Calendar
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Events in May 2021
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Innovation in Sustainability
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Innovation in Sustainability
University of Western Australia35 Stirling HwyCrawley,We are excited to announce the 1st event in our Sustainable Development Awards Series: Innovation in Sustainability Panel & Networking!
The Innovation in Sustainability Panel will feature speakers from various environmental organisations around Perth including:
🐬 Perth NRM
🌳 Impact Seed
🌼 Clean State
♻ Synergies
🌏 Ocean RemedyHear about the work that these organisations are doing to address environmental issues and learn about their individual journeys within the sustainability space.
After the workshop, participants will be given the opportunity to ask questions and network with the panellists.
Join us at 4pm on Tuesday, May 11 in the Venture Space @ UWA! - -
Global biodiversity hotspot with cutting-edge compute!
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Global biodiversity hotspot with cutting-edge compute!
Forrest Hall21 Hackett DveCrawley,Given the increasing demands on protecting biodiversity, we should stop and ask how we can best use supercomputing and technology.
Recent Federal and State Government investments into High Performance Computing (HPC), Quantum computing, Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope in Perth to process and analyse data been the talk of the town this year. The development of these cutting-edge compute infrastructures and technological advancements in the fields of data science and machine learning has coincided with the largest biodiversity crisis of our times.
It is estimated that ~10 000 species go extinct every year. This increases the importance of further application of these technologies not just in business, but also in biodiversity conservation.
Given the increasing demands on protecting biodiversity, it seems a fair time for us to pause and ask what could be the best way to use technological innovations and to stimulate a closer collaboration among conservation practitioners, animal behaviourists, biologists, computer and system scientists, and engineers, to mention but a few.
In this session, our local leaders from these fields will join a conversation to answer questions and discuss topics including:
-How will climate change, together with other environmental stressors, alter the distribution and prevalence of diseases of wild species?
-Do critical thresholds exist at which the loss of species diversity, or the loss of particular species, disrupts ecosystem functions and services, and how can these thresholds be predicted?
-What strategies are effectively used for distributing the material benefits derived from biodiversity most effectively foster environmental stewardship and biodiversity conservation in WA?
-How might technological advancement on the data process, storage and movements have positive impacts on biodiversity conservation?
-What the key the benefits of the use of technology to animal ecology and conservation?
-What are the impacts on biodiversity of shifting patterns and trends in human demography, economic activity, consumption, and technology in WA?
-Is WA government and industry connecting the dots for two big next opportunities where our state can make a mark at the global level?
-What are the coolest technological innovations that are changing conservation?
-What factors shape individual and state compliance with local, national, and international conservation regimes?
-What are the most cost-effective means of encouraging broad, long-lasting, and active societal support and action for conservation in different contexts and among different actors?
-What mechanisms best promote the use of local ideas and knowledge in conservation programs in ways that enhance biodiversity and technology deployment outcomes?A full speaker list will be announced soon.
Free lecture. - -
2021 RSWA Symposium: Swan Coastal Plain – temporal and spatial patterns
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2021 RSWA Symposium: Swan Coastal Plain – temporal and spatial patterns
Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre (UWA)Building 453, Ground Floor Auditorium64 FairwayCrawley,Swan Coastal Plain is the low, dune-rich area between the Darling Scarp and the sea, stretching from Cape Naturaliste in the south, to north of the city of Perth. During the last Glacial sea-level low-stand the plain extended to the edge of the present continental shelf. The surface is dominated by a variety of mainly infertile, Pleistocene sands of mixed fluvial, marine and aeolian origin as well as wetland muds. Rivers drain from the topographically high Yilgarn Craton to the east across the plain, forming significant wetlands and estuaries. The Swan River forms the largest estuary, and its former channel can be traced across the shelf to a deep off-shore canyon, dissecting the shelf edge. The resulting microenvironmental mosaic on the present-day plain and its Pleistocene precursor is a central element in the development of the major botanical diversity hotspot in southwestern WA – now also home to most of Western Australia's human population.
As indicated in the program below, the symposium will cover a range of topics relevant to the Swan Coastal Plain, its formation and history up to what we find today.
Agenda
8:30 Doors open – coffee & tea will be available
8:50 Welcome – Hans Lambers, RSWA President
9:00 CHARMAINE THOMAS: Deep Geology – beneath the Swan Coastal Plain
9:35 JOHN BUNTING: Pleistocene Geology – the ins and outs of the Swan Coastal Plain
10:10 MALCOLM MCCULLOCH: Coral records of global sea level highstands from the Swan
Coastal Plain: past, present and future
10:45 Morning Tea & Coffee
11:15 KARI PITTS: Differentiation of the Pleistocene sands – lessons from Forensic Soil Analysis
11:50 STEPHEN HOPPER: The Holocene/Pleistocene evolution of the botanical hot-spot
12:25 Lunch
13:30 GRAHAM ZEMUNIK: Variation in plant communities across the dune systems on the Swan Coastal Plain
14:05 KAILAH THORN: Pleistocene terrestrial animal communities & extinctions
14:45 GARY KENDRICK: Changing shelf communities over the Pleistocene and under current climate change
15:15 Afternoon Tea & Coffee
15:45 JULIE TROTTER: Unveiling the deep-sea environments of the Perth Canyon
16:20 JOE DORTCH: From scarp to shore: pre-European Aboriginal occupation of the Swan Coastal Plain.
16:55 Closing remarksSymposium free for RSWA members, $60 non-members
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Why Our WA Biodiversity Matters
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Why Our WA Biodiversity Matters
Fremantle Fibonacci Centre19 Blinco StFremantle,Join us for a very special evening with Professor Kingsley Dixon, a keen botanist who has devoted his research career to unlocking and unravelling the ecology of Australian plants. He is quite the botanical super star and is well known for his discovery of smoke germination and the chemical signals that germinate Australian plants.
For over 32 years, Kingsley Dixon the Director of Science at Kings Park where he built a program of conservation and restoration science professionals. In 2016 he was made the WA scientist of the year and in 2015 was awarded a personal Professorship in botany at Curtin University.
He will present on the diversity and forces that have shaped our plants and how the decisions we make now will determine the future of this unique landscape, it’s plants and animals.
This is a great opportunity to meet fellow local environmentalists and ask Kingsley questions 😊
Yummy vegan dinner and chai included 😊
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Environment Matters: Know your legal rights to a safe climate
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Environment Matters: Know your legal rights to a safe climate
University of Western Australia35 Stirling HwyCrawley,This event will present a detailed examination of climate change litigation trends and opportunities in WA.
When governments fail to protect people from harm it is important that we know our rights, and how our legal system can help to deliver justice.
As climate change increasingly causes direct harm to people and nature, communities around the world are turning to courts and legal systems to seek justice and compensation, and to defend their rights to a safe climate. This is leading to a growing trend of climate cases covering human rights and corporations law.
In Australia, we have seen cases against coal mining developments, shareholders have brought cases against polluters, and a landmark case against Woodside’s giant Burrup Hub LNG development has recently commenced here in the WA Supreme Court.
This much anticipated event will present a detailed examination of climate change litigation trends and opportunities here in Western Australia.
Produced by the Environmental Defenders Office for the Conservation Council of WA, this analysis identifies a range of possible litigation avenues for people and communities to defend their rights where governments continue to fail to protect them.
Whether you are impacted directly or indirectly, everyone has a right to a safe climate. At this free event you will learn what those rights are, and how you may act individually or with others to defend those rights and seek justice for a safe climate.
Examples of people or groups who are encouraged to attend this event include:
-Farmers affected by drought
-Traditional Owners experiencing changes to country and climate
-Environmental groups seeking to defend nature
-Young people concerned about their quality of life in the future
-Investors concerned about climate change risks affecting returns
-Property owners affected by sea level riseVenue: UWA Law School, Moot Court - Law Lecture Theatre 1.06.
Can't attend in person? You can join us online (RSVP is still appreciated). We will be broadcasting via Zoom video conferencing.
For more info contact Steph Murphey: stephanie.murphey@ccwa.org.au
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Cry Of The Forests Movie Screening
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Cry Of The Forests Movie Screening
Ace Cinemas Midland Gate274 Great Eastern HwyMidland,The forests of the south west of Western Australia are found no where else on earth. They are part of one of the most biodiversity rich hotspots on the planet but they are under threat.
Logging is decimating these special places, turning the forests into wastelands. We are clearing our forests at an alarming rate and most of the logs end up as sawmill waste, charcoal or wood chips. Just 15 per cent is turned into quality furniture.
Meanwhile climate change is impacting on the south west and rainfall is declining. The forests play a vital role in creating the rain that feeds the streams, environment and agricultural industries
Yet these magnificent forests are excellent stores of carbon.
$20.00 AUD Admission + $2.00 booking fee = $22.00
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Mini Beasts with Eco Action
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Mini Beasts with Eco Action
Cockburn Integrated Health11 Wentworth ParadeSuccess,In this hands-on workshop you will be able to interact up close with a range of mini-beasts including stick insects, giant burrowing cockroaches, beetles, caterpillars and more. Learning how crucial invertebrates are for creating healthy soil ecosystems through observing soil and compost samples.
$5 per person
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AUDRC - "Streets – How to Make 80% of the Public Realm Perform Better
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AUDRC - "Streets – How to Make 80% of the Public Realm Perform Better
AUDRC (Australian Urban Design Research Centre)Level 2 1002 Hay StPerth,Streets make up about 80% of the public realm. All this space is predominantly designed for cars. While the urban and suburban areas are getting denser, streets are not accommodating other uses to compensate for the densification on private land. At the same time, Covid19 and the lockdowns have made communities realise how important the streets as public space are for their well-being. However, making streetscapes less car-focused seems to be prohibited by technical requirements that reign over the design of streets.
This course will provide insights into the practicalities of street design and how to achieve better outcomes. It will explore why streets currently look like they do, both at a technical level and from a broader cultural perspective. It will discuss multifunctional alternatives and will equip participants to successfully negotiate for more inclusive and attractive streetscapes.
Suitable for:
Local Government Officers, Elected Members, Urban Designers, Architects, Civil Engineers, and everybody else who is engaged with street design and would like to gain insights into effectively improving streetscapes.Learning outcomes:
• Develop critical thinking around how streets are used and designed
• Understand what developments have led to the current streetscape status quo
• Recognise the technical assumptions behind standard street designs
• Comprehend the required conditions for creating active and attractive streets
• Develop insights to effectively negotiate improvements in street designs
• Understand the role of professional disciplines, decision makers and residentsThe course will be a combination of group discussions, work sessions and a design exercise, alternated with lecture-type presentations.
Presented by Australian Urban Design Research Centre UWA
Tickets $154 - -
Patti the Pig - It's Not All Rubbish Kids Show
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Patti the Pig - It's Not All Rubbish Kids Show
Coolbellup Community Hub90 Cordelia AveCoolbellup,Join Patti the Pig, Jenny and Terry the Possum on an educational journey that teaches children under 7 about looking after the environment, with an emphasis on recycling and waste reduction.
Through age appropriate story, song and dance, these interactive activities will encourage children to explore and develop an understanding of the role they can play in looking after the environment.
Featuring original nursery rhymes and songs, this workshop is not to be missed by your little ones!
Cost $5