Academic literature on the topic 'Environmental ethics Victoria'

Drawing on the continuing work of the Nature in the Dark (NITD) project, an art collaboration and publicity campaign between the Centre for Creative Arts (La Trobe University) and the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA), this paper aims to explore some of the disciplinary crossovers between art, science and philosophy as encountered by this project and to think about their implications for an environmental ethics more generally. Showcasing animal life from Victoria, Australia, the NITD video series I and II invited international artists to create video works inspired by ecological habitat surveys from the Victorian National Parks land and water. Videos and photographs originally used to identify animals and population sizes are now creatively repurposed and presented to new audiences. NITD negotiate ‘the distribution of the sensible’ (Rancière), as they mark the domain of what is accessible to the public. This paper relates the discussion in the contemporary arts about the politics of aesthetics with the ethical conundrum of how we might care about something that is beyond our reach and we are not yet aware of, given our own perceptual blind spots. Drawing on a conversation between the philosopher Georgina Butterfield and myself as an artist and curator, this paper argues that we cannot justify setting arbitrary limits on our valuing, questioning or understanding of the non-human world, and as such it is a position both the philosopher and artist share. While it may be an ultimately unreachable goal, it is paradoxically an essential starting point for ecological ethics.

AbstractIntroduced into Lake Victoria in the 1950s, the Nile perch has gained fame for prompting rapid regional economic growth and for driving scores of endemic fish species into extinction. This study uses oral and archival data to trace the historical development of the Nile perch fishery on Lake Victoria. Particular emphasis is placed on local responses and adaptations to (1) the Nile perch itself; (2) the abrupt integration of the Lake Victoria fishery with the global economy; and (3) the ecological changes that the Nile perch has precipitated. I also attempt to situate Lake Victoria's history in the larger debate about environment and African livelihoods. Because so much of Lake Victoria's species diversity has been lost within one generation – biologist E. O. Wilson (1992) has called this process ‘the most catastrophic extinction episode of recent history’ – the lake is an ideal case study with which to examine ‘local’ perceptions of biodiversity. The data suggest that species diversity is important and highly resolved in the worldviews of Lake Victoria's fishermen; yet, although the will for conservation is present, poverty obstructs its realization. These findings are discussed in relation to other work on indigenous environmental knowledge and ecological ethics. I argue that ‘intrinsic’ valuation of species diversity and ecological processes may be more widespread in rural societies than has traditionally been assumed by natural and social scientists, and that the preponderance of social studies highlighting oppositions between Western science and ethno-science, and between conservation concerns and local livelihoods, may have blinded us to synergies between them. More effort is needed to understand fully the nuances in these complex local ecological worldviews, perhaps via ‘social histories of extinction’ that explore the local consequences of species loss.

Relational, multi-modal conversations between the authors’ experiences of a damaged environmental site occur through different knowledge systems including life sciences, art, agriculture and environmental science. The authors respond to the risks of the dramatic impact of the loss of water flow in the Barwon River, Victoria, Australia. This is a river that flows through the Indigenous lands of Wathaurong, Gulidjan, and Gadubanud country from the Otway Ranges and near to one of Deakin University’s campuses. Early in this century, groundwater extraction dried a swamp wetland, generating toxic levels of acid and heavy metals which generated a major fish kill in 2016. Loss of water led to the aquifer site at Yeodene Swamp revealing great depths of peat that, when burning, follows underground peat layers (an unknown river path) and emerges to ignite new above-ground fires. These issues and experience of dwelling in this part of Victoria inspire our embodied thinking, conversations, and art. They have prompted us to be ambitious in our actions—even provoking us to develop campaigns. Our value and respect for this place in the most holistic sense—geographic, experiential, spiritual, historical and biophilic—inspires us to come together to contextualise and apply responsibility, accountability, ethics, morality, justice and integrity. We respond to the question: What does embodiment of values look like in this context? Having brought this story into the 2019 Body of Knowledge Conference through walks and conversations by Gardiners Creek at Deakin University’s campus in Burwood, we have explored it further in this co-authored article.

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis is a major public health issue, with notifications of this sexually transmitted disease continuing to rise in Australia. Women attending colposcopy clinics are referred for treatment of cervical abnormalities often associated with human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. There is evidence that women who have acquired one sexually transmitted infection, such as HPV, are at higher risk of acquiring another. Women attending colposcopy clinics may therefore be at risk of undiagnosed infection with C. trachomatis. Aim: To determine the prevalence of C. trachomatis in women attending a public metropolitan colposcopy clinic in Victoria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed. Institutional ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Consecutive women attending the colposcopy clinic completed a questionnaire and had a swab collected from the endocervix for analysis by polymerase chain reaction for C. trachomatis. Positive screens were treated in accordance with best practice. Data were analysed with Minitab Version 2004 (Minitab Inc, State College, PA, USA). Results: Of 581 women approached to participate in the trial, consent was obtained from 568 women (98%) and final outcome data was available on 560 women (99%). The overall rate of chlamydial infection was 2.1% (95% CI 1.5–2.7%). However, in women aged 25 years or less the rate was 5.8% (95% CI 3.8–7.8%) and in women over 25 years it was only 0.9% (95% CI 0.4–1.4%). Apart from age, no other demographic factor was significantly associated with chlamydial infection. Conclusion: Although the prevalence of chlamydial infection in the colposcopy clinic population as a whole does not warrant a policy for routine screening, screening directed at women aged 25 years or less would gain the greatest yields in terms of cost efficacy. Such a policy should be implemented as standard practice.

IntroductionPerfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of compounds that have been used in hundreds of industrial applications and consumer products including aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) for many years. Multiple national and international health and environmental agencies have accepted that PFAS exposures are associated with numerous adverse health effects. Australian firefighters have been shown to have elevated levels of PFAS in their blood, specifically perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), due to the historical use of AFFF. While PFAS concentrations decline over time once the source of exposure has been removed, their potential adverse health effects are such that it would be prudent to develop an intervention to lower levels at a faster rate than occurs via natural elimination rates.Methods and analysisThis is a randomised controlled trial of current and former Australian firefighters in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade/Fire Rescue Victoria, and contractors, with previous occupational exposure to PFAS and baseline elevated PFOS levels. The study is investigating whether whole blood donation every 12 weeks or plasma donation every 6 weeks will significantly reduce PFAS levels, compared with a control group. We have used covariate-adaptive randomisation to balance participants’ sex and blood PFAS levels between the three groups and would consider a 25% reduction in serum PFOS and PFHxS levels to be potentially clinically significant after 12 months of whole blood or plasma donation. A secondary analysis of health biomarkers is being made of changes between screening and week 52 in all three groups.Ethics and disseminationThis trial has been approved by Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee (reference number: 3855), final protocol V.2 dated 12 June 2019. Study results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences.Trial registration numberAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12619000204145).

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic is creating immense psychosocial disturbance. While global, broad-based research is being conducted, little is known about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and well-being or how protective and resilience factors influence the human response in Australian rural and regional communities. Rural and regional communities often have less resources to deal with such public health emergencies and face additional environmental adversity. Healthcare workers, including those in rural and regional areas, have felt the immediate impacts of COVID-19 in a multitude of ways and these impacts will continue for years to come. Therefore, this study aims to describe and understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rural and regional healthcare workforce within the Loddon Mallee region, Victoria, Australia.Methods and analysisThis prospective cohort of rural and regional healthcare workers will be recruited and followed over 3 years to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their health and well-being. Self-administered online questionnaires will be administered every 6 months for a 36-month period. Multiple outcomes will be assessed; however, the primary outcomes are emotional health and well-being and psychological resilience. Emotional health and well-being will be measured using validated instruments that will assess multiple domains of the emotional health and well-being continuum.Linear and logistic regression and latent growth curve modelling will be used to examine the association between baseline and follow-up participant emotional health, well-being and resilience while adjusting for potentially time-varying confounding variables. Participant characteristics measured at baseline will also be tested for association with incident health, morbidity, mortality and health service utilisation outcomes at follow-up.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been obtained through the Bendigo Health Human Research Ethics Committee. The study findings will be disseminated through international conferences, international peer-reviewed journals and social media.Trial registration numberACTRN12620001269921.

This article analyzes moments of queer hospitality in two novels by Olive Schreiner to argue for new ways of understanding her complex views of race and gender. I focus on Otto Farber’s missionary ethics, in contrast to a competing model of imperialist domination, to show the beginnings of queer hospitality in African Farm. Otto’s disruptive Christian morality frames two of the few instances of African resistance in this early novel. While the unfinished later novel, From Man to Man, seems at first glance to embrace two classic Victorian domestic plots, those of marriage and of the fallen woman, I argue that Rebekah’s Cape Town home functions as a queer space that allows a radical rewriting of those plots. Her adopted mixed-race daughter, Sartje, and Bertie’s rebellious African maid, Griet, embody as-yet unfulfilled potential for women of colour in the novel. Rebekah’s redefinition of her own marriage and Bertie’s fall into prostitution create new spaces for women’s lives and allow us to imagine profoundly altered understandings of sympathy, maternity, and community. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s call for a new communicative ethics in our globalized moment, I highlight moments of resistance and possibility in both novels to demonstrate both the political limitations and ethical potential of Schreiner’s South African vision.

The process of researching ‘Children's conceptions of nature’ was spontaneous — a story in itself! Having taught in Victorian primary schools in the 1970s, after 15 years in teacher education in the university sector, I felt it was important to ‘return’ to the classroom — to walk the talk! Each Friday afternoon for an hour or so, I met with Year 6 children to ‘chat’. In the mid-1990s, ‘philosophy for children’ was emerging. My doctoral, completed in the early 1990s, focused on philosophies of education and environmental ethics. We chatted a lot in class — about anything. One puzzled kid asked, ‘Where does space start and finish?’ Another, ‘Are not running spikes a way to enhance sport performance?’

For almost 25 years generalist community nurses have provided professional services and developed many innovative programs in response to the needs of Victorian communities. They have established a Primary Health Care role in the co-ordination and management of preventative and therapeutic programs, as well as undertaking their more traditional duties of support and nursing care. At the present time there is unprecedented change occurring in both the structure and practice of community nursing, due, in large part, to measures aimed at achieving economic goals and reducing the high cost of illness care. These changes are creating ethical dilemmas for generalist community nurses who believe that the social costs of economic management might, in the long term, outweigh the gains. At a time of growing socio-dislocation when the community is exhibiting symptoms of alienation, experienced generalist community nurses are needed more than ever to provide a voice for those whose needs are not being met. The dilemma for nurses is how to provide the services that the community needs, cope with increasing and more complex caseloads, meet the demands of the bureaucracy, and become involved in the politics of decision making to influence health policy. The ethical stance of generalist community nurses and the rational stance of politico-economic decision makers are explored, and it is suggested that it is vital for nurses to value their professional ethics and to reaffirm their role if they are to survive the next 25 years.

Because water is basic to life, an ethical dimension persists in every decision related to water. By explicitly revealing the ethical ideas underlying water-related decisions, human society's relationship with water, and with natural systems of which water is part, can be contested and shifted or be accepted with conscious intention. Water management over the last century has privileged immediate human needs over those of future generations, other living beings, and ecosystems. In recent decades, improved understanding of water's importance for ecosystem functioning and ecological services for human survival is moving us beyond this growth-driven, supply-focused management paradigm. Environmental ethics challenge this paradigm by extending the ethical sphere to the environment. This research in water ethics considers expanding the conception of whom or what is morally considerable in water policy and management.

First, the research proposes a water ethic to balance among intragenerational equity, intergenerational equity, and equity for the environment. Second, the proposed ethic acts as an assessment tool with which to analyse water policy. Water for Life: Alberta's Strategy for Sustainability is the focal policy document for this analysis. This document is an example of new Canadian policy; it represents the Government of Alberta's current and future approach to water issues; and it implicitly embodies the ethical ideas that guided the document's production. To assess Water for Life's success in achieving the principles of the proposed water ethic, this case study used discourse analysis, key informant interviews, and comparison to a progressive international policy document, Securing Our Water Future Together, the 2004 White Paper of Victoria, Australia.

Key conclusions show that Water for Life is progressive by embracing full public participation, a watershed approach, knowledge-generation initiatives, a new planning model, and water rights security. However, barriers exist that can disrupt the strategy's success, including the first-in-time first-in-right water allocation system, the strategy's lack of detail, inadequate protection of aquatic ecosystems, ambiguity of jurisdiction over water in First Nations communities, and under-developed connections between substantive issues. The thesis also outlines recommendations for Alberta and implications for other jurisdictions. Additionally this research offers guidelines and an assessment tool grounded in broad ethical concepts to water policy development; and it encourages making ethical ideas explicit in assessment and formation of equitable and sustainable water policy.

Caring for the environment has become a global issue, and the role of national parks in preserving species and environments has taken on renewed importance. Many consider that national parks are places to learn and experience nature, and from this experience can come positive conservation behaviour. A dilemma facing park agencies is their capacity to manage the park system with limited resources and funding. A park system that allows human access as well as preservation of biotic communities requires planning and resources. The view that the community may assist with conservation or management of discrete areas was cited in the literature, and assessing the possibility of community involvement is the focus for this study. The research used a case study strategy to examine Human-Environment theory, which refers to the study of humans and their environment. The theory encompasses both the built and natural environment, and the concepts of place attachment and environmental ethics. Although the theory takes in both the built and the natural environment this study did not include the built environment. The study examined the Human Natural World Relationship and conservation behaviour and was placed within an ecosystem management framework. This framework allowed the human-environment interaction to be examined so that human values could be assessed alongside economic, environmental and other values. The study examined the Human Natural World Relationship and conservation activism to establish if the community could contribute to the conservation and management of the national park. The community’s views, values and place attachments were gathered through focus groups, interviews, and the distribution of a self-administered survey to the whole community. The location for the study was Croajingolong National Park and Biosphere Reserve in Gippsland, Victoria. The location was chosen because there was minimal research on the community from the towns of Mallacoota, Cann River and Bemm River, who are the main users of the park. The study found that the identity of the community was deeply connected with the identity of the national park and that several aspects related to the town and the national park affected the community. This has implications for management to ensure that the status of the national park as well of the town of Mallacoota is protected so that the unique identity of the community and the bond they have to the park is preserved. A suggestion by one participant, who expressed the sentiment of many in the community, was that the town should be zoned as a park town has much merit. The study also found that the majority in the community held ecocentric views and were suited to involvement in conservation and management of the national park. Management can use the results of this study to inform strategies for policy and decisions making that take into account the views and values of the community in the validation of park classification, governance, funding, marketing, conflict resolution and communication with the community

Registered nurses are exposed to the risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and contracting the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Qualitative phenomenological research was conducted to explore registered nurses' experiences of working in such a high-risk environment and how their experiences influence the therapeutic relationship. A sample of registered nurses who care for HIV-infected persons or persons who suffer from AIDS was purposefully selected. Focus group interviews were conducted. Qualitative data analysis was performed. Frankl's theory of meaning of life served as a theoretical foundation for interpreting the research findings. The research results revealed that registered nurses experience existential frustration due to the intentional and unintentional risks that they are exposed to. This negatively impacts upon their ability to maintain a healthy therapeutic relationship with patients. However, evidence was obtained indicating that some factors support their quest for finding meaning in life in the workplace.
Health Studies
M.A. (Health Studies)

This chapter explores the ways in which military reformers during the nineteenth century promoted a new notion of military discipline that, like other reformist programs, was articulated in terms of individual ethical conduct. It discusses attempts to reform existing mechanistic military discipline and penal practices, as well as myriad efforts to promote “moral discipline” through the regulation of both the use of leisure and of the social and built environment. By the latter part of the century, such notions that discipline should be interiorized were increasingly understood through the Victorian liberal idiom of character.

Phoenix, Arizona is one of America's fastest growing metropolitan regions. It is also its least sustainable one, sprawling over a thousand square miles, with a population of four and a half million, minimal rainfall, scorching heat, and an insatiable appetite for unrestrained growth and unrestricted property rights. In Bird on Fire, eminent social and cultural analyst Andrew Ross focuses on the prospects for sustainability in Phoenix--a city in the bull's eye of global warming--and also the obstacles that stand in the way. Most authors writing on sustainable cities look at places like Portland, Seattle, and New York that have excellent public transit systems and relatively high density. But Ross contends that if we can't change the game in fast-growing, low-density cities like Phoenix, the whole movement has a major problem. Drawing on interviews with 200 influential residents--from state legislators, urban planners, developers, and green business advocates to civil rights champions, energy lobbyists, solar entrepreneurs, and community activists--Ross argues that if Phoenix is ever to become sustainable, it will occur more through political and social change than through technological fixes. Ross explains how Arizona's increasingly xenophobic immigration laws, science-denying legislature, and growth-at-all-costs business ethic have perpetuated social injustice and environmental degradation. But he also highlights the positive changes happening in Phoenix, in particular the Gila River Indian Community's successful struggle to win back its water rights, potentially shifting resources away from new housing developments to producing healthy local food for the people of the Phoenix Basin. Ross argues that this victory may serve as a new model for how green democracy can work, redressing the claims of those who have been aggrieved in a way that creates long-term benefits for all. Bird on Fire offers a compelling take on one of the pressing issues of our time--finding pathways to sustainability at a time when governments are dismally failing their responsibility to address climate change.

Chapter Three looks at work on the Otago goldfields, emphasising particularly the daily practices and randomness of gold deposits in Otago. It locates the work of goldmining within local natural environments that made the rushes fluid and unstable events. As gold seekers encountered new weather patterns, geological formations, and ecologies, they utilized ethnic networks and adapted labour practices from the Victorian goldfields to local contexts. Meanwhile, they drew on Chartist language as they fought with the Provincial Government over the meaning of the gold rushes and the nature of the gold-rush population.

Abstract From the Mara Region of Tanzania, this chapter uses oral histories to reveal a long, generational history of the resilience of women amid the legacies of ecological disaster. This area, on the southeastern shore of Lake Victoria just south of the Kenyan border, is made up of some fifteen (or sixty depending on how you count) different small ethnic groups that never coalesced into larger pan-ethnic entities, including groups from three major language families. These interviews began with research in 1995 in the region’s interior. These stories of migration, hunger, and disaster reveal the ways that women experienced ecological collapse in these societies and reveal a distinct way of “knowing” and of passing on knowledge about communal environmental history.

Standard accounts of just war follow a chronological path: deliberating whether to go to war (jus ad bellum), considering what can be done in war (jus in bello), and determining the responsibilities after war’s end (jus post bellum). This chapter challenges the chronological timeline by arguing that understanding jus post vim, or the justice after limited force, is paramount to discerning the just and unjust uses of limited force. Placing the emphasis on the post-force environment first shifts the focus onto the achievable ends, which then recalibrates the goals, and, by consequence, the means employed to achieve them. The chapter thus begins by distinguishing between jus post bellum and jus post vim, with one of the main differences being that the latter is necessarily a form of truncated victory. This circumscribed nature of victory has ethical implications insofar as many of the lofty goals sometimes associated with jus post bellum (rehabilitation, regime change, war crimes trials, etc.) are not feasible objectives of using limited force. Drawing on the classical just war doctrine’s emphasis on the pursuit of order and justice, the chapter identifies the re-establishment and containment principles as markers of moral truncated victory and the committed pursuit of long-term peace. These jus post vim principles reflect the heavy moral lifting that diplomatic measures play in the pursuit of peace once truncated victory is achieved. The chapter concludes by linking jus post vim to conciliation, inviting deeper engagement with non-Western peace practices and traditions.

The Australian Catholic University (ACU National at www.acu.edu.au) is a public university funded by the Australian Government. There are six campuses across the country, located in Brisbane, Queensland; North Sydney, New South Wales; Strathfield, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT); Ballarat, Victoria; and Melbourne, Victoria. The university serves a total of approximately 27,000 students, including both full- and part-time students, and those enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Through fostering and advancing knowledge in education, health, commerce, the humanities, science and technology, and the creative arts, ACU National seeks to make specific and targeted contributions to its local, national, and international communities. The university explicitly engages the social, ethical, and religious dimensions of the questions it faces in teaching, research, and service. In its endeavors, it is guided by a fundamental concern for social justice, equity, and inclusivity. The university is open to all, irrespective of religious belief or background. ACU National opened its doors in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. The institutions that merged to form the university had their origins in the mid-17th century when religious orders and institutes became involved in the preparation of teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. As a result of a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities, and diocesan initiatives, more than twenty historical entities have contributed to the creation of ACU National. Today, ACU National operates within a rapidly changing educational and industrial context. Student numbers are increasing, areas of teaching and learning have changed and expanded, e-learning plays an important role, and there is greater emphasis on research. In its 2005–2009 Strategic Plan, the university commits to the adoption of quality teaching, an internationalized curriculum, as well as the cultivation of generic skills in students, to meet the challenges of the dynamic university and information environment (ACU National, 2008). The Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) Program at ACU Canberra Situated in Australia’s capital city, the Canberra campus is one of the smallest campuses of ACU National, where there are approximately 800 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate students studying to be primary or secondary school teachers through the School of Education (ACT). Other programs offered at this campus include nursing, theology, social work, arts, and religious education. A new model of pre-service secondary teacher education commenced with the introduction of the Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) program at this campus in 2005. It marked an innovative collaboration between the university and a cohort of experienced secondary school teachers in the ACT and its surrounding region. This partnership was forged to allow student teachers undertaking the program to be inducted into the teaching profession with the cooperation of leading practitioners from schools in and around the ACT. In the preparation of novices for the teaching profession, an enduring challenge is to create learning experiences capable of transforming practice, and to instill in the novices an array of professional skills, attributes, and competencies (Putnam & Borko, 2000). Another dimension of the beginning teacher experience is the need to bridge theory and practice, and to apply pedagogical content knowledge in real-life classroom practice. During the one-year Graduate Diploma program, the student teachers undertake two four-week block practicum placements, during which they have the opportunity to observe exemplary lessons, as well as to commence teaching. The goals of the practicum include improving participants’ access to innovative pedagogy and educational theory, helping them situate their own prior knowledge regarding pedagogy, and assisting them in reflecting on and evaluating their own practice. Each student teacher is paired with a more experienced teacher based at the school where he/she is placed, who serves as a supervisor and mentor. In 2007, a new dimension to the teaching practicum was added to facilitate online peer mentoring among the pre-service teachers at the Canberra campus of ACU National, and provide them with opportunities to reflect on teaching prior to entering full-time employment at a school. The creation of an online community to facilitate this mentorship and professional development process forms the context for the present case study. While on their practicum, students used social software in the form of collaborative web logging (blogging) and threaded voice discussion tools that were integrated into the university’s course management system (CMS), to share and reflect on their experiences, identify critical incidents, and invite comment on their responses and reactions from peers.

Many higher education institutions are moving towards blended learning environments that seek to move towards a student-centred ethos, where students are stakeholders in the learning process. This often involves multi-modal learner-support technologies capable of operating in a range of time and place settings. This article considers the impact of an Audience Response System (ARS) upon the ongoing development of an Information Systems Professional course at the Masters level in the College of Business at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. The course allows students to consider ethical issues faced by an Information Systems Professional. Given the sensitivity of some of the topics explored within this area, an ARS offers an ideal vehicle for allowing students to respond to potentially contentious questions without revealing their identity to the rest of the group. The paper reports the findings of a pilot scheme designed to explore the efficacy of the technology. Use of a blended learning framework to frame the discussion allowed the authors to consider the readiness of institution, lecturers, and students to use ARS. From a usage viewpoint, multiple choice questions lead to further discussion of student responses related to important issues in the unit. From an impact viewpoint the use of ARS in the class appeared to be successful, but some limitations were reported.