The future security of Tasmania's Tarkine Wilderness concerns us all

Why should the preservation of Tasmania’s Tarkine Wilderness area concern you or space be permitted in this Victorian newspaper to discuss its preservation?

The subtle, but important beauty
 of the Tarkine Wilderness.

That Tasmanian wilderness has, unquestionably, long-term importance for your well-being and generations to follow that far exceed the short-term intentions of the profiteers who are blinded to its beauty, and inherent value to humanity, by the potentially mineral-rich dirt beneath.

Visit the area and you will be stunned by the beautiful intrigue of the forest.

The 430 000ha wilderness in north western Tasmania is home to Australia’s largest tract of cool temperature rain forest; it has many Indigenous archaeological sites, contains several sites of international geo-conservation significance, and has several iconic threatened species, including the giant freshwater crayfish and the Tasmanian devil.

The Tarkine was the last great unprotected wilderness in southern Australia, but now following a decision by Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke, it is now, save a slither on the coast, exposed to an unremitting onslaught from the mining industry.

Minister Burke’s decision is effectively a crime against all Australians, not to mention in a broader sense the people of the world, and all should rebuke him for his insensitivity to this priceless piece of infrastructure inherited by all.

It took thousands, if not millions of years for the Tarkine forests to become what they are today and yet the urgency with which miners operate will see that timeless work undone in just a decade or so.

Nineteenth century American author, poet, philosopher, historian and development critic, Henry David Thoreau, said the preservation of the world was in our wilderness.

Burke has obviously never been a student of Thoreau, nor does he care about or understand that decisions he makes today create situations with which people will still be wrestling when he is long under the earth he has sacrificed to profit.

It seems he is attuned to the short-term needs of profit and stands with those who endorse what was described at Melbourne’s recent Sustainable Living Festival as the “dinosaur economy”.

Australian Conservation Foundation speaker, Chuck Berger, briefly explained the extinction of dinosaurs and argued the dynamics of the world’s present economics will have a different, but strikingly similar result for humans.

The Burke decision for Tasmania’s Tarkine Wilderness is remarkably out of step with what the world actually needs and is as “Jurassic” in shape and form as the dinosaurs.

Yes, we should be concerned about how “our” Tarkine Wilderness is treated for although we may never go there it still contributes intimately to our lives through a playing a role in the stabilization of our climate and is home to countless species we may not know about or ever see, but are a crucial part of the web of life.

Election year full of challenges - for us!

This election year is loaded with challenges.



Lincoln at
Gettysburg.

Simply enduring it will be the first as our senses will be endlessly assaulted by those eager to convince us they have the answer; second, will be the challenge of separating fact from fiction; third, are the protagonists truly altruistic or is it simply the rude pursuit of power?; and, fourth and within all that, do they really have any idea of what it is they are talking about?

Most politicians, from those of Local Government through to the dizzy heights of the federal stage, descend from their respective platforms loaded with personal baggage that clouds perspectives and their appeal to the populist view cloaks individual agendas

Having encountered politicians of all stripes, it seems they are “trained” in giving convincing and wordy answers that appear to relate to the question, but in reality, mostly have nothing to do with it.

Most electors accord our politicians the respect their position warrants and it seems that in response those same politicians should respect those who may or may not vote for them.

It appears, interestingly, that they do, but therein lies the strange disconnect between reality and democracy, or what President Abraham Lincoln described at Gettysburg in 1863 midway through the American civil war as the government of the people, by the people, for the people.

The rhetoric of that articulate president lives with many today, but few have the intellectual or leadership capacities to live up to that ideal.

Some people argue at length that the idea of government is contrary to the process that is to the broad betterment of the people, suggesting that government, loaded down by its bureaucratic processes, frustrate and frequently deny the ambitions of many.

That, it seems, is an extreme anarchical or libertarian view; doctrines that depend on the altruism of all, a personality trait missing from most, even many of our present political players.

Acknowledging the differences and intrigues of human nature it appears we do need a government, but not one many would argue that has a controlling impact over our daily affairs.

All that seems fine until something, whether man-made or natural, gets out of step and then there is an instant cry for help –“Why weren’t we told?” “Who’s responsible?” “When does the clean-up start?” “Who’s in charge?” “Where’s the discipline?”

All these matters, at their heart, are about community and altruism, and, no matter how loose, some form of administration, government by another name, is needed.

A recent meeting in Shepparton discussed the effectiveness of our present three layers of government - local, state and federal - and there appeared consensus about abolition of the states, leaving a Federal Government backed by regional bodies.

 

Stark contrast between private roads and public transport

The contrast is stark.

Victoria’s aging public transport system is rather dilapidated, pretty much ignored and still rooted largely to its 19^th century infrastructure.



A logo  identifying Victoria's
public transport system.

Meanwhile our road system - a publicly paid for, and owned, infrastructure that enriches the privately-owned motor industry and its spin-off periphery businesses – seems to get better every day.

A recent return trip to Melbourne on our patch-work-quilt-like public transport system came on the same day as an announcement about the completion and opening of a multi-million dollar section of Victorian freeway.

The contrast between the rather sad publicly owned train network and the slick, shiny and brand new publicly paid for freeway that obviously benefits you and me, but primarily private enterprise, was blatant.

A recent visit to Shepparton by State Minister for Public Transport and Roads, Terry Mulder, was followed by an “upgrade” to train services between Shepparton and Melbourne.

Many pleaded with Mr Mulder during that visit for a train service that would arrive in Melbourne before 9:00am on work days.

Mr Mulder subsequently acted and the train that had left about 7am and arrived in Melbourne about 9:30am, now leaves Shepparton at 6:31am and arrives at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station at a scheduled 9:10am – that’s half-an-hour earlier in departure for a 20 minute arrival gain and yet still 10 minutes after most work days have started.

Personally the so-called “upgrade” seems to have been pointless – we are all forced to rise earlier and it benefits no one except the State Government which can legitimately claim it listened and responded to public pressure.

The changes, however, were cosmetic and of no practical use.

Mr Mulder needs to be informed by experience - all went fine on that recent Melbourne-bound journey, beyond the 30 minute earlier departure, until the train stopped at Tallarook for what is normally a one-minute stop.

However, that one-minute stop became five to be followed by an announcement that because of Metro train problems, our stop could be 20 minutes.

We crawled on, hesitated a few times, stopped again and finally arrived at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station at nearly ten o’clock – nearly 50 minutes late and about three and a half hours after leaving Shepparton.

A friend recently returned from Japan praising the country’s train stations, saying they were clean, had wonderful facilities, food and drink and serviced by trains that arrived within seconds of their scheduled times.

Victoria’s public transport system, despite the deluded imaginations of our politicians, is mere shadow of what happens in other parts of the world.

Road transport is no longer an effective or efficient way of moving people or goods about and rather than further expanding a problematic and wasteful road network, we should be spending on a sophisticated public transport system.

Freedom of speech needed, but the reality is little understood

John Stuart Mill.

Free speech has been touted as something to be explored in the lead up to Australia’s September federal election.

Many long dead thinkers and philosophers, along with those who still expound their views, would be amused.

Freedom of speech is the essence of community, but it seems to have fallen foul of gentility, toleration, correctness and a misplaced sense of reasonableness and decency leaving us with a modern world loaded with half-truths and a strange distortion of reality.

The question is whether or not the community really wants free speech or beyond that, understands what the true unvarnished exercise of opinion actually means.

Contemporary society appears to be yet intellectually immature and so not ready, or consequently, to hear opinions with which many, or a minority, may vehemently disagree.

Disagreement is not the difficulty, rather it is how people react and respond to an opinion that offends personal morals or jars with deeply held beliefs.

Examples abound of people who are unhappy with another’s views or behaviour and their response to that, either intellectually or physically, is equal, or worse, than that of the people they damn.

Writing in “The Defence of Freedom of Speech: from Ancient Greece to Andrew Bolt” author Chris Berg said: “Freedom a speech has been, and still is, one of our most vital liberties. If we discard it, we critically undermine the moral foundations of liberal democracy, and lose our basic human individuality”.

Eighteenth century Swiss-born French politician, Benjamin Constant, who often spoke about freedom of speech, argued that a society able to share opinions freely was a stable one.

The idea that we should engage with life, embed ourselves in our communities and voice our views was common in the writing of British philosopher, John Stuart Mill.

As an advocate of free speech, he said: “He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation. He who chooses his plan for himself employs all his faculties.”

Berg has pointed out that free expression helps society obtain truths, but, he argues, society may not want to prioritise truth discovery.

Personal experience reinforces Berg’s view for the truth does not always bring personal comfort as reality is frequently contrary to the ease, imagined or otherwise, that many seek.

Alcohol has a damning impact on society and yet it is so ingrained in lifestyles that most, from the decision makers down, overlook and seemingly ignore its societal implications.

Similarly, and with even more unfavourable implications for humanity, is the damage we have done to the atmosphere; an injury that threatens all species and yet it is a truth we don’t seem to want.

Doping in sport only a distraction from what really matters

Machiavellian ideas in which the end justifies the means seem to have invaded Australian sport.

The subsequent uproar about this assault on what for many is the personification of life here has flooded the media with detail about what has happened, what is happening and opinion of all stripes.

Live crosses on television to impromptu meetings involving top executives from most sporting codes, Federal Government ministers, senior police officers and various expert commentators suggest that life here is under threat.

Interestingly life in Australia is under threat and although sport is not solely responsible, it contributes in distracting us from the unfolding difficulties.

The Machiavellian concept that puts achievement and success ahead of all else, irrespective of human cost, is at work in other areas and living in thrall of profit we have long ignored externalities.

Now, however, the accounts, stamped with “Final warning” are tumbling in and a life in which the win at any cost, of which the drugs in sport is just a small example, is unravelling.

The prevailing market mentality has been beneficial, but now rather than engage in that somewhat confrontational sphere we need to create a market of ideas about creating community resilience and within that building avenues that lead to a different way of living; different from what exists, but not necessarily worse.

A collision of circumstances producing an outcome that makes the sports doping dynamic almost irrelevant is of such sweeping importance that Australia, and the entire world, should be on a war-like footing as it prepares for humanity’s most significant challenge.

Beyond occasional mention on opinion pages, a few general stories and feature pieces examining the unfolding dilemmas, rarely do we acknowledge the complexity, seriousness and urgency of responding to what is happening.

The idea that the broader community needs to be actively involved in working through these dilemmas – our changing climate, energy shortages and a burgeoning population – appears largely ignored and is restricted, mostly, to academic circles.

If ever we needed to embark on that Machiavellian path, it is now.

“The end” is, however, diametrically different from what exists and so demands remarkably different “means”.

Our adversary is implacable and its contempt for our arrogance and willingness to ignore the blatant indicators of decline and disruption sees humanity effectively cornered and seeking solace in unproven and yet to be developed things such as geo-engineering, or the drawing of resources from, or escape to another planet.

Technology, the very thing that has brought us to where we are, will play a role in alleviating what troubles us, but it needs to be intimate, intricate and of a human scale.

Quite different, however, from the dilemma presently bothering sport, effectively an unimportant distraction from what truly matters.

Letting go of 'what is', is tougher than adopting a new idea

Letting go of understood values, beliefs and work practices is decidedly more difficult than embracing a new idea; a new way of doing things.

Instinctively, it seems, we cling to what it is we know and what is a practiced part of our lives, while the new idea is treated with suspicion and subsequently approached with caution.

Charles
Darwin.

That is not surprising as that personal caveat of caution arises from our ancient reptilian brain that for millennia has been conditioned to consider with distrust anything beyond instinct.

Progress can then be attributed to those rare souls who dare walk down a singular and unfamiliar path buoyed by the hard reality of scientific evidence that the route reason has chosen has the capacity to re-direct and re-shape lives.

Evidence abounds in history illustrating that is was those willing to challenge existing presumptions who changed the course of humanity.

However, frequently whole societies were seduced by charlatans who employed a strange and distorting alchemy to derail the good intentions of many only to see humanity herded into something of a blind canyon.

Today all seven billion of us huddle in a metaphorical cul-de-sac, looking nervously about and expectantly hoping that “business as usual” will show as the way out or magically make more room and yet we wonder whether salvation rests with us embracing a new idea; a new way of living, one unencumbered by exhausted ideas.

History is alive with examples of people restless with the status quo, daringly sailing past the horizon to prove the world wasn’t flat; those who looked to the skies and in risked heresy declaring it was us who were moving and not the sun; and then it was Darwin who bravely helped us understand that it was evolution that shaped us and not some super-natural being using so-called intelligent design.

In each case, and many more, we have had to abandon ideas that were understood, accepted and claimed to be correct and bravely chance identifying with a new paradigm.

The history of humanity is animated with moments when good sense prevailed and we switched our allegiance to a reason based process as opposed one that idolized a faith-based argument.

Humanity, in geological terms, is little more than a baby and the journey to maturity teems with both distractions and distortions; difficulties that will demand an intensive intellectual effort if we are to be equal the emerging dilemmas.

To advance the human experiment we have to step beyond the status quo for its sustenance brings costs beyond our ability to pay and consider a new way of living and so trade existing habits and addictions for a kindness and friendliness that eclipses the brutal efficiency of modern conventions.

Excitement needs to be moderated by reason

Excitement about the discovery of huge quantities of shale oil in South Australia needs to be moderated by reason.

Shale Oil is unconventional
 and best left in the ground.

World-wide research suggests that humanity would benefit most if that oil remained where it is – in the ground.

The oil itself is not inherently or necessarily a bad thing, rather it is the lifestyle it encourages and allows.

The sums about "Energy Returned on Energy Invested" (EROEI) are endless and mean little until we finally understand that is people who really matter and not an equation that is more about economics than wellbeing.

Discoveries of shale oil, an unconventional source, in South Australia’s Arckaringa Basin near Cobber Pedy sees many overwhelmed by excitement as optimistic pundits predict 233 billion barrels of oil worth $20 billion; sufficient to make Australia self-sufficient in oil, an exporter and wealthy.

Oil, little more than the historical wealth of the planet quarantined in earthen chambers to ensure its destructive potential remained locked away, has been liberated and so taken humanity on a wonderful journey.

However, the party is over.

Living with the carelessness of irresponsible rich kids we have spent an inheritance that took billions of years to assemble in less than 300 and the resultant chaos impatiently stalks our home.

Most everything you can see and touch, irrespective of where you are, is there because of oil.

Whether or not the oil-madness that has gripped humanity is good or bad is largely ideological, as is the conversation about the implications of burning fossil fuels.

Any attempt to understand whether or not we exploit the oil beneath the Arckaringa Basin hinges, equally, on our understanding of the unfolding damage we have done to our atmosphere.

Most every qualified thinker on earth, including the world’s best climatologists, will point to the burning of fossil fuels as the reason for climate change and all would heartily agree that the best place for the Arckaringa oil is in the ground.

The facts are frightening, but until we know, understand and accept them, our response to our changing climate will be absolutely inadequate.

With the 2013 Federal Election campaign is still in the crib, the contenders are already promising economic growth and such short-term thinking is the antithesis of what is needed to endure the complexities of climate variances.

We need a government that has the will to ignore the $20 billion under the Arckaringa Basin sands and beyond that the political will to create conditions that lead to a diversified and decentralized Australia in which small is beautiful and resilience is a prized attribute.

There is little we can do as individuals to mitigate climate change, but we can advocate for a change in attitude at our workplaces, and in both our communities and governments.