We are probably all guilty of sometimes carelessly discarding plastic items that should be recycled, but I wonder how many of us are aware of the potential consequences.
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The report "Birds dropping dead off Australia's coast" (Sunday Canberra Times, May 19, p10) tells us that those consequences can be the death of wildlife, particularly in the sea with which Australia is "girt". Birds, particularly the chicks, are dying of starvation because their stomachs are full of plastic debris washed into the ocean from our cities and towns, and lost or tossed from ships and boats. Seabirds' lives are put at further risk by the chemicals leached into their bloodstream from pieces of plastic they swallow.
Fish and other marine life are put at similar risk by fragments and micro-fragments – including microbeads – of plastic. This could lead to a decreasing abundance of seafood for our consumption.
Some Australian jurisdictions have taken steps to reduce the amount of plastic waste they generate. Queensland, with the most to lose because of its extensive fisheries and custodianship of the Great Barrier Reef, is leading the way. The federal government is dragging the chain when it should be leading the way. There are some positive signs from government: notably the emphasis on converting waste (by combustion) into energy. Ultimately, the largest contribution to solving this problem is in the hands of the individual. We must drastically reduce the demand for single-use plastic items, recycle rather than thoughtlessly discard any plastic articles that we can, and pick up plastic litter we see while walking around town. Ultimately, the solution is in our hands.
Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin
Trump hypocrisy
Trump has one rule for himself and another for everyone else. A bit like his hypocrisy over North Korea and Iran wanting to level the nuclear weapons playing field. He is the first one to defend second amendment rights at home, but allow other countries to have nuclear weapons? No way. That would mean they could deter him from committing more Vietnams, Iraqs and Afghanistans. Trump's double standards are legendary. He can cavort with and abuse women but then takes the high moral ground when others do the same.
Adam Bonner, Brogo NSW
Moral imperative
It is contemptible of Daniel Iglesias to use the reckless actions of two motor hoons as an opportunity to plug his equally contemptible annual kangaroos slaughter.
This opportunism occurred after a woman was hit by a car while moving an injured kangaroo off the road. The kangaroo had been struck by the first hoon, who did not bother to stop and help as the ACT Animal Welfare Act requires (section 10 [1] [a] and [b]). The woman was then struck by the second hoon who also failed to stop. Obviously, aside from being the law, there is a moral imperative for anyone hitting an animal with a car to move the animal off the road, not only to make sure it is not hit again while awaiting help to alleviate its suffering, but also to ensure other cars do not hit it, causing injuries to humans.
If the person who hit the kangaroo does not stop to render assistance, clearly the next person passing who has a shred of compassion will do so, as happened in this case. There are always risks for anyone doing the right thing for animals, but this does not excuse us from doing it. To save human and animal lives at this time of year, it is important to be aware that when the ACT government is shooting thousands of kangaroos on urban reserves, there are very high numbers of kangaroos crossing roads to flee the shooting.
Lydia Steele, Red Hill
Power talk
It is difficult to understand the continuing references to the Snowy 2 scheme, by people who should know better. Snowy Hydro Ltd chief executive Paul Broad, speaking at Senate Estimates on May 22, said the scheme would be better on price and reliability than any new coal-fired power plant.
While his statement might be true, it is what he did not say that is important. And what he did not say was that for the same price as constructing the long-term, exorbitantly expensive Snowy 2 scheme, several much less expensive schemes built elsewhere would produce over twice as much electricity in half the time. This has been demonstrated by the team working at the Australian National University. They would also have the advantage of not putting the origin of all this renewable power in one place. It is high time Snowy Hydro Ltd stopped spending more of our money on what would be an unnecessarily expensive scheme.
Murray Upton, Belconnen
Link with book
There is more than the "new social media rules against public servants revealing their political opinions" behind the Service Commissioner's communications with the Australia Institute which has dogged him for months ("Department keeps Lloyd emails secret", Canberra Times, May 19, p3). There is a link with the controversial 2018 book, Silent invasion: China's influence in Australia, by Professor Clive Hamilton. The topic is unusual for this polymath with a background as a greenie academic and Greens candidate, but is in keeping with his role as founder of the Australia Institute. Chris Zappone expanded on the book's theme, possibly explaining Commissioner Lloyd's clumsy attempts at censorship, in his article, "A study in balancing security with civil liberties" (CT, May 20, pp15,17).
He discussed "weaponised narratives", a terminology which comes from the Weaponised Narrative Initiative (WNI) at Arizona State University which defines it as an information attack that "undermines an opponent's civilisation, identity, and will". A WNI member explained that the goal is to "harden the ideological position of those who agree", which gels with Dr Hamilton's comment that as a result of Australia's purported racism and Sinophobia, "apologists for Beijing ... are using this insult in an attempt to close down discussion of CCP influence in Australia".
Authoritarian legislators in Australia are using the undoubtedly serious threat of conflicts with China to establish repressive changes in our society and the pedestrian aggression of Chinese residents increases.
Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor