Tag: Mould Rid

The oceans were once thought of as vast and endless repositories of fish and food for human consumption. The bounty was plentiful and there for the taking, and mankind perceived the right and capacity to source all manner of seafood from the ocean’s currents and seas. But as conservation and green living has become a reality, so too has the realisation that our oceans are not an endless and unlimited source of food for us. They are finite reserves, carefully and sometimes precariously balanced, requiring forethought, management and even restrictions to ensure ongoing survival and viability.

Tuna is one such fish now considered under threat. Five out of eight of the world’s species of tuna are urgently in need of protection. Extinction is a real possibility and Australia’s Southern Bluefin Tuna is one of those most endangered.[1] The statistics are delivered in the Red List of Threatened Species which was produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

These IUCN Red List assessments and statistics were developed in consultation with many international scientists from Fisheries Management Organisations, international conservation organisations and also government agencies, universities, independent fisheries research institutions and other bodies.

On the 11th July 2011, the IUCN released its findings with the following being placed in the Near Threatened IUCN or Threatened Categories:

• Southern Bluefin Tuna
• Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
• Bigeye Tuna
• Yellowfin Tuna
• Albacore

Many of these species have exceedingly high economic value and the information may assist governments to develop appropriate fisheries management strategies to monitor and safeguard against their extinction.

Dr. Bruce Collette who is the current Chair of the IUCN Species survival commission’s (SSC) Tuna and Billfish Specialist Group has said that “this is the first time that fishery scientists and ichthyologists and conservationists have come together to jointly produce an assessment of the threats facing a commercially important group of fishes.”[2]

Australia’s Southern Bluefin

Dr Kent Carpenter from the IUCN’s Marine Biodiversity Unit has stated that “all 3 of the Southern Bluefin Tuna species are susceptible to collapse under continued excessive fishing pressure.”  He has also made it very clear the Australian Southern Bluefin has already crashed in numbers, with very little hope or possibility of it recovering. The IUCN maintains these species must be managed appropriately and that a shutdown or wind down of the fisheries stocks until a point in time when they are rebuilt somewhat, would be the best strategy in the immediate term.

Even if legal fishing of the tuna was suspended for a period of time, the problem of escalated illegal fishing of these species would be another concern that would require overseeing. Management of the problem needs to encompass both legal and illegal fishing of the threatened tuna species.

Envirosafe Solutions has long supported a healthy and responsible attitude to our oceans and waterways, and that is why its products are phosphate reduced and have a low impact on water quality. Call Envirosafe Solutions and talk to a sales representative about economically viable and environmentally sustainable cleaning and liquid products that will not hurt our precious oceans and marine life. Envirosafe Solutions 1300 889070.

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[1] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/tuna-species-under-threat/story-e6frg6so-1226090508368

[2] http://www.iucnredlist.org/current-news

The Triabunna Pulp Mill sale has gone ahead. But not to the Aprin Company, as was expected! The mill, situated on Tasmania’s east coast, has been a stalwart of the Gunns timber company for many years. It has been purchased by the new wave of green business people currently making their presence felt on the Australian corporate scene.

Gunns Limited is possibly the largest and one of the oldest Australian timber companies with a $600 million turnover and over 900 sq km of eucalypt plantations. According to Wikipedia, it is also Tasmania’s largest landowner and by far “the largest export woodchip operation in The Southern Hemisphere.”[1] It has had a difficult profile over recent years because of its destruction of old growth forests in Tasmania. Environmentalists have attacked and criticised the company for its continued native forest wood chipping enterprises which have decimated areas of Tasmanian old growth forest.

Triabunna Sale

The Triabunna mill sale is an exciting prospect for environmentalists, who view the purchase as a symbolic and necessary shift in the battle between the timber industry and green groups in the apple state. The new owners have declared the mill will continue to operate for the short to medium term, (the next few years) to ensure job and town security. But the long term plans are already causing a stir as there will be a transition and conversion of the site into an eco resort. One of the new owners stated “we don’t want to see people thrown out of work but we also probably see more clearly the need for a restructuring in the forest industries generally and for people to open their minds about new ways of making a living in that part of Tasmania.[2]

The Australian newspaper also reported that “with new ownership of the mill comes immense power: its closure would, according to the state government and the industry, bring logging of native forests in southern Tasmania to a standstill.”[3]

The Buyers

The two buyers who comprise the main duo of the consortium are Jan Cameron and Graeme Wood. Cameron, originally a New Zealander is one of Australia’s wealthiest women, and made her money with the Kathmandu chain of clothing and camping supplies. She lives a reclusive life in Tasmania and in the past 4 years has donated approximately $30 million to charity. She is a committed and humble philanthropist and environmentalist – down to earth and considerably low-key, who tends her free range chickens daily. Graeme Wood is the owner of the online tourist accommodation “wotif” site and is also a committed environmentalist who donated over $1 million to the Greens before the last federal election.

Gunns had initially been negotiating with the logging company Aprin, in a deal which would have secured the timber industry in Tasmania for many years to come. Aprin owners Ron and Brendon O’Connor – a father and son team who see Tasmania’s future linked with ongoing logging and timber production, have been bitterly disappointed by the sale to Cameron and Wood, and believe the sale to the green entrepreneurs will also spell the death of the Tasmanian Forest Peace Plan that is currently underway.

Envirosafe Solutions director Murray Simon has stated the Triabunna Mill sale is an exciting step in the right direction for green business and industry in Australia. “When business leaders such as Cameron and Wood move forward with sustainable ideas and practices that can also ensure job security for a region, the future looks bright,” he said. He also added the move gave smaller and less robust companies a sense that sustainability and new modes of doing business are a viable economic reality that can be embraced.

Envirosafe Solutions believes new direction and economically sustainable approach to business can also be profitable and productive. The Extreme Green range of eco-friendly products are developed with the environment in mind. Call the team now to purchase, on 1300 889070.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunns

[2] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/logging-off-mill-deal-saves-native-forests/story-fn59niix-1226094217303

[3] Ibid

Ground Zero on Global Warming¹

Global warming is the continuous rise in the average sea, surface and atmospheric temperatures around the Earth. This increase in average temperatures began in the last 50 years and coincided with the industrial revolution and increasing consumption of fossil fuel by people on Earth. Our use of CFC (Chlorofluorocarbon) in aerosol sprays, refrigerators etc. further exasperated the problem by blowing a hole in the protective ozone layer allowing harmful radiation to penetrate all the way to the Earth.² While it may at times seem like a script for a Sci-fi movie, the situation is a stark reality facing humanity in 2011.

Valuable Time Lost in Proving Humans were Responsible for Global Warming

Any child will confirm that if we sit in a car with doors and windows closed and one of us starts smoking, then the interior is going to get pretty uncomfortable very soon.

When scientists first presented the data and proof that the Earth was heating up, governments around the world scrambled to debunk the suggestion that industries and our appetite for consumption was somehow fuelling global warming³. In fact this state of denial derailed the Word’s first convention on global warming and the scientists lost valuable time in proving that global warming is not a myth or imagination by half crazed scientists crying wolf because the temperature on their thermometers jumped a notch higher.

Instead of asking the scientists to begin planning a strategy on how to turn off or reduce the heat that was causing global warming, the governments asked the scientists to prove that humans were responsible for global warming. By the time scientists proved their theory, and a new convention on global warming was agreed to, a few more years of valuable time was lost⁴ and the average global temperatures went a notch higher. Governments waited but global warming did not⁵.

While we waxed on eloquently about how to tackle global warming, the magnificent glaciers began to melt and sea levels rose slightly but high enough to permanently inundate certain low lying regions in the world⁶. For the first time there was tangible loss – people lost homes and property to global warming and yet, our penchant for procrastination did not stop.

Too little too late

The next convention on global warming set targets for the reduction of green house gases and stipulated the setting up of a global fund for research on alternate fuels. This effort was doomed to fail because the developing countries had just begun their industrial revolution and the developed countries were asking them to stop without offering any viable alternative that would secure and fuel growth in the developing countries without the accompanying pollution and its effects on global warming⁷. Of course there is also the fact that there wasn’t and still isn’t a real cost-effective viable alternative to fossil fuels⁸.

Meanwhile the Earth is slowly and inexorably moving towards a future in which humans and animals will not be able to step into the open without an air conditioner strapped on to their back. Will plant life still be there? Will the Earth even look the same? While we might not be able to reverse global warming – at least not yet, we might at least stop it from spiralling out of control by adopting a pro-Earth lifestyle and the time to do it is now, today. Tomorrow or 2012 might just be too late.

Envirosafe Solutions has developed a range of quality Extreme Green products that fit in with the pro-Earth lifestyle of this new era. For more information on these exceptional products, telephone Envirosafe Solutions on 1300 889070

1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

2. http://www.centerforsustainability.org/resources.php?category=50&root=

3.  http://www.unep.org/ourplanet/imgversn/154/lieberman.html

4.  http://www.fao.org/kids/en/gw-un.html

5.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrumental_temperature_record

6.  http://www.climate.org/topics/sea-level/index.html

7. http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/12/copenhagen_clash_between_devel.html

8. http://www.livescience.com/5114-true-costs-renewable-energy.html

Today, Envirosafe Solutions looks at some of the new techniques in green agriculture that are being developed and adopted in Australia.

Whenever we refer to agriculture, we always think about large scale harvesters, massive use of fertilizers, large scale irrigation, aerial crop dusting, etc. Well, all that has changed with the introduction of Regenerative Agriculture in New South Wales, Australia. ¹ This new approach to agriculture is gaining significant momentum and is now considered a hallmark of green agricultural practices amongst those “in the know” when it comes to developing sustainable agriculture techniques.

Regenerative Agriculture

These days it is fashionable to talk about the need for new techniques in agriculture and how there is need for agriculture to be pro-earth and not against the natural ecosystems. ² We hear how new techniques in agriculture should maintain and even improve the soil structure, enhance biodiversity, maintain water resources, maintain the levels of soil organic matter, etc. Regenerative agriculture, the latest of new techniques in agriculture does all that and more.

Until recently scientists and farmers took these set of requirements to be a pipe dream until, a few innovative and observant farmers from the Central West of New South Wales decided to study how Mother Nature managed its affairs and mimic it to whatever extent possible.

The Theory on Regenerative Agriculture

After studying how nature managed green cover, a handful of Aussie farmers came up with new techniques in agriculture which they called ‘pasture cropping’.³ Principal amongst these were two farmers Colin Seis and Darryl Cluff. These new techniques in agriculture were christened Cluff and Seis pasture cropping technique. The farmers observed that the native Australian grasses (C4) grew only in warm season whereas the Australian winter cereals (C3) grew only in the winter season. Further, they calculated that if they seeded the pasture land with winter cereals (C3) it would be ready for harvesting by summer and the same land could then grow the native grass which is eaten by the cattle. So they hypothesised that they could do cattle farming as well as agricultural farming on the same land. This is something that was never done before. Effectively, new techniques in agriculture were being created.

Problems associated with standard agricultural practices⁴

Normally, preparation of land for agriculture involved the removal of all existing vegetation from the land to be cultivated. This resulted in barren land both before and after cultivation. Barren land resulted in soil erosion and also between seasons the land would be taken over by unpalatable grasses or weeds resulting in rapid nutrient decline. Fertilisers only provided temporary relief. In the long term the soil always degraded.

The Birriwa-Gulgong district in Central West of New South Wales receives an average of around 600 mm of annual rainfall. ⁵ Those who remember it, in 1995 there was an 18-month drought. During this period Darryl Cluff seeded oat crop in an area normally covered with native red grass. Tests indicated that the subsoil moisture level was zero. Conventional logic indicated that the oat crop would not survive but not only did it survive, it flourished and new techniques in agriculture locally called the ‘Cluff and Seis pasture cropping technique’ were born.⁶ The winter season saw crops being planted and the summer season was for native Australian grass which was used to feed the cattle. Soil testing indicated that the soil did not degrade and also the biodiversity was maintained.

Envirosafe Solutions supports developments and adoption of regenerative agriculture practices. And the Envirosafe Solutions Extreme Green range also fits in with this approach. With a lower environmental impact and a greater respect for the Australian ecosystem, these products can make a considerable difference to your carbon footprint. For more information please call Envirosafe Solutions on 1300 889070.

1.  Regenerative agriculture explained: http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/features/0802/regenerative.shtml

2.  Pro-Earth agriculture: http://www.sdc.admin.ch/en/Home/Themes/Water/Water_for_food

3.  Pasture cropping explained: http://www.winona.net.au/farming.html

4.  Problems associated with standard agricultural practices: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming

5.  Gulgong, New South Wales: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulgong,_New_South_Wales

6.  Upcoming courses on pasture cropping: http://regenag.com/web/upcoming-courses.html