Weather worsened events distract from understanding knotty reasons

Floods, fires and other weather worsened events seriously distract us from understanding and acting on the more knotty issues that contribute to their complexity.

Although Queensland’s floods (right) and Victoria’s fires, along with the many other weather-based difficulties around the world, are catastrophes of immense dimensions, with a huge human cost, they are simply symptoms of a grander world event.
Struggling with floods, fighting fires and marshalling our forces to get back to business as usual has honourable intent, but it misses the point.
Mute nature may be,  its actions speak louder than words it can’t speak and through its massive weather events, it is attempting to alert us that we do not act with impunity and so are not beyond its influence
Rather, however, we are a part of it and as the past century has shown, just a fragment, although a critical and influential fragment.
The urgency with which we seek that return to business of usual following such disasters as floods and fires is misplaced and ignores warnings from decades ago that without a fresh approach to our politics and way of living, decided difficulties were certain to emerge. Record droughts and hitherto unseen flooding suggest the accuracy of those predictions.
True, the floods and fires are not directly attributable to climate change, but weather events arising from changes to our climate worsened those present and recent difficulties and should be seen as another warning that all is not right.
Rather than rush to a return of business as usual, we should be re-examining our life-styles, our ideas and the management of our ways in the interest of reducing our carbon footprint remembering that it was the former Chief Scientist with the British Government, Sir David King, who said that climate change is the most severe problem the world faces, bar none.
Neo-liberal inspired growth has opened up the good life to most in Western economies and the resultant accompanied comforts have psychologically trapped many of us leaving us with a misplaced obligated sense that we must return to business of usual as quickly as we can, whatever the cost.

Long-lived passion for better urban design takes flight

Bill Chandler’s long-lived passion to improve urban design in Australia was publicly endorsed in Melbourne on Thursday, April 22.

Nearly 50 people meet in the “Melbourne Room” at the city town hall in Swanston St to enthusiastically to support an idea that would see Australia have its own version of Britain’s Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).

For about a decade Bill has felt Australia should have its version of CABE and in the March edition of the Urban Design Forum, the quarterly magazine of the Victorian based UDF, Bill discussed the value of CABE and how Australia would benefit from something similar.

Bill, a co-founder and honorary editor of Urban Design Forum, was convinced that Australia had both the appropriately skilled and qualified people for a “CABE down-under”, as it has been colloquially described, and an evident need for such a body.

It was only at the March lunch meeting of the UDF that Bill first formally proposed the idea to others involved with the group and in discussions it was agreed a small group should meet to further discuss the idea.

Among those at the lunch and who is a former employee of CABE in Great Britain, Leon Yates, who presently works with the Victoria’s Department of Planning and Community Development, and he was confident other former CABE employees would support Bill’s idea.

Arrangements were made for a meeting on April 22 of just several people at the Urban Initiatives office of UDF co-founder Bruce Echberg, but interest spread and so with the support of Melbourne City Council, the meeting was moved to a town hall.

Bill’s idea was enthusiastically taken up and so what had been little more than just an idea simmering in Bill’s mind had boiled over to become a movement that has spread interstate, attracting interest from all parts of the country.

A 90-minute discussion resulted in the formation of ten-strong initial working group, as it was called, to further consider the idea and determine a clear direction of how to progress “CABEDU”.

That initial working group is: David Rayson, Geoffrey London (State Architect- top right), Laura-Jo Mellan, Emma Appleton, Justin Kelly, Gerry McLoughlin, Bruce Echberg, Leon Yates, Rod Duncan and Bill Chandler.

Also among those at the April 22 meeting was Melbourne City Council’s Director of City Design, Rob Adams (above right).

In an email circulated the day after the event, Bill Chandler said: “Thanks for your contributions yesterday. The feedback is very positive, and already the interest is spreading to those who were not able to be there, including interstaters”.