ADOPT A ROAD
I WAS pleasantly surprised to see a poster in the Naracoorte Library highlighting KESAB's Adopt a Road initiative.
I also enjoyed a drive to Robe, down to Kingston and back to Naracoorte via Lucindale, in October with almost no trash visible. It appears these South East communities are caring for their environments well.
Vic, on the other hand, have only just launched their container deposit scheme after all these years! Let's hope the rest of Australia catches up to SA fast, as we've still got a long way to go.
Greenpeace and the Australian Marine Conservation Society are working with government to maintain sustainability in our reefs and oceans. Phytoplankton produces about 50 per cent of the world's oxygen, but it has been heavily under threat from plastic and chemical pollution, with about 50pc reduction since 1945.
Selfcare and cosmetic products are a big problem, with oxybenzong, octinoxate, triclosan, parabens, siloxanes plastic beads and synthetic fragrances proving very destructive to reefs and phytoplankton. Sunscreens have been banned in many tropical islands and no doubt other places. The insecticide DEET is sometimes added to sunscreens to protect against mosquitoes, but harms toddlers.
The Wilderness Society also helped save our forests in the 80s, responsible for a huge source of oxygen.
It is no wonder not only Australians but internationally, people want to come and live in clean, green, safe SA. Keep supporting Greenpeace, The Australian Marine Conservation Society, and The Wilderness Society as your children's lives may depend on it in a few years time.
Heather Heggie,
Naracoorte.
WOOL TO GET RADICAL
WHILE there has been talk of "knowledge gaps" within the live export supply chain, "knowledge gaps" have also been inhibiting an advantageous optimisation of improved efficiency within our wool supply chain.
That being said, AWEX can only be commended for the enlightened updates contained within the Code of Practice for wool preparation that, through the introduction of sections such as 9.3 The Mob Concept, have taken a significant step towards striking a more advantageous balance between the limitations of visual appraisal and the accuracy enabled by the advent of objective measurement.
One might well ask: "Exactly what is meant by reference to 'an advantageous balance between visual appraisal and objective measurement?'" A short answer is the actual completion in achieving this advantageous balance, although only privately demonstrated, has enabled the simplification of the process of wool preparation and the delivery of more uniform wool tops.
The possible relevance of fully exploring this potentially advantageous balance between visual assessment and objective measurement was not intended to be secret. But there was no transparency between those directly involved and observers within the mainstream supply chain.
Under the original model, back in the early 1990s, growers forwarding their "radically"-prepared wool retained ownership until the resulting wool tops were sold to spinner customers in Italy. Traditional operators just did not get a "look in".
Further, customers such as German-based spinner Sud Wolle, although privately seeking an increased volume of these more uniform wool tops, were in no hurry to let the cat out of the bag to their competitors through public endorsement of this alternative concept of wool preparation.
Hopefully the time may now be ripe to take steps required to fill in the "knowledge gaps" and to allow the concept of radical objective clip preparation to be fully endorsed, both within the AWEX Code of Practice and throughout the mainstream supply chain.
Alix Turner,
Camden South, NSW.
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