Gday again all, this is me Baglady reporting on week 1-to-2 of the Festival of Resilience.
Remember, we want to spread the word far and wide (Blue Mountains first of course, only 73,000 people), SO:
We need YOUR photos and messages about anything you’re doing, have done, or will be doing, during the Festival. Send to us at hello@festivalofresilience.
On Sunday I went to the very friendly launch of The Wisdom of Age – a collection of writings by Blue Mountains elders, all over 80, edited by William W Emilsen and Eugene Stockton. To quote a couple of the writers who mentioned climate issues:
Peggy Goldsmith: ‘ The urgency of Australia becoming a low carbon country haunts me, as I contemplate what climate change means already’ and ‘To stay alive, we need to dream now of being better people than yesterday. We need to review our values.’
Rosemary Morrow: ‘I have a transcendent gratitude. I live with a garden, clean air, relative quiet, friends and good communications and ‘enough’ food, money (and money to give away…)’
Trish Doyle launched the book. Here she is with other locals at afternoon tea.
Today I watched a zoom event called Regenesis, with Blue Mountains Creatve Arts Network, hosted by AELA the Australian Earth Laws Alliance.
September is Earth Laws month and it’s great to reconnect with Michelle Maloney [AELA] up there in Brisbane! I specially appreciated Barbara’s presentation on Genesis, and film with Janelle, who said: ‘We’re supporting the healing of community after the fires; so with that it’s even a deeper sense of responsibility, because we’re looking after each other as people who’ve suffered great trauma, some people, through those fires…. and looking at other issues like landfill and waste. It’s just been wonderful.’ and with Aunty Carol Cooper speaking stronger than ever on the rubbishing of country: ‘It’s our place. We’ve kept the place clean for thousands and thousands of years, and now in this time, we’ve got people that don’t care. And that makes it really hard for us to cope with.’
And Melissa Chambers has serious questions for us all: What inspires you? What fuels your appetite – what’s putting you into action? We can all be a powerhouse, together.’
My final thought for this week is: Blue Mountains Can/Must Lead the World. The idea started with a headline I wrote for Ballymena newspapers in 2003. The Guardian printed it: Ballymena Can/Must Lead the World. And Ballymena did just that. So nearly 20yrs on, it’s our turn yippee! And we need all the help we can get. We need everyone. More about this in Blog 3
Next weekend….. Reimagine. An awesome line-up of workshops…. I’m in 2 of them, and I’ll be there all day, there’s so much good stuff happening! Seeya there…
Best beams,
Baglady
