I should mention, especially for climbers, that establishing weatherproof camps in the tall trees of Tasmania requires the most expert rigging and safety skills (BBF offers regular training camps). It's fully "heads-up" in climber talk in the trees, once I was in a strong gale and it is much more intense than the experience of a severe storm on rock, as the wind comes from all directions in a tree. Securing the ledge at frame level to the tree is essential. I have uncut footage of a couple nights in a wild storm here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVjIq5Kszbc
The natural world is the climber’s office. It’s here that we innovate we expand, and we learn from everything around us. Nature is not a part of us, but we are a part of it. Now is not the time to sit back, but to act.
well said! And there are lots of ways to act, too, depending on skillset. Sitting around and waiting for the forest trauma to end will result in not much left for our kid's kids to see (luckily we both had plenty of visits with our kids when they were younger! Good memories.)
A thorough, heartbreaking and inspiring post, John. Keep up the GREAT work!
So less than a week from now, that decision will be made on the mining waste. I hope Option 4 is chosen, but if NVDA is needed, I look forward to hearing about activists achieving their objectives through a campaign of escalating actions that ultimately force the decision makers to do the right thing.
In my family of four (my sister, 62, me, 60, and my late parents, who died in 2009 and 2017) there are some 75 arrests from civil disobedience and NVDA for environmental and social justice. I highly recommend the following resource, if you are not already familiar with it:
The 2018 book HOW WE WIN: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning, by George Lakey.
Most Tasmanians realise the future value of these forests lie in the future great respect for them, and the economic value thereof. Bob has proposed a significant and adventurous--probably ancient--path from the north to the coast so people can see the wider scale forest as another one of Tasmania's iconic hikes, would would be on par with the South Coast Track and Cradle Mountain, but as it is, the hike could have burned-out coupes along the way, which would destroy the purpose of the hike (can you imagine a big mining site in the middle of the world reknown Cradle Mountain multi day hike?) That is what is happening up there in takayna—the fragmentation of one of the world’s greatest remaining roadless Wilderness.
And, by the way, wilderness is a debated word—some think it disrespectful of the ancient travels and living in these areas. So sometimes I use Wilderness, with capital W, as in the legal USA 1964 Wilderness Act definition, primarily a large roadless areas, and which excludes motorized travel. America has certainly saved some key prizes, like the Sierras and areas in the Southwest. Sad to see similar places get chopped up here because there are fewer of them on this much drier continent (the vast deserts are relatively safe as they are very difficult to extract monetary value).
I should mention, especially for climbers, that establishing weatherproof camps in the tall trees of Tasmania requires the most expert rigging and safety skills (BBF offers regular training camps). It's fully "heads-up" in climber talk in the trees, once I was in a strong gale and it is much more intense than the experience of a severe storm on rock, as the wind comes from all directions in a tree. Securing the ledge at frame level to the tree is essential. I have uncut footage of a couple nights in a wild storm here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVjIq5Kszbc
And a short film I made back then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=wkH9ZKQ8SBw
Another key moment in portaledge protesting (first cable logger): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4SzXFIW5CU
The natural world is the climber’s office. It’s here that we innovate we expand, and we learn from everything around us. Nature is not a part of us, but we are a part of it. Now is not the time to sit back, but to act.
well said! And there are lots of ways to act, too, depending on skillset. Sitting around and waiting for the forest trauma to end will result in not much left for our kid's kids to see (luckily we both had plenty of visits with our kids when they were younger! Good memories.)
A thorough, heartbreaking and inspiring post, John. Keep up the GREAT work!
So less than a week from now, that decision will be made on the mining waste. I hope Option 4 is chosen, but if NVDA is needed, I look forward to hearing about activists achieving their objectives through a campaign of escalating actions that ultimately force the decision makers to do the right thing.
In my family of four (my sister, 62, me, 60, and my late parents, who died in 2009 and 2017) there are some 75 arrests from civil disobedience and NVDA for environmental and social justice. I highly recommend the following resource, if you are not already familiar with it:
The 2018 book HOW WE WIN: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning, by George Lakey.
https://www.abebooks.com/9781612197531/Win-Guide-Nonviolent-Direct-Action-1612197531/plp
Great! Just ordered. Thanks!
Most Tasmanians realise the future value of these forests lie in the future great respect for them, and the economic value thereof. Bob has proposed a significant and adventurous--probably ancient--path from the north to the coast so people can see the wider scale forest as another one of Tasmania's iconic hikes, would would be on par with the South Coast Track and Cradle Mountain, but as it is, the hike could have burned-out coupes along the way, which would destroy the purpose of the hike (can you imagine a big mining site in the middle of the world reknown Cradle Mountain multi day hike?) That is what is happening up there in takayna—the fragmentation of one of the world’s greatest remaining roadless Wilderness.
And, by the way, wilderness is a debated word—some think it disrespectful of the ancient travels and living in these areas. So sometimes I use Wilderness, with capital W, as in the legal USA 1964 Wilderness Act definition, primarily a large roadless areas, and which excludes motorized travel. America has certainly saved some key prizes, like the Sierras and areas in the Southwest. Sad to see similar places get chopped up here because there are fewer of them on this much drier continent (the vast deserts are relatively safe as they are very difficult to extract monetary value).