If trees could talk.

-
Thích Quảng Đức last words before his self immolation were...

“Before closing my eyes and moving towards the vision of the Buddha, I respectfully plead to President Ngô Đình Diệm to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. I call the venerables, reverends, members of the sangha and the lay Buddhists to organize in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism.”
Holidays abroad are great.  They expose us to new and exciting things.  They are a learning opportunity - that’s if we are open minded.  History also teaches us many things.  Holidays and history combined while visiting Vietnam recently where we learned the story of Thích QuảngĐức. He was a Vietnamese Buddest Monk whose self immolation in 1963 in protest at the persecution of Buddhists led to the overthrow of the South Vietnamese Government and the assasination of their leader Ngô Đình Diệm.

When a country self immolates like Australia has done over the past few weeks and months one would think that it is an obvious sign that that action is required at all levels of society to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.  The world is looking at Australia right now.  The opportunities are there for individuals, organisations and all levels of government to act. 
And it’s at an individual and household level where change can happen quickest.

What sort of change do you ask?  For a start each household can simply declare a Climate Emergency.  (We have to do this on a household by household basis as the Federal Government refuses to? Just saying.)  Declaring a climate emergency looks different to each individual and household and each will work at different speeds based on their capacity.  And each will lose their resolve and be reinspired again by others.  It’s a journey.  The destination is a level of resilience to be able to weather the changes we face and to become sustainable as a nation and planet.

Next change for individuals?  Well for me, I will be staying home next summer.  Leaving my veggie garden and fruit trees at the most productive and vulnerable time of year doesn’t make sense.  Putting pressure on others to keep the chickens alive and the produce going is unfair.

With all the school gardens that are popping up around town and around the state it could be time to review the benefits of a long break in January.  Not to mention the fire risks to holiday makers. David Bowman articulates it well in his article in The Conversation recently.  Holidaying when my veggie garden is bedded in for the winter or prepped ready for spring seems a better time to take a relaxing break. 

Spreading the tourist dollar throughout the year and reducing the risk of your holiday being cancelled because of bushfire is surely a better strategy.  Can the school term be changed to reflect this?  One weeks holiday from Christmas to New Year.  Three weeks for Easter holidays and three weeks for Winter, then four weeks in September to head out and enjoy the National and State parks or to explore and support towns that have done it hard earlier in the year.  Being able to bank on local tourism will make the now tough times of summer more bearable.

Whenever a State of Emergency is declared, Stage three water restrictions should apply across the whole state.  And when a drought area is declared in a state, the whole state should go on water restrictions - actually this should include any up stream states too.  While we are at it, a zero carbon future plan with clear and immediate actions would certainly help.  These are just a few ideas.  You tell me others actions we can take.
Now getting back to the burning of our bush this summer and what our bush, land, trees, grasses and animals would say to our PM...

As the roar and radiant heat of the wildfire descends upon us, We respectfully plead to Prime Minister Scott Morrison to take a mind of compassion towards the Land, Oceans, Atmosphere, Animals, Trees, Grasses and Microorganisms of the world and implement sustainable management of our environment to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. We call the venerables, reverends, members of the parliament, leaders around our nation and the individuals to organize in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect the earth's environment.

Thank you Thích Quảng Đức for your words and your sacrifice.

Action creates the motivation to change. C'mon Aussies

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Foodtopia Dreaming Episode 9 Plugging the holes

-
Image
Getting up before sunrise, sneaking out of the house is what most 50-year-olds do.  I jump on my bike and ride to meet up with a couple of friends, Fin and Tad, who are farming Silver Peach and Tilapia, with some Barramundi in the summer.  I don’t understand why such an early start, but go along with the plan. We scooted off the bike paths onto a cross country MTB trail that takes us behind a grove of trees where we stash our bikes.  Bending down to duck under bushes, then on all fours  to a cyclone fence.  A short commando crawl gets us through a cut in the fence. Cleverly disguised as a join.  I look up and release we are at the back of the old Olympic pool, abandoned a few years ago because it leaked like a sieve.  The grass had grown and trees had sprouted on the disused land.  The path became obvious when we stood up.  The grass made way for familiar sights. Borage and chicory, wild rocket, and perpetual spring onions.  The trees he...
Read more

Creating the future we want.

-
Image
Covid-19 is about change. It’s environmental and social change.  The byproduct is financial change.   Attacking the financial will lead us nowhere.  So where will we be in 12-18 months?   Where do I hope we’ll be and how do I think we will get there and have we learnt from the past?   The past?  9/11, hole in the ozone? Wars, GFC and Climate Change?  All have a commonality.   People and environment in crisis. And taking the wrong path at the wrong time.  An isolated world lacking strong empathy for others and the environment or a will to help.   We should have had communities working together to solve their problems. Building local sustainable lives for generations to come. Not just for our immediate future or for our retirement. But alas this didn’t happen. “The sins of the fathers are felt unto the seventh generation”.  This pretty much sums up where we are at now.   (And I relise that this comes from Exodus 20:5 ...
Read more

Attributes of a community garden (or organisation)

-
Image
Describing the attributes you want in a community garden is tough.  It’s like the chicken/egg scenario.  Yes it's a bit of a challenge describing what you want versus what your community want.  And I acknowledge that community gardens are the embodiment of and reflection of the community (and state/country) in which they are based. A vibrant connected and fully supported community is likely to have a community garden which reflects them. And community gardens are as diverse as the communities they are in. Plus, community gardens have a huge weight and expectation on their shoulders.  They are portrayed variously in the media as saving the world, mitigating climate change, solving resource depletion, recycling or repurposing or fixing stuff, do good things like running a community worm farm, improving everyone's mental health, reducing obesity and non-communicable diseases, improving the overall nutrition of the community, supplying free food, getting the community ph...
Read more