Chandra Clarke

Award-winning entrepreneur. Author. Professional Optimist.

  • Home
  • About
  • Books & Shorts
  • Press & Awards
  • Citizen Science
  • Contact Me

A Snowball’s Chance in… Oz?

November 22, 2016 By Chandra Clarke Leave a Comment

snowman-1449142_1280

Not content to come in fourth in the world medal count for the summer Olympics, Australians now want to make the podium more often in winter sports.

Yes, Australia, that dry, flat, and unspeakably hot country with roughly 20 million people and 98 million sheep.*

To that end, Aussies built a $45 million (US) winter training facility in Melbourne, where temperatures regularly exceed 30C. (For American readers who don’t understand metric units, that’s hotter than 10 football fields.) This madness is apparently inspired by the fact that Australia scored a gold in freestyle moguls and a bronze in aerial skiing during the last winter Olympics.

Now, I applaud competitive spirit, I really do. I also appreciate a desire to beat the odds, daring to dream and attempting the impossible. But this project raises many questions.

First there is the issue of how Australians plan to find enough snow to ski properly. I’m told by a reliable source that it does snow periodically in the Blue Mountains, but I have yet to see photographic evidence of same. I suspect what’s really happening is that the local icing sugar factory is having emissions problems.

Of course it is possible to manufacture snow — ski resorts do this all the time if there isn’t enough local precipitation. However, the technique requires the air temperature to be either just above freezing, or below freezing; otherwise all you get out of the machine is water. Indeed, Australians have been unknowingly buying used snow making equipment for years: business liquidators have been marketing them as lawn sprinklers.

Assuming you attempted to make snow only in the Australian “winter” and only at higher altitudes, there’s still the question of ground temperature. Snow might come out of the machine only to melt on contact; seeds that have been dormant for decades waiting for a drop of moisture would suddenly spring to life. Skiers would find themselves trying to slalom through mud and tropical rain forest. At this stage the kangaroos would call their mates over to point and laugh.

There’s also the issue of the Australian’s national dress. Winning at skiing, like most other Olympic sports, has come down to a matter of milliseconds. A loose t-shirt and shorts aren’t very aerodynamic. Neither is a surfboard strapped to the back.

Indoor training would be possible, but costly. To compete in figure skating, speed skating or hockey, you need … ice. To make a decent ice surface you need lots and lots of water, something that can be hard to come by in arid Australia most years. You also need something known as an ice resurfacer (also called a Zamboni), a device especially made for making ice smooth. If Australians think their airplane tickets are costly, wait until they see the shipping costs for one of these babies, which weighs in at 2900 kg (6400 lbs).

Apart from the technical aspects, there’s the problem of the athletes, coaches and spectators themselves. An ice rink is a climate-controlled building, and most Aussies have strange religious objections to either central air or central heat; they prefer to tough it out.

That said, Australians are well-known for suffering hypothermia if the temperature drops below 20C; they shake their fists at the sky if a single cloud dares to drift by. Thus, they will categorically *not* want to train or sit in an ice rink, which is about as toasty as their food freezer. Plus there’s the problem of all that beach sand they’ll track into the building, which will make the ice into mush. They’re going to have to import their athletes from Canada.

The real kicker however, will be at the Olympic podium. That’s because assuming they can overcome all these geographical and climatic obstacles and produce world class winter athletes, you just know the announcer is going to credit the medal win to…

…the Austrians.

* Give or take.

Photo Credit: Tylerindiana / Pixabay

 

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket

The Mysterious Rakali

December 3, 2014 By Chandra Clarke Leave a Comment

320px-Hydromys_chrysogaster_baby
A bitty rakali. (Photo credit JJ Harrison via Wikimedia Commons)

Here’s your excuse to go and visit Australia: The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) needs your help to learn more about a shy and little known water rat called the rakali.

The WWF and the Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife have launched a citizen science effort called “The Rakali Community” to collect more information about the rodent, in order to better understand where they live, and how populations might be faring.

“Rakali are mysterious, shy creatures, so it can be difficult to study them,” said WWF spokesperson Dr Sabrina Trocini, in a release on the WWF website.

Ralaki have webbed feet, broad noses, and dark fur on their backs. They have thick tails that are usually tipped with white fur, and lighter fur on their bellies.

Typically active around sunset, evidence for ralaki in the area can also be spotted by keeping a sharp eye out for footprints, tail trails, or the debris they leave behind after a feast of shellfish and aquatic insects. They live next to both fresh and salt bodies of water.

To help with this project, send your rakali sighting data via e-mail, including location details and/or photos to rakali@wwf.org.au or phone 08 6231 0223.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket

Join the World Oceans Day Event

June 2, 2014 By Chandra Clarke

Need an excuse to hit the beach? I’ve got you covered.

This Sunday, June 8, 2014, four ocean-related citizen science projects want you to explore the ocean by walking on the beach, going boating or fishing, by diving or stand-up-paddleboarding. Then you can report your observations.

The eBird program wants you to report on any and all birds you see on your trip, while eShark wants to know about your shark and ray sightings, as well as sawfish, turtles, jellyfish, seahorses, whales/dolphins, and seals, and anything unexpected.

Marine Debris Tracker, which I mentioned in this TEDx talk, would like to know if you see any trash or debris. Finally, for the Aussies, Redmap wants you to spot, log and map marine species that are uncommon in Australia.

These citizen science projects are open for observations all year round, but the World Oceans Day Event wants to raise awareness of both ocean conservation issues, and these citizen science projects.

Can’t make it to the beach this weekend? You can always support the initiative by buying a t-shirt.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket

The Poo Power! Global Challenge

November 25, 2013 By Chandra Clarke Leave a Comment

The following is a guest post by Mia Cobb.

Students and classes will be pitched against each other to see who can identify the most and largest dog waste ‘hotspots’ in their local neighbourhood in the “Poo Power! Global Challenge.” Participants use a GPS-enabled iPhone to download the free Poo Power! App from the App Store. Their task is to identify and map dog poo “hotspots” in dog parks and public spaces from their neighbourhood from Monday 25 November 2013.

This eyebrow-raising initiative is a collaboration between dog poo entrepreneur Duncan Chew from Poo Power! and Mia Cobb from the Anthrozoology Research Group, recent winner of I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! in Australia. The collected information will be uploaded onto the Global Poo Map and provides a platform for students to discuss the scientific, social and environmental issues of dog waste. The students are then encouraged to write a letter to their local Government representative of their findings and recommendations.

“From our research only 3% of Australians see uncollected dog waste as an environmental concern,” explains Duncan Chew. “When it rains, uncollected dog poo gets washed down drains, effecting water quality and habitat for native animals, as well as making rivers and creeks unpleasant for us to visit.”  Mia Cobb echoes her enthusiasm for the initiative: “This is a great way to utilise the prize money from winning the I’m A Scientist – Get Me Out of Here! competition; to raise awareness of new sustainable energy sources, environmental issues and responsible dog ownership, all while increasing student engagement in a unique citizen science activity.”

The collated information has the poo-tential to identify sites for biogas-powered lights for parks as proposed by the Melbourne-based project, Poo Power!, currently in development. The methane that is released from the dog waste as it breaks down inside a ‘biogas generator’ can be used as a viable renewable energy source.

Competition prizes and giveaways are up for grabs for the two students with the most photo submissions received between 25th November and 9th December 2013. After this initial competition period closes, the project will continue to run, collecting ongoing hotspot data worldwide.

Full instructions on how to participate via www.poopower.com.au, or available here.
To contextualise the material for classroom lessons, teachers can download the Poo Power! Study Guide.

About Mia

Mia Cobb is a zoologist and current PhD candidate at Monash University, researching working dog welfare. She has worked in animal shelter, stable and kennel facilities for 20 years. Mia thinks helping scientific research jump out of the academic journals and into the laps of everyone is fun and important. She blogs about canine science at Do You Believe in Dog? and co-hosts the Human Animal Science podcast. Mia is a founding Director of the Working Dog Alliance and recently won her zone in the national I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! competition in Australia – an American Idol-style competition for scientists, where students are the judges.

About Duncan and Poo Power!

Did you know that the 4.2 million dogs in Australia will generate 6.3 million tonnes of poo over their lifetimes? That’s a mountain’s worth that we dump in landfills or leave uncollected to pollute our rivers and beaches. Duncan Chew is the man behind Poo Power! – a Melbourne Water supported project that shines a light on this innovation. Through his website, iPhone app and other outreach activities Duncan shows Australians that we can keep our cities and waterways clean while producing renewable energy to light our dog parks. Duncan is the owner of two Boxers – Sally (14) and Diesel (7).

Competition details

Individual student prizes include 2 iPod Shuffles and 4 Doggie Doo games.
For each competing class, teachers will receive a copy of the ‘Dog Poo – The Truth At Last’ on DVD.

Photo by Riley Crawford on Unsplash

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket

Your Host:

On Sale Now:

Search

Recent Posts

  • 2020 Awards Eligibility Post
  • Dinosaurs: Birds of a Feather?
  • Wool Gathering in the Modern Era
  • Sailing the ocean brew…
  • If Chandra Clarke happens to be as nuts as the characters in her book…

Like My Work?

Want to put something in the tip jar?

Buy me a book! Bonus: You’ll be supporting another author when you do! Just click on the graphic below and make the purchase – it will send it to my (hidden) address or Kindle as a gift.

My Wish List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1WL17UVY8T3OQ?&sort=default

Tags

advertising Android Astronomy Australia babies Bee biology books California canada children Christmas Citizen Science citizen science games climate change computer-based crowdfunding distributed computing dogs do it anywhere England environment funding game Garden gardening History insects iPhone NASA Parenting Pets pollution science science communication space spring technology ted Television trees USA weather Wildlife Zooniverse

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

You might also like...

  • A Proofreading Course
  • An Editing Course
  • Citizen Science
  • Learn English Grammar
  • Online Writing Courses
  • Proofreading Service
  • Writing Advice

Site Sponsor

  • Privacy
  • Terms

Copyright © 2021 Chandra Clarke. All Rights Reserved.