If the rising sea levels continue to be at the present rate or higher, then by 2050 the much loved coastline of Sydney could all be but gone. Scientists say that with the rate of global warming and the rise in sea level associated with it, the sea levels in Sydney are expected to rise with a minimum of 40 cm by 2050, and with 90cm by 2100 (compared to the levels in 1990), where each centimeter is assumed to erode one meter of beach.

Collaroy Beach

With growing effects of global warming, the low-lying beaches across the world are at a serious threat of going under the waves. If the beaches are made of soft sand, then the threat only becomes larger.

Low-lying Sydney beaches such as Collaroy and Narrabeen - which have already been severely eroded by storm seas, Dee Why and Curl Curl, are most at risk. While many residents of the Sydney coastline who own amazing beach-view properties are currently enjoying a pleasant stay, all this may turn in a true nightmare sooner or later.

Local communities in Sydney have put together an eco-conscious movement by which they intend to add sand to the beach artificially to ensure that the beaches are not eroded. The Sydney Coastal Councils Group, which represents 15 local authorities and some 1.3 million people, has been responsible for this “beach nourishment,” program.

While the face-lift measures might help on a temporary basis, this once again reiterates the threat of global warming at large.

Source: Reuters (Image courtesy of 1,2)

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe free for our updates via RSS feed. Thanks for visiting and please do come back!

The Aussies are putting more pressure on the Japanese and Japan’s whaling exploits. Japan is permitted to kill 850 minke and 50 fin whales each year to prove that whale populations can recover. I am sure there is some logic there somewhere - we can kill to prove that they can survive. And the mean from the whales is sold in Japan as a “research byproduct.”

“Yup, eating this doesn’t kill me. And if it did, it’d be a good test to see if humans could keep the population growing.”

The Aussies will promote, “the government’s objective of ending Japan’s so-called scientific whaling and improving the conservation of whales globally.” Last year the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has sent is vessel, Steve Irwin, to disrupt the Japanese.

“We intend to once again intervene against illegal Japanese whaling, and once again we intend to save the lives of as many whales as we can with the resources available to us,” the Sea Shepherd Prez said Friday.

“We have been the cause of the Japanese whaling fleet losing profits for three years in a row,” he said in a statement. “We intend to make it a fourth year of red ink for the whalers’ books.”

I wonder if the whales know what the Steve Irwin is doing. I wonder what Steve Irwin would think.

Original image by gwaar

We are all aware by now of the effects of global warming which is soon to cause a major hazard to the earth. Unless and until we make efforts to stop or reduce greenhouse emissions we are to witness a complete shift in the ecological balance.

According to David Jones the head of climate analysis at the Bureau of Meteorology the severe droughts affecting the south-west Western Australia, south-east South Australia, Victoria and northern Tasmania have been the worst in centuries.

The temperatures are higher than the normal drought, showing a degree that clearly tells us that global warming has begun to take its toll.

Jones also specifies that every one degree of warming will decrease the runoff water by 15%. Rainfall has been close to nil for a long time now. If we do not act fast we will witness the destruction of our earth in front of our very own eyes. - via ClimateProgess

Image via Georgie Sharp

Pretty odd I must say, but a recent study revealed that if Australia is going to farm kangaroos instead of cattle and sheep (to remove 36 million sheep and 7 million cattle by 2020), that could lower the overall greenhouse gases by 3 percent each year. Do you think it’s that simple?

First of all, Australians won’t understand that killing kangaroos for food is good for the environment. It’s more like a matter of taste than a matter of global warming, and my bet is people are not yet prepared to switch to an all-kangaroo diet. Would you eat kangaroo meat just because they produce negligible amounts of methane?

The other problem, which is just as big is the kangaroo-image, over Austsalian peopl. Changing the way people think is not going to be done overnight and certainly not just with ad campaigns because the kangaroo is actually, the national icon.

The study which revealed all these said that “using kangaroos to produce low-emission meat is an option for the Australian rangelands … and could even have global application,” said the study. Do you agree?

Image courtesy of t3rmin4t0r

Talk about survival of the fittest? There is one Koala in Australia that took on a car, got his head stuck in the grill and still came out a survivor. Could he be on television? A car hit the 8-years old bear at high speed, the bear got his head stuck in the grill of the car and went for a ride for 12km (7.4 miles). We’re thinking he lost a few years while zoom zoom zooming down the road. Still he’s alive.

“To have him survive and virtually unscathed is quite miraculous,” Australian Wildlife Hospital spokeswoman Carolyn Beaton said.

It’s the season for koalas to be on the move and drivers down under are being asked to drive with particular caution when in koala habitat areas. The bear, now nicknamed “Ely ‘Lucky’ Grills” was freed with a pair of scissors after hanging on with one arm and his head stuck. When the driver stopped at a railway station, he was cut loose.

Lucky, who might be better nicknamed Look-before-you-cross-the-road is recovering in a hospital. “Whilst Lucky was in shock, he quickly recovered and was nearly better after a couple of hours rest and a feed,” she said.

GP is hoping that Japanese whalers did NOT read the Top 12 Hotspots for Whale Watching. Japan is notorious for hunting humpback whales in the Antarctic region among other places by using a loophole in a 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium that allows countries to kill 1,000 whales each year for ‘lethal research.’ Japan is not the only culprit. Norway and Iceland defy it outright.

Japan has agreed to not hunt again this year after strong protests led by Australia. The Japanese were prepared to resume the hunt after some 40 years of not doing so. Discussions have been ongoing between the anti-whaling nations and pro whaling nations for several years. Whale watching is a major tourist attraction for Australia. Japanese like to whale watch meat on their plates.  Japan did hunt other whales but eventually gave it up after it was harassed by environmentalists.

Isn’t there a way to come to some conclusion without harassment and Japanese whalers stubbornly going about their business? What’s your idea?

It’s not the extinct white dolphin or something you might see at one of those incredible hotspots for whale watching, it’s the world’s largest shark, the whale shark. Researchers down under, that’s down under (Australia) and down under (underwater) attached devices for observation to eight sharks 8 meters (26′) long off Ningaloo. The devices which are designed to release from the sharks on command, track every move the giant fish makes over several hours.

The whale shark dives like a hawk, then soars like an eagle, using momentum and gravity to conserve energy. Momentum and gravity for conservation of energy? Is there something we landlubbers can learn here because to be honest the whale shark is as big as a bus!

Image by Rob Hughes

Image by Fiona Ayerst

The study was done under pretenses of protecting the whale sharks against whom or who? People who might stick devices to them maybe?

The devices are supposed to reveal where the sharks feed and breed so that we humans can know where and when to leave them alone. How about we just leave them alone. But, then if we aren’t careful, hunters will find them. And if the hunters don’t get them, pollution might.

So, do we study animals or should we leave them alone? What do you think?

With the size of a small muscular dog, the Tasmanian Devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world, only found in the Australian island state of Tasmania. It has black fur and is renowned for its disturbing call, ferocious temperament and the fact that it releases an offensive odor when stressed.

The Tasmanian Devil, also referred to simply as “the devil” is now facing extinction and was listed as an endangered species by the Tasmanian state government. The cause is a disfiguring facial cancer that kills an animal in just a few months, that decimated the island state’s wild devil population by as much as 60 percent.

The transmittable parasitic cancer causes tumors to form in and around the mouth, interfering with feeding so that an animal may starve to death. It originates from a single contagious cell that has spread through biting during fights for food or mates. However, they may be hope because David Llewellyn, Tasmanian Primary Industries Minister, said that some devils from Western Tasmania had developed antibodies to this facial tumor.

“While it is still very early days, discoveries such as this provide hope that the disease may be managed in the longer term and that devils with genetic diversity will survive it,” he said.

Photo by blather