Insects as canaries; elected officials as moral cowards

Where I've been, what we can do...

I haven’t actually been anywhere, except home and not writing because I thought… well, what do I have to say? What can I possibly contribute to the world at this moment, when we need so much and I have so little to offer. Why add my voice?

But the urge to write eventually became stronger, as it does, than the fear of not knowing what to say. Or rather, the fear of not being useful, helpful.

Related, I am also incandescent with rage at the absolute moral cowardice and ineptitude of our elected officials (I will not call them leaders because they are not true leaders. They are cowardly, selfish, and seemingly incapable of future vision and change- everything we do not need right now.), and I am scared for the future. And rage without purpose and fear are not what I want to bring to the table right now.

Rage with purpose however- that I can get behind. So here I am. Sorry for disappearing for so long (again).

It is a hard time to be a thinking, feeling person in the world. We have a hard road ahead of us.

You may have seen the recent article documenting ecologists horror at finding nature reserves emptied of insects. This is terrifying. As if we needed any more proof of the disastrous effects of global heating, the disappearance of insects from untouched nature reserves should be the canary in the mine. We need to act now. But despair is the antidote to action, so here is some good news: solar fields are providing habitat to creatures that have lost it elsewhere and are becoming biodiverse hotspots of flora and fauna. This is excellent news and all the more reason for us to demand our governments stop conceding to the fossil fuel lobby.

We need some wins, and we need hope. And hope comes from action. There are things all of us can do to fight for our home, our earth- things that may feel small or pointless but if millions of us are doing these ‘pointless’ things, then how can they not affect change? And I get it. It is scary and it is exhausting. I often feel like I am losing my mind that in 2025, in the midst of the biggest challenge we have ever and probably will ever face on our planet in human history, instead of working together, earnestly, to protect our incredible planet we are okaying genocide and allowing billionaires to ruin everything. Why oh why must we fight against our government for human rights and a habitable planet?! But, it seems, we must.

Action breeds hope. Here is a small list of actions we can take- some things are once off and some things are habits we can slowly introduce until they become our normal:

First, you can make a submission to the EPA outlining why drilling for gas under Scott Reef is a categorically terrible idea. Go to the Greens site for more information. THIS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY JUNE 10th!

• Switch banks! and ensure your super is with an ethical fund. Money talks and in this hellscape of late stage capitalism it is, I think, the main driver of change. It is kind of a pain and may require a few hours of life admin, but once it’s done it’s done! And then you no longer have to wonder what your money may be supporting without your knowledge.

• Eat less meat! And talk to your friends and family about it. I will write a post about how I approach an omnivorous diet in 2025 soon (and I am not being preachy about this- I am not a vegan and certainly do not have ‘perfect’ eating habits). This is a relatively small shift that can have BIG impact- so much of the land cleared globally is used to grow crops for animal feed, let alone the space needed to grow the meat animals themselves. It is a remarkably inefficient way to produce food. If you enjoy eating meat and are in Australia, check out Australian Meats. They sell wild caught game meat- ie meat without the enormous carbon footprint.

  And here are links to some of my high rotation veggie dinners:

  our version of bean burritos

  an easy lentil soup

• Build some frog saunas! You may have seen this on Gardening Australia if you are also a fan (hi friend!), but essentially there is a fungus that is killing Australian frogs and it is more active during the colder part of the year. By setting up simple ‘saunas’ the frogs can stay in a warm environment and kill off the fungus, curing themselves. Genius! Here are the deets.

• If you have a garden (or even balcony space), plant some natives! Or some perennial flowering plants to attract beneficial insects and birds and provide them with food. And bonus- gardening is one of the best ways to get out of your head and it ALWAYS makes me feel better (when I sign off from this letter I am actually going out into the garden to plant a whole lot of new plants and trees).

Also: buying second hand, supporting small local business, keeping your money away from billionaires wherever possible, talking to family and friends about what you are doing and why, realising the things that make us happy are not things at all, getting out into nature and noticing how fucking amazing the natural world is and what a great responsibility it is to be stewards of it for as long as we have.

The actions we need to take are multi-pronged and ongoing. Even if we choose one small thing to do each day- cook some beans, talk to your mum about why you shop secondhand, send a letter to an elected official, go to a protest, volunteer… It all adds up. It all contributes and it is all important. What we cannot do is give up.

Thanks for being here. It really means a lot to those of you who keep reading this newsletter even as my focus shifts. Now I am going to plant some things in the garden.

Love you all. X

PS I am planning to share a really incredibly, and REALLY easy dal recipe that I was gifted years ago from friends in Kerala, so keep an eye out for that (it’s worth it, I promise!)