So . . . 2016 is the hottest year on record. Second is 2015 - third 2014. Yet still there are people behaving as though there is no need to be concerned for our climate. As I melt in the humid summer of unpredictable weather that we are experiencing, I despair.
I fear the tipping point has been passed. There is no turning back. My children have inherited a planet which is changing - a science fiction future that I have fought for many years to prevent.
Billy Joel said: "We didn't start the fire - we didn't light it but we tried to fight it." Not enough has been done to fight climate change. We continue to over-consume, to waste, to throw away our future. Our politicians lack the courage and insight to try to save our children's future. Instead the politics of fear urge us to view refugees as the enemy, and terrorists as the danger.
The reality in the Western world is that you are far more likely to die from road trauma or domestic violence than terrorism. Yet fear of terrorism is more widespread than fear for the environment.
I am overwhelmed. What can I possibly do to change the path of destruction we are following as a species? A species with the power to wipe out other species - to destroy the whole world.
And now Trump wants to return to a nuclear arms race. I fear the people in power more than I fear terrorists.
Thursday 29 December 2016
Tuesday 22 November 2016
The tears of a child
The class was extremely small - most of Year 9 were either on camp or staying home for the week. The film I was asked to show - "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas." I was not prepared for the tears at the end of the film. Fortunately we had ten minutes to talk.
Their first concern was whether this was what really happened. I briefly explained the Holocaust and stressed that this was one of the reasons we taught History in school (although this was an English lesson). "We have to know what's happened so we don't repeat our mistakes," one wise girl suggested.
I hope I was able to ease the distress, but in the short time available I could not say all I wanted to. How do you answer, "Did the Jews really cause the war?" in five minutes or less?
They had seen the use of propaganda shown in the film, but how do you explain the modern take on the ancient tradition of anti-Semitism? How to discuss the human predilection for hating and persecuting the "other". Could I link it to the way Australia, a nation founded on fear of Asian invasion, continues to target the most recent boat people?
How can I explain to these sweet thirteen-year-olds the way that politicians are increasingly using fear to manipulate their electorates? Fear of refugees, Muslims, terrorists. In a country where a woman dies every week from domestic violence we spend more money combating terrorism, which has barely touched our island/continent. I did not have time to draw parallels between Hitler's Germany and politicians who win office through deceitful campaigns that exploit people's fears while neglecting their needs. Through fear we retain a government that panders to vested interests to the detriment of the people and the land.
And last week our Senate debated whether or not climate change was real. The greatest threat to human society is still being treated as a hoax by people who have power in running our country. It doesn't suit them to acknowledge the damage being done as our environment is exploited in the name of greed. Next year's election is more important than our children's future.
What hope did I have in explaining anti-Semitism and propaganda? A whole lesson would not have been enough.
When are our politicians going to grow up enough to face the real challenges our world faces, instead of distracting us with scary shadows on the wall?
Their first concern was whether this was what really happened. I briefly explained the Holocaust and stressed that this was one of the reasons we taught History in school (although this was an English lesson). "We have to know what's happened so we don't repeat our mistakes," one wise girl suggested.
I hope I was able to ease the distress, but in the short time available I could not say all I wanted to. How do you answer, "Did the Jews really cause the war?" in five minutes or less?
They had seen the use of propaganda shown in the film, but how do you explain the modern take on the ancient tradition of anti-Semitism? How to discuss the human predilection for hating and persecuting the "other". Could I link it to the way Australia, a nation founded on fear of Asian invasion, continues to target the most recent boat people?
How can I explain to these sweet thirteen-year-olds the way that politicians are increasingly using fear to manipulate their electorates? Fear of refugees, Muslims, terrorists. In a country where a woman dies every week from domestic violence we spend more money combating terrorism, which has barely touched our island/continent. I did not have time to draw parallels between Hitler's Germany and politicians who win office through deceitful campaigns that exploit people's fears while neglecting their needs. Through fear we retain a government that panders to vested interests to the detriment of the people and the land.
And last week our Senate debated whether or not climate change was real. The greatest threat to human society is still being treated as a hoax by people who have power in running our country. It doesn't suit them to acknowledge the damage being done as our environment is exploited in the name of greed. Next year's election is more important than our children's future.
What hope did I have in explaining anti-Semitism and propaganda? A whole lesson would not have been enough.
When are our politicians going to grow up enough to face the real challenges our world faces, instead of distracting us with scary shadows on the wall?
Wednesday 16 November 2016
The news is not improving . . .
Hello again!
So . . . the world wants change. And Trump is the one to give it. Sexist, climate change denier, dodgy businessman; complete loose cannon. I'm not the only one who's feeling a bit anxious about this.
"Catalyst" last night was about the Anthropocene Era. Apparently geologists are about to declare that a new era has begun where the planet has been changed by human actions. Unprecedented warming, radiation and new trace elements appearing in sediments - the evidence is there.
Sticking our collective heads in the sand and ignoring what is happening won't help. We have already changed our climate. The severity of the impact is the question. We need to make changes now that will prevent catastrophic global warming - extreme weather events, increasing extinctions, crop failures. This is not the world I want to leave for my children to inherit.
And the really distressing thing is that we know what to do. As the concerned geologists on the program pointed out, we have the technology. Yet we continue to allow investment in unsustainable coal power. We continue to encourage (as a society) the consumption that has led to our current predicament. We are consuming beyond the point that can be supported by our planet.
Don't believe in over-consumption? Go look in the cupboard. How much stuff is there that you don't need? When was the last time you up-dated your smart phone? How often do you have to "declutter"? If you found lots of junk you must be part of the 17% of the world's population whose consumption and energy guzzling has contributed most to the problem. Are we going to jeopardize the future because we couldn't be bothered modifying our life-style?
So . . . the world wants change. And Trump is the one to give it. Sexist, climate change denier, dodgy businessman; complete loose cannon. I'm not the only one who's feeling a bit anxious about this.
"Catalyst" last night was about the Anthropocene Era. Apparently geologists are about to declare that a new era has begun where the planet has been changed by human actions. Unprecedented warming, radiation and new trace elements appearing in sediments - the evidence is there.
Sticking our collective heads in the sand and ignoring what is happening won't help. We have already changed our climate. The severity of the impact is the question. We need to make changes now that will prevent catastrophic global warming - extreme weather events, increasing extinctions, crop failures. This is not the world I want to leave for my children to inherit.
And the really distressing thing is that we know what to do. As the concerned geologists on the program pointed out, we have the technology. Yet we continue to allow investment in unsustainable coal power. We continue to encourage (as a society) the consumption that has led to our current predicament. We are consuming beyond the point that can be supported by our planet.
Don't believe in over-consumption? Go look in the cupboard. How much stuff is there that you don't need? When was the last time you up-dated your smart phone? How often do you have to "declutter"? If you found lots of junk you must be part of the 17% of the world's population whose consumption and energy guzzling has contributed most to the problem. Are we going to jeopardize the future because we couldn't be bothered modifying our life-style?
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