Climate activism, cockatoos with culture and Andrew McGahan's final novel
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Would you host a dinner party to educate your friends about climate change? Have you ever been impressed — or disgusted — by a sulphur-crested cockatoo? And would you be able to live on the average income of an Australian artist? Plus: How we've become a know-it-all society and whether war is inevitable. If you like this email, please pass it on to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. | |
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Liz Lyons from Melbourne definitely didn't consider herself or her friends to be activists. But when the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report sounded a dire warning of what climate change has in store for the near future, Liz said something changed in her. As well as attending climate change protests, Liz hosted a dinner party for her friends, where a speaker came to talk about climate change. In standing up and being outspoken among her friends, Liz is a bit of an exception to the rule. A small study was recently conducted on people from Perth who self-identified as "attempting to live a sustainable lifestyle". And while the participants wanted to see big, structural changes, they didn't want to cross the line into "activism". Read more in this article from Life Matters. And listen as Hilary Harper interviews one of the researchers involved in the study. | |
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Before Melissa Lucashenko took out the $60,000 Miles Franklin Literary Award this year, she was considering going back to her old gig — driving for Uber. Lucashenko laughs as she recounts this period: "I was thinking of going and knocking over a few banks — but [then] The Copyright Agency came to my rescue and gave me a fellowship, so I didn't have to think about that." The Australia Council's 2017 report found that "in the financial year 2014-15, Australian practising professional artists earned average gross incomes of $48,400" — made up of a mix of creative income, arts-related income, and non-arts-income. While artists continue to be underpaid and exploited, the avenue of pursuing art stays closed to many. So outside of winning the Miles Franklin, how do artists make it work? Read more in Hannah Reich's feature article. And listen to the full series, The Cost of Art. | |
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The sulphur-crested cockatoo has recently attracted international attention and its own moniker: the "jerk bird". It's all thanks to its bin-day behaviour: one cockie stands to the side of a bin, lifts the lid then inches along the side of the bin, holding the lid in its beak or foot until it's finally able to flip the lid back. From there the cockie melodramatically throws tin foil and plastics, biscuit boxes and roast chicken bags up and out of the bin while other individuals wait around and rip everything apart. It makes a heck of a mess, but these behaviours, seen by some as pesky, might be an example of animal technical innovation and cultural transmission that's new to science. Read more in this article by Ann Jones. And listen to the episode of Off Track. | |
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It was described as a "lunatic idea" by a former Danish prime minister, while others said the US President had finally "jumped the shark". But Donald Trump's bid to purchase Greenland wasn't the first time a US president has tried to buy the autonomous Danish territory. In 1946, Harry Truman privately proposed the idea to the Danish government. He was turned down, and seven decades later it has been rejected once again. The US has form in real estate. From the moment it kicked out the British, America began buying, annexing and fighting over land. Read about five notable examples from US history. And listen to the full episode of Rear Vision. | |
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My recommendation: James Bullen | | James Bullen will be filling in as host of the Health Report for three weeks, starting on Monday September 9. He recommends you have a listen to Science Friction. "I’ve been loving Science Friction recently," he says. "Last week’s episode featured 12-year-old podcaster Tai Poole – he’s charismatic, curious and guaranteed to make you smile. "Before that, a deep dive into the history of cancer, interrogating the idea that understanding cancer’s origins will help us treat it. "Plus there are heaps of fantastic episodes in the back catalogue, including Carl Smith’s Apocalypse series investigating the natural events that could end life as we know it!" You can hear Science Friction on RN at 5pm on Sunday — or any time on ABC Listen. | |
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