Love stories from a lake
Tucked into bushland near the beautiful village of Stirling in the Adelaide Hills is Woorabinda Lake, where you will find not only a place of natural beauty, but something else, something you will rarely find anywhere else.
You will find a poetry pouch, and upon opening the pouch you will find hundreds of poems written by children and adults alike, those who have sat here by the lake's edge, contemplating life while enjoying the beauty of nature.
I can't remember where exactly I read the story of the Poetry Pouch, a pouch that hangs off a wooden bench located on the shores of the lake, but I was immediately enchanted, and so not long after, I packed Carlo my dog into the car and we headed for the hills.
The story goes; a local woman with a terminal illness found solace in walking along the lake and resting on its shores. After she died her husband in loving memory of his late wife organised for a bench to be placed in her favourite corner overlooking the lake, and it was here that he went to sit and write poetry about his adored wife. He left the poetry on the bench and when he returned he found the poems laminated, preserved for all to read. The Poetry pouch was born.
Upon opening the old pouch on the bench, I was enthralled, so many children had taken the time to sit and write (or dictate to their parents) their feelings, to contribute to the history of the pouch, to allow others to learn of what it is they hold dear, and to fill my heart with hope at the love they expressed for their natural environment, for the animals, the sun, the grass, and the trees.
Is there anything more heartwarming than watching young families playing and discovering nature together, the looks of wonderment and excitement when a turtle pops its head out of the water and the ducks flit from the shoreline to the water, ducking down to see what delights may be awaiting them below the surface.
I believe the adults of this world have a responsibility to our young generation, a responsibility to ensure their future health and wellbeing, and to ensure they have the opportunity to thrive, is there anything more important?
They need our reassurance that we are doing our utmost to protect them from one of the greatest threats to their health, life and wellbeing; the destruction of our forests, the lungs of our Earth.
Recently I came upon an open letter from 23 Tasmanian GP's located in the northwest of Tasmania, it was directed to the Tasmanian Premier and parliamentarians. The letter outlined their opposition to further logging of Tasmanian forests (including the threatened takayna / Tarkine temperate rainforest), and stated that the protection of these forests is integral to the health and wellbeing of future generations. That not only would logging these forests be a climate crime it would be an economic and social folly, a direct threat to life, and would mean an increase in chronic health conditions.
If you would like to help protect Australia's future generations by protecting the takayna / Tarkine, Australia's largest temperate rainforest from being used as the dumping ground for MMG's (Chinese state owned mining company) 25 million cubic metres of toxic waste, then please sign our Create.Change petition (link below) and share far and wide.
In under one week, we have already gathered over 12,000 signatures. The petition will be sent on to the federal environment minister, Senator Sussan Ley before the 23 July, the date she is due to hand down a decision on this toxic waste proposal.
CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY
The power of imagery to bring justice and change to the world.
We would also love for you or your children to create an art piece (in any medium including photography), of an area of natural beauty that you love and feel connected to and share it on your instagram (or other social media) with a link to the petition, using the three hashtags - #createchange #createchangetarkine #createchangetailingsdam
The greatest danger to our future is apathy - Jane Goodall
With hope in my heart.
Millie xx
Create.Change is a volunteer run group of like minded individuals with a call to bring awareness around environmental issues threatening our planet and the health of humans.