Nature is a public good, & our lives, livelihoods & quality of life fundamentally depend upon it

Yet we continue to shirk our responsibility to respect & act with the care required to protect, nurture & repair the life-giving ecosystems on land, water & sea

‘The environmental movement needs many hands’: saving Australia’s biodiversity is getting personal Powered by individual donations and bequests, the country now has one of the world’s largest networks of privately protected and managed land * Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint * Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com Gifting land for conservation and leaving environmental bequests in personal wills are part of a quiet but rapidly growing revolution in environmentalism in Australia – motivated by individual efforts to address the climate and biodiversity crisis head on. As a result, Australia now boasts one of the largest networks of privately protected and managed areas in the world, with gifted land now covering over 10m hectares. Between 2019 and 2024, leading Australian environmental charities saw a 150% increase in bequest revenue, according to data from the 2025 Benchmarking Project report. Continue reading...

‘The environmental movement needs many hands’: saving Australia’s biodiversity is getting personal

Australia's road toll is rising, but not for the reason you think A grim year on our roads, especially for pedestrians.

TAX. THESE. OUT. OF. EXISTENCE!

These monstrosities should be illegal! Large vehicles are markedly deadlier for pedestrians. Being struck by a large SUV raises the risk of death by around 40 per cent compared with a smaller car; for children, the risk is up to eight times higher..."

Vaccination at work!
No new cervical
cancer diagnosed in women < 25 years in 2021 in Australia

Our hearts are shattered – and some have broken them further There is no going back to where we were before December 14. But a social contract Australians relied on has been destroyed by the Coalition.

“Never has there been a time where politics has been played so blatantly, so openly at the expense of a terrified, traumatised community and the wider nation at large.” @amyremeikis.bsky.social

www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2025...

You’ve heard of 12 days of Christmas…but how about 20 days of Starter Packs?

Here’s Day 3: Comms Experts!

Climate's one of the most politically polarized issues out there. These are the experts I rely on to understand the science of identity, values, and how humans filter and process information.

Excellent new @commsdeclare.bsky.social work out today - read the whole thing here: commsdeclare.org/wp-content/u...

The Shell-funded education program urging students to 'design their own CCS' inspired me to re-share an original artwork of mine from a few years ago:

As SAPOL disperse protestors at the energy and mining conference underway at Adelaide Convention Centre - Ecologists in the conference room next-door issue urgent national call: ‘Australia must act now to protect nature’⁠
⁠
#ESA2025 conference statement.
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#ecology #climatechange #biodiversity

Side view of an unusually shaped orchid with a hinged labellum of a deep purple/red colour on the right of the picture

Drakaea livida - the Warty Hammer Orchid

Seen at the end of September in the Perth Hills. This orchid is pollinated by the males of one species of Thynnid wasp who mistake the orchid’s unusual labellum for a flightless female wasp

#orchids #ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #inaturalist #nature

‘Dreadful wrongs’: WA governor apologises to Noongar people for 1834 Pinjarra massacre Between 15 and 80 Binjareb Noongar people were killed in the massacre which was led by the then WA governor, James Stirling Warning: This article contains historical records that use racist and offensive language, and descriptions of events that will be distressing to some readers. It also contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Almost 200 years ago, a state governor led a massacre of at least 15 Aboriginal people. On Tuesday, Western Australia’s current governor, Chris Dawson, went to the massacre site, south of Perth, with a different intent. Continue reading...

‘Dreadful wrongs’: WA governor apologises to Noongar people for 1834 Pinjarra massacre

For the first time, we linked a new fossil fuel project to hundreds of deaths. Here’s the impact of Woodside’s Scarborough gas project The results challenge claims that the climate risks posed by an individual fossil fuel project are negligible or cannot be quantified.

BREAKING📢 Crack team of climate scientists show "it is no longer defensible for companies proposing new or extended fossil fuel projects to claim the climate harms will be negligible. Our research shows the harms are, in fact, tangible and quantifiable – and no project is too small to matter"

Australian doctor in Gaza introduces Kenan who lives in the hospital because he has no family left after Israel killed them 💔

This is a ten minute video broken up into parts for Bluesky from two australian doctors who made it into Gaza. The video starts with them saying the baby formula they brought with them was taken away and that Israel bombing the hospital in front of them and lying about giving warnings

Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low likelihood, study finds Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout

This is not good news. We can't wait for a convenient moment before taking climate action. The time is now.

"the tipping point that makes an Amoc shutdown inevitable is likely to be passed within a few decades"
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

TREATY NOW, jesus christ how long are we supposed to wait

Shame! we still don’t have one! shame!

Dying, drought-stressed bushland with storm clouds in background

As temperatures drop and winds pick up across Noongar Boodja, our dying, moisture-starved bush calls to the clouds ‘yes, please relieve us briefly from this deep thirst’ #climatechange #southwesternaustralia #biodiversityhotspot

‘The Voice of Gaza’: Aspiring Journalist, 11, among Family Killed in Gaza Airstrike In her videos, Lama mimicked the demeanor of professional journalists, often enlisting friends of similar or younger ages to participate.

"The voice of an aspiring journalist, 11-year-old Lama Nasser Al-Badrasawi, was tragically silenced when an #Israeli airstrike targeted her home near #Gaza City, killing her entire family.

Lama was a contributor to the Palestine Chronicle..."

www.palestinechronicle.com/the-voice-of...

#Israel

Kumanjayi Walker inquest: racism and violence, but findings too little and too late The inquest findings did not deliver a crushing blow to racial violence in the NT Police. It is a missed opportunity that will likely have devastating consequences.

Walker’s is one of 598 deaths since the royal commission, and the brutal circumstances of his death show little has changed.

The coronial recommendations fall short of calling for the strucutral overhaul demanded to eradicate police racial violence in the NT.

theconversation.com/kumanjayi-wa...

Registrations for the ESA2025 conference are open now! 🐙

Come together with leaders in the field this November 23-28 at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Kaurna Country.

Don't miss earlybird savings by registering to attend today: esa2025.org.au/registration/

#ecology #ESAus2025 #STEM

In 2008, a senior Western Power grid manager told me if Western Australia's South West Interconnected System had >10% renewables, the grid would likely fail
He thought I was somewhat delusional in my insistence that WA would be 100% renewables in a couple of decades
www.linkedin.com/posts/raywil...

Jesus fuck this map alone is enough.

Then consider the Great Barrier Reef bleaching on the east coast the Gnoorea Beach fish kill and the toxic algae bloom in At Vincents Bay off Adelaide.

And so far I've only seen the extent of this marine disaster reported by one team of journalists.

In one awful decision, Albanese has revealed his do-nothing plan If you want to govern effectively, you have to be prepared to stand up to powerful interest groups. It’s now clear Albanese isn’t prepared to do that.

This was a bad decision @albomp.bsky.social One that will be held against you for decades. It will come back to bite you every time you try to claim the high moral ground on climate change. www.smh.com.au/business/the...

Companies extracting and selling gas say:
"world must have new gas"
Model projection says we don't
Gas companies only worried about profit, not about the planet

Alternative to burning stuff?
Renewables now in hand, cheapest, easiest, low-emissions energy
We just need to act
bsky.app/profile/prof...

This is one of Australia’s largest energy companies, and largest greenhouse gas emitters, conceding that carbon offsetting does not prevent global warming.

On this island the birds are so full of plastic they crunch It's an exclusive tourist destination and one of the most pristine places on the planet. It's the last place you would expect to find birds with bellies so full of plastic that they crunch if you sque...

An utterly heartbreaking read 💔

Shearwaters on pristine Lord Howe Island have stomachs full of plastic, with the amount found increasing each year. One chick was found to have 778 pieces of plastic in it’s belly
#birds #microplastic #pollution #recycle #wildoz 🌏🧪

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...

Nature conservation policies are biased toward forests and neglect grassy ecosystems worldwide Globally, grassy ecosystems (including grasslands, savannas, shrublands, woodlands, and tundra) cover 30 to 40% of the land and provide important benefits such as climate change mitigation and adaptat...

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As much as I am a fan of forests & Humboldt, he formed a "[...] Eurocentric perception of forests as the ideal natural state [...] at the expense of grasslands and other open ecosystems."

Important article on bias in nature conservation policies towards forests:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This is a great lesson in communicating to induce behaviour change and so obvious when pointed out! Binary vs trend data is more tangible to us, therefore more likely to result in action rather than apathy

This is heartbreaking

Tonight, Australia voted No to ignorance & Yes to Acknowledgement; No to xenophobia & Yes to Welcomes; No to regression & Yes to progress.

Peter Dutton, Jacinta Price, Clive Palmer, Pauline Hanson, the IPA & Advance henceforth have no mandate. They’ve been thoroughly told NO.

Funding opportunities for ecologists

Gold Medal of the Ecological Society of Australia Closing May 31 The ESA awards a Gold Medal in recognition of an ESA member who has made a substantial contribution to the study of ecology in Australia over the course of their career. The Medal can also be awarded to ESA members who have made a significant contribution to the operations of the Society.

Fundamental Ecology Award Closing May 31 The Ecological Society of Australia offers a postgraduate student research award in the field of fundamental ecology. The value of the award is $5,000 which can be directed towards any research that advances the science of ecology. The grant is open to any student who is enrolled in postgraduate research at an Australian university and is a member of the Ecological Society of Australia.

🪲🌸 FUNDING FOR ECOLOGISTS MAY 🌸🪲⁠
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The ESA Gold Medal and ⁠Fundamental Ecology Award are now live and open for applications. Know an outstanding ESA member or postgraduate student that deserves recognition? Nominate them before May 31: www.ecolsoc.org.au/grants-awards/
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#ecology #funding #award