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Australia: There are jobs in journalism, just not traditional ones

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Oceanía/Australia/Mayo del 2017/Noticias/https://theconversation.com/

The recent announcements of the proposed Fairfax sacking of 115 newsroom staff has again focused attention on the future of journalism in Australia.

The Fairfax cuts follow the shedding of 120 editorial jobs a year ago.

News Corp has also announced redundancies for photographers and production staff.

The redundancies are a result of publishers having to keep cutting costs in the face of declining advertising revenues for the print media.

In what appears like a somewhat futile attempt to push back the tide, the Senate has also hurriedly convened the “Select Committee on the Future of Public Interest Journalism” chaired by Sam Dastyari.

It seems inevitable that the committee will recommend halting attempts to regulate the market or even introducing new measures to protect “public interest journalism” – whatever that is.

Are there any jobs in journalism?

For those studying journalism courses or about to enter the journalism workforce, this may be, understandably, a worrying time.

It should also lead to some consideration by universities and TAFE institutions about the number of students admitted into journalism courses and the relevance of course content to what is already a rapidly changing media environment.

It is difficult to measure with any accuracy how many journalists there are in Australia or new entrants into the profession.

According to the Department of Employment, in 2015 there were 27,500 people employed as journalists or writers, and this is predicted to grow by 10% to 30,300 by 2020.

This compares to predicted growth in all professional employment of 14.4% and of all employment by 8% over the same period. On the demand side of the journalist labour market, growth is expected to be OK.

So what is happening on the supply side?

Between the previous Census in 2006 and the 2011 Census, the number stating that they had journalism qualifications had risen by 30% compared to a rise in journalists employed by about 8%.

This suggests that the growth in demand has not kept pace with supply.

The biggest source of new supply is new graduates of Australian universities and TAFE colleges, although net migration may also make a small contribution.

The problem with attempting to estimate the influx of new journalists is that the education statistics are not available for journalism graduates alone.

This is probably due to the fact that most degrees which teach journalism skills are not called “degree in journalism” but by some other name. Therefore, statistics issued by the Department of Education are classified as “communication and media studies”.

Should unis still be training up journos?

This figure below shows the that the number of domestic students enrolled in communication and media studies in Australian universities between 2004 and 2015 increased by over 230%, which compares to about 40% for all university students.

Number of students studying media and communications. Department of Education and Training., Author provided

We don’t know how many of these are journalism students but, if the Census data is any guide, a rough estimate would be that they would make up about third of all students in communications and media studies.

The data does suggest that the increase in “qualified” journalists has exceeded the growth in journalism jobs, at least as traditionally defined.

Further complications arise because not all working as journalists are “qualified”. They may be specialist in particular areas, such as economics, finance, health or even gardening, who have taken to writing.

Journalism has become difficult to define

More importantly, the meaning of “journalists’ work” has become more difficult to define with growth in new technologies and globalisation of the media.

A journalism education equips someone with a range of important and marketable skills.

Traditional newsroom skills include thorough research and being able to explain often complex ideas in a clear, understandable way.

But the new generation of journalists also needs to be proficient in use of social media, online publishing and multimedia as well as being able to write. Hopefully the rapidly increased number of students is being equipped with these skills.

Although little researched, there is certainly anecdotal evidence that there is a need for people with these skills in most public and private sector organisations.

This has created a large number of jobs for those with journalism skills which do not neatly fall into what has traditionally been thought of as journalism.

The big rise in journalism graduates would, on the surface, appear to suggest a degree of over-education in the discipline.

But similar concerns about the growth in all university places, particularly since the introduction of the demand-based system, have been expressed with respect to the quality of graduates’ jobs and jobs mismatch.

Journalism is changing – unis need to adapt courses to reflect this

On the other hand, as long as potential students are aware of the career prospects that they face on graduation, then it would be hoped that they are making rational choices about the education which will best facilitate their career ambitions.

Interestingly, as can be seen from the above graph, overseas students have not greatly increased their demand for journalism courses in Australia indicating that they take a somewhat different perspective on career choices.

In order for Australian universities to equip students for the new journalism environment they need to examine how journalism is taught in an era where print journalism is dying out.

The use of journalism skills need to be looked at more broadly than in just traditional journalism jobs. Students also need to be equipped in the new skills required in the environment of global and technological change, as well as the old skills which will always be the hallmark of good journalism.

Fuente:

https://theconversation.com/there-are-jobs-in-journalism-just-not-traditional-ones-77622

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Australia: Programs that prepare students for university study may no longer be fre

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Oceanía/Australia/ Mayo del 2017/Noticias/https://theconversation.com/

For the first time, students may have to pay up to A$3271 for “enabling” courses, designed to prepare students for university study.

The change was announced as part of the government’s recent higher education reform package.

Until now, university enabling programs have been subsidised by the government – and are therefore free for students. The new plan to shift the cost onto students will likely deter some students and affect who is able to access higher education.

What do enabling programs do?

Not everyone is in a position to start an undergraduate degree directly. Some people need more academic preparation or confidence, including those who may have been out of the education system for several years. Many of these people currently enrol in “enabling” courses.

These preparatory courses typically run for six to 12 months and focus on developing the discipline, knowledge and academic skills required for higher level learning.

The courses are run by universities and give students a sense of campus life and expectations before they commit to a full undergraduate degree with tuition fees.

Enabling courses are a low-cost government investment of $30 million per year, offering people from low socioeconomic and other disadvantaged backgrounds a viable opportunity to qualify and prepare for university.

Courses are not specifically targeted at equity groups, but around 50% of students enrolled in enabling courses are from equity groups, including Indigenous students.

A recent review of enabling programs shows that students from low SES backgrounds have more than twice the rate of representation in enabling courses than they do at undergraduate level.

As the national review reports,

enabling programs transition more equity-group students than the associate degree, advanced diploma, diploma and OUA pathways combined.

Students who transition via an enabling program are,

more likely to be studying full-time in their subsequent undergraduate degree, compared to those transitioning via a VET program (85.4% compared to 76.3%).

Once they are at university, students from low SES backgrounds can receive further support through a different government financial initiative – the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP). This is welcome and signals a government commitment to equity. However, more is needed to support access and academic preparation.

How will funding arrangements change?

Since 2004, some preparatory enabling programs have been supported through a combination of Commonwealth funded places and a small additional loading.

The arrangement means that students do not pay fees (or incur debt) as long as no other fees are charged by universities themselves. But the proposed changes to enabling funding would change all that.

Under the new proposals, students will pay fees and funding will be insecure, with universities having to bid for their places every three years.

Universities may also need to compete for funding against private providers, some of whom offer similar courses.

Many private providers have no previous experience in teaching students who have faced prior educational challenges. And unlike universities, they have no specific equity mission or community obligations.

Why will students now have to pay?

Because enabling programs are free, they attract different student cohorts from diplomas and other (fee paying) sub-degree programs.

Indigenous, mature age, low SES, and students from refugee backgrounds are more likely to enrol in an enabling program than any other sub-degree program .

Apart from improving university access for thousands of under-represented students, enabling programs also deliver effective outcomes.

Research shows that enabling students who transition to undergraduate degrees outperform other equity group students in those degrees, despite a higher average level of disadvantage.

So why cut an inexpensive program that opens doors for under-represented students and effectively prepares them for university success?

Two reasons are provided. The first reason for abolishing fee-free enabling places is to improve completion rates.

The budget package reports that fee-free Commonwealth funded university programs have completion rates of 52%, while fee-paying university programs, which do not draw on this Commonwealth funding (programs can only charge fees or claim the funding), have completion rates of 61%.

However, this gap is largely because fee-paying programs are typically much smaller and less flexible and accessible. The government data cited does not compare like with like.

The second reason provided for removing fee-free programs is to ensure a better return to students and taxpayers. Again, this is a questionable claim.

The proposed cuts will mean that many students from disadvantaged and low-SES backgrounds, who are often unsure of whether university study is for them, will likely not enrol in an enabling program.

Fees are often prohibitive for people who have the potential to succeed in higher education, but who suffer social and economic disadvantage. While the budget proposes a broader expansion of sub-degree places, diversity and full community engagement will suffer if fee-free places are abolished.

Equity, quality and performance-based funding

The government is also proposing performance-based funding measures that may penalise institutions with relatively low retention and completion rates.

That move is understandable but considered problematic and could threaten student equity if not managed carefully.

Performance-based funding is partly designed to deter universities from enrolling students at risk of non-completion.

However, fee-free enabling programs already provide an excellent way to mitigate this risk, by enabling access and improving the preparation of students. These benefits are delivered relatively cheaply under the current enabling loading allocations to universities.

To support equity, quality and long-term budget repair, fee-free enabling places could be expanded rather than abolished.

Fuente:

https://theconversation.com/programs-that-prepare-students-for-university-study-may-no-longer-be-free-77851

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Australian: Q&A: Protesters confront Education Minister Simon Birmingham over university fee increases

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Australian/ 16 may 2017/By: Georgina Mitchell/Source: http://www.theage.com.au

Education minister Simon Birmingham has been confronted by student protesters on live television, after the government controversially proposed in the federal budget to cut funding to universities while raising student fees.

Mr Birmingham appeared alongside Greens senator Larissa Waters, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen and representatives from the university and business world in a special episode of the ABC’s Q&A on Monday night.

 

The panel planned to dissect the budget and what it had to offer for all sectors of society.

However, in the hours before the program aired, Q&A producers drew the ire of students for refusing to include a young person on the panel.

A handful of students waved signs and banners outside the Arts Centre Gold Coast under the watchful eye of police, with slogans including «Game of Loans» and «education for all, not just the rich».

In the studio, the situation heated up after a questioner pointed out Mr Birmingham had been an active student politician who opposed increases to fees.

«So why is it now, 20 years on, that your view has complete changed?» the questioner asked, to applause. «Can you please justify to me why you think that the proposed changes to increase fees and lower the HECS repayment threshold is fair for university students across this country?»

Mr Birmingham said a lot has changed over the last 20 to 30 years, and began to say there had been enormous growth in the number of students going to university when a woman began shouting from the crowd.

«You’re making students pay,» the woman said, as Ms Waters nodded in agreement. The program did not show the protester in the audience but her shouting was audible.

The woman continued shouting until she was grabbed by security guards and removed from the audience.

Another audience member then began to shout: «How can you justify the cuts to the tax repayment thresholds?» before he too was removed.

Host Tony Jones tried in vain to bring order as the audience applauded the interjections.

«I think you can see it’s a university town, there’s a good deal of passion here in the audience,» Jones said.

Mr Birmingham, who had agreed to answer the first woman’s interjection, said students have been protesting for generations.

Ms Waters quipped: «It’s a shame they’re not being listened to.»

Labor says it will oppose the government’s proposed changes to higher education, which include a 7.5 per cent increase in fees, reducing the HECS loan repayment threshold to an annual salary of $42,000, and applying an efficiency dividend to universities.

The Greens have also opposed the controversial changes, meaning the government will need to negotiate with the Senate cross-bench if they want to pass the $2.8 billion in savings.

It is the second time protesters have drowned out an education minister on Q&A, after a group of students in Sydney unfurled a banner and began chanting at Christopher Pyne in 2014.

Those students – also protesting cuts to higher education – forced the program to cut to file footage of a musical performance while they were removed by security.

In response, the program launched a review of its security policies and apologised to Mr Pyne, who is now the minister for defence industry.

Source:

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/qa-protesters-confront-education-minister-simon-birmingham-over-university-fee-increases-20170515-gw5i9m.html

 

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Arzobispo de Sídney, Australia: Las escuelas católicas sólo piden un trato justo

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Australia/09 de mayo 2017/Fuente: http://es.gaudiumpress.org

El Arzobispo de Sídney, Australia, Mons. Anthony Fisher, escribió un artículo de opinión para el diario Australian Financial Review para exponer la posición de la Arquidiócesis en el debate actual sobre financiamiento público de la educación. En el texto, el prelado negó que la Iglesia busque privilegios para las escuelas católicas. En su lugar, todo lo que pide es un trato justo para estas instituciones.

«Permítanme ser tan claro como puedo serlo», expresó el Arzobispo. «no existe un ‘trato especial’ con el sector de educación católico y yo no lo defendería». El prelado refutó las críticas a las supuestas «escuelas de élite» que se beneficiarían y advirtió que la limitación de recursos públicos anunciado en un nuevo modelo de educación afectaría a las escuelas católicas ordinarias que «cargan las tarifas más bajas posibles para que las familias más pobres puedan asistir».

Por este motivo, Mons. Fisher declaró: «El sector católico no pide un trato especial: está pidiendo un trato justo». El Arzobispo recordó que los gobiernos australianos han reconocido desde hace mucho tiempo que el sistema de escuelas católicas cumple una función similar al de las escuelas públicas y que por ese motivo merece un apoyo similar. De hecho, los alumnos de las escuelas católicas gastan menos recursos públicos que los de las escuelas públicas, lo que significa una optimización de los recursos. «Y ahora, de la nada y sin absolutamente nada de consulta con el sector católico, el gobierno Turnbull ha decidido que la brecha se hará cada vez mayor con el tiempo», denunció.

Las afirmaciones de las autoridades sobre un aumento de la inversión en educación del 3.7 por ciento no se verían reflejadas en la realidad de las escuelas católicas, según expuso el Arzobispo: «Lo que ya es aparente es que la nueva ‘fórmula de la capacidad de pago’ del gobierno forzará un incremento de tarifas de más de $1000 para un número muy significativo de escuelas católicas – al menos 78 – en sólo Sídney». El aumento de tarifas sería de más del doble para algunas instituciones.

La Iglesia realiza un notable aporte en la educación, asumiendo compromisos como la atención de alumnos con necesidades especiales, refugiados y estudiantes avanzados. El servicio se extiende a escuelas rurales y nuevas comunidades urbanas carentes de oferta educativa. «Permitir que aquellos en el terreno en cada estado y comunidad respondan de una manera ágil a las necesidades a medida que aparecen, asegurar el flujo de la burocracia en apoyo de las escuelas y garantizar un acceso equitativo y asequible a las familias no es una especie oscura de ‘trato especial'», aclaró Mons. Fisher. «Los sistemas de gobierno gozan de esta misma libertad».

Pretender aplicar una solución a todas las escuelas «parece justo a primera vista pero en un examen más cercano trae desventajas serias a las escuelas del sistema católico con bajas tarifas. Y esto significa que golpeará a algunas de las familias más vulnerables que desean acceder a la educación católica», comentó. El prelado pidió que todos los estudiantes y todas las familias reciban las mejores oportunidades, sin privilegiar un sistema educativo por encima de otro, de forma que el interés esté puesto en los mejores resultados para cada niño.

Con información de Arquidiócesis de Sídney.

Fuente de la Noticia:

Contenido publicado en es.gaudiumpress.org, en el enlace http://es.gaudiumpress.org/content/87101-Arzobispo-de-Sidney–Australia–Las-escuelas-catolicas-solo-piden-un-trato-justo#ixzz4gYHnR4l6

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Australia: Space bling: ‘jewelled’ LAGEOS satellites help us to measure the Earth

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Oceanía/Australia/Mayo del 2017/Noticias/https://theconversation.com

Could this be one of the most beautiful satellites ever made? In fact it is one of twins, as there are two of these jewelled spheres orbiting Earth.

And one of them carries a message for deep into the future, if there is anyone around to decipher it (but more on that later).

The space bling twins are the LAGEOS satellites (LAGEOS stands for LAser GEOdynamic Satellite). LAGEOS-1 was launched by the United States on May 4, 1976, and LAGEOS-2, made by the Italian Space Agency, was launched in 1992.

So this year, the original 60cm sphere – its design harking back to the spherical satellites of the early space age, such as Sputnik, Vanguard and Echo – will notch up 41 years in orbit. It’s a veteran of space science.

The surface of LAGEOS is dotted with 426 cube-corner prisms to reflect laser pulses transmitted from ground stations on Earth. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

The interior of each satellite is a solid brass cylinder, covered in a thick aluminium shell studded with 422 “jewels” made of fused silica, and four made from germanium.

Fused silica is made without the common ingredients of everyday glass, such as lime and soda. It has a much higher melting point and won’t crack from the extremes of temperature experienced in orbit.

This is important because the LAGEOS satellites are essentially used as inert reflectors, off which lasers can be bounced.

Space lasers

The two satellites travel at around 6,000km from Earth in a circular polar orbit.

Every day, 35 satellite laser ranging stations across the world send laser pulses up to intercept the LAGEOS satellites. Two of these stations are located in Australia, at Mt Stromlo in the ACT and Yarragadee in WA. The Mt Stromlo facility is also used to track space junk.

Laser ranging stations across the world. International Laser Ranging Service

The process works like this. A telescope emits a laser beam aimed at the satellite, which strikes the glass eyes and is deflected back towards the Earth, where the telescope receives it.

The length of time taken for the two-way roundtrip indicates how far away the satellite is. Once the time is recorded and corrected, we know the distance to the satellite at that moment to centimetre accuracy.

The changes in this distance over time relate to variations in the Earth’s gravitational field and rotation, as well as environmental factors in orbital space.

The LAGEOS satellites (although the most beautiful) are not the only targets of the laser ranging network. Other satellites equipped with retroreflectors include the Russian BLITS (Ball Lens in Space) and ETALON 1 and 2, and the student-run Starshine satellites.

There are also retroreflectors on the Moon – at the Apollo 11, 14 and 15 landing sites, and on the Russian Lunokhod 1 and 2 rovers.

The measurements are coordinated and disseminated by the International Laser Ranging Service.

Reflective satellites bounce back laser beams to Earth.

Defining the Eart

The information provided by LAGEOS 1 and 2 has contributed to new perspectives of the Earth, as former project scientist David E. Smith explains:

Today, we see Earth as one system, with the planet’s shape, rotation, atmosphere, gravitational field and the motions of the continents all connected. We take it for granted now, but LAGEOS helped us arrive at that view.

We tend to think of the Earth as a perfect sphere, but the distribution of mass within it is actually rather lumpy, which means gravitational force is not equally distributed.

Variations in the satellites’ positions have helped scientists to accurately map this distribution to increase our knowledge of the invisible geoid under the surface.

The geoid is the surface of equal gravitational potential of a hypothetical ocean at rest and serves as the classical reference for all topographical features. ESA

The geoid is a representation of the Earth if you remove the influence of tidal and atmospheric forces and imagine sea levels where they would lie according to gravity alone.

Even more importantly, the two LAGEOS satellites define the centre point, based on the Earth’s centre of mass, for the International Terrestrial Reference System used in navigation.

Another purpose is to measure the speed and direction of tectonic plate movement, which causes continental drift.

Message to the future

Both LAGEOS satellites are completely passive with no instruments, and no fuel and batteries to run out, which means they could outlast humanity. Their orbits may be stable for about 8.4 million years, according to the original prediction.

LAGEOS-1 is the bearer of one of Carl Sagan‘s time-travelling interspecies communications.

The LAGEOS-1 plaque. At the top, the numbers one through ten are written in binary notation, and Earth is shown orbiting the Sun. The three lower panels depict maps of Earth at different epochs. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

He conceived a design – drawn by Jon Lomberg who also worked with him on the Voyager Golden Records – depicting continental drift at three points in time: 268 million years ago when there was only the supercontinent Pangaea, 1976 when the satellite was launched, and a projection 8.4 million years into the future. The maps are engraved on a thin steel plate that was wrapped around the brass cylinder core.

You’d have to crack the satellite open like an egg, though, to get at the message.

It’s precisely the sort of alien mystery object that science fiction writers imagine falling to a planet and catalysing personal and social revelations, even when the object is impenetrable.

Who knows who or what might find it in 8.4 million years, if it lasts that long. Will it melt in reentry, fall into the ocean unnoticed and unmourned, or slam into what remains of Australia like Skylab, to lie under the stars for another few million years?

Fuente

https://theconversation.com/space-bling-jewelled-lageos-satellites-help-us-to-measure-the-earth-76948

Fuente imagen:

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UNESCO report: surveillance and data collection are putting journalists and sources at risk

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Oceanía/Austarlia/Mayo del 2017/Noticias/https://theconversation.com/

The ability of journalists to report without fear is under threat from mass surveillance and data retention.

Released this week, my UNESCO report Protecting Journalism Sources in the Digital Age shows that laws protecting journalists and sources globally are not keeping up with the challenges posed by indiscriminate data collection and the spill-over effects of anti-terrorism and national security legislation.

Examining legal changes to how sources are protected across 121 countries between 2007-2015, I found that calls, text messages, and emails made in the process of reporting are increasingly exposed. In particular, they can be caught up in the nets of law enforcement and national security agencies as they trawl for evidence of criminal activity and terrorism, and conduct leak investigations.

Source protection laws should be updated to protect the online communications of journalists and whistleblowers.

If we do not strengthen legal protections and limit the impact of surveillance and data retention, investigative journalism that relies on confidential sources will be difficult to sustain.

New technologies, new problems

Now that simply using mobile technology, email, and social networks may result in a person being caught up in state and corporate surveillance and data mining, the laws protecting sources and journalists are being seriously undermined.

The study found that source protection laws globally are at risk of being:

  • trumped by national security and anti-terrorism legislation that increasingly broadens definitions of “classified information” and limits exceptions for journalistic acts
  • undercut by surveillance – both mass and targeted
  • jeopardised by mandatory data retention policies and pressure applied to third party intermediaries to release data which risks exposing sources
  • outdated when it comes to regulating the collection and use of digital data, such as whether information recorded without consent is admissible in a court case against either a journalist or a source; and whether digitally stored material gathered by journalistic actors is covered by existing source protection laws, and
  • challenged by questions about entitlement to claim protection – as underscored by the questions: “Who is a journalist?” and “What is journalism”?

These threats suggest lawmakers need to think differently when it comes to protecting press freedoms.

In the past, the main concerns of courts and lawmakers was whether a journalist could be legally forced to reveal the confidential source of published information or be the subject of targeted surveillance and search and seizure operations.

Now that data is routinely intercepted and collected, we must find new ways to protect the right of journalists to withhold the identity of their sources.

The Australian metadata threat

Australia’s experience with mandatory metadata collection shows how complicated the question of journalist-source protection can become in a digital era.

The Australian Federal Police recently admitted to illegally accessing an unidentified journalist’s metadata without a warrant.

This breach was possible because of the country’s mandatory data retention law, which requires phone and internet companies to preserve user metadata for two years, even when there is no suspicion of a crime. This includes information such as when a text message was sent and who received it, but not its content.

Advocates of long-term metadata retention, like Australian Attorney General George Brandis, have insisted the law poses no significant threat to privacy or freedom of expression. When the legislation was enacted in March 2015, it included an amendment that requires government agencies to seek a warrant to access journalists’ communications with sources in certain cases.

Then-Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Attorney-General Senator George Brandis during a press conference introducing the metadata legislation in Canberra, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

Transparency, however, is not required. Revelation of the existence (or non-existence) of such a warrant is punishable by a two-year jail term. At no point are journalists nor media organisations advised of such an intervention, and there is no opportunity for them to challenge the issuing of a warrant.

These shortcomings mean the law fails seven out of 11 indicators in UNESCO’s guide for measuring the effectiveness of a country’s legal source protection framework.

In the face of these threats, journalists can take steps to protect their online security and ensure sources have ways to contact them securely. Yet even when they encrypt the content of their source communications, they may neglect the metadata, meaning they still leave behind a digital trail of whom they contacted. This data can easily identify a source, and safeguards against its illegitimate use are frequently limited or non-existent.

Australia’s Press Council chair, professor David Weisbrot has said mandatory data retention legislation risks “crushing” investigative journalism:

I think that whistleblowers who are inside governments or corporations will definitely not come forward because their confidentiality and anonymity will not be guaranteed. If they came forward, a journalist would have to say ‘I have to give you some elaborate instructions to avoid detection: don’t drive to our meeting, don’t carry your cell phone, don’t put this on your computer, handwrite whatever you’re going to give me’.

Australia’s metadata experience shows how legal protections that shield journalists from disclosing confidential sources may be undercut by backdoor access to data.

This also applies to information collected by internet service providers, search engines, and social media platforms. Such companies can, in some circumstances, be compelled by law enforcement to produce electronic records that identify journalists’ sources.

In an interview for the UNESCO study, Privacy International legal officer Tomaso Falchetta said

There is a growing trend of delegation by law enforcement of quasi-judicial responsibilities to Internet and telecommunication companies, including by requiring them to incorporate vulnerabilities in their networks to ensure that they are ‘wire-tap ready’

On World Press Freedom Day, we’d like a little less secrecy, and lot more accountability.

Fuente:

https://theconversation.com/unesco-report-surveillance-and-data-collection-are-putting-journalists-and-sources-at-risk-77038

Fuente Imagen:

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Australia: Can art put us in touch with our feelings about climate change?

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Oceanía/Australia/Mayo del 2017/Noticias/https://theconversation.com/

What does climate change look like in Australia? Are we already seeing our landscapes shift before our eyes without even realising it?

Perhaps thought-provoking art can help us come to terms with our changing world, by finding new ways to engage, inform and hopefully inspire action. For hasn’t art always been the bridge between the head and the heart?

With that aim, the ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2017 festival, organised by CLIMARTE, features 30 specially curated exhibitions running from April 19 to May 14 in galleries across Melbourne and regional Victoria, following on from their previous award-winning festival in 2015.

Changing landscapes

One of the festival’s exhibitions is Land, Rain and Sun, featuring more than 100 landscapes dating from the 19th century to today, curated by gallery owner Charles Nodrum and captioned by us to offer a climate scientist’s perspective on the works. We also collaborated with CLIMARTE directors Guy Abrahams and Bronwyn Johnson to bring the idea to life.

The exhibition, featuring Australian artists including Sidney Nolan, James Gleeson, Eugene Von Guerard, Louis Buvelot, Russell Drysdale, Fred Williams, Michael Shannon and Ray Crooke, is designed to help start a conversation about what climate change might look like in Australia.

Curating an exhibition of artworks as seen through the eyes of a climate scientist poses a challenge: how can we help make the invisible visible, and the unimaginable real?

As we sifted through scores of artistic treasures, there were a few works that confronted us in unexpected ways. The first was Cross Country Skiers, painted in 1939 by renowned South Australian artist John S. Loxton. It depicts the Victorian High Country heavily blanketed in snow, as two skiers make their way through the beautiful wintery landscape.

John S. Loxton, Cross Country Skiers, Victorian High Country, c. 1935. Watercolour on paper. Charles Nodrum Gallery, Author provided

When we saw this image, we realised that in decades to come this work might be considered a historical record, serving as a terrible reminder of a landscape that vanished before our eyes.

Average snow depth and cover in Australia have declined since the 1950s as temperatures have risen rapidly. Under high greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, climate models show severe reductions, with snow becoming rare by late in the century except on the highest peaks.

The Australian ski season could shorten by up to 80 days a year by 2050 under worst-case predictions, with the biggest impacts likely to be felt at lower-elevation sites such as Mt Baw Baw and Lake Mountain in Victoria.

As temperatures continue to rise, our alpine plants and animal communities are in real danger of being pushed off mountain tops, having nowhere to migrate to and no way of moving from or between alpine “islands”.

James Gleeson’s surreal apocalyptic painting Delenda est Carthago is a provocative work that got us thinking about a future marred by unmitigated climate change. The title refers to Rome’s annihilation of Carthage in 149 BC. According to the ancient historian Polybius, the conquering Roman general, Scipio Aemilianus, famously wept as he likened the event to the mythical destruction of Troy and to the eventual end he could foresee for Rome.

James Gleeson, Delenda est Carthago, 1983. Oil on linen. Charles Nodrum Gallery, Author provided

As climate scientists, we are disturbingly aware of the threats to society not only here in Australia, but all over the world. Unmitigated human-induced climate change could potentially see the planet warm by more than 4℃ by the end of the century.

In Australia, inland regions of the country could warm by more than 5℃ on average by 2090. In Melbourne, the number of days over 40℃ could quadruple by the end of the century, causing extreme heat stress to humans, wildlife, plants and infrastructure, especially in urban areas.

Warming of this rate and magnitude is a genuine threat to our civilisation. Gleeson’s artwork made us consider that the unimaginable may happen, as it has in the past.

On a more optimistic note, Imants Tillers’ work New Litany highlights the importance of communities taking a stand for environmental protection. Over our history Australians have fought against logging of native forests, nuclear power, whaling, and for the restoration of dammed river systems like the Snowy.

Imants Tillers, New Litany, 1999. Synthetic polymer paint and gouche on canvas. Charles Nodrum Gallery, Author provided

Public concern in Australia about climate change reached a peak in 2006, largely in response to Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth and Tim Flannery’s book The Weather Makers. Yet the decade since then has brought political turmoil, and national greenhouse emissions continue to rise.

The recent March for Science is a reminder that the stakes are now higher than ever before, and that many people really do care about the future.

The science is telling us that our climate is changing, often faster than we imagined. The range of CSIRO’s latest climate change projections reminds us that the future is still in our hands. We can avoid the worst aspects of climate change by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, but we need to act now.

Art has always been a powerful portal to understanding how we feel about our world. Let’s hope it helps safeguard our climatic future.

Fuente:

https://theconversation.com/can-art-put-us-in-touch-with-our-feelings-about-climate-change-77084

Fuente Imagen:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dK-JpcYyZQo41_DbzU7KUh9p6MYcwStw-rJfp2kQMtBpu_PlifU0T6zVeTiyHzX6WHzIhw=s86

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