Sandy's Say: Resource Rage
...the landscape currently resembles Wales - all lush green rolling hills. Whilst I personally prefer this abundance, there is one person who is not so overjoyed. Film director, George Miller, is trying to shoot the fourth Mad Max movie in the desert near Broken Hill. Miller was hoping that the desert would dry out and brown off to resemble the required post-apocalyptic landscape but he has been forced to search for new locations...
Columnist Sandy James muses upon going to extremes.
Too much money is bad for the soul. It acts as a buffer against reality. When we are cushioned by bountiful and seemingly endless resources then we can afford the luxury of being complacent, detached, wasteful and opinionated. Plenitude can be just as unhealthy for the body, as exemplified by the Western world's obesity epidemic.
The other extreme, too little money, is also bad for the soul. "The trouble with being poor," said the Dutch artist, Willem de Kooning, "is that it takes up all of your time." Spending every moment worrying about, and trying to obtain, scarce resources such as food and water is totally consuming and allows no time, or energy, for higher thought processes. Destitution has devastating effects on the body too. We've only to switch on the television to be confronted with the evidence in the emaciated, listless bodies of Somali refugees.
Manmade and natural disasters, such as war and famine, have a way of levelling us all. They teach us lessons in humility, relative value and survival. Until we are faced with either a scarcity of resources or life threatening fear, most of us have no idea of our true inner ethics. Just how far are we prepared to go when we are sorely tested and pushed to the extreme? When we ourselves, or our loved ones, are threatened, how will we react? At what point do our civilised niceties give way to base animal instincts?
Sydneysiders are occasionally given stark examples of people who have been driven to the edge. In January 2007, at the height of Australia's worst drought in a century, 66-year-old Ken Proctor was bashed to death whilst watering his lawn. Ken was approached by an angry neighbour who falsely accused him of breaking the water restrictions and wasting a precious resource. (At that stage, watering with hand-held hoses was only allowed on Wednesdays and Sundays before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m.) An argument ensued and Ken sprayed his water-Nazi neighbour in the face. The neighbour responded angrily, by pushing Ken to the ground and kicking him. Ken later died in hospital.
To those who are new to Australia or who are visiting Sydney at the moment, this story must seem unfathomable for the weather has done a complete back flip and we've since experienced the worst floods in a century. As a result, the landscape currently resembles Wales - all lush green rolling hills.
Whilst I personally prefer this abundance, there is one person who is not so overjoyed. Film director, George Miller, is trying to shoot the fourth Mad Max movie in the desert near Broken Hill. Miller was hoping that the desert would dry out and brown off to resemble the required post-apocalyptic landscape but he has been forced to search for new locations. Not only has the desert been a carpet of flowers for months but Lake Eyre, which is usually a dry salt pan, is miraculously full of water and hordes of breeding pelicans to boot.
"An Inconvenient Truth" is that George is indeed faced with "Mission Impossible."' It might be prudent to consider filming "How Green Was My Valley 2" instead.
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