Monday, January 28, 2008

LAST DAZE BEFORE CLIMATE CHANGE RAVE PARTY


EVENT IN THE HATCHERY

............................



ANOTHER RANTING RAVE
FOR SUE

&
YOU


if you can bear it

!!


I'm afraid you wouldn't like me very much if I told you what I do with
strays, but I do live on a wildlife reserve and domestic escapees wreak havoc. The wildlife has been seriously decimated by feral animals in the time I've lived here.

I grew up with a dog called AspadelladouchByTheSea (Aspy for short), 2 cats called Pinkle & Purr & later another called Black Magic. Later I bred myself an Arab stallion called Banzai (from Banjo out of Ayesha). I came from that kind of 'normal'.

But my travels showed me our impacts on ecosystems and when I came here I dedicated my life to
conservation and righting the land-use wrongs, as this land had been ravaged by logging, bananas, cattle, pigs & goats by various different owners over 150 years since Euro settlement.

Feral animals were abundant. A big management problem as being close to a National Park
which some people seem to think is the place to dump unwanted pets, plus having a next door so-called Wildlife Reserve, which then had caged animals, both native and exotic, so it was actually a zoo in effect. The captives frequently escaped.

Worst of all were the packs of hounds the local dairy farmers fed milk slops to after the milking and then let loose to roam the mountains in marauding packs.The idea was the hounds became tick-infested as they moved thru the bush and they developed immunity (or died horribly). When they returned for their milk slops they were milked for serum which was then sold to vets who used it to save their client's tick-affected pets.

Obviously a pack of hungry dogs hunting in the wilderness ate any animals they could, including the koalas, wallabies, possums & etc etc etc.

Fortunately those practices ceased n 90's when environmental groups lobbied and prohibitive laws were finally passed that recognized the values of native ecosystems conservation. But much damage had been done by then.

The wild dogs, descendants of those packs and dumped pets,
came around after my scraps and howl in packs, very unnerving. They have been known to attack people so I keep my doors closed at night. Fortunately they are fewer these days.

Every now & again well-meaning neighbors, or the Parks Service, put down 1080 poisons baits
& that gets a few of them. A horrible death I also have to endure as they don't always die quietly & tidily in distant unseen places.

Then carrion eaters dispose of the carcass.
So the quolls, bandicoots, possums, skinks & other native wildlife that eat carrion die too. And the poison goes all they way down to the dung beetles & worms.

Cats are as much of a problem and much harder to eradicate. I saw a feral cat here a few weeks ago that was the size of a bobcat, very scarey. That was no sweet pretty kitty can tell you.

Once there were possums, quolls, bandicoots, pademelons, skinks, frogs, koalas,
echidnas, snakes and the full array of inhabitants one would find in a healthy wet to dry sclerophyll forests & rainforest montaine ecosystem.

In the wet we just had I saw ONE frog. In the 80's the roar of their mating numbers around the ephemeral pools made it impossible to sleep some nights.

Then came the cane toads.

Then went the frogs, the snakes, the skinks, the bandicoots & all that used to predate on frogs & ate canetoads instead. Deadly poisonous creatures. I have one frozen in my freezer as speak. The only way to dispose of them is to burn them they are so toxic.

Now I feed the kookaburra so she can breed, because her food chain is severed.
I don't like feeding wildlife, but must say when she turned up with 2 emergent nestlings last week I nearly cried with relief. But now what will THEY eat? They are a species of giant kingfisher & rely on streams for fish & amphibians & snakes,lizards & skinks to survive.The streams have been depleted thru kids throwing stones & turning over the rocks & taking whatever they fancy might be fun in a bottle, till it dies. Plus pollution from Park visitor impacts & increased settlement impacts on the riparian zones.

My grass used to be grazed by a herd of about 20 macropds of various species, wallabies & pademelons mostly. Now ONE pademelon timidly grazes, keeping right close to the edges near the surrounding bush.

Now I have to employ a man to cut the grass.
That means machinery and the noise disturbs what other creatures there are, plus inadvertently killing the odd legless lizard, of which very few are left.I haven't seen a skink in several years and I used to have about 20 scooting around the studio & outside, very friendly,. They controlled the insect that wanted to live with me too..

Possums are now totally absent...gone...I used to have about 20 of about 4 different species.

Quolls are GONE, haven't seen one or heard one in 10 years.


I now have ONE koala where in 80's there were 20+, in the 90's there were 8 or so...
now only ONE!! I heard it crying the other night, so sad, no reply to it's mating call this year when normally the screams of ecstasy would make yr hair stand on end for hours at a time. I called this place Koala Mountain Sanctuary & dedicated it to the conservation of the core population of koalas it then supported. It seems it will be a sad epitaph, not a statement of success. There will be no new generations. The dogs got them all except this last solitary male.

All this because of people letting their cats & dogs stray or dumping them.
It's not the animal's fault. It's people.


So I'm afraid I'm seriously unsentimental when I see the plight of these uncontrolled
domestic ex-pets. Cats and dogs are very efficient hunters and because Australia's major large carnivorous predator is the introduced dingo, which only arrived around 4,000 years ago, most of the wildlife species don't have that necessary instinct to combat them, so they are just sitting ducks, so to speak.

I had a friend who worked in Diplomatic Corps & had just come back from a stint in Martinique,some years back now. She told me the wildlife on those Caribbean islands has been so decimated as to be reduced to very few species. It is the same world over.

Wherever we go with our baggage & friends, we destroy the very base of the systems that have evolved only by the full compliment of their native inhabitants. Take links from the chain and it all falls apart. We are a very uncomfortable species to be a part of.

I thought I was part of the solution, but find I am a very definite part of the problem.

So, sorry to rain on yr parade, but it would be hypocritical of me to nod, smile & wave
when I feel so very much otherwise on this issue of saving strays.

Please don't take it personally, because I respect you and where you are coming from. I thought if I spelled out clearly what has happened here you could understand why I am of that opinion.

My brand of green is very deep ecology green.

I am beyond being aghast at what we do and have done, so now I just try to live as lightly on the planet as I possibly can and watch the movie.
I can't combat The Greater, the damage is done and we are now reaping the consequences of our mass stupidity.

Maybe we should write messages on the cave walls now...

Control our numbers,


Respect the life supporting resource base & its component working parts


Use appropriate non-polluting technology

So if there are any survivors they can at least have a few guidelines to a more successful sustainable management plan for our species' survival in its' next manifestation.

The weather has suddenly become full-blown beautiful diamond days summer.


Butterflies everywhere. At least they are still in abundance.
Maybe because there are fewer birds to eat them!

I will try not to think of these things and return to fractalising to divert my mind in the creation of useless ephemeral images that are total self indulgence so I can post them on DA & Flickr & have 3 or 4 Commenters say cool or WOW or some such ego booster.

Ho Hum


STARSHIP HANGAR

Readying for the Voyage to next Goldilocks Planet

as

if

..............




Friday, January 25, 2008

TRUTH

A SERMON TO MARK AUSTRALIA DAY 2008.

FOR SUE.


Wollumbin Dreaming


You say I traveled far to find the Truth, and I did,
but it was not until I found my home here on the mountain that the Truth was finally revealed.

That was because I studied Biosphere Function, Evolution, Prehistory, Astronomy Physics & etc.

Letting go all notions of God & replacing mythology with scientific facts.

I felt at the time, and still do, that if we were to right the wrongs and establish a sustainable life supporting management plan for The Way Forward we had to understand the fundamental Truth about It All.

By which I mean the way the universe works to produce life on planets and what the mechanisms are that turn stardust into living consciousness in our perceiving minds.

Objectively and subjectively.

The organism in the midst of the conditions must understand what those conditions are that support its existence and functioning body and mind.

This was obviously a Huge Call for Little Me!

But the truth I have finally nutted out has finally revealed itself,
sometimes steps of it in Eureka moments, sometimes in slow iceberg slides of consciousness awakenings & realizations over days & weeks that eventually showed me a new viewpoint when the iceberg righted itself & started floating.

I had to figure out time, motion, chemistry, planetary formation, evolution, anthropology, the anthropic principle, the anthropocentric viewpoint, socio political evolution thru his and her stories, the way human systems work, human migration patterns, rise & fall of civilizations,biosphere evolution itself.

The wholistic view of It All.

When a planet is Just Right For Life, it is called a Goldilocks planet
. When we search the universe for planets, we seek those Goldilocks planets. But whether we will survive to ever explore another life supporting planet is now in serious doubt.

Consider This question:


How does biosphere evolution work?

How did that lumpy chunky fireball floating around the sun

turn stardust into a living watery biosphere envelope
populated by an integrated ecology of plants & animals
that support another (super?) species
that relies on all the rest for its existence
and has the ability to see itself in context
and the technology to maybe even translocate some core DNA to another Goldilocks planet

when the biosphere it has plundered
collapses
under its uncontrolled population pressures and resource mismanagement?


And another question: What is that Sun?


Well, that was what I needed to know.

That was the truth I sought, beyond all the socio/political/religious human mythologies,beyond all this stuff about Chosen Ones,The Coming Messiah,The Son of God, The Pantheon of Gods, God the Supreme One, Buddha. & etc.

I had a discussion recently on the subject of Holy. I find such a concept rather precious. However I concede it has a place if it is translated into actions of respect and nurture.

In my Truth all concepts of Holy in terms of anthropocentric mythical beings have been replaced
by the concept of the Holy Earth and the living biosphere that exists as it interacts with the Sun, the moon and space. Holy, to me, are the ecosystems such as the rainforests, riparian zones, wetlands, rivers, oceans, reefs, deserts, etc. and all those places where things exist that support and drive our precious life support system, the Biosphere.

I also regard all lifeforms, including human beings, and especially our children, as Holy. They are all Holy. To be respected, defended and supported in the best way we can. In the case of our human population, education as to the precious nature of life and existence is paramount.

Putting offerings on these holy altars by investing our energies in their sustainable future should be our species credo.

Now, slowly, some things are changing for the better, despite a lot of negative behaviors like war & crime,as the knowledge of this Truth which I find I now share with many, is getting to those who control the Power & the Energy systems and, most of all,the purse strings to get the action happening for a Sustainable Future.

But, alas, unfortunately, we are too late. Climate change is now upon us.

You wonder how much is passing cyclic change and how much is deep modification ?


It is both, but the deeper changes are now influencing the seasonal & cyclic events. We have been told to expect greater intensity and frequency of events. That has been evident as one hottest year on record builds on the last and the melting icecaps influence the global conveyor belt ocean currents, unleashing many complex reactions.

The biosphere systems are moving into new balances, skewing our life supports.

Here in Oz I have just experienced a small dose of what many others have experienced
in varying forms of magnitude in recent weeks as floods drove people from their homes, killed livestock, destroyed crops and property over an area larger than GB.

My isolation of last weeks is now over, as a vital bridge was built today and at last I can access the wider world.
I survived. As have many flood affected people. But at a cost.

As these incremental costs mount across the planet, pressures will build.
How we handle what is to come is the big worry.

The Mad Max scenario of fuel wars and outlaws controlling
through looting, fear and violence, could be one unthinkable stage of what is to come.

Human nature has cooperation inbuilt. Compassion, sacrifice for the greater good
and all such laudable virtues are a recognizable part of being human.

However we all have the knowledge that when push comes to shove
the less pleasant aspects of our nature start manifesting.

Avarice & greed overcome caring & sharing. Bullying and threats turn to violence and murder. Tribal feuds turn into genocide.

Climate change may wreak havoc,
but will our survival depend on defeating our greatest enemy, ourselves?

This is the Truth I have found. It ends with a further question.

Change is the constant and we must adjust to the ever changing nature of existence.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Climate Victim.

The endless rain enters the 17th week of wetness, (except for 3-4 sunny days mid-November 07) including a major flood event that came in a January 4th midnight cloudburst, causing huge damage all across district and 2nd highest flood on record.

About 570 mm in last 25 days. Over 22 inches on old scale.
But months of it before that.
A very wet wet season.


Bridge across creek at entrance after the mid night 280mm deluge of January 4, 2008.


Looking out across bridge towards main road entrance after the night's cloudburst of 040108.


Two weeks of bronchial flu, having to sleep in wet bed that got soaked in deluge & wet weather since plus too weak to move mattress anyway, and run out of clean sheets. Got myself to hospital when I felt like I was getting pneumonia. The good doctor gave me antibiotics and am on mend but still ill, it's slow. Couldn't talk for 5 days and it still hurts to cough. I cough a lot.

Everything is soaked & I have to sit with hot air blower on as I write to keep dry as the 100 percent humidity means I'm wet all the time. Have to use hair dryer on head every half hour or so to dry out hair.

Biting midges and mosquitoes mean mosquito coils... means inhaling toxic fumes... means aggravated spasms of painful coughing.

Other complications I won't go into here have turned my life from happy to miserable.


STRANDED!
The road collapse of 160108.
Luckily nobody was on the crossing.

Now a DISASTER as the road has suddenly collapsed where it crosses a 20m plus deep knife gully on my exit road and I'm stuck in, unable to get out for supplies. Being partly lame hasn't helped, especially as yesterday my dicky knee went out of joint and I can't walk very well at all. On the steep wet slippery rocks that constitute the paths between studio & bunkhouse this is a nightmare of inching along balancing umbrella, walking stick & whatever I'm trying to carry between houses.

Water pours around running over every surface in an endless sog, even when the rain eases. Where there is grass there is a swamp of mud and slime. Where there are rocks they are all slippery & slimey. Inside the houses all is moulds. Every bit of clothing, bedding, carpets damp & mouldy.


The endless wet has also meant can't get car in under shelter as it gets bogged at slushy entrance to carport. So it sits out in rain and is cranky to start & runs on 3 pots. At least I have it to get me as far as the washout, about 1 km from houses.

Have supplies to last a few more days and my road-sharing neighbors can bring me necessities, as they have a car on other side of the collapse, but that hardly solves the problem. Trying to overcome the anxiety, but eating & sleeping now difficult.

Must summon inner resources to solve the problem & release myself from this prison.

I keep wondering what can happen next. Is this the end? Will some miracle happen to get me to safe haven and my usual happy self again?

Even poor kookaburra can't fly she's so wet. When she tried to take off after I fed her she dropped into bushes and I had to rescue her & put her up onto a branch to give her elevation.
I hear her chuckling in the tree as I write.

Her message is:

LET'S LAUGH
NO POINT IN CRYING IS THERE!

Friday, January 4, 2008

THE GIFT OF WATER

Flooded in as 16 weeks of grey wetness culminates in a cloudburst that dumps 185 mm (mostly in 2 hours). Roaring rushing waters surround me in this studio as I write.The gift of life. Very frightening tho, as the storm was in the middle of the night and lightning crashing far too close followed by deafening and numbing thunderclaps that left me stiff with shock. Petrified of landslides in such deluges, as I live on a scree slope which turns to one big waterfall after a couple of inches. House sized boulders perch uphill from studio. They rocked when I climbed them (years ago) so they are not exactly embedded & secure.

The following fractals, created in Apophysis, as per, have been inspired by all this water coming to us at last after such a long drought.



THE BIG SPLASH


WATER WORLD


WEB PORTAL


TWISTED TUBE STAR

All the above evolved from the one Tube-star-Twist script. Go here for all the production details.