Burning, logging good for planet

IN his BBC series The Private life of Plants, environmentalist David Attenborough explained battles for survival in the plant world. His camera revealed how tall, wet eucalypt forest renews through what appeared to be a disastrous fire, but in fact ensures the survival of forest and the next generation of tall trees.

Tasmania’s forest scientists use this knowledge to mimic nature through a regeneration fire. A fire might look like destruction, but is renewal. Such renewal is part of sustainable forest management.

The International Panel on Climate Change fourth assessment report, Climate Change 2007, found in the long term “a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit”.

This finding has been confirmed by recent assessment of Tasmania’s greenhouse gas emissions that found that we have reduced emissions by a massive 95 per cent since the 1990 base year, almost all due to sustainable forest management.

Isn’t it time for the greens to stop vilifying forest workers and concentrate on real environmental issues like sewerage in our waterways, and investing in technology to reduce harmful emissions from cars?

China basket

ABOUT four years ago on ABC TV’s Four Corners two highly credentialed global financial analysts, one from the US and the other from the UK predicted that the Chinese economy would mimic the 2008 global collapse within a ten-year period. Their message was that historically em- pires have risen and ultimately crashed.

So why would the University of Tasmania expand based on sustained Asian participation in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie when commentators are blasting loud and clear that China could fall as fast as it has risen? And what happens when the spotlight shines brighter on the corruption and humanitarian abuse in the Chinese Communist Government?

Refugee danger

ASIO boss Duncan Lewis recently told a senate committee: “I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that there is a connection between refugees and terrorism.” Well, hello, what about the recent attack in Melbourne? When are the bureaucrats going to finally concede they are running a refugee program that is putting Australians in danger? They are no better than the smug, middle-class, latte-sipping Lefties who are trying to take the moral high ground and appear ever so righteous and benevolent, when in reality, their ignorance and indiscriminate support of clannish refugees is breathtakingly naive and downright dangerous. sleeps in the kitchen for 12 hours every night. She was housetrained at three months old and knocks on the door when she needs to go outside to the loo.

Pauline is desexed, vaccinated and microchipped. Brightside Farm Sanctuary always has pigs available for adoption. Happy birthday darling Pauline.