Speaker: Neil Jones
Subject: A case study of the massive Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) in South Australia: a citizen science and wide boundary perspective
Time: 25 February, 2026 17:00 Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Summary:
Plankton (the “wanderers”) are a “canary in the coalmine”, a “sentinel” part of the web of life that demands our immediate attention. In March 2025, the South Australian public became aware of a harmful algal bloom caused by the phytoplankton species, Karenia, which would rapidly evolve to create an unprecedented and ongoing massive ecological disaster. In this talk, from a citizen science and wide boundary perspective, Neil unpacks a plausible, dot-connecting scenario drawing on indigenous, scientific and spiritual worldviews. The conclusion is that there is simply no time left – this must be our last warning and we must transform. Gaia has been very generous and forgiving, but patience has practically run out and Gaia has other options, not necessarily involving humans.
Biography:
Since his retirement in 2015, from a paid-working life as a radiologist, Neil has worked on developing a wide boundary perspective, recognizing that this perspective is often ignored or thwarted by existence in modern techno-industrial society. Neil sees this as just one component of the “Evolutionary Trap” we have set ourselves through the access to unprecedented energy flux and underpinned by the Maximum Power Principle. Participation in the local Catholic Parish Ecology Group, Community Garden, ecosystem restoration and the growing of a Food Forest have promoted a “Big Picture” of where we have come from and what is needed as we rapidly and necessarily transition to a simpler bioregional reality.
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