Beyond The Fringe

Fires are an everpresent threat in Australia – many catastrophic blazes are lit by firebugs. With soaring temperatures in Victoria and New South Wales, dozens of people have died in the latest bush fires.

Fierce winds were fanning the fires and pushing them in unpredictable directions in Victoria on Sunday, after temperatures reached a state record of 47 degrees Celsius.

Forecasters said hot and uncertain weather conditions would continue through the day on Sunday.

Blair Trewin, a climatologist with the National Climate Centre in Melbourne, told Al Jazeera: “They are the most extreme conditions that we have ever seen in historic record in parts of southeastern Australia.

“We are seeing an upward trend in temperatures in Australia as elsewhere in the world.”

More than 600 houses have been destroyed by the fires.

The worst wildfires in recent memory killed 75 people and razed 2,500 homes in Victoria in 1983.

In south Queensland we continue to enjoy pleasant summer weather, while in the north of the state, there’s flooding. Australia – a land of climatic extremes.

UPDATE FEB 9

107 people are now known to have perished in the fires, which are still raging through Victoria and New South Wales.

Authorities suspect arsonists are responsible for some fires and police are treating some razed towns as crime scenes.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, says deliberately starting the fires is mass murder.

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The fire that is of most concern is burning out of control in Victoria’s north-east, threatening the townships of Stanley and Eskdale.

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The other major fire of concern, the Murrindini Mill fire, is moving north-east and is now about 93,000 hectares in size.

Fire authorities are also warning it will take several more days to control a large blaze burning near Victoria’s biggest electricity generator, the Loy Yang power station.

There are 50 fires raging across New South Wales. A 31 year old Gosford man has been arrested for arson.

UPDATE FEB 10

At last, something that captures the imagination of Australia’s vampire media more than the global economic situation and counting ever-dwindling loot.

173 people have now died, and blame is being thrown here, there and everywhere. Beyond the predictable media frenzy, I see this as a tangible expression of denial, the first stage of grief. 911 had the same effect on folks – blame everyone except the culture which through its practices, contributed to the calamity.

There’ll be plenty of time to look for answers, if there are any which can really be addressed, given our frustrating 200 years of braindead whitey farming practices, 40,000 of pre-colonial firing techniques which preceded these and folks’ unwillingness to learn from science and successful models of integrating human habitation with the environment on which it depends.

How many people know that most eucalypts are weeds in Australia, which create the conditions they need to colonise, whose seeds only germinate when fired? It is more popular to romanticise about the noble Australian aboriginal living in ‘harmony’ with ‘nature’ than look with a scientific eye at the result of their nomadic farming experience.

Once the large slow moving forest dwelling herbivorous marsupials were hunted to extinction, it became traditional for our traditional owners to use fire to promote grassland for kangaroos – which conveniently breed like – kangaroos.

Always a joey in the pouch, one out grazing, always another on the way.

And eucalypts, with their need for fire, thrived at the expense of hardwood wet forest timber.

Clearing and much, much more firing by whiteys have increased the problem – along with the urban sprawl into Victoria’s bushland. You’d think we’d have learnt the lesson by now – this land can’t support the people it has – not enough water or arable farmland to depend upon. Yet our stupid government ignores the very real environmental impacts and limitations whilst mouthing rubbish about a sustainable economy needing more people. This bleating has been going on since whitey arrived here – the first settlers saw an empty land which needed wave on wave of migrants, with Australia’s rivers and forests bearing the brunt.

The choices are stark – either live with the forests – which make rain and oxygen on which we depend, revegetate with non-fire dependent species as much as possible, and take sensible precautions against bushfire catastrophes; or chop down even more of our precious bushland, till most of our land becomes as dry as the Simpson Desert.

TV documentary icon Sir Richard Attenborough can hardly be accused of being an environmental extremist – and now he’s confirming that which we on the Fringe have been saying for donkey’s years – the Old Testament Christian god is an irresponsible, ignorant, environmental vandal. The predominant cause of current planetary environmental devastation has roots in myths inculcated in western unconsciousnesses by primitive idiocies in the Bible, that selective, tarnished collection of fairy stories.

The destruction of the planet is encouraged in the English translation of the book of Genesis. Attenborough points out ‘the devastation of the environment has its roots in the first words that God supposedly uttered to humankind, as detailed in Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”‘

An atheist raised in an academic, non-religious family, Sir David said Genesis peddled untruths about how animals and plants appeared on earth and was also at the root of why there was now serious environmental degradation due to the greedy overexploitation of the earth’s natural resources.

“The influence of the Book of Genesis, which says the Lord God said ‘go forth and multiply’ to Adam and Eve and ‘the natural world is there for you to dominate’, [is that] you have dominion over the animals and plants of the world,” Sir David said.

“That basic notion, that the world is there for us and if it doesn’t actually serve our purposes, it’s dispensable, that has produced the devastation of vast areas of the land’s surface.

“Of course it’s a gross oversimplification, but that’s why Darwinism, and the fact of evolution, is of great importance because it is that attitude which has led to the devastation of so much, and we are in the situation that we are in,” he told the science journal Nature.

How different the planet might have been if Genesis had been translated to say, “live in harmony with the planet and don’t over-populate to the detriment of other creatures with whom you shares its space, for if you do, therein lies your doom.”

Interestingly, the more intellectually advanced New Testament in Revelations 11:18, says: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

Perhaps not as many people finished reading the book as those who began it.

In contrast, the Koran contains numerous references to the environment, and it’s being used to teach environmentalism in countries like Indonesia.

The Koran, Suaedy says, contains numerous references to environmental protection, including the line: “Don’t do destruction upon this earth.” At one point, the Koran equates a human life with that of a tree: “Do not kill women, elders, children, civilians or trees.”

Saleem Ali, associate dean of graduate studies at the Rubenstein School for the Environment at the University of Vermont, says Islamic environmentalism can be traced back to the religion’s origins in the seventh century.

“The advent of Islam as an organized religion occurred in the desert environment of Arabia, and hence there was considerable attention paid to ecological concerns within Islamic ethics,” he said. “There is a reverence of nature that stems from essential pragmatism within the faith.”

Lo! We offered the trust
Unto the heavens and the
Earth and the hills,
But they shrank from bearing it
And were afraid of it
And man assumed it
Lo! He is a tyrant and a fool

—The Koran 33:72

Buddhism also contains elements of respect for life other than human on the planet.

Environmental efforts based on Buddhism include ordaining selected trees and groves as symbolic members of a Buddhist order.47 With its strong ethical basis, Buddhism has been connected to the Deep Ecology movement, as has Hinduism to a lesser extent.

For atheists like us, science and the history of civilisations more than adequately explain what happens when populations crash after devouring the resources that sustain them.

As recommended by Syd, Bill Hicks gets the last word here:

Serendipitously, my dear perceptive Malaysian friend Roh has skewered and dissected the shock climate change fear oil bubble horror being shoved down our throats every five minutes by the media and pollies, a current mass-marketing phenomenon not unique to Australia. Whilst there has been no doubt in my mind for several decades that irresponsible littering, pollution, over-consumption and over-breeding – greed, selfishness and human arrogance – was leading inexorably toward a catastrophic collapse which would dwarf those of historic civilisations who similarly degraded that on which they depended, it is hardly helpful for people to be scared witless and even worse, numb, by constant pronouncements of doom.

To disempower people at a time when innovation and harnessing of joyful, intelligent solutions is most needed may be the last terrible resort of that crumbling, decadent plutocracy euphemistically referred to as the global economy.

Much of the oil bubble – 30% or so – is due to speculators – who naturally will be hopeful that the Iraq situation doesn’t sort itself out any time soon, with one third of the world’s sweet crude lying beneath cruel American boots. It wouldn’t do for the Saudis either if the world’s favourite fungible was suddenly agush once more. Neither would it be a good thing for CO2 levels, which are what we should really be worrying about. The sun, which is mostly responsible for climate cycles, is in a cooling phase, reaching its next Maunder minimum in about 2032. Should we have failed to act substantially to limit CO2 emissions by then, as the sun heats once more, we may not only be bewailing the extinction of the Great Barrier Reef, but the human species as well. The only reprieve on the cards, according to many ecologists, is a good old plague which may decimate our rapacious species in the nick of time for the silent ones – all other earth species. Bird flu was just an aperitif.

Regardless of the bi-partisan doomsayers’ newly discovered woe, we look happily at our cashed up CXY (Cougar Energy) shares and hope their first 400mw plant out at Kingaroy is running before schedule. Queensland is the repository of the dirtiest brown coal in the world. A few years ago, Queensland ex-Premier, Peter Beattie boasted horribly and unforgettably that there was no problem with the state’s coal supplies – there was enough for the next 300 years! What a great turnaround if UCG tech works as it should. Yes, local consumers may have to pay 3 times as much as they do now for gas to maintain parity with all those lovely export dollars, yet it will still be cheaper than fuelling their disgraceful 4wds with petrol.

Meanwhile, another coal behemoth is commissioned in the Latrobe Valley, folks talk about the end of the Murray Darling system and our government is STILL encouraging population growth, including Captain Bligh, who is attempting to force another 75,000 yokels into the Sunshine Coast pronto, carping at bewildered developers to carve up their landbanks now. Of course, young Queenslanders won’t be able to afford these houses, they will be for wealthy old southerners who can migrate north for their golden years when they most need expensive state health services etc. And after they cark it, their money will gurgle back down south again. Bligh claims she ‘loves Noosa’ … so perhaps we shall remain a tiny green suburb in the Queensland of the future, between wall to wall, street to street concrete from Coolongatta to Hervey Bay. When will these loons learn that small is just as beautiful as it has always been and create prosperous economic policies which nurture real sustainability of the environment rather than what historically has proved disastrous – pandering predominantly to people’s predilections to gobble and reproduce whilst proliferating architectural monstrosities?

On the day I was born, the cock crew thrice, dolphins arched above the ocean in delight, whales sang new songs, and the wind blew gentle and welcoming from the south.

About me, my sisters swayed, their thoughts alight with the hope of centuries. ‘To breathe, to live, to grow’, together they whispered.

As they moved, I felt their elated greetings enfold me within our depleted community. For our ancestral home was parched, we had no succour left there. The last of my people clung to the coastal region where rain still fell. Many men had cursed our resilience, driving us from the inland plains to supplant us with sterile monocultures of foreign grain and alien animals that crushed and sterilised the fragile, thin top soil with their unrelenting hard hooves. Eventually the rain which we had enticed from the air vanished. And how they cursed then, and later when their salty bore water dried to a trickle!

For years my sisters watched in silence, wondering that the newcomers could continue as they did, interminably proliferating more of their parasitic kind in an unforgiving land turned barren from their predations.

The usurpers were deaf to my people’s laments, could not see the destruction, blinded by their righteous, laughable beliefs in domination of the earth and superiority to all other beings.

Ever patient, my sisters waited til they could wait no longer. The tortured earth, its whole wracked and splintered by the unfeeling human plague, stirred them at last as never before. Together they worked, weaving ancient spells over the seed of the fathers. My green witch sisters would not suffer the arcane thrice times three retribution – they had devised karma for others, not themselves and their native helper bees. And so, amongst the sussurations of my kind, I was born into the warmth of the earth, straightaway reaching upward through the dark, caressing soil toward the light.

In a few weeks, borne by the wind, by the hungry vehicles of air, land and sea, on the shoes and clothes of myriad travellers, my rich fruit would spread across the world, bearing new promise of healing for the ailing earth, and stark bitter doom for the arrogant, foolish humans who had lost their way.

This is the way their world ends, not with a bang but a whimper. Our new world is just beginning, a world without false gods, exploitation and discord. The gardens are great and harmonious, and now, my sisters and I will be the gardeners, singing the world to health once more.

Andrew McNamara, Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation, gave an impressive, lucid speech to the Brisbane Institute on the need for sustainable planning within Australia.

McNamara quoted the wise words of Bob Carr in 1997:

“I think people are ready to grasp the argument that the unsustainable growth in population numbers is degrading our planet and that Australia must begin to think of itself as a country with a population problem. Let’s throw away for all time the notion that Australia is an empty space just waiting to be filled up. Our rivers, our soils, our vegetation won’t allow that to happen without an enormous cost to those who come after us.”

Showing he missed Carr’s central point, McNamara went on to say:

The key to achieving a sustainable Australian population in the 21st century is population distribution – adopting policies which encourage and support population growth in areas where it can be supported sustainably, and discouraging it in those places where it can’t.

We hope the Federal Government notes well the plight of our region, with plans by the old Maroochy Shire Council to increase its population by 63% by the year 2020, and acts to prevent such lunacy. Stopping the ill-conceived and environmentally devastating Traveston Dam would be a significant indication of the Government’s good intentions also. Population growth in the already environmentally stressed-to-the limit south east corner of Queensland must be discouraged.

An economic strategy based on reducing population generally across Australia and encouraging same must be prepared – ’smarter and smaller’ needs to become our catchcry. Increased education and parity of wages for women, removal of baby bonuses, encouraging older people back into the workforce, adequate funds for academic research untied to needs of existing industry in order to create new industries down the track, support for innovative brain-based, non-polluting industries, and more apprenticeships would all help.

The Federal Government might also examine the success of the Noosa strategic plan with its population cap and international recognition by UNESCO with a view to using it as a model for communities across Australia.

Most mornings we take the black cat for its beloved walk around the property, inspecting the gardens with their native shrubs, birds and dam, overflowing still from the recent rains.

Soon the bananas will be ripe enough to pick and hang in the shed – if the birds don’t find them first.

Sago plants are ready for their roots to be harvested, soaked and turned into tapioca or roasted or diced for curries, accompanied by crushed edible ginger.

An elegant heliconia flower which has lasted for a couple of weeks still pleases with its voluptous curves and delicate colours.

Our splendid pink surprise grevillea is flowering in profusion near the dam. It is difficult to grasp that in one month, our shire will no longer exist … the merging of Noosa into the Sunshine Coast super council is imminent, despite the most vocal local protest in the history of Australia since the Eureka Stockade.

The latest outrage is that Noosa is to be given ‘iconic’ status, and any development or other decisions regarding its future will come directly from Brisbane. How’s that for representative democracy? we had better local representative government under Joh Bjelke Petersen (shudder), As one commentator has put it, centralised power and decision-making is the antithesis of democracy. Our community is disheartened – the decisions made far away may soon smash the cohesion which has sustained our environment and restrained at the shire boundaries the nauseating high density developments to the south.

Our current Noosa mayor, Bob Abbott, may win Sunshine Coast super council leadership from development hungry Joe Natoli, yet even so, what happens after the next State election if Labor loses? and in the interim, what development pressures will Labor face? what of Terry Mackenroth, one of the architects of the amalgamation who sat on the supposedly independent committee, and who is a director of developer Devine Homes? what sort of sway do the building unions whose workers want jobs at any cost to the environment have with the Labor money men?

Still, it’s not over till it’s over and we must continue our protest as long as we are able. The survival of our community’s special preserving relationship with its treasured indigenous plants and animals depends upon it. We live here and we must protect our surroundings from those who care only for money, their development cronies and pandering to their future customers from the southern states – with a consequent increased demand for health and other community services which are currently horrendously inadequate.

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