Howdy folks,
First off, a huge thanks to you all for taking the time and effort in signing the petition demanding that the state government act immediately and appropriately in regard to the devastating die-off situation at the St Kilda Mangroves!
We have received over 1,500 signatures so far, but need to continue this until action is taken. It is possibly going to take tens of thousands of signatures so that this becomes a matter of real concern for the state parliament and state government departments to finally take appropriate action, rather than just talking, finger pointing or not responding at all.
Please keep sharing this and talking about it with as many people as you can over the holiday period. It's the perfect time to help others give a gift back to the planet!
- Help them to sign and share the petition if they don't know how.
- Help them to like and share the Facebook Page devoted to this cause.
- Help them understand what is happening by watching the video's shared on the Facebook Page.
The petition is accessible at:
https://change.org/savethemangroves
The Facebook Page (created by concerned volunteers) is at:
https://www.facebook.com/Save-St-Kilda-Mangroves-100586988627714
Once again, thank you so very much for stepping up and choosing to actively fight for the St Kilda Mangroves! I have personally loved reading the myriad of reasons that you are all signing and supporting this call for action; ranging from personal memories, recreational fishing concerns, wildlife and ecological concerns through to disgust of the apathy our political leaders seem to be exhibiting about this.
Finally, an update with permission and courtesy of Gerry from Butterfly Conservation South Australia, who attended a briefing yesterday with the SA Department of Energy & Mining (who control the pans where the toxic leaking is coming from, causing the die-off of the St Kilda Mangroves).
- "...the attending community of concerned environmental groups were pleased to be able to hear about the situation, from senior public servants from DEM, EPA and DEW. They too consider that the widespread death of mangroves and saltmarsh is unacceptable and they are working with the company to address the situation. There are many questions to be answered still and a strategy to be developed asap to remove the hypersaline brine from the Gypsum ponds. The EPA have established additional piezometers (shallow groundwater monitoring bores) to complement the existing Adelaide University network and will develop a groundwater flow model. Regular meetings are to be held with stakeholders, including the environmental groups, to discuss and develop remedial strategies and enhance good information flow. The next meeting will likely be in mid January. Cheers Gerry"
That is a little disappointing to hear in my personal opinion, especially given that almost everything governmental is in shutdown for the next month or so! There still is no decision to empty the ponds immediately, instead the situation is to undergo more discussion, negotiation, planning, seeking approval for that suggestion, and more until eventually, something happens.
We need to keep the pressure up folks! Demanding that appropriate action be undertaken immediately by draining the adjoining ponds to the St Kilda Boardwalk, the saltmarshes and mangroves. Recompense for said actions can be sought later on, but immediate action so as to halt the damage from spreading any further is needed and now!
Look after yourselves folks, be safe and well, enjoy your time with friends and family over this holiday break and please keep spreading the need for action to all and sundry!
Kindest regards,
Alex
P.S. I will be uploading weekly visual updates to a Flickr account right the way through this process; first images to go up soon! The images and video shared there are released by me under a Creative Commons License for free use by anyone with attribution (mention of where it came from).
This is located at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/191527392@N04