Outreach: I want my vote to count for nature: how do the major parties stack up?
Sarah Bekessy, RMIT University and Brendan Wintle, The University of Melbourne The animals and plants at risk of extinction finally made it onto the political agenda last week, as Labor and the Greens launched biodiversity policies ahead of the federal election. Labor’s policies included new funding for the Great Barrier Reef and long-term commitments for […]
Outreach: Fail: our report card on the government’s handling of Australia’s extinction crisis
Sarah Bekessy, RMIT University and Brendan Wintle, The University of Melbourne Australia is losing more biodiversity than any other developed nation. Already this year the charismatic and once abundant gang gang cockatoo has been added to our national threatened species list, the koala has been listed as endangered and the Great Barrier Reef suffered another […]
Outreach: Imagining Lonsdale Park: turning roads into parks could be the renewal our city needs
The pandemic has underlined an important truth of city life: urban nature is essential infrastructure. Life in lockdown reminded us that urban parks don’t just look nice – they also provide valuable social space, and are a key support to our physical and mental health… Read more
Outreach: A Victorian logging company just won a controversial court appeal. Here’s what it means for forest wildlife
Brendan Wintle, The University of Melbourne; Laura Schuijers, The University of Melbourne, and Sarah Bekessy, RMIT University Australia’s forest-dwelling wildlife is in greater peril after last week’s court ruling that logging — even if it breaches state requirements — is exempt from the federal law that protects threatened species. The Federal Court upheld an appeal […]
Outreach: Moving cars key to revival
Bringing life back to our gritty, windswept CBD is a daunting task, but we’re starting to see what works… Read more
Outreach: 4 ways our streets can rescue restaurants, bars and cafes after coronavirus
Nils Versemann/Shutterstock Thami Croeser, RMIT University As Australia re-opens, the bars, cafes and restaurants that give life to our streets face a tough ask: stay open and stay afloat with just a fraction of the customers. From June 1 in Victoria, for example, the limit will be 20 patrons, with 1.5 metres between tables or […]
Where the wild things are: how nature might respond as coronavirus keeps humans indoors
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Intriguing things sometimes happen in places deserted by people. Plants creep back, animals return and, slowly, birdsong fills the air. The coronavirus pandemic means public spaces the world over have been temporarily abandoned. Major roads are all but empty […]
Outreach: Nurturing nature, designing a home with biodiversity in mind
Sarah Bekessy, Georgia Garrard, Sarrah Hurley, Casey Visintin, Freya Thomas & Holly Kirk There’s a lot you can do to promote biodiversity when you’re designing a new home or renovation, with clear benefits for you and your family as well as for the natural environment…
Outreach: Thousands of street trees have been lost to development, when we need them more than ever
Thami Croeser, RMIT University; Camilo Ordóñez, The University of Melbourne, and Rodney van der Ree, The University of Melbourne Climate change is on everyone’s lips this summer. We’ve had bushfires, smoke haze, heatwaves, flooding, mass protests and a National Climate Emergency Summit, all within a few months. The search is on for solutions. Trees often feature […]
Outreach: Want to help save wildlife after the fires? You can do it in your own backyard
Holly Kirk, RMIT University; Brendan Wintle, The University of Melbourne; Casey Visintin, The University of Melbourne; Freya Thomas, RMIT University; Georgia Garrard, RMIT University; Kirsten Parris, The University of Melbourne; Kylie Soanes, The University of Melbourne; Pia Lentini, The University of Melbourne, and Sarah Bekessy, RMIT University People living in cities far from the unprecedented […]
