Queensland University of Technology food seasonality/growing survey

I just received the Northey Street community garden email newsletter and within it there was a request to participate in a short survey for a QUT organised research program. If you have less than 10 mins to spare and you have an interest in growing your own food or knowing about what fresh food is in season, take the time to participate in this survey. The survey is at:  http://tinyurl.com/SeasonalitySurvey.

If you'd like more information about the research and/or the researchers here is some basic information from the Northey Street newsletter and contact details of the principal researcher. 

"SURVEY: Your Experience with growing and harvesting food
As part of ongoing research at QUT, Peter Lyle (a Northey Street volunteer) and his supervisors Dr Jaz Choi and Assoc Prof Marcus Foth are investigating ways of designing technology to provide useful and engaging information on the seasonality of food. We would really appreciate it if you could take the time to fill in this 15 minute survey about your experience with growing and harvesting food, and any information you have access to through IT that may have helped proven helpful. For more information on the project please go to http://www.urbaninformatics.net/projects/food/ or contact Peter Lyle at p.lyle@qut.edu.au".

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Human-induced climate change

I just bumped into an interesting article on the Skeptical Science website entitled "10 indicators of a human fingerprint on climate change".

I think the last paragraph is great and provides a bit of perspective for non-scientists about science and climate modelling. I thought I would share it with you all.

"Science isn't a house of cards, ready to topple if you remove one line of evidence. Instead, it's like a jigsaw puzzle. As the body of evidence builds, we get a clearer picture of what's driving our climate. We now have many lines of evidence all pointing to a single, consistent answer - the main driver of global warming is rising carbon dioxide levels from our fossil fuel burning."

Food for thought.  Pin It

Another cool book club

I have just bumped into the very technological savvy Royal Institution of Australia. This seems to be a powerful source of useful scientific information available to the general public and includes many fantastic resources, with many of them being online.

One of their fantastic initiatives is their book club. Unfortunately, I don't think this is online, but for those in Adelaide you can regularly go along to the Science Exchange to participate in these book club sessions. For those of us not in Adelaide, the RIAus website (past events) lists the books to be discussed each session and this provides us all an opportunity to seek out some great science reads.

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Common questions about climate change answered

Many of us have asked questions about the science behind the causes and impacts of anthropogenic climate change. I just came across an informative source of information on the ABC website. The page is called "ask an expert > Climate change" and has many of the frequently asked questions answered by scientist working in the relevant fields at CSIRO and other recognised experts from here in Australia.

 (Source: o2 Western Australia)

Kevin Hennessy (Climate Impact Group, CSIRO Atmospheric Research) provided an answer to one of the most common questions: how do we know the climate change we are experiencing is man-made rather than natural. Kevin's response is:

"Climate models driven by scenarios of greenhouse gas ans aerosol (small particle) emissions estimate a rise in temperature of 1.4 to 5.8 degrees by 2100 assuming no actions to reduce climate change. While this is comparable to previously occurring climate change, it is occurring at an unprecedented pace and the changes would affect a larger and less mobile population." (emphasis added). 

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Website to have a look at....climate change science

I am reading a book called Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand at the moment and thought I would share one of the resources that the book highlights.

John Cook is one of the authors of this book and runs a website called Skeptical Science. It is a great resource that explains much of the science behind climate change and also brings awareness to the lack of science that surrounds climate change "skepticism".

Certainly a fabulous resource and one that you might be able to use to find out more about the science and evidence for human-induced climate change. It also reveals some of the strategies and ploys of climate change deniers and provides explanations as to why the "popular" climate change denier arguments are not accurate. Pin It

Science versus advocacy

I just read an interesting post on the The Sea Monster blog. The blog entry discussed whether junior scientists should be involved in advocacy.

Have a look at the post at: http://theseamonster.net/2012/04/weighing-advocacy-and-objectivity-as-a-junior-scientist/

Certainly some food for thought. I personally agree with the comments made by Matthew Ayres. I think this response does however split hairs with regards to definitions relating to certain language or terms.  But my thoughts are if you informed (no matter whether a junior scientist or not) it is important to tell the masses, including policy makers, the information you hold.

I find many pure scientists are hesitant to provide information on their findings until the full process of their science has run its course. The world, however, does not wait for this process and policy makers tend to make public policy based on gut feelings, the loudest voices or quasi-science. It is therefore important for the scientists to be more actively involved in this process.

Many people in my field (policy-led environmental profession/quasi-science) now discuss the importance of making decisions now and apologise later.  This seems to be how 'the world' and 'policy' seems to work these days.

As such, I think it is important for scientists to reveal information about their findings and research prior to the end of the pure science process and if something that has been conveyed to the public that isn't quite right at the end of the process, then inform the public of the complete picture at that point. People may have even forgotten the original information, given we all have two second attention spans these days. Pin It

Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand

I have started to read Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand by Haydn Washington and John Cook (2011). So far, I am truly enjoying this book, but I wanted to share a part of the forward to this book by Naomi Oreskes.

"Most of us are aware that scientists say climate change is under way, but even if we accept it as true we act as if it had no implications. We deny, what it means, and continue business as usual. 

....will that is needed.....not the will to keep calm and carry on in the face of tragedy. It is the will to change the way we live in order to avoid an even greater tragedy; a tragedy that will affect not just Queensland, or even all of Australia, but the whole world, including the plants and animals with whom we share this rock upon which we live. 

It is about the way of life that does not reckon the true cost of living, an economics that does not take into account environmental damage and loss.

Climate change is the ultimate accounting; it is the bill for a century of unprecedented prosperity, generated by the energy stored in fossil files. By and large, this prosperity has been a goof thing. More people live longer and healthier lives than before the industrial revolution. The problem, however, is that those people did not pay for the full cost of that prosperity. And the remainder of the bill has now come due. 

What we need now is the will: the will to face the facts, the will to accept their implications and the will to do something about it."

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Do you know what a ghost net is?

Ghost nets are discarded fishing nets. These nets can be deliberately discarded or lost at sea during fishing expeditions and end up traveling around the world on ocean currents. Here in Australia, the northern shores of our continent are significantly impacted by these nets, with particular effects on marine wildlife. These nets are known to capture, injure and kill a number of our marine species, including threatened marine turtles and sawfishes.

What can be done about this situation? There is certainly room for improvement to netting and fishing technology and restrictions to locations where nets are permitted. But as many of these nets are released or lost in countries other than ours, these solutions won't help the Australian marine wildlife in the short to medium-term.

So, here in Australia the majority of attention and funding is on the removal of these nets from our coasts and waters. Ghost Nets Australia is an alliance of indigenous communities across northern Australia which are funded to remove ghost nets from our shores. What a big job! Their website shows many initiatives that have been generated from this project, including recycling and art programs and scientific research.

 (Source: Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2011)

This is certainly a big problem, particularly for northern Australian marine species and one which is generally out of sight of the majority of the Australian population.


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David Attenborough coming to Australia

Oh my goodness...David Attenborough is coming to Australia! This is so exciting and he is apparently doing some public shows in August 2012.

I don't know how true this rumour is as I can't currently locate a place selling tickets to any of these shows, but according to some news websites and an event management company there are claims that he will be doing four public shows in August, two in Sydney and two in Melbourne!

If it is true, I would love to go along and hear him talk in person. I will have to wait and see if more details are revealed in the near future.


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Queensland Herbarium seminars 2012

The Queensland Herbarium holds monthly seminars at their Mt Coot-tha facility and they are open to the public. Their website currently outlines the seminars for 2012 through to June. These are held on the second week of each month between 12 and 1pm.

Seminars that have been announced so far include:

February 
"The flora of the Desert Uplands Bioregion."

March
"Historical vegetation changes to the grassy islands in the Whitsunday."

April
"The Springbrook wireless sensor network."

May
"Priority threat management to protect Kimberley wildlife."

June
"The fauna of forest red gum ecosystems following the raising of Awoonga Dam near Gladstone."

Maybe you might find some of these topics of interest, so make some time to learn from some of Queensland's researchers. Pin It

Science SuperMum

I am all in for a bit of morale boosting, but to make the rest of us feel a little worse about ourselves to me isn't justified. My friend's boss sent them an article posted on the ABC website about a physics professor and how fabulous she is for balancing such a challenging role with parenthood. I think my friend's boss was aiming for inspiration, but really they got it all wrong. The way the article is written makes it seem that we should all be achieving such accolades and attempt to be super-human in all facets of life. Please!

I say survive the best way you can in the roles that you choose or have to undertake. Take pleasure in the small things and appreciate as much of your life as you can (even though I don't remember these mantras very often). Broaden your horizons and make the most of what you can. 

Anyway, for those that want to read the original article, have a look at "A fetish for photons". 

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