Conservation farm sold to miner

Discussion in 'News from around the damp planet' started by matto, Mar 1, 2014.

  1. matto

    matto Junior Member

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    An Upper Hunter conservation farm has been sold to make way for a coal mine.

    Tarwyn Park is the home of Peter Andrews 'Natural Sequence Farming'.

    He bought the property in the 1970s and set about reintroducing natural landscape patterns and processes as they would have existed in Australia prior to European settlement.

    He has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his efforts and has featured on the ABC television's Australian Story.

    His son Stewart now runs the property as a cattle farm and has spent years resisting the establishment of coal mines in the Bylong.

    In 2010, Korean energy company Kepco paid Anglo American $400 million for a coal exploration licence (EL) over the area.

    Kepco has been steadily buying up farmland within the EL and a purchase of Tarwyn Park is considered critical for the mine's future.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-21/conservation-farm-sold-to-miner/5274166
     
  2. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    A little light on the details. Was the offer too good to refuse?

    As I always say as I pass another area clear-felled for low-set housing, and it's happening frequently now, "You can't stop progress".
     
  3. matto

    matto Junior Member

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    Not sure of the offer they got. i was there a couple of years ago and it was down to the last two landholders holding out. The whole valley where Tarwyn Park is was being sought for the coal mine.

    I hear NSF tried to get interest from different people to try and stop this, but progress seems to have got them again.

    Another landmark Australian development gone under. At least there are enough other working examples hopefully not under the same pressure.
     
  4. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    Its all very well to hold out I doubt a massive price incentive , they just buy all around you then your property is devalued , you cant live there as the dust and noise is unbearable ect ect , passive persistence eventually you have to leave anyway .
     
  5. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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  6. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    This a shocking tragedy. I feel helpless & confused reading this, & watching the news each day as greed gobbles up our farmland & waterways. I believe that these event are contributing to my personal feelings of depression & isolation. I simply can't make sense of what I read any more. It seems like the apocalypse is unfolding in (not so) slow motion in front of me.
    I've always felt that living very simply & lightly in my own little corner was a pretty good contribution to minimising the footprint of this generation, but lately I'm coming to see this is nowhere near enough. I read an article yesterday that said energetic activism against resource pollution & destruction was now essential - the only moral, ethical & practical thing to do.
    I've avoided frontline participation in the past for fear of further ostracising my family, who already think I'm insane, & a failure, for choosing to live the way I do, but I don't think I can sit on the sidelines any longer. If we don't act now, there will soon be nothing left to support life as we know it on this once bountiful planet.
    Am I over-reacting? Does anyone else feel like this?
     
  7. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    Yes helenlee I feel like this every single day and it impacts my own mental health greatly.

    Less than 24 hours ago tourists inside Kruger National Park, just 3km from one of the entrance gates there, driving on the tar road game viewing were confronted by a white rhino staggering along the road with its horns and face hacked off. No doubt it had been drugged by poachers (usual method is shooting) using the 'regulated' veterinary drug M99 (yes corruption abounds even amongst vets), an axe had been used to hack off the horns and then the animal was left to die or come around. It awoke and has stayed alive in unspeakable pain and suffering for what appears to be at least a day or so. Authorities are now looking for it to euthanise it. Just another one of the 100 already slaughtered in RSA this year so far. 1004 were slaughtered last year. Over 35 000 elephants were slaughtered on the African continent last year. Canned hunting now accounts for more lions bred and farmed to be murdered by fat, ugly disgusting trophy hunters in enclosures. Lions raised from cubs for the sole purpose to be killed so (usually) an American can put a head on a wall.

    Then I just read how Julie Bishop just cancelled vital $3 million funding for programmes to save the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhino. It just goes on and on and on. This is just a drop in the bucket. Everyday...shark culling in WA....lets pulp old growth forest.....lets build more coal mines....frack everywhere...put cattle back into National Parks....mine State Reserves....dump dredge spoil on the Great Barrier Reef...deny Climate Change....reduce Carbon Emission Reduction Targets....etc etc etc.

    The Botswana government has issued exploration licenses for fracking in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the totally unique and magnificent Okavango Delta and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The RSA govt. has issued licenses for fracking in the fragile and arid Karoo. There is NO END to the collusion, the corruption, the greed.

    THIS IS END GAME. Of that I am sure. It is only how long is this going to take to melt down. I think we do have to protest and speak up and get angry. BUT...I don't think there are enough of 'us' to do it. :(

    I was very sad to read James Lovelock's interview with The Guardian this week in which he straight out said....we're fucked and to just enjoy ourselves while we can because nothing we do now is going to stop climate change and the destruction of the environment as we know it. I tend to think he is correct. But I can't go down without a fight. Neither do I want to become so depressed and feeling helpless and spend my whole time in worry and turmoil and conflict. :/ :(
     
  8. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    I will write more later after thinking a bit more , if we "chain ourself " to the trees we can end up in trouble , people who do this on the front line don't have any ASSETS for good reason now that's not a attack on them that's how it has to be , we can end up in a endless court case which cripples us . Again passive persistence from the corporations will grind us into the dirt via the legal process .

    Mith what you touch on there is sickening no doubt its happening in one form or another all over the planet , poor bloody whales ect ect .

    I better go and thrash around outside for awhile .
     
  9. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    I actually started crying reading this. Real tears. I know I say "Oh you made me cry" a lot ... but it's not actually true. I feel like I'm gunna cry, but for many years now the well has been dry. I still feel the emotion, but no tears wet my eyes.
    I can't watch wildlife programs or news events regarding any sort of cruelty to animals. My response reminds me that what I like to think is my very groovy spiritual plane is paper thin & quivering in the breeze. Because when I read stuff like this I am very afraid I could tear a human limb from limb with my bare teeth. They say depression is rage turned inwards, & I have a feeling I'm going to stay very depressed for a very long time to ensure the safety of a few humans out there. I think I'd need to be on my own continent for everyone to be safe if I ever get over being numb. Anyway ... getting angry doesn't help anything & being so angry one is frozen is just stupid. Hell - I've become an endangered species myself as a result of being frozen!

    There is NO END to the collusion, the corruption, the greed.

    THIS IS END GAME. Of that I am sure. It is only how long is this going to take to melt down. I think we do have to protest and speak up and get angry. BUT...I don't think there are enough of 'us' to do it.

    I was very sad to read James Lovelock's interview with The Guardian this week in which he straight out said....we're fucked and to just enjoy ourselves while we can because nothing we do now is going to stop climate change and the destruction of the environment as we know it. I tend to think he is correct.


    Sadly, (with the exception of "But ... I don't think there are enough of 'us" to do it.") I agree with this. I don't believe we can turn it around.

    I do believe that if the people who want a decent life while we watch the sunset got together & acted, we could make a difference. Hell even if we only got together & created compounds to support life, it's better than dying alone in our separate little boxes. What we're doing now is comparable to existing, waiting, withering, on death row. It is simply ghastly.

    But I can't go down without a fight. Neither do I want to become so depressed and feeling helpless and spend my whole time in worry and turmoil and conflict. :/

    Me neither. Now what?
     
  10. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    i don't know about the rest of you, but this few square feet of space is important in the larger area. even if someone else is doing something else nearby you don't know who will come along later to upset the balance. so create what habitats for diversity in as many ways as possible on your land. even if it is micro-climates in a puddle for frogs or taller growth here or there for animals you might even consider pests.

    this is what i do.

    when i go outside in the spring, summer, fall i see animals like this trying to make a go of it:

    [​IMG]

    this tree frog was on the roof on a day when it was well over 100F up there. a being of mostly water, that usually is found in trees, what was it doing up there? i don't know. : ) it was about 25ft from the nearest tree. no shelter up there at all other than the shade from the chimney stack, but that was earlier this was later in the day, it was freaking hot up there, my feet were baking from the heat through my shoes...


    [​IMG]

    and this one was on the front window of the house getting bugs that were attracted to the light. there isn't anything green within 35 or more feet to that window. but it had safe passage to and from that point and clean water and air to be able to hang out and make our night a bit brighter too as we wondered how it came to be where it was and...

    so, do what you can, wherever you are to provide clean air and healthy water and places for critters to do their thing.

    all spring, summer and fall, i see it all around me, many animals use this little bit of land as a haven for nesting and for food that they don't get much of elsewhere in the surrounding farm fields. often they make me smile and that is all i can ask for. that they live and have a home. it may not be enough to save every creature in danger, but it is enough for the creatures it does help.
     
  11. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    Me neither. Now what?

    I don't honestly know. :( I think there are thousands of people like us out there thinking, 'I don't honestly know...' So we just go on trying to make our little patch our idyll, sheltered from all the awfulness. But then we read the awfulness every day and it is a constant bombardment on the soul. It is wearing me down. It weighs on me; this knowing and yet not doing anything. In reality, what CAN I do? Protest. March in March. Change my vote. Refuse to vote. Organise. Lobby. Aaagh, I have no mental strength for organising and lobbying.

    I see the people who were out in the Arab Spring. I see the people in the Ukraine. What would it take for crowds of people to occupy and demand change in the western world against the prevailing status quo? There is too much COMFORT here in the western world. If you talk to other people about this stuff, they might agree and seem concerned but pretty soon their eyes glaze over and they just murmur agreement....because it is all too much to take in. Too much to comprehend as REAL. Too hard to know what to do.

    I think my sad truth is that unless others start the fight, I will just keep plodding on here pretending and prepping. If a good fight is forthcoming, then I'll join in. But it seems like pissing in the wind. As Terra said, they (the establishment) have the power to grind you down and take you down. It is only if there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands out on the streets....that a power shift can happen.

    And I look outside today and the sky is cloudless; it is a stunning day. There are little birds all around. My gardens look amazing. My animals are happy. Is it all an illusion?
     
  12. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    Thank you songbird. Thank you for the lovely words and for making your place another haven for creatures. This world and her creatures sorely needs more safe havens. :)
     
  13. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    it does, and that's why i'm doing what i can. i also recall years ago, reading a poem or story of the person walking along the beach and rescuing star fish stranded by a storm far up a beach, throwing them back in the water, and someone asking them why they were doing it as it seemed so pointless. the answer was, "it means something to this one." and by giving that small creature a bit of a home, or meaning, or interpretation to others, well it also gives meaning back to me -- as otherwise, there's not much in this world for me other than Ma and a few friends. nature with her billions of creatures gives me a home and a far richer context. i have this place only indirectly to work with, i may not be able to afford to live here after Ma is gone, i may be homeless and shiftless and fighting for a crumb on the street along with many others who get stranded by the strong storms and high tides of our times. i don't really know longer term, but short term i do know, i see it, it works, and it does make me smile. : )

    so in answer to being inspired and by a lot of you folks here too which help keep this late winter from freezing us into little turtle heads sucked into the body... well thanks too! :) when you say you are sweating, i'm looking at 1-4ft of snow piled up waiting for warmer days... and then the frogs will start peeping again and the cycle will continue.


    : ) in that moment, no it was as solid as a hug from a loved one.

    i protect and guard my happiness, because i don't think most media or people actually understand how to be happy themselves, they are in business to sell things, to move information, to do everything that is a large part of the problem. i mostly disengage from the news. i don't watch tv. i will be the last person to know about who is screwing who in hollywood (or bollywood), i don't know who is who in sports, or much else. fuck with my happiness and i'll tickle your lame ass into fits of giggles or do my best to try. : ) see, i think the world has always been a challenge, that humans are not creatures of contentment, that very few understand what it means to be happy. that really most people don't want to be happy. it is a place like shan-gri-la or timbuktu... good for others, good for a visit, but not for life. years ago, i made choices for both happiness and a different life. since then i have actually been happier. yes, the world could go through a larger more messy financial collapse and for some reason that doesn't bother me. the last round started getting some folks to rethink their lives, to pare down debt, to plant gardens, none of that sounds like a loss to me.

    is happiness an illusion? yes. and no. to me it is about choices, to filter and protect my mind as much as i try to filter and protect what is being brought onto this property for the benefit of the critters. the illusion, i think, is that this time is much different than many others in the past. in some ways it is, in others it isn't. pre-ice-age, those folks did what they did to survive, and just like the rest of us, some made it and some didn't, some had children which made it further and others didn't. i don't have children. so i can only speak indrectly and most of my family don't care much about the environment enough to actually understand it. it's not too likely i'll have a legacy to pass on to someone else that makes much of any sense. that they can go into the future without my anchoring bullshit might be a good thing.

    though i hope that we can solve waste and recycling problems to make space a viable means of getting out of this solar system. all the eggs in one basket. not a good idea. ok, well, i'm in a rambly mood tonight. : ) time to ramble off to another task waiting...
     
  14. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    kimbo? help please?

    I want to answer some of this, but I don't have the ability.
    kimbo? help me out here please?
     
  15. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    Overpopulation

    The big fat white rhino in the room...

    We need a good old-fashioned black plague for us to have any hope. Of course this is not something we could humanly wish upon ourselves, our families or others. It is the curse of having the awareness, we know we are screwing it up, but as an organism we still follow the rules of nature. We are driven by nature to multiply and multiply, but we know intrinsically that it is unsustainable. We are in that moment just before a car accident, the impact is coming, time is slowing and we can see just how messy the resultant collision is going to be, but we have already gone beyond the ability of the brakes to stop us. All we can do now is watch in horror, brace for impact and wait.

    Having said all of that, from a spiritual perspective I believe...

    We already have everything we need, the trick is in knowing why we need it
    .

    No matter what we face in life, in any time throughout history, on any scale it can seem like the end (because the end is always coming). The only thing we have at our disposal is our ability to respond, our response to it is what counts. It is our responsabilty.

    I say respond to the best of your ability, respond the way you know within is the right response and that to me is where happiness lies. We can look at the outside world, all that madness and use it as a guide, as sign posts to knowing our inner Self.

    The more we push against the universe the more it is sure to push back, when we rage against it is rages back. When we choose anger, it provides us with more reason to be angry.

    We are all creators. Perception is reality.

    When we perceive in fear, anger and sadness then the universe arranges itself around us.

    Self-awareness, I mean real self-awareness is a double edged sword

    Our old school latin motto was "Master Self, Master All".

    I believe that what your universe looks like is your responsibility. Perhaps we could all benefit by looking at things from a different angle...
     
  16. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    AWESOME POST : )
    Thank You : )
     
  17. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Permaculture is progress, a coal mine is not.

    The problem with the 'You can't stop progress' mentality is the mentality itself because what is currently perceived as progress is actually holding humanity back, by far.

    The problem with the 'You can't stop progress' mentality is it fleeces the pockets of a few at the expense of all, which is the reason many of us here hold that candle in the wind, be it a gale, or 1 kph. We hold that candle against the darkness & storms of stupidity, greed, and ignorant arrogance, so long as no one puts a gun directly to my head again and doesn't blow out my Permaculture candle of hope there will be a chance for humans, but what is coming is not the civilization we know now.

    Change is coming.

    The only constant in the universe is lack of constants and even that is inconsistent, yet I digress, change is coming, change is already here.

    It is YOUR choice to see the yin, or the yang of it.






    & that goes triple for myself.
     
  18. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Absolutely agree that what is termed progress & growth is in fact exploitation & destruction & regression.

    I think the changes are already here & are being ignored by the masses because of feelings of fear & helplessness. And I also think the escalation of serious threats to life referred to as "converging catastrophes" (mining accidents/spills/side-effects, climate change, unusually destructive weather events, disease caused by pollutants of water, food, air, consumption of carcinogenic products, the disappearance of crop pollinators, social disintegration) is multiplying at a rate that is about to blow through the denial any old year now.
    The changes that will come when the masses in the first world realise we're in a trap we can't get out of will be violent & chaotic.

    I think it's an awesome opportunity we have to be able to discuss these things here. It must be a good thing to help each other work through possible scenarios & evolve ideas to meet the challenges ahead. I certainly don't think the answer is to stay in our individual boxes & hope that's going to be good enough. Hope is not a strategy : /
     
  19. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    It would be great if kp chimed in on this. I suspect he has a lot of experience & knowledge that would be useful to this conversation. Living on the edge is a difficult, energy consuming & in some ways unrewarding path, & it would be a waste if those of us who have chosen to walk it didn't share the lessons with others.

    In the end, a lot of the answers come down to frith as a life sustaining necessity.
     
  20. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    Oh please lets NOT get started on frith again :) :p
     

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