Can Art Save the World
I am very interested in the destruction of our natural places as part of my experience in Australia. I have noticed that many bubblers are from Europe and the USA and it occurred to me that the values of Australia’s natural places may not be immediately understood by folks in other parts of the world.
In most of our major cities it is possible to stand in old growth forest within an hours drive and a short walk of traffic lights. By old growth I mean never touched by white fellas hands, places that have never felt the axe let alone the plough. In some cases they have existed for hundreds of thousands of years essentially unchanged.
The diversity of our wild places is astonishing. In one small reserve in the mountains west of Sydney there are more species of plant than in all the British Isles. There are over 700 species of Eucalypt alone and that is after the genus has been split to reduce confusion. Our best botanists make new discoveries with a frequency that would leave their international brethren breathless.
What we have here is unique and poorly understood. There is no doubt that many species are lost without ever being discovered. This diversity belongs to the world not just Australians. If you are thinking of contributing to an environmental cause please look to Australia as a place where you get more conservation bang for your buck than most other places on the planet.
botanicfanatic
Ooh what a good idea, jkp! I’m glad you’re writing about this. I live in an area where the the endangered Helmeted Honeyeater and the endangered Leadbeater’s Possum are just hanging on in forest fragments. Frequent media coverage of recovery efforts keep the topic alive… of course the multiple conflicting land use issues may not be resolved in time.
Are you suggesting particular environmental causes, jkp, or keeping it general?
jkp07
I think we have a terrific forum here. As a scientist I think of creative people as being more conservation minded. If bubble can be used as a platform to promote specific issues using images, writing and feedback we could really get something going. One of our big issues on the Gold Coast is Koalas. The development pressure here is huge. If artisits and authors could focus on it for a while they could give me and others like me more powerful communication tools. As usual for me I have the ideas but need others to bring them to reality. As an experiment I will change the title of this entry to something a bit more Jazzy and see if I get more response. Thanks.
botanicfanatic
Mmmm, koalas. Can you tell us just how the development pressure is affecting them? What do you think needs to be done for koalas?
(I’m thinking in terms of people designing posters perhaps, and needing more info)
jkp07
I loved the “no tree no me” posters but we need something a bit more sophisticated nowadays. The pressure comes from the desperate search for residential land. Old golf courses, marginal farmland and bushland are the prefferred options due to cost.
We need money to compensate investors if they set aside Koala habitat. We need to put pressure on Local Government to buy land for Koalas instead of trying to frustrate the developers with myriad planning objections. Developers care about money, the only way to move them is to show them a profit in conservation. I don’t mean they are bad people just that they are corporations representing investors, they have no real choice, appealing to thier better nature will not change what they do, corporations have no better nature.
So posters that ask people to promote local government involvement in conservation efforts would be good. Also who are these people that buy these places that used to be Koala habitat? it is people like us.
We need to put pressure on state government to overturn Good Qality Agricultural Land legislation, you know it is easier to get approval to clear bushland than it is to develop a paddock full of sugar cane!
I would love to see material that gets people angry. You know that campaign “If you had a meal today Thank a farmer” how about “if you paid too much tax today Thank a farmer”
or a picture of a Koala with the caption “given the chance your dog will kill me”
The problem with environmental politics is that the group is only as smart as its dumbest member. By this I mean if one member of a group tells lies or uses violence it permenantly damages the whole group. That is why I try and keep my anger in check and refrain from saying things like the above. Humour is the way to go ” if you breathed and took a crap today Thank the earth”
botanicfanatic
Cool. Lots to think about there.
Do you have access to printing and places to hang them already lined up?
jkp07
Yeah I was ranting a bit, sorry. To begin I would love a beautifully drawn T shirt design with a Koala humping a pants down construction worker (claws drawing blood and wearing a hard hat) with the caption ” Koala Sensitive Development”. and a thought bubble from the construction worker ” Is this really a condition of Development Approval?” But like I say I can be a very angry man sometimes.
On the broader and more sensible front if we could develop good artwork for free we could offer it to Koala Councils and conservation organisations. The idea being to use redbubble for what it does best, produce beautiful images, and leave the politics to the various organisations. Althought I would love that T shirt…
botanicfanatic
Pity I can’t draw better then :-D
Hopefully someone talented will read this…
jkp07
somebody talented did