No, thanks

Busy-ness carries with it an air of importance. But it's not a breeze I want to be swayed by.

Just over a year ago I took a personal plunge. Trusting myself and chancing my arm, I set out to find better, more fulfilling work; work that made the most of my strengths and faced up to the times we're living in. 

At first, I wondered where it would come from. I genuinely feared I would fall short. Right now, I'm juggling four different part-time jobs, occasional consulting work, public speaking gigs, and a band (along with a busy social life). Partly through fortune and partly design, it's all pretty wonderful stuff. Sustainability, facilitation, music and the arts are all coming together in cool ways I couldn't have imagined 18 months ago.

  

But my time is finite. My energy only stretches so far. And being passionate about the things I do makes me want to respect them all the more - with the right energy, focus and clarity. And right now I feel stretched.

So from now on, I'm taking a leaf from the delightfully droll but dearly departed Dennis O'Driscoll and learning to say "No, thanks".

'No' seems to get a bad rap. I often feel guilty - like I'm letting people down when I use it. But saying 'yes' as a default has left me overloaded, unable to truly focus on the things I value most. Right now, I risk letting myself down.

So I'm going to try 'no' on for size, focusing on the opportunities it opens up, the spaces it leaves free, not just those it shuts down.

I don't expect to be immediately good at this. I suffer a strong fear-of-missing-out. Please keep asking, but if you get a 'no' or some variant, know that it's not you, it's me - and feel free to congratulate me on my progress!

This train will be taking no passengers: a journey in six parts

1. You can't be neutral on a moving train (Howard Zinn)

2. The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality (John F. Kennedy)

3. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor (Desmond Tutu)

4. Being a centrist doesn't make you unbiased; it biases you in favour of the centre (Rodney Ulyate)

5. There are no independent people. Even when you are standing aside, you are taking a side (Ljupka Cvetanova)

6. Indeed, it is impossible to be neutral. In a world already moving in certain directions, where wealth and power are already distributed in certain ways, neutrality means accepting the way things are now (Howard Zinn)

I ain't afraid of no boats

Looking for something positive to do? Hate what's happening to asylum seekers but feel powerless to do anything about it?

People who work in politics regularly say one thing that really has impact, is direct contact from the public. Contact Scott Morrison MP, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection: scott.morrison.mp@aph.gov.au, 02 6277 7860.

What to say? He works for you. And you’re not satisfied with his performance. Give him a piece of your mind. Tell him you expect transparency from your government. Tell him to allow journalists unlimited access to the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres, including the right to take and distribute photos and report on the conditions they witness and the stories they hear and verify. Tell him you won't vote for his party ever again (even if you didn't vote for them in the first place).

The Labor party are hardly any better. Contact the shadow Immigration Minister Richard Marles MP on (03) 5221 3033 or richard.marles.mp@aph.gov.au. Tell him the same thing. Tell him you’ll vote Greens next election (they hate that), even if you really voted Greens last time.

Do what you like, but that's what I'll be up to next week.

A wolf among wolves

I fell asleep in your branches, woke up to the flood. Smoke signals, sirens. The poem in your blood gave me something to cling to; a thread through the dark. 

I said, tell me that story, the one where we sleep. For ten thousand years, then ten thousand more. To wake up one cool evening, unbroken and calm. Surrounded, stunned, crowned - by the stars. 

Image: Dan Burgess, Standing tall

Unknown Landscapes

This blog's been pretty quiet. But plenty has been happening on the music front. 

In the past year, I've written an album's worth of ace new songs, begun recording, and started getting a couple of brilliant new band members up to speed to join The General Assembly. More on all of that soon. Suffice to say, I'm pretty excited about where it's all heading.

But first up this year, I'm hitting the road. The talented D.A.Calf and I head off this week to tour the east coast of Australia. 

             

Ten shows in 14 days. It's a chance to try out new songs and new arrangements in front of new audiences. A chance to collaborate and scheme. And a great excuse to explore this amazing country.  

Find a show on our schedule and join us. It's going to be great.

As clear as it gets

Some thoughts on what we know and what we let ourselves accept. 

Last year, a World Bank report suggested the world may warm by four degrees this century, possibly as early as 2060. It’s unclear whether humanity would be able to adapt to a four degree global temperature rise. It's likely our global civilisation wouldn't.

Another bunch of radicals, global accounting firm PwC, have pointed to a catastrophic future unless drastic action is taken now. They suggest we should be preparing for up to six degrees warming.

As you were.

And the same story is being told, albeit without the coverage it deserves, in some of the world's most respected news publications: The Guardian, The New York Times, The Age.

Go about your business.

This all sounds like serious stuff to me. The fact that it comes from such mainstream sources should really spur us into action. A former United Nations climate chief recently announced that the next UN climate report will “scare the wits out of everyone” and “provide the impetus needed for the world to finally…tackle global warming”.

I’d love if this were true but I’ve got a horrible feeling it won’t. Why do we keep thinking better, more scary science will do the trick? It hasn’t worked to date. Really, how scary do you think it needs to be before it significantly changes anything? 

For me, it passed that point long ago. Now I wonder if waiting for 'the science' to come in is an excuse for inaction: politically, culturally and personally.

Please ignore the melting permafrost on your way past.

Source: The Age

Nothing to see here.

Fact is, it’s there. The reality of what's happening is looking us right in the face - screaming at us. We need to stop pretending that we need more information, or science, or data or stats or facts or graphs or business cases. I’m sorry if you’ve been waiting for some kind of alarm, or fireworks, or official letter or something. But this is what it looks like. This is pretty much as clear as it gets without being over.

Each species is a totem

A shaken, dusty filament

Rusted iron filings

Anxious acid

Wounded planks of wood

Cracked stone

Splintered fibreglass

That's how I felt when I found out you weren't here anymore.