Lawns and storms

Instead of launching into a long explanation of my absence from blogging and what I'd been waiting for to start again, I've decided to just start blogging again. I wrote this yesterday late afternoon as the rain pelted Melbourne:

I watch a Persian Fairy-floss cloud stream over me and note how incongruous it is compared to the heavy dark storm clouds crowding in from the west. Then I realise that wispy, shredded cloud is only the vanguard of more heavy rain clouds chasing it east.

I'm lying on my back on our freshly mown back lawn, resting from a hot afternoon's work mowing the back and front lawns and the extra long nature strip bordering our corner block. The day's heat and humidity had left me dripping with sweat throughout this bit of domestic heavy-lifting, where I again had the opportunity to reflect on the features and expectations of Australian masculinities that our moving to a larger house with a garden has necessitated. The lawn mowers in our neighbourhood start up like clockwork on Saturdays and Sundays – certainly with greater regularity that mine – and I'm still getting used to this new requirement (after having lived in a unit for nearly five years!)

Instead of retreating into the house once I'd locked the mower away into its metal shed, I lay on the grass to enjoy my handiwork, took off my boots to let my feet feel the grass, and let myself sink into the soft cushion of grass. I can't remember the last time I did this.

Watching the sky darken as the storm clouds roll over me, the thunder comes louder and stronger from the west. I want the raindrops to just fall on me.

The wind starts to pick up and birds dart around seeking shelter. I can't tell if the birds are flying fast or the wind is propelling them through the air. This elevating avian aviatics turns out to be a good sign of the storm closing in, as pretty soon the wind brings pelting rain.

Pretty soon, I decide the novely of lying on the grass and letting the rain fall on me has worn off as the stinging pellets drive me indoors. Not before being well and truly cooled off after my Saturday afternoon chores.

By all accounts, the day's storms brought traffic havoc to the city and lots of rain in a short time. Enough to reassure me that the fruiting orange tree, the prize feature of our backyard, got a good drink. And surely enough rain to get the freshly cut grass shooting up again. An excercise in futility.

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Say a little prayer for me

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. Inspired by Mike Lynch's Top 100 women singers.

Someone's prayers are being answered. It's raining again in Melbourne. Lovely, wet, grey, soggy rain. The clothes on the line won't dry, but the trees and plants will be certainly greener. And hopefully the catchments a little fuller.

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Autumn in my pocket

I've returned to writing in my writing notebook on the tram to work again, and this post begins from what I wrote there.

In my pocket is a light blue cotton handkerchief, the kind that is thick enough and large enough to wipe your face with without it scrunching into a ball, or blow your nose in without being sodden within three gusts – a handy feature for the impending cold-virus season. That's possibly because it is relatively new, and still has the fresh stiffness of new cotton. It has crisscrossing stripes of navy contrast along the edges that mark it as a man's handkerchief, and an upper-case 'P' embroidered in navy blue in one corner. It was my father's.

My father always had a handkerchief with him – every day, he'd put one in his left trouser pocket. (I've long long followed his habit.) Dad had quite a stock of them. My sister and I insisted that he have one just so for the funeral.

Each time I've been up to Brisbane lately, I return – on my mother's urging – with a small load of my father's clothes. This time, the load included a handful of these good handkerchiefs and a couple of pairs of new socks dad had not gotten around to wearing. They were still attached to their label.

Today, I'm wearing a light, grey cashmere jumper of dad's. Now I understand the love for cashmere – light, soft, almost luscious – and appreciate the premium put on them. I'd probably never afford cashmere myself. There was a time, some ten years ago, when my father could afford to buy them and appreciated their warmth and comfort in Melbourne's winter, however briefly he lived here. I found this jumper, along with another maroon cashmere and his chunky blue wool cardigan that I loved to see him in, stored in the bottom drawer of a dresser he hardly used. I wonder if he got to enjoy them much, considering how brief and relatively mild Brisbane's winters are. Though he'd been complaining of feeling the cold bitterly, especially in his hands and feet, in the last couple of years.

This morning in Melbourne, it is cool, grey and raining. It's probably closer to 14˚C than 21˚C in the range forecast for today. Autumn has announced itself dramaticaly, and I'm glad to be warm and snug in a fold of cashmere.

This morning, the online sponsorships and cash donations for my Shave for a Cure drive had past my $500 target! (As evident in the image of the fundraising meter.) Weighing up the pledges that have been made and the possibilities of another week of fundraising, I've decided to extend my goal by $200 – I'm now aiming to raise $700 for the Leukaemia Foundation by Friday 13 March.

I'd appreciate any help you can offer me to reach that goal, including spreading the word. And thank you to all of you who helped out, made donations, and spread the word.

In a week, I will have my hair shaved for Shave for a Cure. It will be a chilly affair, and I'm glad for my friend Lynn's offer to knit me a beanie to keep my head and ears warm! Thanks, Lynn! Meanwhile, keep warm. Or cool as your case may be.

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Down tools, go home

It's just past 4.30pm and we've been all urged to go home by the boss because the office air-conditioning has been struggling to pump out even a skerrick of cool breath on this miserably sweltering 43º C day. Hurrah!

It has been really uncomfortable, sweaty and, yes, unfortunately, smelly in the office. Yesterday, I twittered: "You know how your sweaty legs stick to vinyl car seats on really hot days? My brain feels like that." Today has been little different.

It does mean that I have to go out into the blistering heat and get on a stinking hot tram... Booh! But that's if the trams are running and the tracks haven't buckled. From what I've read, though, it's the trains that have been affected that way – so far 198 trains canceled today!

Well, the boss has turned out the lights to get us out of the office and go home. Can't say I can argue with that!

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Cool shade

Cool shade, originally uploaded by Mark Lawrence.

Cool shade, originally uploaded by Mark Lawrence.

This is one of the largest ficcus trees I've seen in a long time. In Cairns city mall.

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On a winter's night…

Winter is doing strange things in Melbourne currently. One day, it is all foggy mornings and grounded or detoured aeroplanes, the next it's sunny afternoons followed by rain clouds chased over the ranges. All the same, there is something quite lovely about they way this city faces winter. Lots of people get into the winter mood around here, and incorporate its features into not just their dress and cooking, but into art, writing, and more.

I took this photo of a hand-drawn leaf a couple of weeks ago. It is part of an extended artwork on the glass wall of the local municipal library near my work. It is a lovely meditation on plane trees and the way they lose their leaves for the cold weather, if a bit melancholic.

Winter's melancholy can play havoc with many of us, but then there is always something to cheer us up. Like the sun breaking through the clouds, or burrowing into bed with something lovely to read, such as the latest issue of Meanjin – the first under the stewardship of their new editor Sophie Cunningham. It's worth reading, from all reports, and not just because it features work by the wonderful bloggers Ampersand Duck, and Laura Caroll, who are also behind Sarsaparilla.

Winter is also a great time for a big hearty stew or soup, or maybe a curry, and a nice glass of red. I know what I'm picking up from the shop on the way home.

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US aid plane lands in Burma

BBC Online reports that the first US plane carrying emergency aid has landed in Burma – nine days after Cyclone Nargis!

The plane was carrying over 12,000 kgs of supplies, including mosquito nets, blankets and water. According to the BBC, "The US spent days negotiating with Burma's military government to gain permission for the aircraft to land."

This is a significant development in this emergency, as in the early days the Burmese had refused to allow US planes to land, and all commentators were saying that any aid worker with a US passport wouldn't be allowed into the country.

The BBC also reports that three Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) planes are due to be allowed into Burma soon.

The biggest worry is that although the military is showing signs that it is softening its hardline stance against foreign aid intervention and help in the disaster, the pace of their cooperation with international relief agencies, the UN and leading western aid donor countries is too slow and this natural disaster is going to turn into a humanitarian disaster

Over 1 million people are still very much at risk from the aftermath of this cyclone, and the reports indicate that there are still many, many dead bodies unretrieved from the disaster areas.

It is still important to exert pressure on the Burmese military junta to allow the smooth flow of the international relief effort into cyclone ravaged Burma – especially via putting pressure on the junta's international supporters: China mainly, but also their Asean supporters and neighbours including Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

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Burma disaster roundup

I trawled through a number of websites to find sources of information and insight into what is happening in Burma post the Cyclone Nargis disaster, and I made an effort to find out what other blogs and Burmese voices, especially from the region, are saying.

Also bearing in mind that the crucial issue now is how quickly the international emergency disaster relief can get into Burma and to the areas most in need, and the military's reluctance to ease their entry, I've also found some information from the aid and relief agencies.

The Burma Campaign (UK) have called for concerted international effort to force the Burmese junta to accept international aid. They are lobbying the British government, for one, to take a strong approach. They say:

"The United Nations has the power to authorise aid shipments to Burma even though the regime has not given permission. Yesterday the French government tried to secure a discussion on this at the Security Council, but it is believed to have been blocked by China and Russia.

“Every day of delay is costing lives,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “If the regime won’t give permission for aid, the international community must deliver it anyway. We can’t stand by and let thousands more die.”

However the level of concern, verging on panic, over the junta's refusal to allow the free flow of aid, most sane international aid and Burmese democracy groups are, however, stopping short of calling for an all-out 'humanitarian' invasion of Burma a-la Somalia, if only just. Reason will prevail in this matter, I hope.

The Democratic Voice of Burma has an amazing gallery of photos of the damage in Rangoon, from which the photo above has been lifted. The level of damage in Rangoon is pretty bad, but Tim Costello of World Vision has reported on ABC Online that the city is beginning to put itself back together, as its citizens pick up the pieces.

However, columnist and blogger Awzar Thi, writing in Rule of Lords, reports that 90 per cent of the large trees in Rangoon are gone – uprooted or split and cracked. Besides the damage this has done to power lines, buildings and roads, this does not bode well for the future urban ecology of this major city. Awzar Thi has extensive coverage of the cyclone's devastation.

I found Rule of Lords via web correspondent Mong Palatino, who is blogging on the disaster at Global Voices Online, the online aggregator of political and social blogging of the non-Western world. He has been tracking many more bloggers and websites reporting from either within Burma or from its neighbours. The region has many political bloggers, it seems. He has found a number of eyewitness reports as well, including this quite representative one:

In our house we were trapped when tress around the house fell over after 11 hours of strong winds at 200-240 knots. The mess is terrible everywhere, with all electricity down and no water for days.

With one million homeless and facing terrible conditions, hunger, thirst, exposure to the elements and risk of disease are the major challenges, and the aid efforts must reach them as soon as possible.

One of the most heartbreaking things I've learned is how the children and babies have been affected. According to a Save the Children media statement I found, 40 per cent of the dead are children. The young are at the highest risk of water borne diseases, and most feel the cold, thirst and hunger.

Save the Children's Burma director, who I mentioned in my previous post, is quoted in that statement saying:

“We know that some areas are still completely under salt water – some people have no drinking water or food. Unless assistance gets into those kinds of areas very soon, the death toll will keep rising. It is a race against time and now our priority has to be those who are left - we urgently need help to be able to reach the surviving children and families and deliver what we know they need.”

Medisans Sans Frontier's Australian division has set up a page on their website to provide updated information on what is happening in Burma and what they are doing as part of the efforts. Thankfully, MSF has had workers in Burma for many years now who could respond quickly to the disaster, but they are running out of human energy, resources and supplies, and are desperately waiting for the planes carrying relief supplies to be allowed into the country.

I trust MSF to do the right thing in terms of their aid efforts, their capacity to look after people, and how they use the money they raise through fundraising for their emergency efforts. They proved themselves many times over, including in responding to the Boxing Day Tsunami in the West Sumatra region.

You can find out more about what MSF are doing, inlcuding a video, here.

The Burmese people need the help and generosity of the international community. And out continued attention to ensure the military regime don't keep stifling the aid efforts. Leave me a comment if you know of other ways to help.

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Cyclone devastation and the aid crisis in Burma

It is growing increasingly apparent that the extent of the death toll and damage in Burma from Cyclone Nargis is getting much worse – horrendous, in fact. It is certainly far worse that the Burmese military dictatorship can either handle or is prepare to admit.

So far, Burma's official death toll has jumped from 15,000-odd to about 22,000, but aid agencies are predicting it may reach 100,000, and at least 40,000 people are thought to be missing. Hundreds of thousands are thought to be homeless as a result of the devastation. Exacerbating the problem is the military's refusal to allow international aid agencies to freely enter the politically and socially isolated country to both assess the crisis and get aid to those who have been hurt, made homeless or otherwise affected by the storm.

The unpleasant but terribly urgent job of retrieving dead bodies – especially from the extensive river system of the Irrawaddy delta – must be done quickly if they are to prevent a massive outbreak of cholera and typhoid and other water-borne diseases – one of the big risks now, besides starvation and thirst. Electricity failure has compromised fresh food storage and there isn't enough clean drinking water going around. I heard on the news last night than aid deliveries of rice had begun arriving yesterday, but I couldn't help but wonder how the hungry were going to cook the rice when there wasn't clean water and precious little in the way of dry fuel.

This is where the infrastructure expertise and equipment of international aid and disaster relief agencies – especially the Red Cross – come into play: besides medical equipment and food, they have the water purifiers, electricity generators, portable cooking stoves, canvas and plastic for tents and shelters and, as importantly, sanitation equipment (so the already contaminated water doesn't get worse). What is troubling is that the Burmese military is dragging its heels in letting them in.

I cannot understand such a callous regime with so little regard for the lives of its own people and is so hell-bent on defending its own pride and power – and insisting with continuing with its charade of a constitutional referendum.

What is heartening is news that the Burmese people are throwing their energies into the job of helping each other, especially in the clean-up. One report on the radio this morning spoke of Burmese Red Cross volunteers, themselves victims of the devastation, are putting on the Red Cross vests and going out to help. They need to be congratulated and supported. They need help.

I have found that BBC Online's coverage of the turmoil in Burma far more effective, extensive and thorough than ABC Online's – despite Burma's proximity to us, and the large number of Burmese refugees now settled here in Australia, the ABC hasn't managed to make such a major humanitarian disaster a priority for its online coverage (it is heavily reliant on audio and video pulled from the rest of the broadcaster's coverage, compared to the specially developed text content on the BBC's site). Pity.

If you want to keep track of the relief effort, the BBC Online is publishing the diary of Andrew Kirkwood, Save the Children's 'man in Burma'. They are also publishing eyewitness reports of the devastation (Warning, the reports are quite disturbing), and background analysis of the cyclone and whether the military are responding adequately to it.

In the aftermath of the Boxing Day Tsunami, as with a number of other recent disasters in the region, there were a large number of blogs and websites set up to track, report, and pool news of developments in the relief efforts, and to help channel people's desire to help. I'm going to look out for these in relation to Burma's tragedy and I would appreciate any tips or links for these in the comments. I will keep following this as closely as I can.

Meanwhile, flickrites MaiNaSukhumvit, luisrene and Azmil77 have photos of Cyclone Nargis's trail of destruction.

[The image above is of the peak of the storm in Yangon, witnessed by Azmil77.]

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After the storm

We were lucky. The almighty storm that ripped through Melbourne last Wednesday spared us the damage and inconvenience that so many have experienced in its wake. The gale-force winds ripped off roofs, tore limbs from trees, cut off electricity to thousands across the city – some for many days – and blew down brick walls and construction scaffolding. In the last two instances, two people were killed.

In the aftermath, an electricty company linesman was killed while trying to make repairs to the line down in the Mornington Peninsular. Now, some papers are attributing the death of an elderly woman in a house fire to the prolonged electricity outage caused by the storm – the house is thought to have caught fire from a candle used for lighting.

Compared to that, the troubles at our house were minimal. We lost electricity for most of the afternoon of the storm and had debris strewn around our backyard. I was at work while my partner had the kids at home. She returned from an early afternoon trip to the shop to find the picnic sun canopy we'd erected to shade the kids in the backyard was nearly blowing away, but she was able to disassemble it single-handedly!

Besides witnessing the eerie orange glow in the sky in the early afternoon, which turned out to be a massive dust storm, and watching tree branches tear across the street below my office window (1 floor up), and hearing ominous sounds from our building's roof, the worse I got while at work was getting dust in my eyes at lunch time and getting wet in the rain dashing for my tram home. I managed to squeeze myself on a very crowded tram. It must have been quite delayed through a very congested city – the sodden state of some passengers was a testament to their long wait for the tram.

In this context, it's strange to re-read my comment on about the escalating and increasingly dangerous changes of global warming in my previous post about weather forecasting.

I took the photo above of a mural that appeared on the back fence of a house backing on to a park in North Fitzroy. I'm sure it was a kids' project for the school holidays. When I first saw this mural from the tram heading home from work, I was struck by the cheery scene on that wet evening – a couple of days before the storm. There was also a real rainbow in the sky, and for just a moment the real and painted rainbows were visible together. I hope it cheers up those who have suffered damage in the storm, or damage and in inconvenience from the power outage.

And let's spare a thought for the men and women – many of them volunteers – who worked very hard to clean up the damage and help those injured or endangered by the storm, and the power company workers who are working long hours in dangerous conditions to get the power back on. I hope there are rainbows where you are to cheer you up.

You can find a lot of photos of the storm and its aftermath on flickr here.

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"It's not just about whether to take an umbrella"

Sometime this week was World Meteorology Day. I say 'sometime' because the ABC News website's diary had it for today's calendar, while the World Meteorological Organizations' website has it listed for the 23rd. They celebrated it on the 25th. Go figure.

Either way, it got me thinking about the intricacies of forecasting the weather and appreciating the difficulties our homegrown weather bureau faces in forecasting Melbourne's weather, let alone Australia's. So spare a thought for those poor boffins who have to disembowel and read the entrails of some small dog, or other animal of choice, and observe the directions the Collins Street pigeons fly at sparrow's fart. And then get yelled at by us Melbournites when they don't warn us to take the umbrella out with us before the skies open up. This is for them:

[With apologies to Goscinny and Uderzo. The image is from their 1972 Asterix and the Soothsayer, and it immediately came to mind as I thought of the boffins.]

The Bureau of Meteorology celebrates its 100th birthday this year. They are using the opportunity to highlight the importance of weather forecasting to Australian community. The Bureau's Victorian director, Mark Williams, says "It's not just about whether to take an umbrella, but this is about livelihoods and about lives."

As we face the escalating and increasingly dangerous changes of global warming, the capacity to study and forecast the weather is becoming increasingly important.

Especially when we get caught in the rain without an umbrella.

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Bangladesh under flood

The horror that Cyclone Sidr created in Bangladesh is set to get worse, as the death toll is expected to pass 5,000. The Bangladeshi Red Crescent Society has already retrieved 3,000 bodies, and estimates that the toll could reach 10,000.

Villages have been flattened, survivors are traumatised, and the threat of water-borne diseases rises as both animal corpses and human bodies remain in flood waters. The problem of getting emergency relief and aid to the survivors continues, especially along the southern coast, where the category 4 cyclone hit. It has been described as 'catastrophic'.

But I'm sure you already know all that. Beyond this information from online news sources, however, I couldn't get much more. There was the usual about how the international community is pledging millions in aid and emergency relief, and how this is being called a 'calamity'. I wanted to know more about how the Bangladeshis are facing this tragedy, and what they are saying needs to be done.

So, I went in search of blogs and reports from Bangladeshis – either in Bangladesh or amongst the diaspora. Of course, the electricity supply in Dakha is unreliable, and pretty much out of action in the rest of Bangladesh, so this understandably makes new blog reports a little thin.

I did, however, find a blog that features posts by Bangladeshi women learning new skills – including blogging! – through the Nari Jibon Project. It also has some updates on the cyclone from the project's US supporter, Kathryn Ward. She hopes that the electricity will be back on within a week, but if it's not, she intends to get the women's stories of the cyclone over the phone from the US and post them on the blog. So, there should be more coming up there in the next week.

There's more news and posts via the blog aggregator, Global Voices, which promotes blogs from across the world, especially Asian, African, Latin American, Eastern European and Pacific voices. (This is a welcome change from the blogs I usually read. 'The world is talking', as they say, 'Are you listening?' )

Blogger Rezwan, originally from Bangladesh, has aggregated a bunch of news and posts on Cyclone Sidr for Global Voices, including information on how Bangladeshi bloggers followed the cyclone as it hit the coast. There are more updates at Rezwan's blog, The 3rd world view.

If you don't want to stand by helplessly, Rezwan has some good insights into the international aid needs for cyclone-hit Bangladesh.

Medicins Sans Frontieres Australia have not yet announced a specific appeal for Bangladesh, but if you're looking for a reputable emergency relief and aid agency that puts most of its donations into helping those in need, rather than in advertising or admin, then I'd suggest supporting their work.

The same goes for Oxfam Australia, who have launched a specific Bangladesh appeal, and are providing information on what they're doing there.

[Satellite image of Cyclone Sidr about to hit Bangladesh from here]

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First day of Spring

It has been a lovely, warm, sunny, blue-sky spring day – the first of the new season. Spring brings its own promises and surprises this year. With such an unseasonably warm and dry August, late winter got itself into a muddle and those who thought spring had begun much earlier could be excused.

Still, despite the cherry blossoms and daffodils and other bulbs making a show these last two weeks, I was lulled into thinking that the preternaturally warm twilight between winter and spring would last a while before spring officially burst on us. In fact, there was a while when I believed that we would have to rewrite South-eastern Australia's four-season calendar to account for climate change. Admittedly, it was a strange twilight, as the unseasonable warmth and sunshine barely compensated for the virulent flus and colds so many of us suffered through. It was as though winter refused to give up without a fight.

I wasn't the only one caught by surprise this year as the horse and racing industries also caught a late winter cold and the rest of the country sneezed. Flocks of birds suddenly thought they'd have a chance of surviving this year without being slaughtered for their feathers, which are used to adorn the ridiculous hats that women so love to wear to horse races and weddings, that other spring feature. I don't know who makes more money this season, bookies or milliners. Or is it fashion designers?

But, if the horse flu doesn't shake its hold it will be the vets who'll be upgrading their Jags, Bemers and Mercs – or is that Land Rovers? – sooner this year. Oh, and buying that second pair of Burberry gumboots, despite there not being a drop of rain in sight for weeks to come. Anything for a tax right-off, right?

[Image is of my neighbour's plum blossoms today, by me (cc) ]

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Melbourne fog

Why I wish I had I had my camera with me when I walked out my door to catch the tram this morning. Thankfully, someone else did. Talk about a pea-souper!

Can you believe it is a bright, sunny, blue-sky afternoon now?

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Autumn baby

From beaches of sunshine to autumn leaves. Returning to Melbourne was a rude shock because when we arrived last Saturday, it was wet, cold and grey. But yesterday's lovely, warm, sunny weather – and the fact it was a public holiday – drew us out of the house and into the sunshine at Abbotsford Convent.

As you can see, Jamie had a great time playing in the autumn leaves that carpeted the lawn outside 'Lentil As Anything' cafe. I can hardly believe that my little baby is turning 1 next week! (On Wednesday!) It seemed only last month that I announced his birth on this blog. How time flies!

He's growing strong, crawling fast, and starting to stand up (tentatively) on his own legs without holding on – if only briefly. And, as you can see, he's also turning out to be a bit of an escape artist!

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Cool change

The grey rain clouds aren't racing anywhere. After a night of dumping their loads of desperately wanted water, they've decided to hang around for a bit, as if our gratitude were an insufficient worship. They tease us with promises of more to come. Fluffy white clouds try to herd them away, but unconvincingly as they mingle, tear shreds off each other and merge. White plus grey do not make white.

The thunderstorm yesterday evening was short and crisp. Only a few rolls of thunder registered, but the rain on their tails lingered. The sound of heavy raindrops pelted the concrete and roofs in my neighbourhood rang out. It were truly welcomed, if a bit surprising after the sweltering day we'd had. By the mid afternoon it had reached 35˚C! While the strong wind brought some cool relief, after a while the stinging dust made me wish it were just hot, not hot and windy. I wasn't so sure when I read that it had got to 37.4˚C, the hottest temperature for this late in March for 60 years.

When the first slow heavy drops were replaced by the thrum of continuing rain, we lifted our heads in praise – especially of the cool change. Soon, everything was drenched the way that it hadn't been for so long.

This morning the concrete in our back courtyard was still wet and leaves were hanging heavy with raindrops. The light was crisp and bright. By early afternoon though, the promise of more blue winning through the muted grey was dashed by another shower, driven by howling winds to drench our kitchen window sill. The radio that lives on there is now a hazard.

Only now, the sun's rays are breaking through the wind tattered clouds, making everything shine with promise. If it doesn't rain, it will be perfect for kite flying tomorrow.

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Friday Wrap - 8 December

Bushfires have been raging around Victoria in what had been predicted as a vicious early start to the bushfire season. ABC New Online reports that fires are threatening a number of communities in the state's north-east, while firefighting crews spent another night preparing the Gippsland region for "the anticipated fire crisis." The news has talked about a possible firestorm, with the hot, dry weather forecast for this weekend, and towns coming under ember attack. If you live in the areas threatened by bushfire, I wish you well and safety.

While Victoria burns, Melbourne bloggers will fiddle (but hopefully not with themselves) and drink and maybe dine and all that. There will be a grog blog tonight from 6 pm at the Standard Hotel in Fitzroy for Melbourne bloggers and friends. (Sorry for the late notice.) The event will not feature live blogging. Barista organised this paper bag, so he has more details.

Tomorrow, Saturday 9 December, there will be nation-wide rallies calling for the release of David Hicks from Guantanamo Bay prison and for his return to Australia. He has been imprisoned in hell for five years! While charges have been laid, he has not had a trial – fair or otherwise. Justice delayed is justice denied. Details for rallies across the country are available from GetUp.

The Melbourne rally will be at Federation Square at 2 pm on Saturday. The speakers at Melbourne's rally will include Major Michael Mori, Hicks's US Military appointed defence attorney and probably his most outspoken and articulate advocate. The rally is organised by Civil Rights Defence - in co-operation with 3CR Community Radio, Amnesty International and Liberty Victoria.

After raising donations from supporters, GetUp commissioned a billboard calling for Hick's return to go up in Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that its intention was to be in PM Howard's face each morning. It's hoped this will be one of many billboards.

Sunday, 10 December is Human Rights Day. It may end up like other Human Rights Days in previous years where we forget about it until we're accosted by an Amnesty International supporter selling badges, candles or signing us up for donations. Alternatively, we can use this day to mark a hugely significant milestone in the development of not only our fundamental covenant on human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also our very concept of what our rights are and thus what it means to be human. It would also be a good time to take stock of how far things have reversed in places like Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom since Eleanor Roosevelt helped to hammer out agreement in the UN over the Declaration after World War Two.

Oh, and there's 17 more sleeps till Christmas.

[Image: fire-crews ensuring a fire in the Adelaide Hills in mid-November didn't flare-up again, by stephentrepreneur]

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On a bad day

With rain lashing down on us, snow in Ballarat this morning, as well as in the Alpine region, and a cold wind a blowing down the street, I'm a bit thrown by this day's weather … As you can see.

Can this really be the tail end of spring?

Go play with Mr Picasso Head. It is really good.

Thanks to Ampersand Duck for the idea.

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"Each peach, pear, plum…"

Yesterday's frost that hit Tasmanian orchards is only the latest case of climate conditions affecting fruit production in Australia, and I fear it will compound the affects on fruit prices. Never mind the bananas, I reckon we haven't seeen the last of the fruit driven inflation.

The ABC reports that "full extent of the damage [in Tasmania] will not be known until later in the week, but early reports suggest severe losses of cherries, apricots and apples."

Previously, there was a frost in Victoria's Goulburn Valley recently that is said to have wiped out swathes of the region's pear and peach crops. I cried at the news, fearing the skyrocketing prices robbing me of the chance to enjoy peaches this summer or have the chance to preserve them in brandy again (yum). And what will I do without pears next autumn? Now it will be the cherries and apples!

With the pressure that global warming is putting on our water stores – yes, we are having the worst drought on record – including water for farming, I think we will see the price of food crop production go up. All the governments are busily handing-out 'drought relief' to farmers hardest hit.

Clive Hamilton of the Australia Institute has criticised the hand-outs as bad policy because they subsidese farmers with poor farm management. He argues that the farmers who can't cope with drought conditions are the ones getting the 'relief', whereas those who are coping by drought-proofing their land and implementing good farming practices are not being supported. He goes as far as saying:

"It's time we just faced up to the reality that much of the land currently farmed, shouldn't be farmed and by repeatedly bailing out farmers through drought relief, which is erroneously called exceptional circumstances relief, we're only making the problem worse."

I don't think this makes him a popular man with farmers, or the National-Liberal coalition, I think.

In many ways, he is right. We should be thinking about changing farming practices towards more sustainable, water and land efficient methods that can cope with the impacts of global warming. Organic and sustainable farming is doing great things in that area. As consumers, we should consider directing our dollars to support organic farmers a lot more so that we can reward sustainable farming in ways that the government won't. And we should support their call for more sustainable farming.

It is time to start listenting to the voices in the wilderness.

Update: reports indicate that cherry crops were hardest hit in Tasmania, and pundits expect fruit shortages in this next season. Bye-bye cherry clafoutis. [Updated Friday 20 October, 1.25 pm]

[Image: Market Hall in Wroclaw, Poland, by harbalea]

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An age of fire

Friday the 13th brings all its fascincation with horror, the macabre to the fore, and taps into all our superstitions. If you're superstitious. My father insists that 13 is not an unlucky number for him, and therefore in our family - him being the thirteenth child in his family. So, I usually miss such signficant markers of time and lore.

I can't help but wonder, however, if this Friday 13 is different. And what it hints at for the future. Today has been marked by raging bushfires burning in four states of Australia – Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales. Each year now, Australia's bushfire season seems to start sooner and sooner. And with greater intensity. Today, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) (a volunteer fire brigade that fights fires in areas country and has authority over fire emergencies in rural areas), has been battling a massive fire at the face of an open-cut coal mine in country Victoria that spreads across something like 2 kms!

It is no coincidence that the increased incidence and threat of bushfires comes with some of the worst impacts of global warming in Australia to date. Only yesterday, the Howard government declared the drought we're experiencing to be the worst on record since 1914 (or 1912, depending on which reports you hear). The Victorian government continues to shell-out drought relief to rural communities hardest hit – the Mallee.

The hot dry weather has gone on for too long, water levels in the dams have dropped too low, and communities are coming close to conflict over how we share the precious water resources we have available, or figure out how to stop companies profiteering from natural water resources as they struggle to maintain self-sufficiency.

The CSIRO predicts that the warming and its worsening bushfire threat will continue. Dr Penny Whetton, the leader of the climate change and risk group for the CSIRO, says:

"We've undertaken research looking at how projected changes in temperature and precipitation can affect fire occurrence and we've found the risk of fire danger increases significantly as the decades go by," she said.

"The frequency of days of very high fire danger are increasing 20 to 30 per cent over the next few decades."

…"I'd expect these sort of occurrences will become more frequent as the years go by because we are expecting quite significant changes in our climate but that has implications for things such as fire frequency,"

We appear to live in an age of fire. It surrounds us in all its forms – bushfire, heat, drought, war, and the testing of nuclear weapons.

North Korea's nuclear weapon test is truly testing the international community, and our commitment to peace. The war of words continues as governments wrangle over how to deal with the North Korean regime. For a while there, judging from its propoganda, I was truly afraid that the US would push us into another Iraq – this time in East Asia. And this time, with a despotic, authoritarian, militarist regime that has demonstrated to have nuclear weapons capabilities. Now, they will fight over how to force North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons programme, and we will wonder if we're being dragged deeper into a conflict we can't get out of.

This age of fire is of our making. My hope is that we can un-make it quickly and peacefully.

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