Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor David Kemp has taken another step to ensure agriculturalists and the Orange community are better informed about coping with climate change, especially climate variability and its effects on food security, in a public seminar to be held in Orange on Monday 31 March. “The consequences of variable and changing climates are rising energy and food costs, so much so that in the last nine months another 800 million people couldn’t afford the food they need,” said Professor Kemp. “The recent drought also highlighted the social problems of dealing with variable climates – what are the effects and what needs to be done to better help people?” CSU’s Professor Margaret Alston will be one speaker at the public seminar, entitled ‘Managing Beyond the Panic of Climate Change’. The seminar aims to discuss these interrelated trends – to inform people about likely regional, Australian and international trends, what can be done to adjust to these major trends and what people in central NSW can do to ensure their livelihoods under these changing circumstances. The seminar will be held from 10am on 31 March at the Orange Ex-Services Club, Anson Street, Orange.

Celebrating local harmony is the aim of Harmony Day at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Albury-Wodonga Campus on Wednesday 19 March. Albury-Wodonga’s cultural diversity will be on show with food, music, dance and other activities from around the world. “Harmony Day began in 1999 as a celebration of Australia's success as a diverse society united by a common set of values,” said event and CSU Student Community coordinator, Mr Geoff Simmons. “Australia is built on immigration and we have a proud history of welcoming people from around the world. Since 1945, more than six and a half million migrants have come to Australia. Australians speak over 300 languages, including Indigenous languages, and practise a range of religions.” The event will run from 10.30am to 1.30pm on 19 March, next to The Shed on the University’s Albury City site, off Olive St, Albury.

Improved understanding of livestock reproductive behaviour is important for optimal animal management, economics and welfare. The theory is that livestock behavioural traits have evolved similarly to physical traits, in response to evolutionary pressures. A public lecture by Professor Peter Chenoweth, from the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, will look at whether Darwin’s Theory of Evolution can be applied to the modern management of livestock. Only about 6 percent of hoofed animals have ever been domesticated. This figure raises questions as to why are there so relatively few species domesticated, and are certain evolutionary behavioural traits more conducive to domestication than others? The public lecture will also pose the questions as to whether humans chose to domesticate certain species, or vice versa, and can evolution provide guidelines for good livestock management? The lecture will be held from 6.30pm Tuesday 11 March at the Tumbarumba Shire Council Chambers, Bridge Street, Tumbarumba.

Ms Samantha Neal was one of half a dozen Charles Sturt University (CSU) public relations and organisational communication students to volunteer at the inaugural Newton’s Playground gravity sports festival on Mount Panorama in Bathurst in early March. Ms Neal worked with the media centre doing on-track liaison for the extreme sporting event. “Newton’s Playground is the first event of its kind and this is definitely a great experience for me for event management. Skateboards are not my thing but I loved it. It’s pretty crazy and pretty intense. I’ll definitely come back next year,” Ms Neal said. Mr Donald Alexander, senior lecturer in Public Relations and Organisational Communication and course coordinator at CSU’s School of Communication, said that events such as this one organised by Bathurst Regional Council, gives the students real hands-on experience which contributes to them graduating as ‘job ready’.

The Dubbo Wiradjuri Elders group have planted a tree to commemorate the establishment of the Centre for Indigenous Studies at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Dubbo Campus. The elders met at the campus on Monday 10 March to discuss the choice of a Wiradjuri name for the Centre and to hear about new developments in Indigenous education in University’s Strategy and Plans 2007 – 2011 from Mr Gary Shipp, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies and Head of the Dubbo Campus.

Staff and students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have braved the barber’s clippers and are now sporting sleek new hairstyles in support of leukaemia research. Five volunteers from the CSU Division of Marketing, along with several students, took part in the head-shave fundraising event at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus on Friday 7 March. The Division of Marketing manager, Ms Glenda Pym, who lost her brother to leukaemia two years ago, , shed  her locks along with Ms Cheryl Wilson, Mr Celso de Souza and Mr Cade Whitbourn and raised over $2 000 for the Leukaemia Foundation. “Shaving my head pales into insignificance in the bravery stakes however it enabled me to do something very positive and in some small way contribute to getting closer to a cure,” said Ms Pym.

Chinese water experts will visit Albury on Friday 14 March to inspect outstanding examples of water conservation. Hosted by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) and the Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre, the four officials will inspect the Wonga Wetlands and the University’s Thurgoona site as examples of successful wetland management and using wetlands to treat waste water in the region. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for Australian scientists to interact, discuss and exchange ideas with Chinese scientists,” said Professor Max Finlayson, ILWS director and internationally renowned wetland ecologist. The wetland project is part of a five year, $25 million Australian government initiative to support and improve policy development in China in environmental protection and natural resource management.  

Escalating oil prices and climate change are factors forcing rural Australia to contemplate the implications of diminishing petroleum supplies and a local biofuel industry. The Institute for Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will host a public forum in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 12 March to address issues such as the implications of rising fuel costs and a biofuel industry on rural communities. Speakers include Professor Peter Sinclair, an environmental sociologist and oil industry analyst from Canada’s Memorial University of Newfoundland, and CSIRO biofuel researcher, Dr Barrie May. The forum, entitled Rural Australia without petroleum?, will be held from 6pm to 7.30pm in the Council meeting room, Civic Centre, Baylis Street, Wagga Wagga.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff members plan to lose their locks to the barber’s shears to assist in the fight against leukaemia. Five volunteers from the University’s Division of Marketing will shave their heads to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation on Friday 7 March at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. Division of Marketing manager, Ms Glenda Pym, who lost her brother to the disease two years ago, along with Ms Cheryl Wilson, Mr Celso de Souza and Mr Cade Whitbourn have stepped up to the challenge. Ms Pym says “Shaving my head pales into insignificance in the bravery stakes. It does enable me to do something very positive and in some small way contribute to getting us all closer to a cure. Research is the key to understanding the disease which in turn will unlock the cure.” Several other CSU staff members are colouring their hair in support of the Leukaemia Foundation.