An Israeli installation titled Goren won first prize the Big Emotions Award as part of the Jerusalem Design Week delegation at Design Art Tokyo 2019 in October.

By Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21c

Who would have thought an exhibit about wheat could be so emotional?

An Israeli installation titled Goren won first prize the Big Emotions Award as part of the Jerusalem Design Week delegation at Design Art Tokyo 2019 in October.

Visitors to the show at Japans Spiral Arts Center, held in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy of Japan, were mesmerized by the cloud of chaff designed from actual wheat and 2,500 meters of brass wire appearing to float up from the threshing floor (goren in Hebrew).

Goren displayed at Japans Spiral Arts Center, 2019. (courtesy of Hansen House Jerusalem via Israel21c)

The ethereal chandelier of wheat was the brainchild of New York-based Israeli architect Nati Tunkelrot and Israeli designer Guy Mishaly, graduates of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.

The Middle East, for the last 12,000 years, has been home to thousands of genetically diverse varieties of wheat, Tunkelrot explains.

Visitors to Design Art Tokyo examining specimens of wheat. (courtesy of Hansen House Jerusalem via Israel21c)

Sadly, over the last hundred years this important building block of humanitys history has been driven to the brink of extinction being replaced by a handful of high-yielding and uniform strains. We wanted to give voice to this topic and spark a dialogue.

Goren originally was created for Jerusalem Design Week in 2018, which explored the role of design in conservation.

All wheat started in the Middle East region, between Egypt and Turkey, Mishaly explains.

The wheat genome is six times more complicated than the human genome. But all this biodiversity doesnt exist anymore. In the 1950s, a new wheat was developed by a U.S. scientist, that was easier to grow with higher yield, and the other species went extinct.

Goren in the courtyard of Hansen House, Jerusalem. (Ido Adan via Israel21c)

Through their research, the two artists discovered that the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Volcani Center-Agricultural Research Organization are working to gather, examine and conserve wheat strains indigenous to the Israeli region.

The Weizmann Institute and the Israel Plant Gene Bank [at the Volcani Center] have collected seeds of 890 species out of about 4,000 that once existed. They are growing them to find new and better types of wheat, researching and analyzing the valuable genome they hold inside, Tunkelrot tells ISRAEL21c.

We were amazed by the tremendous scientific research that has been done for so many years, and decided to create a visual outcome to that story and reveal it to the public.

Chaff rises in a cloud when wheat is threshed. (courtesy/Israel21c)

Cereal crops including wheat contain edible grain kernels covered by an inedible hull (chaff). When the chaff is separated from the grain on the threshing floor, the chaff rises.

Our vision was to let the visitor walk inside that experience, says Tunkelrot. We wanted to capture the wheat chaff floating in the air, uniting ancient wheat varieties with new types so you can see the differences.

The installation changes its form to fit the architectural space. In the courtyard of Jerusalems Hansen House Center of Design, Media and Technology, the wheat chandelier nearly touched the ground.

People were standing in it, walking through it, and sitting in it, Mishaly says. When the wind picked up, the whole exhibit shifted form and even the birds came to visit throughout the day.

Visitors walking through the wheat at Hansen House, Jerusalem. (Dor Kedmi via israel21c)

In Tokyo, the installation was indoors in a round gallery. Tunkelrot says its form seemed to change as you went up the ramp inside the Spiral Arts Center.

Goren on display at DesignArt Tokyo 2019. (Tal Erez)

The whole piece sparkled like a talisman of golden jewelry.

Some viewers chose to lie down on a podium at the base of the spiral to get a different perspective of the installation.

Guests asked a lot of questions about wheat, an issue that had never crossed their mind. They were intrigued by the investment Israeli scientists are making in trying to preserve the most important agricultural crop for the Western world, and they were genuinely curious about what they could do to assist these efforts, says Tunkelrot.

Even before leaving Tokyo, Mishaly and Tunkelrot had a few offers for their next exhibition location.

It is precisely due to these interactions with visitors to Goren that provide us with great motivation to continue presenting Goren in many diverse metropolises around the world, so that we might spread the story of wheat and the loss of biodiversity.

Israel-Japan relationsJapan

Originally posted here:
Israeli wheat exhibit stirs up big emotions in Tokyo - World Israel News

Creating a new kitchen is like assembling the ingredient list of a delicious recipe. You have to imagine how your finished masterpiece will taste and look, whilst serving it up with proud conviction

At Long Beach, a contemporary cabin reno on which were currently working, we dreamed of a food prep zone that would be at once beautiful and practical, whilst complimentary to the rest of the newly open concept space.

This in mind, heres our carefully planned ingredient list: studied carefully, we hope itll inspire your own next kitchen masterpiece

Cabinetry

Whilst we shant pander to stereotypes, well admit that these two Scots are incredibly canny. Consequently, when it came to cabinetry, we knew there was a better way than complete demolition. So we contacted Trevor at Chaulk Design Studio (www.chaulkwoodworking.com) in Haliburton. Hey, we enjoy shopping local, so working with his team to rebrand our space was a no brainer.

Being that the existing cupboards were in excellent condition, we elected to keep them, replace the doors and drawer fronts, and add a new cupboard above the fridge freezer. Note, however, the way in which the eye level elevation heightened: Trevor did this by topping the existing cabinets (creating further storage therein) and building Shaker fronted doors to accommodate the extra height.

Counters

Having saved on cabinetry, we indulged our scheme with beautiful quartz counters by Hanstone (www.hanstone.ca) a London, Ontario manufacturer who produce a range of options that mimic stone, marble and granite.

Like many other specifiers, weve shied away from real stone, lately, finding it less serviceable and eminently more damageable. Quartz, on the other hand, is scratch, stain and heat resistant, and provides the look we love in a surprisingly accurate representation of the real thing.

Fabrication

Counters were measured, fabricated and installed by Mike Mastrogiuseppe (at http://www.thehouseofgranite.com) whose site visit and cutting service created exacting standards, not to mention a beautiful waterfall edge that wraps the peninsula elevation at one end. Take a tip DONT try and tackle a job like this yourself. Always call in the pros

Faucet and sink

Further detailing comes via inexpensive graphite grouted subway tile, and from the Silgranit sink and faucet (both by http://www.blanco.ca) The former lends a big, deep volume area for clean up, whilst the slick lines of the latter serve as highly functional kitchen jewelry.

Appliances

Weve renovated enough cottages to know that kitchen detailing is critically important. End users, more than ever, expect quality inclusions to make their time at the cottage as stress free and convenient as possible.

Appliances are by Fisher Paykel (visit http://www.fisherpaykel.ca or find them in premium appliance retailers across Canada) whose double oven has multi functions including roast and aero pastry, non-tip shelves and 8.2 cubic feet across independently operable ovens.

We love the steel finish, large windows and chunky dials that glow white when the ovens heating up, orange when desired temps have been reached and red to announce self cleaning.

The induction cooktop boils liquid in less than a minute, remaining cool to touch until pans are placed, whilst the pyramid chimney hood extracts steam and cooking odours and can either vent outside or be fitted with a charcoal filter to recirculate air.

The 32 French door, large capacity fridge freezer enjoys active smart temperature control to keep food fresh, and proved the ideal depth to avoid the clunky look that can happen when bulkier machinery protrudes beyond cabinetry lines.

Finally, an easy open/close two-drawer dishwasher allows glasses or crystal to be consigned to one level and soiled pots and dishwares to another, making each drawer a true half load for guilt free small washes.

Ceiling

With slick counters and state of the art appliances, we elected to add rustic balance with a fine line cedar strip ceiling whose knotty finish is gently soothing. Were big fans of this wood genus, finding it durable, easy to work with, and maintenance free. Contact http://www.nuforest.com for further info.

Floor

The damaged laminate was promptly removed and, in its place, oak engineered boards by Bruce Flooring (www.bruce.com) were installed to streamline proceedings. Were thrilled with the quality, and even our floor fitters commented that the product is of an excellent standard. Head in to Home Depot, as we did, to moderate spend. Every little helps, right?

Barnboard

Finding a C+J project where heritage wood doesnt feature, at least somewhere, is well nigh impossible. Did someone say omnipresent? Here, below the breakfast bar, it suffuses a little texture and serves as contrast to the simple metal framed, wooden topped bar stools.

All things considered, our room recipe is complete. Served up straight, ingredient-by-ingredient, it delivers or so we certainly hope a tasty insight into the way we plan our projects. More from us next week!

More here:
Colin and Justin: The perfect kitchen recipe - Toronto Sun

As it does each year following its big Black Friday and Cyber Monday blowouts, Amazon on Tuesday announced its best-selling products over both sales events. The Echo Dot took the #1 spot since it was down to its lowest price ever at just $22, and that deal is still available right now on Amazon. The Fire TV Stick 4K was also a top-seller, and refurbs are available on Amazon right now with a deep discount. Where products from companies other than Amazon are concerned, the first top-seller mentioned in Amazons announcement was the iRobot Roomba 675 Robot Vacuum, which normally sells for $300 but was on sale for $199.99 during Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019. Wait, did we say it was on sale? Its actually still available on Amazon right now at its Cyber Monday price, but only if you hurry!

Heres more info from the product page:

Follow @BGRDeals on Twitter to keep up with the latest and greatest deals we find around the web. Prices subject to change without notice. BGR may receive a commission on orders placed through this article.

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The Roomba 675 was Amazons best-selling robot vacuum on Cyber Monday, and its still down to $199 - BGR

Le Crocodile

The unassuming elegance of the dining room in one of Williamsburgs first hotels, brick walls and all, has been largely retained in the hands of the restaurateur Jon Neidich, best known for the Acme in Manhattan, and his partners, Jake Leiber and Aidan ONeal, the chefs and owners of Chez Ma Tante in Greenpoint. Here, the chefs are moving from the bistro fare with English and global touches theyre known for, to a lengthy brasserie-style menu, more strictly French. Rabbit and duck rillettes, onion soup with lardons tucked inside, classic escargots, steak frites, boudin blanc, halibut with beurre blanc, and profiteroles speak the language of a room done with red leather banquettes and mirrors. (Opens Wednesday)

Wythe Hotel, 80 Wythe Avenue (North 11th Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-460-8004, lecrocodile.com.

The smorgasbord that is the career of the chef and restaurateur David Burke now includes this French restaurant and lounge, which will feature burlesque and other performances a few nights a week. Hes working with four owners of Redefine Hospitality, in the space that housed the short-lived restaurant Rebelle. The executive chef is Guillaume Thivet, and with Mr. Burke he is serving oysters Rockefeller, skate meunire, roast chicken, filet of beef and fries.

218 Bowery (Prince Street), 646-649-4805, misterfrenchnyc.com.

You can easily take your food allergies, sensitivities and the like to this new restaurant in a club, the Well, which is devoted to wellness with features like a meditation dome and a reflexology lounge. The restaurant is open to the public, not just club members. The restaurants executive chef, Sherry Cardoso, worked at Cafe Cluny, Per Se and Brooklyn Fare. Her menu, devised in consultation with a team of partners in this enterprise, features just what youd expect: organic, seasonal, local ingredients in dishes like a sprouted quinoa and bean burger, and a bowl of chickpeas, vegetables and greens at lunch; and at dinner, sashimi, house-made burrata, wild halibut with savoy cabbage, and also the quinoa and bean burger. There is also a daily market table from which diners can select ingredients like roasted vegetables.

2 East 15th Street, 646-560-8088, the-well.com.

Wylie Dufresne has opened a holiday pop-up of his Williamsburg, Brooklyn, doughnut shop. The pop-up, near Union Square, will be open daily through Dec. 29 (except Dec. 24 and 25). Orders can be placed online for pickup from noon to 5 p.m.

31 East 17th Street (Broadway), dusdonuts.com.

Food will be a major focus at what is being billed at Manhattans first night market, to begin this weekend. It will occupy the renovated areas of the historic East Harlem market, La Marqueta, with a savory food court occupied by vendors like Harlem Shake, Eggroll Queen, and Sisters Cuisine; a sweet food court with Harlem Pie Man and others; and a garden area serving beer and coquito. Handmade wares like beads will also be featured; there will be music and, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., a selfie-ready Santa. The market is a collaboration among NYC Public Markets, Uptown Grand Central, TBO Harlem and Buy Local East Harlem. (Dec. 7, 14 and 21, 4 to 10 p.m.)

La Placita at La Marqueta, 1590 Park Avenue (116th Street).

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A Tour of the Japanese Table at Chikarashi Isso in the Financial District - The New York Times

The right tile can make a world of difference to your home. (Rawpixel pic)

When you step into your home, or your bedroom, whats the first thing you feel? The floor, of course! And different floors have a different impact on each room.

With many different types of flooring options available in Malaysia, it can be daunting trying to choose the right one for your home.

This guide will enable you to get a better idea of the options and prices of flooring available and find what suits you best.

Ceramic tiles

Ceramic tiles are composed of natural clay, sand and water. These ingredients are moulded to form square or rectangular tiles before being baked in a kiln to remove moisture.

Ceramic tiles are mainly used in the living room and bedroom. Designed to be used indoors, ceramic tiles are also suitable as wall tiles due to their light-weight characteristics.

Available in both gloss and matte finishing, they are also considered the most basic tiles and the cheapest.

The most important reason for choosing tiles is owed to the variety of designs available. Whichever look youre going for, theres a tile design that will suit your needs.

Best suited: Bedroom, guest bathroom

Price: RM8RM12 per sq ft for labour. Tiles start from RM2 per sq ft.

Porcelain tiles

Porcelain tiles are baked at a very high temperature for a long period of time to evaporate moisture. These tiles are available in a wide variety of colours and designs, and come with either gloss or matte surfaces.

Porcelain tiles are very versatile as they can withstand heavy foot traffic and resistance against wear and tear. This makes them suited for indoor-outdoor use as well as light- or medium-duty commercial applications.

Best suited: Bathroom, kitchen, porch, balcony

Price: RM8RM12 per sq ft for labour. Tiles start from RM5 per sq ft

Solid hardwood

Solid hardwood flooring is, as its name suggests, made of 100% solid wood pieces.

The wood can come from balau, nyatoh, merbau, kempas, chengal, Burmese teak and belian, as well as imported ash, beech, white oak, Tasmanian oak, Russian pine and walnut.

Some of these species, such as merbau, Burmese teak, and belian are well known for being termite-resistant, which makes them highly valuable.

Best suited: All rooms except bathrooms

Price: From RM22 per sq ft for supply and installation. This may vary depending on the type of wood used.

Laminate

Laminate flooring is made of compressed wood fibres and a resin to form the core.

The top layer is the design layer, and is made of a printed image, covered with a clear layer to protect it. The printed image is carefully chosen to look like wood, marble, or stone; anything you like.

Homeowners can choose from a myriad of designs ranging from natural hardwood appearances to natural stones and ceramics.

Best suited: living room bedroom, dining, bathroom, kitchen, laundry

Price: From RM6.50 per sq ft for supply and installation depending on the design.

Carpet

Generally, there are two types of carpet flooring roll carpets and carpet tiles.

Roll carpets normally come in a width of 3.5 metres and can be rolled out to cover the entire length of a room. However, they require professional installation and the process can be very time-consuming.

On the other hand, carpet tiles are available in squares of approximately 45 cm, 60 cm or 91 cm, which can fit perfectly on most floor spaces.

Best suited: Office, bedroom

Price: From RM4 per sq ft for supply and installation for carpet tiles. From RM3 per sq ft for roll carpet.

Marble

Quarried from mountains around the world, marble is considered a soft rock that is easily scratched, scraped and chipped.

Since it is a natural product, each piece of marble is unique. It is available in multiple colours or even in a mix of different colours and can be cut into rectangular or triangular shapes of different dimensions.

Best suited: Living room and bedrooms.

Price: From RM15 per sq ft plus RM1015 per sq ft for labour.

This article originally appeared on Recommend.my Malaysias #1 Home Improvement Services Platform. Recommend.my offers a safer and more convenient way to hire the best home improvement and home maintenance professionals. From flooring to interior design to air-conditioner servicing, get access to thousands of the best local contractors and professionals at your fingertips.

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Choosing the right flooring for every room in your home - Free Malaysia Today

Massive new lock gates are to be installed at Albert Lock, Jamestown, by Waterways Ireland 171 years on from its opening.

In a lifetime you will probably never see a lock drained to ponder the quality of the masons, carpenters and ironmongers workmanship involved.

The Shannon apparently flows North in only one place on its long journey to the sea: thats between Jamestown and Drumsna, the unnavigable, shallow, rocky loop the canal was built to get around.

The lock was built of magnificent cut stone by skilled masons in 1848 and its engineering with internal sluices is a marvel. The barrel-vaulted floor and the step the gates swing on is an engineering wonder.

All these works on the upper Shannon were done in Famine times. They opened up proper navigation to Carrick, including through its then new bridge, and on to Cootehall, Knockvicar, Drumshanbo and beyond.

A multitude of forgotten poor labouring souls were also involved in taming the mighty Shannon to mans purpose. The access road is widened, the huge new gates are on site, and the works are scheduled to finish in February in time for the new cruising season

PICTURE: GERRY FAUGHNAN

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New lock gates to be installed at Albert Lock - Leitrim Observer

If you have turned on a TV or read the news during the past few months, you have probably heard of the widespread fires that wrought havoc on the Amazon rainforest this year.

Fires occur in the rainforest every year, but the past 11 months saw the number of fires increase by more than 70 percentwhen compared with 2018, indicating a major acceleration in land clearing by the country's logging and farming industries.

The smoke from the fires rose high into the atmosphere and could be seen from space. Some regions of Brazil became covered in thick smoke that closed airports and darkened city skies.

As the rainforest burns, it releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and larger particles of so-called "black carbon" (smoke and soot). The phrase "enormous amounts" hardly does the numbers justice in any given year, the burning of forests and grasslands in South America emits a whopping 800,000 tonnes of black carbon into the atmosphere.

This truly astounding amount is almost double the black carbon produced by all combined energy use in Europe over 12 months. Not only does this absurd amount of smoke cause health issues and contribute to global warming but, as a growing number of scientific studies are showing, it also more directly contributes to the melting of glaciers.

In a new paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of researchers has outlined how smoke from fires in the Amazon in 2010 made glaciers in the Andes melt more quickly.

When fires in the Amazon emit black carbon during the peak burning season (August to October), winds carry these clouds of smoke to Andean glaciers, which can sit higher than 5,000 metres above sea level.

Despite being invisible to the naked eye, black carbon particles affect the ability of the snow to reflect incoming sunlight, a phenomenon known as "albedo".

Similar to how a dark-coloured car will heat up more quickly in direct sunlight when compared with a light-coloured one, glaciers covered by black carbon particles will absorb more heat, and thus melt faster.

By using a computer simulation of how particles move through the atmosphere, known as HYSPLIT, the team was able to show that smoke plumes from the Amazon are carried by winds to the Andes, where they fall as an invisible mist across glaciers.

Altogether, they found that fires in the Amazon in 2010 caused a 4.5 percent increase in water runoff from Zongo Glacier in Bolivia.

Crucially, the authors also found that the effect of black carbon depends on the amount of dust covering a glacier if the amount of dust is higher, then the glacier will already be absorbing most of the heat that might have been absorbed by the black carbon. Land clearing is one of the reasons that dust levels over South America doubled during the 20th century.

Glaciers are some of the most important natural resources on the planet. Himalayan glaciers provide drinking water for 240 million people, and 1.9 billion rely on them for food.

In South America, glaciers are crucial for water supply in some towns, including Huaraz in Peru, more than 85 percent of drinking water comes from glaciers during times of drought.

However, these truly vital sources of water are increasingly under threat as the planet feels the effects of global warming. Glaciers in the Andes have been receding rapidly for the last 50 years.

The tropical belt of South America is predicted to become more dry and arid as the climate changes. A drier climate means more dust, and more fires. It also means more droughts, which make towns more reliant on glaciers for water.

Unfortunately, as the above study shows, the fires assisted by dry conditions help to make these vital sources of water vanish more quickly. The role of black carbon in glacier melting is an exceedingly complex process currently, the climate models used to predict the future melting of glaciers in the Andes do not incorporate black carbon.

As the authors of this new study show, this is likely causing the rate of glacial melt to be underestimated in many current assessments.

With communities reliant on glaciers for water, and these same glaciers likely to melt faster as the climate warms, work examining complex forces like black carbon and albedo changes is needed more now than ever before.

Matthew Harris, PhD Researcher, Climate Science, Keele University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

See the original post:
Fires in The Amazon Are Causing Glaciers to Melt Faster in The Andes - ScienceAlert

It encapsulated the horror engulfing New South Wales: the footage of a koala mewing in pain as its habitat burned around it. The rescue of that animal, saved from the Long Flat blaze by a woman using her shirt as a shield, went viral.

But the bushfires have injured and displaced vast numbers of other creatures, many of which no longer have homes. Who rescues them and what does that involve?

Kristie Newton works as campaign manager for the NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (Wires), an organisation that, in normal times, says it cares for tens of thousands of hurt or distressed animals each year.

But these are not normal times.

We are completely inundated at the moment, she says. This is the biggest event we have ever dealt with.

Australias flora and fauna have evolved to coexist with fire but not with fires of such intensity. Wires search and rescue teams still cant access many affected areas, even as people in towns or outer suburbs report injured animals fleeing into backyards or roads.

We probably wont know what were looking at for about a month or so, maybe longer, until we can really go in and start to get more animals out. But weve lost a lot of habitat, so its not only directly affecting the animals now, but will continue to affect them for years to come.

Its a sentiment echoed by Vickii Lett, a veteran carer with Clarence Valley Wires.

Shes dedicated her property in Lightning Creek near Grafton to caring for wild creatures, so much so that she takes an instant to recall just how many shes currently sheltering.

Ive got three flying foxes, one koala, three no, four! redneck wallabies (one of which is burned), and one wallaroo. Oh, and a boobook owl.

A volunteer since 1988, Lett has never experienced fires of such ferocity, affecting such a vast area.

This is man-made; weve done it, she says.

At the same time, she worries that the immediate crisis might cloak the broader wildlife emergency, the everyday devastation of deforestation and land clearing.

When youre a wildlife carer, fairly early you realise that you might be able to fix animals, but youve got to have somewhere to put them. Theyre not pets, but when I release them, I worry about every one of them. Theyve got to have a home and a food supply.

Wires offers a short rescue and immediate care course that equips people to work with common species.

Volunteers can nominate their level of commitment. They can decide to be carers or rescuers or both or help with various administrative tasks.

Some take on additional training to specialise in particular animals anything from koalas to venomous snakes.

Thats how Kristina-Lee Willis, a 29-year-old from Corindi Beach (two hours north of Port Macquarie), ended up with Teddy, the baby sugar glider.

Originally, Willis wanted to rescue bats to break down the knee-jerk reaction that ewww theyre disgusting, but the first course available focused on possums and gliders.

Then, during the recent blaze, a crew clearing firebreaks on an isolated road near Glenreagh found a glider joey on the ground.

It was so sweet: this big burly bloke who was driving the dozer carried her crooked up in his arm all the way back to their base. A lady made the call to Wires and then another two gentlemen drove her to the Golden Dog pub in the middle of Glenreagh. And I took her from there.

A little glider means a lot of work.

Teddy named after the dozer driver who cuddled her only drinks a special milk formula.

Shes very clever, says Willis, with maternal pride. She doesnt need a bottle. She laps at milk from the tiny little spoon or from the bottle cap.

But thats just the beginning.

Now shes older, shes getting little bugs like crickets and meal worms and some moths when I can catch them, though thats really tricky. And also some sap. She likes to chew on some branches and lick at blossoms as well.

Teddys gaining weight and will, with luck, make a full recovery.

But shes just one animal and so very, very many need help. At the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, the volunteers feel that strain.

The facility boasts 14 intensive care units and can house up to 50 animals.

Hospital president Sue Ashton worked in the corporate world before retiring to Port Macquarie two years ago, and then taking up a vacancy on the hospital board. I enjoyed my old job. But this is so satisfying working with wild animals and seeing them rehabilitated back into the wild.

Yet after the recent fires, she fears for the long-term future of the species.

In places like the Lake Innes nature reserve, as many as two-thirds of wild koalas seem to have died, incinerated by the astonishing heat. Those that survived were dehydrated; many had been burned on their paws, noses and mouths.

Weve got to cut the dead skin off, bathe their wounds, then treat them with a cream for burns and bandage them, Ashton says. Were giving them a low lactose milk supplement, for extra nutrients and hydration some of them arent eating leaves because their mouth is burnt. The really bad ones have gone into home care. Some might need to be fed more frequently; they need to have their noses rubbed with cream or something like that.

Many of the centres 150 volunteers currently come in almost daily, and their physical exhaustion exacerbates the toll of watching animals suffer.

Burns are, after all, notoriously difficult to heal. Several of the injured koalas, including the one rescued at Long Flat, have had to be euthanised.

Nicole Blums, from Brisbanes Rescue Collective, knows how shattering wildlife volunteering can be.

She established her group specifically to help resource frontline carers, providing them with basic materials as well as little gifts to lift their spirits.

Over the last nine days, she says, Wires has received nine carloads and trailer loads of resources from us. That includes medical supplies, drugs for the animals, formulas, feeding bottles, joey pouches, bat wraps: anything that they need to be able to spend more time with the animals.

A fortnight ago, her group consisted of four women; now its grown to about 20.

Like the other volunteers, shes been appalled by the fires; like them, shes been buoyed by the community response.

Working in rescue, you see a lot of bad things and you can begin to hate the human race, Blums says. But every time we start to think its too much, its too heavy for our hearts, we open a box and we find a letter from one of our supporters or a drawing from one of the kids. Her voice catches slightly. That gives us strength to know that we are making a difference and that we have so much behind us now that we cant stop.

The rescue organisations need donations. They also need volunteers. But Wires Kristie Newton stresses that its possible for anyone to help native animals, just by taking very simple steps.

If people are in an area thats affected by fire or even by heat, if they can leave bowls of water for birds and animals, thats fantastic.

Likewise, a cardboard box and towel kept in your car can help contain an injured animal, if its possible to do so safely.

If you do encounter any injured animals, she says, call your local wildlife group and get them help as soon as possible. It really can save lives.

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'I worry about every one of them': the volunteers who rescue injured wildlife - The Guardian

OSLO AFP-JIJI The 164 signatory countries to the Mine Ban Treaty agreed Friday to accelerate the work to achieve the goal of a mine-free world in 2025, Norways foreign ministry said.

According to an annual report by the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, 6,897 people were killed or injured by mines and other explosive remnants of war in 2018 the fourth year in a row with exceptionally high numbers of recorded casualties.

Of those, 3,789 were victims of so-called improvised mines, the highest recorded number to date.

Under the Oslo Action Plan adopted on Friday, states undertake to identify mined areas and put in place national plans for mine clearance.

They also commit to measuring their progress in the final stretch before 2025, the goal set by the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in 1997.

The meeting in Oslo was the last in a series of five-year meetings to implement the treaty drafted in 1997, which helped to put an end to virtually all use of land mines by governments, including those that did not sign it.

Armed groups are, however, increasingly using improvised anti-personnel mines. According to Landmine Monitor, nonstate groups used this type of weapon last year in at least six countries: Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Yemen.

Since the treatys adoption nearly 58 million mines have been removed by clearing minefields and destroying stockpiles, according to Norway.

Efforts to rid the world of these weapons were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, which was given to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and U.S. citizen Jody Williams.

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Over 160 nations agree to speed land-mine clearing - The Japan Times

The combined impacts of habitat destruction, fisheries management and climate change on the Fraser River are at their most damaging point since the Outdoor Recreation Council began compiling data 40 years ago.

Steelhead runs in the largest tributaries of the Fraser are on the brink of extinction. The spawning population in the Thompson watershed is estimated to be 86 fish, according to a recent update from the ministry of forests, lands and natural resources. The Chilcotin watershed has only 39 steelhead likely to spawn.

Non-selective net fishing for salmon is undercutting conservation and habitat restoration efforts intended to save the Fraser River steelhead from blinking out of existence, said Mark Angelo, chairman of the 100,000-member ORC.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has employed rolling closures of commercial and First Nations salmon fisheries that suspend fishing in areas where most of the steelhead pass as they leave the Pacific Ocean and enter the Fraser River.

The model they used to rationalize opening the pink and chum fisheries this year was the same model that was found to be scientifically unsound during the Species at Risk Act peer review process,said Jesse Zeman, spokesman for the B.C. Wildlife Federation.

The federal government has resisted listing the steelhead under the Species at Risk Act for years, he said. A listing would likely curtail some commercial salmon fishing.

B.C.s environment ministry has been jousting with DFO for a year over changes made to a scientific assessment that could have led to stronger protections for steelhead.

How it happened remains a mystery.

When the BCWF filed a Freedom of Information request to learn how the scientific assessment was altered and by whom, the federal government said it would take 822 years to retrieve the documents. A second, less ambitious request was submitted, which the government now says will take 510 days beyond the statutory limit of 30 days typically allowed for processing such a request.

Land-clearing is leading to habitat destruction in the heart of the lower Fraser River for about 30 other species of fish, Angelo noted in the councils year-end statement.

Clear-cutting for agriculture and development are damaging rearing areas for chinook and other species between Mission and Hope and on mid-river lands such as Herrling, Carey and Strawberry islands.

The council is pushing to have the islands declared an Ecologically Significant Area under a new feature of the federal Fisheries Act.

Seven southern B.C. chinook stocks are considered endangered, four threatened, one is of special concern and one is not at risk, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

The Big Bar landslide dramatically curtailed access to the upper reaches of the Fraser watershed for struggling runs of chinook and sockeye salmon this year.

The slide created a five-metre waterfall that forced DFO to trap and transport potential spawners below the debris and release them into the river above the slide.

There was a valiant and heroic effort move fish past the slide, said Angelo. The unfortunate reality is that most fish didnt make it through and those that did were already exhausted.

There is a window of about three months before spring freshet during which water levels will be low enough to re-establish a passable corridor for next years spawners, he said.

Rock removal work at the slide site is ongoing, while DFO consults with experts on heavy construction, explosives and the Department of National Defence on ways to remove the remaining rock debris.

These things taken together make the Fraser a critically endangered river, the most critically endangered in B.C. and probably all of Canada, Angelo said.

Mark Angelo, chairman of the Outdoor Recreation Council, looks out over the Fraser River from near the foot of Kerr Street in Vancouver on Monday.Arlen Redekop / PNG

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Fraser River the most critically endangered river in B.C: Outdoor council - Vancouver Sun