World Wildlife Day

It’s surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth. David Attenborough World Wildlife Day is a celebration of the incredible diversity evident in our world’s plant and animal life and the theme for this year is …

Gaia 2021: Kakadu by Peter Jarver

Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu by pen_ash - pixabay My first Gaia read for 2021 is another great Lifeline find, Kakadu: A Guide for All Seasons by Peter Jarver and Quentin Chester. I had never heard of Peter Jarver (1953-2003), but his photography in this book is absolutely stunning. Originating from South Australia, Jarver developed an …

#Book Snap Sunday: Optimism by Bob Brown

It's not easy being Green. (Brown, 2014) Warm as a hot cuppa on a cold day, and bracing as a dip in the Franklin, Bob Brown’s candid, often humourous memoir unfolds the improbable life story of the policeman’s son from Trunkey Creek who grew up to confront presidents and prejudice on behalf of our beleaguered …

#BookSnapSunday – The Weather Makers

What does climate change mean? How will global warming affect our lives? Is it the cause of wilder storms and more frequent drought? Are these events inevitable? Tim Flannery makes these urgent issues completely accessible. He tells the fascinating story of climate change spanning millions of years to help us understand the predicament we face. …

Travel Challenge Day 6

We've just passed the midway point of the Travel Challenge and fossicking through the photos shows just how diverse our planet is, from the beach to the mountain, from the city to the desert. And that's just the natural environments, let alone the vast array of cultures and histories for us to explore. I have …

#BookSnapSunday/Gaia 2020 – The Man from Snowy River

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around That the colt from old Regret had got away... Jim Craig is eighteen years old, and cannot return to his mountain home until he has proved himself a man. Jessica Harrison is the beautiful, impetuous daughter of the wealthy cattleman whose £1000 colt …

#BookBingo – About the Environment

I have just finished reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson which fits perfectly with the Environment theme on the Book Bingo card. First published in 1962, it is still just as timely as it was then. Carson exposed the devastating effect that the wide scale use of chemicals such as DDT was having on the …

#BookSnapSunday – Silent Spring

The last few months have been a time of unimaginable change. Who could have imagined that vast numbers of people would be working, learning and socialising from home. Who could have imagined that in the twenty-first century a virus could cause such widespread social and economic pain. Who could have imagined we would be drawing …

#BookSnapSunday – 40th Lifeline Bookfest

It has been a few weeks since I have managed to do a book snap. To say the last few weeks have been eventful is an understatement. Now that we are more or less confined to home, book snaps are going to require a fair amount of creativity and thinking outside the box. My reading …

#BookSnapSunday & Gaia 2020 – The Birdman’s Wife

Melissa Ashley’s book The Birdman’s Wife has been on my mind for quite a while as a candidate for both Book Snap Sunday and the Gaia Reading challenge. The novel is a fictionalised account of the life of Elizabeth Gould, the wife of taxidermist and naturalist John Gould. While John garnered most of the attention …