Articles
Response by the TWN to the Birrarung Council’s second report to Parliament
I am thrilled, nay delighted, to be uploading. This has been a longer haul than seemed necessary since we first mooted with the Yarra Riverkeepers that they follow on from their response to the first report, and then took it on ourselves from our own slim resources. Thanks to Guy Holt for its good looks, and pretty much all the inevitable errors...
Interview with Anthony Despotellis Polystyrene (convenor/interviewer: errors all mine)
Here is a distillation of an interview with Anthony Despotellis, the Yarra Riverkeeper polystyrene officer. The interview was conducted just before he headed overseas. Sources and solutions I first came on borard in March 2020 when I designed Nikki’s report Polystyrene report ‘Polystyrene pollution in the Yarra: Sources and Solutions’. That was...
wetland plants – more underground than above
In the patch of land I have behind a village on Western Port I am creating an ephemeral wetland, the most biodiverse of wetlands.
Sea elephants demise on King Island
I wrote this piece awhile ago and it seemed timely to give it another airing. Sea elephants are beyond ordinary. They are something else! Sea elephants spend the most of their life (90%) underwater and, while clumsy on land, their blubber helps them resist pressures...
Shack at the end of a dirt track
I am absolutely privileged to have a humble shack at the end of a dirt track on an island in Bass Strait. The island is a naturally contained natural ecosystem with inputs and outputs, and it is a social ecosystem or series of ecosystems with flows in and out. The...
Purposes of The Waterways Network (TWN)
Purposes of The Waterways Network (TWN) Yarra/Birrarung river Purposes Here are the purposes of The Waterways Network from our articles of association. I like them. Well, I wrote them with the excellent help of Christopher Bamford, one of the great editors. We put a...
What’s it all about …
What’s it all about Well what are these articles going to be about as part of these new and artfully updated website (thanks Cam). Water Well, they are about water. They’re about water AND the environment. And the way water makes the environment possible. It...
Community Vision for the Birrarung/Yarra
The Community Vision for the Birrarung/Yarra that came out of the Yarra/Birrarung Act said, ‘What is good for the Yarra is good for all.’ I interpret that to mean from one viewing that if we can’t do better with the Yarra then we are unlikely to do any better for any...
Colorado River Compact – Reflection
The Colorado River Compact The Colorado River Compact[1], while impressive in intent, has been hobbled by a differing patchwork of states water rights, many based on systems of senior and junior rights, and a commitment to states’ rights that limits the effectiveness...
Community Views
Straight from the source
The Waterways Network is a community practice that considers the way flows, rivulets, creeks, streams, and rivers form a connected network across the landscape that is fundamental to the health of our environment.
The ecological integrity of the landscape is indispensable to the health of the world in which we live, and healthy water is the critical ingredient in that integrity.
PROJECTS
PLASTIC POLLUTION
Plastic pollution is a key pollutant of waterways.
BASS STRAIT AND ITS ISLANDS
‘Constable of the Strait’ in honour of David Howie.
WESTERN PORT
Western Port, commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria and opens into Bass Strait.
Western Port is rich in wildlife.