What is this "human spirit" this mysterious, awesome thing? It's basically an iron stake to which the injured cling. We're proud of our "resilience" (our giant brains love words) but frankly our self obsession is verging on absurd. Our spirit is definitely human: that's obvious to me but the spirit part is not unique! It's … Continue reading Spirit
He says: "We need to be honest with the Australian people about the costs of committing to net zero carbon by 2050." The vapour rises from his words, the steaming stink of them. Even honesty has two sides. Just one little "not" and the statement is even more relevant: "We need to be honest with … Continue reading Full Steam A… Which Way?
In one of the summer holidays when I was at University, my aunt and uncle got me a job at a peach orchard not far from their home and said I could stay with them. I started off down in the orchard - those long surprisingly dark aisles of burgeoning foliage. I always found them … Continue reading #FOWC Hail
This was my first ever blog post. I read it again today and thought it was worth reviving.
It’s
a spectacular Friday in early autumn. The leaves haven’t started
changing yet but the weather has softened after a very tough summer.
With
my parents and their dog, I wander through the walking streets, past
the shut merry-go-round and the funny metal sheep statues that buck
and run in Garema Place. We can hear the sound of the crowd ahead of
us. Somebody is tapping a microphone and making testing noises.
I expect to feel pretty at home here. My husband and I have been “doing things” about climate change for a long time. We have 7.5kw of solar panels shared the between the roofs of our house and garage. Our house is well insulated, north-facing and pretty small (by Australian standards) for a family of four. We have one fully electric car and one plug in hybrid electric. We like that a visit to a petrol station means…
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I cannot forget your steely-white glare; the too-hot press of you against my skin. My body contracted until cracks appeared. Plants wilted, waterholes sucked in and my body fissured abandoned to exuberant wind and the angry roar of carbon-crazed dragons. The smoke rolled over us all like hell's too-slow envoy. Before it, a syndicate of … Continue reading Australia’s Summer
Have you heard of Lawrence Lessig? He's articulate and brainy. He embraces big ideas in tiny shells like pistachios and his audiences clap and cheer. Have you heard of Greta Thunberg? She's small and shy-looking but with anger like a burning stick and surprisingly fearless. Her audiences are often in trouble. Have you heard of … Continue reading Comparing Steps
mixed feelings. i get them a lot. like headaches or an itchy ear. mixed feelings are a cloud and i know that cloud is a popular word these days, especially in IT, but I don't like it. cloud is a weather word. it's two shades of a rain drop. it's grey in there. for example, … Continue reading Two Shades of a Raindrop
A gaseous cloud balloons above the rows of flagpoles whose stays clang ominously in a wing-fed breeze. The sky domes expectantly - a pregnant pause. A change is coming. Thunder barrel-rolls the valley floor. Cockatoos screech - a thousand of them wheeling in and encircling the house. In The House, in the sumptuously upholstered room … Continue reading Tomorrow… in The House on The Hill
The PM, bless his buttocks, believes in gas. But a few people (well quite a lot) are wrinkling their noses and trying to get out of Scotty's lift. ** What problem is he solving? ** Not price we Aussies are paying through the nose. ** Not supply. 1000megawatts? (Gezundheit) That's what he wants on tap, … Continue reading Beaten by a nose…
(inspired by James Rebanks' interview with Richard Fidler) I picture an old man - a farmer - perhaps a little bent perhaps with eyes so faded the blue itself is a memory. He is like a river-mouth the collected silt of decades' knowledge about the earth and seasons' ebb and flow deposited in his brain. … Continue reading A Herdwick Shepherd
