What about the environment?

One million mutton birds dead:

There are reports more than one million mutton bird chicks have died on Babel Island off north-east Tasmania.

The Aborginal Land Council has closed mutton bird harvesting on the island after reports the bird population has been decimated.

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre's Michael Mansell is operating a mutton bird shed on nearby Big Dog Island and is calling for an investigation into why the birds have died.

Mr Mansell says it is likely overfishing is to blame.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/04/2534937.htm

Did you get that? One million mutton bird chicks, DEAD.

At least ABC online reported it.

If you're interested in environmental news, the Australian Greens website is a good reference point. Here's one of the many news items that never made it into the mainstream:

G20 fails planet’s environment – Brown

Media Release | Spokesperson Bob Brown

Friday 3rd April 2009, 1:30pm

While the G20 meeting ended up in raptures about the future of growth economics, it turned its back on the plight of planet Earth's environment, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"The G20 found more than a trillion dollars to address the economic crisis but no money to address the environmental crisis," Senator Brown said.

"One paragraph leaving the onrush of climate change to Copenhagen in December was tacked onto the end of the communiqué as an afterthought. Yet the planetary environment and its biodiversity are in a downwards spiral."

"There can be no economic reassurance or certainty without environmental sustainability. Big business does not have the brains to understand that the planet's ecosystem is finite and needs urgent support. The world's 6 billion people should have a right to expect greater wisdom from their political leaders."

"There is not even a hint of social equity in the proposed plan to regulate CEO remuneration, nor any requirement for environmental responsibility."

"Kevin Rudd will not take real action on ‘obscene' CEO salaries, but the Greens will continue to pursue him."

"The Greens will pursue a G20 meeting devoted to climate change and biodiversity," Senator Brown said.

http://greens.org.au/