Our world consists of two basic parts; the ground on which we stand and what is going on in our heads. Normally (and we all like to think we’re normal enough to survive), there should be some kind of connection and congruence between these two basic parts. But oh, how easy is it for us to be picked up from the ground and wafted away on the wings of some seductive dream!
A Thoughtful Contemplation of the Future
Our world consists of two basic parts; the ground on which we stand and what is going on in our heads. Normally (and we all like to think we’re normal enough to survive), there should be some kind of connection and congruence between these two basic parts. But oh, how easy is it for us to be picked up from the ground and wafted away on the wings of some seductive dream!
Just how far we fly depends on how much surplus we’ve been able to extract from our daily grind. And via the wonders of Late Era Industrial Civilisation, have we ever been on a doozy of a trip! Holidays in Bali! Fuel injected four valves per cylinder SUVs! Squid from Cambodia! Earrings from Iceland!
Then suddenly, our wings have been clipped and we have plunged to earth.
And although we’d like to think that once this whole COVID-19 19 weirdness is over, we can run back out, flap our wings and take to the sky again, a mean little voice seems to be saying this ain’t going to happen.
When we walk out our front doors in a few weeks (or months), the solid structures of our civilisation may still be standing, but the mojo that put them there in the first place will be gone. And what can’t be maintained soon begins rotting away. We’ll be stuck in the ruins, on our own sodden bit of earth, wondering what hit us and trying to gin up some new magic. But the magic won’t happen unless we understand where we are.
South Gippsland has had the harrow of Industrial Civilisation run over it pretty thoroughly. In the space of three human lifetimes, it has been subjected to an ecocide and a genocide. It’s best to think of the arrival of European settlement in Australia as the equivalent of aliens arriving from another planet. The whole game has been to dig up, cut down and sell off everything that could be seized, killing anything that stood in the way. That is what has happened in South Gippsland.
Now, with the addition of fertilisers from the chemical industry and the application of modern production techniques, a steady flow of goodies streams out of South Gippy to the consumers of the world. Dairy products, meat, timber, and fish, plus the brightest and best amongst the children, who leave school and go off to toil in the tall buildings of the City, in the service of the Masters of our Destiny.
So, what does South Gippsland actually have? Well, it has luck. Not roll-the-dice luck, but built-in luck. We have no borders with restive neighbours. We are not horribly over populated. Our rivers are short, too short to be dammed and the water taken away by the powerful. We have reasonably reliable rainfall. The climate is mild all year round. We are not a one crop or one industry area, and thus don’t suffer from extreme vulnerabilities of dependence on perfect economic stability.
Excepting the Latrobe Valley, there are no gigantic mines to rip up the landscape and pollute large areas. We are close enough to the City for easy access, but we’re far enough away to not be just another built-up satellite area, with the loss of community control that implies. There are some areas of good soil and the rest is usable. We can grow trees in the hills. It is a peaceful and generally low crime area. We have a diverse, complex community with lots of very bright and energetic people.
So, what to do? I don’t know what you can do, but I know what I can do, so I’m doing it. I’m not smart enough to know what everyone else should do. Let a hundred flowers bloom! Sure, lots of beautiful flowers will die. But that’s the way life works. Think of some ideas, and try them out. And best of luck!
Lloyd Morcom Foster District
Reprinted from justcommunitysg with permission
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