The Easterly winds are blowing like mad again. We had a couple of days respite last week and managed to squeeze in a couple of reasonable surf sessions, but now the madness is back. I'm tired of watering my small garden already and we probably won't get rain for months - around Easter usually. One of the predicted changes to the climate with global warming was increased wind and less rainfall. And that will render even more huge tracts of land in the wonderful Land of Oz uninhabitable.
We can thank idiots like this man - one of many world 'leaders' - who are doing sweet FA to turn things around, even though Australia is one of the worst emitters. According to Wikipedia, we 'have one of the highest per capita emissions of greenhouse gas in the world, with its 0.3% of the world's population releasing 1.07% of the world's greenhouse gases'. We have a government who until recently was happy to cheat it's way out of reducing greenhouse gases by manipulating carbon credits. What the rest of the world must think of us. I'm not proud to be Australian.
Australia Day is looming and I don't enjoy that either. There will be an abundance of patriotism, small Aussie flags flying from cars and self-congratulatory pats on the back, just for being Australian. We live in a bubble here. I hope the bubble bursts soon because it's becoming more and more unbearable watching the inequity grow, and our beautiful country bake and burn.
Image: Author. Digital collage. Background drone photo by Bart Lebbing.
Humans manage to wreck everything in their path. A few step up and try to fix things, but wealth and power rule. Your summer, our winter; your winter, our summer... the endless cycle of our carbon footprint writ large on our earth.
ReplyDeleteYou must be enjoying the break from fire Robin. I can't wait for winter. I'd move further south if I could but Tasmania has had an influx of people over the last few years, so maybe not.
DeleteWhile you mention the self congratulations just for being Australian, I must jump on a soapbox: I get so, so tired of the old "Aussie mateship" thing being so over used, as if we are the only people in the world who help each other when the chips are down.
ReplyDelete#1 we help people selectively
#2 helping isn't Australian, it's human
Somehow we do ordinary things and think we are heroes
I think you nailed it Kylie. Self-congratulatory is the best way to describe it. I think it's a result of living in the bubble. My family have been critical of me because I don't travel overseas - assuming that my world view must be parochial. But I'd say I know more about what is going on in the world than they do, because they tend to do touristy things when they travel anyway. As a result of knowing a bit about others, I don't suffer from the 'I'm special, cos I'm an Ausssie' syndrome. And you are right also in that we only help those we want to. And sometimes I can't help but feel it's a bit gestural, like when there's a catastrophe like fire, yet the rest of the time - how few are donating money to the Smith Family or helping those who need it on a daily basis?
DeleteAges ago when i was in Australia I landed in Perth, hitched across much of the desert, ended up in Melbourne, While traveling across the country I felt it to be extremely vulnerable, fragile eco system, unawareness belonging to the white folks who just plugged away , fair dinkum. It felt like the tipping edge of the world. Loved the land, mind you, beautiful country.
ReplyDeleteLinda you are right - the ecosystem is fragile. Euorpean settlemnt has brought a lot of destruction to a continent that survived well for millenia before we arrived 200 years ago. Species extinction and land degradation are the norm. The continent really can't support a large population - most of us live on the coast and as you would have seen for yourself, the majority of the country is desert or very dry. Providing enough water for agriculture and domestic use is problematic and the decision to sell water to cotton growres and other big irrigators has destroyed the biggest river system on the east coast because they have built huge storage dams that stop it flowing through the landscape. Environmentally Australia is a basket case. Some of us are fighting to save it.
DeleteI love your comment - the tipping edge of the world - because that's what it feels like living here. You stand on the south coast where I live and you know there is nothing between you and Antarctica. We are on the edge of the world.