Kangaroos adapt to changing climatic conditions. Can humans? I read an article a few months ago on the concept of plant blindness and how we humans tend to focus on loss of fauna, but less so on loss of flora. In Australia, there is concern about koalas becoming endangered, and…

Sunset over the Coral Sea. All too often, especially in our capitalist communities, there is the assumption to be well one must spend money. Reminds me of the story my partner told me of a distant colleague commending her on her appearance and asked “what are you using?”. “Nothing” was…

The list goes on. What is reasonable human behaviour? What should be banned or decriminalised, for example, recreational drug use? How much stonewalling should we tolerate from our politicians? What about so-called ‘religious freedom’ laws; how do we reconcile the sometimes competing desires of the secular community with those of…

An iconic beach but requiring human intervention to ‘re-sand’ after mother nature’s intervention. If it were only so simple for our other icons, like the Great Barrier Reef. A reef now in serious deterioration, at the mercy of unfettered climate change and its destiny in the hands of the ’emperors’…

The joy, of just being with nature … Well the pedant may say nothing is free, everything involves a cost. Maybe, in terms of our usual life-styles or cultures. the control systems, capitalism, our relationships, and so on, perhaps that is true. It costs me to freely express myself in…

Earth, wind, fire and rain. All fundamental to life on this planet. The soil, being nature’s repository of so many vital nutrients, distributed through the food chain via plants and animals. Oxygen, the staple of life, and such a precious gift via photosynthesis, to we dependent species. Thanks to the…

Some joyful and close encounters with some truly magnificent trees in recent days got me thinking. How selfless are trees? A bit of a contrast to the human species, I would suggest. Free of ego. Such awesome contributors to to life on this planet. Complementary life-forms, whose prevalence is not…

As a wise person once said, and I paraphrase, to ignore the failures of history is to be doomed to repeat them. As if we lose sight of the markers that are placed in strategic places with the honourable intention to direct us otherwise. Not to war, but instead to…

In recent posts I have been writing about ‘striking a balance between” … often opposed objectives. Nonetheless, civilised, advanced and open societies continue to strive for achieving such balance, to maintain order, predictability and safety for the greater number while also aiming to protect individual freedoms and creative diversity. Sadly,…

Autonomy. The freedom within humanity to be the person you wish to be, provided such choices do not impinge on the independence of others to do the same. Or to be different. Autonomy is not a free ride. It does not allow anyone to act with impunity, without consequence, simply…