Wood for the trees

Our paper focuses on the materiality, cultural history and cultural relations of selected artworks in the exhibition Wood for the trees (Lismore Regional Gallery, New South Wales, Australia, 10 June – 17 July 2011). The title of the exhibition, intentionally misreading the aphorism “Can’t see the wood for the trees”, by reading the wood for the resource rather than the collective wood[s], implies conservation, preservation, and the need for sustaining the originating resource. These ideas have particular resonance on the NSW far north coast, a region once rich in rainforest. While the Indigenous population had sustainable practices of forest and land management, the colonists deployed felling and harvesting in order to convert the value of the local, abundant rainforest trees into high-value timber. By the late twentieth century, however, a new wave of settlers launched a protest movements against the proposed logging of remnant rainforest at Terania Creek and elsewhere in the region. Wood for the trees, curated by Gallery Director Brett Adlington, plays on this dynamic relationship between wood, trees and people. We discuss the way selected artworks give expression to the themes or concepts of productive labour, nature and culture, conservation and sustainability, and memory. The artworks include Watjinbuy Marrawilil’s (1980) Carved ancestral figure ceremonial pole, Elizabeth Stops’ (2009/10) Explorations into colonisation, Hossein Valamanesh’s (2008) Memory stick, and AñA Wojak’s (2008) Unread book (in a forgotten language). Our art writing on the works, a practice informed by Bal (2002), Muecke (2008) and Papastergiadis (2004), becomes a conversation between the works and the themes or concepts. As a form of material excess of the most productive kind (Grosz, 2008, p. 7), art seeds a response to that which is in the air waiting to be said of the past, present and future

FOREWORD TO REIMAGINING AUSTRALIA, PART 1

This special double issue of Coolabah, numbers 24&25, was developed from selected presentations at Reimagining Australia: Encounter, Recognition, Responsibility, the International Australian Studies Association (InASA) Conference 2016, hosted by the Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University, and held in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 7-9 December. The double issue addresses the urgent need for Australia to be reimagined as inclusive, conscious of its landscape and contexts, locale, history, myths and memory, amnesia, politics, cultures and futures; reimagined via intense conversations and inter-epistemic dialogue; reimagined through different ways of knowing, belonging and doing. Key agendas, polemics and contestations at stake in this two-part publication project are raised in Tony Birch’s thought-provoking article that serves equally as an introductory essay

FOREWORD TO REIMAGINING AUSTRALIA, PART 2

This special double issue of Coolabah, numbers 24&25, was developed from selected presentations at Reimagining Australia: Encounter, Recognition, Responsibility, the International Australian Studies Association (InASA) Conference 2016, hosted by the Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University, and held in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 7-9 December. The double issue addresses the urgent need for Australia to be reimagined as inclusive, conscious of its landscape and contexts, locale, history, myths and memory, amnesia, politics, cultures and futures; reimagined via intense conversations and inter-epistemic dialogue; reimagined through different ways of knowing, belonging and doing. Key agendas, polemics and contestations at stake in this two-part publication project are raised in Tony Birch’s thought-provoking article that serves equally as an introductory essay

Dark Energy from Mass Varying Neutrinos

We show that mass varying neutrinos (MaVaNs) can behave as a negative pressure fluid which could be the origin of the cosmic acceleration. We derive a model independent relation between the neutrino mass and the equation of state parameter of the neutrino dark energy, which is applicable for general theories of mass varying particles. The neutrino mass depends on the local neutrino density and the observed neutrino mass can exceed the cosmological bound on a constant neutrino mass. We discuss microscopic realizations of the MaVaN acceleration scenario, which involve a sterile neutrino. We consider naturalness constraints for mass varying particles, and find that both ev cutoffs and ev mass particles are needed to avoid fine-tuning. These considerations give a (current) mass of order an eV for the sterile neutrino in microscopic realizations, which could be detectable at MiniBooNE. Because the sterile neutrino was much heavier at earlier times, constraints from big bang nucleosynthesis on additional states are not problematic. We consider regions of high neutrino density and find that the most likely place today to find neutrino masses which are significantly different from the neutrino masses in our solar system is in a supernova. The possibility of different neutrino mass in different regions of the galaxy and the local group could be significant for Z-burst models of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We also consider the cosmology of and the constraints on the ``acceleron'', the scalar field which is responsible for the varying neutrino mass, and briefly discuss neutrino density dependent variations in other constants, such as the fine structure constant.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, refs added, typos corrected, comment added about possible matter effect

The Clearing : Heidegger’s Lichtung and the big scrub

Clearings make settlement possible. Whether on a small scale using an axe and other hand implements to make way for a dwelling and a garden, or on a large scale with a chain strung between two D9 bulldozers in preparation for a major agribusiness development, the process of clearing creates spaces for installing something new. This paper uses the idea of (the) clearing, as practice, process, outcome and metaphor, to examine the installation of the locals in a settler society. Using Lismore on the far-north coast of New South Wales, Australia, as a case example, the particular work of clearing that is discussed here is a practice that enables a form of colonisation and settlement that distances itself from its history of migration. This is a history of settler locals who were 'always here', and a colonial form of clearing clears the land and the mind of troubling pasts and of troubling presences. For the locals within a place, then, clearing manages and simplifies a complex set of social and material relations, histories and identities.Using Anthony Appiah's concept the 'space clearing gesture', the paper concludes with a reflection on the space in which the idea of "the clearing" and this paper appears. Do places, in this instance rural places, provide a type of clearing in which certain ideas might appear that may not appear elsewhere? If situatedness matters then the diversity of places where thinking is done is important for our ecology of thought, and in connection with this, perhaps what 'rural cultural studies' does is clear a particular type of space for thinking

Older adults who move to independent living units: A regional Australian study

Objective The purpose of this study was to ask older adults in a regional area of Australia how they made the decision to move into an independent living unit (ILU) within a three‐tier residential complex that provides varying services and care to older adults. Method Focus groups were used to enable the gathering of rich data and to enable the voices of older adults. A deductive qualitative analysis (Gilgun, Qualitative research in social work, 2nd ed., pp. 107–135, 2013) was deployed using the factors for a successful later‐life transition to an aged‐care facility identified in the researchers’ earlier systematic review. Results Feelings of autonomy and control over the decision to move were important to all respondents. Any sense of loss of day‐to‐day autonomy, privacy and purpose, was compensated for by increased feelings of safety and security. Selected items brought from the old home to the new were a significant source of comfort. Conclusions This study provides the views and experiences of 19 older adults from regional Australia about moving into ILUs in a three‐tier complex. The values and missions of the complex were important in the relocation decision‐making. Further, if the choice is between living near friends or family, participants recommended choosing friends. The strategic choice of an ILU in a three‐tier complex was seen as providing appropriate care into an unknown future. This study highlights the importance for older adults, their families and health‐care professionals of making timely relocation decisions and the importance for older adults to retain autonomy and control over the relocation decision

Vegetation plot data from the UKCEH Countryside Survey, Great Britain, 2019

This dataset consists of plant species presence and abundance in different sizes of plots recorded from the first 100 1km squares across Great Britain in 2019, as part of a rolling soil and vegetation monitoring program of 500 1km squares, repeated every 5 years. The UKCEH Countryside Survey is a unique study or 'audit' of the natural resources of the UK's countryside. The sample sites are chosen from a stratified random sample, based on a 15 by 15 km grid of GB. Surveys have been carried out in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1998 and 2007 by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and predecessors, with repeated visits to the majority of squares. The countryside is sampled and surveyed using rigorous scientific methods, allowing us to compare new results with those from previous surveys. In this way, we can detect the gradual and subtle changes that occur in the UK's countryside over time. In addition to vegetation data, soil data are also gathered by the current phase of the Countryside Survey. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability

Carbon storage in UK intertidal environments

We report on progress to assess carbon stocks in UK saltmarsh habitats, highlighting best practice in achieving national-scale assessments, including advances in field, laboratory and data methods. New understanding of coring disturbance highlights sediment compaction and its influence on carbon stock assessment; improvements in remote sensing methods are outlined and approaches to upscaling for carbon stock assessment are described. Here, we introduce the first UK-specific saltmarsh conversion for loss-on-ignition estimates of soil organic matter to soil organic carbon. The underlying drivers that determine the spatial distribution, magnitude and future vulnerability of these important natural capital assets are assessed, highlighting the significance of long-term sea-level drivers in shaping UK coastal environments and carbon stocks. The potential for management interventions that safeguard these long-term carbon stores through the protection, restoration and creation of saltmarsh habitats are also assessed. We highlight the emergent national policy opportunities for the inclusion of saltmarsh habitats in the UK greenhouse gas inventory, providing an important first step necessary to account for, protect and restore these long-term carbon stores, realising their potential for climate change mitigation

Topsoil physico-chemical properties from the UKCEH Countryside Survey, Great Britain, 2019

This dataset consists of measures of topsoil (0-15cm) physico-chemical properties from soils sampled from the first 100 1km squares across Great Britain in 2019 as part of a rolling soil and vegetation monitoring program of 500 1km squares repeated every 5 years. The properties included are: soil organic matter (loss on ignition (LOI)), derived carbon concentration, total soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrogen, Olsen-phosphorous, pH, electrical conductivity, soil bulk density of fine earth and fine earth volumetric water content. The UKCEH Countryside Survey is a unique study or 'audit' of the natural resources of the UK's countryside. The sample sites are chosen from a stratified random sample, based on a 15 by 15 km grid of GB. Surveys have been carried out in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1998 and 2007 by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and predecessors, with repeated visits to the majority of squares. The countryside is sampled and surveyed using rigorous scientific methods, allowing us to compare new results with those from previous surveys. In this way we can detect the gradual and subtle changes that occur in the UK's countryside over time. In addition to soil data, vegetation species data are also gathered by the current phase of Countryside Survey