Illusion of pristine South West environment
Whilst having a leisurely drive the other day down south, I was struck by a rather incongruous image.
The Margaret River region promotes itself heavily as a clean, green, pristine environment.
Organic produce and wines supplying boutique eateries, surrounded by world class heritage natural splendours.
From numerous caves to forests to beaches.
It really is a pretty amazing corner of our continent isn't it, and all within an hour's drive from my back door.
How spoiled are we?
But there I was, in the car, driving through a river of brown.
The clean, green image was marred by miles and miles of what can only be described as a frenzy of glyphosate.
Every single verge - no matter how wide - had been sprayed to within an inch of it's existence, the effect of which was very evident. There would have been tons and tons of the stuff used.
Hmmm, I wonder where all that run-off goes?
Now, I don't like weeds either, and I understand the responsibilities of local governments to reduce fire hazards, and the nature of weeds to seed and spread their joy into neighbouring properties.
Surely in this 21st century though there has to be a better way to treat our verges?
A drive along our own Koombana Drive reveals the same treatment.
Where does that run-off end up?
In the Inlet.
Megan Reynolds
South Bunbury
Emissions report hidden by Grand Final
The news that the government has released its latest national greenhouse gas inventory report on the eve of the football Grand Finals was met in the press with some cynicism.
The report showed that our emissions had risen yet again, making it unlikely that we will be able to meet the Paris Agreement targets.
What’s most concerning isn’t the timing of the release but the devastating impact of agriculture, which it says represents 14 percent of Australia’s emissions, and has risen to 73.7 million tonnes, an increase of 2.1% over the same period the previous year.
This figure doesn’t even take into account the contribution of animal agriculture to transport, electricity, processing and waste emissions.
The United Nations has stated that there needs to be a global shift towards vegan eating to alleviate the worst impacts of climate change, and these numbers confirm it.
It is the easiest way for us all to do something about greenhouse emissions.
If you stop eating animals, the farmers will stop breeding, confining, tormenting and slaughtering them.
You can reduce your footprint with your knife and fork and spare over 200 animals a year from immense suffering in the process.
Desmond Bellamy
PETA Australia
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