I used to see verdant hills, paddocks, parks and fileds, green as far as the eye can see. Trees laden with fruit. Sleek, silky coated farm animals were the norm. We could rely on the regularity of the seasons: cool, wet winters, hot, dry summers, moderate springs and autumns. There were bush fires and floods that came and went, droughts that came and went and we all knew that as with nature there would be repetitions of these events. Yet, we were lax. We didn't worry. We could cope. We did nothing to prepare for the future. She'll be right mate!
There was a summer in the 80's when we had rain every night. (El Nina and it's opposite El Nino when there were droughts for years following that.) Having discovered these weather patterns, there were no new dams built. no pumps and pipes to take water past the mountains where they need water most. Out west is where they grow our food.
I've noticed the escalation of the power of natural devastation. Cyclones hit the north several times every year. We have floods and fire storms that engulf entire townships. People living in the regions that are most effected have lost everything and yet the governments both state and federal sit on their hands and do nothing to help. It's obvious that buisness and money matter more than life.
Here we are in the city complaiining of price hikes on groceries and energy and petrol but we are part of the problem. By not forcing the governments in power to give us basic things like food, clean air and water. BASIC things for life. By being careless with our most precious resources, we are throwing away our future. Can't eat coal or steel. Can't feed dust to sheep and cattle. Can't drink sewerage. We have to manage better than this. The problem is that our governments are only in power for three years and are least effective in the third when they concentrate on staying in power. There could be an environmental agency, independant of political alliances that preserves and protects things like water, land and air, employed to ensure we have resources to not only take care of future generations but look after the over 25 million people who live here already. It's a big task. Anybody out there willing to volunteer?
