a note to the Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister Gillard

Even though I think a carbon tax is silly because frankly, carbon isn't the only pollutant, simply an easy name to spell, I'd happily pay a carbon tax
but
ONLY
if that money is used to fund new forms of employment for forestry workers
for example
exchanging the chainsaw for a shovel and a packet of seeds
and
STOPPING THE LOGGING OF OLD-GROWTH FORESTS
but
if your government is going to continue to mine and sell coal
while taxing the masses
then count me
OUT
cordially

Indiana Flint

spring is in the air

spring is in the air

and i am being tempted by this

a beautiful piece of kantha stitching

my friends will understand my dilemma -

an inbuilt reluctance to purchase unnaturally dyed cloth

on the other hand

it's all recycled

and has been purchased fairly from the makers

we'll see

spring is bursting from the bushes

and splattering on the ground

whatever berry that bird is eating

clearly reacts beautifully to the alkaline mordant

also provided by said bird

the dresses are nearly finished

last one went into the dyepot at dawn

wrapped tightly with Eucalyptus crenulata leaves

which smell rather nicer than the stench

emanating from the crazy neighbour's domain

it would be rather more pleasant around here

if only spring were in the air.

PS i keep omitting to say thank you to Lou Pardi and Ellie Beck both of whom kindly mentioned me in the current edition of Peppermint magazine, for which i am very grateful! 

blood is thicker than water...

whatever my feelings about world history

the fact remains that a smallish university town

in Niedersachsen, Germany

is critical to mine

some of my great-grandparents

and great-great grandparents

are buried here

my grandparents met

at afternoon coffee

in the house of a mathematics professor here

coincidentally

it is also the house in which i am staying

my father was born here

and

for a very short time

i attended school here

my feet know the way around the town

where the market is

the nice walks along the old town wall

the path up into the forest

and the way to the botanic garden

[to which my great-great grandmother had a private key to a small gate hidden in the town wall]

the pond where i sailed paper boats

aged ten

still ripples in the park

sadly great-great grandfather's house

along with beautiful rose garden and enormous Linden tree

was demolished by the University in the early sixties

it seems they urgently needed the space

for a carpark.

reducing speed limits won't save lives

residents of the Mount Lofty Ranges region have until October 23 to convince the Adelaide Hills Council to see reason in regard to proposed speed limit reductions.

Blanket reduction of the speed limit throughout the region is unlikely to reduce the road toll.

Idiots with lead feet and small gentleman's equipment are STILL going to go fast, no matter what. Threats of vehicle crushing, licence revoking and huge financial penalties have had no effect so far.

what WILL happen if speeds are reduced is that there will be more people driving more slowly on the already congested roads. It will mean that a return trip to Adelaide will take 4 hours out of my day excluding whatever business i may have there.

It will substantially eat into rest and recreation time for already tired commuters living in this region.

it will reduce fuel efficiency and increase air pollution.

it will probably increase accidents from drivers having to constantly watch their speedometer [the SA Police have zero tolerance limits] and certainly increase revenue from speeding fines.

but it won't stop the hoons.

If you live in or travel through the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia, write to the Adelaide Hills Council and tell them what you think.

here's the address

puddleducking

a watercolour day with storms and puddles and muddy rivers

flowing across the road

just perfect for a walk in the park

and the best weather for looking at plants

in the Mount Lofty Botanic Garden

no fairweather tourists filming the lilies

just happy Kurrawongs

and cheerful ducks

pootling about in the raindrops

on the way thither

dodging giant splashes from urban SUVs storming through the water

like Stormtroopers on their way to some

imaginary Front

[they'll have to get another can of spray on dust, he he]

i heard another sample of idiocy on the wireless

that Australian farmers [about to be penalised for the emissions from their ruminant stock]

can't claim credit for any trees planted prior to 1990

apparently the Government has already included those in their

'stocktake' submitted for Kyoto

so if your farm is full [of trees] and you want to claim carbon credits against potential ovine or bovine flatulence

then as the policy stands at present it is apparently legal to chop them down

and replant with seedlings

who cares that standing trees [and coal, for that matter]

are the best means of storing carbon

nonetheless, despite muttering about carbon credits from one side of their mouths,

those in power are still subsidising the woodchipping of old growth forests in Tasmania

click here to visit the Wilderness Society's page and view their video...

oh, and the icing on the cake is the suggestion [also picked up from the wireless] that in the event your farm in burned in a fire you may well find yourself paying an emissions tax!

the icing on the cupcake

it's been a dark weekend. on Sunday morning i spotted a local government employee sneaking about in Mount Pleasant spraying poison on any leaf that had the temerity to grow on public land.

land that is also part of the riparian zone of the River Torrens, the sad little stream used as an aqueduct to transport water pumped from the Murray into the Kangaroo Creek Dam that provides some of the water consumed by residents of Adelaide.

are they forgetting that the stuff will be washed off the sidewalk and into the cocktail?

and they wonder why cancer is on the rise.

meanwhile

the oceans to the north-west are being ruined by an uncontrollable oilwell spewing its contents from the sea bed - to which the Australian Government is responding by spraying 'chemicals' [probably detergent] from the air. meanwhile we've just signed a contract that will give the last of the natural gas to China [while Australia continues to burn brown coal]

this morning's mailbox has brought further fascinating tidbits. apparently some enterprising Japanese scientists have been extracting protein from poo. it's then mixed with a little soy and some beef flavouring and can be slapped into a bun as fast as you can say "i'm Hungry, Jack".

visit the fascinating folk at 'wurst & fleisch' to read the full and gruesome details

i'm surprised that this is something new...from the aromas that waft from Mc Donalds [an establishment i've always referred to as the Golden Buttocks] you'd think they'd been on to this idea for years.

thank you, waiter, i'll take the steamed spinach, please.

gin might be a safer alternative...

did you say you'd like something to drink?

  

from the Adelaide Advertiser, July 17th, 2009

precious little

it's been an interesting week...we've made some lovely samples and had some delightful excursions. 

yesterday we visited the Nikau forest, for a mindful windfall walk collecting windfalls found within arms reach at node points in the walk. these nodes are determined by each individual so it means that although 12 people walked through this forest and 12 samples were made, each of these samples was different. it's a matter of choosing when to stop...at the end of the verse of your favourite song playing in headspace? the next time you hear a birdcall? counting to tweny? [that one's a last resort] 

today we went to the Waikanae River where we collected exotic weeds, bundling them in cloth around river stones and giving them a  good soak before taking them back to the studio to be steamed. which brings me to my point. the Waikanae River seemed extraordinarily low to me.

looking around the Kapiti community i don't think i've seen a single house with a rainwater tank.

in a country with such clean air [well at least during the non coal burning months] and documented rainfall  of 977 - 1091 mm per year this is frankly astounding. 

instead here on the Kapiti Coast the Waikanae River is pumped into pipes so that water flows into sinks and baths when taps are turned on. 

but think about this. the Kapiti Campus buildings of Whitireia Polytechnic offer at least [and this is based on an estimation of the roof area] 

(12 x 90 x 2) + (2 x 12 x 30) square metres of roof catchment area. maths ain't my strong point but multiply this by the potential rainfall and that's a pretty substantial puddle.

if that resource were stored in concrete tanks instead of being diverted into the stormwater system it could supply the campus easily. AND we'd have brighter colours in the dyepots!

if every new house here were required to install rainwater tanks then the river wouldn't run out and they wouldn't have to pump out the groundwater. keep going at this rate and they'll be in the same pickle that we are in across the ditch.

go figure.

mindless chatter

for days now the sun has been beating steadily down and things are becoming ever more desiccated. three out of our five dams are now claypans. every time we walk out the back door whichever cow is on lookout duty under the cloudless sky starts yodelling wildly hoping the tea-trolley is about to be wheeled out.

meanwhile some gormless halfwit talking on the wireless faffs on about how the last record heatwave was in 1934 and if we can just have another couple of hot days we’ll beat it. Que? it’s hot and dry and we’re rationing the last of the rainwater and some mindless git is keeping his chubby little fingers crossed for a record heatwave!...lucky for him the spell-casting cauldron is dry (no spare water), the AK47 is away being serviced, the pet cobra is at the dentist, and it’s too jolly hot to go anywhere. Otherwise he might perhaps want to watch his step.

maybe it’s the concentration of invisible pollutants being pumped out of Australia’s biggest and filthiest agricultural drain (the once-mighty Murray River) into the reticulated water system in Adelaide that have melted his tiny mind…

doggone

it's a sad day when humans resort to cheap tricks on their faithful friends to garner publicity. the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival shot itself firmly in the foot by condoning this one. according to The Age newspaper, a spokesperson insisted the dyes were 'of vegetable origin' and 'harmless'.

unless they steamed that (now) pink dog in a safflower bath (a fairly complicated process that usually only fixes on silk) or wrapped it tightly in spanish onion skins and then boiled it, i'd say the relationship of that colour to nature was tenuous at best. cochineal and madder are different reds, so they're out too.

bright colours like that are petrochemical products, not meant for dogs to soak in.

shame.