[Admin] Heidegger’s gypsies
March 4th, 2007, search relatedRelated posts :: [Admin] Heidegger’s gypsies :: [Admin] Heidegger’s gypsies :: [Admin] Heidegger’s gypsies :: [Admin] Heidegger’s gypsies
On 02/03/2007, at 6:42 AM, Tympan Segment wrote:
>We can look forward to Australia becoming the first homogenous continent
>in the future. One big beach to play in thanks to global warming. How many
>years of drought now?
Well it’s all relative I guess. Perth on the west coast started
drying up in the mid 70’s and that trend accelerated in the late
90’s. Rainfall has dropped off a cliff since and we’re down two
thirds on the 70’s levels, with water restrictions since 2001 which
is when this climatic drought spread across the entire southern half
of the continent to the east coast.
My aunty lives on the farm my dad was born on in Western Victoria,
across from the farm my great grandfather built where I was born.
2004 was the first time they had to truck water out to fill the tanks
and they’ve done it each year since. That’s just for two very frugal
elderly people.
Tympan: Perhaps there will be more rain clouds in the future. Whatever
happens throwing a technological fix at the problem is not effective enough
without an education of the will. If we don’t change our habits of
consumption I can’t see significant change. And this may mean first of all
learning how to listen to the ‘voice’ of the earth which is what
being-in-the-world allows us to do. Then we change too developing a sense of
wonder and therefore respect for the intrinsic value of the things
themselves and respect for the diversity of a global mosaic whose
traditional intercultural patterns may be helpful in developing a felt sense
of our surrounding world that gives meaning to the ecological crisis and
ways of responding.
If sustained rains fail this coming winter there are
a number of large regional towns that could be in serious trouble,
and marginal farming lands affected by desertification may be
permanently abandoned. Last years wheat crop was cut in half, we’re
one of the major breadbaskets for the world.
Perth has built a major desalination plant, and a new power station
to run it, but the scientists are saying it’s entirely possible by
2030 we’ll have climatic conditions not seen in 30 million years, and
that Perth may become the “20th century’s first ghost metropolis”.
Short answer, far too many years of drought, but this just looks like
the beginning of a rather serious climatic trend.
Regards,
Malcolm
