FarmI wrote:

There is a second part which I believe it is another common origin of
climate change denial in country districts. The way that it works
is that when you are on the land you are taught to be a survivor, to
find methods of coping, to fix the problem if you can and to endure
it if you cannot do anything about it. This is admirable and makes
much sense in the environment. The problem comes when attitudes
that go with the philosophy are extended beyond their useful scope. In
learning to be Stoic and to endure whatever nature throws at you,
you are taught not to whinge. To whinge is a sign of weakness, a
sign of a pointless attitude that you wish the world to be as you
desire it and that you are too stupid to accept it as it really is.

If you blame drought on an external agency like climate change you
are whingeing, blaming somebody or something else instead of taking
responsibility and getting on with the job. If you are a self
sufficient farmer whose pride keeps you going in tough times then
emotionally you cannot blame climate change because that is
admitting you cannot cope. Therefore it doesn't exist. The sad
thing is that if they did accept that something bigger than them was
going on and put their coping skills to use in new ways they
would be better off. We may not have time to wait until younger
sons and granddaughters take over with newer attitudes. These are some
observations of part of rural NSW that you might find
interesting. I am not trying to suggest that any of this necessarily
represents you or your situation.

Yep. Fits in with the Beyond Blue campaigns etc too. But I also
think that is both a bit overly pessimistic and a bit too global in
how some of our farmers are learning to cope/adapt/innovate. I
certainly see where you're coming from though.


In laying out two ways to get to denial I wasn't suggesting that these
opinions are universal. There are some really thoughtful and flexible
people around who are planning how they are going to deal with longer
droughts, heavier rain events and who are thinking there has to be a better
way to make stuff grow than just pouring on superphosphate.

There are also too many who feel trapped and powerless (for various reasons)
who do themselves harm in a variety of ways, mostly men, including refusing
to see a doctor and self medication with alcohol.

I was a bit glib when I threw in my 'stuffed' comment. I should have
made more effort to explain. As a gardener, I tend to look at
growing things and plants that have died. It's when you see trees
that must be hundreds of years old dieing or dead or in stress that
make you wonder what is going on. These trees have withstood droughts
before, have been stressed before and yet have managed to survive -
till now. Isolated trees will die but when you see huge numbers dead
or so far gone that you know thye won't recover, it rings alarm bells.

Dead trees bother me too.


I do know that our Fed politicians have been told that the future
will bring much drier conditions to both the south east of Oz and the
south west. That's our food growing areas so not a pretty picture.

If I read the figures right the wheat belts, particularly the south west,
are the reason that Oz is a net exporter of food. If those become marginal
the current trend of digging up good farmland in wetter areas to make
suburbs for urban sprawl and to get the coal underneath will need serious
rethinking. It might be better if our fearless leaders thought about this
before it happens.

David