Louis called it – halftime! Looking back through the many folders of photos, it’s hard to believe we’ve come this far in just 6 months. It feels like a good time to check in on why we’re here, and where we’re going, dont you think?
Climate
I’ve kept the science to a minimum in my blog posts, as many know what the challenges are and just want to get on doing. I believe that headlines from the past six months warrant some attention however, and i’ll mention them in brief here.
Since I began my World of Difference year, a considerable number of extreme weather events have unfolded concurrently around the world:
- Floods have battered the US states of New England, Nashville, Arkansas and Oklahoma, China experienced it’s worst in decades, and a historic deluge in Pakistan upended the lives of over 20 million people.
- The Northern Hemisphere’s summer heat waves have baked the eastern United States, parts of Africa and eastern Asia, and above all Russia, which lost millions of acres of wheat and thousands of lives in a heat wave and wildfire frenzy worse than any other in the historical record.
- A 200 sq. km chunk of the Petermann Glacier carved off Greenland – the largest piece of ice to separate from the glacier in the past 50 years of observations and data.
Climate extremes have always existed, but all the events cited above compare with, or exceed in intensity, duration or geographical extent, the previous largest historical events known. Seemingly disconnected, these far-flung disasters are reviving the question of whether climate change is causing more weather extremes. The collective answer of the scientific community can be boiled down to a single word: probably.
Finally, a staggering new study from Canadian researchers has shown that warmer seawater has reduced phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain, by 40% since 1950.
Considering the lag in the climate system, we are left with a sobering thought to chew on. These events have, almost certainly, been caused by the greenhouse gases emitted by our forbearers during the industrial revolution, meaning the emissions we have produced over the last 50-or-so years are yet to be counted. Cuss.
Energy
Quick recap. We need energy to do work. Work is economic activity, and it requires the growing extraction/use of resources, so requires growing amounts of energy. Read: oil.
Crude oil supplies have failed to top their 2005 extraction rates – 5 years on. Pretty compelling. “All Liquids’ (oil, biofuels, coal-to-oil, shale etc) has bounced along, and combined, just pipped the 2005 crude figure, for a blip in 2008. Never again. So we do less work from here on, and less and less, year on year. Time to get to (man-powered) work!
Action
During this halftime reflection I can say that I feel very privileged to be supported to work towards solutions in this area! To be surrounded by people that are putting their heart and soul into regenerating our communities and making them resilient to these changes, is excitingly epic!
I’m really stoked with where we’re at, too. Our idea of physically supporting youth to develop future-relevant skills is working well, and importantly – we’re having tons of fun whilst doing it. 22 Youth are such an inspiring group, and I can only imagine what powerful ideas they’ll bring to life over the next 6 months!
In early August I spent a weekend “shipwrecked” out on Quarantine Island with 30 wicked secondary students and friends. Another Enviroschools initiative, we explored the major systems which allowed us to be there – water, energy, food, shelter and people – and workshopped ways of making these systems more resilient. We finished up by helping each school plan a similarly themed regenerative in-school project for Term 3!
Checking in with 22 Youth, a Permaculture Design Workshop yesterday left them buzzing with excitement about the creative canvas that is The Secret Garden project. They aim to establish an edible/useful ecology that can be a model of a sustainable urban food system. The hunt is now on to locate a diversity of southerly-suited vegetables, fruit bushes, trees, herbs, and companion plants to make The Secret Garden the edible paradise we imagine it can be!
Plans for 2011 are gaining momentum and will be shared soon enough! Next month being Spring, food is on the table – that much is certain 
