We protect what we love

FRIDAY . 03 . 09 . 21 .

Good afternoon wonderful friends of For Wild Places 👋🏽

It seems like only yesterday that I was presenting you with random facts about August, yet here we are in September!! That happened quickly (I think lockdown days are morphing into one).

THE COOL DOWN

A movement led by athletes for all Australians

The Cool Down, as the tagline suggests, is a movement led by athletes for all Australians which seeks to hold our political leaders accountable to decelerating the impacts of climate change. Whilst most of the world has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with the majority of developed countries substantially strengthening their targets for 2030, Australia is holding out.

If climate action was the Olympics, Australia isn’t winning gold, we're not making the finals, in fact, we don't even qualify.

Five key messages:

Our future is under threat from climate change

This is driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). That means extreme weather events are worsening but we can take action as a country by committing to at least halving our emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero before 2050.

Our Australian way of life is at risk

Climate change is already affecting sport in Australia from the professional to the grassroots.

Scientists are very clear that we have to take BIG action this decade and have it all sorted before 2050

Australia should be a world leader

We have the resources at hand and we know how to excel on the world stage, we could be a renewable energy SUPERPOWER!

It’s time for sport to step up

While sport in Australia and around the world is under threat from climate change, we also have a BIG role to play in being part of the solution. We’re asking anyone who loves sport to join us at The Cool Down.

Call to action

The Cool Down is a call to action - (1) sign up to the movement, as increasing numbers/social media followers sends a message to our political leaders that we want bold action now; (2), share the cool down campaign to social media to raise awareness and visibility; and (3) start the conversation with friends, family and colleagues to identify ways you can reduce your carbon footprint.

INDIGENOUS LITERACY DAY

Wednesday 1 September was Indigenous Literacy Day. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation works in over 400 remote communities, where they seek to make a difference to the lives of Indigenous families. They do this by gifting thousands of new (culturally appropriate) books that focus on early literacy and first language, and running programs to inspire these communities to tell and publish their own stories, in the languages they choose.

It's a really confronting (yet sadly, unsurprising) statistic that only 36% of Indigenous Year 5 students in very remote areas are at or above national minimum reading standards, compared to 96% for non-Indigenous students in major cities (according to the NAPLAN tests).

Whilst Indigenous Literacy Day 2021 has already (formally) taken place, we encourage you to mark the date in your calendar for next year, as the day is dedicated to celebrating stories and language. The ILD website hosts a selection of short but inspiring video stories by First Nations storytellers (of all ages) from across the country, which provide you with a window into the richness, diversity and multilingual world of First Nations peoples.

Indigenous authors

I think it's really important to take the time to reflect on the number of Indigenous stories that you've read or listened to, or the number of Indigenous authors whose books you've purchased. If you're finding this reflection a little confronting, here are some recommended reads.

For adults

"Dark Emu" by Bruce Pascoe | "Growing up Aboriginal in Australia" by Anita Heiss | "Welcome to Country" by Marcia Langton.

For kids

"Welcome to country" by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy | "Mad Magpie" by Gregg Dreise | "Going to the Footy" by Debbie Coombes.

THE GREAT FOREST BOOK LAUNCH

A Patagonia event

Last night I tuned into The Great Forest book launch and panel discussion

hosted by Patagonia trail running ambassador Majell Backhausen, featuring Professor David Lindenmayer, Sarah Rees, David Pocock and Shannon Bourke.

The Great Forest is a merge of science and nature, captured beautifully in photographs that truely portray it's macro and micro intricacies - from panoramas of vast landscapes to close-ups of moss. David, when speaking about his experience in making the book, stated "even though i've been working for decades in this forest, there is still more to discover", and found uncovering the geology of the region to be fascinating. The ash forests used to support some of the biggest volcanoes in the world, and it's incredible to think these are just outside of Melbourne.

Logging fires in Wurundjeri country - a stunning photograph that captures the devastation and extent of logging on these wild places.

I loved hearing the stories of the panelists, of how they came to love the ash forests and their optimism towards a future where people are more protective of nature. Amidst a global health pandemic, people want to connect with nature, and I'm sure I speak on behalf of a lot of people who attended last night's event that I now feel re-energised to do my best to leave the world a better place.

In case you missed the event (I believe the final of the 'bachie' was on last night), I'd love to leave you with some key take-aways:

The world is still a beautiful place.

Go and experience the Mountain Ash forests and appreciate it for what it is. Showing people how amazing these places are is the first step in wanting to take action. You can't love places that you don't know, and getting into these areas will build that momentum.

Advocate for its protection and restoration. It was confronting to learn that 70% of all logging in Victoria takes place in these ash forests. The value of the water, carbon, biodiversity and tourism that these forests provide is much higher then their wood-chips and paper pulp.

Forests are nature-based solutions to climate change. Protecting these spaces isn't enough, we need to be restoring them.

We need to diversity the voices that are calling for the protection of mountain ash forests. It shouldn't just be the responsibility of First Nations peoples, environmental protection groups and local communities to call for protection and designate the area as The Great Forest National Park, but also sporting communities, businesses, researchers, scientists to join these voices and build a momentum.

We need to provide adequate support to people whose livelihoods depend on extraction industries, to transition away from these industries. This includes building a mentality around jobs and the environment, not jobs versus the environment.

🌲 🌲 🌲

A huge thank you to all that take the time to read to the end on these newsletters - we appreciate your time and support immensely. Until next week, stay strong, safe and connected.

If you have any feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Please tag us in any adventures - we'd love to live vicariously through these.

And as always, a huge thank you for taking the time for wild places.

Elanor & the For Wild Places crew.

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We acknowledge the the First Nations people who have been custodians of land, waters and culture for tens of thousands of years. We pay respects to First Nations Elders past, present and emerging.

This newsletter was written on the stolen lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

To these people, we pay our respects.

Always was, always will be.

By For Wild Places

We're a group of adventurers who love to

protect wild places we run on