Bushfire Grief

This morning I’m going to join members of Extinction Rebellion and the Climate Choir at Rosedale for a Grief Ceremony. This is where so many homes were lost. We will sing and respectfully work together to accept our grief and the sadness caused by these horrible fires.

Personally, there is a deep anger at governments in our country who ignored warnings that began as early as the 1970’s and were strongly repeated in the 1990’s and again early this century. They are still sticking their heads in the proverbial sand.

But one can’t live with anger without it destroying. So I am going to this Grief Ceremony. And I will continue to agitate locally and, where possible in capital centres, for action.

I began working for the environment in the early 1990’s when I became aware of the problem. It has been an up and down journey with some political parties making a good go at trying to achieve carbon reduction but mostly, with conservative governments backing big business and ignoring it.

So I must let the anger go. I must focus on what I can do. I have grandchildren who will look back and blame us for sitting on our hands and letting this happen. I don’t want to be part of the problem but part of the solution.