It is 28 December, a Monday but the streets hereabouts are quiet as it is a public holiday. At 8am it is already warm, over 25C but it is overcast, threatening to rain and very humid. You can feel the predicted afternoon storms in the air.
Normally the sun would be shining and the beaches full but I haven't heard a single complaint. Last season's dreadful bushfires are still uppermost in our minds and we know we are lucky not to be mired in waves of virus.
The political environment feels much like the weather, with storms building, still suppressed but increasingly volatile.
They say being resource rich is a recipe for unhappiness in this world as resource owners are so easily able to pay off those who want power while they pillage unrestrained. We have watched environmental destruction by unrestrained multinationals in developing countries and we watch it in Australia.
How do we get our recalcitrant government to take climate action? They look away as our youth becomes depressed and suicidal. They look away as we loose our Great Barrier Reef. They have practised looking away for a long time as the Aboriginal community would attest.
But pressure is building. Governments around the world are looking at our government with increasing distaste, and finally they are beginning to act on this distaste. This may be the only way we can be saved from ourselves.
I found a large sheet of paper that didn't quite fit in the cupboard, so I took out my pencil to make a new years greeting picture. This was who popped up on the page.
Happy 2021 to you too, E. Small correction: at the start of this post you probably meant 28 December. Otherwise much that I agree with in this and the immediately previous post.
ReplyDeleteOh you are right of course Marcellous. I will correct it. Happy 2021 to you too. Lets hope we meet in a concert hall again sometime this year.
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