Posts filed under ‘environment’
Vegetarian and Vegan Diets
Increasingly, people are adopting alternative diets to improve their health or address ethical concerns. Vegetarianism and veganism are diet choices that attract debate, not only about their implications for health, but also about the associated ethical arguments. Vegetarian and Vegan Diets looks at the current debate on the pros and cons of these elimination diets and gives an overview of the related animal welfare issues.
The information in this book comes from a wide range of sources including government reports and statistics, newspaper features, magazine articles, surveys and literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
You can read more about this book on the publisher’s website; you can buy it there, or on Amazon.
Editors: Lisa Firth and Cobi Smith
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
ISBN: 978 1 86168 406 6
Published: September 2007
Smoking trends
Smoking is now banned in all enclosed public places in England – a step already taken in some other parts of the world. This has sparked discussion about the effects of smoking on health and society. The ban has generated debate about human rights and freedom of choice, as well as consideration of the links between smoking, poverty and mental health. The impact of opposition to smoking in developed countries also raises questions about the increasing prevalence of smoking in the developing world.
The information in this book comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper features, magazine articles, surveys and literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
You can read more about this book on the publisher’s website; you can buy it there, or on Amazon.
Editors: Cobi Smith and Sophie Crewdson
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £6.95
Cover: Paperback
ISBN: 978 1 86168 411 0
Published: September 2007
Australian of the Year brings climate change message to London
Australians travelling overseas should make the most of their time and offset their carbon emissions, according to Professor Tim Flannery, renowned scientist, author and 2007 Australian of the Year.
Professor Flannery spoke to a group of Australian expatriates about climate change at King’s College in London on World Environment Day last week.
“When I travel overseas I try to do as much as I can at once, and then get back to Australia and try to spend a lengthy time back home before I’ve got to come over again,” he said.
Professor Flannery talked about the impact of water deficits in Australia and how this is affecting major cities. However his main message was the importance of the UN climate summit in 2009, when a new international climate agreement could be made.
“If governments behave as selfishly, stupidly and secretly as they did at the last meeting, the climate change problem will continue,” he said.
Professor Flannery said it’s hard for Australians living overseas to get involved in debate back home, but there are still roles to play.
“One of the great things expats can do is act as a bridge between a country like the UK, which is doing so much, and Australia – so bring ideas back with you. I know it’s not easy to change the world, but there are lots of small things that can be done,” he said.
One small thing Professor Flannery wants people to do is change to more efficient light bulbs, rather than traditional incandescent ones. He said backpackers could do their bit to reduce carbon emissions by carrying compact fluorescent light bulbs and installing them as they travel. Australia has committed to banning incandescent light bulbs by 2010.
Professor Flannery’s visit to London coincided with the launch of his books, including his latest, ‘The Weather Makers’, in paperback in the UK.
Read this story in the Australian Times.
Training for agricultural development
You can download the magazine containing this article from the ACPFG website (I also edited this magazine).
The Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) is hosting a talented plant scientist from China.
Dr Xiaojuan Wang is a plant scientist and Associate Professor at Lanzhou University in northwest China. She has joined the ACPFG in Adelaide for six months, where she is studying genes and loci related to low salt accumulation in Arabidopsis.
Dr Wang is looking forward to the challenges of studying overseas for the first time.
“Meeting people from different cultural backgrounds will open my eyes. Also, it should be a good chance to improve my English,” she said.
Dr Wang’s Australian project is jointly funded by the Federal Government’s Australia-China Council and the Crawford Fund. The Crawford Fund gives talented agricultural scientists from developing countries practical training at an Australian agricultural research institute, which they can apply to agricultural development in their home county.
Dr Wang will be passing on knowledge gained at the ACPFG to students when she returns to China.
“I have completed the ACPFG Transformation Workshop and am starting my experiments on salt tolerance. My time at ACPFG will strengthen my knowledge of DNA transformation and molecular mechanisms in salt tolerance, as well as giving me practical training,” she said.
In China, Dr Wang has been investigating the genetic diversity of alfalfa germplasm in arid and semi-arid areas using molecular markers.
In 2005 she worked on a project with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, collaborating with South Australian researchers to develop lucerne adapted to harsh conditions in China and Australia.
Dr Wang is now working in Professor Mark Tester’s lab with the support of Dr Stuart Roy.
“I hope my six month visit to the ACPFG is the start of more collaboration between the ACPFG and Lanzhou University. Our university encourages us to establish links with laboratories overseas, so I hope people from the ACPFG will come to Lanzhou University in the future,” she said.
