poor fellow my country

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

"This book is the decisive story of how in those vital years, Australia threw away her chance of becoming a true commonwealth. The dream of Australia Felix, The Happy South Land.The book will long remain in the memory and is undoubtedly Herbert's supreme contribution to Australian literature."

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. 

smoke gets in your eyes

when i boil cauldrons
over twigs and sticks
people inevitably ask about carbon
my response is that the twigs and sticks
will produce the same amount of carbon-based gas
whether they rot in the woods
or are consumed by flames

in the former case the gas will [i think]
be methane
in the latter
carbon dioxide
[chemists finding flaws while reading this page are invited to correct me]

on balance
probably better than using
coal-sourced electricity...

carbon credits

in view of the fact i fly about a lot
i thought i had better do something to compensate again
in truth, i don't even need an excuse to invest in trees
and
while i'm perfectly capable of propagating them from seed
sometimes it's nice to have something a little bigger
so today i did my favourite kind of shopping
at the native nursery in Belair National Park

doesn't look like much, being tubestock, but they'll do.

the collection includes Eucalyptus - pulverulenta, gillii, wandoo, crenulata, cordata and nichollii
also some anigozanthos [kangaroo paw], two species of santalum [sandalwood and quandong]
and a purple-leaved form of Agonis flexuosa
somewhere in there are also two small myoporum plants to host the santalums [the latter are parasitical]
a very fine lot indeed

while rummaging about on my desk for something else entirely
i found a few bundles that i had cooked before leaving for NZ
so as to have a present to unwrap on my return
[my students will all recognise this habit - so important, i think, to have a present to unwrap on each morning of class]. just like a squirrel hiding nuts i'd forgotten this lot.
funny thing is, green is supposed to be the hardest colour to dye naturally....not if you dye in bundles.
the other good thing [besides the general happiness] is how little plant material is needed compared to the traditional 1:1 Weight of Goods to Weight of Plant Material ratio

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