An Interesting Read
While killing time waiting at an appointment today I picked up a copy of the 'old reliable' National Geographic. It happened to be the current April issue and the article that grabbed my attention right off was about the prolonged drought that has affected the South-Eastern region of Australia. 'Affected' seems a small word to describe all the various impacts on every aspect of living in that area.
We've all seen from time to time reports in the major media about the drought or spin-offs like the incredible wildfire season they have just suffered through or damage to the economy because of grossly reduced farm and ranch output. While Kel at Xfacta doesn't complain about it she does dispense some small clues through measures they had taken while building their home that allowed them to reduce water use and retain whatever rain may fall from the skies.
Unfortunately, I'm running out of time and energy here and can't put any more of my impressions about the article or situation down in words here. I do highly recommend seeking out this issue and having a good sit-down read. You'll be glad you did.
..... and I think I'll quit grousing about snow and rain for the next while and be thankful this precious commodity is so plentiful here.
*Update* - I should have done this yesterday when I did this post. Here is a link to the story:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/murray-darling/draper-text
The story runs 11 pages and includes the photos. Excellent!!
We've all seen from time to time reports in the major media about the drought or spin-offs like the incredible wildfire season they have just suffered through or damage to the economy because of grossly reduced farm and ranch output. While Kel at Xfacta doesn't complain about it she does dispense some small clues through measures they had taken while building their home that allowed them to reduce water use and retain whatever rain may fall from the skies.
Unfortunately, I'm running out of time and energy here and can't put any more of my impressions about the article or situation down in words here. I do highly recommend seeking out this issue and having a good sit-down read. You'll be glad you did.
..... and I think I'll quit grousing about snow and rain for the next while and be thankful this precious commodity is so plentiful here.
*Update* - I should have done this yesterday when I did this post. Here is a link to the story:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/murray-darling/draper-text
The story runs 11 pages and includes the photos. Excellent!!
Labels: Australia, drought, National Geographic
posted by Norm at 4/07/2009 08:10:00 PM
4 Comments:
Well said, Norm... though,... I rather wanted you to say more. :)
You got my interest piqued.
I rather wanted to say more, too. My time is sort of fractured these days. I should have and will see if I can't at least find a link to the article.
it's nice to see an aussie story being featured in National Geographic, thanks for the heads up Norm
we are in drought here, but nothing as severe as the areas in that article, and living on an island surrounded by water tends to soften the arid feel
while we don't make our living off the land, we live on the land and as you mentioned, have to gather and manage our own water supplies
the drought that is affecting my little world is the drying up of employment in the local area,
yes, it has been exaggerated with the worldwide economic crisis, but was already on a slow burn due to the downturn in rural activity such as farming
there are many lessons we have learned while living on the land, with no city infrastructure to create an artificial environment for us to hide in, what is real becomes even more so
One thing that struck me is the long time line involved here. 6+ years.... YEARS! In N. American media we're inundated with news from every direction and hear about incidents in an isolated way and then only when things get really bad... and therefore newsworthy.
The N.G. article was really good at filling in the background details while giving a good current view of how things have come to be.
As to our individual personal situations we must continue to keep one another in our prayer lists. ... and 'act locally, think globally'.
Cheers, Kel.
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