This is a guest post from my great blogging friend who is also a dedicated naturalist and environmentalist, Denis Wilson of
The Nature of Robertson.
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I am not advocating that you send a donation to Environment Victoria (see below), but at least please read this forthright message about the Murray Darling Basin.
Incidentally, supporters of the MDB ought be aware that in the last couple of days Alan Jones has been broadcasting from Mildura. And he has been openly ridiculing the plans of the MDBA to lower the availability of water to the Irrigators.
For Alan it is simple - food security above all else. I am far from promoting Alan Jones' views - simply circulating these few links, so that MDB campaigners know what is being said against the Environment. There is "stacks of water", according to Jones.
Water Woes
Alan Jones speaks with citrus farmer John Keam about water security for agriculture.
Water Minister Tony Burke
Alan Jones speaks from Mildura with Federal Water Minister Tony Burke
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Environment Victoria <admin@environmentvictoria.org.au>
Date: Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 3:01 PM
Subject:
Dumb and Dumber
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Dear Denis,
The people in charge of the national plan that is supposed to save the Murray are knowingly condemning this magnificent river to a long, irreversible death.*
That would be the Murray-Darling basin - a life support system for ancient Red Gum wetlands and unique Australian wildlife. And a life support system for humans, producing 40% of our food!
Smart eh?
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority wants to return only one quarter (2,800 billion litres) of the 11,000 billion litres that is taken from the desperately ailing rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin. That’s nowhere near what the science says needs to bring it back to health.
But wait. It gets more ridiculous. The Authority is ignoring the impacts of climate change in their modelling!
It’s sooo ludicrous; it’s like a scene from the movie dumb and dumber. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the numbers don’t add up. I’m sure it makes you as angry as it makes me. Someone needs to step up and sort this mess out. Someone like you and me.
This holiday season you can be a drop of hope. Please donate today to save the Murray River >
The crazy thing is that the solution is so simple! Give the Murray River System at least 4,000 billion litres of its water back to restore it to health.
It seems that the recent rains and irrigator lobby groups have helped to erase the memories of the relentless and destructive drought from the minds of our short-sighted decision makers. In the driest, inhabited continent on earth, it’s an ironic and heartbreaking outcome from a break in the drought that scientists predict will soon return.
Without a reliable water supply, the survival of the world’s largest remaining River Red Gum Forests - an ancient ecosystem that has flourished for thousands of years along the Murray - hangs in the balance. And the already threatened wildlife that calls these forests home will slowly but surely vanish from the wild forever.
How much extinction is the Authority prepared to sit back and watch? How much extinction will you and I allow them get away with?
Amazing creatures that are found nowhere else in the world fight to survive with less and less water. The threatened Blue-billed Duck; the critically endangered Giant Banjo Frog; the vulnerable Murray Cod a mythical giant, just to name a few. Without water, the question is not if they’ll disappear completely. It’s when.
Before we kick back and enjoy our holiday season let’s help the Murray River and our fellow species.
Make an urgent donation to Save the Murray and its inhabitants that face extinction >
Thank you so much for your support, no matter how big or small.
Yours sincerely,
Kelly O’Shanassy
and the Team from Environment Victoria
*Disclaimer: Sometimes smart individuals collectively make really dumb plans. Now, we’re not calling the people in the Authority dumb, but the way we’ve been managing our river systems over the years hasn’t been too bright and this latest plan is not much of an improvement.
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