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Showing posts with label Bushfires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bushfires. Show all posts
Monday, 6 April 2015
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Here is an excerpt of an article by Bronwyn Lay published in Eureka Street. Bronwyn is the daughter of my good friend, Margaret Lay.
Bushfires demand response-ability
I've never felt the earth move but have sniffed smoke, ashes and the aftermath of bushfires. The fright of inferno is akin to the world being taken away in an instant. It makes bodies tremble and language vanish. In front of violent nature, who are we but helpless and mute?
Bronwyn Lay | 22 October 2013
I've never felt the earth move but have sniffed smoke, ashes and the aftermath of bushfires. The fright of inferno is akin to the world being taken away in an instant. It makes bodies tremble and language vanish. In front of violent nature, who are we but helpless and mute?
In bushfires, tsunamis and earthquakes, our relationship to the 'natural' world comes at us like an alive nightmare, and hurts. The natural world might not possess emotions like anger and revenge, but asks violent questions about meaning and action and responsibility. Many ask us to draw a line in our mourning, and only think about the humans. This is repression, for on such occasions humans and nature are bound in a dangerous dance.
In Lisbon 1755 the Western world changed direction. The ground literally moved as the biggest earthquake recorded in Western history hit the Portuguese coast and decimated Lisbon. A tsunami and fires followed. It was All Saints day and many people were at Mass when the earthquake hit. The monarchy fled to the hills to live as nomads, and thousands died.
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Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Victorian Wind Alliance; Extreme Weather; Zero Emissions; Rode RAGE
The following letter has come to me via Andrew Bray formerly of 100% Renewables and now of the Victorian Wind Alliance. VicWind can be followed on Twitter with @VicWindAll and on Facebook.
It is written to Catherine King, the Federal Member for Ballarat.
Dear Catherine,
As you may have seen from our Facebook/website updates, our Khmer Rode RAGE group have returned safely to Australia and doubly motivated to contribute to a more sustainable and just world.
The sights we saw and the people we met have impacted greatly on our group and to return home to Australia and be greeted with floods and bushfires and storms and the announcement of an upcoming election (the first for many in our group who are 18-21) has sharpened our curiosity and so the group has asked me to pose some questions to you as our Federal representative. We would be happy to speak to you in person or would also be happy with an e mail response if that were more convenient for you…we are sure you are a busy lady and are appreciative of the time and support you have given our team in the past.
We are aware that there have always been floods and storms and droughts and bushfires in Australia, but as we understand it, in the past 10 years Australia has experienced the worst ever drought, the worst ever bushfires, the worst ever floods and the most severe ever cyclones…all in the same decade. Also as we understand it, Australian’s are the biggest per capita greenhouse emitters on the planet and fast climbing the ladder of total emissions as well, especially when the coal that we export to other countries is taken into account. And as we have just witnessed, despite the destruction of the past years within Australia caused by extreme weather events, Australians are not the ones paying the most immediate or significant penalties for our emissions, but it is our global neighbours those in developing nations and wildlife that are most severely and directly affected…. For hundreds of millions, it is literally a daily matter of life and death.
And so our questions are:
1. Does the Federal Government take the costs associated with extreme weather events into account when calculating the costs of fossil fuel generated energy?
2. If so, how?
3. Is there any economic sense in which such events can be seen as “mini stimulus packages”, providing employment for lots of builders, garbage contractors, insurance assessors etc??
4. Is the Federal Government aware of the plan developed by Beyond Zero Emissions (beyondzeroemissions.org ) to have Australia 100% zero emissions within 10 years??
5. This seems to us a very credible plan, developed by very credible and knowledgeable people…. Could please explain why it hasn’t been adopted as federal policy?
6. Given that, by definition, Australia has to transition away from fossil fuels at some point, do we need to burn all of the existing fossil fuel reserves before we make the transition to 100% renewable energy??
Thanks again for all your past support of our program and we very much look forward to discussing/reading your answers to our questions.
Best wishes,
Rode RAGE
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Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Bill Gammage - a great Australian showing us how me might become truly Australian
I am reading the winner of the Victorian Premier's Award for non-fiction. A much awarded book! It has generated many awards including the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History.
If you read nothing else this year, please read this. Bill Gammage says that, until we understand this country, we can't truly call ourselves Australians. Bill is a historian - but not only. He knows his plants, Australia's vegetation. In recent years, more has come to light on life and land before white settlement. The Australians before 1788 managed this continent in a unique way - a way of which we need to take note.
Bill points out the connection of land management to The Dreaming, the belief system of the first Australians.
Australia to-day is a an increasingly secular society. The New Atheism has provided an invigorating element to Aussie secularism. My view is that we cannot bring the fullest knowledge of our environment into view while ignoring the environmental spirituality which existed and continues to exist for Aboriginal Australians and the environmental spirituality which is part and parcel of the world's great religions.
Just as the Australian landscape described by Gammage and managed so brilliantly by the pre-1788 inhabitants is layer upon layer - so is human knowledge and spirituality across the globe. It is layer upon layer - science, human impact, other species, human usage, spirituality, design, human management.
I first got this book from my local public library. The hard copy. It is a long time since I have seen a more beautiful book. The size, the layout, the font, and - above all - the most magnificent colour plates an instance of which is above. I have bought the book for myself - but, as an OAP, could only afford the paperback. But it has the lovely colour plates. Become truly Australian. Begin to understand by reading The Biggest Estate on Earth.
Professor Henry Reynolds who wrote the Foreword to the book
with the author of The Biggest Estate on Earth, Bill Gammage.
Photo has been edited by Miss Eagle. It came from here.
Lastly, I want to thank Bill Gammage -
for helping us to know ourselves and our land.
Find more videos regarding Bill Gammage here
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Bill Gammage, author of The Biggest Estate on Earth, historicises the notion of terra nullius, the land rights movement and Mabo, on the 20th anniversary of that landmark High Court decision.
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Thursday, 4 October 2012
Baillieu government allows VicForests to log Toolangi rainforest that survived the bushfires
Local residents and volunteer conservationists have this morning stopped logging operations in a stand of rain-forest that should be protected from logging.
Arrests are expected.
In August government logging agency VicForests was taken to court for logging rain-forest. One of the conditions of the out-of-court settlement was that they train officers to properly identify rain-forest, and not log any more rain-forest.
Yet rain-forest logging has been discovered on Yellowdindi Road, near Toolangi.
“A new scientific survey, mapping the logged rain-forest in this location, has been submitted to the Department of Sustainability and Environment. So far, they have failed to step in and stop the logging,” says local Toolangi resident, Kerryn Blackshaw.
Residents have made repeated requests for the logging to stop immediately.
“Today we’ll be stepping in where this government is failing to, and draw attention to this significant logging breach.”
“You can see where the bush was razed from the bush-fires all around this forest. This rain-forest gully escaped the fires.”
“You can see how close the bushfires came, and to think there’s a refuge, a rain-forest place, that they’re now logging, it’s just devastating,” says Ms Blackshaw.
“It is appalling that the Baillieu government is allowing rain-forests that escaped the 2009 fires to be logged for wood-chips”, concludes Ms Blackshaw.
Arrests are expected.
In August government logging agency VicForests was taken to court for logging rain-forest. One of the conditions of the out-of-court settlement was that they train officers to properly identify rain-forest, and not log any more rain-forest.
Yet rain-forest logging has been discovered on Yellowdindi Road, near Toolangi.
“A new scientific survey, mapping the logged rain-forest in this location, has been submitted to the Department of Sustainability and Environment. So far, they have failed to step in and stop the logging,” says local Toolangi resident, Kerryn Blackshaw.
Residents have made repeated requests for the logging to stop immediately.
“Today we’ll be stepping in where this government is failing to, and draw attention to this significant logging breach.”
“You can see where the bush was razed from the bush-fires all around this forest. This rain-forest gully escaped the fires.”
“You can see how close the bushfires came, and to think there’s a refuge, a rain-forest place, that they’re now logging, it’s just devastating,” says Ms Blackshaw.
“It is appalling that the Baillieu government is allowing rain-forests that escaped the 2009 fires to be logged for wood-chips”, concludes Ms Blackshaw.
*For media comment:
Kerryn Blackshaw
**0431 702 673*
For your further attention please go to:
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Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Leaf litter, little critters, and preventing bushfires - whoda thunk it!
A missive of interest from Denis at The Nature of Robertson.
This might not sound interesting to you, at first, but I am sending it as there is a Castlemaine connection.
However, on one of my Moth weekends at CSIRO last year, one of the scientists there told me had done a study on the importance of insects which break down leaf litter, as a key ingredient to fire protection strategies.
Hint. If you kill off these micro-critters, the leaf litter builds up, and you end up with a huge amount of what the Firies refer to as "fuel".
in other words, if you do not destroy the micro-organisms, the bush stays healthy, and burns less often or less "hot".
Anyway. you might be able to get hold of the book, or follow up this woman some time.
As an example of the hidden, unseen, things which silently chew away at stuff, here is just one of my Fungi photos with minute creatures living inside it.
They are not "insects" - wrong number of legs.
Technically arthropods.
Doesn't matter how or why, it is just exciting that somebody has written a book about such a topic, and managed to get it published.
All power to her, I say.
- those arthropods are "springtails" - look like minute "Slaters", but in fact they are less than 1/10th the size of a "slater" - photo attached jst for interest.
Denis
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Explorations for the curiousI've recently enjoyed introducing a range of people to Rachel Tonkin's Leaf Litter (Harper, 2006)
The large format picture book has 14 double-page paintings depicting the diversity of life, action, death and life cycles amongst the leaf litter typical of southern Australia's temperate woodlands.
Tonkin is based in Castlemaine so the species she's accurately shown are familiar. The range of species is enhanced by lift-the-flap excitement on each page and ten additional challenges for the observant to find are listed ahead of the excellent glossary. Below each page a detailed text suggests and explains features for searches and sharing both above and below ground level.
Leaf Litter is a beautiful book and a colourful way to convince people that rather than being dead, drab and lifeless, leaf litter is teaming with nutrient-generating organisms from microbes to invertebrates and reptiles, frogs and small mammals. Foraging birds enter each scene. Plants' form and seasonal changes give each painting structure with an ancient eucalypt focussing attention on textures and natural patterns.
It's also available online through Booktopia,The paperback edition is available from the Botanical Bookshop for $18 and opens out nearly as well as the original hardback copies. Leaf Litter is an ideal introduction to the vitality and essential nature of soil and an affirmation that we cannot afford to destroy the ground layer of the land.
Rosemary Blemings
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Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Bushfire remembrance
Tess Lawrence has sent this article to me for which I thank her. It was first posted in Independent Australia yesterday. In Melbourne, we have had strong winds this week. I am sure many are like me and remember the winds of three years ago with their smoky greyness casting a dramatic pall. For me, in the wind, I remember them.
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To-day is the 3rd anniversary of the apocalyptic Victorian bushfires — as well the 45th of a similar tragedy that befell Tasmania in 1967. Contributing editor-at large Tess Lawrence was touched by both calamities. The following is a piece written while the embers still smouldered in Victoria.
Only tears of angels can extinguish these flames, bathe charred hearts and our incinerated souls.
We have never seen such apocalyptic fire in Victoria, demonic flailings lashed by hellfire winds, delivering an Armageddon well prophesied upon a sunburnt country already dying of thirst.
Embers, like anger, still smoulder. Nature’s mighty force is one thing.
When she is aided and abetted by human accomplices, then she is seduced into believing she is invincible. C’mon baby, light my fire. The impotent goading the omnipotent. Make no mistake, arsonists are terrorists, turning our beloved land into valleys of death and destruction.
As we haul the twisted corpses of our brothers and sisters from their still warm tombs in scenes reminiscent of another kind of war zone, we must not capitulate to the despair, the horror and the sadness we now feel.
As we count and bury our dead, the undead amongst us must embrace the dying and the injured.
As we smell the burnt flesh of the wounded, the smoke is smeared as strong as paint upon our landscape and upon our heartscape.
We salute our mighty fireys, fire-fighters and rescue workers. And brave neighbours and friends and family members who risked all to save and help others. Some forfeiting their own lives, and even loved ones and property as they toiled.
All are heroes, whether in the uniform of the CFA or the Salvos; whether they bear the Jaws of Life or administer healing cups of tea, offer hugs, words of encouragement or talk gently to us of a happier future far from today’s nightmare.
As we begin to bulldoze the corpses of livestock and animals trapped in stables, cages, pens, that we left behind, or bury pets that died with their owners, and as we put down hundreds of half-burned, bloated, blinded and near dead creatures with half-beating hearts; eyes crazed white with fear and pain — I can promise there is a guilt of the human survivor even in this; that we did not, could not, protect those trusting creatures in our care.
We must all help in whatever way we can and even if we don’t have money to spare, we can lend a hand in so many other ways, either on an individual basis or with community working bees.
So often, in the heat of disaster, we inundate crisis centres with support. But it is in those lonelier days into the future, when the blistering subsides and the emotional regrowth starts to show that we need to be there for those of us forever scarred by these fires.
Tasmanians know this only too well. Black Tuesday 1967 is like a welt upon the memory of those of us who lived through it. We lost 62 of our own during that maelstrom, when the air turned into a blood-red solid element. Like Icarus, our State was hurtling towards the sun.
About 900 of us suffered burns and injury, some forever disfigured, disabled, deformed and reformed by the fire, its heat reforging our molten skin like play dough. This too, too solid flesh did melt.
More than 7,000 Taswegians found themselves homeless. My own family amongst them.
In a bizarre co-incidence, both Black Tuesday and Victoria’s fires happened in February – and exploded on the same date – the 7th — 42 years to the day!
The post traumatic impact of tragedy leaves a different imprint on us all. It manifests in different ways. On different days. Even decades later.
It is always with us. It becomes part of our emotional ringbarking. One is not even conscious of it. But it is a psycholgical stigmata that reappears during these times of stress and particularly when there are similar recurrences.
The embrace of family, friends, schoolmates, and the kindness of strangers becomes a parliament of healing and support; a Loving Cup, a shared humanity in which we find comfort in one another.
You find such precious jewels amongst the ashes of razed houses and dreams. You learn from bitter experience these are the truest. They are to be polished and cherished and placed like runes in a safe place in your heart.
And they do sustain you and remind you of the goodness in the hearts of others. And you find yourself fingering them in moments of insecurity and fear. In such places as Ethiopia, Iraq, Kuwait, I have done this to calm myself.
It is knowing you are not alone in such horrendous difficulties that can salve wounds and the hurt. No amount of anaesthesia will numb the emotional pain.
Experiencing these horrors gives us empathy with those who daily live with the nightmare of war and bombs, disease and starvation. It brings us a little closer to the 800,000 human beings who were disembowelled, mutilated and hacked to death by their own species in Rwanda.
None of us is immune from tragedy. Not even those of us who report the news, good or bad. Channel 9′s famous newsreader Brian Naylor and his wife Moiree are you or I on another day, another place.
I covered the Ash Wednesday fires for the now defunct Melbourne Herald – now merged into the Herald Sun, sister paper to The Mercury – where I did my wonderful and happy cadetship and covered everything from Courts to Shipping.
At the time of Black Tuesday, our Dad was a sub-editor on The Mercury – most of us kids were still at school. Dad’s workmates and families were fantastic to us. Everyone was. People lent us their homes and lent us their hearts.
Our next door neighbour Fred Scheppein and his beloved wife Pat (who has since died) bought our block and told Mum and Dad, if ever they wanted to rebuild, it was theirs. Just like that. We never did rebuild. But thank you Fred and Pat.
I do believe that every death diminishes us all. In Victoria, the number of deaths is increasing. The bell has yet to toll for others.
2009 Victorian bushfires
Somewhere there is the person/or persons responsible for some of this bloody murder most foul. Getting their rocks off as they monitor the international media response to their cowardly deeds. Perhaps filming on their mobile phone for a Youtube boast.
The same Queen who sent Dame Elisabeth Murdoch congratulations for her 100thBirthday, also sent her condolences to Victorians who lost loved ones.
The arsonist (s) would pin this on a chest like a badge of dishonour. But beware, forensic teams have already moved in to analyse your handiwork.
Anyone who has smelled the burning flesh of humans never forgets it. Those of us who have to identify corpses will never forget it. To see your loved one(s) and animals grotesquely disfigured by fire is a spectre that haunts one forever.
Imagine, too, the psychological impact upon those who find the bodies and the paramedics, police, medical and Defence and other teams now working to save us and mend us.
One thing I do know, is that the human spirit seems to be greater than the adversity that challenges it.
We can overcome tragedy and we can rebuild. We can rebuild our lives and we can rebuild property and we can rebuild broken hearts and broken spirits. We have before and we will again.
But we should not be embarrassed or afraid of seeking psychological help and de-briefing counselling.
I hope the fires are extinguished by St Valentine’s Day; more an act of mercy than Love.
I hope that the tears of angels fall like rain on the smouldering earth about us to put out the fires that rage on the land and in our hearts. And that we use these tears to bathe wounds and cleanse us from the smoke, in our throats and in our eyes.
Life goes on. Not always in the same direction as originally planned; often with an increased faith in humanity and a greater sense of community.
How true it is, that tragedy often brings out the best in people; so it’s there — inherent. The Phoenix is already risen, borne aloft by the collective indomitable human spirit.
The murderous person(s) who set the torch that ignited this current inferno also lit a candle to a shared humanity and turned a nation into a family.
(Tess Lawrence’s family has been burned out twice — and lost everything on both occasions. Once in political riots — and once in bushfires. She still grieves and cries about the family’s five beloved dogs who died in these fires.)
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Monday, 18 April 2011
#Resurrection to new life : the #Buxton_Silver_Gum #trees #environment
Tweet
Eucalyptus crenulata (Buxton Silver Gum)
It's an ill wind bushfire that blows burns nobody any good, it is said.
This story will cause a flutter of excitement in many places. Thanks to the bushfires more was learned about this rare tree and rejuvenation of the species in its special locality is expected. It is this sort of thing that gives us, the human species, hope.
In a week when Christians will be commemmorating a death on a cross and a resurrection to new life, Australia's beautiful, ancient soil has thrown up a story of continuing life in the face of adversity. This is an impressive thing.
Friday, 7 August 2009
Black Saturday Bushfires: Marysville from the ashes
February 7, 2009 is now referred to as Black Saturday because of the bushfires which gripped Victoria. They were Australia's worst natural disaster. The Age has to-day issued on line a collection of four videos updating the re-emergence of Marysville. To see them, please go here. For photos, please go here.
Friday, 29 May 2009
Ash to ashes
Tree ferns and mountain ash
After natural disasters have visited humanity and departed, we are encouraged as normalcy returns and nature returns to its usual state. Never is this so important as after fire, particularly after the horrific bushfires that struck Victoria on Black Saturday, 7 February.
Therefore it is great news to read this morning of the aerial re-seeding of the Mountain Ash forests.
The Mountain Ash forests are one of Victoria's glories. The towering source of ships' masts looming over rainforest valleys of tree ferns is magnificent. The Dandenong Ranges near where I live are populated with such trees, ferns and valleys.
The Mountain Ash, Eucalyptus regnans, is the world's tallest flowering plant. Mountain Ash can live for up to 500 years. Other than old age, wildfire is the only other common cause of death in Mountain Ash. Characteristics that cause this tree to be fire sensitive include the long ribbons of hanging bark and the extreme combustibility of the foliage. After a fire, the area will regenerate to Mountain Ash as the burnt ground and direct sunlight serves as an ideal seed bed for seed that falls from the scorched crowns. Mature trees will leave seeds that regenerate after fire. Young trees do not leave seed - that is why the aerial re-seeding has to occur. The forests risk depletion of new growth otherwise.
I look forward to seeing pictures of the green shoots and the young trees that will emerge from the re-seeding and I pray that those who live close to the Mountain Ash forests and have survived the bushfires will find hope in their hearts to enjoy life again.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Bushfires....and the aftermath
On 7 February 2009, Victoria was ablaze. Hundreds died. The flames came to the outskirts of Melbourne. The photos linked below were taken after the fires and have come to me from a friend with connections to the Warburton Environment Centre. It is estimated that flames in the Murrindindi fires reached 1000 degrees Celsius. I drove through this country five weeks ago. It was amazing to see a house standing with houses either side burned out. I drove down an avenue of burned trees which one could look through to an avenue of green. One is stunned at how some are taken and some gone in the flames. Go here for Liz Jackson's report for 4 Corners. If I had been present on the oval at Marysville, I would have felt that, any minute now, the rapture would occur or the Archangel Gabriel was about to arrive to herald the Second Coming. One hears about ember attacks - and someone caught the ember attacks on video. Stunning. Horizontal sparks of fire! How is the recovery proceeding? Miss Eagle would appreciate receiving some reports based on personal knowledge. Sometimes it is only after the drama has died and day to day life takes over that the need for assistance can be really assessed. If you have this sort of knowledge, please email misseaglesnetwork(at)gmail(dot)com.
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