Today, Extinction Rebellion Darwin commenced peaceful protest at the NT Government’s agreement to allow fracking to commence in the NT!

We are as yet a fledgling group, from which 2 of us were free from other commitments and able to turn up for what is to become a weekly event outside the NT Parliament.

We also are planning to join the National Day of Action on Saturday 22 February.

It was fairly quiet, because a major NT event today was the funeral of a former Chief Minister, Ian Tuxworth, so traffic to and from Parliament was limited, but next week should see more traffic as Parliament will be in session.

We were heartened by the number of those who did pass by and who gave us the thumbs up. Some of them actually stopped to chat and we ended our session with a long discussion with a young Englishman on a working holiday.

Our talk really highlighted the complexity of the situation into which the world has drifted, because misinformation and apathy have clearly created an enormous task – I hesitate to say impossible – for world leaders.

Over-population is an issue which has long needed more serious consideration. Here our conversation touched on the malign influence of religion over issues like contraception, abortion and the status of women. This is clearly a massive problem in countries where a particular religion is officially recognised, whether it be Islam or Christianity, but Australia pays too much attention to religious mores and not enough to commonsense requirements.

At least we are a fraction better than the South American countries where a woman can be sent to prison for having a miscarriage!

We talked of countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia where rising sea levels may well trigger mass migration – which is unlikely to be welcomed by developed nations!

Necessarily we touched on fossil fuels and the urgent need to restrict dependence on them, developing effective renewable sources of energy.

Pollution could not be ignored, particularly in the context of its adverse impact on marine life.

We talked of the needs of some countries, like the UK, to import food, while there will be food shortages in other areas, particularly Africa – while major corporations require excess food to be dumped to maintain profits.

And this in turn triggered the source of so many problems – the extent to which the corporate world dominates national policy making and the fundamental principle of greed discourages help for those in desperate need of help for a multitude of very ‘valid’ (in hip pocket terms!) reasons.

I was left feeling simultaneously stimulated and depressed!

So many problems and so few solutions.

I cited the UK WWII situation, where a non-partisan National government, well supported by experts, was set up to deal with the war effort. For a whole variety of reasons, the world changed for UK citizens, despite winning the war, but at least, as a nation, they survived.

Unfortunately, in developed countries, too few politicians in ‘normal’ circumstances have any incentive to look at problems on a global scale or to consider actions which require them to cede power to others.

I have long realised that mankind is the world’s most dangerous predator.

I now fear that we are liable to self-destruct – and only hope that we do so soon enough to leave enough sustainable habitat for the rest of the world’s life forms which survive the apocalypse.

The problem is of our own making.

Governments bleat on about the economy as if mankind’s sole role in is to act as worker ants, nurturing the Queen Bee ECONOMY!

What use is money in an off-shore haven when your house is burning down above your head?

Money was invented as a medium of an exchange of goods and services when direct barter was too clumsy.

Is having enough money to more than satisfy your needs really so important that you are prepared for others to die for you to satisfy your greed for power and status?

Please will someone suggest some means of our ridding ourselves of a selfish, thoughtless, greedy, policy-less, ignorant collection of politicians, elected by stupid us!