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| Slim Pickings |
Such a lovely day. I went out blackberrying this morning. Great walk. Not many blackberries. This means that Landcare of which I have been a member from time to time, has done an excellent job in this area of eradicating invasive species, a big problem in Australia and, as I have just found out, even in the UK. Nevertheless, come autumn, I really miss them. I was looking forward to some apple and blackberry crumble and making a bit of jam, not to mention just hoofing some down with a bit of yoghurt and muesli. Maybe the time has come to consider them endangered and set aside a little plot somewhere - strictly fenced and controlled of course, where it's still possible to find a bit of wild fruit occasionally. Natives are nice. But you can't eat them. If we take this to its logical conclusion we should remove all the introduced humans as well. [By the way, does anyone know what that plant is on the left? It's a tree really, rather like an elm, but I have never seen one with fruit on it].
Speaking of endangered species, our
scientists are under siege too, from
religious fundamentalists on the one hand, to
big business on the other. When I was last in Canberra, there was a campaign "Hug A Climate Scientist today." Perhaps we should hug all our other scientists as well. One in particular needs one right now. It's Professor Peter Gleick who blew the whistle on the
Heartland business (yesterday's post). He is now being ostracised by both
colleagues and the press for having had to lie to get the information. Contact him via
his website. The site itself is interesting, especially for those of us bordering onto the Pacific.
You may also want to read and sign the excellent
petition from Canadian scientists who are sick and tired of being muzzled.
PS. The sites for Press and Internet Freedom are now listed on the previous page.
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