This is a very personal piece, but on issues which affect us all.

Today is my 87th birthday and I had a mild stroke, almost exactly 2 years and a day ago (as I write) which has had a continuing impact on my memory.

I am a divorcée with no desire for another partner and my ex-husband’s second wife is caring for him as he suffers dementia.

My former mother-in-law was incredibly stressed when my father-in-law was suffering dementia – like father, like son! I am quite sure that prolonging his life, foreshortened hers!

And, having, late in life, studied law, I am well aware of the extent to which laws are influenced by religious beliefs.

In Australia, choosing to end one’s own life is only allowed to those of right mind who are suffering intense pain and for whom death is imminent anyway! That’s assuming that your State/Territory has already passed legislation!

Is this good enough?

IMHO – NO!!!

We are all taught that – except in war – killing another is wrong and, to be found guilty of doing so, deliberately, is punishable by the laws of the land.

Yet there is no adequate consideration given to the effects on the carers for those suffering from dementia, particularly when the carer and the sufferer share a close relationship.

What we ignore, far too often, is quality of life.

Most people in our society today who are already suffering from dementia, may live for a long time yet, but in doing so, their quality of life is not really good, and that of their most caring relatives is almost certainly worse.

My former husband appears to be unaware of how his behaviour is affecting others. He no longer recognises his 3 children and he accidentally knocks his wife over without being aware of having even touched her.

Constitutionally he is likely to have a good life expectation which is not, clearly, a good prognosis!

Although I am presently clear of dementia, my defective memory is an embarrassment, I only have one eye with an intact retina, my spine is collapsing and the latter is making it increasingly difficult for me to keep my promise to myself to keep weekly vigil outside Parliament House until the governments (NT and Federal) STOP using and exporting fossil fuels.

If I degenerate so far that I am a burden on my children and others have to care for me, I want to be able to die!

And I know many others share those feelings.

Why do our legislators ignore us?

I have no religious convictions and for me, having no quality of life makes life meaningless!

And I count myself as being currently of sound mind!

What follows is a letter to the Editor of the NT News which they will probably publish:

My apologies for failing to keep my regular 2-hour vigil on the last 2 Wednesdays outside Parliament House.

On Tuesday 13 December, the day before my first absence, I tested positive for Covid, so I was in isolation.

The following day I started a course of antivirals, which, added to 4 vaccinations, meant I tested negative the following Tuesday.

I played safe and cancelled the following week’s vigil, but at no time did I feel unwell.

(I hasten to add that everyone’s experience with Covid is different and I was extremely lucky.)

So – weather permitting – I shall be back next week and thereafter.

I promised myself that I would keep my weekly 2-hour appointments until governments in Australia takes serious action against using fossil fuels.

In England, from 1939 until the mid-late 1950s, we had distinctly limiting restrictions, with rationing and shortages while we concentrated on fighting WWII and began to recover.

We need to do the same now!!!

We have ignored all the scientific information on global warming for well over 50 years, and our descendants will be paying a stiff price in consequence.

Remember tobacco????

I grew up in a Christian household, in a Christian country and retain respect for the ethics of Christianity – selflessness, caring for others, doing as you would be done by – have you ever read Kingsley’s The Water Babies?

I now fully support Stephen Fry’s denial of a “good” god, but regret the desperate lack of ethics which drives our governments and corporations.

The rate at which inequality is growing is deplorable and mankind probably deserves to become extinct!

I think an element of caution in relation to political decisions – because of economic implications – has been impressed too firmly into the ALP.

We are now in a situation where wasting time in terms of climate change decisions is the worst possible error.

Anyone who understands exponential growth will appreciate that, not only are many parts of the world now experiencing climate change to an unprecedented extent, as far as human history in concerned, but indicators point to the rate and frequency increasing inexorably, UNLESS we take really intense and increasing efforts to slow and reduce the rising temperatures produced by climate change.

We do NOT need a gas-led program.

We need to stop using gas, oil and coal – ASAP.

It is our only hope.

We have got to stop manufacturing plastics, unless they are recyclable and recycling is genuinely practised.

We have been persuaded of the conveniences of modern machinery, yet those of my generation who lived through WWII in Europe will vouch for the fact that preservation through re-use and recycling is actually quite acceptable when it increases the likelihood of surviving a catastrophe!

So – PLEASE, Prime Minister – give strong support to rejecting fossil fuels as a danger to survival, rapidly encourage the use of electricity in all forms of transport, ensure that solar, storage batteries and all other readily available forms of renewable energy are installed as standard and as widely as possible.

We do not have rime for failing experiments like carbon capture and storage or nuclear power. We need to have made substantial changes before 2030 if we have even a faint hope of improving the hopes for our children.

I moved to Darwin at the beginning of 1971.

I know that temperatures are now significantly higher than when I arrived – not just 1˚C, either!

This is not an issue we can waste time discussing.

We have a multitude of scientists who are more than capable of developing plans that can be introduced as soon as possible.

We are surrounded by oceans, and any sailor will vouch for the power every wave can transmit.

Much of Australia enjoys many hours of sunshine.

Winds blow over the oceans as well as the land so, all told, we have an abundance of energy to harness.

And did we not want to create more jobs?

We only have one planet! And we each have only one life!

The vast majority of the current world’s human population is struggling to survive anyway, and dreams of populating another planet are, frankly, a waste of time.

Watching Putin trying to carve a place in history for a Russian Empire is painful, and the lives which he is destroying in the meantime are of more value to us than he is.

Mankind is basically presenting a very good case for allowing climate change to end in another mass extinction!

We are at real risk of losing any choice in the matter, because too few of the world’s real decision makers are interested in making the necessary – and life changing – decisions necessary to stop the rot.

I lived through WWII in England, with rationing, lack of choice and general restrictions – but we (mostly) survived, and owe thanks to thanks to those who didn’t, so I KNOW that governments CAN make the necessary changes to their decision making processes to increase the likelihood of achieving a desired outcome.

It requires hardship for the entire population, it requires acceptance by the people themselves that the necessary changes – NOW – are essential and totally unavoidable, and it requires those with massive wealth squirrelled away into tax havens to realise that they need to donate it towards ensuring that the necessary changes CAN be made – FAST!

After all – you can’t take it with you, but, if the world does, thanks in part to your generosity, continue to exist, you will be well remembered!

We need to STOP using fossil fuels NOW!

We need to harness the power generation possible by utilising sun, wind AND water – not just in hydro schemes but in the power of the tides. Australia is surrounded by sea which is currently doing us damage instead of helping us to survive.

We KNOW how to do this – but we just are not doing it! Check out @MikeHudema!

We need to develop vast numbers of practical electric transports – not as status symbols – I would be happy with a humble 3-wheeler – but as practical and low in power demands.

We have the means and the motives to do everything necessary but not, it seems, the will.

At 86, I am not concerned about about my personal future, but I do have 4, young, great grandchildren, whose future is looking pretty grim!!

Every day without meaningful action puts us that much closer to permanent destruction.

ACT NOW!!!

Time is nearly exhausted.

I am usually an optimist, but the massive number of heads in the sand make that really hard to maintain!

Beware complacency!!

Yes – Morrison has gone, and, even though memories may linger like a bad dream, he is no Trump!

BUT – how positive is the ALP about climate change action?

If we were on the verge of an obviously necessary war, we would be ready to do all that is essential to support the requisite action.

But we have grown up believing in the idea that the world is there to serve us.

And we have recklessly abused its resources.

We have been deluded into believing that economic growth is eternal, that the environment in all its beauty and abundance is there for our benefit, and that we can do what we want with its resources.

Sorry!!

We have been grievously misled!

Every day that we fail to cut emissions – drastically – will be multiplied exponentially into the multiple of days in years to come when life on Earth becomes unbearable.

Do you really want to make your grandchildren’s lives miserable?

Action – NOW – is essential.

Delay is criminal!

There are no magic bullets or instant cures.

Hard work, perseverance, judgment – these are some of the skills and tools to enable improvement.

The ‘Teals’ are a collection of small ‘l’ liberals who understand the need for urgency in acting on climate change.

They are not stuck in a time warp, like the nationals and the right-wing of the liberal party, because they are intelligent, educated much more highly and widely than many of the population and more than capable of getting honestly involved in discussion.

The new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, would do well to use their skills to help him improve his plans for reducing emissions – fast!

Included in that we need urgent plans to re-educate the parts of the workforce which will become redundant as fossil fuels are phased out.

Australia is long overdue for a new plan for the future. So many issues are involved and intermeshed that it is a complex issue which requires really urgent attention.

We CAN do it but everyone MUST accept that the whole landscape of life is in processes of change to which we must adapt.

I grew up in war-torn England, and only realise, looking back, that we had massive shortages which we accepted because winning the war was essential.

Life is no longer ‘normal’.

Covid-19 has not gone away.

Emissions are being increased instead of reduced.

Savagely different weather events are destroying homes and livelihoods.

CHANGE is coming in many unpleasant ways.

We DO have the means to cope and improve our situation BUT we have to accept that we cannot have our cake and eat it.

We MUST be put on a wartime footing where our war is on climate change!

AND we ALL have a part to play.

Clearly, the people elected by the Australian people to govern them are either stupid or insane.

If I read the science correctly, we need to be well on the way to reducing our greenhouse gas pollution by 50% by 2030 – NOT 2050 – to have a real hope of bequeathing to our descendants a world in which they have a hope of enjoying life.

Have you been watching the ABC program ‘Fires’?

It is not fiction.

And many of the people who lost everything in the 2020-21 fires are still waiting for real help.

We cannot fight climate change unless we change.

We have been failing to do so for too many decades, and now we are running out of time – fast!

So far as I can see, most of those who claim to be ‘Christian’ are actually adhering to a cult.

I grew up in a Christian (Presbyterian) household, I studied the Old and New Testaments at a C of E school, (as well as Comparative Religion) and am now sufficiently uncertain as to the existence of a loving God as to regard myself as an agnostic.

I am, however, totally certain that no one can truly regard themselves as being Christian unless they clearly follow the teachings of Christ. Selflessness and honesty are two virtues which I fail to detect in many, like our PM, who falsely and misguidedly claim to be guided by a Christian God.

The whole world is finally waking up to the fact that Earth is under threat from climate change – but not yet sufficiently awake to realise how massively – and hastily – we need to act if our descendants – ie the grandchildren of the latest generation of parents – are to be able to enjoy a life which is not being destroyed by fires, floods and famine.

Selfishness seems destined to destroy mankind, and it is certainly accelerating species loss and biodiversity.

Many of us have already installed solar power, and will – when we can afford to – purchase a battery. But these are luxuries for most of the world’s populations. And it is totally wrong – morally and really – for the wealthy to be able to survive in comfort, while the poor are pushed aside and ignored. It is absolutely NOT Christian behaviour!

I am denied access to an electric car because of a government which refuses to accept the desperate need to reduce emissions.

Australia is both one of the wealthiest and – in too many ways – one of the most backward countries in the world.

We have manufacturing facilities which could be revived to build EVs and the knowledge to ensure that re-charging is readily available.

We also have a Coalition government which appears to lack any ability to plan for a viable future.

Today, schoolchildren are demanding that governments take action as a matter of urgency, as their whole future is at stake.

In the very near future the existing government will draw on the selfish instincts of the electorate to seek a further term in office.

I am deeply unenamoured with the alternative government, but would still rather vote them in, than risk seeing the future for my grandchildren and their children destroyed by the selfishness of those currently at the helm.