Indonesian agribusiness interests are responsible for hundreds of thousands of premature deaths from the after effects of smoke from last year’s forest fires, according to a report released by Harvard University this week. This time last year, the smoke haze from the fires blanketed South East Asia, diverting aircraft and causing illness in countries from Continue Reading →
DNA studies of First Nations people in Papua and Australia confirm mounting archeological evidence that the First Australians are the oldest civilisation on Earth. One of four studies on human ancestry published in Nature this week, the study by Prof Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen shows that these groups arrived on the continent Continue Reading →
The founder of Permaculture and advocate for sustainable cities and food systems, Bill Mollison died last Saturday. Permaculture is a system of growing food that requires minimum energy, water and fertilizer and works with nature to reduce the ecological impact of feeding humans. It has also been applied to greening the desert in places as Continue Reading →
The rapid melting of glaciers in the so-called Third Pole located in the Himalayas and Central Asian mountains threatens the long term survival of billions of people across Central and Southern Asia. The melting is due to a 1.5 degree increase in surface temperature and will increase flows in the Mekong, Yellow, Yangtse, Ganges and Continue Reading →
Activists arrested for protesting at the Piliga Push by “locking on” to the gates and preventing mining trucks from entering the forest have had demerit points deducted from their license and been fined for failing to follow police directions. At least three individuals have had three demerit points deducted and have been fined $350 or Continue Reading →
The world’s largest primate is now critically endangered due to illegal hunting. The Eastern Gorilla is the latest victim of a phenomena known as extinction investment where the market for endangered animals spikes in anticipation of their disappearance, thereby accelerating the process. Ironically, efforts by national governments to protect an endangered species, serve to heighten Continue Reading →