The Ecological Footprint has been used as an environmental accounting device to measure the demand you place on Earth. I thought I’d measure my own Ecological Footprint; it only took five minutes to answer some simple questions and discover the answer.
But hang on, what’s a global hectare?
People often say we have evolved beyond nature but it is our very progress and growth which has bound us closer to its fate.
The Richmond Birdwing butterfly (Ornithoptera richmondia) is one of Australia’s biggest and most spectacular butterflies. Just 100 years ago, these butterflies were abundant throughout greater Brisbane. Today they are gone. Not entirely extinct, but no longer in Brisbane. The reason is more than just building a city. It’s a story of habitat loss, isolation and invasive species.
We can give them the chance to return and we’ll explain how here.
The summer afternoon storms of subtropical Queensland are an awe inspiring sight and sound of nature. If you’re lucky enough to have some trees and ponds around your house, the wet balmy night will be filled with the crawk – crawk – crawk of male Green Tree Frogs (Litoria caerulea) seducing prospective partners. But not all frogs are so lucky!
As well as making honey, honey bees pollinate countless hectares of agricultural crops. It’s estimated that a third of the food you eat could be attributed to pollination by bees. The productivity of modern agriculture would be drastically reduced without the humble honey bee. There is a whole industry based around trucking bee hives to crops for pollination duties.
