Ecology | The Monthly

Tim Flannery’s 'Here on Earth'

Primary Care

By Christine Kenneally

For many years, India’s White-rumped Vulture population was large and thriving, but from the late 1990s the number of vultures suddenly declined. So precipitous was the drop that 97% of the birds disappeared over 15 years. As they died out, the animals they once scavenged were left to rot. Cattle carcasses piled up, feral dogs increased in number and the spectre of a rabies epidemic grew. T

Kimberley Politics

Dividing the Territory

By Victoria Laurie

A saronged camper points to where he paddled his kayak out earlier to greet the whales. Another man has scrambled up the orange pindan cliffs and stands watching; he and his partner are anthropologists who have worked in the Kimberley for years. “We thought we’d camp here for a week – before it all changes,” he says, eyeing a boat that is trawling up and down the stretch of water befo

Sceptical Thinking

Copenhagen and Beyond

By Peter Doherty

The scope of what science can do is constantly being enhanced by technology. While microbiology is benefiting from new, ultra-high-speed gene and protein sequencers, climatology is being informed by next-generation satellites that can measure the depth and area of ice sheets, as well as relay temperature measurements from different levels of the oceans. The science of climate change is moving fast and – as in my field – anyone who i

A Short History of the Media Future

Mash-up

By John Birmingham

The formal library, in contrast, has none of this. Occupying the centre of the original house, its one nod to modernity is a rather groovy white lampshade hanging in the centre of the room. The vast and intricate web of optical fibre and wiring, which forms a sort of nervous system for the rest of the house, courses around this one space like water around a

Maude Barlow’s ‘Blue Covenant’ & Åsa Wahlquist’s 'Thirsty Country'

Pipe Dreams

By Michael Cathcart

Michael Pollan’s ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ & Bill McKibben’s ‘Deep Economy’

Eco-Worriers

By Robyn Davidson

Meg Baird’s 'Dear Companion'

Embers Re-Flamed

By Robert Forster

In the tangled undergrowth of the indie-rock scene there are certain musical genres that re-emerge with some regularity. New wave, no wave, country, disco and garage rock all have their time in the sun, and then come back later in a new mutation. But three or four years