Sunday 8 September 2013

poor fellow my country

i'm using the title of Xavier Herbert's significant contribution for good reason. 


Australia has now been handed to a party of  environmental destructivists.

the Liberal Party, led by someone whose avowed mission it is to cut down the last of the tall trees we have left, is going to be in charge of our sinking ship.

Australia is in deep environmental trouble. each bushfire that burns thousands of acres of forest contributes to reductions in rainfall. reduced leaves, reduced transpiration, reduced clouds, reduced rainfall

and when rainfall reduces, then regeneration does too. or we get massive crops of woody weeds instead of trees. so with the countryside already under threat [and remember we are the driest continent]

and with all the raving about reducing carbon emissions - wouldn't it make sense to leave the last tall trees [which are basically carbon + water + a few other things] standing to get on with the business of converting carbon dioxide to oxygen

rather than being pulped to provide newsprint and toilet paper. 

poor fellow, my country. 


23 comments:

  1. I still cant believe what's happened. Why did Australians choose this? Im devastated.

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  2. I'm floored -- I thought Oz was environmentally conscious. It's a travesty that corporate/government greed is worldwide now...is there no lifeboat on the horizon anywhere?

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  3. ah India 'tis a sad day indeed for the Land Down Under, we just all have to keep shining our lights the best we can in these dark times!

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  4. there are many sad days. like this. i really wonder. what is going on?

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  5. the biggest problem with politics is - no matter who you vote for, you get a politician....

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  6. It means we have to stand up and rally against such environmental destruction. If we don't it will happen.

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  7. There is no end to the raping of our lands--above (for trees, mountain top coal mining, etc.) and below (for fracking, oil drilling, tar sands, coal, etc, etc, etc.). Both above and below environmental destruction is poisoning our water, lowering our water table, destroying pristine landscapes and using up resources for a quick turn around profit with no consideration for the current and future inhabitants of this earth. Those doing the raping will just pick up and move when "they" run out of clean water. There is also no solution to this problem. The rapists are "creating jobs and saving the economy" don't you know? And it's unpatriotic to protest.

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    Replies
    1. Three men and a chain saw are NOT the solution to Tasmanias crumbling economy whereas tourists coming to visit the last big trees might just prove quite lucrative...

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  8. No point in being sad.. we have to get active!A BIG green Hug to you all
    X

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    1. Agreed. We may need to grieve as well as act, I guess!

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  9. Sometimes I don't know what to do with the pain in my heart over such things.

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  10. A sad day for Australia, beautifully expressed, India. As Ronnie says, we must keep shining our light into the conservative's darkness.

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  11. this is frightening. i wonder why people are so very stupid. power and money at what and whose expense? i'm afraid and more so as the world goes this way. i mourn for beautiful and fragile australia.

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  12. Ronnie: Amen!

    Pat n Velma: It's complacency and ignorance. It would help if our major media hadn't become so toothless, but it's now mostly corporate owned so...

    India: do you have the emails of your representatives? Could you post them (and encourage everyone who reads this to take a minute and scream bloody murder!)
    Sometimes a majorly pissed-off electorate helps yank these politicians back into the reality of a big contributor or two still having only one vote!

    Good Luck.

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  13. Ronnie: Amen!

    Pat n Velma: It's complacency and ignorance. It would help if our major media hadn't become so toothless, but it's now mostly corporate owned so...

    India: do you have the emails of your representatives? Could you post them (and encourage everyone who reads this to take a minute and scream bloody murder!)
    Sometimes a majorly pissed-off electorate helps yank these politicians back into the reality of a big contributor or two still having only one vote!

    Good Luck.

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  14. Ronnie: Amen!

    Pat n Velma: It's complacency and ignorance. It would help if our major media hadn't become so toothless, but it's now mostly corporate owned so...

    India: do you have the emails of your representatives? Could you post them (and encourage everyone who reads this to take a minute and scream bloody murder!)
    Sometimes a majorly pissed-off electorate helps yank these politicians back into the reality of a big contributor or two still having only one vote!

    Good Luck.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ronnie: Amen!

    Pat n Velma: It's complacency and ignorance. It would help if our major media hadn't become so toothless, but it's now mostly corporate owned so...

    India: do you have the emails of your representatives? Could you post them (and encourage everyone who reads this to take a minute and scream bloody murder!)
    Sometimes a majorly pissed-off electorate helps yank these politicians back into the reality of a big contributor or two still having only one vote!

    Good Luck.

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  16. Yes, these are sad days for the wide brown land. We handed out climate change scorecards at a polling booth this year as part of our efforts to prevent this happening... and it was bracing to see how few people wanted to know.

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  17. Good on you India. I hate that important issues are treated as jokes by those who have responsibility to do better.

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  18. I tried to stay away from the news before the election (though I pretty much avoid it all the time) I knew who I was going to vote for and I didn't want to know anything from anyone else. But yet again, what difference does it make. I used to be a serious activist, waving banners and protesting in the street and chasing the news across the evening schedule. Now- I don't want to know any more. I just close my door on the world and keep to my bubble. I googled last night to see who won, my heart dropped to my knees and I closed the tab. Australia in the eyes of our politicians is just a giant brothel of natural resources, all they care about is how much we can dig up and sell to the rest of the world. I wish I could be more positive about it, I think I'm just plain out of hope.

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    1. "giant brothel of natural resources"...you put that so well. there will come a day when we will all be standing around the treeless edge of a giant hole wondering what happened.

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  19. Politicians should not be involved in environmental issues, they are in power for the short term and don't seem to consider the long term effects of their decisions. Australia should have an association/board which is made up of people that have the qualifications to make the correct judgements to help our country and people to survive the coming changes.
    Don't they realize there are no second goes at this?

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  20. talkin about 'politics' with son today, and empathised with his total disinterest in what politicians do and say, when they only seem interested in self-interest, and do not do the right thing by caring for planet earth. It is time for a new politics that reconnects with people based on caring and concensus. We are so bored with 'old boys clubs'. The pendulum has swung again to the right.

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