The Imperative of the Metastudio

The activities we engage in when we design form a broad and disparate palette. We explore, research, make marks, make artefacts, experiment, review, discuss, critique, assess. The ‘home’ of this palette of activities is ‘the studio’; a combination of laboratory, library, workshop, forum, exhibition. It became apparent a few years ago, that the nature of the central plank of the studio dialogue, the tutorial, was changing. Students were bringing a wider range of media to the tutorial to represent their developing ideas. Importantly, this included, increasingly, electronic media, typically ‘live’ CAD models on laptops. As a tutor, the importance of the internet in tutorials, to share material, images, precedent with students, was also increasing. The tutorial was enriched. But it was harder to organise, and particularly it was harder to record, to provide a cohesive log of the dialogue, the feedback, the references. Much of the feedback in tutorial is drawn, and drawn freehand, in quick and dirty, intuitive mode. It became apparent that it would be very helpful to find a way of pulling this melee of feedback and discussion together, of organising it for students and staff, but retaining the immediacy of the quick and dirty drawn discussion and freehand feedback

Greenprint for a Climate Justice Clinic: law schools' most significant access to justice challenge

Seeking climate justice is not straightforward. Larger private law firm engagement with climate defence is often conflicted out because the short-term profit interests of their large corporate clients often dominate the thinking of both lawyer and client. Even those few private lawyers who do want to take action are intimidated by the need for considerable funding for disbursements and likely defendant arguments about the supposed need for security for costs. So far, no one in Australia has been able to locate a wealthy benefactor, foundation or not-for-profit prepared to meet these costs.Some law schools are nevertheless in a position to fill this access to justice void and assist in the effort to combat climate change by designing and developing a climate defence or climate justice clinic. There are potential causes of action in the areas of nuisance, negligence and public trust, as well as specific statutory and general regulatory arguments that can be developed in some jurisdictions.This paper discusses and proposes a greenprint for such a clinic, not just to assist access to justice and climate defence, but to play a part in strengthening the political and social consciousness of the law students who pass through it. The discussion draws on the clinic design principles set out in Australian Clinical Legal Education  and proposes a specific partnership model that leverages existing private lawyer goodwill and harnesses law school alumni beneficence

Analysis of cooking shelters in Paulshoek and the effects of harvesting on natural population of Polymita albiflora

Cooking shelters are found at all the 28 stocking posts in the Paulshoek village. They are round circular structures with walls made from plant materials to provide insulation. Food is prepared and cooked inside the shelters, providing protection from the elements mainly cold and wind. These shelters also serve as social meeting and entertainment venues. Due to the poverty of the area alternatives to constructing cooking shelters are too expensive. Thus the sustainable use of plants used to construct cooking shelters will prevent both species loss and economic expense. There are three types of cooking shelters: full canopy, half canopy and open shelters. 18 shelters including all three types were measured. The volume of plant material calculated and the species composition estimated. The full canopy shelters are generally the largest and well built. These shelters are used in winter and need to be sturdy to withstand the elements and last for a number of years [ 15 years]. Open shelters are less permanent and built more often. As they are not required to be as sturdy a higher proportion of less desirable but more available plant species were used. However in all types the major species used was Polymita albiflora. This species is desirable as a construction material as it packs tightly and the dense foliage supply insulation. Although most shelters were made up of more than one species, only Galenia africana and Euphorbia mauritanica are used consistently in small quantities. Both these species are common and widespread and the amounts being harvested are insufficient to cause any negative effects on the species population dynamics. However P. albiflora is restricted to quartzite slopes or shallow pockets in granite in Northern Namaqualand. Thus harvesting could be destructive to the natural populations. A cooking shelter was dismantled and a size class distribution of P. albiflora used for construction calculated. Transects were run in four separate P. albiflora populations and a size class distribution for all sites calculated. The majority of plants used to build cooking shelters are in the size class 2 0.005-0.015 m³. The size class distribution of natural populations of P. albiflora showed the smallest size class [ <0.005 m³] to have the highest frequency. There was a decrease in the frequency for the remaining size classes. Harvesting from those size classes could cause this reduction. However it is more likely that high mortality during the establishment phase causes this decrease. A regression between volume and number of capsules showed that the plants being removed are not the only reproductively active plants. Small plants [0.001m³] are capable of producing a few capsules each containing more than 100 seeds. Also the few large plants produce up to 300 capsules per plant. P. albiflora is also used as a poor quality fuelwood for baking. Baking occurs approximately once a week. However only populations within the immediate vicinity are threatened by overexploitation due to the efforts required for fetching these plants far outweighs their use as a fuelwoood. This study indicates that P. albiflora is being harvested well within the sustainable limit. P. albiflora grow in dense stand and removal of plants within these will most likely be replaced by small plants or seeds of this species

Investigation into the effects of parasitoids on a gall midge Dasineura sp. (Cecidomyiidae), a biological control agent of Australian myrtle, Leptospermum laevigatum

Leptospermum laevigatum is one of the top five invading species in the fynbos biome and its biocontrol is of high conservation priority in the Western Cape. The first species used as a biocontrol agent was a leaf-mining moth Parectopa thalassias that became established and wide-spread. The second agent a Dasineura sp (Cecidomyiidae) gall midge whose origin in unknown but was probably introduced accidentally. As it was not screened before release an investigation into the effect of parasitism on its effectiveness as a control agent is important. Midges were found to select plants for oviposition that have high growth rates and result in large galls. This results in plants with lots of large galls. These plants are conspicuous to parasites and levels of parasitism are highest at these sites. Once the plant has been selected by the parasitoid, gall selection for oviposition was not related to density of the midges within. The spatial scale showed the dispersal of the midge was primarily related to the prevailing westerly wind. Parasitism levels followed the spread of the midge and increased as midge densities increased. The midge is still spreading and indications show parasitiods do not prevent establishment into new areas. As this is the midges most vulnerable phase, once they are established they should persist. However even at the sites with high number of galls the plants still produced fruits with seeds. Thus high parasitism levels could reduce the population densities of the midge and inhibit is usefulness as a biocontrol agent. A further biocontrol agent that attacks these reproductive parts could result in the successful control of this invasive species