Adventure Ausrama Blog

Australia is again ignoring advice and is pushing an endangered bird to extinction. There are fewer than 2,000 swift parrots left. Most are taken by sugar gliders. However, destruction of habitat is a major threat. They could be extinct in 15 years. Logging is being allowed in the bird's breeding areas. They do not nest if their natural environment is changed. People have lobbied the Tasmanian government with no success. There is high unemployment in Tasmania and job creation takes priority over birdlife. The swift parrot is already on the endangered list. This does not guarantee any work to save it. If it is put on the critically endangered list something will be done. An application has already been submitted to the federal government. It will take time to get this through the government bureaucracy. ✴ Conservation by Ty Buchanan ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.

Euthanasia should be legal. When you are ill and feel that your life is no longer worth living, you should be given access to drugs that can be self-admininstered. It is of no help to society or anyone for that matter to continue painful existence. Even when doctors know you are dying, in Australia you are not taken home to die. Eighty six per cent of Australians die outside of their home. This is despite 70 per cent of people wanting to die at home. There is high demand for medical facilities. Nonetheless, the critically ill are kept in hospitals and residential care against their wishes. More home care is made available in other Western countries to look after dying people at home. Why is this not done in Australia? At present more die at an old age. This state of affairs could change as the young adopt poor lifestyles and medical treatment becomes more privatised. Making wishes known will not alter the state of affairs, because the key to improving matters lie

Everyone knows that Australia is a hot country, perhaps not as hot as Africa. Nonetheless, it can get "stinking hot" here. In the past, some regions have experienced 10 days or more with temperatures close to 40 degrees Centigrade (100 Fahrenheit). We are going through a cool period now with La Niña . However, this winter has been the warmest on record. There seems to be rain along the coast, hardly any inland. This is an odd situation. La Niña should make it wet everywhere. Australians treat heat as a way of life, knowing that the cool will end and the scorchers will soon arrive. Most do not know that heat is the country's greatest killer. If asked in the street, most would not believe this. Combine deaths caused by bushfires, storms and cyclones. The number will not be near as many who die from heat. Research has shown that most heat related deaths occur on January 27. This is a day after Australia Day, a bank holiday where people celebrate wit