Lee

• The government’s decision to approve this loss shows a continuing disregard for nature, cultural heritage and the legacy our descendants will inherit.
• The battle to protect Binybara – as it is known to its Traditional Owners – has galvanised the local community.
• Read more:
  97% of Australians want more action to stop extinctions and 72% want extra spending on the environment

What’s at stake?

• The shoreline near the proposed housing is a globally significant site on the flyway of many shorebirds that migrate from eastern Asia to Australia each year.
• These birds face threats from habitat loss and degradation across their range.
• The project’s environmental impact statement acknowledged it would also have a significant impact on another endangered species, the black-footed tree-rat.
• Read more:
  Land clearing and fracking in Australia's Northern Territory threatens the world's largest intact tropical savanna

A deep cultural significance

• The Larrakia people’s deep and rich cultural ties to this area stretch back millennia.
• The birdlife, from the migrating shorebirds to the owls, kites, eagles and Gouldian finches, is integral to the ecosystems and to the cultural fabric and story of this place.
• Erythrophleum chlorostachys (delenyng-gwa) leaves are used for smoking ceremonies and the inner bark for medicine to treat sores and deep wounds.
• They ask for a management plan to protect their cultural heritage to be developed with their input and that of experts and Darwin locals who value this place.

A(nother) failure of national environment law

• What those offsets are – or whether they are even possible – is not yet known.
• By the time the difficulty of finding a suitable offset site becomes clear, it is often too late – the habitat is gone.
• The case of Binybara exemplifies many of the failings of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act identified by the Samuel review.
• Read more:
  Get the basics right for National Environmental Standards to ensure truly sustainable development

  John Woinarski receives has received funding from the Australian government's National Environmental Science Program.

• Grounded People's newly released designs for their ethical shoe collection include the Oli, a stunning grey cruelty-free suede that will turn heads, while the Mika features a sleek cruelty-free white leather and an outsole made from all-natural gum.
• And if that wasn't enough, the iconic Lee shoe is back by popular demand which is made from 100% recycled cotton and rubber from rubber trees.
• The vegan leather and suede fabrics used in the Oli and Mika shoes come from Grupo Morón a leader in innovative textile technology.
• Grounded People will continue to explore sustainable and ethical fashion alternatives as it works towards a more sustainable future.

• The context for this statement is an account of a 2019 incident staged by Extinction Rebellion protesters in a London tube station.
• Frustrated commuters pelted them with sandwiches and drink bottles, then dragged them to the ground and laid into them until the police arrived.
• For Göpel, it was a definitive clash of human objectives: one side wanted to save the planet, the other wanted to get to the office.
• This she presents as a classic example of delusory thinking, based on failure to understand the complex interconnections of the natural world.
• “If we follow the theory too slavishly,” she writes, “the eventual result will be the production of a new reality.”

‘Business as usual’

• And she enforces her argument with compelling narratives.
• Prominent on the agenda were the worsening consequences of globalised trade in agriculture.
• But then came the new deregulations, and a massive supply of cheap beef from Australia.
• On this modelling, Gates in a single year used the equivalent of 38 times the lifetime budget for the average world citizen.

Preaching to the converted

• Clearly this is a devastating failure of human intelligence, but how can that be turned around?
• A useful instrument, Göpel suggests, is the “veil of ignorance” thought experiment proposed by philosopher John Rawls in the early 1970s.
• It’s a more sophisticated version of the “cake trick” played with children: one cuts, the other chooses which half to take.
• Preaching to the converted can produce the illusion of cutting through, but it seems unlikely that this publication will do anything more.

• ATLANTA, April 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- To meet metro Atlanta's rapidly growing healthcare needs, Grady Health System will open two new outpatient centers, expanding access to primary and specialty care for residents in central and south Fulton County.
• The recently approved GA-AIDE directed payment program provided Grady with the necessary financial support from federal and state partners to open these two new sites.
• "The opening of these new outpatient centers demonstrates Grady's commitment to removing the physical barriers to receiving quality health care," said Haupert.
• With the addition of these centers, Grady will operate eight outpatient centers serving the metro Atlanta community.