Wednesday, November 12, 2014

So much easier to do nothing

If you know nothing .
We locals are off to Forrest this arvo to celebrate the life of a man who knew what he knew and knew a lot about what he didn't know - a wonderful bloke .

The city pretends it knows a lot about the environment ; we know different about who knows what and what the city really knows --- almost nothing.
Who do you vote for? Someone who respects locals or someone who lets someone else (say from the city) make decisions for us. 
Jim Speirs , whose life we celebrate this week,  was one local who knew what he was talking about  . As a result he did a lot to build understanding and respect for his work in and amongst the complex issues of managing Otways resources; He used a friendly, competent  and reasonable conversation that made sense .He knew the 3 crops of timber and the damage done to West Barwon catchment, so he wasn't afraid of history or a risky land use . His own study on the ground showed that we often burned too much ( for sound forest ecology ) and were doing it again   
He wasn't indolent in promoting decision making . He wanted our grandchildren to make houses, furniture and Maton guitars out of the bounty, rather than just let things rot ,die or burn or make acid water ....as some now do.  
Many of us long for the day when our leaders don't just spend all  our resources waiting for a decision from those who don't really know what they are talking about, are too afraid of others,  or are too afraid to admit they don't know the complex beast of environment: 
We have enough leaders who can open up a bridge or a new road.
We want leaders who,  instead of years of indecision and fear , can reopen a simple walkway through the bush to Marriners Falls ,or make a safe place for vehicles to go in a bushfire , or just give us our dogs back . All in a days work for Jim



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