Journal articles on the topic 'Leaves, Fossil Australia'

Fossils from the Eocene of South Australia and Western Australia and the Oligo–Miocene of Victoria represent the first known Australian leaf fossils of subfamily Persoonioideae, tribe Persoonieae. Persoonieaephyllum blackburnii sp. nov. is described from Middle Eocene Nelly Creek sediments near Lake Eyre, South Australia. Persoonieae are an important clade for understanding vegetation transitions in Australasia. The Nelly Creek leaf fossils are small (~6mm wide) and belong to an assemblage that has some characteristics of open vegetation, which is also inferred for the Oligo–Miocene of the Latrobe Valley, Victoria. In contrast, the Western Australian Late Eocene Persoonieae occur with diverse Lauraceae and other elements now typical of closed rainforests, and may, therefore, have been derived from communities that are unlike those in which most Persoonieae now occur. All fossil Persoonieae leaves so far known are hypostomatic (or virtually so), a state of stomatal distribution now only found in species of reasonably mesic habitats in New Zealand, New Caledonia and eastern Australian eucalypt forests. The ancestral state of stomatal distribution in Persoonieae leaves is unclear, but evidence suggests ancient associations of amphistomaty with open habitats, evolutionary loss of adaxial stomata in more closed vegetation, and the evolution of pronounced xerophylly within south-western Australian heathlands.

We present evidence that fossil leaves from an early Eocene estuarine mudstone deposit at Lowana Road in western Tasmania include the oldest records of the extant monocot genus, Ripogonum (Ripogonaceae). These fossils are similar to the extant eastern Australian and Papua New Guinean R. album R.Br. and New Zealand R. scandens J.R. et G.Forst., and are described as a new species, R. tasmanicum Conran, R.J.Carp. & G.J.Jord. The venation, cuticular and other leaf features of this fossil are included in a morphology-based phylogenetic analysis for the genus, and character evolution is discussed in relation to the ecology of the extant species and the palaeoenvironments of known Ripogonaceae fossil sites. The fossil (albeit on leaf characters) was placed close to the base of a black-fruited, Australian endemic Ripogonum clade. This suggests that the family have a long and conservative evolutionary history in association with moist forests, with the fossil locality showing palaeoclimate similar to the environments that most Ripogonum species still occupy today.

Numerous flowers and a diverse assemblage of leaves are mummified in clay lenses in the base of the Demons Bluff Formation overlying the Eastern View Coal Measures. Fossil localities occur in the Alcoa of Australia open cut near Anglesea, Victoria, Australia. Flowers are tubular, less than 10 mm long, and about 5 mm wide. Four sepals are connate forming a cup-shaped calyx. Four petals are fused in their basal third and alternate with sepals. Flowers are all unisexual and staminate. Stamens are epipetalous and consistently 16 in number, arranged in 8 radial pairs. Pollen is subprolate, tricolporate, and about 32 μm in diameter. The exine is smooth to slightly scabrate. A rudimentary ovary occurs in some flowers. Sepals usually have a somewhat textureless abaxial cuticle with actinocytic stomata. Some sepals, however, have frill-like cuticular thickenings over some abaxial epidermal cells and some subsidiary cells with pronounced papillae overarching guard cells. One of the more common leaf types found associated with the flowers is characterized by the same peculiar cuticular thickenings and overarching papillae on subsidiary cells that occur on sepals. This cuticular similarity indicates that flowers and leaves represent a single taxon. Leaves are highly variable in size and shape but are consistently entire margined, with pinnate, brochidodromous venation. The suite of features characterizing the flowers is unique to the Ebenaceae. Flowers of many extant species of Diospyros (Ebenaceae) closely resemble the fossil flowers. Fossil leaves, too, are typical of leaves of extant Diospyros. Both flowers and leaves are considered conspecific and have been assigned the name Austrodiospyros cryptostoma gen. et sp. nov. The Anglesea fossils represent one of the earliest well-documented occurrences of the Ebenaceae and are the earliest known remains of Ebenaceae from Australia. They support the hypothesis of a Gondwanan origin for the family with late Tertiary diversification in the Malesian region.

Leaf collections made from Lenses A and B of Pit II at the Eocene Alcoa Anglesea locality produced the first Eocene record of mummified leaves of the Myrtaceae. In order to determine their diversity and affinities a set of 19 architectural and cuticular characters was selected with which to analyse the leaves. This character set was tested with 65 extant leaves from 11 species of six genera within the Myrtaceae. Operational taxonomic units were analysed using a semi-Euclidian distance metric and the UPGMA clustering algorithm. Results indicated that the character set and analyses successfully clustered all members of each species used, and in the case of Syzygium loosely clustered most species of the genus that were tested. When applied to 34 fossil Myrtaceae leaves, the character sets and analyses revealed that two distinct fossil leaf taxa were present. The organ genus Myrtaciphyllum Christophel & Lys is proposed for mummified leaves with affinities to the Myrtaceae. Two species are erected: the type species M. undulatum, and M. douglasii. The two species are primarily differentiated on cuticular features. The analyses further showed that, in addition to the two fossil groups being distinct from each other, neither demonstrated close affinities with any of the 11 species of extant Myrtaceae used in the analysis. Two fossil Myrtaceae leaves included from the Miocene Bacchus Marsh locality showed moderate affinity to Myrtaciphyllum undulatum.

Organically preserved Cainozoic leaf fossils previously referred to Agathis are re-examined, and in all cases their affinity with that genus is confirmed. Previously undescribed organically preserved leaf fossils from several Cainozoic sites in south-eastern Australia are compared with Agathis and Wollemia and two new species of Agathis are described. Intraspecific variation in leaf cuticle morphology is examined in extant A. macrophylla in particular, and is found to be much higher than previously recorded. This makes assignment of fossil Agathis leaves to species difficult, especially when only leaf fragments are available. The new fossils extend the record of organically preserved Agathis macro-remains back to the Late Paleocene, but do not significantly extend the known spatial distribution.

Flowers and fruits of the Myrtaceae are described from the Middle Eocene Golden Grove locality of South Australia, and the taxon is here named Tristaniandra alleyi gen. et sp.nov. Flowers are pentamerous and perigynous, with sepals, petals, and stamens inserted on the rim of a hypanthium. Filaments are basally fused to form antepetalous stamen bundles, each consisting of about 6–8 stamens. The tricarpellate ovary becomes exserted on maturation, forming a partly exserted, dry fruit with loculicidal dehiscence. These features are typical of capsular-fruited members of the Myrtaceae; in particular, taxa in the tribe Kanieae. While the characteristics of the fossils are not found within any one extant genus, the fossils show some similarity to living species of Tristaniopsis , although the staminal bundles are more comparable to those found in Tristania , which is only distantly related and has a rather different fruit. Capsular-fruited Myrtaceae are now primarily confined to Australasia, and appear to have had a Gondwanic origin in the latest Cretaceous to Paleogene. Nevertheless, as fossil flowers and fruits are rare, and infrafamilial identification of pollen and leaves is difficult, the Paleogene record of capsular Myrtaceae is largely equivocal. The Golden Grove fossils establish a record of the tribe Kanieae within Eocene coastal rainforest vegetation at paleolatitude 55°–58°S during a time of global warmth.

Fifteen new species belonging to five genera (one, Mesibovia, newly described) of the Podocarpaceae with imbricate leaves are described from Oligocene–Early Miocene localities in Tasmania. Nine of these species belong to Dacrycarpus, which is now extinct in Australia, and their living affinities are widespread in latitude and altitude from New Zealand to New Guinea. Three species of Dacrydium s. str. demonstrate that this genus was diverse in Tasmania in the Tertiary, although it is now extinct in Australia. A species of Microstrobos, which is very similar to the extant alpine/subalpine Tasmanian endemic M. niphophilus, occurs in both high- and low-altitude sites, and suggests that this type was once more widespread. The Oligocene Lagarostrobos marginata is intermediate between the two extant species of Lagarostrobos, and suggests a closer relationship between them than do other lines of evidence. Mesibovia rhomboideu, recovered from three localities, shares features with several extant genera, and is of importance in understanding evolution within this group. The significance of the fossils for climatic and vegetation reconstruction is discussed.

Eucryphia leaves recovered from Tertiary sediments in south-eastern Australia are assigned to three new species, E. falcata (Late Palaeocene, Lake Bungarby), E. microstoma (Early Eocene, Regatta Point) and E. aberensis (Middle to Late Eocene, Loch Aber). Leaves from Early Pleistocene sediments at Regatta Point are re-examined and are considered to be closely related to the extant species, E. lucida and E. milliganii. An examination of the leaf morphology of the fossil and extant species suggests that evolution has taken place, resulting in smaller leaves at higher latitudes and/or altitudes probably in response to climatic change. There is also evidence for an increase in the size and complexity of peltiform cuticular extensions on the abaxial leaf surface from the Early Tertiary to the present, which may be a response to lower water availability or increasing occurrence of frost.

The morphological response of leaves to low nutrient levels and low phosphorus (scleromorphy) in particular, has become confused in the literature with the response to low water levels (xeromorphy). However, the two can be reconciled to some degree, particularly when it becomes clear that the earliest Proteaceae in the fossil record are scleromorphic, but occurred in very wet climates, where excessive water on the leaf surface was probably a major problem. Unequivocal xeromorphic characters are interpreted as those that increase the boundary layer and thus reduce water loss per unit of leaf surface area without improving water repellancy from the surface. The clearest characters in this regard are the presence of stomata in pits, stomata individually enclosed by raised structures or revolute leaf margins. None of these characters appears prior to the Late Eocene in south-western Australia and the Oligocene in south-eastern Australia, suggesting that xeromorphy arose relatively late, at least in the areas wherefossil deposits occur. A dense covering of trichomes, often interpreted as a xeromorphic response, is here considered to have had the primary function of keeping water off the leaf surface, although it may have been exapted to a xeromorphic function when dry conditions arose. Thus scleromorphy and xeromorphy appear to have arisen at distinctly different times in Australian Proteaceae, with the latter not being a convincingly pre–Late Eocene phenomenon.

Leaf specimens from Late Paleocene sediments in New South Wales are assigned to a new species of Banksieaephyllum, B. taylorii. In gross morphology the leaves are indistinguishable from those of extant Dryandra formosa, and similar to a few other species of Dryandra and Banksia. These species have pinnately lobed leaves and are now confined to south-western Australia. In cuticular morphology, B. taylorii is most similar to Banksia species from subgenus Banksia, section Oncostylis. One species in this section, B. dryandroides, also has pinnately lobed leaves. The fossil specimens demonstrate that subtribe Banksiinae had differentiated by the Late Paleocene and represent the earliest record of angiosperm scleromorphy in Australia to date. The superficial placement of the stomates compared with most modem Banksiinae supports the hypothesis that xeromorphy in this group generally increased in response to the development of less mesic climates in the Late Tertiary.

Leaves, leaf fragments and two infructescences from five widespread Australian Cainozoic fossil localities, Little Rapid River, Lemonthyme Creek, Cethana(Early Oligocene), Berwick Quarry (Oligocene–Early Miocene) and StuartCreek (Miocene–Pliocene) are assigned to, or validated as, the extantspecies Callicoma serratifolia Andrews. The extantspecies or, more likely, a very close relative, evolved prior to the EarlyOligocene and has since remained relatively unchanged. It has becomerestricted to the forests of eastern mainland Australia, probably in responseto climatic change during the Cainozoic. The first macrofossil ofCodia, C. australiensis R.W.Barnes & R.S.Hill sp. nov., is described from West Dale (MiddleEocene–Oligocene), Western Australia, and has affinities with thejuvenile foliage of at least one extant Codia species.Several structures of Callicoma and someCodia species (stomatal cutin frill/ledge and pairedhair bases) may be synapomorphies for these genera.Callicoma serratifolia and Codiamay share a unique common ancestor, or alternatively,C. serratifolia may represent a paedomorphic form ofCodia.

Fossil conifers from an early Miocene flora at Balcombe Bay near Melbourne, Australia, are described and illustrated. The most prominent elements are Araucaria balcombensis Selling emend. R.S.Hill and Dacrycarpus mucronatus P.M.Wells & R.S.Hill, and several other unidentified podocarp leaves are represented. Ovuliferous cones of D. mucronatus are described, along with isolated araucarian microsporophylls and podocarp pollen cones – both with pollen in situ. The floristic elements are similar to Eocene–Oligocene flora described from Tasmania, and indicate that these floras extended to now mainland Australia and persisted into the Miocene. They are indicative of a wetter and warmer climate than the present time.

At least five species in five genera from the Cunoniaceae occur in the Oligocene Cethana deposit. A Callicoma leaf and infructescence are indistinguishable from those of C. serratifolia, the only extant species, and are therefore assigned to that species. Schizonzeria tasmaniensis sp. nov. and Acsmithia grandiflora sp. nov. are represented by flowers and Vesselowskya aff. rubifolia by a leaf or leaflet. Compound leaves of Weinmailrlia/Cunonia so far collected lack cuticular preservation, but their distinctive morphology enables confident placement in this group. Since these genera are only segregable on reproductive features a new genus, Weinmanniaphyllum, is proposed. The fossil data confirm that eastern Australia has been a centre of diversity for the family since at least the Early Tertiary. Modem representatives of the fossil taxa now occur in New South Wales, Queensland, New Guinea, Pacific Islands and South and Central America. None occurs in Tasmania. The evidence is further support for the presence of floristically diverse, microthermal rainforests and disturbed oligotrophic habitats in the Early Tertiary of Tasmania.

A macrofloral fossil assemblage from fluvial Taratu Formation sediments of Waipawan to Bortonian (Early to Middle Eocene) age, near Livingstone, North Otago, New Zealand, is described. The assemblage yielded two indeterminate coniferous taxa, thirteen taxa of angiosperm leaves, including Myrtaceae (aff. Eucalyptus, and aff. Rhodomyrtus/Rhodamnia), Proteaceae (cf. Orites excelsa), Sterculiaceae (Brachychiton populneus), Elaeocarpaceae (Sloanea), probable Lauraceae, possible Passifloraceae and two kinds of Myrtaceae reproductive structures. The original community is compared with extant vegetation in Australia and rainfall may have been seasonal.

The three southern conifer families, Araucariaceae, Cupressaceae and Podocarpaceae, have a long history and continue to be an important part of the vegetation today. The Araucariaceae have the most extensive fossil record, occurring in both hemispheres, and with Araucaria in particular having an ancient origin. In the Southern Hemisphere Araucaria and Agathis have substantial macrofossil records, especially in Australasia, and Wollemia probably also has an important macrofossil record. At least one extinct genus of Araucariaceae is present as a macrofossil during the Cenozoic. Cupressaceae macrofossils are difficult to identify in older sediments, but the southern genera begin their record in the Cretaceous (Athrotaxis) and become more diverse and extensive during the Cenozoic. Several extinct genera of Cupressaceae also occur in Cretaceous and Cenozoic sediments in Australasia. The Podocarpaceae probably begin their macrofossil record in the Triassic, although the early history is still uncertain. Occasional Podocarpaceae macrofossils have been recorded in the Northern Hemisphere, but they are essentially a southern family. The Cenozoic macrofossil record of the Podocarpaceae is extensive, especially in south-eastern Australia, where the majority of the extant genera have been recorded. Some extinct genera have also been reported from across high southern latitudes, confirming an extremely diverse and widespread suite of Podocarpaceae during the Cenozoic in the region. In the Southern Hemisphere today conifers achieve greatest abundance in wet forests. Those which compete successfully with broad-leaved angiosperms in warmer forests produce broad, flat photosynthetic shoots. In the Araucariaceae this is achieved by the planation of multiveined leaves into large compound shoots. In the other two families leaves are now limited to a single vein (except Nageia), and to overcome this limitation many genera have resorted to re-orientation of leaves and two-dimensional flattening of shoots. The Podocarpaceae show greatest development of this strategy with 11 of 19 genera producing shoots analogous to compound leaves. The concentration of conifers in wet forest left them vulnerable to the climate change which occurred in the Cenozoic, and decreases in diversity have occurred since the Paleogene in all regions where fossil records are available. Information about the history of the dry forest conifers is extremely limited because of a lack of fossilisation in such environments. The southern conifers, past and present, demonstrate an ability to compete effectively with angiosperms in many habitats and should not be viewed as remnants which are ineffectual against angiosperm competitors.

The earliest representative of Glossopteridales is known by the leaves discovered from India and Australia (Brongniart 1822–28) under the genus Glossopteris as Glossopteris browniana var. australasica and Glossopteris browniana var. indica. Later discovery proved the presence of similar leaves in all the Gondwana continents, i.e. India, Australia, Antarctica, South America and Africa ranging from late Carboniferous to entire span of Permian to early Triassic. Such distribution pattern provides major evidence for the theory of continental drift. As a unified character, these tongue–shaped leaves show reticulate venation pattern and a midrib. Later, non reticulate and non midrib leaves were also considered as ally due to their close association with the leaves of Glossopteris and together they are assigned to Glossopteridales consisting of different genera, e.g. Gangamopteris, Rubidgea, Euryphyllum, Palaeovittaria, Maheshwariphyllum, Rhabdotaenia, Sagittophyllum, Pteronilssonia, Surangephyllum, Gondwanophyllites, Laceyphyllum, Belemnopteris, etc. Later, cuticular study, discovery of fertile structures in attachment with leaves increased the number of species. In addition, permineralized leaf fossils with anatomical features have also been described under new species of Glossopteris. Fertile structures of glossopterids are mainly discovered in attachment with leaves or in attachment with scale leaves or bracts. Leaf borne fertile structures are known by multiovulate ovule/ seed bearing organ with or without stalk, e.g. Ottokaria, Dictyopteridium, Scutum, Senotheca, Cistella, Plumsteadiostrobus, Jambadostrobu, Lanceolatus, Vanus, Pluma, Hirsutum, etc. Scales or bracts showing branched and unbranched cupulate organs are other mode of fertile structures, e.g. Lidgettonia, Partha, Denkania, Bifariala, Nogoa, Gladiopomum, Rusangea, Rigbya, Mooia, etc. Distinct seed bearing Arberia, Dolianitia–type of fructifications, Eretmonia, Glossotheca type of sporangia bearing scale leaf or bract, Arberiella–sporangial mass and a variety of dispersed seeds are also accredited to glossopterids. Ironically, leaves and fructifications have not yet been found in attachment with stem, however, fossil woods with araucariod pits, e.g. Dadoxylon/ Araucarioxylon found in alliance demonstrate their affiliation with glossopterids. Vertebraria–axes commonly observed in the sediments exemplify the rooting behaviour of the glossopterids. Combination of different types of leaves consisting of more than 130 species under closely allied genera, thirty-five to forty types of fructifications grouped under multiovulate and branched types together with seed–bearing structures, varied type of morphological, cuticular and structural features amply demonstrate that Glossopteridales had sundry approach for development, endurance and evolution and in all likeness represent different taxonomic characteristics.

At the well-known fossil mammal locality of Fort Ternan in southwestern Kenya, radiometrically dated at about 14 million years old (middle Miocene), fossil grasses have been preserved by nephelinitic sandstone in place of growth above a brown paleosol (type Onuria clay). Large portions of grass plants as well as fragments of leaves have revealed details of silica bodies, stomates, and other taxonomically important features under the scanning electron microscope. The computer database for grass identification compiled by Leslie Watson and colleagues was used to determine the most similar living grass genera to the five distinct kinds of fossil found. Two of the fossil species are assigned to Cleistochloa kabuyis sp. nov. and C. shipmanae sp. nov. This genus includes one species from low fertility dry woodland soils of New South Wales and Queensland and a second species from “raw clay soils” in western New Guinea. A third fossil species, represented by a large portion of a branching culm, is assigned to Stereochlaena miocenica sp. nov. This genus includes five species of low-fertility woodland soils in southeastern Africa. Both Cleistochloa and Stereochlaena are in the supertribe Panicanae of the subfamily Panicoideae. A fourth species is assigned to Distichlis africana sp. nov. and provides a biogeographic link between the single species of this genus now living in coastal grasslands in southeastern Australia and the 12 species of dunes and deserts found throughout the Americas from Patagonia and the West Indies to the United States and Canada. A fifth species is, like D. africana, in the subfamily Chloridoideae, but its stomata were not seen and it could belong to Cyclostachya, Pogoneura, or Polevansia. This earliest known wooded grassland flora in Africa is taxonomically unlike the modern grass flora of fertile volcanic African landscapes, and may have been recruited from an archaic grass flora of Gondwanan desert and lateritic soils.

The genus Ziziphus Miller (1754: 1547) is one of the economically important genera in the family Rhamnaceae distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions (Mabberley 2008). About 135 species are reported from the world, and most of the species are confined to Asia and America. A few of them extend to the Pacific Islands and Australia (Bhandari & Bhansali 2000; Ara et al. 2008). The genus is characterized by its 3 or 5-nerved leaves, often with stipular spines and drupaceous fruits with a solitary pyrene (Ara et al. 2008). Ziziphus macrophylla Ridley (1931: 494) was described by H.N. Ridley based on the collections by Haviland from Lundo area of Sarawak region, Borneo. He named the species as Z. macrophylla based its long leaves. Unfortunately, it is a later homonym of Ziziphus macrophylla Schimper (1874: 224), a fossil species described based on the leaf from Köflach, Styria, Austria. According to the article 53.1 (Turland et al. 2018), Z. macrophylla Ridley is illegitimate, and hence a new name is proposed here.

Leaf fragments from Late Paleocene sediments at Cambalong Creek in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales are assigned to a new species ofBanksieaephyllum Cookson & Duigan,B. praefastigatum. A study of leaf form andmicromorphological characters of extant Banksieae was carried out to identify possible affinities for the new taxon, and a compendium of the architecturaland micromorphological characters of leaves of all described species ofBanksieaephyllum andBanksieaeformis Hill & Christophel is presented.Banksieaephyllum praefastigatum has characteristicstomatal and trichome features of both extinct and extant species ofBanksiinae, but is dissimilar in leaf morphology to any extant species ofBanksia L.f., Dryandra R.Br., orthe oldest previously described species ofBanksieaephyllum, B. tayloriiCarpenter, Hill & Jordan, with which it was contemporaneous.Banksieaephyllum praefastigatum, with its stronglydeveloped areolation and superficial stomates, is different from extantspecies of Banksiinae and Musgraveinae, and may represent a now-extinct sistertaxon to these subtribes in Banksieae, one which had not changed substantiallyfrom hypothesised mesophytic ancestral Proteaceae. Leaf morphology ofB. praefastigatum indicates that serrate-, lobed-andentire-margined forms of Banksieaephyllum were coeval in many localities throughout southern Australia during the Tertiary, and that Banksiinae had diversified significantly by the Early Tertiary, reflecting diversification of at least several other subtribes of subfamily Grevilleoideae by that time.

The Late Oligocene to possibly earliest Early Miocene Benvick Quany macrofossil flora was first described very early in this century by Henry Deane, but has since been largely ignored. Recent work at the quarry has led to major new collections and a reinvestigation of the flora. Seventeen taxa of macrofossils have been recovered, including Agathis, Dacrycarpus, four species of Lauraceae, Gymnostoma, Nothofagus, Eucalyptus, an indeterminate Myrtaceae and Proteaceae, three possible Cunoniaceae, and six unidentified taxa. Fagus maideni Deane is formally transferred to Nothofagus Blume. Nothofagus johnstoni Hill, Fagus luemanni Deane, and Atherosperma berwickense Deane, are considered to be junior synonyms of the species N. maideni (Deane) comb. nov. Only one of the seven fossil species of Eucalyptus established by Deane can be recognised in our material: E kitsoni Deane. His Lomatia species are probably Cunoniaceae. The Berwick Quarry flora contains species which are consistent with rainforest in the region, however, the flora is also notable for the presence of leaves of Eucalyptus, leaving little doubt that the flora at Berwick Quarry represents a mixture of rainforest and open forest taxa. The vegetation was probably a mosaic of open and closed forest, representing some of the earliest evidence for seasonality in Australia during the development of the modem flora. Palynological samples are dominated by Nothofagus subgenus Brassospora and Fuscospora.

Chusquea oxyphylla Freng. & Parodi, 1941, a fossilized leafy branch from the early Eocene (52 Ma), late-Gondwanan Laguna del Hunco biota of southern Argentina, is still cited as the oldest potential bamboo fossil and as evidence for a Gondwanan origin of bamboos. On recent examination, the holotype specimen was found to lack any typical bamboo characters such as nodes, sheaths, ligules, pseudopetioles, or parallel leaf venation. Instead, it has decurrent, clasping, univeined, heterofacially twisted leaves with thickened, central-longitudinal bands of presumed transfusion tissue. These and other features allow confident placement in the living Neotropical and West Pacific disjunct genus Retrophyllum (Podocarpaceae), which was recently described from the same fossil site based on abundant, well-preserved material. However, the 1941 fossil holds nomenclatural priority, requiring the new combination Retrophyllum oxyphyllum (Freng. & Parodi) Wilf, comb. nov. No reliable bamboo fossils remain from Gondwana, and the oldest South American bamboo fossils are Pliocene. Chusquea joins a growing list of living New World genera that are no longer included in Paleogene Patagonian floras, whose extant relatives are primarily concentrated in Australasia and Malesia via the ancient Gondwanan route through Antarctica.

In 2019–2020, fires ravaged large areas of Australia devastating land, infrastructure and human and non-human lives. While Australia has a history of fires and fire management, large regions of the eastern states were devastated by super fires fueled by their own weather, and changes to the climate. However, Australian governments, political and business leaders continue to invest in fossil fuels and disregard the impact of the climate crisis. Meanwhile, the nation is at a tipping point due to the effects of global heating, extreme weather events, natural disasters and biodiversity loss. This article explores the climate crisis through a discussion of first-hand accounts of people directly affected by the 2019–2020 bushfires in Australia. These harrowing and philosophical accounts of the fires were gleaned from poetry, videos, websites and non-fiction sources and demonstrate the human lived experiences of the climate crisis and how we can move forward for climate justice.

An assemblage of Tertiary plant fossils is described from Melville Island, Northern Territory, which is in the far north of Australia and currently experiences a monsoonal climate. The leaves examined included probable Cupressaceae, Proteaceae (Grevillea, and forms comparable with the Madagascan genus Dilobia) and Melaleuca (Myrtaceae). They indicate a non-rainforest community which probably had seasonal rainfall.

The first fossil capsule of Eucryphia,E. reticulata R.W.Barnes & G.J.Jord. sp. nov.,is described from Lea River (Early Oligocene), and, like capsules of the twoextant South American species of E. glutinosa (Poepp. etEndl.) Baill. and E. cordifolia Cav., is large and has arelatively large number of valves. The capsule occurs with aEucryphia leaf macrofossil that was probably a leaflet from a compound leaf as it is highly falcate. The leaflet may be derived fromthe same parent plant as E. reticulata but in theabsence of an organic connection it is described as a new species,E. leaensis R.W.Barnes & G.J.Jord. sp. nov.Additional leaf macrofossil specimens of E. aberensisR.S.Hill from the type locality (Loch Aber; Middle–Late Eocene) and anew locality record for the species, Little Rapid River (Early Oligocene),indicate that the species had compound leaves formed by serrate and entiremargin leaflets. Another incomplete Eucryphia capsuleoccurs at Little Rapid River (Early Oligocene) but it is too poorly preservedto assign it to an extant or extinct species. It may be derived from the sameparent plant asE. aberensis, with which it occurs, but cannot be confirmed as there is no organic connection. A new leaf macrofossil with serrate margins, E. mucronata R.W.Barnes & G.J.Jord. sp. nov., is also described from ?Latest Eocene–EarlyOligocene sediments at Wilson’s Creek, central Tasmania. Leafmacrofossils previously assigned to E. aff.milliganii from Early Pleistocene sediments at RegattaPoint in western Tasmania are shown to be conspecific with the two extant Tasmanian species, E. lucida (Labill.) Baill. andE. milliganii Hook.f. ssp.milliganii on the basis of foliar hair distribution patterns and density. The oldest fossil Eucryphiaspecies, E. falcata R.S. Hill (Lake Bungarby; LatePaleocene), had compound leaves formed by leaflets with serrate margins, whichis possibly the plesiomorphic condition for all Cunoniaceae genera. WithinEucryphia, there has been an evolutionary trend towardssimple leaves with entire margins and well-developed peltiform cuticular extensions.

First comprehensive record of the Glossopteris flora from the Barakar Formation of the Prakasham Khani open cast mines II and IV of Manuguru Area, Godavari Graben, comprising detailed systematic analyses of the plant fossils is provided. The assemblage is well preserved and represented by pteridophytes and gymnosperms. Pteridophytes comprise Phyllotheca australis and equisetalean axes of the order Equisetales, whereas, gymnosperms include Gangamopteris cyclopteroides and seventeen species of Glossopteris–Glossopteris angustifolia, G. arberi, G. communis, G. cordatifolia, G. damudica, G. gigas, G. indica, G. lanceolatus, G. longicaulis, G. mohudaensis, G. musaefolia, G. oldhamii, G. pseudocommunis, G. rhabdotaenioides, G. stenoneura, G. taenioides and G. tenuifolia belonging to the order Glossopteridales and several leaves of Noeggerathiopsis hislopi besides Cordaites sp. of Cordaitales. Northern genus Cordaites is recorded for the first time from the area and substantiates earlier records from the Lower Gondwana horizons of India. The present study adds to the knowledge of the Glossopteris flora of India, especially that of the Godavari Graben from where the plant fossil records are scanty. The floral assemblage compares fairly well with those recorded from the Barakar Formation of other Lower Gondwana basins of peninsular India.

Late Oligocene is considered as the last significant globally warm climate. In India, the Makum Coalfield has exposures of sediments which were deposited at a low latitude of 10–15° N during the late Oligocene. Here, we report a diverse assemblage of fossil leaves and fruits. The assemblage envelops 18 leaf and 9 fruit morphotypes. The floristic assemblage indicates a warm and humid climate during the deposition of the sediments. The quantitative palaeoclimate reconstruction indicates that the leaf morphological traits were dominantly adapted to Indonesian–Australian type of monsoon.

ABSTRACTRadiolarian chert and associated siliceous claystone in the Southern Uplands of Scotland are examined, in order to study the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event of benthic animals on the pelagic ocean bottom. Trace fossils which are uncommon, but convincing, are found in the grey chert and siliceous claystone of Gripps Cleuch. These observations constitute firm evidence that large benthic animals which could leave visible trace fossils had colonised the Iapetan Ocean by the late Middle Ordovician, confirming previous studies from Australia for Panthalassa, the other huge ocean. Red chert is, however, a poor recorder of trace fossils, probably because the highly oxidising environment breaks down organic matter, both inhibiting high-density activity of large benthic animals and removing clear traces of benthic animal life.

Diverse Cenozoic (possibly latest Oligocene to mid–late Miocene) macrofossils from the Lightning Ridge opal fields are illustrated and discussed. Specimens identified to, or closely comparable with, extant taxa include ferns (Lygodium, Gleichenia and others), conifers now extinct in Australia (Dacrydium, Retrophyllum and Papuacedrus), Lauraceae (Cryptocarya/Cinnamomum), sclerophyllous Proteaceae (Banksia, Lomatia and Grevillea), Cunoniaceae/Elaeocarpaceae and Eucalyptus (and/or other Myrtaceae). Overall, at least four fern, three conifer and 30 angiosperm taxa are recognised. The climate supported many species with close relatives in wet Australasian habitats, including rainforests. However, a drier or more seasonal (?monsoonal) aspect is especially indicated by the presence of lobed leaves that resemble extant species of Brachychiton (Malvaceae), Erythrina (Fabaceae) and tribe Cercideae (Fabaceae). A degree of water stress is also suggested by the prevalence of narrow, toothed and/or deeply lobed angiosperm leaves.

Proteaceous plants were an important component of the high-latitude Late Cretaceous–Paleogene podocarpaceous conifer and Nothofagus forest vegetation growing in high-rainfall temperate conditions. In the southern South America–Antarctic Peninsula region the fossil record of the Proteaceae comprises pollen, leaves, fruits and wood with affinities to the extant subfamilies Grevilleoideae, Proteoideae, and possibly Carnarvonioideae and Persoonioideae. The oldest reported occurrences of Proteaceae in this region are in the middle–late Santonian of the Antarctic Peninsula and include pollen of Proteacidites subscabratus Couper, with the addition in the Campanian of other species of Proteacidites and Propylipollis, Cranwellipollis spp. and Peninsulapollis spp. Diversity of proteaceous pollen increased through the Campanian and Maastrichtian, reflecting the spread of Proteaceae along the Antarctic Peninsula and into South America. Both endemic species and species derived from the Australian region are represented. Compared to coeval Australian assemblages, however, proteaceous diversity remained relatively low. Interestingly, Beauprea-type species (Beaupreaidites spp., Peninsulapollis spp.) are common and varied in the Antarctic Peninsula from Campanian into the Eocene, yet the South American pollen record does not include these forms, except for rare Peninsulapollis gillii. Possibly drier conditions may have discouraged northward migration of this group. South American fossil proteaceous taxa are primarily related to Grevilleoideae, a trend that continues into the modern flora on that continent.

Robin John Tillyard was the pre-eminent Australian entomologist of the first half of the twentieth century and a world authority on fossil insects. In May 1936, he set off on a six week, 5,000-kilometre excursion through Queensland, mostly by train, in search of new discoveries of fossil insects and insect ancestors. With a long history of serious illness and disability, he undoubtedly suffered substantial discomfort and pain during the six weeks, and, consistent with his fearless and combative personality, on his return to Brisbane in June he launched a stinging attack on Queensland's inadequate railway system, poor hotel accommodation and its many “uncivilised” towns. Tillyard's critique drew a spirited defence from the State's politicians and civic leaders, and the debate raged in the local press for the next week. Except for a large collection of fossil insects from the then recently discovered site at Mount Crosby near Brisbane (which required no train travel), and a week of now long forgotten media entertainment, Tillyard's Queensland excursion produced little. Even though this lack of success may have contributed to his negative state of mind on his return to Brisbane, he remained very enthusiastic about the new discoveries from Mount Crosby. With his tragic death in January of 1937, however, their study had to await another generation of Australian entomologists, one of whom was his son-in-law, John William Evans.

The underground storage of greenhouse gases is seen by many as one of the primary technologies by which fossil fuel dependent nations can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently there is a societal need to consider how best to facilitate the commercial scale uptake of this technology. Two principal barriers remain to the commercial scale deployment of greenhouse gas storage. Existing capture technologies are very expensive and there remains community concern that the underground storage of greenhouse gases is not permanent. It is likely that the natural gas industry will continue to be world leaders in the commercial-scale deployment of greenhouse gas storage, as this industry already captures large volumes of carbon dioxide and is familiar with underground storage technologies. In time, increased commercial scale deployment by the natural gas industry will build community confidence in the technology thus facilitating deployment by other industry sectors. Opportunities to promote greenhouse gas storage in Australia need to be considered in the broader policy context, which should be to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions at the lowest possible cost to the community. This extended abstract reviews the various ways in which greenhouse gas storage can be promoted and tests these in light of this broader policy context. The paper identifies those opportunities that should be pursued to promote the commercial scale uptake of greenhouse gas storage and flags those opportunities that, while they might assist in the uptake, are incompatible with the broader policy objective.

A low diversity plant macrofossil assemblage described from the northern section of Fossilryggen, Vestfjella, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, is dominated by matted leaf impressions of Glossopteris sp. cf. G. communis Feistmantel and Glossopteris sp. cf. G. spatulata Pant & Singh, and in situ finely branched Vertebraria indica Royle rootlets. Equisetalean stems, rhizomes and leaf whorls (Phyllotheca australis Brongniart emend. Townrow), isolated seeds, scale-leaves, and fragmentary gymnosperm axes represent minor components of the assemblage. The fossils are preserved in fine-grained, floodbasin sediments and dark palaeosols. Although lacking definitive biostratigraphical indices, the flora is considered to represent a Middle Permian assemblage based principally on lithological and palynological correlation with the southern section at Fossilryggen and broad similarities to mid-Permian plant assemblages elsewhere in Gondwana.

AbstractStrata exposed near Tabbowa Tank, Tabbowa Basin, western Sri Lanka have yielded the first representatives of the distinctive Permian Glossopteris flora from that country. The assemblage includes gymnosperm foliage attributable to Glossopteris raniganjensis, roots referable to Vertebraria australis, seeds assigned to Samaropsis sp., sphenophyte axes (Paracalamites australis) and foliage (Sphenophyllum emarginatum), and fern foliage (Dichotomopteris lindleyi). This small macroflora is interpreted to be of probable Lopingian (late Permian) age based on comparisons with the fossil floras of Peninsula India. Several Glossopteris leaves in the assemblage bear evidence of terrestrial arthropod interactions including hole feeding, margin feeding, possible lamina skeletonization, piercing-and-sucking damage and oviposition scarring. The newly identified onshore Permian strata necessitate re-evaluation of current models explaining the evolution of the adjacent offshore Mannar Basin. Previously considered to have begun subsiding and accumulating sediment during Jurassic time, we propose that the Mannar Basin may have initiated as part of a pan-Gondwanan extensional phase during late Palaeozoic – Triassic time. We interpret the basal, as yet unsampled, seismically reflective strata of this basin to be probable organic-rich continental strata of Lopingian age, equivalent to those recorded in the Tabbowa Basin, and similar to the Permian coal-bearing successions in the rift basins of eastern India and Antarctica. Such continental fossiliferous strata are particularly significant as potential source rocks for recently identified natural gas resources in the Mannar Basin.

The political accord struck by leaders at the United Nations negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009 allows participants to express their greenhouse gas commitments in a variety of ways. This paper compares the environmental and economic performance of these disparate commitments using the G-Cubed model of the global economy. We focus on fossil-fuel-related CO2 and assume targets are achieved domestically. We show how different formulations make the same targets appear different in stringency and explore the Accord's spillover effects across countries. We find that commitments by Japan and Europe imply high carbon prices and relatively high GDP losses. The United States and China both have moderate carbon prices and moderate GDP effects. Australia and Eastern Europe/Former Soviet Union have relatively large GDP effects despite small or zero carbon prices because their terms of trade decline. OPEC suffers a large drop in GDP from a sharp decline in world oil demand.

AbstractTwenty-two plant species were identified from leaves, fruits, or flowers, and 41 taxa from pollen, present in a macrofossil (leaf) layer in a peat swamp formed on Pleistocene dunes on the Aupouri Peninsula in northern New Zealand. Eight genera of gymnosperms are represented. With the exception of Lagarostrobos colensoi, all tree species abundant as macrofossils are also common as pollen. Macrofossils enabled the on-site flora to be compared with the regional flora, represented by the pollen rain. Studies on leaf decomposition rates indicate bias toward sclerophyllous species in the macrofossils. Identification to species level and treering data from preserved kauri logs allow quantitative comparisons with similar extant communities. Current climatic conditions at those analogue sites are cooler (2° to 3°C), cloudier (11%), and much wetter (85%) than those currently prevailing on the Aupouri Peninsula. Dendrochronological results also suggest that the far north of New Zealand had a cooler, cloudier, and wetter climate at the time the fossil leaf assemblage was formed. Radiocarbon dates from possibly contaminated samples suggest that a diverse mixed gymnosperm/angiosperm forest, dominated by kauri (Agathis australis), was present about (or sometime before) 41,00034,000 yr B.P., when the leaf layer was formed. Similar temperature reductions have been postulated for this period in New Zealand by other authors.

Abstract Future energy becomes a concern all over the country. The fossil energy resources are decreasing now, and the exploitation these resources leave behind environmental problems. It was increasing the gas emission of CO2 and affected global warming. Renewable and environmentally friendly energy resource is the right choice to solve the problem. Wave power is one of the marine resources that have an advantage in hight density and continuity. This research aims to investigate the spatial-temporal distribution of wave power potency. This study location between 90°E – 150°E; 15°N – 15°S. We used a hindcast data simulation of WAVEWATCH-III with 0.125° (~14 km) spatial resolution and six-hourly data for 25 years (1991-2015). We determine the potential wave power resources by considering the wave flux, Presence of Exceedance (PE), Coefficient of Variation (Cv), Monthly Variability Index (MV), and Seasonal Variability Index (SV). The result shows that in the open sea, such as the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, contains higher wave power density. The level of stability shows that this area is more stable than the inner sea. The power density changes periodically conducted with the monsoonal cycle. The highest energy flux in the Indian Ocean achieved when Australian monsoon and lowest when Asian monsoon, whereas in the Pacific Ocean, the peak of power density reaches when Asian monsoon onset and the lowest in June-July-August. The most stable level coherent with the highest power density, and the lowest level is in the transition period. Based on this analysis, the most potential areas for wave power development are in Enggano, Lampung, Banten, West Java, Central Java, DIY, East Java until Bali.

In Africa impressions of two leaves of Gangamopteris were found below the glacial conglomerate and in Australia Gangamopteris and Schizoneura were found interbedded with the glacial beds at Bacchus Marsh. Microfossils, including pollen grains like those of the Glossopteris Flora, have been reported from the tillites, particularly from the Bacchus Marsh tillite. Similar microfossils have also been reported from the beds of the Talcher stage lying immediately above the glacial beds. All these fossils indicate that they were the pioneers of the Glossopteris flora which may have come into existence in unglaciated and protected locations of Gondwanaland during the Ice Age itself. The early elements of the Glossopteris Flora thus seem to have lived in a cold temperate climate alongside glaciers. The flora of this stage was relatively poor but as the climate warmed up the forests became richer and their plants more diversified. However, this flora was living in a climate where a cold winter alternated with a warm summer and it abounded in deciduous plants. The climax of the Gondwana vegetation was reached during the Raniganj stage when a much warmer and more humid climate supported a rich forest vegetation again abounding in deciduous trees. Thereafter, there was a sudden change of vegetation during the Triassic when the plants of the Glossopteris Flora yielded place to new elements of the Dicroidium Flora. The disappearance of the Rhacopteris-Lepidodendropsis Flora with the onset of the glaciation during the Carboniferous-Permian times is easily understood but the sudden appearance of an entirely new Glossopteris Flora after, or even during the glaciation itself, and its almost simultaneous spread in all parts of Gondwanaland raise difficult questions about its origin and phylogeny. Besides dealing with the answers to these questions, the author discusses the factors and implications of the gradual decline of the Glossopteris Flora and the rise of the Dicroidium Flora during the Triassic. The estimates of the geological age and palaeogeographical limits of the Glossopteris Flora are also scrutinized in the light of recent work.

ObjectiveIdentify the views of healthcare leaders towards public healthcare’s carbon footprint; the importance or not of healthcare energy supply and sources and; the perceived key barriers for Victorian health care to show leadership on renewable energy sources and supply. MethodsSelf-administered questionnaire (10 Likert scale, two open-ended questions) among 24 Victorian Health Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). Responses were anonymous. Descriptive analysis was conducted. ResultsOverall, 13/24 (54%) of CEOs responded. A majority (11/13) agreed that climate change is causing real and accelerating harm to health and the environment, with impacts on patients, staff and services a current issue. One hundred percent (13/13) saw leadership by the public healthcare sector on environmental sustainability as an important responsibility (strongly agreed, 9/13 (69%); agreed, 4/13 (31%)), with most CEOs supporting their institution increasing the amount of renewable electricity supply over-and-above grid levels (strongly agreed, 3/13 (23%); agreed, 9/13 (69%)). However, support for renewable electricity was, for the most part, aspirational and not perceived as a current priority. The key perceived barriers to increasing renewable electricity supply were Health Purchasing Victoria contract and financial constraints. ConclusionsHealth care itself has a carbon footprint. Public healthcare CEOs are supportive of their institutions increasing use of renewable electricity supply, yet perceived barriers regarding inflexible and poorly transparent purchasing contracts and financial cost exist. What is known about the topic?Australian health care contributes ~7 percent to Australia’s total carbon emissions, with hospital energy consumption (coal-generated electricity and natural/fossil gas) a large majority. An executive level champion is a consistent factor across health services that are taking the lead on environmental sustainability. What does this paper add?Our research is original in understanding the views of Victorian public healthcare CEOs on climate change, renewable energy supply and key barriers to increasing uptake. A majority of public healthcare CEOs see energy choices as an important issue for their patients, staff and institution, and that greater leadership should be shown by health care in light of the urgency required to address greenhouse gas emissions. However, support for renewable electricity was, for the most part, aspirational, with specific barriers identified across the healthcare network. What are the implications for practitioners?This research provides information that can inform a pathway to healthcare decarbonisation via sector-wide action.

Natural gas is considered the fossil fuel to facilitate the transition from hydrocarbons to lower-emissions energy sources such as renewables. Wind and solar projects factor significantly into major international oil and gas companies’ goals of achieving net-zero emissions in the future. For example, both BP and Royal Dutch Shell intend to reach net zero by 2050. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts total installed wind and solar PV capacity is on course to surpass natural gas in 2023 and coal in 2024. This represents progress toward the achievement of the 2050 goals. However, wind, solar, and hydropower, which together account for about 90% of all renewable-electricity generation, are largely dependent on variable weather conditions. And the variability in weather translates to an undesired variability in availability and reliability. For wider adoption, utility-scale batteries are needed to store energy for use when a light breeze barely whispers, or the skies are cloudy. Battery-storage projects are not a new concept, but their recent growth is notable. Although California is the global leader in the deployment of high-capacity batteries, news from other parts of the world offers indicators of progress. In 2020, global installed energy-storage capacity totaled 173.6 GW, including pumped-hydroelectric, compressed-air, advanced battery-energy, flywheel-energy, thermal-energy, and hydrogen-energy storage systems. The US had 0.74 GW of rated-power battery-storage projects based on lead-acid, lithium-ion, nickel-based, and sodium-based batteries. A Tesla subsidiary, Gambit Energy Storage LLC, is currently constructing a 100-MW+ battery-storage facility in Angleton, Texas, about 40 miles south of Houston. It is expected to become operational 1 June. Elon Musk (best known for his Tesla electric vehicles and SpaceX) launched a 100-MW lithium-ion battery project in South Australia in 2017 adjacent to a wind farm. Soon to become a “hot(ter)” commodity will be the lithium, rare earths, and other minerals needed to build the batteries. The global lithium and cobalt markets rallied in January and February in response to the resurgence of demand for electric vehicles (EV) in Europe. Last year, sales in battery EVs and plug-in-hybrid EVs in Europe outpaced those in China. Adamas Intelligence reported that the second half of 2020 saw a global 205% increase in battery cobalt deployed, a 192% increase in battery lithium deployed, and a 135% increase in battery nickel deployed vs. the second half of 2019. Investors and companies are chasing this potentially lucrative sector. Startup DeepGreen Metals, whose partners include Maersk and Allseas, aims to mine the deep sea for battery metals and on 4 March announced an agreement to merge with Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corp. to list on the Nasdaq. Cornish Lithium, holding rights to explore for lithium within geothermal waters in areas off the north and south coasts of Cornwall, UK, recently signed on MarineSpace to help it begin its desk-based exploration program to identify potential geological targets for later research. Physical exploration work is not expected for at least 4 years.

A new fossil flora from central Queensland, of late Eocene or early Oligocene age, has yielded a diverse assemblage of flowering plants and ferns, including the first evidence of horsetails (Equisetum L.) from the Cenozoic of Australia. The fossils assigned to Equisetum are based on a stem fragment, 2–3mm in diameter, and spreading leaf sheath and diaphragm. The leaf sheath is interpreted to consist of ~24–30 leaves. The spatial arrangement of regularly arranged depressions in a section of the outer cortex is interpreted as evidence of the leaf vascular traces, and indicates a similar number of vascular traces. This specimen provides the youngest evidence of the genus from Australia and indicates that Equisetum survived for at least another 50 million years after it was thought to be extinct in Australia. Whereas molecular data for extant species of Equisetum collectively suggest a comparatively recent origin and radiation, the fossil record of the genus indicates a significantly longer and more complex history. Fossils, such as the new specimen from Makowata, Queensland, will, therefore, play a key role in understanding the history and past distribution of Equisetum in Australia. A key challenge is to assemble and characterise the morphological traits of these living and fossil plants to better understand the origins, history and radiation of this remarkable group of euphyllophytes.

Despite the worsening climate crisis and market shifts towards decarbonization, Australia remains heavily invested in carbon-intensive activities. As one of the world's largest exporters of coal and gas, Australian political economy has been dominated over the last several decades by fossil fuel expansionism. In this article, we explore how Australian corporate and political elites have defended the continuation of fossil fuel extraction and use in the face of calls for a transition to a low-carbon energy future. Through an analysis of public statements by industry associations, corporate leaders, politicians and trade union officials, we identify how these actors have constructed a hegemonic temporal narrative stressing the historical importance of fossil fuels and that a transition to renewable energy represents a threat to Australia's future. Our analysis contributes to the growing literature within the field of industrial relations attending to the complex industrial dynamics underlying the maintenance of fossil fuel hegemony. We also contribute to recent discussions on hegemony by demonstrating the importance of temporality in linking diverse actors together in defending hegemony. Finally, we highlight the critical importance of corporate power in fundamentally shaping climate and energy politics.

The Black Summer of 2019/2020 saw the forests of southeast Australia go up in flames. The fire season started early, in September 2019, and by March 2020 fires had burned over 12.6 million hectares (Werner and Lyons). The scale and severity of the fires was quickly confirmed by scientists to be “unprecedented globally” (Boer et al.) and attributable to climate change (Nolan et al.).The fires were also a media spectacle, generating months of apocalyptic front-page images and harrowing broadcast footage. Media coverage was particularly preoccupied by the cause of the fires. Media framing of disasters often seeks to attribute blame (Anderson et al.; Ewart and McLean) and, over the course of the fire period, blame for the fires was attributed to climate change in much media coverage. However, as the disaster unfolded, denialist discourses in some media outlets sought to veil this revelation by providing alternative explanations for the fires. Misinformation originating from social media also contributed to this obscuration.In this article, we investigate the extent to which media coverage of the 2019/2020 bushfires functioned both to precipitate a climate change epiphany and also to support refutation of the connection between catastrophic fires and the climate crisis.Environmental Communication and RevelationIn its biblical sense, revelation is both an ending and an opening: it is the apocalyptic end-time and also the “revealing” of this time through stories and images. Environmental communication has always been revelatory, in these dual senses of the word – it is a mode of communication that is tightly bound to crisis; that has long grappled with obfuscation and misinformation; and that disrupts power structures and notions of the status quo as it seeks to reveal what is hidden. Climate change in particular is associated in the popular imagination with apocalypse, and is also a reality that is constantly being “revealed”. Indeed, the narrative of climate change has been “animated by the revelations of science” (McNeish 1045) and presented to the public through “key moments of disclosure and revelation”, or “signal moments”, such as scientist James Hansen’s 1988 US Senate testimony on global warming (Hamblyn 224).Journalism is “at the frontline of environmental communication” (Parham 96) and environmental news, too, is often revelatory in nature – it exposes the problems inherent in the human relationship with the natural world, and it reveals the scientific evidence behind contentious issues such as climate change. Like other environmental communicators, environmental journalists seek to “break through the perceptual paralysis” (Nisbet 44) surrounding climate change, with the dual aim of better informing the public and instigating policy change. Yet leading environmental commentators continually call for “better media coverage” of the planetary crisis (Suzuki), as climate change is repeatedly bumped off the news agenda by stories and events deemed more newsworthy.News coverage of climate-related disasters is often revelatory both in tone and in cultural function. The disasters themselves and the news narratives which communicate them become processes that make visible what is hidden. Because environmental news is “event driven” (Hansen 95), disasters receive far more news coverage than ongoing problems and trends such as climate change itself, or more quietly devastating issues such as species extinction or climate migration. Disasters are also highly visual in nature. Trumbo (269) describes climate change as an issue that is urgent, global in scale, and yet “practically invisible”; in this sense, climate-related disasters become a means of visualising and realising what is otherwise a complex, difficult, abstract, and un-seeable concept.Unsurprisingly, natural disasters are often presented to the public through a film of apocalyptic rhetoric and imagery. Yet natural disasters can be also “revelatory” moments: instances of awakening in which suppressed truths come spectacularly and devastatingly to the surface. Matthewman (9–10) argues that “disasters afford us insights into social reality that ordinarily pass unnoticed. As such, they can be read as modes of disclosure, forms of communication”. Disasters, he continues, can reveal both “our new normal” and “our general existential condition”, bringing “the underbelly of progress into sharp relief”. Similarly, Lukes (1) states that disasters “lift veils”, revealing “what is hidden from view in normal times”. Yet for Lukes, “the revelation tells us nothing new, nothing that we did not already know”, and is instead a forced confronting of that which is known yet difficult to engage with. Lukes’ concern is the “revealing” of poverty and inequality in New Orleans following the impact of Hurricane Katrina, yet climate-related disasters can also make visible what McNeish terms “the dark side effects of industrial civilisation” (1047). The Australian bushfires of 2019/2020 can be read in these terms, primarily because they unveiled the connection between climate change and extreme events. Scorching millions of hectares, with a devastating impact on human and non-human communities, the fires revealed climate change as a physical reality, and—for Australians—as a local issue as well as a global one. As media coverage of the fires unfolded and smoke settled on half the country, the impact of climate change on individual lives, communities, landscapes, native animal and plant species, and well-established cultural practices (such as the summer camping holiday) could be fully and dramatically realised. Even for those Australians not immediately impacted, the effects were lived and felt: in our lungs, and on our skin, a physical revelation that the impacts of climate change are not limited to geographically distant people or as-yet-unborn future generations. For many of us, the summer of fire was a realisation that climate change can no longer be held at arm’s length.“Revelation” also involves a temporal collapse whereby the future is dragged into the present. A revelatory streak of this nature has always existed at the heart of environmental communication and can be traced back at least as far as the environmentalist Rachel Carson, whose 1962 book Silent Spring revealed a bleak, apocalyptic future devoid of wildlife and birdsong. In other words, environmental communication can inspire action for change by exposing the ways in which the comforts and securities of the present are built upon a refusal to engage with the future. This temporal rupture where the future meets the present is particularly characteristic of climate change narratives. It is not surprising, then, that media coverage of the 2019/2020 bushfires addressed not just the immediate loss and devastation but also dread of the future, and the understanding that summer will increasingly hold such threats. Bushfires, Climate Change and the MediaThe link between bushfire risk and climate change generated a flurry of coverage in the Australian media well before the fires started in the spring of 2019. In April that year, a coalition of 23 former fire and emergency services leaders warned that Australia was “unprepared for an escalating climate threat” (Cox). They requested a meeting with the new government, to be elected in May, and better funding for firefighting to face the coming bushfire season. When that meeting was granted, at the end of Australia’s hottest and driest year on record (Doyle) in November 2019, bushfires had already been burning for two months. As the fires burned, the emergency leaders expressed frustration that their warnings had been ignored, claiming they had been “gagged” because “you are not allowed to talk about climate change”. They cited climate change as the key reason why the fire season was lengthening and fires were harder to fight. "If it's not time now to speak about climate and what's driving these events”, they asked, “– when?" (McCubbing).The mediatised uncovering of a bushfire/climate change connection was not strictly a revelation. Recent fires in California, Russia, the Amazon, Greece, and Sweden have all been reported in the media as having been exacerbated by climate change. Australia, however, has long regarded itself as a “fire continent”: a place adapted to fire, whose landscapes invite fire and can recover from it. Bushfires had therefore been considered part of the Australian “normal”. But in the Australian spring of 2019, with fires having started earlier than ever and charring rainforests that did not usually burn, the fire chiefs’ warning of a climate change-induced catastrophic bushfire season seemed prescient. As the fires spread and merged, taking homes, lives, landscapes, and driving people towards the water, revelatory images emerged in the media. Pictures of fire refugees fleeing under dystopian crimson skies, masked against the smoke, were accompanied by headlines like “Apocalypse Now” (Fife-Yeomans) and “Escaping Hell” (The Independent). Reports used words like “terror”, “nightmare” (Smee), “mayhem”, and “Armageddon” (Davidson).In the Australian media, the fire/climate change connection quickly became politicised. The Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack interviewed by the ABC, responding to a comment by Greens leader Adam Bandt, said connecting bushfire and climate while the fires raged was “disgraceful” and “disgusting”. People needed help, he said, not “the ravings of some pure enlightened and woke capital city greenies” (Goloubeva and Haydar). Gladys Berejiklian the NSW Premier also described it as “inappropriate” (Baker) and “disappointing” (Fox and Higgins) to talk about climate change at this time. However Carol Sparks, Mayor of bushfire-ravaged Glen Innes in rural NSW, contradicted this stance, telling the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) “Michael McCormack needs to read the science”. Climate change, she said, was “not a political thing” but “scientific fact” (Goloubeva and Haydar).As the fires merged and intensified, so did the media firestorm. Key Australian media became a sparring ground for issue definition, with media predictably split down ideological lines. Public broadcasters the ABC and SBS (Special Broadcasting Service), along with The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian Australia, predominantly framed the catastrophe as wrought by climate change. The Guardian, in an in-depth investigation of climate science and bushfire risk, stated that “despite the political smokescreen” the connection between the fires and global warming was “unequivocal” (Redfearn). The ABC characterised the fires as “a glimpse of the horrors of climate change’s crescendoing impact” (Rose). News outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Australia, however, actively sought to play down the fires’ seriousness. On 2 January, as front pages of newspapers across the world revealed horrifying fiery images, Murdoch’s Australian ran an upbeat shot of New Year’s Day picnic races as its lead, relegating discussion of the fires to page 4 (Meade). More than simply obscuring the fires’ significance, News Corp media actively sought to convince readers that the fires were not out of the ordinary. For example, as the fires’ magnitude was becoming clear on the last day of 2019, The Australian ran a piece comparing the fires with previous conflagrations, claiming such conditions were “not unprecedented” and the fires were “nothing new” (Johnstone). News Corp’s Sky News also used this frame: “climate alarmists”, “catastrophise”, and “don’t want to look at history”, it stated in a segment comparing the event to past major bushfires (Kenny).As the fires continued into January and February 2020, the refutation of the climate change frame solidified around several themes. Conservative media continued to insist the fires were “normal” for Australia and attributed their severity to a lack of hazard reduction burning, which they blamed on “Greens policies” (Brown and Caisley). They also promoted the argument, espoused by Energy Minister Angus Taylor, that with only “1.3% of global emissions” Australia “could not have meaningful impact” on global warming through emissions reductions, and that top-down climate mitigation pressure from the UN was “doomed to fail” (Lloyd). Foreign media saw the fires in quite different terms. From the outside looking in, the Australian fires were clearly revealed as fuelled by global heating and exacerbated by the Australian government’s climate denialism. Australia was framed as a “notorious climate offender” (Shield) that was—as The New York Times put it—“committing climate suicide” (Flanagan) with its lack of coherent climate policy and its predilection for mining coal. Ouest-France ran a headline reading “High on carbon, rich Australia denies global warming” in which it called Scott Morrison’s position on climate change “incomprehensible” (Guibert). The LA Times called the Australian fires “a climate change warning to its leaders—and ours”, noting how “fossil fuel friendly Morrison” had “gleefully wielded a fist-sized chunk of coal on the floor of parliament in 2017” (Karlik). In the UK, the Independent online ran a front page spread of the fires’ vast smoke plume, with the headline “This is what a climate crisis looks like” (Independent Online), while Australian MP Craig Kelly was called “disgraceful” by an interviewer on Good Morning Britain for denying the fires’ link to climate change (Good Morning Britain).Both in Australia and internationally, deliberate misinformation spread by social media additionally shaped media discourse on the fires. The false revelation that the fires had predominantly been started by arson spread on Twitter under the hashtag #ArsonEmergency. While research has been quick to show that this hashtag was artificially promoted by bots (Weber et al.), this and misinformation like it was also shared and amplified by real Twitter users, and quickly spread into mainstream media in Australia—including Murdoch’s Australian (Ross and Reid)—and internationally. Such misinformation was used to shore up denialist discourses about the fires, and to obscure revelation of the fire/climate change connection. Blame Framing, Public Opinion and the Extent of the Climate Change RevelationAs studies of media coverage of environmental disasters show us, media seek to apportion blame. This blame framing is “accountability work”, undertaken to explain how and why a disaster occurred, with the aim of “scrutinizing the actions of crisis actors, and holding responsible authorities to account” (Anderson et al. 930). In moments of disaster and in their aftermath, “framing contests” (Benford and Snow) can emerge in which some actors, regarding the crisis as an opportunity for change, highlight the systemic issues that have led to the crisis. Other actors, experiencing the crisis as a threat to the status quo, try to attribute the blame to others, and deny the need for policy change. As the Black Summer unfolded, just such a contest took place in Australian media discourse. While Murdoch’s dominant News Corp media sought to protect the status quo, promote conservative politicians’ views, and divert attention from the climate crisis, other Australian and overseas media outlets revealed the fires’ link to climate change and intransigent emissions policy. However, cracks did begin to show in the News Corp stance on climate change during the fires: an internal whistleblower publicly resigned over the media company’s fires coverage, calling it a “misinformation campaign”, and James Murdoch also spoke out about being “disappointed with the ongoing denial of the role of climate change” in reporting the fires (ABC/Reuters).Although media reporting on the environment has long been at the forefront of shaping social understanding of environmental issues, and news maintains a central role in both revealing environmental threats and shaping environmental politics (Lester), during Australia’s Black Summer people were also learning about the fires from lived experience. Polls show that the fires affected 57% of Australians. Even those distant from the catastrophe were, for some time, breathing the most toxic air in the world. This personal experience of disaster revealed a bushfire season that was far outside the normal, and public opinion reflected this. A YouGov Australia Institute poll in January 2020 found that 79% of Australians were concerned about climate change—an increase of 5% from July 2019—and 67% believed climate change was making the bushfires worse (Australia Institute). However, a January 2020 Ipsos poll also found that polarisation along political lines on whether climate change was indeed occurring had increased since 2018, and was at its highest levels since 2014 (Crowe). This may reflect the kind of polarised media landscape that was evident during the fires. A thorough dissection in public discourse of Australia’s unprecedented fire season has been largely eclipsed by the vast coverage of the coronavirus pandemic that so quickly followed it. In May 2020, however, the fires were back in the media, when the Bushfires Royal Commission found that the Black Summer “played out exactly as scientists predicted it would” and that more seasons like it were now “locked in” because of carbon emissions (Hitch). It now remains to be seen whether the revelatory extent of the climate change blame frame that played out in media discourse on the fires will be sufficient to garner meaningful action and policy change—or whether denialist discourses will again obscure climate change revelation and seek to maintain the status quo. References Anderson, Deb, et al. "Fanning the Blame: Media Accountability, Climate and Crisis on the Australian ‘Fire Continent’." 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Abstract Later Cambrian and earliest Ordovician trilobites and brachiopods spanning eight horizons from five localities within the Sông Mã, Hàm Rồng and Đông Sơn formations of the Thanh Hóa province of Việt Nam, constrain the age and faunal affinities of rocks within the Sông Đà terrane, one of several suture/fault-bounded units situated between South China to the north and Indochina to the south. ‘Ghost-like’ preservation in dolomite coupled with tectonic deformation leaves many of the fossils poorly preserved, and poor exposure precludes collecting within continuously exposed stratigraphic successions. Cambrian carbonate facies pass conformably into Lower Ordovician carbonate-rich strata that also include minor siliciclastic facies, and the recovered fauna spans several uppermost Cambrian and Lower Ordovician biozones. The fauna is of equatorial Gondwanan affinity, and comparable to that from South China, North China, Sibumasu and Australia. A new species of Miaolingian ‘ptychopariid’ trilobite, Kaotaia xuanensis, is described. Detrital zircon samples from Cambrian–Ordovician rocks of the North Việt Nam and Sông Đà terranes, and from Palaeozoic samples from the Trường Sơn sector of Indochina immediately to the south, contain a predominance of ages spanning the Neoproterozoic period and have a typical equatorial Gondwanan signature. We associate the Cambrian and Tremadocian of the Sông Đà terrane with areas immediately to the north of it, including the North Việt Nam terrane and the southern parts of Yunnan and Guangxi provinces of China.

The release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and his subsequent training of thousands of Climate Presenters marks a critical transition point in communication around climate change. An analysis of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth presentation and of the guidelines we were taught as Presenters in The Climate Project, show they reflect the marketing principles that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report Weathercocks and Signposts (Crompton) argues cannot achieve the systemic and transformational changes required to address global warming. This paper will consider the ultimate effectiveness of social marketing approaches to Climate change communication and the Al Gore Climate Project in the light of the WWF critique. Both the film and the various slideshow presentations of An Inconvenient Truth conclude with a series of suggestions about how to “how to start” changing “the way you live.” The audience is urged to: Reduce your own emissions Switch to green power Offset the rest Spread the word The focus on changing individual consumption in An Inconvenient Truth is also reflected in the climate campaign page Get Involved on the website of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF)—the Australian partner in Al Gore’s The Climate Project (TCP). Al Gore’s Climate Project, with over 3,000 Climate Presenters worldwide, could be seen as a giant experimental test of the merits of marketing approaches to social change as compared to the recommendations in the WWF critique authored by Crompton. In Orion magazine, Derrick Jensen has described this emphasis on “personal consumption” instead of “organized political resistance” as “a campaign of systematic misdirection.” Jensen points out that “even if every person in the United States did everything the movie suggested, U.S. carbon emissions would fall by only 22 percent.” The latest scientific reports show we are on the edge of a tipping point into catastrophic climate change—runaway warming which would render the planet uninhabitable for most life forms, including humans (Hansen et al 13). To reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change to a still worrying 13% we need significant action between now and 2012, and carbon dioxide levels will need to be stabilised at between 350 and 375 parts per million by 2050 (Elzen and Meinshausen 17). Because Americans and Australians are taking far more than our share of the global atmospheric commons, we need to reduce our emissions to less than 90% below 1990 levels by 2050 as our share of the global emission reduction targets (Elzen and Meinshausen 24; Garnaut 283). In other words, if one takes the science seriously there is a huge shortfall between the reductions which can be achieved by individual changes to consumption and the scale of reductions that are required to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change to a half-way tolerable level. The actions being promoted as solutions are nowhere near “inconvenient” enough to solve the problem. Like Crompton and Jensen I was inclined to take the gap between goal and means as overwhelming evidence for the inadequacy of marketing approaches emphasising changes to individual consumption choices. Like them I was concerned that the emphasis on consumption in marketing approaches may even reinforce the consumerism and materialism that drives the growth in emissions. Whilst being generally critical of marketing approaches, Crompton says he accepts the importance marketers place on tailoring the message to fit the motivations of the target audience (25). However, while Crompton describes Rose and Dade’s “Values Modes analysis” as “a sophisticated technique for audience segmentation” (21), he rejects the campaign strategies designed around the target audiences they identify (23). Market segmentation provides communications practitioners with the “extensive knowledge of whom you are trying to reach and what moves them” which is one of the “three must haves” of a successful communication campaign (Fenton 3). Rose and Dade’s segmentation analysis categorises people based on the motivational hierarchy in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They identify three population groupings—the Settlers, driven by security; the Prospectors, esteem driven; and the Pioneers, who are motivated by intrinsic values (1). As with Maslow’s hierarchy these “Values Modes” are developmentally dynamic. The satisfaction of more basic needs, like physical safety and economic security, support a developmental pathway to the next level. Just as the satisfaction of the need for social acceptance and status free the individual to become motivated by self-actualisation, universal and compassionate ethics, and transcendence. Because individuals move in and out of Values Modes, depending on the degree to which economic, social and political conditions facilitate the satisfaction of their needs, the percentage of the population in each group varies across time and location (Rose and Dade 1). In 2007 the UK population was 20% Settlers, 40% Prospectors, and 40% Pioneers (Rose and Dade 1), but the distribution in other countries would need to be determined empirically. Rose et al provide a strategic rationale for a marketing based climate campaign targeted at changing the behaviours of Prospectors, rather than appealing to Pioneers. While the Pioneers are 40% of the population, they don’t like being “marketed at,” they seek out information for themselves and make up their own minds, and “will often have already considered your ideas and decided what to do” (6). They are also well catered for by environmental groups’ existing ethical and issues based campaigns (3). Prospectors, on the other hand, are the 40% of the population which are the “least reached” by existing ethical or issues oriented environmental campaigning; are the most enthusiastic (or “voracious”) consumers, so their choices will sway business; and they tend to be swinging voters, so if their opinions change it will sway politicians (4). Rose et al (13) found that in order to appeal to Prospectors a climate change communications campaign should: Refer to local, visible, negative changes involving loss or damage [In the UK] show the significance of UK emissions and those of normal people (i.e. like them) Use interest in homes and gardens Deploy the nag factor of their children Create offers which are above all easy, cost-effective, instant and painless Prospectors don’t like, and will be put off by campaigns that (Rose et al 13): Talk about the implications: too remote and they are not very bothered Use messengers (voices) which lack authority or could be challenged Criticise behaviours (e.g. wrong type of car, ‘wasting’ energy in your home) Ask them to give things up Ask them to be the first to change (amongst their peers) Invoke critical judgement by others Crompton recommends an environmental campaign that attempts to persuade Prospectors that they are wrong in thinking material consumption and “ostentatious displays of wealth” contribute to their happiness. Prospectors see precisely these sorts of comments by Concerned Ethicals as a judgemental criticism of their love of things, and a denial of their need for the acceptance and approval of others. Maslow’s developmental model, as well as the Value Modes research, would suggest that Crompton’s proposal is the exact opposite of what is required to move Prospectors into the Pioneer value mode. It is by accepting the values people have, and allowing them to meet the needs that drive them, that they can move on to more intrinsically motivated action. Crompton would appear to fall into the common “NGO or public sector campaign […] trap” of devising a campaign based on what will appeal to the 10% of the population that are Concerned Ethicals, but in the process “particularly annoy or intimidate” the strategically significant 40% of the population that are Prospectors (Rose et al 8). Crompton ignores the evidence from marketing campaign research that campaigns can’t directly change people’s basic motivations, while they can change people’s behaviours if they target their existing motivations. Contrary to Crompton’s claim that promoting green consumption will reinforce consumerism and materialism (16), Rose and Dade base their campaign strategy on the results of research into cognitive dissonance, which show that if you can get someone to act a certain way, they will alter their beliefs and preferences, as well as their self concept, to fit with their actions. Crompton confuses a tactic in a larger game, with the end goal of the game. “The trick is to get them to do the behaviour, not to develop the opinion” (Rose, “VBCOP” 2). Prospectors are persuaded to adopt a behaviour if they see it as “in,” and as what everyone else like them is doing. They are more easily persuaded to buy a product than adopt some other sort of behavioural change. The next part of an environmental marketing strategy like this is to label, praise and reward the behaviour (Futerra 11). Rose suggests that Prospectors can be engaged politically if governments are called on to recognise and reward the behaviour “say by giving them a tax break or paying them for their rooftop energy contribution” (“VBCOP” 3). Once governments have given such rewards, both Settlers and Propectors will fight to keep them, where they are normally disinclined to fight political battles. Once Prospectors identify themselves as, for example, in favour of renewable energy, politicians can be persuaded they need to act to get and keep votes, and business can be persuaded to change in order to continue to attract buyers for their products. In order to achieve the scale of emission reductions required individuals need to change their consumption patterns; politicians need to change the regulatory and planning context in which both individual and corporate decisions are made; and the economic system needs to be transformed so it internalises environmental costs and operates within environmental limits. Social marketing analyses have identified changing Prospectors buying habits as the wedge, or leverage point that can lead to such a cascading set of social, political and economic changes. Just as changing Prospector product choices can be exploited as a key leverage point, Al Gore identified getting United States commitment to emission reduction as a key leverage point towards achieving global commitments to binding reduction targets. Because the United States had the highest national greenhouse emissions, and was one of the two industrialised countries who had failed to sign the Kyoto Protocol, changing behaviour and belief in the United States was strategically critical to achieving global action on emissions reduction. Al Gore initially attempted to get the United States to sign the Kyoto Protocol and commit to emission reduction by working directly at the political level, without building the popular support for action that would encourage other politicians to support his proposals. In the movie, Al Gore talks about the defeat of his initial efforts to get the United States to sign the Kyoto Protocol, and of his recognition of the need to gain wider public support before political action would be taken. He talks about the unsuitability of the mass news media as a vehicle for achieving social and political change on climate emissions. The priority given to conflict as a news value means journalists focus on the personalities involved in disputes about climate change rather than provide an analysis of the issue. When climate experts explain the consensus position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), they are “balanced” with opposing statements from the handful of (commonly fossil fuel industry funded) climate deniers. Because climate emissions are part of a complex process of slow change occurring over long time lines they do not fit easily into standard news values like timeliness, novelty and proximity (Harrison). When Al Gore realised he wouldn’t be able to gain the wider public support he needed through the mass news media he began a quest to spread his message “meeting by meeting,” “person by person.” Al Gore turned his slide show into a movie in order to deliver the message to more people than he could reach face to face, and then trained Presenters to reach even more people. When the movie won an Oscar for Best Documentary it turned Al Gore into something of a celebrity. Al Gore’s celebrity status rubs off on Climate Presenters through their association with him, giving them access to community and business groups across the world. When a celebrity recommends or displays a behaviour, Prospectors are more likely to see it as the in thing and thus more willing to do the recommended action. The movie created an opportunity for Al Gore to be a more persuasive messenger than he had been as a politician. Al Gore began The Climate Project to increase the impact of the movie and spread the message further than he could take it by himself. The multiplication of modes of communicating the message fits with Fenton Communications’ “Rule of Three.” In Now Hear This they say the target audience “should read about us in the paper, see us on TV, hear about us from a neighbour and a friend […] have their kid mention us […] and so on” (17). The Presenter training emphasises the “direct communication, especially face to face” recommended by Rose (“To do” 174). During the Presenter training Al Gore warned of the danger of being too negative as it risked moving people “from denial to despair without stopping to act,” and of the need to present the story in such a way as to create hope. This is backed up by the communications marketing literature, which warns that “negative messages may actually induce despair and actually [sic] paralysis while the positive focus can inspire” (Boykoff 172). While it employs dramatic visual images and animations, the movie tends to downplay the potential severity of the consequences of runaway global warming, and presents these in a way that gives the impression of a contracted time frame for the consequences of warming in order to activate motivation based on near term implications. The movie responds to Prospectors’ disinterest in distant implication of climate change by emphasising near-term threats, such as the rising monetary cost of damages, as well as threats to life and property from disease, drought, fire, flood, storm, and rising sea levels. After training an initial round of American Presenters, Al Gore identified training Australian Presenters as the next strategic priority. While Australia’s collective emissions are small, our per capita emissions are higher than those of Americans, and as the only other industrialised nation that had not signed, it was believed our becoming a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol would increase the pressure on the United States to sign. The ACF provided Australian Presenters with additional slides containing vivid images of Australian impacts, and Presenters were encouraged to find their own examples to illustrate impacts relevant to specific local audiences. The importance of identifying local impacts to persuade and move their audiences is impressed upon Presenters during the training. Regular slide updates reinforce this priority. While authors like Crompton and Jensen note the emphasis on changes in consumption as suggested solutions to climate change, other elements of the presentation are just as important in appealing to Prospectors. Prospectors want to belong and gain status by doing whatever is highly regarded by others. The presentation has numerous slides emphasising who else has made commitments to Kyoto and emission reduction. The American presentation includes lists of other countries, and towns and states in the United States that had signed up to Kyoto. The Australian presentation includes graphics emphasising the overwhelming number of Australians who support action. Prospectors don’t like being asked to give things up, and the presentation insists on the high cost of failing to act, compared to the small cost of acting now. Doing something to stop climate change is presented as easy and achievable. Contrary to Crompton’s claim that promoting green consumption would not build the widespread awareness and support for the more far-reaching government action that is required to achieve systemic change (9), the results of recent opinion research show that upwards of 80% of Americans support effective and wide-ranging action to reduce emissions and develop new renewable energy technologies (Climate Checklist). Whereas it would not have been surprising if the financial crisis had dimmed the degree of enthusiasm for action to reduce greenhouse emissions, the high support for action on climate change in their polling continues to encourage the Australian government to use it as a wedge issue against the opposition. Without high levels of public support, there would be little or no chance that politicians would be willing to vote for measures that will reduce emissions. That the push for change in individual consumption choices was only ever one tactic in a wider campaign is also demonstrated by the other projects instigated by Al Gore and his team. Projects like RepoWEr America and WE can solve the climate crisis leverage the interest developed by the Climate Project to increase public pressure on politicians to support regulatory change. The RepoWEr America and WE can solve the climate crisis sites target individuals as citizens and make it easy for them to participate in the political process. Forms help them sign petitions, write letters and meet with their elected officials, write for newspapers and call in to talkback radio, and organise local community meetings or events. Al Gore’s own web site adds a link to the Live Earth company to add to these arsenals. Live Earth “creates innovative, engaging events and media that challenge global leaders, local communities and every individual to actively participate in solving our planet's urgent environmental crises.” These sites provide the infrastructure to make it easy for individuals to move into action in the political domain. But they do it in ways that will appeal to Prospectors. They involve fun, their actions are celebrated, prizes are offered, the number of people involved is emphasised so they feel part of the “happening” thing. RepoWEr America and WE can solve the climate crisis help Prospectors to engage in political action in order to achieve regulatory change. Finally, or first, Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management Company, operating since 2004, is oriented towards systemic transformation in the economic system, so that economic drivers are aligned with sustainability imperatives. Al Gore and his partner David Blood reject Gross Domestic Product—the current measure of economic growth, and a major driver of unsustainable economic activity—as “dangerously imprecise in its ability to account for natural and human resources” and challenge business to accept the “need to internalize externalities” in order to create a sustainable economy. In their Thematic Research Highlights, Al Gore’s Generation company critiques the “Hedonic Treadmill”—which puts “material gains ahead of personal happiness” (32), and challenges “governments, companies, and individuals [...] to broaden their scope of responsibility to match their sphere of influence” (13). While the Climate Project would appear to ignore the inadequacy of individual consumption change as a means of emission reduction, the information and analysis targeted at business by Generation demonstrates this has not been ignored in the overall strategy to achieve systemic change. Al Gore suggests that material consumption should no longer be the measure of economic welfare, an argument he backs with an analysis showing business that long term wealth creation depends on accepting environmental and social sustainability as priorities. While An Inconvenient Truth promotes consumption change as the (inadequate) solution to Global Warming, this is just one strategically chosen tactic in a much larger and coordinated campaign to achieve systemic change through regulatory change and transformation of the economic system. References Australian Conservation Foundation. “Get Involved.” 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.acfonline.org >. Path: Campaigns; Climate Project; Get Involved. Al Gore. AlGore.com. 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.algore.com/ >. An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Paramount Classics and Participant Productions, 2006. Boykoff, Maxwell T. “Book Review on: Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change. Eds. Susanne C. Moser and Lisa Dilling.” International Journal of Sustainability Communication 3 (2008): 171-175. 24 Aug. 2009 < http://www.ccp-online.org/docs/artikel/03/3_11_IJSC_Book_Review_Boykoff.pdf >. Climate Checklist: Recent Opinion Research Findings and Messaging Tips. 2007 Sightline Institute. 27 Aug. 2009. < http://www.sightline.org/research/sust_toolkit/communications-strategy/flashcard2-climate-research-compendium/ >. Crompton, Tom. Weathercocks and Signposts. World Wildlife Fund. April 2008. 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/weathercocks_report2.pdf >. Den Elzen, Michel, and Malte Meinshausen. “Meeting the EU 2°C Climate Target: Global and Regional Emission Implications”. Report 728001031/2005. 18 May 2005. 24 Aug. 2009 < http://www.rivm.nl/bibliotheek/rapporten/728001031.pdf >. Fenton Communications. Now Hear This: The 9 Laws of Successful Advocacy Communications. Fenton Communications. 2009. 24 Aug. 2009. < http://www.fenton.com/FENTON_IndustryGuide_NowHearThis.pdf >. Futerra Sustainability Communications. New Rules: New Game. 24 Aug. 2009 < http://www.futerra.co.uk/downloads/NewRules:NewGame.pdf >. Garnaut, Ross. “Targets and Trajectories.” The Garnaut Climate Change Review: Final Report. 2008. 277–298. 24 Aug. 2009 < http://www.garnautreview.org.au/pdf/Garnaut_Chapter12.pdf >. Generation Investment Management. Thematic Research Highlights. May 2007. 28 Aug. 2009 < http://www.generationim.com/media/pdf-generation-thematic-research-v13.pdf >. Generation Investment Management LLP 2004-09. < http://www.generationim.com/ >. Gore, Al and David Blood. “We Need Sustainable Capitalism: Nature Does Not Do Bailouts.” Generation Investment Management LLP. 5 Nov. 2008. 28 Aug. 2009 < http://www.generationim.com/sustainability/advocacy/sustainable-capitalism.html >. Hansen, James, Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha, David Beerling, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Mark Pagani, Maureen Raymo, Dana L. Royer and James C. Zachos. “Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?” Open Atmospheric Science Journal 2 (2008): 217-231. 24 Aug. 2009 < http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TargetCO2_20080407.pdf >. Harrison, Karey. “Ontological Commitments and Bias in Environmental Reporting.” Environment and Society Conference. Sunshine Coast, Australia, 1999. Jackson, Tim. Prosperity without Growth? The Transition to a Sustainable Economy. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Sustainable Development Commission. 30 March 2009. 5 Oct. 2009 < http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/prosperity_without_growth_report.pdf >. Jensen, Derrick. “Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does not Equal Political Change?” Orion July/Aug. 2009. 5 Aug. 2009 < http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4801/ >. Live Earth. Live Earth 2009. 28 Aug. 2009 < http://liveearth.org/en >. RepoWEr America. The Alliance for Climate Protection. 2009. 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.repoweramerica.org >. Rose, Chris, and Pat Dade. Using Values Modes. campaignstrategy.org 2007 < http://www.campaignstrategy.org/articles/usingvaluemodes.pdf >. Rose, Chris, Les Higgins and Pat Dadeii. “Who Gives a Stuff about Climate Change and Who's Taking Action—Part of the Nationally Representative British Values Survey.” 2008. 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.campaignstrategy.org/whogivesastuff.pdf >. Rose, Chris, Pat Dade, and John Scott. Research into Motivating Prospectors, Settlers and Pioneers to Change Behaviours That Affect Climate Emissions. campaignstrategy.org 2007. 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.campaignstrategy.org/articles/behaviourchange_climate.pdf >. Rose, Chris. “To Do and Not to Do.” How to Win Campaigns: 100 Steps to Success. London: Earthscan Publications, 2005. Rose, Chris. “VBCOP—A Unifying Campaign Strategy Model”. Campaignstrategy.org March 2009. 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.campaignstrategy.org/articles/VBCOP_unifying_strategy_model.pdf >. The Climate Project. 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.theclimateproject.org/ >. Turner, Graham. “A Comparison of the Limits to Growth with 30 Years of Reality.” Socio-Economics and the Environment in Discussion. CSIRO Working Paper Series. Canberra: CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems. June 2008. 5 Oct. 2009 < http://www.csiro.au/files/files/plje.pdf >. WE Can Solve the Climate Crisis. 2008-09. The Alliance for Climate Protection. 27 Aug. 2009 < http://www.wecansolveit.org >.

Introduction With a deluge of mouthwatering pre-publicity, the opening of The Spotted Pig, the USA’s first self-identified British-styled gastropub, in Manhattan in February 2004 was much anticipated. The late Australian chef, food writer and restauranteur Mietta O’Donnell has noted how “taking over a building or business which has a long established reputation can be a mixed blessing” because of the way that memories “can enrich the experience of being in a place or they can just make people nostalgic”. Bistro Le Zoo, the previous eatery on the site, had been very popular when it opened almost a decade earlier, and its closure was mourned by some diners (Young; Kaminsky “Feeding Time”; Steinhauer & McGinty). This regret did not, however, appear to affect The Spotted Pig’s success. As esteemed New York Times reviewer Frank Bruni noted in his 2006 review: “Almost immediately after it opened […] the throngs started to descend, and they have never stopped”. The following year, The Spotted Pig was awarded a Michelin star—the first year that Michelin ranked New York—and has kept this star in the subsequent annual rankings. Writing Restaurant Biography Detailed studies have been published of almost every type of contemporary organisation including public institutions such as schools, hospitals, museums and universities, as well as non-profit organisations such as charities and professional associations. These are often written to mark a major milestone, or some significant change, development or the demise of the organisation under consideration (Brien). Detailed studies have also recently been published of businesses as diverse as general stores (Woody), art galleries (Fossi), fashion labels (Koda et al.), record stores (Southern & Branson), airlines (Byrnes; Jones), confectionary companies (Chinn) and builders (Garden). In terms of attracting mainstream readerships, however, few such studies seem able to capture popular reader interest as those about eating establishments including restaurants and cafés. This form of restaurant life history is, moreover, not restricted to ‘quality’ establishments. Fast food restaurant chains have attracted their share of studies (see, for example Love; Jakle & Sculle), ranging from business-economic analyses (Liu), socio-cultural political analyses (Watson), and memoirs (Kroc & Anderson), to criticism around their conduct and effects (Striffler). Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is the most well-known published critique of the fast food industry and its effects with, famously, the Rolling Stone article on which it was based generating more reader mail than any other piece run in the 1990s. The book itself (researched narrative creative nonfiction), moreover, made a fascinating transition to the screen, transformed into a fictionalised drama (co-written by Schlosser) that narrates the content of the book from the point of view of a series of fictional/composite characters involved in the industry, rather than in a documentary format. Akin to the range of studies of fast food restaurants, there are also a variety of studies of eateries in US motels, caravan parks, diners and service station restaurants (see, for example, Baeder). Although there has been little study of this sub-genre of food and drink publishing, their popularity can be explained, at least in part, because such volumes cater to the significant readership for writing about food related topics of all kinds, with food writing recently identified as mainstream literary fare in the USA and UK (Hughes) and an entire “publishing subculture” in Australia (Dunstan & Chaitman). Although no exact tally exists, an informed estimate by the founder of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards and president of the Paris Cookbook Fair, Edouard Cointreau, has more than 26,000 volumes on food and wine related topics currently published around the world annually (ctd. in Andriani “Gourmand Awards”). The readership for publications about restaurants can also perhaps be attributed to the wide range of information that can be included a single study. My study of a selection of these texts from the UK, USA and Australia indicates that this can include narratives of place and architecture dealing with the restaurant’s location, locale and design; narratives of directly food-related subject matter such as menus, recipes and dining trends; and narratives of people, in the stories of its proprietors, staff and patrons. Detailed studies of contemporary individual establishments commonly take the form of authorised narratives either written by the owners, chefs or other staff with the help of a food journalist, historian or other professional writer, or produced largely by that writer with the assistance of the premise’s staff. These studies are often extensively illustrated with photographs and, sometimes, drawings or reproductions of other artworks, and almost always include recipes. Two examples of these from my own collection include a centennial history of a famous New Orleans eatery that survived Hurricane Katrina, Galatoire’s Cookbook. Written by employees—the chief operating officer/general manager (Melvin Rodrigue) and publicist (Jyl Benson)—this incorporates reminiscences from both other staff and patrons. The second is another study of a New Orleans’ restaurant, this one by the late broadcaster and celebrity local historian Mel Leavitt. The Court of Two Sisters Cookbook: With a History of the French Quarter and the Restaurant, compiled with the assistance of the Two Sisters’ proprietor, Joseph Fein Joseph III, was first published in 1992 and has been so enduringly popular that it is in its eighth printing. These texts, in common with many others of this type, trace a triumph-over-adversity company history that incorporates a series of mildly scintillating anecdotes, lists of famous chefs and diners, and signature recipes. Although obviously focused on an external readership, they can also be characterised as an instance of what David M. Boje calls an organisation’s “story performance” (106) as the process of creating these narratives mobilises an organisation’s (in these cases, a commercial enterprise’s) internal information processing and narrative building activities. Studies of contemporary restaurants are much more rarely written without any involvement from the eatery’s personnel. When these are, the results tend to have much in common with more critical studies such as Fast Food Nation, as well as so-called architectural ‘building biographies’ which attempt to narrate the historical and social forces that “explain the shapes and uses” (Ellis, Chao & Parrish 70) of the physical structures we create. Examples of this would include Harding’s study of the importance of the Boeuf sur le Toit in Parisian life in the 1920s and Middlebrook’s social history of London’s Strand Corner House. Such work agrees with Kopytoff’s assertion—following Appadurai’s proposal that objects possess their own ‘biographies’ which need to be researched and expressed—that such inquiry can reveal not only information about the objects under consideration, but also about readers as we examine our “cultural […] aesthetic, historical, and even political” responses to these narratives (67). The life story of a restaurant will necessarily be entangled with those of the figures who have been involved in its establishment and development, as well as the narratives they create around the business. This following brief study of The Spotted Pig, however, written without the assistance of the establishment’s personnel, aims to outline a life story for this eatery in order to reflect upon the pig’s place in contemporary dining practice in New York as raw foodstuff, fashionable comestible, product, brand, symbol and marketing tool, as well as, at times, purely as an animal identity. The Spotted Pig Widely profiled before it even opened, The Spotted Pig is reportedly one of the city’s “most popular” restaurants (Michelin 349). It is profiled in all the city guidebooks I could locate in print and online, featuring in some of these as a key stop on recommended itineraries (see, for instance, Otis 39). A number of these proclaim it to be the USA’s first ‘gastropub’—the term first used in 1991 in the UK to describe a casual hotel/bar with good food and reasonable prices (Farley). The Spotted Pig is thus styled on a shabby-chic version of a traditional British hotel, featuring a cluttered-but-well arranged use of pig-themed objects and illustrations that is described by latest Michelin Green Guide of New York City as “a country-cute décor that still manages to be hip” (Michelin 349). From the three-dimensional carved pig hanging above the entrance in a homage to the shingles of traditional British hotels, to the use of its image on the menu, website and souvenir tee-shirts, the pig as motif proceeds its use as a foodstuff menu item. So much so, that the restaurant is often (affectionately) referred to by patrons and reviewers simply as ‘The Pig’. The restaurant has become so well known in New York in the relatively brief time it has been operating that it has not only featured in a number of novels and memoirs, but, moreover, little or no explanation has been deemed necessary as the signifier of “The Spotted Pig” appears to convey everything that needs to be said about an eatery of quality and fashion. In the thriller Lethal Experiment: A Donovan Creed Novel, when John Locke’s hero has to leave the restaurant and becomes involved in a series of dangerous escapades, he wants nothing more but to get back to his dinner (107, 115). The restaurant is also mentioned a number of times in Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell’s Lipstick Jungle in relation to a (fictional) new movie of the same name. The joke in the book is that the character doesn’t know of the restaurant (26). In David Goodwillie’s American Subversive, the story of a journalist-turned-blogger and a homegrown terrorist set in New York, the narrator refers to “Scarlett Johansson, for instance, and the hostess at the Spotted Pig” (203-4) as the epitome of attractiveness. The Spotted Pig is also mentioned in Suzanne Guillette’s memoir, Much to Your Chagrin, when the narrator is on a dinner date but fears running into her ex-boyfriend: ‘Jack lives somewhere in this vicinity […] Vaguely, you recall him telling you he was not too far from the Spotted Pig on Greenwich—now, was it Greenwich Avenue or Greenwich Street?’ (361). The author presumes readers know the right answer in order to build tension in this scene. Although this success is usually credited to the joint efforts of backer, music executive turned restaurateur Ken Friedman, his partner, well-known chef, restaurateur, author and television personality Mario Batali, and their UK-born and trained chef, April Bloomfield (see, for instance, Batali), a significant part has been built on Bloomfield’s pork cookery. The very idea of a “spotted pig” itself raises a central tenet of Bloomfield’s pork/food philosophy which is sustainable and organic. That is, not the mass produced, industrially farmed pig which produces a leaner meat, but the fatty, tastier varieties of pig such as the heritage six-spotted Berkshire which is “darker, more heavily marbled with fat, juicier and richer-tasting than most pork” (Fabricant). Bloomfield has, indeed, made pig’s ears—long a Chinese restaurant staple in the city and a key ingredient of Southern US soul food as well as some traditional Japanese and Spanish dishes—fashionable fare in the city, and her current incarnation, a crispy pig’s ear salad with lemon caper dressing (TSP 2010) is much acclaimed by reviewers. This approach to ingredients—using the ‘whole beast’, local whenever possible, and the concentration on pork—has been underlined and enhanced by a continuing relationship with UK chef Fergus Henderson. In his series of London restaurants under the banner of “St. John”, Henderson is famed for the approach to pork cookery outlined in his two books Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking, published in 1999 (re-published both in the UK and the US as The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating), and Beyond Nose to Tail: A Kind of British Cooking: Part II (coauthored with Justin Piers Gellatly in 2007). Henderson has indeed been identified as starting a trend in dining and food publishing, focusing on sustainably using as food the entirety of any animal killed for this purpose, but which mostly focuses on using all parts of pigs. In publishing, this includes Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s The River Cottage Meat Book, Peter Kaminsky’s Pig Perfect, subtitled Encounters with Some Remarkable Swine and Some Great Ways to Cook Them, John Barlow’s Everything but the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern Spain and Jennifer McLagan’s Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes (2008). In restaurants, it certainly includes The Spotted Pig. So pervasive has embrace of whole beast pork consumption been in New York that, by 2007, Bruni could write that these are: “porky times, fatty times, which is to say very good times indeed. Any new logo for the city could justifiably place the Big Apple in the mouth of a spit-roasted pig” (Bruni). This demand set the stage perfectly for, in October 2007, Henderson to travel to New York to cook pork-rich menus at The Spotted Pig in tandem with Bloomfield (Royer). He followed this again in 2008 and, by 2009, this annual event had become known as “FergusStock” and was covered by local as well as UK media, and a range of US food weblogs. By 2009, it had grown to become a dinner at the Spotted Pig with half the dishes on the menu by Henderson and half by Bloomfield, and a dinner the next night at David Chang’s acclaimed Michelin-starred Momofuku Noodle Bar, which is famed for its Cantonese-style steamed pork belly buns. A third dinner (and then breakfast/brunch) followed at Friedman/Bloomfield’s Breslin Bar and Dining Room (discussed below) (Rose). The Spotted Pig dinners have become famed for Henderson’s pig’s head and pork trotter dishes with the chef himself recognising that although his wasn’t “the most obvious food to cook for America”, it was the case that “at St John, if a couple share a pig’s head, they tend to be American” (qtd. in Rose). In 2009, the pigs’ head were presented in pies which Henderson has described as “puff pastry casing, with layers of chopped, cooked pig’s head and potato, so all the lovely, bubbly pig’s head juices go into the potato” (qtd. in Rose). Bloomfield was aged only 28 when, in 2003, with a recommendation from Jamie Oliver, she interviewed for, and won, the position of executive chef of The Spotted Pig (Fabricant; Q&A). Following this introduction to the US, her reputation as a chef has grown based on the strength of her pork expertise. Among a host of awards, she was named one of US Food & Wine magazine’s ten annual Best New Chefs in 2007. In 2009, she was a featured solo session titled “Pig, Pig, Pig” at the fourth Annual International Chefs Congress, a prestigious New York City based event where “the world’s most influential and innovative chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists, and sommeliers present the latest techniques and culinary concepts to their peers” (Starchefs.com). Bloomfield demonstrated breaking down a whole suckling St. Canut milk raised piglet, after which she butterflied, rolled and slow-poached the belly, and fried the ears. As well as such demonstrations of expertise, she is also often called upon to provide expert comment on pork-related news stories, with The Spotted Pig regularly the subject of that food news. For example, when a rare, heritage Hungarian pig was profiled as a “new” New York pork source in 2009, this story arose because Bloomfield had served a Mangalitsa/Berkshire crossbreed pig belly and trotter dish with Agen prunes (Sanders) at The Spotted Pig. Bloomfield was quoted as the authority on the breed’s flavour and heritage authenticity: “it took me back to my grandmother’s kitchen on a Sunday afternoon, windows steaming from the roasting pork in the oven […] This pork has that same authentic taste” (qtd. in Sanders). Bloomfield has also used this expert profile to support a series of pork-related causes. These include the Thanksgiving Farm in the Catskill area, which produces free range pork for its resident special needs children and adults, and helps them gain meaningful work-related skills in working with these pigs. Bloomfield not only cooks for the project’s fundraisers, but also purchases any excess pigs for The Spotted Pig (Estrine 103). This strong focus on pork is not, however, exclusive. The Spotted Pig is also one of a number of American restaurants involved in the Meatless Monday campaign, whereby at least one vegetarian option is included on menus in order to draw attention to the benefits of a plant-based diet. When, in 2008, Bloomfield beat the Iron Chef in the sixth season of the US version of the eponymous television program, the central ingredient was nothing to do with pork—it was olives. Diversifying from this focus on ‘pig’ can, however, be dangerous. Friedman and Bloomfield’s next enterprise after The Spotted Pig was The John Dory seafood restaurant at the corner of 10th Avenue and 16th Street. This opened in November 2008 to reviews that its food was “uncomplicated and nearly perfect” (Andrews 22), won Bloomfield Time Out New York’s 2009 “Best New Hand at Seafood” award, but was not a success. The John Dory was a more formal, but smaller, restaurant that was more expensive at a time when the financial crisis was just biting, and was closed the following August. Friedman blamed the layout, size and neighbourhood (Stein) and its reservation system, which limited walk-in diners (ctd. in Vallis), but did not mention its non-pork, seafood orientation. When, almost immediately, another Friedman/Bloomfield project was announced, the Breslin Bar & Dining Room (which opened in October 2009 in the Ace Hotel at 20 West 29th Street and Broadway), the enterprise was closely modeled on the The Spotted Pig. In preparation, its senior management—Bloomfield, Friedman and sous-chefs, Nate Smith and Peter Cho (who was to become the Breslin’s head chef)—undertook a tasting tour of the UK that included Henderson’s St. John Bread & Wine Bar (Leventhal). Following this, the Breslin’s menu highlighted a series of pork dishes such as terrines, sausages, ham and potted styles (Rosenberg & McCarthy), with even Bloomfield’s pork scratchings (crispy pork rinds) bar snacks garnering glowing reviews (see, for example, Severson; Ghorbani). Reviewers, moreover, waxed lyrically about the menu’s pig-based dishes, the New York Times reviewer identifying this focus as catering to New York diners’ “fetish for pork fat” (Sifton). This representative review details not only “an entree of gently smoked pork belly that’s been roasted to tender goo, for instance, over a drift of buttery mashed potatoes, with cabbage and bacon on the side” but also a pig’s foot “in gravy made of reduced braising liquid, thick with pillowy shallots and green flecks of deconstructed brussels sprouts” (Sifton). Sifton concluded with the proclamation that this style of pork was “very good: meat that is fat; fat that is meat”. Concluding remarks Bloomfield has listed Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie as among her favourite food books. Publishers Weekly reviewer called Ruhlman “a food poet, and the pig is his muse” (Q&A). In August 2009, it was reported that Bloomfield had always wanted to write a cookbook (Marx) and, in July 2010, HarperCollins imprint Ecco publisher and foodbook editor Dan Halpern announced that he was planning a book with her, tentatively titled, A Girl and Her Pig (Andriani “Ecco Expands”). As a “cookbook with memoir running throughout” (Maurer), this will discuss the influence of the pig on her life as well as how to cook pork. This text will obviously also add to the data known about The Spotted Pig, but until then, this brief gastrobiography has attempted to outline some of the human, and in this case, animal, stories that lie behind all businesses. References Andrews, Colman. “Its Up To You, New York, New York.” Gourmet Apr. (2009): 18-22, 111. Andriani, Lynn. “Ecco Expands Cookbook Program: HC Imprint Signs Up Seven New Titles.” Publishers Weekly 12 Jul. (2010) 3 Sep. 2010 http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/cooking/article/43803-ecco-expands-cookbook-program.html Andriani, Lynn. “Gourmand Awards Receive Record Number of Cookbook Entries.” Publishers Weekly 27 Sep. 2010 http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/cooking/article/44573-gourmand-awards-receive-record-number-of-cookbook-entries.html Appadurai, Arjun. 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