Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS writer
My favorite first line from a book was “I had a farm in Africa, in the foot of the Ngong Hills.” The film of “Out of Africa” just blew me away. The ancient flat topped acacia trees, golden plains, herds of antelope, giraffe and lions. In one scene they fly over a lake covered in pink flamingos.
Now I have a farm in Australia, a very small farm on a steep block in the Dandenong Ranges. The back of the house has tall glass windows looking out into the gum trees.
Some of the trees are hundreds of years old and have deep hollows. In the valley there are over 80 hollows that possums, gliders and birds use for nesting. One night we found a baby sugar glider came in the bathroom, it’s tail curled around it’s back like a silky soft plume. There are birds here every day. Sometimes yellow-tailed black cockatoos fly over the garden. They cry out to each other as they fly and their wings make long slow strokes through the air.
This valley is densely vegetated, surrounded by steep slopes on both sides. So why choose to stay in a place surrounded by forest, a forest full of eucalyptus oil that burns with the heat of a nuclear explosion? Why stay in a place where the winter storms roll in, the trees fall, the power goes off and the rainfall is twice that of Melbourne?
Water, beautiful water, the consistent, reliable rain. That’s why we have so many tree farms and vineyards up here. There are creeks and streams in all the valleys and moss grows on the rock wall outside my kitchen. While I cook I can look out into the tree ferns with their massive Gondwanaland fronds. Smaller ferns spring up on their trunks and yellow robins fly around pecking insects in the mulch.
On hot summer nights I can open the door of my bedroom. The night air is scented with eucalyptus and mint bush. There is a hint of moisture from the creek down the hill. I grow big angel-trumpet bushes in pots on the deck. At night they smell rich and sweet. In their native environment in Central America they must be pollinated by moths.
Our fire plan is simple. We will leave and take our dogs and our photos to the big dam by the winery. There are shady trees by a quiet swimming spot and somewhere to set up some banana lounges. The hills around the dam are planted with kiwi fruit and grape vines, chestnuts and raspberries.
What happens to the elderly when it’s over 45 degrees? The authorities tell them to stay inside and keep the air conditioning on. Not everyone can afford air conditioning. It’s expensive to buy and to have fitted and it’s bloody expensive to run. Medical advice for those with chronic conditions is for them to stay cool, turn on the air con and drink plenty of water.
But these are the people with low incomes, often just the tiny invalid pension. Poor housing, thin walls, few shady trees, less insulation. These are the people who die in the heat waves. We had 4 days over 45 degrees this summer. Four days in a row where the heat was unrelenting. As the ambulance service struggled the triage system failed us. An old woman waited over 2 hours for an ambulance, lost consciousness and died. Fifty children were locked in cars and ambulances had to get to them. People living in poverty, people stressed as they try to get to work or shop in the heat become angry and forgetful.
Out in the Wimmera and the Mallee where the temperatures get much higher the ground bakes and cracks. The grass that grew long in winter turns gold. People on hard scrabble farms hang on year after year. In the Grampians a fire broke out that sent a huge plume of hot air up into the atmosphere that generated it’s own weather. Struggling to make sure that people in Halls Gap would survive, the police evacuated the whole town.
So when the heat waves become more frequent, when the climate refugees begin to leave their sinking Pacific islands how will we respond? Will we offer them housing, schooling for their children. Employment and a safe home? Or will we continue to turn back the boats?
Will we redesign our cities so that people have access to good housing? We can’t all afford to escape to the bush.
One climate expert recommended that everyone buy a farm and buy a gun to defend their orchards and food crops from marauders. Will the the vast majority become the marauders, the hungry and homeless or will we rise up together to stop climate change?