What's worse - Plague Locusts or a Plague of Pesticides?

What's worse - Plague Locusts or a Plague of Pesticides?

I have a view about this which might not be popular, but if the Victorian Government told their electors that they were going to spray vast areas of the State with many different chemicals, nearly all of which are highly toxic to bees - what would the reaction be?

Farmers would be up in arms.
Canola - one of the major rural crops is exclusively pollinated by Bees.
Fruit trees - pears, apples, peaches, almonds and citrus are all pollinated by bees. I believe grapes are, as well.
Now many of those will not be flowering now (most will have already flowered). But what about next year's crop? And the year after? And the years to come?

At present the code for spraying says they ought leave a buffer zone around "Bee Hives" (they mean commercial bee hives, not the feral hives of "naturalised" European Honey Bees which live in hollows in old Gum Trees, as we all know.

They will spray over native vegetation, not just crops - they say so themselves.

OK - so the flowering native vegetation will become toxic to Bees.

Bees travel considerable distances from the commercial hives - and that even presupposes the Aerial Spraying Contractors know where the Bee hives have been placed - often deep in Mallee Eucalypt forests, and not easily seen from low-flying aircraft, travelling at 80 - 100 KM/hour.

Please take a few minutes to watch the Victorian Stateline program from Friday night, which Miss Eagle alerted me to. (Thanks). It shows the DPI people in Mildura, and Victorian Premier John Brumby "declaring war on the Plague Locust", and then it shows Eris O'Brien, farmer and ecologist, who is the sole (and lonely) public voice of reason in this debate.

I have quoted him before, and his brother has also commented on my earlier posts, sticking up for his brother's credentials (against much public ridicule).

We need more people like Eris O'Brien and less like "Julie from the Mallee" to whose opinions Martin took objection to in his comment on my previous post.

• Mallee farmer Julie said this morning she hoped the locusts reached the city if only so that urban dwellers gained some sense of the toll it was taking on the country. She said their 5000 acres (2000 hectares) farm in Birchip faced the “last roll of the dice” with the locust threat, she told Neil Mitchell’s program on Radio 3AW.

• “We’ve had 10 years of drought and we had the locusts come in autumn and we tried to get action then, but basically we were fobbed off as whingeing farmers.“They should have acted then. They should have sprayed them then. They should have stopped them on the border. She said it was a “matter of time” before the worst hit.

• “As soon as the soil warms up they going to be hatching and eating, and they will probably eat us out before they get airborne.” She said Agriculture Minister Joe Helper was only allowing farmers enough spray to cover a quarter of each farm, with the most effective sprays cost as much as $1000 a litre. It’s all around the wrong way. They should be throwing it at us to help us.”

Good luck, "Julie from the Mallee" - I hope you keep your kids and/or Grandkids well protected - not only from spray drift, but from the grain, oil seeds and meat animals (food) exposed to these sprays. And if you grow any fruit trees, or Canola on your farm - what's going to pollinate them next season, if there is a massive Bee kill?

Google "Silent Spring", if you have never heard of it. I'll make it easy - please read this synopsis. That report gives both sides of the case - the points made by Rachel Carson, and the criticisms levelled at her (mostly by the Chemical industry).

I leave you with just this line from Mr Brumby:
"He said the Government had committed $43.5 million to fighting plague."

Wow - no wonder the Chemical industry still dislikes the Rachel Carsons and the Eris O'Briens of this world.

*****

And look at Brumby's language - he is deliberately confusing "plague" with a "plague of Locusts" - two totally different things. As an old Public Servant, I hate it when Politicians deliberately mislead the public with loose language.

Hysteria and fear campaigns.
Brumby's War on Locusts is just like George W. Bush's "War on Terror", or the Nixon and Reagan administrations' "War on Drugs".
Both of those were totally indiscriminate.
Both of those were totally misguided.

Plague Locusts - mad use of poisons.

I have written about Plague Locusts before. Article 1 and Article 2 . This is a topic which has attracted a steady stream of visitors and of comments.

1. The most touching comment was from Owen O'Brien who was writing to supporting his brother Eris O'Brien, Eris had earlier written in support of my first Blog posting about the madness of wide-spread spraying of Plague Locusts.
2. Apparently Eris O'Brien has been roundly criticised for his campaigning against compulsory spraying of farmers' lands - that's right compulsory spraying. He has a website now and a compelling 8 minute video.
3. Please take the time to watch it.

The Australian Plague Locust Commission and even the Victorian Premier, "Mr Feral Horse" (John Brumby) is trying to whip us all into a frenzy over this. His best effort was to declare that the Locusts pose a threat to the running of the Melbourne Cup.

Crikey has carried a story about the looming Locust Plague today.
Pretty lame interview, I would say.
Since when is the only measure of "environmental safety" judged by this question: "Are the pesticides used on locusts a problem for humans?"

What about the impact on birds and other native animals? What about the impact on frogs and fish (even if they claim to have "buffer zones" around water courses). What chance there is no spray drift?

Here is the Wikipedia article on the Australian Plague Locust

*****

Tom Cowie writes:

You’d think the heavy winter rains in Australia’s south-east that broke the drought and filled a struggling river system would have been welcomed by all. But the Big Wet, which looks likely to yield some bumper crops for farmers, may also come at a price. The downpour has been the equivalent of mood lighting and a Barry White record for one of our most feared pests -- Chortoicetes terminifera, the Australian Plague Locust.

The widespread rainfall and warmer temperatures have seen large numbers of locusts begin to hatch across wide areas of regional Australia, leaving more than just farmers nervous about the mischief they might cause. Crikey spoke with Chris Adriaansen, director of the Australian Plague Locust Commission, about how a few billion scary grasshoppers might ruin it for everyone.

Why are there going to be more locusts this year than in the past?

It’s a seasonal thing that is a combination of rainfall, aggregation and how each generation multiplies. Australian plague locusts have four generations each season and each generation can multiply on the previous if conditions are good. It’s an unfortunate coincidence of nature that the same conditions that gave rise to a good crop and grassing situation have led to this locust plague. Primarily it’s all about widespread rainfall and good temperatures.

When are the locusts expected to hatch?

There have already been some hatchings and we have seen some significant locust populations in the north-west of NSW. Those locusts hatched 7-10 days ago and have aggregated in large numbers (full predicted locust hatching dates can be found here).

How many locusts are we talking?

How many grains of sand are there on a beach? We are talking literally billions of locusts. Anything up to 5 million hectares of land will be infected by locust eggs, so do the maths if you have a calculator with enough zeroes.

How many locusts are there in a swarm?

According to the APLC, a swarm of Australian plague locusts, covering one square kilometre, could contain anything from 4 million to over 50 million locusts. The size of a typical Australian plague locust swarm is highly variable, from one to over 25 kilometres squared

Which areas are at greatest risk from a locust plague?

We’ve got a number of key risk zones. The central-west region of NSW, the Riverina region of NSW, the north, in particular north-west, of Victoria, and the eastern Flinders region of South Australia.

How long will it take before the locusts begin to cause problems?

Locusts have five stages of development as nymphs when they have no wings, so we won’t see any swarms of locusts for at least another six weeks. The majority of the high density areas in places like Victoria are yet to hatch, so it will be at least eight weeks until we begin to see swarms in those areas. But the swarms are only part of the risk. The nymph’s sole purpose is eating and growing, so they can still do quite an amount of damage.

How far and how quickly can they move?

When they’re at the nymph stage they don’t move very far at all, because they don’t have wings they can move around 200-250m per day. Once they grow wings it’s a different story, they can move around 20-40km per day. Overnight they can fly up to 700km, as long as they get the right wind conditions. So basically they can be here today and gone tomorrow. But I don’t think we will be seeing that this time, there is just too many of them.

Which industries are at greatest risk from a locust plague?

The normal diet of these species is grass and the associated plants. Probably the most significant risk is to grain crops, so wheat and barley and other crops such as canola and the pastures areas where livestock grows.

What kind of damage can they do to crops?

They can completely wipe out a crop. If they don’t take 100% of the vegetation, they can destroy large amounts of plant material so that a crop’s yield is significantly reduced.

Is there a chance they could move from farms into some of the larger regional towns, and even cities?

We do see that from time to time. Certainly the swarm of locusts in April did move into some larger regional centres. In the Mildura area during April we saw a number of community events halted, including sporting events. The local airport was also closed and Virgin Blue halted their flights into Mildura because of the problems posed by the locusts.

What kind of damage can they do to cars?

One is obviously visibility; these locusts are going to be well fed and fat, so when they hit the windscreen the fat will be smeared everywhere. The other issue is the blocking of air intakes, which can lead to an engine overheating.

Who is in charge of the response to the locusts?

It’s a collaborative arrangement. APLC has a role and responsibility; our stated mandate is to monitor and manage locust populations that are found in more than one state. But each of the state’s agencies has a key role to play. What we have done since April is bring everyone together and plan a response so we can have this covered as best we can.

How are you managing the locusts?

There are range of different control agents that can be used to manage the locusts, whether from the ground or air. Landholders and ground control contractors undertake ground-based spraying, while the state controlled agencies and APLC undertake aerial spraying.

Are the pesticides used on locusts a problem for humans?

First of all of these pesticides are registered with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. Secondly, we leave a very significant buffer zone around human activity, water courses and restricted or significant areas. Thirdly, we have developed a number of techniques in that we don’t blanket spray areas, we leave 90% of land area untreated and then leave it up to locusts to discover the discreet chemical strips we lay down.

This is not a pest eradication program; locusts are a native insect and we are trying to manage the issue as best we can.

*****
End of the Crikey Article.

To show you how lame I think that interview was, take a look at the chemicals which are licenced for use on cereal crops, to help kill Plaque Locusts.

That's right. These chemicals may be sprayed on cereal crops (which you or your meat animals are meant to eat). But the intention is to poison the Locusts which try to eat the cereal crops.

Sure there is such a thing as a "withholding period" That is meant to be a time after which the poison has broken down sufficiently to be "safe".

But do you really want your food, or the food your own food animals eat to be sprayed with this list of chemicals?

Table 2 from the newly revised Plague Locust Control Fact Sheet (page 3) authorises the use of these chemicals on cereal crops.

Table 2 CEREALS
APVMA permits – users must obtain, read and adhere to the conditions of APVMA permits prior to use.

Approvals for all cereals (Including but not limited to wheat, barley, durum, oats, cereal rye, maize, sorghum & triticale)
carbaryl Registered Registered # 1 day 1 day
chlorpyrifos Registered 10 days 2 days
diazinon 14 days 14 days
cypermethrin PER10928 # 21 days 35 days
alpha-cypermethrin PER10927 # 7 days 14 days
beta-cyfluthrin # 14 days 7 days
fenitrothion Registered 14 days 14 days
maldison Registered Registered 1 day 1 day
metarhizium anisopliae Registered not specified not specified
methidathion PER11658 * 42 days 7 days

Approvals for individual cereal crops

Wheat & Barley
gamma-cyhalothrin PER10927 # 14 days 14 days
lambda-cyhalothrin # 14 days 14 days

Maize
alpha-cypermethrin PER10927 # 7 days not specified
cypermethrin PER10928 # 7 days not specified

Sorghum
diazinon Registered 14 days 14 days
fipronil 14 days 14 days
alpha-cypermethrin PER10927 # 7 days not specified
beta-cyfluthrin # 14 days 14 days
chlorpyrifos Registered # 2 days 2 days
cypermethrin PER10928 # 14 days 49 days
gamma-cyhalothrin PER10927 # 14 days 14 days
lambda-cyhalothrin # 14 days 14 days

WHP (withholding period) - Following pesticide application, the relevant withholding period MUST expire BEFORE cutting for hay, windrowing, harvest or the undertaking of any similar operation.

• # Permit not required as Victorian ‘control-of-use’ legislation allows this off-label use in Victoria. For further information contact DPI Victoria.
• ^ The Safemeat Plague Locust Brochure should be consulted for information on managing residues in livestock – www.safemeat.com.au
• * Methidathion, an S7 chemical, cannot be used off-label in Victoria unless an S25A permit has been issued by DPI Victoria.

"S7" is a chemical listed on the Schedule 7 of restricted chemicals:
"Schedule 7s are substances with a high potential for causing harm at low exposure and which require special precautions in manufacture handling or use. These poisons should be available only to specialised or authorised officers who have the skills necessary to handle them safely."

Did you get that?
These chemicals have to be "handled safely" (by specially trained and authorised personnel), but they can be sprayed on cereal crops which you or your food animals will eat. Just as soon as the "withholding period" has expired.

Please enjoy your next meal, as Mr Brumby thinks that it is reasonable for these chemicals to be used on your food, to ensure the Melbourne Cup goes ahead .

Brumby's "Weasel Words" apology for Black Saturday disaster

The Age has reported today: "Beginning his promised round of community talks on the commission's recommendations with a visit to the Whittlesea CFA station, Mr Brumby said he was sorry for the failings on Black Saturday.

''There were system failures on the day … and for that all of us who were involved from me and everybody, are obviously sorry that those systems failed,'' he said. ''I personally feel the weight of responsibility to get the arrangements and systems right in the future.''

*****

Mr Brumby, what about apologising personally for the failure to declare a State of Emergency on the day?

The weather was fully anticipated to be the worst on record. High temperatures and strong winds were predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology. Read my "real time" report here. Note that at that time, reports of the numbers of people dead were as low as 9. Shows how difficult the conditions were for finding out the real situation, and the actual number of persons burnt to death. But I was following it, in NSW, via the computer.

It is strange to realise (now) that when I was writing that report, Christine Nixon was out to dinner, and the Fire Chief apparently was not being properly briefed by his operational staff. And what was the Victorian Premier doing?

Is it any wonder I am not impressed with the Premier's failure to apologise for his personal failures on the day. I do not care to hear him apologise for "system failures".

Premier Brumby, what about apologising for what you personally did not do?

An "Open Letter" from the Firefighters Union

Fire "Appliance" dwarfed by huge clouds of smoke. Victoria. February 2009. Unfortunately, the name of the photographer is not known to me. This was circulated via email today.
DJW Edit: Photo: Alex Coppel

*******

This is an "Open Letter" from the United Firefighters Union of Australia from Peter Marshall, the National Secretary of the UFUA.

Dear Mr Rudd and Mr Brumby,

On behalf of more than 13,000 firefighters and support staff in Australia, I write this open letter to request a review of Australia's fire risk and our readiness to meet future catastrophic events.

The fires in Victoria have ripped through towns and suburbs, farms and forests, destroying lives and livelihoods. Ashen remains are the sorrowful legacy of the devastation they caused. Never before in Australian history have we been confronted with such destruction at the hands of fire.

Firefighters work in conditions that most of the public try to flee. We often put our lives on the line. We understand that our job is dangerous by its very nature. However, we are gravely concerned that current federal and state government policies seem destined to ensure a repeat of the recent tragic events.

Consider the devastation in Victoria. Research by the CSIRO, Climate Institute and the Bushfire Council found that a "low global warming scenario" will see catastrophic fire events happen in parts of regional Victoria every five to seven years by 2020, and every three to four years by 2050, with up to 50 per cent more extreme danger fire days. However, under a "high global warming scenario", catastrophic events are predicted to occur every year in Mildura, and firefighters have been warned to expect up to a 230 per cent increase in extreme danger fire days in Bendigo. And in Canberra, the site of devastating fires in 2003, we are being asked to prepare for a massive increase of up to 221 per cent in extreme fire days by 2050, with catastrophic events predicted as often as every eight years. Given the Federal Government's dismal greenhouse gas emissions cut of 5 per cent, the science suggests we are well on the way to guaranteeing that somewhere in the country there will be an almost annual repeat of the recent disaster and more frequent extreme weather events.

Something is going on. As we battle blazes here in Victoria, firefighters are busy rescuing people from floods in Queensland. Without a massive turnaround in policies, aside from the tragic loss of life and property, we will be asking firefighters to put themselves at an unacceptable risk. Firefighters know that it is better to prevent an emergency than to have to rescue people from it, and we urge state and federal governments to follow scientific advice and keep firefighters and the community safe by halving the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

Unfortunately, the scientists are advising that no matter what we do, a "low global warming" scenario is almost inevitable, and so we must make fire plans accordingly. Fire does not respect state borders and we need a national inquiry into the state of readiness of the country's fire services to meet this century's challenges.

Our existing resources cannot be expected to cope with even the "low global warming" scenario of a 25 per cent increase in extreme fire days — and catastrophic fire events every five years — in major Victorian country locations in just under 12 years' time. Likewise, when the scientists tell us that under a "low warming" scenario in 2020, Wagga Wagga faces "very extreme" events every two years, warning bells must surely be ringing.

Climate change, however, is only one factor.

Huge smoke clouds.
There is a tiny speck in centre-right of the image. (Click to enlarge)
It is a commercial airliner flying in to land at Tullamarine Airport.
No doubt the Pilot was glad to have touched down ahead of that cloud of ash.
Unfortunately, the name of the photographer is not known to me.
This was circulated via email today.
DJW EDIT: Photo: Stuart McEvoy

Peter Marshall's Open Letter continues:

There are many other pressures on our fire services. As cities expand into formerly rural areas and "growth corridors", many volunteer brigades find their new members have full-time jobs in the city and all the pressures of urban life, and therefore less time to devote to firefighting. These areas need more resources. And professional firefighters routinely perform duties from rescue to emergency medical response, and we are now trained to be part of the front-line response to any terrorist attacks: duties we are proud to perform but which will increasingly put us under strain as we respond to more and more fires.

The real question now must be whether the nation as a whole is devoting the resources it needs to fire prevention and suppression. We are gravely concerned that the royal commission to be set up in Victoria will have a narrow brief to investigate a geographically specific disaster. It cannot have the scope needed to provide an overview of Australia's fire readiness.

Further, we want to ensure that it is not a whitewash, with narrow terms of reference designed to ensure political cover for the Victorian Government. The proposed Victorian royal commission should be folded into a broader national inquiry into the nature of Australia's fire risk and our preparedness to meet that risk.

Consideration must also be given to massive new federal and state investment in infrastructure and firefighters. A portion of any stimulus package must go towards preventing future disaster, as well as rebuilding after the current one.

Finally, now is not the time to play a "blame game" with respect to the Victorian fires. But at the appropriate time, we hope to be able to publicly air the concerns we have been conveying over many years to those in power about the state of readiness of our fire services. A national inquiry would allow Australia to get to the bottom of what happened, but also to work out how to ensure that nowhere in the country will it happen again. We urge state and federal governments to make sure this tragedy wasn't completely in vain: grasp this opportunity to develop Australia's first-ever national approach to fire and rescue

Peter Marshall is national secretary of the United Firefighters Union of Australia.

Brumby tries to blame the weather for Power Outages

Well, if you have seen yesterday's post then this is more of the same. Except for this report from the Sydney Morning Herald.

John Brumby is claiming this is beyond control, because of the weather. Wrong, Mr Brumby.

Sure it is hot - we acknowledge that.
People do not blame the Government for that.

But the planning laws allow sub-divisions to squeeze the maximum possible number of large houses on small blocks. That means NO trees for shade, Mr Brumby. No builder would dream of building a veranda around a new house, because that would be too "costly". So they plan for air conditioners in all new homes.

Mr Brumby and his Government know these simple facts. But they ignore it, and blame the weather.

My eldest brother was born in a Melbourne heat wave. (2 March 1940, I believe, if anyone wishes to check the weather records.) Babies in the maternity ward were draped in moist towels, to prevent them dehydrating. None of this in new, Mr Brumby.

What is new is the way Governments have allowed Business to build buildings (large and small) which regard the climate as the Enemy, to be fought against. Instead of something to be worked within. I wrote earlier this evening, of ancient Roman buildings, with shaded colonnades surrounding a central atrium, with a small fountain in the middle. Buildings like that work in our Climate, but nobody builds them. Even old country farm houses, with their shade verandas work much better than McMansions, with a double garage fronting the street, blocking out light and air.

If one chooses to fight nature, as the Government and business have done, then, there is a cost - and in this case it is air conditioning. Modern houses are build on the assumption that air conditioning will be installed. And air conditioning requires lots of energy.

Electricity supply systems are meant to be built to peak load standards. Clearly they are failing, in Victoria. The system did not fail because there was an explosion in a power line. That is facile rubbish, Mr Brumby.

The system failed because it was overloaded, and it was overloaded because it was inadequate in its design parameters, Mr Brumby. It was inadequate for the task - as you appear to be, Mr Brumby.And yet, in view of this chaos, you still want to build a Desalination Plant in Wonthaggi, Mr Brumby?

This Desal Plant will be the largest single consumer of electricity in Victoria to be built since Rupert Hamer did a dirty deal to allow Alcoa to build the Aluminium Smelter in Portland - and Hamer arranged for the SEC to run electricity supplies all the length of Victoria to power - just to suit his brother, who was on the Board of Alcoa. Ah, those were the good old days!

Back to the present. How are you going to power this proposed Desal Plant, Mr Brumby? How will you run that and keep the lights on in the rest of Victoria, Mr Brumby?
As I said yesterday, it is simply not necessary anyway. Check out the Watershed Victoria website, to see why.

Blackouts show why Desal Plant is unsupportable

"Massive power blackout hits Victoria"

(click on that heading / link above to read the full report in The Age by Mex Cooper January 30, 2009 - 8:45PM)

"A massive power blackout has hit Victoria with nearly 350,000 residents and businesses without power".

So begins yet another story about Blackouts in Victoria, in The Age.

For yesterday's major report, click here.

I simply ask: how on earth can Victoria justify building a huge, energy intensive Desalination Plant?

How will it be powered?

Will Victorians agree to regular Blackouts, just so Mr Brumby can have his Desal Plant?

It simply is not necessary (in the first place).

Recycle your water; use your storm water; install Water Tanks; and use less water generally.

It is simply bad planning to commit to such a huge and inefficient piece of infrastructure, when Victoria can barely plan for one more domestic Air Conditioner. Indeed it cannot run all those which are there already.

Check out the Watershed Victoria website - for much more information on why the Desalination proposal is both wrong environmentally, and uneconomic. It should not be developed, and the Victorian Government has precious little time to stop itself from getting locked into a disastrous Three Billion Dollar contract with French Multinational companies - either Suez, or Veolia-Vivendi.

Stop the madness now, Mr Brumby, before it is too late.