Philippa

I am a qigong practitioner, mother, gardener, dog lover, environmentalist, degrowther and watcher of life. I like growing my own food and walking through forests. I like making pottery, harvesting herbs and writing poetry. I like beaches, mountains, rain and birds, coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. I hope I can contribute to the discussions here and learn and share some knowledge. Thankyou.

Yes, close to Tenterfield. And you must be on the way to Dorrigo, Thora perhaps? Nice country. I became interested in degrowth after a deep dive into what are the causes of our environmental crisis. I began to realise that we can't just keep up our same type of lifestyle and expect the planet to heal itself. And switching to "green growth" is not going to reverse the damage. It's like we are in the same race but we have just switched horses. The issues of being a destructive human on a finite planet are so deeply embedded in our disconnect with nature that we need a complete reappraisal of what it is to be a human on earth. All indigenous cultures recognise and value our connectivity with earth, but it is what has been forgotten through western capitalism and devalued. Degrowth seeks to recapture that connection and rewrite the relationship we have with nature. I read Jason Hickel's "Less is More" recently. He artriculated and consolidated all my thoughts on degrowth and proposed a path forward to steer us away from destruction towards deep connection. There are lots of other authors and podcasts to investigate that I haven't got to yet. My aim is to keep learning.

I am in the Granite country, much further up the hill. I have spent 30 years in the bush, but I find myself now living in a town. it took some getting used to, especially having neighbours, but it's not too bad. Not nearly as restricting as I thought it might be and made easier by being near a large park. In the bush we had no pademelons but had eastern grey kangaroos and wallaroos. Also these tawny frogmouths, along with a heap of other birds, from the smallest little thornbills to the largest wedge tailed eagles. You look like you might be near Murwillumbah? Or somewhere in that vicinity? My landscape is not as soft. It's a bit more crystallised, sharper and can turn from a high mountain meadow to a fire scape within a few short weeks. When it does rain it is much changed. Textures are emphasised and twigs crunch but dont snap. The granite boulders are powerful and create niches for lots of species. Including me. Thanks for your reply.

Thanks I have looked at this forum for a few years now on occasion. I have ditched Facebook recently but find that I need to actually converse with others so I am hoping to do that here.