Category: Diary

Diary: Climate Emergency

I wonder how many Australians still feel that we are in a ‘climate emergency’?

To my mind this climate emergency is ongoing. 

I have the feeling that our politicians treat us mostly as though we were children. They try to keep us in the dark as much as possible. But I think even children should not be treated like this. When children notice, they have been conned, they do feel terrible. Most children  notice eventually that they have been lied to. I do not believe that this makes them feel better.

I realize of course that there are quite a few adults who want to put  off facing the truth. These adults do not seem to mind a few lies just to keep them going. I keep thinking about global warming. It seems to me. to have to put up with warming of 2C, is something that is more or less already a given and requires enormous adjustments all over the world. We could at least aim to not let it go further than 2C. For that we desperately need leadership of corporations and governments!

Diary, 5th February 2020

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I think I took this picture of the above poster the last time we were at the Nan Tien Temple, probably about one year ago. One can see a lot of similar posters all around te grounds of the temple. I always like to have a look at some of the verses that are displayed there. It makes me think really what sort of meaning do our lives have . . .

After a long summer break, the Australian Parliament is back in session. For many weeks and months an awful lot of Australia has been effected by immense bushfires. These fires brought great suffering to many communities on the fringes of or in the midst of immense fires. After the fires went through some places look like they have been destroyed during a war! Yes, places do look like this after a lot of fighting or terrible bomb raids during a war! You could say, Australia is in a warlike situation at the moment. Of course right now ‘only’ certain areas in a number of Australian states are effected. But to keep the flames away from major built up centres requires an enormous amount of firefighters, emergency workers (a lot of them volunteers) amd equipment. Australia has always had droughts and bushfires. But the droughts are getting more severe and the bushfires with very hot winds are getting worse than ever. There is an enormous amount of very dry fuel that can burn for months on end. The bushfire seasons do start now earlier and last longer, and the temperature can be in the 40sC or even in the 50sC  in a lot of places. Heatwaves like this with little moisture can appear again and again all through spring, summer and autumn. So our climate is changing more and more. There is no doubt about it.

There is talk about it, that a lot of people, adults as well as children, are traumatised by these bushfires. They need counselling for they can’t cope with their lives after having lost everything in a bushfire. I think the best help they can get is a roof over their heads somewhere and the necessities to start from scratch again. Surely, if they know, there is help available to get them on their feet again, they can learn to once  more look with hope to the future!

What can I do for the Environment?

Using less power, eating less meat, avoid flying, reduce water consumption: If I keep this in mind, am I then on the way to become a good world citizen?

Well, using electricity only when needed, for instance turning off lights in rooms that are not being used, turning off cooling or heating in rooms that are not being used, surviving in room temperature of 28C when the outside temperature is more than 33C, try to use as little water as possible when it has not rained sufficently, using the car only when absolutely necessary. Some of this is not always easily achieved but I try to keep it more and more in mind. The only thing I have no difficulty with is, that is eating very little meat. I have never liked to eat a lot of meat!

Another issue is flying. Since 1977 I have been flying overseas more than half a dozentimes. I tell myself,  I should in future not fly anymore at all. But can I really stick to it? If Australia would be in the midst of WW3 right now, I am sure I would not be able to fly anywhere.  At the moment we behave in Australia as though we are far away from having actual war conditions. We should really restrict ourselves as though absolute war conditions did apply. Itseems to me most people do not think this way, not yet anyway. Most people seem to want to ignore that there is a worrying increase in climate change, at least they want to ignore this in their personal lives.

Using less power, eating less meat, avoid flying, reduce water consumption

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-28/climate-researcher-says-australians-need-to-take/11892966

Professor Palutikof says, people have to be prepared ‘for the changes that they are going to have to make’, meaning for instance using less power, eating less meat, avoid flying, reduce water consumption.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-28/climate-change-bushfires-and-cutting-my-carbon-emissions/11892230

ABC News Breakfast By Madeleine Morris:

“We would need 3.4 Earths if everyone had my lifestyle. . . .”

“I always thought I was environmentally responsible. But when I calculated my family’s carbon emissions I was shocked by the result,” writes Madeleine Morris.

In this article by Madeleine Morris it says that the average Australian footprint is 15.37 tonnes of CO2 and vastly above the EU average of 6.4 tonnes.

It also says that Jean Palutikof from the Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility says about the impacts of climate change that we need to do to reduce them while we still can.

“People are going to have to change their way of life,” she said.

“There is this rhetoric about the Government taking action, but actually what that means is that people will themselves have to take action.”

Madeleine Morris is News Breakfast’s finance presenter. Previously she was a Melbourne-based reporter for 7.30, and worked for the BBC in London for 11 years as an international reporter and presenter.
Madeleine Morris says: “I calculated my carbon footprint and now my family will try to cut our emissions by 7.6 per cent”

Plantagen Shutters and a new Backfence, also a Grandson’s Wedding

https://patchworkmomma.wordpress.com/manifest20-prompts/

Some December Writing Challenge/ Prompts: Today I chose Day 17 and Day 22!

Day 17 Home: Tell us about what home meant to you this year. Are you a homebody? Did you do a renovation? Move? Redecorate?

Day 22  A picture is worth a 1,000 words.  Share a photo which sums up a significant event from the past year, or give us 1,000 words about a pivotal moment in 2019.

 

 

Peter took the above pictures about a month ago. The Jacaranda was in full bloom at that time of the year!

For the Writing Challenge I copy now a blog with pictures I published a month ago. These pictures show that we had some plantagen shutters installed: I think they do contribute to some improvement in our house!

Some of the pictures show how a new back fence was installed on our property, which is another improvement!

Speaking about a significant event from the past year. I would say it was the event of the marriage of Troy and Nina. It means, now all three of our grandsons have been married! Our three great-grandsons, aged 7, 5 and 3, were at the wedding and had a good time together. Our newest great-granddaughter, Baby Evie, was at the wedding too. Evie is the baby sister of 3 year old Carter. 7 year old Lucas and his 5 year old brother Alexander are cousins of Carter and Evie. The three boys love each others company very much!

 

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This picture of afternoon tea with my friends was already taken towards the End of September.
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This must have been a Friday for it looks that we are about to play our game of Scrabble!

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This is a favourite bin of ours in Corrimal. It is great to be able to recycle things!

 

 

In October we did get plantagen shutters installed in several rooms.

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Carter with his baby sister on the day of Nina and Troy’s wedding

 

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Next to Peter are Caroline and Matthew

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Part of our back fence had to be replaced because of storm damage. It took quite a long time from when the contractors took the old fence down and the new fence was finally completed.

 

 

The finishing touches of getting a new fence! Actually the work still has not been totally finished!

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Peter one month ago on his morning walk

Pictures I took in the morning, also one month ago:

 

 

 

Copy of Uta’s Diary from August, 2019

Last Sunday we had some lunch at Bulli Beach, where it was pretty windy and no sun. But there were quite a lot of people at the Ruby’s Cafe. Many people came in groups and had difficulty getting seats.

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Between 9 and ten in the morning is usually a good time to sit outside for our morning cup of tea. We are always looking forward to this!

At the beginning of the month we travelled again to Benalla to visit our son. This time we took the train to Benalla. We arrived in Benalla on Sunday, the 4th of August. Our return journey was on Thursday, the 8th of August. We had a great time in Benalla. Twice Martin went with me to the Benalla Swimming Centre. Peter did not want to come with us even though we assured him that the water was well heated.

Every day Martin drove us to a different place. So we saw at Glenrowan a multi-million Dollar anamatronic show. It was Ned Kelly’s LAST STAND at the Glenrowan Tourist Centre. 

 

 

Maybe you’d like to have a look at this:

https://www.glenrowantouristcentre.com.au/the-show/

The Show

“This mulitimillion dollar anamatronic show  IS NOT A PICTURE THEATRE it is an interactive theatre production

Through the brilliance of animation and computerised robots, you will be transferred back in time, over 100 years, to witness the events that led up to the capture of the Kelly Gang.

Starting as hostages in the Hotel, and then onto gunfights – burning buildings – a decent hanging, and finishing in our magnificent painting gallery.

The show is educational, historically correct and entertaining.

The show runs for 40 minutes every half hour (separate rooms) from   10:00am   to 4.30pm daily.

The Glenrowan Tourist Centre is fully air conditioned. The theatre can seat up to 50 people at any one time.

The Kelly Gang’s last stand has become an Australian folk legend, however views are divided about how it should be remembered. . . .”

 

After the show in Glenrowan Martin drove with us to Wangaretta where we had an excellent lunch in the Preview Cafe.

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We also had coffee and some desert!

 

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Stopping at the Tolmie Tavern. This was probably on Tuesday when we were there. It said on the sign “WHERE NOTHING EVER HAPPENS”, and true enough: Nothing did happen! And we had thought, we’d get some lunch there! But no, everything looked closed and deserted.

We ended up having lunch a bit further on. I think it may have taken us close to two hours before we actually did have some lunch and decent toilets! Before we arrived at that beautiful old Tatong Tavern we had a good look at the Stringybark Creek Historic Reserve:

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So, at the Tatong Tavern we ended up having a splendid lunch. I asked for vegetarian and did get this beautiful meal:

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Now back to Dapto in New South Wales and the beautiful trees in Lakelands Park in Morning Sunshine:DSCN5427

These trees are my favourite destination when I go for my walk early in the morning.

Our daughter Gabriele would have been 62 on 28 August. I found this little picture in memory of her.

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2 thoughts on “Diary”

  1. AW. A lovely artwork of your precious daughter. 🙂 I know you miss her every day and you think of her. Hold on to those wonderful memories.
    (((HUGS)))
    PS… I love trees! They give life to our lives and add peace, beauty, joy, etc.! Can’t imagine even a day without seeing trees. (And I have hugged a few and talked to a few! ) 🙂

    Reply

  2. Thank you so much for your comment, dear Carolyn. Yes, all these memories are very important. And these trees are a big incentive for me to do a bit of walking. Peter usually goes for a walk too, early in the morning that is, but he goes on a faster ten minute walk. When he comes close to the trees, he may stop for a minute to talk to me. This morning we went out for a walk, even though there was no sun out, no sun at all. It turned out to be cloudy all day, and later on we did have some rain. Good steady rain. Everything looks very fresh. 🙂
    HUGS, Uta

     

    I copied all the above in response to

    December Writing Challenge/ Prompts

    11. Describe a typical day-in-the-life. Share some photos and give details about an average day. How do you make even the mundane feel special?

     

    12. Creature of Habit: Did you form a new habit this year? Or continue with an old one? Is it a good habit? Or one you’d like to break? More or less the early morning walks are a continuation of an old habit both for Peter and me. I reckon this habit is extremely beneficial for us!

Forty-One Years ago

This post is in response to the prompt for Day 9: Describe a moment of beauty that you witnessed this year. To participate or find out more information about #Manifest20 click here:

Category: #Manifest20

Here is a picture of our lovely baby Caroline with me at North Wollongong Beach.

I am 44 in this photo. I think our dog was already 13  or 14 years at the time.

Caroline has just turned 41 now!

Manifest20 Prompts

https://patchworkmomma.wordpress.com/manifest20-prompts/

7. Post your favorite photo of yourself taken during the past year.

8. If money was no object, is there anything you would purchase that would help you fulfill a dream next year?  What would it be and how would it change your life?

I was pretty busy over the weekend this is why I now want to catch up with Nr.7 and 8:

I start with Nr. 8. I think money is always an object, sort of. I reckon Peter and I live a fairly comfortable life in our retirement since we own our own small three bedroom cottage. We have always been very careful about staying within our means.Sometimes wethink  that it would be nice to have a bit more money. But we are not the sort of people who constantly think about doing something just to have more, more, more.

There are certain basic things we would like to have in our old age that would make life a bit more comfortable for us. We would like for instance to have enough money to pay for some regular cleaning services. We are getting more and more feeble. Some cleaning and maintenance jobs are just getting too hard for us!

Now to Nr. 7:

I walked to this tree on a cool winter morning in August 2019. Peter took this picture of me. This is one of my favourite trees. I am glad I can still go on these early morning walks with the help of my walking stick. I really enjoy walking in the morning. Often it is cloudy now or even smoky from all the bushfires. So an early morning with clear air and a bit of sunshine is very special!

Now, in December, we are in the midst of summer in Australia. The last few months it was often hazy with clouds all over the sky, yet we had hardly any rain and everything dries out a lot. And this nearly everywheree in Australia. So the bushfires all over Australia are extremely worrying this year. Some bushfires have been going already for many months and are steadily on the increase, threatening communities. The firefighters have a hard time keeping the flames away from built up areas. A few people already lost properties that could not be saved from the approaching bushfires. Some of the firefighters, poor chaps, get hardly any rest and have at times to cope with less than three hours sleep! It is always good to hear when new helpers arrive to support the struggling firefighters. A lot of the firefighters actually are volunteers. There is a rumour that some volunteers get their normal pay only by forgoing some holiday pay. I think they should get extra holiday pay! How about government payouts for the firefighting effort? I wonder whether this is being considered. . . .

December Writing Challenge/ Prompts:

https://patchworkmomma.wordpress.com/manifest20-prompts/

  1. Choose one word which you would like to embody during 2020 as a sort of theme for the year. How would you like to see this word manifest in your life?
  2. Who inspired you in 2019? Why? What gifts did they give you? How will you carry these forward in 2020?
  3. What made you feel joyful in 2019? What steps can you take to create more joyful moments in the coming year?
  4. What goals did you accomplish in 2019 that you’re proud of? How will your achievement continue to benefit you or others in the future?
  5. What musical discovery did you make this year? Share a memory involving music or tell us what artist or song would feature on the soundtrack of your life for 2019?
  6. What surprised you in 2019

 

Today I want to write about Nr.  6!

So, what surprised me in 2019?

Did it surprise me that Greta Thunberg continued to get so much media attention? She is a very determined young woman, only sixteen, but she stuck it out, did not hesitate to live by her principles. To find supporters that made it possible for her to travel for instance by boat to the Americas and back again. Well, this was quite an achievement!

Yes, in a way it did surprise me that Greta was able to get such an enormous support!

I want to keep it brief. So I only want to mention, that I find it surprising that so many people these days are able to live into their eighties or nineties. I would be surprised, if Peter and I were able to make it to the nineties! Somehow, I cannot quite imagine it. I am surprised about every year that we are still alive.

Just recently I was surprised that independent Senator Jacqui Lambie voted with the government to repeal the medevac bill. It does not seem to make sense, not at all.

Here is an interesting link to an article about the repeal bill:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-05/medevac-repeal-bill-scott-morrison-new-zealand-png-nauru/11765456

Australia is at present in the grip of enormous draught as well as disastrous bushfires with soaring temperatures and extremely strong winds. The government says, this is quite normal for Australia. A lot of people here want to talk about it why there is so much climate change, but the government says there is no need to talk about it or to do something about it. Am I surprised that our government acts this way? No, not at all. The Australian voters voted the present government in. It surprised me at the time. And I’ll be still more surprised, should they be voted in again at the next election.

 

 

 

 

 

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