TRAVEL TUESDAY 516 - THE ARAL SEA, ASIA

“Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.” - Ban Ki-moon

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us.Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.
Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

The Aral Sea is a salt lake in Central Asia, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which was once the world's fourth-largest lake but has since shrunk dramatically. This environmental catastrophe began in the 1960s due to the Soviet Union's diversion of its inflowing rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, for unsustainable cotton cultivation. The shrinking sea left behind toxic desert plains, but some recovery efforts have led to a revival of the smaller Northern Aral Sea.

By 2007, the Aral Sea had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into four lakes: the North Aral Sea, the eastern and western basins of the once far larger South Aral Sea, and the smaller intermediate Barsakelmes Lake. By 2009, the southeastern lake had disappeared and the southwestern lake had retreated to a thin strip at the western edge of the former southern sea. In subsequent years occasional water flows have led to the southeastern lake sometimes being replenished to a small degree. Satellite images by NASA in August 2014 revealed that for the first time in modern history the eastern basin of the Aral Sea had completely dried up. The eastern basin is now called the Aralkum Desert.

After the visit to Muynak in 2011, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the shrinking of the Aral Sea “one of the planet’s worst environmental disasters.” The region's once-prosperous fishing industry has been devastated, bringing unemployment and economic hardship. The water from the diverted Syr Darya river is used to irrigate about two million hectares of farmland in the Ferghana Valley. The Aral Sea region is heavily polluted, with consequent serious public health problems.

In a Kazakhstani effort to save and replenish the North Aral Sea, the Dike Kokaral dam was completed in 2005. By 2008, the water level had risen 12 m above that of 2003, to 42 m. As of 2013, salinity dropped, and fish were again present in sufficient numbers for some fishing to be viable.

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SERENITY...

“Surely we have a responsibility to leave for future generations a planet that is healthy and habitable by all species” - Sir David Attenborough

The prompt from “Poets and Storytellers United” this week is to write something about “something with both spooky and summery themes”. I am watching with horror the terrible Summer wildfires in Europe, the worsening situation in Israel/Gaza, the ongoing war in Ukraine. I see the world leaders of many countries blithely following a path of totalitarianism and self-interest, ignoring a looming climate catastrophe and a path leading to more warfare… I look at the increasing destruction of world wilderness areas, the effects of our pollution, and our thoughtless use of natural resources, and yes, I am spooked by all this…

Serenity...

The news is bleak, the world is marred,
We live in fear, our lives are scarred.
Our leaders crazy, and the people crazed
Crime, greed and murder, society’s razed.

The planet’s suffering, the climate’s changed
Animals dying, nature’s deranged.
Fires are raging, floods drowning each city,
While nature’s turned on us with no pity.

All that I wish for is peace, serenity,
And all I get is conflict, obscenity.
All that I need is a home and love,
And what I get is bombs from above.
Oh, please, give me serenity!

Oceans are poisoned, rivers polluted,
Species extinct, resources looted;
The air is toxic, our water’s blighted
The people uncaring, deeply benighted.

The threat of war, total destruction,
The earth beset by an evil fluxion;
We dread the worse but choose inaction
It’s time to shake off vapid abstraction.

All that I wish for is peace and quiet,
And all I get is conflict, evil, riot.
All that I need is care, affection
And what I get is scorn, rejection.
Oh, please, no more disquiet!

All that I wish for is peace, serenity,
Give me true justice, give me lenity…
Oh, please, give me serenity!

This poem is set to music, and you can find all references to my music in my “Otidorchestre” channel, or listen to it on YouTube,  Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

Please note that the song has been submitted to music sharing sites, but there is a variable period of delay until the song is publicly released. YouTube is generally the most prompt.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 201 - WILSONS PROM, AUSTRALIA

“Wilderness is a necessity there must be places for human beings to satisfy their souls.” - John Muir 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland and is located in the state of Victoria. South Point at 39°08′06″S 146°22′32″E is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence also the southernmost tip of mainland Australia. Located at nearby South East Point, (39°07′S 146°a25′E) is the Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse. Most of the peninsula is protected by the Wilsons Promontory National Park and the Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park.

The first European to see the promontory was George Bass in January 1798. He initially referred to it as “Furneaux's Land” in his diary, believing it to be what Captain Furneaux had previously seen. But on returning to Port Jackson and consulting Matthew Flinders he was convinced that the location was so different it could not be that land. Bass and Flinders recommended the name Wilsons Promontory to Governor Hunter, honouring Flinders’s friend from London Thomas Wilson. Little is known of Wilson except that he was a merchant engaged in trade with Australia.

The promontory has been a national park, to one degree or another, since 1898. Wilsons Promontory National Park, also known locally as “the Prom”, contains the largest coastal wilderness area in Victoria. The site was closed to the public during World War II, as it was used as a commando training ground. The only settlement within Wilsons Promontory is Tidal River which lies 30 kilometres south of the park boundary and is the focus for tourism and recreation. This park is managed by Parks Victoria.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY #195 - CAPE YORK, AUSTRALIA

“I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.” - Anne Frank 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia. The land is mostly flat and about half of the area is used for grazing cattle. The relatively undisturbed eucalyptus wooded savannahs, tropical rainforests and other types of habitat are now recognised and preserved for their global environmental significance, but native wildlife is threatened by introduced species and weeds.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

POETS UNITED - NEUTRALITY

“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” - Dante Alighieri

The mid-week motif at Poets United this week is “Neutrality/Objectivity”. The challenge is to: “Create a new poem that explores one instance of neutrality or objectivity. Try NOT to be either neutral or objective.”

Here is mine:

The Sick Planet

No sense in sitting on the fence,

On this issue, nobody should be neutral.

The earth has need of us, now – 

There’s no time left to postpone decisions

That already should have been made.

No point in talking of superficial changes,

Shallow beautification is not the target;

Applying stop-gap measures, blindly

Will only cause problems to escalate.

Rebirth needs effort, pain and many sacrifices.

Let our inspiration be a new world

Rid of its poisons by audacious strategies.

Let the cathartic processes be drastic, let us renew,

Revive nature, rejuvenate the ailing planet,

Let’s give our children back their future.

ART SUNDAY - HUNDERTWASSER

“Adopt the pace of nature: Her secret is patience.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson

The eccentric and playfully self-advertising Viennese artist known as Friedensreich Hundertwasser was born as Friedrich Stowasser on 15 December 1928. He did not assume his nom d’artiste until 1949 (‘sto’ meaning ‘one hundred’ in Slavic languages and ‘Wasser”’ meaning ‘water’). Even in adolescence Stowasser brought home reports from school attesting to his “exceptional feeling for colour and form”.

After taking the examinations qualifying for university entrance, Hundertwasser spent three months at the Viennese Art Academy studying under Professor Robin Christian Andersen. Hundertwasser was, however, more indebted to the work of Egon Schiele and Walter Kampmann, which he saw at their exhibitions, than to the brief period of academic instruction.

Hundertwasser travelled extensively in Italy, where he met René Brô, whom he accompanied to Paris. Hundertwasser had thought of continuing formal training at the École des Beaux-Arts but spent only one day at that institution. Instead he found the numerous and adventurous trips he took to Morocco, Tunisia, Nepal, Tokyo and Siberia inspirational for the path he intended to follow. Taking Viennese Jugendstil as his point of departure, Hundertwasser developed an abstract, decorative, two-dimensional and vibrantly colourful, utterly distinctive style distinguished by ornamental spiral and labyrinth forms, circles, meanders and biomorphic shapes.

During the 1960s Friedensreich Hundertwasser was extremely successful, with a 1962 retrospective in the Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennale and a 1964 retrospective mounted by the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover. In addition, the first comprehensive catalogue of his œuvre was published.

Active in the ecological movement, Hundertwasser was committed to making life liveable in a humane environment that was close to nature. He furthered his aims by issuing manifestos and making provocative public appearances, for instance giving a speech in the nude (1968) in Vienna. Between 1968 and 1972 Hundertwasser re-hauled the old sailing vessel ‘San Giuseppe’ at docks in the Venice lagoon, rechristened it ‘Regentag’ [‘Rainy Day’], and going to see in it several times.

So versatile and prolific was Hundertwasser that he also designed coins and stamps for Austria, Senegal and the UN from the 1970s. Moreover, Hunderwasser was the first European artist to have work carved by Japanese master carvers. In 1981 Hundertwasser was appointed head of the master classes for painting at the Viennese Art Academy. The famous Hundertwasser House in Vienna, begun in 1983, attests to Hunderwasser’s skill as an architect. The year before he died, Hundertwasser was working on a catalogue raisonné of his works and presented the Uelzen Station architectural project. Friedensreich Hundertwasser died on a cruise ship off New Zealand in 2000.

The painting above is “Columbus Landed in India”. Signed Friedensreich and numbered 687. Painted at La Picaudière, May 5 - Seeshaupt, May 25 - Venice, Giudecca, July 2 1969. Mixed media: Egg tempera, wax, oil and water colour on paper, primed with chalk and PV (polivenil); mounted on hemp with PV (polivenil) 81 x 111 cm. The painting was sold for 3,932,247 Swedish Kroner (≈$605,000 AUD) at auction. The painting shows the brilliant colours and intricate interlocking shapes characteristic of the artist, as well as the appearance of a spectral face often found in Hundertwasser’s works.

POETS UNITED - ORGANIC

“Why, for example, should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to organise themselves into a professor of chemistry? What’s the motive?” - Robert M. Pirsig

The theme for this week’s Poets United midweek motif is “Organic”. I have chosen the original chemical meaning of the term:
Organic: Chemistry - Relating to or denoting compounds containing carbon (other than simple binary compounds and salts) and chiefly or ultimately of biological origin [compare with inorganic].

Organic

Carbon is the backbone

Onto which latches ample hydrogen,

With oxygen here and there,

Scant nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus.

Organic – the chemistry of life,

Its complex macromolecules

Aggregating with endless variety,

Forming viscid globules, chains, nets…

Organic is so weak, so vulnerable,

Compared to say, silica:

Quartz crystal tough, transparent, sharp

And so simply inorganic.

And as the atoms whirl in space

And collide and exchange energies

Forming bonds, cohering, sharing electrons,

And reach more stable states,

How does the fragile organic

Form such perilous unions

And dangerous aggregations

As the murderous human?

   More toxic than arsenic,

   More harmful than uranium,

   More caustic than hydrofluoric acid,

   More damaging than inorganic mercury?

POETS UNITED - CLIMATE

“Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.” - Bill Nye

For its Midweek Motif, Poets United has set the theme of “Climate”. My poem below:

Climate

The Earth shakes, shudders, sick

Covered in dark pall of smoke

Lost in hopeless contemplation

Of an uncertain future.

The moon looks on

And mirrors her sister’s fate

As stars impassively

Witness the decadence.

The Earth dejected, weeps

Black tears; coughs up polluted phlegm

Regurgitates poisoned food

And dies an ever-quickening death.

The oceans froth and spew up

Choking fish, dead algae,

Mercury-tainted jellyfish,

Suicidal whales by the score.

The Earth despairs, breeding

Sterile offspring, mutated monsters,

Dead plants, addled eggs,

Species driven to extinction.

The air is charred, ice melts,

Cyclones, bushfires, earthquakes

Vie with Tsunamis and errant climate

As to which will seal our fate.

The Earth remembers, wistful,

Past springs, all green and flowery;

Summers golden with ripening grain,

Autumns replete with bountiful harvest.

The Earth recalls, regretful,

A million birdsongs, playful fish,

Pure rain and limpid waters, 

With winters when snow was still white.

POETS UNITED - VITALITY

“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.” - Chris Maser

This week Poets United has as its mid-week motif “Vitality-Energy”. This is perhaps quite apt as the vitality of our planet is being discussed yet again, this time in Paris…

The twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) is taking place from 30 November to 11 December 2015, in Paris, France, under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Another talkfest? Another congregation of politicians to spout forth platitudes as they quaff their champagne and eat their gourmet dinners at the gala functions? Another lot of scientists vying for Nobel prizes at whatever cost? And meanwhile ordinary people try to demonstrate around the world, aware that what is being done by governments and scientists is not enough.

My poem below:



Vitality

The sun drips pure drops of golden energy

And forests green drink deep, slaking boundless thirst;

A wondrous transmutation in each viridian leaf

As chemistry’s vital soup mixes:

Radiant light, carbon dioxide and water,

To make a syrupy fluid sustaining life.

An endless cycle that for a billion years

Keeps all in balance, making our Earth a blue-green Eden;

Sunlight, heat, water, oxygen,

The molecules of life dancing tirelessly:

Sugars, proteins, fats, solids, liquids gases,

All in each cell admixed in right proportions.

And as we grow in numbers, and our pullulating masses

Consume, pollute, destroy, despoil and divest the earth;

A dismal transmutation in each and every place,

As human filth poisons air, sea, land, river and lake:

Lead, mercury, dioxin, DDT, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide,

To make of our Eden, a toxic greenhouse.

A hundred years or so, were enough for man

To throw the delicate balance off kilter;

Ozone depleted, carbon heavy, oxygen starved,

Our planet marches towards destruction:

Species extinct, great forests felled, ice melting,

Climate disrupted, our vitality sapped…

Too late to stop?

Too far gone to reverse?

Too few that care?

Too poisoned to recover?

Yes, if we rely on politicians on a Paris junket to act,

And not on each and every single one of us, doing what we must.

HYDROECONOMICS

“And the hooded clouds, like friars, Tell their beads in drops of rain.” - HenryWadsworth Longfellow

How wonderful it is to lie in bed and hear the sound of rain falling on the roof, listen to the gurgling of the water as it runs down the gutters and the sound of cars on the wet streets. One is grateful and the mind turns to places affected by drought, California for example. Australia is often affected by severe droughts and we sympathise with our cousins across the great ditch…

We live on a planet whose surface is largely water, with 71% of it covered by water. However, this water is largely unusable because of its high solute content. Water locked away as ice in the polar regions is fresh, but inaccessible.  Lakes and rivers are becoming increasingly polluted and climate change in many cases reduces their water capacity, with water levels decreasing. Rain falls torrentially in some parts of the world, causing floods and destruction, with little possibility of long-term storage and alarm bells are ringing in many temperate regions where rain is becoming scarcer and scarcer.

Desalination of seawater has been suggested as a possible way of ensuring a reliable, and potentially limitless, fresh water supply for our major urban centres, many of which are coastal. Desalination is already operating in some countries and is providing water, although at a cost! The Middle East Desalination Research Centre, which is located in Muscat (Sultanate of Oman), was conceived out of the Middle East Multilateral Peace Process as an international organisation, which is dedicated to research in desalination technology. As water resources in the region are already under stress and future population and economic growth will require an increased supply, the Centre will seek to bring together scientists, engineers, water policy-makers and water system operators in the Middle East/North Africa region to work on areas of research that will reduce the cost of desalination. The economy of the Middle East is tied to desalination of seawater and brackish ground water.

Another way that can be used to generate fresh water is based on the principle of condensing water from humid air. This technology is already in use in small scale and machines are available for use in the home to produce drinking water directly from the air. To scale up this process is another suggestion for resolving our fresh water supply problems. Cost-effectiveness is the real limiting factor in this process and unless one has access to a cheap, renewable supply of energy, the process becomes too expensive in order to be scaled up. The use of nuclear power to run desalination and condensation plants has various attendant difficulties and raises a host of concerns.

Other ways of ensuring reliable fresh water supplies for big urban centres have been proposed, including increasing use of recycled water from waste water, building larger reservoirs in water catchment areas, better utilisation of groundwater and aquifers and also building urban water supplies that are more water efficient and allow recycling of grey water in applications that would allow its safe use (flushing toilets, watering parks and gardens, some industrial uses).

In any case, increasing public awareness of climate change, water shortages, green-efficient solutions, recycling and cognisance of the importance of reducing waste will help in more effective use of our precious resources.

My word for this Thursday is a neologism that describes what will become an increasingly major issue around the world:
Hydroeconomics |ˈhīdrōˌekəˈnämiks| (noun, pl.)

The study of the physical, cultural, political, and financial aspects of human interaction with the water cycle. The study of hydroeconomics will attract more interest in the near future as human populations find it necessary to make more efficient use of our dwindling fresh water supplies.

IN SEASON

"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do." - P.J. O'Rourke

On my way home yesterday I stopped by the market to buy some fruits and vegetables. We are very lucky here in Melbourne as we have a plethora of fresh food markets, farmers’ markets, fresh food shops as well as the typical shopping centres and supermarkets. The seasonal fruit and vegetable variety is truly exceptional and the quality is generally excellent. In addition to the seasonal fruits and vegetables one is also likely to find some exotic out of season produce that has been flown into our country at great expense and trouble.

In amongst the oranges, tangerines, pears and apples I found watermelon, cherries, grapes and apricots. Looking at the watermelon and cherries I really could not feel the least bit of desire to purchase and sample them. They did not appeal and I didn’t hanker after them. Similarly, I bought a lettuce for salad rather than unseasonable tomatoes and cucumbers. Checking the provenance of some these products, I saw that they came from America, Asia, even Europe. Although today’s global marketplace allows us to buy foods grown virtually anywhere in the world all year round, these options are not the most sustainable nor the most desirable.

I purchase local foods that are in season, thus doing my little bit to eliminate the environmental damage caused by shipping foods thousands of kilometres around the globe. I am supporting local farmers and helping my local economy. At the same time, we enjoy the health benefits of eating fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables that simply taste better as well!

The other benefit of shopping for produce in season is that it is cheaper and if one buys it in bulk, the opportunity for canning and preserving it is there as well. What better than home-made jams and preserves? Vegetables that have been bottled at home with no preservatives and which can provide easy and quick meal solutions at some future time when the seasonal produce is scarce? The freezer can also be used effectively and help with the storage of bulk buys. Cleaned, blanched vegetables can be rapidly frozen and once again come to the rescue when one is unable to find much in the market or if one is unable to go.

How many times do you find yourself planning a menu and then going out and buying whatever you need from the shops and market? Isn’t it a better idea to go out and be inspired to cook something by using what is freshest and in season out there on the shelves? This is certainly the norm in countries around the Mediterranean, where seasonal cooking is seen at its best.

So what did I buy at the market? Typical Winter fare: Mushrooms, broccoli, lettuce, cabbage and radishes, carrots, spring onions, silverbeet and spinach. As well as oranges, tangerines and nashi pears.  Spinach and silverbeet pies, mushroom soup, broccoli quiche, cabbage salad with olive oil and lemon dressing, radishes on the side are on the menu over the next couple of days.

POETS UNITED - SUSTAINABILITY

“We generate our own environment. We get exactly what we deserve. How can we resent a life we’ve created ourselves? Who’s to blame, who’s to credit but us? Who can change it, anytime we wish, but us?” - Richard Bach

Poets United has set a midweek motif that centres on “sustainability”. Is there a poet out there in this world who is not sensitive to this topic? I know that personally, it concerns me greatly. Here is my poem:

The Extraterrestrial

I come to you in peace,

My star so far away,

A pinpoint of light

In your night sky.

I come to your distant world

And find myself in paradise.

I’ve travelled long and far,

Away from the dry deserts

Of my homeland –

An arid planet, red and barren

Where water’s most precious

And wars are fought over a single well.

Your blue-green world

Hanging in space

Like a gemstone, beckoned,

And I came, succumbing

To its gentle insistence

Like a lover’s gaze.

I come to you in peace,

And seek only repose,

The luxury of drinking my fill,

Eating the lush vegetation

With my wide open eyes,

Never sated by the verdant green.

Your oceans brimming with life

Remind me of our distant past –

As our history writes –

When we too inhabited such a world:

Blue-green, drenched, bedewed,

Immersed in crystal waters.

Your forests, drinking the rain

That falls so regularly,

Are priceless beyond compare.

The flowers costlier than jewels bright –

What use to us are our diamonds,

Common as pebbles on my world?

And yet I see vast deserts, here,

I see the rainforests cut, extinction,

Your oceans polluted, animals dying.

The signs are here that you too

Have set a course that will make

Your earth a world like mine.

I come to you in peace,

And seek only a brief respite.

I bring a message from Hell

To your blue-green Eden:

Time runs short, destruction’s close
Unless you become wise, soon…