What is a mining tailings dam?

You've probably heard of tailings dams before and many are concerned about their environmental impact. These areas are often considered by some people as more environmentally damaging than the mining activities themselves. But what is a tailings dam?

To understand this question one must first understand that all types of mining activities produce a form of tailings. Basically tailings are just the left-over material once the mineral or material being sought is removed. A tailings dam however, is a structure constructed to contain left over materials (usually quite fine) and water used and generated during the extraction process, and meant to allow the materials to settle out during its storage period. Tailings dams are also known to contain additives, which are chemicals used during material processing to aid in the extraction of the relevant mineral(s). It is commonly believed that many of these additives are the "problem", due to their potential toxicity to both the environment and people. 

Well, now we know what they are, do tailings dams truly pose environmental risk? It certainly seems that historically mining tailings dams (throughout the world) have had impacts on aquifers, downstream water systems and local communities. And it does seem in terms of quantity alone (compared to the amount of mineral extracted) tailings are a heavy burden on the landscape. However, I think to determine the true impact of these "dams", it will be important to examine each of the processes, as obviously each mineral requires a different extraction process and in turn will have their own environmental and social impacts.

Stayed tuned, unless you have the answers earlier. 

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Should companies be responsible?

What would happen if companies were held to account for the goods they produce throughout their products entire life-cycle? As an example in this situation, a producer of a mobile phone would therefore be responsible for all of the discarded or redundant mobile phones they produce. I think this is a marvellous situation to ponder.

Would producers end up producing products that were likely to last longer, have more recyclable or reusable content and reduce the number of new models they are produced? What other situations would arise from this? Perhaps there would be a return of repairers, rather than the standard response "it would be cheaper to buy a new one than investigate the issue and then repair the problem" or "parts are no longer available for that model".

I believe there would likely be less landfill, less pollution, more sustainability and longevity of products. Producers would become more savvy with their products, more responsible with their choice of components, increase the amount of recycled content, as well as the increasing the capability for  their products to be recycled.

To me the opportunities and positive outcomes as a result of such a scenario are endless and something that perhaps we could strive towards and maybe mark the end of endless consumption that modern, western society seems to have entered into. Pin It

Sea-eagle cam!

How cool! I love live footage of nature in action. The latest one I have linked into is a remote camera that is trained onto a wild white-bellied sea-eagles' nest at the Birds Australia Discovery Centre in Sydney, Australia. The parents are currently incubating two eggs, with the expected hatching date sometime in mid-August 2011.

If you'd also like to watch, have a look at: http://www.ustream.tv/seaeagles.

If you'd like to donate to keep the research and opportunities going for Birds Australia, the group running this remote camera you can do this at: https://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/online.html. Apparently the group is looking to raise $30,000 by October 2011 to enable them to upgrade the cable that sends through the video feed from the centre to the world for the 2012 nesting season. Pin It

Ever heard of a cassowary?

Southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) are a fabulous Australian species, which is unfortunately significantly threatened in north Queensland, where they currently live. This species is protected under both Queensland and Commonwealth legislation, but legislation alone will not bring this species back from the edge of extinction. 

Cassowaries are one of Australia's flightless birds and looks much like an emu in stature, but has shiny black feathers, a uniquely coloured and wattled head and neck and a large 'helmet' on its head. It grows to approximately two metres in height and weighs between 55-75kg when mature. Chicks on the other hand are camouflaged and lack the distinctive 'helmet' until mature. An interesting fact is the male is the parent that raises the chicks until they are of an age to move into their own home ranges.

In Australia, this species' distribution is between Townsville in the south and Cooktown in the north and within this area occupies only rainforest and associated habitats. Further information on its distribution and habitat can be found on the Commonwealth government's website.

This species is particularly important, as it is considered a keystone species and is attributed to the survival and maintenance of the rainforest through its role as a distributor and processor of seeds and fruit from the plants that occupy this habitat. Many plant species in these areas have co-evolved with the cassowaries and are only able to survive as long as the cassowaries are there to keep them going (as cassowaries are the only species that can transmit their seeds, due to their size).

Threats the cassowaries face within their habitat include:

• habitat fragmentation and loss;
• habitat degradation;
• roads and traffic;
• dog attack;
• feeding by people, which brings them into urban environments;
• diseases; and
• natural catastrophic events such as cyclones. 

The first six dot points in this list are ongoing threats to cassowaries, with the impact of the last dot point being exacerbating by those preceding dot points. Over recent years, the area occupied by cassowaries has felt the brunt of two significant cyclone events. These cyclones tore the cassowary's habitat apart with significant loss in vegetation cover and food availability for the cassowaries. This saw many of the surviving cassowaries come into townships and cross roads where additional fatalities occurred as a result of the impact of vehicles and dogs.

This species does not have generations to live, if the impacts they currently face are not curbed. But rather they could be extinct within our lifetime. This is a real life or death situation and unlike the current political support seeking to maintain koalas just in south-east Queensland, this species needs political and social support to see its survival in the wild. Let's make a difference and become more aware of this situation and support actions that prevent or reduce some of the impacts this species is experiencing in North Queensland. Don't stand back and let a unique Australian species become extinct on your watch!

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How to make a difference with your super!

Here in Australia it is mandatory to have a percentage of your wage go into superannuation, with the money only accessible once you retire aged 60/65. The reason for this is to ensure all people will have some sort of financial security in their retirement and reduce the burden on the government.

Generally, this money is invested by private companies into shares, cash and property. Many of these companies offer different packages to allow you say in the investment choice dependent on your circumstances. For example, there are packages tailored to those retiring in the short-term, with these likely to be more aggressive attempting to maximise your gain in a short period of time.

Some of these companies are realising that not all people wish to invest in "typical" options and/or have a desire to make a difference to the world throughout their lives. As such, there are now packages appearing which are entitled "socially responsible" or "environmentally friendly". If you are a person considering one of these options it is worthwhile investigating the package to determine whether they address your concerns. I personally have a "socially responsible" package through my superannuation firm, which gives me similar returns to other standard packages, but the investment choices within this are determined to be socially responsible.

However, what does "socially responsible" mean though? My superannuation company has an extensive list of the firms they invest in through this package available on their website, which can be downloaded and reviewed at your leisure. This is a great first step. After reviewing the list briefly, of so-called "socially responsible" companies some of them looked a little questionable to me. So, my next step was to email my company requesting a definition or set of parameters that they use to to determine whether a company is "socially responsible" or not.

I received the following as a response. They have three key criteria which they use:

" 1. the financial assessment process and the ability to factor labour standards, and ethical, social and environmental factors into company selection;
2. avoiding exposure to companies with a material exposure (greater than 10% on key financial measures) to avoid the production or manufacture of tobacco, uranium, armaments, gambling, alcohol, or pornography;
3. selecting optimal manager combinations."

This was fascinating and made me more aware of the package I was "buying into". The issue, however comes as you cannot change your investment mix to reflect personal choices and remove individual companies based on your preferences.

So if you are considering making a positive step for either the environment or "society" through your long-term finances an appropriate superannuation packages might be another reasonable strategy. The key message however, is to look into the investment structure and asked for definitions.

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Veggie gardener threatened with jail

If you hadn't already heard there has recently been an American case where a lady was taken to court for growing vegetables in her front garden. The Organic Gardener magazine reports that her case has not proceeded. Thankfully!

It is with utter amazement to me that it is possible for a "city" to take someone to court for trying to provide themselves with fresh produce in their front garden. It started with an infringement notice leading to a charge requiring an appearance in a court. Apparently this gardener's choice of plants were not considered to be "suitable living plant material".

Thankfully common sense has prevailed!

The lady who's war this was has a blog which you can also visit: http://oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.com/ Pin It

What's happening in the environment where you live?

As part of the initial concepts and introduction to permaculture, keeping an observation journal is very important to begin to understand the natural patterns that you will either attempt to work within or modify once understood.

Things that I have noticed around my place over the last few weeks:

• the molasses grass has seeded and started to die off now
• the weather is extremely dry
• days are starting to get warmer during the middle of the day (t-shirt weather at midday)
• still have chilly mornings
• blue billygoat weed is flowering
• acacias (wattles) both planted and naturally occurring are flowering. This started back in June and various species have flowered over this time, but the beautiful yellow flowers are still prevalent around my area
• magpie babies have grown up and some have dispersed from their parental territory
• strawberries are in full production in my area
• increased numbers of roadkill around my area, mostly feral animals, but have noticed a number of dead bandicoots on the side of the road (guess it is the beginning of their breeding season or dispersal of juveniles).

Another interesting thing that occurred in my neighbourhood is that the neighbour on the either side of the creek has decided to clear fell an entire paddock. Thankfully the creek line has government protection and he has abided by this protection, but I now notice there is increased sunlight levels glimmering through the vegetation which was not visible before he cleared. To me that is a little sad because the vegetation is predominantly wet eucalpyt and rainforest and the increased light levels are likely to encourage the growth of weeds in this community and along the drainage line. There will also be changes to the microclimate for the animals and plants that have occupied this area up until now. Pin It