Breathing space: part three
The air that we breathe and some desert memories (2 minute read)
From the archive
It’s been a while since I’ve focused much on climate change, but it hasn’t gone away. It is certainly never far from my mind. So, I’m sharing a series of older articles which look at the role of different gases in climate change.
The carbon cycle, carbon dioxide and forests
Out of breath
In 1897, a group of Wellington residents, subsidised by the government, purchased 31 acres of land on the south-eastern slopes of Tarikākā and created the Khandallah Domain. They were motivated to protect the land because it contained one of the few remaining fragments of forest in the area. Once, Tarikākā and the surrounding hills had supported dense f…
Methane
Off the grass
High on a hill, in the suburb of Newlands, is one of my favourite areas for walking my dog, Waihinahina Park. It is one of the largest off-leash dog exercise areas in Wellington, with a huge expanse of grass. There’s plenty of space to get away from other dogs, if your dog is like mine and not always friendly. Sure, the ground is a little swampy – to be…
Water vapour and nitrous oxide
No laughing matter
Welcome to The Turnstone. Here, I help people understand important issues such as Covid-19, climate change and conservation. I send my articles out every Sunday - if you’d like them emailed to you directly, you can sign up to my mailing list.
Trace gases which punch well above their weight
The faintest of traces
Welcome to The Turnstone. Here, I help people understand important issues such as Covid-19, climate change and conservation. I send my articles out every Sunday - if you’d like them emailed to you directly, you can sign up to my mailing list.
From my photo files
My article on nitrous oxide and water vapour featured one of my favourite photos. I took it in Utah, near the Mars Desert Research Station, where I spent two weeks in 2013. Maybe I’ll write more about that at some stage, but not now. What I will do now is share some more pictures of the Utah desert, because I just adore desert landscapes. Yes, I know I’m obsessed with plants, and deserts aren’t very green places. But the landscapes are so evocative.
From iNaturalist: a favourite find
When I spoke with Thomas Mesaglio a few weeks back, I asked him about some of the favourite observations he’s made on iNaturalist. One of the species he mentioned was the stunning Sturt’s desert pea, which he saw in full flower in the desert in Western Australia in the spring of 2022. It’s not rare, but it’s special to see wild plants in full flower.
Do you have a plant or animal you’d love to see someday? My list is too long to share here, but it includes some of the weird eucalypts, such as the four-winged mallee, with its square seed capsules, and the warty yate, which has a bud like the nose of a fairytale witch. Oh, and I’d love to see New Zealand’s parasitic flower of the underworld (Dactylanthus taylori).
I’d love to hear about the species you most want to see. Let me know in the comments.
Nothing wrong with tree hugging... as long as they don't use junk science.