Summer Series Event No.2 Recap
Spotlight Speaker - Tim Jarvis AM Friday 6 December
Environmental scientist and advocate Dr Tim Jarvis AM: first talk in the second event of the inaugural Summer Series of Science.
Major "Moogy" Sumner AM opened the evening with the Welcome to Country – a far more modest event than earlier that day when he performed at the Australia v India Test match to a seated audience of over 60,000 at the Adelaide Oval, and global television audience of hundreds of millions! Tim then spoke of his commitment to finding pragmatic solutions to major environmental issues related to climate change and biodiversity loss. Pragmatism is a key feature of his work on the Fleurieu Peninsula, with the South Australia Government on its new Biodiversity Act, what we can learn from the epic stories of survival from the great age of Antarctic exploration – and whether Antarctica can survive the growth in tourism it is attracting. As founder of The Fork Tree Project, a native revegetation project on the Fleurieu Peninsula, Tim describes the restoration of degraded farmland back to nature and growing rare native plants to safeguard them from extinction. Hundreds of volunteers have planted thousands of native trees, shrubs and grasses to encourage natural vegetation on the 133-acre site. Tim remarked, "From the air we breathe to the water we drink, we rely on the earth’s biodiversity."
Tim is currently working with the Department of the Environment and Water, developing new legislation to protect and conserve biodiversity. A new Biodiversity Act for South Australia will protect native plants, animals and ecosystems, with a dual focus on both preventing damage to the environment as well as restoring nature. The draft Bill is currently being prepared, informed by community feedback, with an upcoming public consultation likely to occur early in 2025.
As an adventurer, Tim’s gruelling re-enactments of the Antarctic explorations of Sir Douglas Mawson and Sir Ernest Shackleton have reintroduced their extraordinary achievements to contemporary audiences. This gives him an opportunity to advocate for the protection of Antarctica and sub-Antarctica, including securing 475,000 square kilometres of marine sanctuary off World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island.
Evidence of climate change can be seen all too readily in the pristine environment of Antarctica. And while the expansion of the cruise ship industry into the area is a concern, Tim believes it can also develop greater advocacy as visitors privileged to encounter such unique ecosystem understand their fragility.
Viewing himself as a 'pragmatic optimist' in relation to climate change, he believes Sir Ernest Shackleton could also be described as one!
Shackleton is revered for his leadership qualities in the face of enormous adversity, combining a positive attitude and a practical approach to finding solutions, which kept his party of 27 stranded expeditioners alive after the loss of their ship Endurance in 1915.
Tim has himself endured some of the most treacherous weather and seas in the Southern Ocean recreating Shackleton’s desperate journey to South Georgia. In traversing the island to get help at a whaling station, Shackleton had to cross three glaciers, while Tim and his party crossed two and one lake – evidence of the extent of climate change in just over a century.
Pragmatic optimist that he is, Tim exhibits and champions outcome focused goal setting, adaptability, resilience, and effective teamwork as the building blocks for success in addressing climate change, and biodiversity loss.
Tim’s takeaway message on climate change to us all, “Be the change”.