I've been really busy doing many voluntary hours as an eco-activist. My previous boss at the prison rang me the first day of term to tell me I was very welcome to come back any time. They haven't been able to find someone else to do my old job, even with so many artists needing well paid work (especially as the federal government was happy to let the arts industry drown during the pandemic). But I just can't go back. As I was trying to work out where my next income stream might come from things started moving in the right direction.
The environmental group I've been doing all the hours for (FaBWA) has finally officially acknowledged my huge contribution and decided to pay me for the next 3 months (until the money runs out) with some funds left over from another project. I'll end up doing 3 times the hours they are paying me for but I am stoked because there is a real recognition that I have kept things going whilst the remaining working committee took a very long break. The Facebook group is going well and one of the posts I did on the Tingles was seen by more than 20 000 people and had lots of 'shares'. It's hard to crack Facebook's logarithms so I was really happy about that one.
I've spent many hours on FaBWA's website as well and I am pretty happy with it, especially this page below.
The outcome of the 'Save the Tingles' campaign is a bit of a fizzog in some ways. The government has agreed not to burn this season but that's not because of our objections, more likely because they ran out of time. This long-unburnt block hadn't dried out enough for them to go in and nuke 600 year old trees with fire incendiaries and thankfully the autumn cold fronts have started trickling through. So they aren't the good guys. We got good ABC TV and radio coverage. The government will be in no doubt we are serious about this if they decide to fire up in spring.
I've also picked up a job designing a logo for someone's farm machinery invention and, out of the blue, the Nedlands Tree Canopy Advocates (a city 'tree-hugging' group) asked me to send an invoice for designing their logo, which I did for free many months ago. (See logo below). Again it will be a token payment because it took me hours and I also designed a flyer for them, but I wanted to support what they are doing - protecting old trees and planting new ones in the city. They are really making headway and have been able to influence council policy. As the earth heats up city trees will be the difference between a living hell and a slightly more comfortable living hell.
I've also taken on a new battle and it is possibly even more daunting than the government's destructive prescribed burning practices. There are mining exploration applications all over the south-west of WA. I was dreading this. With the push for 'green energy' the world is ravenous for rare earth metals and right on cue, mining exploration applications have gone nuts. The Denmark Environment Centre, of which I am now also a committee member, has taken on the battle and I am helping out with maps and flyers.
When I'm not on the computer I try to get out on my e-bike, garden and go surfing - just to stay sane. I'm still waiting for my article to be published in C.G. Jung Institute's issue 64-4 of the 'Psychological Perspectives' journal and they have asked me for more. The publisher is Taylor and Francis who I think have a pretty distinguished record in the industry but once again I'm doing all this work for free, and there's only so much you can do for 'exposure'. Artists get asked all the time to do things for the exposure, but you can't live on that and it hardly ever translates into future PAID work.
Part of me thinks everything I am doing is pointless trying to 'save the planet' because I really do believe it is too late to turn climate collapse around. I still can't think of anything better to spend most of my time on. And I keep remembering that standing up for the natural world is a hill worth dying on. We are fighting for little guys like this adorable wombat baby.
Wombat photo courtesy of the Wombat Protection Society Australia.
