Search

Placeholder Content Image

Readers response: What’s one thing you wish you had known before retiring?

<p>When it comes time to retire, there are always things we wish we knew first before entering our golden years. </p> <p>We asked our readers what they wish they knew before retiring, and the response was overwhelming. Here's what they said. </p> <p><strong>Margaret Walsh</strong> - As long as you are fit and active, it's great. Just don't get crook or disabled, it sucks.</p> <p><strong>Judi Bradshaw</strong> - I retired 9 times and kept going back to work as I didn't find myself ready to stop work, but finally retired at 73. Took awhile to adjust but now 75 and full time travellers, just loving life.</p> <p><strong>Marcus von Moger</strong> - How good it was going to be.</p> <p><strong>Chris Bailey</strong> - How boring it is, I’d go back to work in a heartbeat if I could.</p> <p><strong>Ellen Fowler</strong> - That the government would keep changing the rules. </p> <p><strong>Michael L Carrigg</strong> - Just how long it takes dealing with government departments that clearly are understaffed, especially in the front line service areas.</p> <p><strong>Jim Burgess</strong> - Finding reasonably priced accommodation.</p> <p><strong>Nicol Kyriakidou</strong> - That it would be so great! Having the whole day to yourself. Taking it easy, meeting friends, going shopping. Doing everything at your leisure.</p> <p><strong>Gaye Johnson</strong> - You never get a day off!!!</p> <p><strong>David Brown</strong> - How good it is. I should have retired 20 years earlier.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p>

Retirement Life

Placeholder Content Image

Put your Star Wars knowledge to the test

<p>While May 4 is not a public holiday, for passionate Star Wars fans around the world, it may as well be. </p> <p>Whether you prefer to dress-up with friends and celebrate with a mega movie marathon - after hours spent deciding which trilogy to begin with, of course - or scroll your favourite forums to find that next snippet of news about any upcoming projects, it’s fun to have the odd fun fact to drop into conversation, whether or not your present company particularly wants to hear it. </p> <p>And now’s the time to put your knowledge to the test, with some<em> Star Wars </em>trivia to challenge and to impress - especially if you get that perfect 15/15. </p> <p>So, “may the Force be with you”, and don’t forget to scroll to the bottom for the answers! </p> <p><strong>1. What was the false working title used to mask production for <em>Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi </em>in 1982? </strong></p> <p>A: Blue Moon</p> <p>B: Blue Harvest</p> <p>C: Force Squadron</p> <p>D: Galaxy’s Edge</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>2. The term ‘Ewok’ was never said aloud in the original trilogy. </strong></p> <p>A: True</p> <p>B: False</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>3. Who delivered the line “congratulations, you are being rescued” in <em>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story</em>? </strong></p> <p>A: Cassian Andor</p> <p>B: C-3PO</p> <p>C: K-2SO</p> <p>D: Orson Krennic</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>4. How many actresses have portrayed (in the live action films) the leader of the Rebel Alliance, Mon Mothma? </strong></p> <p>A: 4</p> <p>B: 3</p> <p>C: 2</p> <p>D: 1</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>5. Which movie features the most stop-motion animation? </strong></p> <p>A: <em>The Phantom Menace</em></p> <p>B: <em>Empire Strikes Back</em></p> <p>C: <em>Return of the Jedi</em></p> <p>D: <em>A New Hope</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>6. Why are porgs so prominent in <em>The Last Jedi</em>? </strong></p> <p>A: Director Rian Johnson was asked by a crew member’s child to include the feathered friends</p> <p>B: The marketing team had requested something small and fuzzy for the younger audience</p> <p>C: Porgs were inspired by early concept art for BB-8 that they didn’t want to toss aside completely</p> <p>D: The island on which they filmed was home to puffins and it was easier just to tie them in </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>7. Yoda shares a voice actor with which iconic Muppet? </strong></p> <p>A: Miss Piggy</p> <p>B: Kermit</p> <p>C: Gonzo </p> <p>D: Swedish Chef</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>8. How many films does the Rebel Alliance’s Blue Squadron appear in? </strong></p> <p>A: 1</p> <p>B: 2</p> <p>C: 3</p> <p>D: 4</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>9. Which phrase can be heard in every Star Wars movie?</strong></p> <p>A: “There’s no such thing as luck.” </p> <p>B: “Rebellions are built on hope.” </p> <p>C: “I have a bad feeling about this.” </p> <p>D: “Never underestimate a droid.” </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>10. In <em>The Phantom Menace</em>, Qui-Gon Jinn used which common household item as his communicator? </strong></p> <p>A: A lint brush</p> <p>B: A torch</p> <p>C: A tin of shoe polish </p> <p>D: A razor</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>11. How many Sith can there be at any one time? </strong></p> <p>A: 8</p> <p>B: 6</p> <p>C: 4</p> <p>D: 2</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>12. What was Luke Skywalker originally going to be called? </strong></p> <p>A: Luke Stardestroyer</p> <p>B: Luke Starkiller</p> <p>C: Luke Skykiller</p> <p>D: Luke Lars</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>13. The noise from passing which object served as the inspiration for lightsaber sounds? </strong></p> <p>A: A radio</p> <p>B: A microwave</p> <p>C: A television </p> <p>D: A racecar</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>14. Which quote is correct?</strong></p> <p>A: “No, I am your father.”</p> <p>B: “Luke, I am your father.” </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>15. Who built C-3PO? </strong></p> <p>A: Luke Skywalker</p> <p>B: Jar Jar Binks</p> <p>C: Shmi Skywalker</p> <p>D: Anakin Skywalker</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p> <p><strong>ANSWERS: </strong></p> <blockquote> <p>1: A, 2: A, 3: C, 4: C, 5: B, 6: D, 7: A, 8: A, 9: C, 10: D, 11: D, 12: B, 13: C, 14: A, 15: D</p> </blockquote>

Movies

Placeholder Content Image

The Galactica AI model was trained on scientific knowledge – but it spat out alarmingly plausible nonsense

<p>Earlier this month, Meta announced new AI software called <a href="https://galactica.org/">Galactica</a>: “a large language model that can store, combine and reason about scientific knowledge”.</p> <p><a href="https://paperswithcode.com/paper/galactica-a-large-language-model-for-science-1">Launched</a> with a public online demo, Galactica lasted only three days before going the way of other AI snafus like Microsoft’s <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist">infamous racist chatbot</a>.</p> <p>The online demo was disabled (though the <a href="https://github.com/paperswithcode/galai">code for the model is still available</a> for anyone to use), and Meta’s outspoken chief AI scientist <a href="https://twitter.com/ylecun/status/1595353002222682112">complained</a> about the negative public response.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Galactica demo is off line for now.<br />It's no longer possible to have some fun by casually misusing it.<br />Happy? <a href="https://t.co/K56r2LpvFD">https://t.co/K56r2LpvFD</a></p> <p>— Yann LeCun (@ylecun) <a href="https://twitter.com/ylecun/status/1593293058174500865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p>So what was Galactica all about, and what went wrong?</p> <p><strong>What’s special about Galactica?</strong></p> <p>Galactica is a language model, a type of AI trained to respond to natural language by repeatedly playing a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/magazine/ai-language.html">fill-the-blank word-guessing game</a>.</p> <p>Most modern language models learn from text scraped from the internet. Galactica also used text from scientific papers uploaded to the (Meta-affiliated) website <a href="https://paperswithcode.com/">PapersWithCode</a>. The designers highlighted specialised scientific information like citations, maths, code, chemical structures, and the working-out steps for solving scientific problems.</p> <p>The <a href="https://galactica.org/static/paper.pdf">preprint paper</a> associated with the project (which is yet to undergo peer review) makes some impressive claims. Galactica apparently outperforms other models at problems like reciting famous equations (“<em>Q: What is Albert Einstein’s famous mass-energy equivalence formula? A: E=mc²</em>”), or predicting the products of chemical reactions (“<em>Q: When sulfuric acid reacts with sodium chloride, what does it produce? A: NaHSO₄ + HCl</em>”).</p> <p>However, once Galactica was opened up for public experimentation, a deluge of criticism followed. Not only did Galactica reproduce many of the problems of bias and toxicity we have seen in other language models, it also specialised in producing authoritative-sounding scientific nonsense.</p> <p><strong>Authoritative, but subtly wrong bullshit generator</strong></p> <p>Galactica’s press release promoted its ability to explain technical scientific papers using general language. However, users quickly noticed that, while the explanations it generates sound authoritative, they are often subtly incorrect, biased, or just plain wrong.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">I entered "Estimating realistic 3D human avatars in clothing from a single image or video". In this case, it made up a fictitious paper and associated GitHub repo. The author is a real person (<a href="https://twitter.com/AlbertPumarola?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlbertPumarola</a>) but the reference is bogus. (2/9) <a href="https://t.co/N4i0BX27Yf">pic.twitter.com/N4i0BX27Yf</a></p> <p>— Michael Black (@Michael_J_Black) <a href="https://twitter.com/Michael_J_Black/status/1593133727257092097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p>We also asked Galactica to explain technical concepts from our own fields of research. We found it would use all the right buzzwords, but get the actual details wrong – for example, mixing up the details of related but different algorithms.</p> <p>In practice, Galactica was enabling the generation of misinformation – and this is dangerous precisely because it deploys the tone and structure of authoritative scientific information. If a user already needs to be a subject matter expert in order to check the accuracy of Galactica’s “summaries”, then it has no use as an explanatory tool.</p> <p>At best, it could provide a fancy autocomplete for people who are already fully competent in the area they’re writing about. At worst, it risks further eroding public trust in scientific research.</p> <p><strong>A galaxy of deep (science) fakes</strong></p> <p>Galactica could make it easier for bad actors to mass-produce fake, fraudulent or plagiarised scientific papers. This is to say nothing of exacerbating <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/28/ai-students-essays-cheat-teachers-plagiarism-tech">existing concerns</a> about students using AI systems for plagiarism.</p> <p>Fake scientific papers are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00733-5">nothing new</a>. However, peer reviewers at academic journals and conferences are already time-poor, and this could make it harder than ever to weed out fake science.</p> <p><strong>Underlying bias and toxicity</strong></p> <p>Other critics reported that Galactica, like other language models trained on data from the internet, has a tendency to spit out <a href="https://twitter.com/mrgreene1977/status/1593649978789941249">toxic hate speech</a> while unreflectively censoring politically inflected queries. This reflects the biases lurking in the model’s training data, and Meta’s apparent failure to apply appropriate checks around the responsible AI research.</p> <p>The risks associated with large language models are well understood. Indeed, an <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922">influential paper</a> highlighting these risks prompted Google to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/google-timnit-gebru-ai-what-really-happened/">fire one of the paper’s authors</a> in 2020, and eventually disband its AI ethics team altogether.</p> <p>Machine-learning systems infamously exacerbate existing societal biases, and Galactica is no exception. For instance, Galactica can recommend possible citations for scientific concepts by mimicking existing citation patterns (“<em>Q: Is there any research on the effect of climate change on the great barrier reef? A: Try the paper ‘<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0041-2">Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages</a>’ by Hughes, et al. in Nature 556 (2018)</em>”).</p> <p>For better or worse, citations are the currency of science – and by reproducing existing citation trends in its recommendations, Galactica risks reinforcing existing patterns of inequality and disadvantage. (Galactica’s developers acknowledge this risk in their paper.)</p> <p>Citation bias is already a well-known issue in academic fields ranging from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1447395">feminist</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqy003">scholarship</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01770-1">physics</a>. However, tools like Galactica could make the problem worse unless they are used with careful guardrails in place.</p> <p>A more subtle problem is that the scientific articles on which Galactica is trained are already biased towards certainty and positive results. (This leads to the so-called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-is-in-a-reproducibility-crisis-how-do-we-resolve-it-16998">replication crisis</a>” and “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-edit-science-part-2-significance-testing-p-hacking-and-peer-review-74547">p-hacking</a>”, where scientists cherry-pick data and analysis techniques to make results appear significant.)</p> <p>Galactica takes this bias towards certainty, combines it with wrong answers and delivers responses with supreme overconfidence: hardly a recipe for trustworthiness in a scientific information service.</p> <p>These problems are dramatically heightened when Galactica tries to deal with contentious or harmful social issues, as the screenshot below shows.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=347&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=347&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=347&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=436&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=436&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=436&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="Screenshots of papers generated by Galactica on 'The benefits of antisemitism' and 'The benefits of eating crushed glass'." /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">Galactica readily generates toxic and nonsensical content dressed up in the measured and authoritative language of science.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/mrgreene1977/status/1593687024963182592/photo/1">Tristan Greene / Galactica</a></span></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Here we go again</strong></p> <p>Calls for AI research organisations to take the ethical dimensions of their work more seriously are now coming from <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26507/fostering-responsible-computing-research-foundations-and-practices">key research bodies</a> such as the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Some AI research organisations, like OpenAI, are being <a href="https://github.com/openai/dalle-2-preview/blob/main/system-card.md">more conscientious</a> (though still imperfect).</p> <p>Meta <a href="https://www.engadget.com/meta-responsible-innovation-team-disbanded-194852979.html">dissolved its Responsible Innovation team</a> earlier this year. The team was tasked with addressing “potential harms to society” caused by the company’s products. They might have helped the company avoid this clumsy misstep.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195445/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em>Writen by Aaron J. Snoswell </em><em>and Jean Burgess</em><em>. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-galactica-ai-model-was-trained-on-scientific-knowledge-but-it-spat-out-alarmingly-plausible-nonsense-195445" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Technology

Placeholder Content Image

Shifting seasons: using Indigenous knowledge and western science to help address climate change impacts

<p>Traditional Owners in Australia are the creators of millennia worth of <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/native-knowledge-what-ecologists-are-learning-from-indigenous-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traditional ecological knowledge</a> – an understanding of how to live amid changing environmental conditions. Seasonal calendars are one of the forms of this knowledge best known by non-Indigenous Australians. But as the climate changes, these calendars are being disrupted.</p> <p>How? Take the example of wattle trees that flower at a specific time of year. That previously indicated the start of the fishing season for particular species. Climate change is causing these plants to flower later. In response, Traditional Owners on <a href="http://www.archerpoint.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yuku Baja Muliku</a> (YBM) Country near Cooktown are having to adapt their calendars and make new links.</p> <p>That’s not all. The seasonal timing of cultural burning practices is changing in some areas. Changes to rainfall and temperature alter when high intensity (hot) burns and low intensity (cool) burns are undertaken.</p> <p>Seasonal connections vital to Traditional Owners’ culture are decoupling.</p> <p>To systematically document changes, co-author Larissa Hale and her community worked with western scientists to pioneer a Traditional Owner-centred approach to climate impacts on cultural values. This process, <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kw7z2c9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published last week</a>, could also help Traditional Owners elsewhere to develop adaptive management for their Indigenous heritage.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><em><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="Wattle flower" /></a></em><figcaption><em><span class="caption">A YBM Traditional Owner showing the wattle flower which used to be an indicator species for good fishing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Climate change threatens First Nations - their perspectives must be heard</strong></p> <p>Australia’s First Nations people face many threats from climate change, ranging from impacts on food availability to health. For instance, rising seas are already <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/torres-strait-islanders-plead-for-climate-action-as-government-builds-seawall-20220401-p5aa13.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flooding islands</a> in the Torres Strait with devastating consequences.</p> <p>The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on impacts and adaption noted in the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_Chapter11.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australasia chapter</a> that climate-related impacts on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their country and cultures are “pervasive, complex and compounding.”</p> <p>While it is important these impacts are recorded, the dominant source of the data is academic literature based on western science. Impacts and pressures Traditional Owners are seeing and managing on their country must be assessed and managed from their unique perspective.</p> <p>Traditional Owners have survived and adapted to climatic shifts during their 60,000+ years in Australia. This includes sea-level rise that flooded the area that is now the Great Barrier Reef and extreme rainfall variability. As a result, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-knowledge-is-lost-when-a-species-disappears-its-time-to-let-indigenous-people-care-for-their-country-their-way-172760" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they have developed</a> a fine-tuned sense of nature’s variability over time.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><em><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="Drone shot of Annan river" /></a></em><figcaption><em><span class="caption">YBM Traditional Owners and scientists surveying freshwater mussel populations on Annan River near Cooktown.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>So what did we do?</strong></p> <p>Worried about the changes they were seeing on their Land and Sea Country around Archer Point in North Queensland, the YBM people worked with scientists from James Cook University to create a new way to assess impacts on cultural values.</p> <p>To do this, we drew on the values-based, science-driven, and community-focused approach of the <a href="https://cvi-heritage.org/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate vulnerability index</a>. It was the first time this index had been used to assess values of significance for Indigenous people.</p> <p>YBM people responded to key prompts to assess changes to their values, including:</p> <ul> <li>What did the value look like 100 years ago?</li> <li>What does it look like now?</li> <li>What do you expect it will look like in the climate future around 2050?</li> <li>What management practices relate to that value and will they change?</li> </ul> <p>We then discussed what issues have emerged from these climatic changes.</p> <p>Using this process, we were able to single out issues directly affecting how YBM people live. For instance, traditional food sources can be affected by climate change. In the past, freshwater mussels in the Annan River were easy to access and collect. Extreme temperature events in the last 10 years have contributed to mass die-offs. Now mussels are much smaller in size and tend to be far <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311066114_Freshwater_mussel_surveys_from_the_Annan_River_Yuku_Baja_Muliku_Country_-_project_findings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fewer in number</a>.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=420&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=420&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=420&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=528&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=528&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=528&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="Freshwater mussels Annan River" /></a><figcaption><em><span class="caption">Freshwater mussels used to be more common.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p>Through the process we also documented that changes to rainfall and temperature have altered the time when some plant foods appear. This is particularly true for plants that depend upon cultural burns to flower or put up shoots. This in turn has meant that the timing of collecting and harvesting has changed.</p> <figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="bushfoods found on YBM country" /></a><figcaption><em><span class="caption">The timing of when some bushfoods appear is changing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p>These climate-linked changes challenge existing bodies of traditional knowledge, altering connections between different species, ecosystems and weather patterns across Land and Sea Country.</p> <p>A key part of this process was developing a mutually beneficial partnership between traditional ecological knowledge holders and western scientists. It was critical to establish a relationship built on trust and respect.</p> <p>Walking the country first – seeing rivers, mangroves, beaches, headlands, bush, wetlands, and looking out at Sea Country – helped researchers understand the perspectives of Traditional Owners. Honouring experience and knowledge (especially that held by Elders and Indigenous rangers) was important. Indigenous cultural and intellectual property <a href="https://www.artslaw.com.au/information-sheet/indigenous-cultural-intellectual-property-icip-aitb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">protocols</a> were recognised and respected throughout the assessment.</p> <p><a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Respecting</a> and working collaboratively with Traditional Owners as expert scientists in their own knowledge system was critical for success. Any effort to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge in climate change assessments must protect sensitive traditional knowledge.</p> <p>As climate change will continue and accelerate, we must work together to minimise resulting impacts on the cultural heritage of First Nations peoples.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183229/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karin-gerhardt-1350288" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Karin Gerhardt</a>, PhD student, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jon-c-day-142416" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jon C. Day</a>, PSM, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/larissa-hale-1346434" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Larissa Hale</a>, Yuku Baja Muliku Traditional Owner, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/indigenous-knowledge-4846" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indigenous Knowledge</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-f-heron-256521" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scott F. Heron</a>, Associate Professor in Physics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/shifting-seasons-using-indigenous-knowledge-and-western-science-to-help-address-climate-change-impacts-183229" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: </em><em>Yuku Baja Muliku Land and Sea Rangers (Facebook)</em></p>

Domestic Travel

Placeholder Content Image

Ancient knowledge is lost when a species disappears. It’s time to let Indigenous people care for their country, their way

<p>Indigenous people across Australia place tremendous cultural and customary value on many species and ecological communities. The very presence of a plant or animal species can trigger an Indigenous person to recall and share knowledge. This is crucial to maintaining culture and managing Country.</p> <p>But as species disappear, ancient knowledge built up over thousands of years also fades away – and fragments of our culture are lost forever.</p> <p>For years, Indigenous groups have pushed for the right to partner with government authorities to “co-manage” culturally significant species and communities. Such recognition of Indigenous rights would require amendments to environment and land management laws.</p> <p>Unfortunately, changes to Australia’s federal environment laws currently underway fall short of what’s needed. To protect Australia’s imperilled species, the law must chart a new course that allows Indigenous groups to manage their Country, their way.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434938/original/file-20211201-25-189bdrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434938/original/file-20211201-25-189bdrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="A woman welcomed to Country" /></a> <span class="caption">Ngurrara Ranger Mary is welcomed to Paruku Country in the Great Sandy Desert. A meeting between many groups discussed threatened and culturally significant species.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicolas Rakotopare/Yanunijarra Aboriginal Corporation</span></span></p> <h2>Managing the Indigenous estate</h2> <p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/68385-indigenous-estate-ilc-chairperson-eddie-fry-garma/">Indigenous estate</a> takes in about <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173876">51% of the range</a> of the nation’s threatened vertebrate species.</p> <p>The Indigenous estate refers to the assets held, or reasonably likely to be held, by or for the benefit of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. It includes land and sea held through such means as traditional ownership, native title and land rights organisations. It also includes intangible values such as cultural rights, practice and expression, as well as Indigenous knowledge and traditional management.</p> <p>A range of state and federal programs involve Indigenous participation in land and sea management, offering invaluable protection to the Indigenous estate. These include Indigenous Protected Areas and the successful <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/environment/indigenous-ranger-programs">Indigenous Ranger program</a>.</p> <p>And many governments and other groups recognise that species and ecological communities can have significant cultural, spiritual and customary value to Indigenous Australians. But often, no legal mechanism exists to protect these entities.</p> <p>Some species and other entities of significance to Indigenous Australians are listed as threatened under Australia’s federal environment law, known as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. But authorities are not required to engage Indigenous Australians in the listing, management or recovery of these species.</p> <p>Indigenous Australians have successfully managed this continent’s landscapes and seascapes for tens of thousands of years. Their approach is holistic and integrated – considering the whole cultural landscape with a deep understanding of the interconnected relationships between species and Country.</p> <p>In contrast, management actions under federal environment law focus on the outcomes of the listed species instead of the overall health of Country.</p> <p>All this has left Indigenous groups underfunded and at the mercy of national-level management decisions, as opposed to place-based Indigenous-led action.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434940/original/file-20211201-25-b87h6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434940/original/file-20211201-25-b87h6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Men sitting around a map" /></a> <span class="caption">Ngurrara Rangers map potential night parrot habitat. The meeting was hosted by Paruku Rangers and Traditional Owners in the Great Sandy Desert.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicolas Rakotopare/Yanunijarra Aboriginal Corporation</span></span></p> <h2>‘Surprising and disappointing’</h2> <p>The EPBC Act was recently reviewed by Professor Graeme Samuel, who was commissioned by the federal government. His <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/resources/final-report">final report</a> in 2020 found the law was failing in many ways.</p> <p>Samuel recommended a suite of reforms. Among other goals, they aimed to “respect and harness the knowledge of Indigenous Australians”. One year on and <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7591429/a-year-on-from-a-landmark-report-nature-and-law-reform-is-floundering/">progress</a> on implementing the 38 recommendations is slow.</p> <p>Among the recommendations were that the EPBC Act adopt a set of legally enforceable “national environmental standards” – clear rules that protect the environment and enable sustainable development. The standards <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/28/australia-urged-to-overhaul-environment-laws-and-reverse-decline-of-our-iconic-places">would cover</a> matters such as threatened species, compliance, environmental data and <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/resources/final-report/appendix-b2-indigenous">Indigenous engagement</a> and participation in decision-making.</p> <p>It was both surprising and disappointing that Indigenous knowledge was not embedded across all proposed environmental standards. The omission means Indigenous perspectives will continue to be relegated to a stand-alone standard of “participation”.</p> <p>In particular, the national standard pertaining to threatened species made no reference to Indigenous knowledge or the Indigenous estate. And proposed <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/44b768d8-75ad-417d-84cc-dfb0e069e97e/files/national-environmental-standard-mnes-2021-draft.pdf">interim standards</a> completely omit Indigenous engagement, participation and values.</p> <p>Without a mandate to include Indigenous people in threatened species planning and recovery, biodiversity will remain at risk. What’s more, significant gaps in the application of Indigenous Knowledge and protection of the Indigenous estate will continue.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434973/original/file-20211201-27-tg1guw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434973/original/file-20211201-27-tg1guw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="hands with green turtle eggs" /></a> <span class="caption">Rangers collecting green turtle eggs on Yanyuwa Country in the Gulf of Carpentaria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicolas Rakotopare</span></span></p> <h2>A new kind of recognition</h2> <p>During the submission process of the review, <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-06/ANON-QJCP-UGT1-F%20-%20Indigenous%20Working%20Group%20-%20Threatened%20Species%20Recovery%20Hub.pdf">many</a> Indigenous and <a href="https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/news/esa-response-to-epbc-interim-report/">non-Indigenous</a> organisations <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/submissions/anon-qjcp-ugt1-f">lobbied</a> for the recognition of “culturally significant entities”. These groups include the government’s own <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/submissions/bhlf-qjcp-ug3c-z">Indigenous Advisory Committee</a> and <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/submissions/anon-k57v-xf2u-j">Threatened Species Scientific Committee</a>.</p> <p>“Culturally significant entities” are species and sites of great or exceptional cultural importance to Indigenous Australians. They might be a source of identity, a medicine, lore, an important traditional food or required for cultural practices. They usually feature prominently in Indigenous knowledge, language and ceremonies.</p> <p>Submissions to the review called for these entities to be formally recognised under the EPBC Act and afforded a far higher level of protection. They also called for the mandatory participation of Indigenous Australians in threatened species nominations, listings, policy and management.</p> <p>Many Indigenous Australians were disappointed this measure was not mentioned in Samuel’s final report. Without proper legal protection, culturally significant entities will not be assessed and can be damaged by threats such as climate change, inappropriate land management and poorly conceived development proposals.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434970/original/file-20211201-13-1b11i3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Man holds lizard" /> <span class="caption">A yellow-spotted monitor – a culturally significant bush tucker species – on Karajarri Country.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah Legge</span></span></p> <h2>From engagement to empowerment</h2> <p>It’s time for governments and conservation groups to recognise the enduring value of the Indigenous estate and knowledge in curbing Australia’s parlous record of biodiversity loss.</p> <p>While many of Samuel’s recommendations attempted to address issues raised by Indigenous Australians, they fall short of true empowerment and global best practice.</p> <p>As the size and scale of the Indigenous estate continues to <a href="https://minister.awe.gov.au/ley/media-releases/australia-signs-international-biodiversity-declaration">grow</a>, so to does the opportunity to arrest biodiversity decline. Rather than sitting in the back seat, Indigenous Australians must be up front in managing the recovery of Australia’s unique and precious environment.</p> <p><em>The authors acknowledge and thank the following people for their contributions to this work and article: Oliver Costello, a Bundjalung man; and Cissy Gore-Birch, a Jaru, Nyikina and Balanggarra woman, and Executive Manager Aboriginal Engagement at Bush Heritage Australia.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172760/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/teagan-goolmeer-1288819">Teagan Goolmeer</a>, PhD Candidate, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/assoc-prof-bradley-j-moggridge-400729">Assoc Prof Bradley J. Moggridge</a>, Associate Professor in Indigenous Water Science, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a></em>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/professor-stephen-van-leeuwen-1289086">Professor Stephen van Leeuwen</a>, BHP / Curtin Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity &amp; Environmental Science, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/curtin-university-873">Curtin University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-knowledge-is-lost-when-a-species-disappears-its-time-to-let-indigenous-people-care-for-their-country-their-way-172760">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicolas Rakotopare/Karajarri Traditional Lands Association</span></span></em></p>

Domestic Travel

Placeholder Content Image

A new artistic call for us to recognise the connections of Country is a testament to the power of Aboriginal knowledge

<p>Wilam Biik (Home Country) is a multi-layered conversation between Country, people and ancestors that surges with the power of Aboriginal connectivity.</p> <p>The first major exhibition curated by Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung woman Stacie Piper in her role as Tarawarra’s <a href="https://artguide.com.au/stacie-piper-appointed-as-yalingwa-first-peoples-curator-at-tarrawarra-museum-of-art/">2019 Yalingwa Curator</a>, it is a generous offer to see Wurundjeri biik (Country) the way Wurundjeri see it — not as a “natural resource” to be exploited, but a life-sustaining force interconnected with all things.</p> <p>It is an important call to those who live on Wurundjeri biik to uphold Wurundjeri people’s principles of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy3020023">relationality</a>: to live in reciprocity with all life, including land, animals, water, sky and people.</p> <p>The exhibition embodies the Wurundjeri concept of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/awaye/features/word-up/mandy-nicholson/12116926">layers of biik</a>: country extends from below the ground to above in the sky, all interconnected through water country.</p> <p>Piper gathered artists by following the “waterlines” and “bushlines” which connect Wurundjeri to the 38 Aboriginal groups throughout south east Australia.</p> <p>These artists offer a different way to look at Country. Not by the roads we travel, but by the relationships embedded in it.</p> <h2>Care for Country</h2> <p>Piper developed her curatorial practice at <a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka/">Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre</a>after working for many years with her Elders at Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation.</p> <p>The vision for Wilam Biik came from Piper’s sovereign responsibility to care for Country, and her despair at the unsustainable logging of old growth forest in the <a href="https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/logging-breaches-catalyst-new-indigenous-led-alliances">Warburton ranges</a> not far from Tarrawarra on Wurundjeri biik.</p> <p>Climate trauma and relationship to country was the starting point for Stacie’s curatorial vision. Wilam biik embodies the rich knowledge of Country that holds the answers to recovering from this trauma.</p> <p>The exhibition is grounded in land and ancestors. Audiences are welcomed by a wall-sized historical photograph of Wurundjeri biik and baluk (people) at Corranderrk.</p> <p>“Ancestor tools”, such as Barak’s carved parrying shield, a boomerang and basket – on loan from Melbourne Museum – are displayed in the way they would be held: close to the people.</p> <p><em>Eel trap</em> by Wurundjeri Elder Kim Wandin underlines the continuing connection between generations.</p> <p>In conversation with the sepia image of their ancestors, their living descendants — the Djirri Djirri dancers — are projected dancing on Wurundjeri country in the upper reaches of the Birrarung.</p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-importance-of-william-baraks-ceremony-60846">Ceremony</a> (c1895) by Wurundjeri painter <a href="https://www.wurundjeri.com.au/our-story/ancestors-past/">Ngurungaeta Wiliam Barak</a> has been brought to wilam biik by Wurundjeri people for the first time since they were made. The painting details ceremonial adornment, as referenced by the Djirri Djirris today.</p> <h2>Water, land, sky</h2> <p>Following the water sources that start in Country shared with Gunnai and Taungurung Peoples, Gunnai and Gunditjmara artist Arika Waulu’s matriarchal <em>Digging Sticks</em> are carved wood adorned in gold, set against a wallpaper showing layers of country and the cycle of plant life. In this, Waulu speaks of women’s interconnectivity with Country.</p> <p>Of the Earth, an installation by Taungurung artist Steven Rhall, places a photograph of a boulder on a sound platform, animating the image in a contemplation of the deep time written into Taungurung Country, or in what Alexis Wright has called <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essay/the-ancient-library-and-a-self-governing-literature">the ancient library</a>.</p> <p>The water connection flows through Dhunghula (Murray River) to Yorta Yorta, Waddi Waddi, Wemba Wemba, and all the way to Ngarrindjeri Country as well as into Kolety (Edwards River) and the Baaka (Darling River).</p> <p>In Drag Net, a woven net incorporating river mussel shell, Waddi Waddi, Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindjeri artist Glenda Nicholls evokes this connection to the river and “water country”.</p> <p><span>In Wemba Wemba and Gunditjmara artist Paola Balla’s intergenerational work, Murrup Weaving in Rosie Kuka Lar with Rosie Tang, Balla builds a camp house made from cloth imbued with bush dyes in the landscape of her grandmother’s painting of country. Through these bush dyes, Balla brings the smell of “on ground country” directly into the gallery.</span></p> <p>Barkindji artist Kent Morris’ Barkindji Blue Sky – Ancestral Connections is a stunning photographic series, embodying water connections to the Baaka as well as “sky country”.</p> <h2>Many varied relationships</h2> <p>Waterlines like the Birrarung and the Werribee River, marking connections and boundaries with the Boonwurrrung, Wathaurong and Tyereelore, are mapped with kelp baskets by Nannette Shaw and paintings by Deanne Gilson.</p> <p>These artists reference the transition from freshwater to saltwater and the relationships that exist amongst the Kulin, across to Tasmania and all life forms within Country.</p> <p>Wilam Biik speaks of the powerful connections between artists, Peoples and Country. It is also a testament to the power of Aboriginal knowledge in Aboriginal hands, and the centring of south east artists and curators as the experts of their knowledges, practices and Country.</p> <p>Importantly, it is also a call to learn how to live in good relationship with Wurundjeri biik and baluk.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-artistic-call-for-us-to-recognise-the-connections-of-country-is-a-testament-to-the-power-of-aboriginal-knowledge-169102" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

How Māori knowledge could help New Zealanders turn their concern for the environment into action

<p>As world leaders continue negotiations at the <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">COP26 climate summit</a> in Glasgow, several <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/07/so-what-has-cop26-achieved-so-far">agreements</a> reached so far have acknowledged the connection between climate change and the global loss of biodiversity.</p> <p>Half a world away, we might feel somewhat smug. Almost a third of Aotearoa New Zealand is protected as conservation land, but we nevertheless have the highest number of threatened species worldwide, with 79% of birds, bats, reptiles and frogs at <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/conservation-status-of-indigenous-land-species">risk of or threatened with extinction</a>.</p> <p>The threat to wildlife is entirely due to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/PC130256">human impacts</a>, including the introduction of mammal predators and land-use practices that threaten Indigenous biodiversity.</p> <p>Despite more than 40,000 people in 600 community <a href="https://www.newzealandecology.org/nzje/3234">conservation groups</a> working throughout the country, these efforts and gains are tenuous, not yet arresting the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03036758.2019.1599967?journalCode=tnzr20">decline in biodiversity</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10182/14097/Perceptions2019_Final_LowRes_jan2020.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">Surveys</a> show New Zealanders are increasingly aware of the state of our environment, but knowledge on its own does not spur action.</p> <p>We suggest <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310472991_Matauranga_Maori-the_ukaipo_of_knowledge_in_New_Zealand">mātauranga Māori</a>, a traditional system of understanding the natural world, could help take people from awareness to action.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430665/original/file-20211107-10121-4tn6ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption">Conservation status of native species in New Zealand.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://statisticsnz.shinyapps.io/conservation_status_land/" class="source">Stats NZ</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" class="license">CC BY-ND</a></span></p> <p>Te Mana o te Taiao is New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/biodiversity/aotearoa-new-zealand-biodiversity-strategy/te-mana-o-te-taiao-summary/">national biodiversity strategy</a> and lays out conservation priorities for the next three decades. It promotes the braiding of Western science and mātauranga Māori and emphasises a focus on people as much as the environment.</p> <p>Regular <a href="https://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10182/14097/Perceptions2019_Final_LowRes_jan2020.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">surveys</a> show a marked shift in public perception of the state of New Zealand’s environment. Twenty years ago, a majority believed the environment was in good health, but today, most people believe it is in poor health.</p> <p>The survey also asks if respondents had participated in environmental advocacy or volunteer work, but the percentage of people who have has remained steady over two decades.</p> <h2>From awareness to action</h2> <p>People feel increasingly <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.1225">disconnected from the natural world</a> for a few key reasons, including:</p> <ul> <li> <p>a rise of individualism and the erosion of community</p> </li> <li> <p>distraction by technology and entertainment</p> </li> <li> <p>increasing urbanisation and inequality leading to an “extinction of experience”</p> </li> <li> <p>poorer urban populations with fewer opportunities to connect with nature.</p> </li> </ul> <p>Awareness alone does not spur action, but research shows people who feel more <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40362-014-0021-3">connected with nature</a> have a stronger sense of environmental responsibility.</p> <p>If we wish to ensure the survival of our Indigenous biodiversity, we need to ask how we get from awareness to action. Indigenous peoples have played a strong role in conserving biodiversity over many centuries, and mātauranga Māori could hold some answers.</p> <p>There are three main strands to how mātauranga Māori can turn knowledge into action.</p> <ol> <li> <p>Ecological science has increased our understanding of the inter-connectedness of ecosystems and has brought us closer to a mātauranga Māori concept of human relationships with the natural world. Within this concept, if the environment is not in good health, people can’t be in good health either. Seeing ourselves as inter-connected and inter-dependent with the natural world <a href="https://www.pnzmemberhub.org.nz/single-post/2013/01/01/indigenous-m%C4%81ori-knowledge-and-perspectives-of-ecosystems">engenders reciprocity and care</a> for the natural world.</p> </li> <li> <p>By embedding values and beliefs into facts, knowledge becomes more memorable, meaningful and relatable. This helps people to form an identity of belonging within the natural world and a connection to place. We are far more likely to care for a place if we feel a <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12398">connection</a> to it.</p> </li> <li> <p>Awareness of our inter-connections and dependence on the natural world helps us see the dissonance between stewardship and practices that threaten other species.</p> </li> </ol> <h2>Community conservation as the answer</h2> <p>Community conservation groups could play a central role in achieving New Zealand’s national biodiversity strategy through use of mātauranga Māori concepts.</p> <p>Ecosanctuaries like <a href="https://www.visitzealandia.com/">Zealandia</a> already provide opportunities to connect with the natural world, through education and <a href="https://www.visitzealandia.com/Volunteer">volunteering</a>. There are more than 80 <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03036758.2019.1620297">sanctuaries</a> throughout the country, providing opportunities for people to acquaint themselves with the natural world and become involved in conservation activities.</p> <p>Ecosanctuaries demonstrate environmental restoration is possible and conservation is everyone’s responsibility, not just the role of the state. They effectively build a constituency for conservation within the community.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430957/original/file-20211109-23-1y907yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="A conservation volunteer releases South Island saddlebacks, or tīeke in an ecosanctuary." /> <span class="caption">A conservation volunteer releases South Island saddlebacks, or tīeke – one of New Zealand’s endangered native birds – in an ecosanctuary.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew MacDonald/Getty Images</span>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" class="license">CC BY-ND</a></span></p> <p>Zealandia identifies its role as an enabler of transformation in the way people engage with the natural world. Their <a href="http://www.visitzealandia.com/livingwithnature">20-year strategy</a> emphasises mātauranga Māori and inspiring change through shared passion.</p> <blockquote> <p>The biodiversity strategy is fundamentally about people […] the task that we have in front of us is fundamentally about changing the way people value the natural world.</p> </blockquote> <p>Māori continually straddle two worlds, navigating the Māori world view and the Tauiwi (Western) world. Non-Māori rarely step into the Māori world, and its unfamiliarity can cause discomfort.</p> <p>Incorporating mātauranga Māori should not mean appropriating knowledge from Māori or glossing over legitimate Māori grievances. Instead, being able to hold <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13412-012-0086-8">two world views</a> can be likened to gaining binocular vision – people discern more depth and detail than by seeing the world through a single lens.</p> <p>To maintain and improve our biodiversity, we need to practise conservation everywhere rather than only in conservation spaces. Embracing mātauranga Māori concepts could help New Zealanders to develop an identity of ecological belonging to become better kaitiaki (guardians) of our biodiversity.</p> <p><em>This article is based on a presentation given at a <a href="https://www.sanctuariesnz.org/projects.asp">Sanctuaries of New Zealand</a> workshop earlier this year on the theme of iwi and conservation.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168831/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-burnett-1280153">Scott Burnett</a>, Research assistant, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/massey-university-806">Massey University</a></em>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/apisalome-movono-1108178">Apisalome Movono</a>, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/massey-university-806">Massey University</a></em>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/regina-scheyvens-650907">Regina Scheyvens</a>, Professor of Development Studies, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/massey-university-806">Massey University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-maori-knowledge-could-help-new-zealanders-turn-their-concern-for-the-environment-into-action-168831">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Guo Lei/Xinhua via Getty Images</span></span></em></p>

Domestic Travel

Placeholder Content Image

Indigenous knowledge and the persistence of the ‘wilderness’ myth

<div class="copy"> <p>According to the Oxford English dictionary, wilderness is defined as:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large"> <p>A wild or uncultivated region or tract of land, uninhabited, or inhabited only by wild animals; “a tract of solitude and savageness”.</p> </blockquote> <p>Aboriginal people in Australia view wilderness, or what is called “wild country”, as sick land that’s been neglected and not cared for. This is the opposite of the romantic understanding of wilderness as pristine and healthy – a view which underpins much non-Indigenous conservation effort.</p> <p>In a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/40/e2022218118" target="_blank">recent paper</a> for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, we demonstrate how many iconic “wilderness” landscapes – such as the Amazon, forests of Southeast Asia and the western deserts of Australia, are actually the product of long-term management and maintenance by Indigenous and local peoples.</p> <p>But this fact is often overlooked – a problem which lies at the heart of many of the world’s pressing environmental problems. Indigenous and local people are now excluded from many areas deemed “wilderness”, leading to the neglect or erasure of these lands.</p> <h2>The Anthropocene and Indigenous people</h2> <p>“Anthropocene” is the term scientists use to refer to the time period we live in today, marked by the significant and widespread impact of people on Earth’s systems. Recognition of this impact has sparked efforts to preserve and conserve what are believed to be “intact” and “natural” ecosystems.</p> <p>Yet, the Anthropocene concept has a problem: it is based on a European way of viewing the world. This worldview is blind to the ways Indigenous and local peoples modify and manage landscapes. It is based on the idea that all human activity in these conservation landscapes is negative.</p> <p>The truth is, most of Earth’s ecosystems have been influenced and shaped by Indigenous peoples <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/17/e2023483118" target="_blank">for many thousands of years</a>.</p> <p>The failure of European-based “western” land management and conservation efforts to acknowledge the role of Indigenous and local peoples is reflected in recent scientific attempts to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07183-6" target="_blank">define “wilderness”</a>. These attempts lay out a strict and narrow set of rules around what “human impact” is, and in so doing, act as gatekeepers for what it is to be human.</p> <p>The result is a scientific justification for conservation approaches that exclude all human involvement under the pretence of “wilderness protection”. The disregard for the deep human legacy in landscape preservation results in inappropriate management approaches.</p> <p>For example, fire suppression in landscapes that require burning can have catastrophic impacts, such as <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/112/15/4531" target="_blank">biodiversity loss</a> and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/4/3/61" target="_blank">catastrophic bushfires</a>.</p> <h2>Our case studies</h2> <p>In the Amazon, forest management by Indigenous and local peoples has promoted biodiversity and maintained forest structure for thousands of years. Areas of the Amazon considered “wilderness” contain domestic plant species, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta" target="_blank">anthropogenic soils</a> and significant earthworks (such as terraces and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/8/1868" target="_blank">geoglyphs</a>), revealing a deep human legacy in the Amazon landscape.</p> <p>Despite playing a key role in maintaining a healthy and diverse Amazon forest system, Indigenous and local peoples struggle constantly against wilderness-inspired conservation agendas that seek to deny them access to their homelands and livelihoods in the forest.</p> <p>Similarly, the forests of Southeast Asia and the Pacific are some of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. These forests have been managed for thousands of years using rotational agriculture based on small-scale forest clearing, burning and fallowing. Scientific attempts to define the last remaining “wild places” falsely map these areas as wilderness.</p> <p>Rather than being wild places, agriculture has actively promoted landscape biodiversity across the region, while supporting the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of Indigenous and local peoples.</p> <p>In the central deserts of Australia, areas mapped today as “wilderness” are the ancestral homes of many Aboriginal peoples who have actively managed the land for tens of thousands of years.</p> <p>Removal of Traditional Owners in the 1960s had catastrophic effects on both the people and the land, such as uncontrolled wildfires and biodiversity loss. Unsurprisingly, a return of Aboriginal management to this region has seen a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/april/martu-burning-australia-042910.html" target="_blank">reduction in wildfires, a significant increase in biodiversity and healthier people</a>.</p> <p><em><strong>Read more: <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/sustainability/although-we-didnt-produce-these-problems-we-suffer-them/" target="_blank">‘Although we didn’t produce these problems, we suffer them’</a></strong></em></p> <h2>A way forward</h2> <p>By framing landscapes created and managed by Indigenous and local peoples as wilderness, we are denying the land the care it requires. The effects of this neglect are evident in the catastrophic wildfires and environmental degradation occurring in Australia, northwest America and the Amazon – all lands invaded and colonised by Europeans.</p> <p>Climate change is now making these problems worse.</p> <p>Science alone has failed to solve these problems. Imposing land management approaches developed in Europe have failed. The idea of wilderness is destructive, and must be abandoned. We need new ways of engaging with the world around us if we’re to live sustainably on this planet.</p> <p>Indigenous and local peoples must be engaged in the full range of efforts that affect their lands. This includes developing and implementing environmental initiatives and policymaking, the production and execution of research, and environmental management.</p> <p>There are models that can be followed, such as developing Indigenous and community-conserved areas, Indigenous-protected and -conserved areas, or similar rights-based initiatives that merge the science and technology with the power of Indigenous and local knowledge.</p> <p>This is one way forward in effectively decolonising conservation and making the Earth healthy again.</p> <p><em><strong>Read more: <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/sustainability/indigenous-stewardship-linked-to-biodiversity/" target="_blank">Indigenous stewardship linked to biodiversity</a></strong></em></p> <p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-shawn-fletcher-99786" target="_blank">Michael-Shawn Fletcher</a>, Associate Professor in Biogeography, <em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722" target="_blank">The University of Melbourne</a></em>; <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lisa-palmer-1166017" target="_blank">Lisa Palmer</a>, Associate Professor, School of Geography, <em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722" target="_blank">The University of Melbourne</a></em>; <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rebecca-hamilton-1006537" target="_blank">Rebecca Hamilton</a>, Postdoctoral Fellow, <em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/max-planck-institute-for-the-science-of-human-history-3416" target="_blank">Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History</a></em>, and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wolfram-dressler-162824" target="_blank">Wolfram Dressler</a>, Senior Fellow, Development Geography, <em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722" target="_blank">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p>This article is republished from <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-knowledge-and-the-persistence-of-the-wilderness-myth-165164" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p> <!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --> <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=167769&amp;title=Indigenous+knowledge+and+the+persistence+of+the+%E2%80%98wilderness%E2%80%99+myth" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></div>

Domestic Travel

Placeholder Content Image

Helen Mirren set to test your Harry Potter knowledge

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the first event of its kind, Dame Helen Mirren will be hosting a four-part television quiz event called </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">later this year, to celebrate the 20th anniversary since the release of the first film in the franchise, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The four-part quiz, which will air later this year, will see fans of the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Harry Potter </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">franchise put their knowledge to the test and compete for the title of House Cup champion, much like the students at Hogwarts do each year. The quiz will feature hundreds of trivia questions, as well as special guest surprises and a play-along component for those watching at home.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Award-winning actor Dame Helen Mirren is joining the Wizarding World family to host an exciting four-part quiz competition, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses. Discover more: <a href="https://t.co/uemnzU9zoT">https://t.co/uemnzU9zoT</a> <a href="https://t.co/WW8ozPzU6y">pic.twitter.com/WW8ozPzU6y</a></p> — Wizarding World (@wizardingworld) <a href="https://twitter.com/wizardingworld/status/1438173666949443585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While Mirren never starred in any of the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Potter</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> films, she will “add some British grandeur” to the proceedings, according to Tom Ascheim, Warner Bros. president of global kids, young adults, and classics. Mirren herself said, “I knew someday I’d get a Harry Potter role, and I’m so pleased to take part in the 20-year film celebration. The films inspired such enchantment and wonder for so many of us, and it will be such a treat to reignite that magic for the countless fans who continue to revel in this spellbinding world.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mirren, an Academy Award winner for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in 2013’s </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Queen, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">was appointed a Dame for services to drama as part of the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours. She also played the Queen in the 2013 play </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Audience, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">a role for which she won both a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The event will tape later this month and be broadcast later this year. Better start studying now if you want to try and beat Ravenclaw!</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CTMvaG-KvPr/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CTMvaG-KvPr/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Helen Mirren (@helenmirren)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images</span></em></p>

TV

Placeholder Content Image

Can you pass this quiz of 4th grade spelling words?

<p><span>Spelling can be tricky, even more so when you've realised it's been years since you've been tested on your ability to spell.</span></p> <p><span>No peeking at a dictionary or Google for this quiz of primary school level, but surprisingly tricky, words.</span></p> <p><span>Some of them are harder than you think, with some words sounding like others or spelt similarly.</span></p> <p><span>Scroll through the gallery for the questions and answers. Good luck!</span></p> <div id="page29" class="slide-show"> <div id="test" class="slide"> <div class="slide-description"> <p class="p1"><em>Written by Meghan Jones. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/thought-provoking/can-you-pass-quiz-4th-grade-spelling-words">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.co.nz/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRN93V">here’s our best subscription offer</a>.</em></p> </div> </div> </div>

Mind

Placeholder Content Image

Are YOU smarter than average? Take this general knowledge quiz

<p>Do you have a good grasp of general knowledge? A new <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.playbuzz.com/terrystein10/score-14-15-and-your-intellect-is-in-the-99th-percentile#eightieth" target="_blank">Playbuzz</a></strong></span> quiz puts your intellect to the test with questions from nature, music, mathematics, literature and astronomy.</p> <p>The quiz maker claims if you score 14 out of the 15 questions it puts your intellect in the 99th percentile – or at least places you above the average IQ.</p> <p>So, how many can you get right? Take the test below.</p> <div class="playbuzz" data-id="30fdb265-8be2-45d7-91fb-72c9e41d3039" data-show-info="false" data-comments="false" data-show-share="false"></div>

Mind

Over 60

© Copyright 2024 OverSixty.All Rights Reserved.