Dbytes #428 (3 June 2020)

Info, news & views for anyone interested in biodiversity conservation and good environmental decision making


“This improbable question—how did a person with a weakness for conspiratorial thinking achieve the presidency?—might be among the most consequential of the coming election, which is not merely a political contest, but a referendum on Enlightenment values and on reality itself.”
Jeffrey Goldberg on The Conspiracy Theorists Are Winning


In this issue of Dbytes

1. VicForests’ logging in Leadbeater’s possum habitat breached environmental law, court rules
2. How we say stuff matters
3. Cultural vandalism in the land of Oz
4. A Study Linking ‘Girls’ and Cats Draws Jeers, Then Disappears
5. If you’re worried about bushfires but want to keep your leafy garden, follow these tips
6. Felixer uses lasers and poison gel to kill feral cats, foxes to support endangered native animals
7. Matt Canavan says Australia doesn’t subsidise the fossil fuel industry, an expert says it does

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1. VicForests’ logging in Leadbeater’s possum habitat breached environmental law, court rules

The Federal Court has ruled that state-owned timber company VicForests breached environmental laws by logging sections of the Central Highlands inhabited by the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum. The court found VicForests’ operations at 26 logging coupes were in breach of the code of practice that governed forest management in Victoria.

ABC News

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2. How we say stuff matters
Five lessons to guide more effective biodiversity conservation message framing

How we talk about or ‘frame’ information can have a big impact on the way people understand it, and how they respond to messages. Therefore, how we say something may be just as important as what we say. By strategically considering how conservation communications are framed, they can be made more effective with little or no additional cost.

https://keeptothepath.com/2020/05/27/how-we-say-stuff-matters/

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3. Cultural vandalism in the land of Oz
Criminal intent or just failed governance?

The caves at Juukan Gorge contained inestimable anthropological and cultural value, as did Hasankeyf and the Bamiyan Bhuddas. Unlike Hasankeyf and the Bhuddas, the caves lay in a stable, democratic and developed nation that tells the world it respects and protects Indigenous culture.

Clearly, something has gone horribly wrong here. At the very least there has been a terrible lapse in national and state governance, and an appalling lapse in corporate social responsibility. Everyone has expressed regret over what happened, but no-one has accepted responsibility.

https://sustainabilitybites.home.blog/

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4. A Study Linking ‘Girls’ and Cats Draws Jeers, Then Disappears

An unusual analysis describing a special bond between “human females” and feral cats, published this week in a prominent ecology journal, triggered heated conversations about correlation and causation, gender, and the boundaries of solid science. The paper, titled “Where there are girls, there are cats,” appeared in the journal Biological Conservation on Monday. By Thursday morning, following a backlash from bemused ecologists, the journal had temporarily removed the paper with little explanation — leaving behind questions about how, exactly, the study had made it through peer review in the first place.

In the study, copies of which are still circulating, a research team at Nanjing University in China surveyed the feral cat populations on 30 university campuses around Nanjing. The higher the proportion of female students at a university, they found, the larger the population of feral cats on campus.

https://undark.org/2020/02/14/abstracts-cats-girls-climate-drugs/

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5. If you’re worried about bushfires but want to keep your leafy garden, follow these tips

As we witnessed last summer, the number of houses destroyed during bushfires in Australia has not been stemmed by advances in weather forecasting, building design and the increased use of large water-bombing aircraft. At the latest count, more than 3,500 homes were destroyed the summer just gone, which makes this the most destructive bushfire season in Australia’s history. The principal reason for the continually high rate of destruction is that so many homes are being built close to bushland. An estimated 85% of all houses destroyed in bushfires in Australia are within 100m of the bush.

https://theconversation.com/if-youre-worried-about-bushfires-but-want-to-keep-your-leafy-garden-follow-these-tips-130876

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6. Felixer uses lasers and poison gel to kill feral cats, foxes to support endangered native animals

During the trial at Arid Recovery the Felixer only shot poison gel at feral cats. The device will eventually be available for property owners to use. There are hopes endangered animals, like bilbies, will build resilience against feral cats.

ABC News

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7. Matt Canavan says Australia doesn’t subsidise the fossil fuel industry, an expert says it does

“If we divide the IMF subsidy figure by the number of direct jobs, the governments of Australia spend A$730,000 each year for every direct job in the coal, oil and gas industry. That equates to A$1,832 for every Australian.”

https://theconversation.com/matt-canavan-says-australia-doesnt-subsidise-the-fossil-fuel-industry-an-expert-says-it-does-131200?utm_medium=amptwitter&utm_source=twitter

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About Dbytes

Dbytes is a weekly eNewsletter presenting news and views on biodiversity conservation and environmental decision science. From 2007-2018 Dbytes was supported by a variety of research networks and primarily the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED). From 2019 Dbytes is being produced by David Salt (Ywords).

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