Floods and the Perilous March of Australian Sprawl

Australia’s urban sprawl into flood-prone regions presents a profound case of civilisation’s unchecked expansion colliding with the very processes of nature. In the philosophy of organism the world is not a static entity but an unfolding process, a constant interplay of forces. The spread of human habitation into precarious landscapes—buoyed by a reliance on fossil fuels that further intensify climatic volatility—is a prime example of what I have termed the “fallacy of misplaced concreteness”: the tendency to treat abstracted human aspirations as if they exist apart from the living, shifting reality of nature.

Cities and suburbs stretch outward in search of economic growth and comfortable living, yet the land itself is not a passive receptacle for human will. The dynamism of rivers, floodplains, and weather systems does not submit to the rigid grids of development. The increasing frequency and severity of floods, driven in part by the very fossil-fuel-intensive activities that enable this expansion, illustrate the failure to integrate our urban ambitions within the deeper rhythms of an evolving planet.

There is an irony here—a civilisation that prizes rational planning is, in fact, perpetuating a chaotic and unsustainable trajectory. This is a problem of abstraction divorced from process. The concrete realities of atmospheric instability, rising sea levels, and the saturation of flood-prone soils are ignored in favor of a narrow economic calculus that sees only the immediate, not the emergent.

What, then, is the remedy? It is not merely a technical fix but a reorientation of thought. True wisdom does not impose an artificial stasis upon a dynamic world but seeks harmony with its processes. A city that respects the patterns of water, that adapts rather than resists, is one that aligns itself with the creative advance of nature rather than standing in opposition to it. If we are to avoid catastrophe, we must cease treating the world as an inert backdrop to human activity and recognize it as the active, evolving reality in which our own future is enmeshed.

(Curated text by Alfred North Whitehead, Process & Reality, Cyclone Alfred, Bellingen Area and ChatGPT.)

The Bellinger River Snapping Turtles déjà vu

The Bellinger River Snapping Turtles were almost wiped out in 2015. What is the state of health of their home catchment today ?

"Water quality testing on the Bellinger, Kalang and Never Never Rivers earlier in January found elevated phosphate and low levels of dissolved oxygen at 9 out of 15 sites.

A combination of low rainfall, hot weather and nutrient run-off from fertilizers and animal waste (including humans).

The Australian standard is for available phosphate levels to be under 0.06mg/L but water testing near Gleniffer Hall on Tuesday revealed current levels are 0.37mg/L, which is six times higher." (Post-holiday season 'tourist drive' without toilets?)

Riverwatch testing finds high phosphate levels, The Bellingen Shire Courier-Sun, 14.02.2019
Bellinger Landcare Inc

Image:
Adolf Von Hildebrand, Boy drinking, 1870/1873

The Big Blueberry on the North Coast of NSW

The coastline of Spain is known as the ‘Sea of Plastic’ ("Mar de Plástico”) (film)  It is the world’s largest plastic greenhouse complex with 350 square km of fruit and vegetables grown by immigrant  labour for the horticultural industry.

Will the North Coast of NSW become such an industrial plastic wrapped landscape?

This ‘country’ has had 229 years of extractive industries. The extraction and export of natural resources in colonial times and now leads to conflicts with residential areas.

Small scale rural landholdings populate the coast and the hinterland. The commons protects National Parks and reserves to afford biodiversity a home. The interface of nature reserves, human settlement and industrial production is that of conflict. “Residents and council do not know about a blueberry farm development until they are there”. (source)

The high rainfall area has been also ‘discovered’ by multinational agribusiness. Once, some of the Coffs Harbour area was know as the ‘Big Banana’, it seems now the North Coast is being developed into the BIG BLUEBERRY.

The cash crop is grown for export. After the land is cleared (image) and all Australian flora and fauna have been made homeless, the crops are grown with agri-chemicals (pesticide, fungicide etc). Runoff impacts the surrounding areas. The berries and the incorporated water and soil are sent overseas. The legacy remains.

Increased machine noise and traffic impact on residents and remaining wildlife.

The promise of ‘jobs’ reads more like ’The Grapes of Wrath’. It has been found that backpackers and non-English speaking background workers from o.s. are underpaid and exploited. (here, here, here)

The farm workers go, but residents are stuck in a neighbourhood that is becoming an industrial site. The conflict between locals and large corporate agribusiness interests needs attention by the regulatory bodies.

As coastal urbanisation increases, the space and resources shrink. The horticultural industry expands in Bellingen, Boambee Valley, Coffs Coast, Corindi, Crossmaglen, Woolgoolga, Repton, Valla, Valery and Nambucca. At Bruxner Park the views towards Coffs Harbour and the ocean are starting to look like the above plastic netting landscape, white plastic nets are gobbling up the green coastal landscape.

The 21st century could offer a chance to refrain from treating ‘country’ as a BIG QUARRY. A future beyond extraction and exploitation. Care for the commons, the water bodies, soil and biodiversity.

Authorities can regulate and monitor ‘land use’ and prevent abuse in the interest of all.

 

Quotes:

- A meeting at the CWA on Monday, March 13 at 7pm

“Intensive Horticulture is creeping into the Bellinger Valley by stealth and residents across the Shire will gather to discuss largely unmonitored and unregulated development of intensive horticulture as a new plantation has now become evident to worried neighbours from Valery,” Bellingen Environment Centre spokesperson Caroline Joseph said. (source)

- Valla: “There is no visual flow in Deep Creek and still pumping continues" (source)

- Repton: “A key feature of the village is the natural setting, surrounded by the Bongil Bongil National Park and Pine Creek State Forest. The conversion of land zoned R5 to provide for an agricultural development is wholly at odds with the primary objective of the zone.”

“Thirty-Two separate chemicals are listed in the NSW Department of Primary Industry’s Blueberry Plant protection Guide 2015-2016 for use on blueberries in NSW to control disease and pests...Of the 32 chemicals approved one third of the chemicals are identified as likely to have a long-lasting, negative off-target impact … most disturbing is that pesticides can have both immediate (acute) effects and long term (chronic) effects on the health of people who are exposed to them. ... (The) main concern is spray drift over to nearby houses whose only water is collected in tanks and consequently we will drink.” (source)

- Woolgoolga: “The development of a blueberry farm near his property further west on Newmans Rd resulted in a reduction of kangaroos in that area.” (source)

Links:

Blueberry farm in the Shire reignites the debate, Bellingen Courier, 28.02.2017

Repton resistance  Bellingen Courier, 29.11.2015 

Like living in a war zone, abc 01.03.2017 

Australian agriculture safeguarding against climate change. Structures for larger-scale growers to cover whole paddocks or orchards. abc 04.03.2017

Warning against the deliberate exploitation of young people and visa holders, Bellingen Courier, 06.03.2017

https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/

Wildlife friendly netting

Updates:

 

Blueberry blues: how the cash crop is causing a contamination crisis in Coffs Harbour, 29.09.2022 The Guardian  

 

Calls for royal commission as report details allegations blueberry farmers pay workers $3 an hour 3.12.2020

 Concerned residents want blueberry farms to need a DA 

“We were shocked to learn that there is no monitoring or compliance required at a local (council) level to clear privately owned,forested land or to establish intensive horticulture plantations and that this concern about unregulated development is being shared across the region,” Bellingen Environment Centre’s Caroline Joseph said... Pine Creek is dying ..." Bellingen Courier, 14.03.2017

Deregulate, deregulate - "Productivity Commission recommends a wide slash of farm red tape, except biosecurity and food safety. It also recommends agricultural land should be used for its highest value, even if that means resource development." abc rural 29.03.2017

"Europe's Dirty Little Secret: Moroccan Slaves and a 'Sea of Plastic' " or landscapes a perennial plastic greenhouses, Ecowatch 2015

 

Marine scientists fingerprint sources of nitrogen on the Coffs coast. Nearly all creeks with agriculture (blueberry, macadamia) and urban land use have (sewage) water quality issues. Bellingen Courier, 16.09.2020

 

Images:

Greenhouses of the Campo de Dalías, Almería Province, Spain , NASA’s Earth Observatory

Organic blueberries

The March of Business, Bellingen graffiti 

 

More images:

Mar del Plastico, Bernhard Lang

Healthy Riverbanks Booklet: The Turtle, The Cattle and The Indian Myna

After the mass kill event in 2015 of the critically endangered Bellinger River Snapping Turtle, various authorities have now resorted to making information and activities available to property owners and other stakeholders in the catchment area.

The Bellinger River System Landholder Booklet (pdf) is also available in the dead tree version.

It seems that the introduced Indian Myna (pdf) is symbiotic with the cattle business and roads as they spread along with the precooked ungulates standing mostly without shade in severe heatwave conditions.

Meanwhile the drought continues...

Freshwater Ecosystems and Cattle

"Today it's simply socially unacceptable to let stock in rivers; people view it in the same way as it's unacceptable to smoke in restaurants"  Conservation group raises alarm over river protection, 22.02.2016  

Image:
Bellingen graffiti: Cattle standing in the Bellinger river

Livestock grazing of riparian vegetation #1

Microplastic from Clothing is Accumulating on Shorelines Woldwide

60-85 percent of human-made material found on shorelines consists of micro fibers from clothing. (source)

Plastic clothing has become the norm. From lingerie to outdoor gear, synthetic garments fill shops and wardrobes, cling to bodies and households. Synthetic fabrics (polyester, acrylic, nylon, rayon, acetate, spandex, latex, etc) are convenient and just require a quick spin.

The bright, fashionable colours of the season make the textiles obsolete by the time they leave the shop. Mending is out in a throw-away society. Mountains of old rags go into 'landfill' or end up in smelly second hand shops.

Synthetic and some natural fibers are often pickled in chemicals: toxic dyes, flame retardants, nano -silver and other chemicals in stain-proof textiles and waterproof clothing.



Garments that are washed by hand or machine shed fibers and chemicals/detergents into the water. As there is a paucity of sewerage systems in rural areas like Bellingen and the mid north coast, the effluent drains into the catchment. "Wastewater from domestic washing machines demonstrated that a single garment can produce 1900 fibers per wash." (source)

The shed micro fibers reach the shorelines. They are "micron-scale synthetic fibers, mostly polyester and acrylic, in sediments along beaches the world over." (source)

The invisible contamination of soil, water catchment and marine habitat with microplastic enters the food chain of all living creatures.



Natural fibers, untreated and of organic origin produced and tailored under ethical conditions (no land grab or exploitation) is the right choice to make...


Sources:
Accumulation of Microplastic on Shorelines Woldwide: Sources and Sinks
The Damage I Cause When I Wash My Clothes
Chemicals in clothing, Choice
Two-thirds of new clothing is plastic


Updates:

What does micro plastic less than 1mm do to animals?
Linking effects of anthropogenic debris to ecological impacts
Mark Anthony Browne, A. J. Underwood, M. G. Chapman, Rob Williams, Richard C. Thompson, Jan A. van Franeker, Published 22 April 2015.DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2929

Chris Wilcox, Erik Van Sebille, and Britta Denise Hardesty. Threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing. PNAS, August 31, 2015 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1502108112
( 99 per cent of the world's seabirds species will be ingesting plastic by 2050 if current marine pollution trends continue. They starve to death from plastic fibres from synthetic clothes an other 'junk food'.)
or
Almost all seabirds to have plastic in gut by 2050, CSIRO


 

A new parasite in the western long-necked turtle

The western long-necked turtle is found in metropolitan Perth and across south-west WA. When some of the turtles had to be rescued from car accidents,  pet attacks and habitat destruction it was discovered that the oblong turtle (Chelodina colliei) hosts an entirely new species of Eimeria parasite. All 25 turtles had the spore-like oocysts parasites in their faecal samples. None of the turtles displayed clinical signs of coccidiosis—disease caused by parasites including Eimeria collieie.  This is "a first for Australian turtles."

Coccidiosis is commonly found in cattle where it destroys the cells of the intestinal lining.

The interest here is the concern about the Bellinger River turtles ((Emydura macquarii) which have been made extinct through a 'mystery' bug in the Bellinger river environment. The river is flanked by a bovine and livestock milieu.


400 Bellinger River turtles have been found dead or dying 

Eimeria collieie n. sp. (Apicomplexa:Eimeriidae) from the western long-necked turtle (Chelodina colliei). 07.2015
Rescued turtles turn up new parasite 30.07.2015 ScienceWA

Image:
Tea towel print

Sewage discharge and shellfish don't mix. The Bellinger-Kalang rivers.

"One of the more pervasive aspects of European settlement was the pollution of the air and water." (source)

"The indications are that we will not have, inside the Bellinger-Kalang, an oyster industry within the next two years...” (source)

"The Aborigines on the coastal regions feasted on oysters and shell beds can be found in the many kitchen middens along the coast. Some of these middens have been carbon-dated to ten thousand years." (source)

Oyster growers on the NSW Mid North Coast are going to grow Sydney Rock Oysters in land-based tanks now to control water quality. "The Bellinger River was closed for 270 days last year due to heavy rainfall." (source)

Along the Bellinger River catchment and the Kalang River dense settlements sprawl along that are not on any sewer system. The majority of the rural blocks are on an on-site sewage management system (OSMS).

In 2008 sewage bacteria really hit the filter feeding oyster beds. "The NSW Food Authority closed the Kalang River at Urunga in August while a search was made for norovirus, which causes gastroenteritis in humans." (source)

Sewage discharge and shellfish don't mix
"The Bellingen Shire Council says septic systems in the river catchment have been identified as a possible source of the pollution...One of the potential contamination sources are privately operated onsite sewage management systems." (source)



Aquaculture farmers have been waiting for seven years for the Kalang River to reopen to oyster harvesting. "Protracted river testing, analysis and meetings began with riverside septics found to be high on the list of culprits, especially on Newry Island and along Urunga’s Atherton Dr." (source). Additionally the "Urunga sewage treatment plant, holiday cabins, two caravan parks adjacent to the river." were also mentioned as sources of contamination. (source)

After the endemic totem of the river, the Bellinger River turtle has been pushed into extinction, the question of water quality and river health is an acute one for the entire catchment.

Updates:
Dairy growth in north-west Tasmania causing concern for oyster farmers: effluent run-off from farms. abc 13.08.2015


Images:
Beert, Osias, Still life with oysters, c. 1610
Bellingen tiles

Saving the Bellinger River turtles through IVF?

Once a river is too polluted, there is always assisted reproductive technology to save a nearly extinct turtle.
Via  @carlzimmer
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/science/yangtze-giant-softshell-turtle-artificial-insemination.html


Background:
400 Bellinger River turtles have been found dead or dying 
Turtle Survival Alliance

Image:
Macke, August: Forest creek 1910

Drought in the Bellinger Valley

The Bellinger Valley is experiencing the driest Spring in 43 years. abc

"Australia in the middle of its hottest-ever year...The next six months are going to be unusually hot, dry and risky." The Conversation 

Update:
North Coast enduring driest conditions in more than a century. Average rainfall was the lowest since 1901 in the region from Coffs Harbour in the south to Bundaberg in the north. abc 110814

The Bellinger River and dairy

New Zealand-owned Raleigh Dairy Holdings operates two farms at Yellow Rock and North Bank south of Coffs Harbour. The directors want to realise the asset and focus on their New Zealand operations. The company has approval from the Bellingen Shire Council to expand operations at its North Bank Dairy.

In 2011, it withdrew a development application for expansion of its Yellow Rock site, following community concerns over the possibility of effluent run-off during floods polluting the adjacent Bellinger River.

abc rural, Major NSW dairy for sale 17.0.913

Update:
abc 15.04.2015  "The (Norco) Raleigh operation recently celebrated 12 months exporting cold milk to China. It's currently exporting between 5000 and 20 000 litres a week.... The next financial year they expect to export between three and five million litres of cold milk to China." 

Images:
Marc, Franz, The yellow Cow, 1911
Gogh, Vincent Willem van, Lying Cow ,1883

Dorrigo

The town of Dorrigo is on the the Dorrigo Plateau , the traditional country of the Gumbaynggirr nation. Today endless paddocks and European flora cover the landscape.

Gondwana rainforests in the form of Dorrigo National Park, World Heritage Area still clings to the edge of this plateau. Sub-tropical rainforest and a large array of animals find refuge there.


In town a collection of black trains, some from 1878, stand out. The private Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum seems rarely open to the public.

Mining is on the agenda here. The Pacific Highway needs to be lined with stuff from the mountains. Heavy haulage would shoot down Waterfall Way and increase the traffic burden even more. 


A Chinese company also has several exploration licences for minerals including gold and copper northwest of Dorrigo. The Dorrigo Environment Watch Inc. are residents concerned about their local environment, water quality and the effects of antimony mining.

Dangerous Animals of Australia

After wolves and bears have been nearly eradicated, people fear the shark as a man-eater.

Most human habitats are now free from dangerous animals. Modern dwellings are now being filled with a menagerie of pets. It seems like a return to the times where people and animals cohabited in stable-like (byre-dwellings) homes. A billion $ industry and the media nudge all to take on more ballast. Isolation and deprivation make people acquire a pet or a whole pack. For some they are a fashion accessory or just a cheap thing to keep the kids busy.

Dogs maul (children to death) on a regular basis without real consequences in society at large.  'Minor attacks' happen on a regular basis.

Livestock is also attacked by the abandoned, unfashionable or 'surplus to requirements' pets.

Pet owners choose to sponsor these meat gobbling pets over unique Australian wildlife.

" In the five months to January 31, paramedics in NSW treated at least 237 people for dog bites and attacks and 22 people for incidents involving cats."

sunshinecoastdaily, 7.2.13