I have an idea that may seem odd but I think it would help our environment and preserve native species.
It involves being able to eat kangaroos.
Why?
Because currently they're protected and you can't even eat them if they're roadkill. This is a waste of food and encourages carrion eaters to hang around roads and risk harm from cars as well (raptors, owls, ravens, magpies, snakes)
Their numbers are way out of control in quite a few country areas and cause car accidents and have even been known to attack people (though rarely).
If we could have farming of these animals, without fencing them in. Just have permits or something for the farmers to get a quota license to have rights to a limited number of beasts per year then perhaps we could lessen our reliance on foreign animals like the cow and the sheep.
Australia wasn't made for sheep or cows or fences to keep them in. Kangaroo meat is already sold in IGA supermarkets and perhaps if the idea worked to partially then eventually completely replace beef and mutton then the environment would be restored to its more natural state.
Apparently crocodiles were hunted almost to extinction, protected, then farmed and their commercialisation had a lot to do with bringing their numbers back up as money is a powerful motivator.
In a country with very little topsoil and no trade winds European style farming is a big ask. That's why farmers do it so hard. In fact it amazes me that they try to grow crops like cotton and rice when they are both so water intensive and completely out of character with our land's temperament.
This could also apply to animals like:
the goanna
snakes
emus
yabbies (already do; yabbie numbers are fine)
also we should be looking to farm insects. 80% of the world eats them. I've tried witchety grub and bogong moth (be careful with the moths as apparently they tend to contain small amounts of aresnic due to chemical spraying of crops)
link
safety warning: be careful .. some insects contain agricultural poison spray residues and parasites. the garden snail can contain a brain eating parasite (one case of a man hospitalised in Sydney for this. A boy in Brisbane died.)
link
However I mention these potential food sources to get discussion going. With global warming, pollution and resource stripping of the environment we and the generations after us will need to get a whole lot smarter with the way we sustain ourselves.
And kids and parents: please DON'T put your unwanted goldfish in the river system .. they are the CANE TOAD of the waterways. They are a species of carp and destroy the food supply of many native fish. if you have a goldfish you don't want either kill it or give it to a friend as we don't need them in our waterways.
Finally to the dreaded Cane Toad: they are actually edible when properly prepared. I read about a guy who's selling them to China.
link
link
link
Apparently crows have learned how to eat them without getting poisoned by picking them up, dropping them from the tops of trees to split them open and eating their offal (internal organs).
but don't get ideas kids. The cane toad can KILL you with its poison so leave it to the experts.
all the food options i've just mentioned
* eating native animals that are overpopulated due to Euro farming methods providing fodder out of sync with their natural levels
* protecting endangered animals, plants and insects with the profit motive
* reducing pests like the cane toad, water buffalo, feral pigs, feral goats and deer, rabbits (though watch out.. apparently they lack nutritional value to the point where if you eat nothing but rabbit you will get 'rabbit starvation' (link) caused by too much protein unaccompanied by fat.
* and before i forget .. EDIBLE WEEDS! ... do an internet search for them. here are some links :
link
link
link
* also.. it's time to forget about cats unless you live in the city and have a mouse or rat problem. cats destroy native endangered wildlife like crazy as do foxes (don't eat foxes.. i've seen quite a few dead from 1080 poisoning.. it's a nasty way to die and has the same effect on humans).
* wild dogs are also a problem. they hunt in packs and are a threat to humans as well as other animals.
I have no pets where i live. nature provides plenty of visitors from the forest. from birds to kangas to lizards, snakes and interesting insects. they all seem to gather around once they realise you don't have any cats or dogs. they're entertaining, interesting, cute and don't require feeding or vet bills! they poop in your garden, conditioning the soil and the birds take care of a lot of the more annoying insects in summer by eating them.
native animals including humans (humans are animals too) have been here for thousands of years. cows and sheep only for the last couple of hundred. farming insects will produce a far higher acreage to profit yield, require less space, feed more people and make farmers a better living than constantly fighting to maintain a foreign environment against nature and the weather.
growing cotton and rice is just silly for the amount of water it uses. growing bush tucker plants makes far more sense.
also: permaculture.. mixing complimentary plants, animals, insects on the same land so you get even more yield at less cost to the environment not only increasing profits but helping make our country less dependent on imported foods and agriculture tools. this is important if there's a spike in prices overseas that hits us hard on the import side. a native industry can buffer us against some of the financial shock.
if we don't live and farm smarter we're going to rapidly destroy the place. i've seen some of the changes in my 52 years here and we already have answers we can use. we just need to get motivated and do it.
we also need to ramp up the money we spend on STORAGE of alternative energies. it's all very well to have generation methods but the storage techniques need to have a lot of money poured into them so we have better ways to bank that energy. batteries (collections of storage cells) are dirty, wasteful and old tech.
the dick smith TV show 'ten bucks a tank' came up with some interesting ideas like the salt tower storage of energy from solar as heat... the CSIRO car bank where electric cars are charged via solar and any surplus power goes back to the grid.. each electric car becoming a part of a battery bank when it's in the parking lot.
the mindset we need to change in this country is the 'work harder' one we get from america these days (england before that).
it's better to work SMARTER because at the end of the day it's about the job getting done rather than how much you sweated to get there.
hope this has given you all some interesting things to think about.
it's YOUR future that matters as oldies like me won't be around for it and unfortunately that means some of my generation just don't care.
It involves being able to eat kangaroos.
Why?
Because currently they're protected and you can't even eat them if they're roadkill. This is a waste of food and encourages carrion eaters to hang around roads and risk harm from cars as well (raptors, owls, ravens, magpies, snakes)
Their numbers are way out of control in quite a few country areas and cause car accidents and have even been known to attack people (though rarely).
If we could have farming of these animals, without fencing them in. Just have permits or something for the farmers to get a quota license to have rights to a limited number of beasts per year then perhaps we could lessen our reliance on foreign animals like the cow and the sheep.
Australia wasn't made for sheep or cows or fences to keep them in. Kangaroo meat is already sold in IGA supermarkets and perhaps if the idea worked to partially then eventually completely replace beef and mutton then the environment would be restored to its more natural state.
Apparently crocodiles were hunted almost to extinction, protected, then farmed and their commercialisation had a lot to do with bringing their numbers back up as money is a powerful motivator.
In a country with very little topsoil and no trade winds European style farming is a big ask. That's why farmers do it so hard. In fact it amazes me that they try to grow crops like cotton and rice when they are both so water intensive and completely out of character with our land's temperament.
This could also apply to animals like:
the goanna
snakes
emus
yabbies (already do; yabbie numbers are fine)
also we should be looking to farm insects. 80% of the world eats them. I've tried witchety grub and bogong moth (be careful with the moths as apparently they tend to contain small amounts of aresnic due to chemical spraying of crops)
link
safety warning: be careful .. some insects contain agricultural poison spray residues and parasites. the garden snail can contain a brain eating parasite (one case of a man hospitalised in Sydney for this. A boy in Brisbane died.)
link
However I mention these potential food sources to get discussion going. With global warming, pollution and resource stripping of the environment we and the generations after us will need to get a whole lot smarter with the way we sustain ourselves.
And kids and parents: please DON'T put your unwanted goldfish in the river system .. they are the CANE TOAD of the waterways. They are a species of carp and destroy the food supply of many native fish. if you have a goldfish you don't want either kill it or give it to a friend as we don't need them in our waterways.
Finally to the dreaded Cane Toad: they are actually edible when properly prepared. I read about a guy who's selling them to China.
link
link
link
Apparently crows have learned how to eat them without getting poisoned by picking them up, dropping them from the tops of trees to split them open and eating their offal (internal organs).
but don't get ideas kids. The cane toad can KILL you with its poison so leave it to the experts.
all the food options i've just mentioned
* eating native animals that are overpopulated due to Euro farming methods providing fodder out of sync with their natural levels
* protecting endangered animals, plants and insects with the profit motive
* reducing pests like the cane toad, water buffalo, feral pigs, feral goats and deer, rabbits (though watch out.. apparently they lack nutritional value to the point where if you eat nothing but rabbit you will get 'rabbit starvation' (link) caused by too much protein unaccompanied by fat.
* and before i forget .. EDIBLE WEEDS! ... do an internet search for them. here are some links :
link
link
link
* also.. it's time to forget about cats unless you live in the city and have a mouse or rat problem. cats destroy native endangered wildlife like crazy as do foxes (don't eat foxes.. i've seen quite a few dead from 1080 poisoning.. it's a nasty way to die and has the same effect on humans).
* wild dogs are also a problem. they hunt in packs and are a threat to humans as well as other animals.
I have no pets where i live. nature provides plenty of visitors from the forest. from birds to kangas to lizards, snakes and interesting insects. they all seem to gather around once they realise you don't have any cats or dogs. they're entertaining, interesting, cute and don't require feeding or vet bills! they poop in your garden, conditioning the soil and the birds take care of a lot of the more annoying insects in summer by eating them.
native animals including humans (humans are animals too) have been here for thousands of years. cows and sheep only for the last couple of hundred. farming insects will produce a far higher acreage to profit yield, require less space, feed more people and make farmers a better living than constantly fighting to maintain a foreign environment against nature and the weather.
growing cotton and rice is just silly for the amount of water it uses. growing bush tucker plants makes far more sense.
also: permaculture.. mixing complimentary plants, animals, insects on the same land so you get even more yield at less cost to the environment not only increasing profits but helping make our country less dependent on imported foods and agriculture tools. this is important if there's a spike in prices overseas that hits us hard on the import side. a native industry can buffer us against some of the financial shock.
if we don't live and farm smarter we're going to rapidly destroy the place. i've seen some of the changes in my 52 years here and we already have answers we can use. we just need to get motivated and do it.
we also need to ramp up the money we spend on STORAGE of alternative energies. it's all very well to have generation methods but the storage techniques need to have a lot of money poured into them so we have better ways to bank that energy. batteries (collections of storage cells) are dirty, wasteful and old tech.
the dick smith TV show 'ten bucks a tank' came up with some interesting ideas like the salt tower storage of energy from solar as heat... the CSIRO car bank where electric cars are charged via solar and any surplus power goes back to the grid.. each electric car becoming a part of a battery bank when it's in the parking lot.
the mindset we need to change in this country is the 'work harder' one we get from america these days (england before that).
it's better to work SMARTER because at the end of the day it's about the job getting done rather than how much you sweated to get there.
hope this has given you all some interesting things to think about.
it's YOUR future that matters as oldies like me won't be around for it and unfortunately that means some of my generation just don't care.
