via Birding-Aus < birding-aus@birding-aus.org> wrote:
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Lucky You, Dave! Enjoy. John Tongue Devonport, Tas. On 09/09/2014, at 7:54 AM, Dave Torr < davidtorr@gmail.com> wrote:
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If people cared, would these animals be this close to extinction in the first place? Peter Shute
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I was not trying to say it was wrong, just not perhaps a complete picture. When I think of keenest birders I do not necessarily think of listers, although some may have big lists. I would consider Kenn a keener birder than many who are mainly focused on listing. He posts regularly, for example about his local Magee Marsh and probably spends more time in the field than many listers. Pete Dunne, Paul Baicich, the late Paul Dumont, Jim Gordon and David Sibley are among the many who have done much for conservation. My point is not there are not people as you describe, but that there are also many who are quite different, so the picture is much more complex. Best Eric Sent from my iPhone
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I know Kenn used to be an avid lister and then decided that adding new birds was not the most important thing in the world. And I know Jonathon Franzen is a conservationist as well as a lister from personal experience, but that doesn’t mean my research (or that of others) is wrong. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia Founding Member: Australian Federation of Graduate Women Northern Territory 043 8650 835 On 9 Sep 2014, at 7:33 am, Eric Jeffrey via Birding-Aus < birding-aus@birding-aus.org> wrote:
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I am not sure that is quite right. Although we undoubtedly have listers who have but limited interest in conservation, many of our biggest names in birding are also conservationists. The poster person for that would be Kenn Kaufmann, one of our top birders and an ardent conservationist. Most of the other top birders I have met are also keenly interested in conservation. Eric Jeffrey Falls Church, VA USA Sent from my iPhone
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An analysis of what voters claimed influenced them in the last Fed election http://www.theguardian.com/world/victorian-election-the-countdown/2014/aug/27/law-and-order-issues-key-for-victorias-swing-voters I guess if you bundled environment, global warming and carbon tax together it would make it into 5th place – but of course this dos not say if the carbon tax issue was for or against! Anyway – time to go birding on King Island for a few days with probably no internet access On 9 September 2014 07:50, Dave Torr < davidtorr@gmail.com> wrote:
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Depressing! On 9 September 2014 07:45, Denise Goodfellow < goodfellow@bigpond.com.au> wrote:
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According to my research on US birders, the keenest are often least likely to be particularly conservation-minded. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia Founding Member: Australian Federation of Graduate Women Northern Territory 043 8650 835 On 9 Sep 2014, at 6:15 am, Dave Torr < davidtorr@gmail.com> wrote:
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When questioned most people say they are willing to support “good causes”. They even say they will vote for politicians who will support such things. But in practice relatively few do – if the figures quoted in the article were actually representative of reality then BirdLife Australia – surely one of the major “bird conservation” bodies in the country – would have a much larger income and supporter base than it actually has. And perhaps the makeup of our parliaments would be a little different. On 9 September 2014 04:14, Julian Bielewicz < osprey@bordernet.com.au> wrote:
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Greetings All I suspect that Dave is sadly on the right track; to give one has to care first. Cheers Julian
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And the answer to that I guess is because neither of the major parties seem to make it a priority – and the reason they do not is that it is not in general a vote winner because most people unfortunately do not care much – one sees periodical surveys of what issues people regard as important when choosing who to vote for and conservation/environment issues are usually way down the list. Now if all BirdingAus readers moved to a marginal constituency it might make a difference…… On 7 September 2014 21:07, Debbie Lustig < debbielustig123@hotmail.com> wrote:
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With some 70 odd percent of all of Australia’s biodiversity unknown or undescribed http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-07/75-per-cent-of-species-unknown-fact-check/5649858 , there are so many species out there that may become extinct before they are known. We know so much more about the geology of Australia than we know about the biology, but then there is money in geology. Carl Clifford
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The question is not on what basis should we choose to allocate scarce resources to save threatened species. The question is, why are those resources so scarce in the first place? Triage of threatened species, “zombie species”…they’re all getting an airing lately. In the complete absence of the comprehensive discussions that are not.
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I’m glad I’m not the one making the decisions! Sonja On 06/09/2014, at 9:53 AM, Dave Torr < davidtorr@gmail.com> wrote:
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