 the effects of different technologies  commercialisation of outdoor environments and outdoor experiences  portrayals of outdoor environments and outdoor experiences in the media, music, art, writing and advertising  social responses to risk taking  social and political discourses about climate change, water management, biosecurity and other contemporary environmental issues.

 Discourse = written or spoken communication/debate/discussion  Conversation, argument, points of view  Individuals, experts & interest groups typically engage in the “discourse”, so do  government agencies

 Aim: to understand ◦ how OE are threatened, ◦ the causes & ◦ who is engaged in the discussions and why  Understand the debate, the importance of the issue, what we can or should do/be doing, how we might take action, &&&&&  How these discourses impact our relationships with OE

 climate change,  water management,  biosecurity and  other contemporary environmental issues

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 Al Gore’s film: An Inconvenient Truth

 An environmental issue  A topic debated in the media  A topic agreed on in the scientific community  The media has played a role in shaping opinions

 change/climate-science/greenhouse-effect change/climate-science/greenhouse-effect

 Uncertainty ◦ Climate contains many variables ◦ Uncertainty over how much and how fast it will change  Other associated issues ◦ Sea level rise ◦ Ocean acidification

 Debate around validity of theories that support global warming  Whether humans have a major influence in the climate  The importance of those changes

 Page 213 ◦ Sceptics vs Climate scientists ◦ ◦ Other

 Too much coverage for sceptics ???  Focus on the debate & controversy rather than the science  Created a distorted impression of the science, suggesting a relatively even split in scientific opinion. 

 Humans have adapted to environmental pressures throughout history & we need to prepare for climatic change….  Adapt  Mitigate the extent of climate change  Introduce incentives to modify human practices that contribute to climate change

 tower-gone/ tower-gone/  Natural occurrence vs climate change

 The first major international agreement to cut greenhouse gases  Challenges:  Created under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Kyoto, Japan in 1996  Agreed target: developed countries to cut by at least 5% below 1990 levels during 2008 – 2012  Australia initially did not sign

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 Aust signed in 2008 following a change of federal govt  In Victoria parliamentary discussion resulted in the Climate Change Act which aims to reduce carbon emissions in Victoria by 20% in 2020  and-wildlife/climate-change/victorian- climate-change-act and-wildlife/climate-change/victorian- climate-change-act-2010

 Clean coal technologies  Carbon sequestration (carbon capture & stroage)  Energy saving, energy conservation, reduce… ◦ eg compare this building to the new library, better insulation  Reducing dependence on fossil fuels is the most significant step in mitigating climate change.  Mitigate = reduce, diminish, lessen  Renewable energy sources ◦ Biofuels ◦ Wind ◦ Solar ◦ Tidal/wave  Nuclear energy??

 New industries will appear and old one like brown coal generation will suffer  Mitigation requires both economic and social change, the impact of these changes seem by some as outweighing the threat posed “in the future” by climate change

 Economic response: carbon tax & an emissions trading scheme (ETS)  2012 tonne for top polluters  Repealed in 2014  ETS involves buying/selling allocating permits for CO2 emissions.  Sell your permit if you reduce emissions  Largely the debate is about economics not the environment

 The way OE are perceived  How we interact with OE  The impact we have on OE  P 217 summary table

 Climate change has been caused by humans  Climate change is a natural phenomena – it has occurred throughout the planet’s history

 Aust climatic variation results in periods of drought associated with El NinoEl Nino  Water management was discussed and debated in Vic due to water shortages that forced the govt to implement water restrictions  Drought for much of 2000 to 2010

 Water shortages during drought highlighted that: ◦ Vic catchments were unable to supply sufficient water for Melbourne’s popl’n & industries ◦ Water management techniques were not sustainable  Water crisis with a social & political discourse

 Drinking water  Water for industry  Storage reservoirs  Catchment  Water conservation  Recycling of water  Irrigation  A wide range of adaptive strategies are required to meet water needs for domestic and industrial needs for agriculture and for healthy rivers and ecosystems

 DEPI (now DELWP) identified a range of issues to be considered in management of Vic waterways & produced the Victorian Waterway Management Strategy  Dept of Environment Land Water and Planning Dept of Environment Land Water and Planning  The policies and actions influence our relationship with specific aquatic environments, depending on how we use waterways.

 Read the overview handed out in class (or look at full version online or an rtf copy on student shared). Below is a link to the over view:  /200587/VWMS-Summary_FINAL_WEB- ready.pdf /200587/VWMS-Summary_FINAL_WEB- ready.pdf  Do any key points, policies and actions impact you??  Focus on the management issues pp12 -15

 The Victorian Waterway Management Strategy (the Strategy) provides the framework for government, in partnership with the community, to maintain or improve the condition of rivers, estuaries and wetlands so that they can continue to provide environmental, social, cultural and economic values for all Victorians

 East Gippsland rivers in excellent health

 In Victoria, there are ten catchment management regions and each has a catchment management authority to co- ordinate integrated management of land, water and biodiversity.

 Development and implementation of regional Waterway Strategies for each of the ten catchment management regions across Victoria will deliver key elements of the management approach outlined in the Strategy.  East Gippsland M’ment Strategy  do/274/ do/274/

 East Gippsland’s waterways are remarkable ‘natural assets’ of Victoria, with the highest proportion of streams in ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ condition in the state  Our waterways provide many of Victoria’s best fishing, swimming, camping, boating and scenic attractions. The health of these waterways underpins many aspects of tourism, employment and investment in the region.  The purpose of the East Gippsland Waterway Strategy 2014– 2022 is to ensure that the future management of our waterways keeps providing these important environmental, social, cultural and economic values.East Gippsland Waterway Strategy 2014– 2022

 Much of discourse,esp in media, was driven by issue of shortages in Melb  The previous graph shows that without water restrictions Melb could have run out of water  Drought conditions and a growing population sparked social & political discourse

 The Vic govt produced a long term plan to secure Melbourne’s water supply – Our Water, Our Future.  The next slide shows the summary of that plan.

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 Two measures in the plan were particularly controversial: 1. The construction of a reverse osmosis desalination plant near Wonthaggi - to produce drinking water from seawater, (to meet up to 30% of Melb needs) 2. The Foodbowl Modernisation Plan which include interconnection of water supplies across the state and re-direction to supply Melbourne

 Water-saving, recycling and capturing initiatives put forward were well received but some believed they did not go far enough with water conservation, and  These alone could solve water supply initiatives, and that  Its wrong to be diverting water from other catchments, and  A desalination plant was not a good idea

 A interest group formed to bring attention to concerns and to fight to convince the public/government to rethink their plans  Desalination requires a large input of energy, which in turn contributes to climate change, if it energy from non renewable sources  Concerned about impacts to marine & coastal environments

 Also called the North- South pipeline, was not well received by people who saw it as taking water away from their catchments  Read pp222 & 223,  As a class discuss the questions in the learning activity

 Not long after the desalination plant was built the drought broke  Controversy, debate & protests continued during the construction  Make your own summary table similar to the one shown on pp223 & 224.