Earth
Charter, Principle 2: “Care for the Community of Life with
understanding, compassion and love.”
Early
January 2017 was for many people a joyous holiday period with family reunions
and New Year resolutions but for all of us it was a time of temperatures of 40
degrees or more. Most of NSW experienced
an oppressive heat wave and the people of the Clarence Valley sweltered.
Even
night temperatures became difficult to bear and people needed to be careful to
avoid dehydration.
Some newspaper
reports suggested the heat wave posed a threat to human health, especially to
older people and the very young.
But in
the midst of our discomfort did we consider the impact that the heatwave was
having on our biodiversity?
This
photograph taken mid-afternoon on January 14 shows a female king parrot suffering from
the extreme temperature. She sought some relief in a shady porch behind our
house. Even here the temperature was
close to 40 degrees celsius.
Her beak
is repeatedly opening and closing and her wings are drooping. We are careful not to disturb her and she
stays in this position for at least two hours.
At the
front of the house two more king parrots are perched in similar shady
positions, again with beak and wings conveying distress.
Do such
images have an important communique for our human community?
If we
fail to limit our greenhouse gases urgently, if we go ahead with the massive
Adani coal project, if the Donald Trump presidency ignores climate change, if ……
the list goes on.
Will
this image of the king parrot suffering from heat wave conditions become a
symbol for all life on our planet?
Big
questions are looming and the future of our Earth Community – our biodiversity
and our grandchildren – will be greatly influenced by our answers.
-
Stan Mussared
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on February 6, 2017.
