With the conservative agenda being to unwind environmental protections and regulations, it saddens me to have to create a list of “Places to see before they’re gone”. Instead of protecting Australia’s precious places and species we have governments demolishing environmental protections and regulations.
Soon Australia’s precious places and species will be gone. There are pressures from increased expansion in mining; the frightening growth in fracking for coal seam gas; increased development and expanding urban fringes; continued use of unsustainable agricultural practices; and of course climate change. And this is on top of the fact that Australia has the highest rate of species extinction in the world.
The problem though is that once they’re gone they can’t be replaced. They can’t be rehabilitated to their original glory or restored. They can’t be magically brought back. It looks like it won’t be long before we’re actually visiting museums that hold holographic displays of different flora and fauna, or even landscapes.
It deeply saddens and disturbs me that my country seems to have too little regard and appreciation for our environment.
Here’s my list of places to see before they’re gone and they aren’t arranged in any particular order.
1. Great Barrier Reef
2. The Tarkine
3. Kakadu National Park
4. James Price Point
5. Kangaroo Island
6. Franklin River
7. Cape York
8. Victorian Alpine region
9. The Kimberley
10. Cape Barren
This is not an exhaustive list of “Places to see before they’re gone” and I’d love to know what additional places you’d add to the list.
NOTE: This was originally published at Alex Schlotzer’s blog on 18 January 2014
Café Whispers 