If they can do it in central London..........
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/22/wild-west-end-birds-bats-insects-central-london
.....we should be able to do it in our suburbs.
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Great article Night Parrot. Unfortunately I have to say that the UK is light years ahead of us in this area. There is a real consciousness about the affects of development and urbanisation on wildlife and birds, butterflies and bees in particular. The general public has a fantastic awareness of wildlife issues and organisations such as the RSPB and the Wildfowl and Wetlands trust have huge memberships and their wildlife reserves have a massive throughput of visitors. We can't say the same thing over here can we. How many urban Australians are aware of the devastating extinction rate of our indigenous mammals and if they are how many really care enough to support amazing organisations such as the Australian Wildlife Conservancy or Wildlife Queensland or indeed Birdlife Australia for our incredible birds. I have family over in the UK and when I'm back there I'm amazed that their news is filled with stories on the environment and wildlife. They have prime time naturewatch shows set in wildlife reserves where 100's of cameras capture the daily action. It's a real eye opener. We have to do a better job over here before we lose our natural heritage!!!!
nice positive story, thank you.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Very interesting post, spiney. Perhaps there's a critical minimum quantity & quality of habitat which has to be reached before humans are roused from their couches & take an interest in the natural world.
I'd like to think not Woko but that may well be true. There has certainly been devastating habitat loss over there and very few wild places are left. The nature reserves and 'National Parks' (different definition over there - they are not generally pristine environments like ours) are small and isolated and changes in farming practices (intensive farming, pesticide & herbicide use, hedge removal etc.) are having a devastating impact on their wildlife, especially their birdlife. Hence the awareness I suppose, as you say, they may well have reached a critical point where suddenly the natural world starts to be valued because of its scarcity. I hope we don't have to reach that point in Australia before we start to value our incredible flora and fauna. The governments recent reaction to the collapse of the Adani coal mine is concerning though showing that we have a long way to go yet. There is clear consensus that this mine is not viable, the potential employment opportunites were wildly inflated and the government failed to comply with it's own Environmental Legislation yet it has had the audacity to use the mines failure as a vehicle to attack 'Green extremists' - It's disgraceful. Anyway, my passion for this is taking me off on a tangent now so I'll sign off. To end on a positive note my local council has just planted over 100 native and indigenous trees in the park behind my house. The local birds haven't stopped singing since - I think they're very excited!!
I've been lobbying the Adelaide City Council for many years to encourage them to improve habitat in the city. Some positive things have been done such as planting indigenous species in small areas of the city's famed parklands but overall plane trees & other feral species are preferred. There was a great opportunity for Council to establish habitat in its multi- million dollar revamps of North Terrace & Victoria Square but, sadly, they stuck with the same old sterile species.
Now that Londoners are establishing habitat with excellent results from all accounts perhaps the likes of Adelaide City Council will be motivated to go forth & do likewise. If this were to happen it would support my contention that we Australians adopt a frightening cultural cringe in relation to England especially. Perhaps we would eventually place a much higher value on our wildlife & natural places if we were to become a republic.
I reckon neighbourhood developement exploiting natural fauna and flora and promoting a greenie and proud of it type theme is exactly what needs to happpen. We already have neighbourhoods with no cats. But fenced, well treed, or big grass lands, large water features, or rock features would be awesome. A real chance for nature to relax and prosper in a housing developement would be attractive to many I think. And dare I say possibily even trendy.
Housing would not have to be traditional. Years ago I heard a desinger talking about his vision for the Sydney olymipic games accomodation for the playes. It was a hollow tubed high rise which had plants on the outside, solar on the roof, and recyling waterfalls on the inside. The plants kept it cool, the sun ran it, and it was peaceful. Now imagine that parked in the middle of a well fenced, wildlife enclosure.
Just this week I head of a new headland being reconstructed in Sydney, the car park for it is underground, so one gets a more natural feel when there. Imagine the roads into, around, and car parks to what I have just mentioned all being underground.
When we talk about being a smart country, we need our building industry to have a go as well. They are all so conservative, modern is only by look, it has very little to do with functionality, and virtually nothing with being green.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Interesting ideas there, jason.
I wrote recently to the SA minister of housing about the horrific Earth-hostile housing being built in Adelaide & its hinterland. No eves, no trees, no verandahs, no solar panels & heavily dependent on wrecking our planet with airconditioning for heating & cooling. His response was that the housing meets the building environmental code. That says heaps about the code I think & certainly lets the builders off the hook. It also says lots about the home buyers who, it seems, insist on Earth-hostile house designs. Fortunately, SA leads the nation in renewable energy production so all is well.
Sadly that fad or perhaps code steaches accross this great land. Desinged to fit the biggest living space onto whatever block is available. Also good for squeezing as many blocks possible into the developement.
Down the road from me a new sardine suburb has been built. It is the norm however there is a seasonal dry creek gully they were not allowed to whack in a big pipe in and build over. Unfortunately they planted mostly non local natives which was a blow. But one has to be thankful where one can.
The code has 1/3 or something has to be open space, which sounds fair and promising. But I think swings, BBQ areas, roads, parks and veigtation are all lumped together. So in the end, in reality virtually nothing left over for native habitate of any size.
I'm not sure if home buyers drive design, sure there fare ads like the Tiscany one with no eaves and the like. But I tend to think it's developers trying to provide as much internal space as they can. They then market the newly built community park as where the kids can play.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks