I met Bob Carter after one of my fossil-collecting mates, Duncan McLeod, came across some shell fossils in a ‘marl pit’ on his parents farm property near Winton, southern New Zealand. This was about 1974-1975 when I was at primary school. I traveled from my home in Alexandra to stay with Duncan and collect some… Continue reading Bob Carter, Greenhouse Warming, and One Alarmed Palaeontologist
Tag: Climate change
Did Queensland Rainforest Spread when Cultural Burning Stopped?
“This is the Giant Stinger tree – avoid it”. Work place health and safety now out of the way, I could then get on with introducing my students to Australia’s forests. *** In Queensland’s O’Reilly’s/Lamington Park I began my student classes with a walk down the road. There happened to be a convenient juvenile ‘Giant… Continue reading Did Queensland Rainforest Spread when Cultural Burning Stopped?
When New Zealand was a Burning Land
Broken River is a Hell of a place to get to. From Christchurch you need to head inland, driving along the road to Arthur’s Pass, the gateway to the West Coast. But then turn off and dog-leg back south along a narrow road beside, and sometimes actually along the railway line. There are 17 gates.… Continue reading When New Zealand was a Burning Land
Australia’s Black Thursday Fires 1851 – how big and why?
Have you noticed? Despite Australia’s on-going fire disaster, there are no shortage of reports telling us to … relax – it’s nothing new, and that it’s the fault of not enough hazard-reduction burning. And certainly, it’s nothing to do with global warming, which by increasing temperature, has exacerbated what would already be an extreme drought.… Continue reading Australia’s Black Thursday Fires 1851 – how big and why?
Limestones, Climate Change and Scepticism
What happens when a seal swallows a lump of limestone? *** The broad theme of my back-packing trip last year was to move around the northern rim of the Mediterranean (and visit a few of its islands along the way). During much of that trip, limestone was in my face. I trekked over it in… Continue reading Limestones, Climate Change and Scepticism