New people from England have moved to our street. First 5 old trees had to go, because the huge container with the furniture had to sit somewhere. Next, because " they live in the country now", two dogs and two cats arrived, all roaming . Then out came the chain saw. I just went over to have a look. Now, you'd be the judge, NOTHING left, dead silence. I talked to them, I said; wow, you kleened that up! The answer: this IS a high fire danger area, we don't want to burn down. I had lots of things on the tip of my tongue, like, why didn't you stay in England, and more, but just walked of. (For the moment) When I got closer to my property, I could hear countless birds singing, how different from just 800m down the road. I have no idea, how they got away with doing this to nature, I will have to do something about this.here are two photos to show to you, what it looks like:
Nothing left
My place:
I am very upset, M-L
This is totally barbaric. Unacceptable. I can see why you are very upset :( Really sucks that they can do whatever the heck they want with their property with very little regard to the ecosystem. It must have taken a lot of willpower for you to keep your cool and walk away like that. Spread awareness about the issue to ensure it doesn't happen again but stay tolerant with their views as you have been doing. It will probably take some time for them to learn to appreciate the birdlife of Australia and regret their actions and they'll be greatly envious of your property. If they are still not convinced, they don't deserve to be surrounded by the rhapsody of birdcalls. You still have your own flourishing property of greenery and towering ancient trees and I am glad people like you still exist, people who realise the importance of nature and learn to cherish it.
Taz
Oh, Araminta! What a travesty! And how thoroughly distressing! How immediately powerless it must make you feel because you can't bring back what has been destroyed.
There's a strong argument, I believe, for all migrants to have at least an introductory session to Australia's environment & ecological systems. It's unlikely to happen, of course, so the next best thing is for the Aramintas of the world to conduct their own environment education programmes. Sadly, these take time to have much effect as rushing at it only allienates most people. Even sadder, Australia's diminishing environment can't really wait for long term efforts to produce results. Once it's lost it's gone for ever.
I'm continuously curious about people who move to live in the bush & then cut it down because it presents a hazard to them. Somewhere in there lies a huge contradiction. The logical extension of their way of life is to concrete their part of the world.
What on Earth were these English people thinking when they moved to your area? By the way, do people in Victoria have to have a permit to vandalise the bush?
Its not only "migrants" that destroy the bush !
Our local council (Port Stephens) has a rule that you have to get a permit to cut down anything over 3m. Except the rule doesn't apply to them - we had planted a heap of local native trees to try to rehabilitate an area the council had dug up as a retention basin and left as a big barren clay pit. After doing nothing to the area for 4 years the council decided to mow the area, and despite me asking the driver to avoid the trees they mowed more than 20 trees that had reached around 3-4m high - some with trunks about 100cm in diameter.
Geoff
Aggravating, to say the least, gphe. There's a long, long way to go yet. And don't we look forward to the challenge!!
Alexandrina Council, where I live, some years ago conducted training in plant identification for its staff & roadside contractors. I think the participants may have misunderstood the purpose of the training because they subsequently seemed to zero in on the native vegetation for destruction, eradication & elimination. In recent years this has changed a bit & sometimes a stand of native vegetation will be left untouched by staff as they go about their roadside activities. However, it's far from clear that this is due to increased awareness of the need to protect native vegetation but we live in hope.
My occasional contacts with council on these matters have usually met with the standard bureaucratic blah about the need to keep roadsides clear of hazards (but no mention of lower speed limits so that motorists can travel more safely while their passsengers enjoy the view).
If we're to increase council awareness of the need to protect & defend our remaining native vegetation I guess we can politely contact relevant council staff every time we see environmental vandalism. Contacting councillors themselves is, I suspect, of limited value as many of them are developers & only too happy to see our landscapes concreted or olive-treed to the distant horizons. (Pardon the touch of reality here.) Better to develop relationships with sympathetic council staff as they can often surreptitiously avoid or ignore directives from more destructive managers - or, at least, be encouraged to do so.
This is no consolation for the damage they do to the roadside, but every time I drive past those council workers spraying blue or pink chemicals on the roadside vegetation, I notice: “None of them wears any protection, not even a mask!”
One day I stopped the car and asked a guy (while he was having lunch), Don’t you think that stuff could be poisonous? Shouldn’t you wear a mask? Maybe just in case? He gave the classical answer: “ If it was poisonous, they wouldn’t let us use it.” (Isn’t that what they said about DDT , Asbestos, and….?) If it wasn’t that sad and stupid, one could laugh .
M-L
(I'm going to have my chemical free lunch now)
M-L
That is a response type that I've heard a lot, Araminta. Such blind faith in our authorities is so touching! Ms Woko often complains that people have lost their critical faculties. This is evidence to support her contention.
I'm only 29 and already think that the simple answer is just that "most people are bastards"... That's probably horribly cynical for someone my age, but there you go!
I saw a car parked in a garage today. The back of the car had a bumper sticker that said something like "Slow down dusk to dawn"- a common sticker down here (and maybe elsewhere?) encouraging people to drive at 75km/hr after dark on highways, to reduce the risk of injuring wildlife.
"That's nice", I thought.
Then I saw that there was not a SINGLE plant in their entire front yard, and just 1 Photinia plant in their backyard.
Maybe they're just renting and can't alter anything where they live... But I still don't really understand people... Why doesn't everyone want to feed native animals by planting natives in their garden??
Scott.
Hi Woko,about the loss of "critical faculties",
you can tell your wife another true story, or two. When my husband “had to” do his military service in the early sixties ,as part of the so-called survival kit given to soldiers all over Europe was a large sheet of” Aluminium Foil “, they were supposed to sit under a table, (if one was near), cover themselves with the foil. They were told : it would protect them against radiation. You make up your own mind about people’s intelligence.
Story 2 happened more recently. (20 years ago) We had a Chemical Factory owner for dinner at our place. He complained that the government forced him to extend the height of his chimney, because of the dangerous emissions. He got very angry, when I said, O, that’s good, so people further away get poisoned ? When I asked, how about the people that work for you, do they know how dangerous the chemicals they work with are? He answered : I’m sure they do, why else would they think I pay them so much money, they should ask themselves that question. Well, you probably know me by now, I had a not so nice discussion with them, and asked them to leave. We lost a potential customer, but who cares , the older I get, the less I can tolerate that attitude .
But Scott,don't give up on humanity yet,there is hope, and that hope is "YOU", and all the young people that do think.Everyone counts and many small changes can achieve big outcomes for all of nature and us. M-L
M-L
It may not be trees M-L, (though we have enough of them being cut down here), but I have been really upset that I found the feeding bush for the Monarch butterflies growing up in the drain area next to my house where all my birds are. This bush ( we call it a Swan Plant in NZ) has popped up after a melaleuca was chopped down by council having been split in two by a storm. I have been trying to let the little girl across the road have the enjoyable experience of watching the caterpillar turn into a chrysalis and then a butterfly. We did this all the time back In NZ and every child has a plant in their back yard to share the joy. Now we have had 3 caterpillars hang and die before the chrysalis can form.
I have been puzzled over this until my daughter suggested that it was because the council spray weed killer all over the place ! The the penny dropped and that is exactly what they have been doing over the last few months. So they tell us it is harmless..and they apply it from trucks with the name "greening Australia" daubed all over them .... but it stops nature's breeding processes .... so you have to wonder what it does to our birds??
I am really angry that the butterflies can't breed and flourish thanks again to mankind!
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Scott, people's attitudes towards the environment can often be despairing & a lot of their efforts to protect the environment are tokenistic. Little do they know that they're biting the hand that feeds them. However, keep plugging away at demonstrating your passion. Actions speak louder than words. "We shall fight in the wetlands, we shall fight in the forests, we shall fight in the heaths and in the grasslands; we shall never surrender." (Winston Churchill, who is usually misquoted.)
Araminta, Ms Woko identifies 100% with your sentiments. I find them rather appealing, too. That chemical factory owner wasn't a Mr Bopal by any chance?
Fancy council chopping down a split melaleuca, birdie. Don't they know that some bird species (e.g., grey shrike-thrushes)nest in split trees. Perhaps the melaleuca was endangering life & limb. And I know what you mean when the butterfly-destroying spray truck sports its Greening Australia logo on the side. Our council runs or hires a machine called Envirotrim. It slashes the native vegetation along our roadsides so that cars can travel at break-neck speeds. Tokenism may be alive & well but it's important, I believe, to expose it.
Araminta, next time you run into the council workers spraying ask them if they've read the Material Safety Data sheet for what they are spraying. I've yet to come across a herbicide that does not have some kind of ill effect on the body.
Perhaps your local council might have a by law relating to the removal of trees that your neighbours have breeched? If so dob them in.