The right accuse the left of being melo-dramatic on climate. They call us doomers. The left highlight the dire risks we face in order to overcome inertia, complacency and apathy. Alas, those dire warnings of disaster can have the effect of making folks feel hopeless, so they give up.

For over 30 years now, everything weve tried has failed to even slow the juggernaut of runaway economic growth thats driving climate collapse.

Since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero in 1992, where the leaders of the world pledged, hand-on-heart, to drastically reduce the use of Fossil Fuels, we have burnt more than all the rest of history put together!

In 1990 fossil fuels were 87% of global energy use. By 2022 that had dropped to 83%.

A mere 4% in 30 years, despite an enormous increase in renewables. Thats because world GDP has increased a massive 4 fold since 1990.

Up from $25trillion to $100trillion.

By 2030 our GDP is expected to double again!

Every dollar we make also makes around 700gms of

CO² emissions, on average.

Thats a staggering 70 tons per person per year for every soul that calls this planet home.

(not including Elon Musk. He is moving to Mars)

So all the gains we make in renewables are wiped out by the gains in GDP. We are chasing our tails!

Paradoxically, if we double our efforts to make renewables, ever dollar we spend doing that would produce 600gms of CO² emissions. All that CO² pumped into the skywould take us over the tipping points that we are already on the verge of reaching.

So, we could find ourselves achieving Zero Net Emissions, but living in a world or run-away global heating. Ironic isnt it?

Ben Boyang 2023

For the racists who oppose the voice I have this to say,

You are a bunch of numbskulls!

For the well meaning but misguided folks who oppose the voice l say this,

Please do not listen to hot-heads like Lydia, who have no constituency.

It is written in the blackfella constitution that everyone must listen to our wise elders,

good people like Megan Davis, Marcia Langton, Pat Dodson, Noel Pearson, Rachel Perkins.

People with a great track record on fighting for black justice.

To vote yes you do not have to believe it will improve Indigenous lives,

You just have to believe it wont harm them.

If you believe that having a voice in parliament would actually hinder your ability to achieve your lofty ambitions, such as a fair treaty, then by-all-means go to the wise elders and do your utmost to convince them of their folly. But if they reject your advice, what ever you do, do not go making public statements that undermine the cause of your wise elders and the vast majority of your people.

Cop it sweet. Take it on the chin. Take one for the team.

At no time in history has anything ever been achieved via disunity.

Sure, argue the toss amongst yourselves till you are blue in the face, then shut the fuck up.

The idea of rejecting the voice in favor of more concrete measures would be laughable

if it was not so tragically nave. We have all seen what an enormous effort it has taken to

get people to even consider the concept of a voice, what on earth makes you think they

will be more willing to accept more concrete measures instead, like a treaty.

Dont forget that you have no leverage what so ever.

The only people with any leverage in this system are those who can threaten withdrawal

of their money, their labour or their vote.

tribes. It panders to the biggest tribe, the bogans. They are easy to placate. Tiny little tribes of angry blackfellas dont get a look in, as you are no doubt aware. Lacking leverage you must apeal to the better nature of the bogans. Good luck! 

To reject the voice in favor of a treaty looks nave in the extreme.

Very much like a child who is offered a vegemite sandwich, throwing it in the dirt and demanding,

No! I dont want a sandwich, I want an ice cream.

Well, after the sandwich offer is withdrawn, how are going to get your ice-cream?

What can you threaten if you dont get it, other than a tantrum..Lydia?

You wont be getting much help from all those people who signed The statement from the heart

after you have rejected their advice. You wont be getting any help from the racists who will feel emboldened by the crushing blow they have dealt to your movement when the referendum is reje...

For the racists who oppose the voice I have this to say,

You are a bunch of numbskulls!

For the well meaning but misguided folks who oppose the voice l say this,

Please do not listen to hot-heads like Lydia, who have no constituency.

It is written in the blackfella constitution that everyone must listen to our wise elders,

good people like Megan Davis, Marcia Langton, Pat Dodson, Noel Pearson, Rachel Perkins.

People with a great track record on fighting for black justice.

To vote yes you do not have to believe it will improve Indigenous lives,

You just have to believe it wont harm them.

If you believe that having a voice in parliament would actually hinder your ability to achieve your lofty ambitions, such as a fair treaty, then by-all-means go to the wise elders and do your utmost to convince them of their folly. But if they reject your advice, what ever you do, do not go making public statements that undermine the cause of your wise elders and the vast majority of your people.

Cop it sweet. Take it on the chin. Take one for the team.

At no time in history has anything ever been achieved via disunity.

Sure, argue the toss amongst yourselves till you are blue in the face, then shut the fuck up.

The idea of rejecting the voice in favor of more concrete measures would be laughable

if it was not so tragically nave. We have all seen what an enormous effort it has taken to

get people to even consider the concept of a voice, what on earth makes you think they

will be more willing to accept more concrete measures instead, like a treaty.

Dont forget that you have no leverage what so ever.

The only people with any leverage in this system are those who can threaten withdrawal

of their money, their labour or their vote.

tribes. It panders to the biggest tribe, the bogans. They are easy to placate. Tiny little tribes of angry blackfellas dont get a look in, as you are no doubt aware. Lacking leverage you must apeal to the better nature of the bogans. Good luck! 

To reject the voice in favor of a treaty looks nave in the extreme.

Very much like a child who is offered a vegemite sandwich, throwing it in the dirt and demanding,

No! I dont want a sandwich, I want an ice cream.

Well, after the sandwich offer is withdrawn, how are going to get your ice-cream?

What can you threaten if you dont get it, other than a tantrum..Lydia?

You wont be getting much help from all those people who signed The statement from the heart

after you have rejected their advice. You wont be getting any help from the racists who will feel emboldened by the crushing blow they have dealt to your movement when the referendum is reje...

I am a passionate supporter of Blockade Australia.

BA believe we cannot tackle climate collapse without addressing

the economic system that is fueling it. That is why they target

the bottlenecks of the system in an attempt to disrupt the

economic system itself, giving them political leverage.

We can gauge the effectiveness of this disruption by the response

from the-powers-that-be, usually draconian new anti-protest laws.

We will tolerate dissent as long as it is ineffective.

John Gorton, Australian prime minister, c. 1970

In this country it is illegal to protest if you dont get permission from the police.

The police are the compliance arm of the state. Naturally they will not allow any

activity that disrupts the operations of that state.

The only effective form of protest is disruption, therefore all effective protest is illegal,

and only ineffective protest is allowed.

We have all seen how ineffective legal protests have been.

Tens of thousands of school kids can march through the streets

and the powers-that-be will praise their passion and conviction.

The next day is business-as-usual.

To understand just how ineffective our protests have been over the years

we can look at our achievements, or lack there of.

At the Earth Summit in 1992, all the leaders of the free world pledged,

hand-on-heart, (fingers crossed behind their backs)to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels.

At that time 87% of our energy consumption was from fossil fuels.

Now, after some 30 years of protest and inaction, fossil fuel use has dropped

to 83% a mere 4%. At this rate, by 2050 our emissions would be down to 79%.

We would not achieve zero emissions for another 900 years!

For a more detailed explanation of the BA rationale go to,

https://www.facebook.com/BlockadeAustralia/about_details

The Voice to Parliament, its a great idea, but its around the wrong way.

The Voice is just the beginning of a momentous shift in consciousness for us recent arrivals. Before we arrived there were said to be about 1 million blackfellas. They were unanimous in there support for a zero immigration policy. A tiny number of Europeans arrived with a policy of mass immigration, among other things. The interlopers, set up a brutal military dictatorship, upon arrival. Facing ferocious opposition from the locals, the regime was reluctant to create anything resembling a democracy until the numbers were heavily in their favour. So they clinically and diligently set about changing the balance of power, using the simple and effective method of genocide. Combined with a massive project of what we now call branch stacking. Importing vast numbers of pro-immigration immigrants.
Having decimated the original inhabitants and replaced them with millions of their own supporters, the interlopers felt the time was ripe to start a democracy of sorts. But just to make sure, they prohibited the opposition from voting. So, obviously a democracy founded on genocide is not a democracy by any stretch of the imagination.

Every law passed in Federal parliament since its inception in 1901 is invalid, not worth the paper it is printed on, a load of hogwash, a sham,

an insult to the very notion of democracy!
The only way to redress this gross injustice is to allow the last remaining remnants of those nations that were decimated to look after their country they way they see fit.
So yes, lets have a voice to pa...

-with a little help from their friends

WW2 was the deadliest conflict in human history. There were 85 million fatalities, most of whom were Russian civilians. Russia lost up to 27 million people in the war, nearly 13% of their entire population at the time.

But they did win the war, a little known fact that the Hollywood Culture Factory fails to mention in their endless stream of WW2 movies.

The United States, feared around the globe as an awesome war machine, waited until the last moment before committing to the fight to save the world from Fascism. In the hope, no doubt, that the Russians and the Germans would annihilate each other. But once it was obvious to all that Germany would fall to the Russian army, the U.S. and its allies made a mad dash to grab as much territory as possible, under the astute assumption that Russia would not stop at Berlin, but continue westward until they reached the Atlantic.

It is well documented and not disputed that the Soviet Union did ³/₄  of the fighting in WW2. ³/₄  of the casualties were Russian_.  Russia was responsible for ³/₄ of the german soldiers killed or captured. The same goes for tanks destroyed, planes shot down, etc, etc.

We may detest Stalin and Putin, but that does not give us the right to write Russia out of history.

We talk today about the unprecedented distortion of the truth facilitated by the internet, but  the almost unanimous denial of the fact that Russia won the second world war, almost single-handed, goes unremarked.

It says in the bible that Jesus died for our sins, right?

But it also says Jesus is part of God and God, as we all know, is immortal and if you are immortal,

by definition you cannot die. As Jesus once said, You cant have your cake and eat it too.

Now there is something else that has nagged me over the years, if Jesus really did rise from the dead,

and personally l have my doubts, why did he only hang around for 3 days?

After going to all that trouble he could have stayed on earth for years performing much needed miracles,

but no he nicks straight back up to heaven just like your average dead person.

But the resurrection isnt just about miracles is it?  Jesus died so we could all have Easter holidays, the 1 time of the year when everyone takes a holiday together. All those freeways leading out of Melbourne are made especially for Easter Friday when the entire city is evacuated to all points of the compass. It is almost like a giant rock has been removed from the exit. I hope you are all planning an Easter holiday, otherwise Jesus would have died in vane.

I can understand if you cant get away this time. It is such an effort to organise and to pay for, isnt it? No matter where we go, it seems we have to save for months to pay for all those travel expenses; what with plane tickets, hire cars, restaurants, suntan lotion, not to mention the exorbitant accommodation costs. Now for just one moment imagine how it would have been for the blackfellas before Captain Cook arrived on his little adventure cruise.

We wake up one fine sunny morning and muse; what a lovely day for a stroll. Cmon love, grab the kids, lets go walkabout. We pick up all our worldly possessions, pop them in our dilly bags, and off we go. Just like that!

Plenty of take away food on the way and even more when we get there. Catch up with all our old mates and extended family that we havent seen since last year and have a great party with lots of singing and dancing and gossiping. All for free!

Makes you wonder why we have worked so damn hard for so damn long to get away from such an idyllic lifestyle.

The present Climate Catastrophe looks likely to become Mass Extinction Event Number 7 here on our local planet- third rock from the sun (the blue one, you cant miss it) The first M.E.E. we have crafted all on our own, using nothing but our gigantic intelligence. Planet earth is currently enjoying the Holocene Era. Sentient beings such as ourselves, (some less sentient than others, obviously) have been reaping the benefits of this era of fecundity for some 65 million years,(definitely the best era so far) Unfortunately this glorious era seems to be coming to an abrupt end.  The boffins are telling us that our beloved planet is entering the unchartered waters of the Anthropocene Era. Said boffins have predicted this era will be short and nasty. It will soon be replaced by The Catastrophocene Era, which needs no explanation, the name says it all. It will be a wild ride for the few hardy species that survive the Anthropocene: Rats, pigeons, cockroaches and the odd stray homo-sapien.

The Catastrophoscene will last until the next major cataclysmic event. Hopefully by then the diversity of life on earth will have recovered to such an extent that a few species will survive that inevitable shock. They will in turn mutate and diversify and replenish the cup of lifeand so it goes. As the chart below shows us, relatively stable eras on planet earth are intermittently interrupted by sudden mass extinction events on a fairly regular basis, roughly every 60 100 million years, give or take a few eons. The earth needs at least 50 million years after a mass extinction event for life to recover its diversity to the point it was before the cataclysm. The last event was 65 million years ago. The world has recovered remarkably well in that brief interlude. It has matched the number of species present in the previous era, and surpassed it in leaps and bounds, adding an astonishing plethora of weird and wonderful creatures to the mix, including us. Misanthropes (and they are thick on the ground these days) might wistfully wish that a mass extinction event had happened just before humans turned up. But that did not happen, did it? We did turn upin great numbers, and made our presence felt. Every species on earth is now affected by our all pervading presence, but despite the relentless depredations of our fellow homo-sapiens, the present epoch is still the most diverse array of life that the earth has ever known. The era of abundance. It seems a shame to go and ruin it all in one fell swoop, just when things were looking good. But not only is it shameful beyond measure to insert an unnatural extinction event into the natural cycle, it is extremely dangerous. By proceeding with this folly, we create the very real risk of extinguishing all life on earth, every single species, bar none. (much like popping a second bullet in the revolver whilst playing Russian roulette)

After 65 million years we are overdue for a natural mass extinction event...

Yesterday, there were 840 million domestic dogs and cats in the world.¹

Today there will be even more.

Because they have a meat based diet, dogs leave a large ecological pawprint. (EPP) A 10 kilo dogs EPP is similar to a Japanese persons entire dietary footprint.² Now, obviously your average Japanese person does not have an average footprint, largely due to the amount of meat they dont eat. Japanese prefer fish, and plenty of it. (they wolf down more fish than anyone else in the world, cant get enough of the stuff) It is possible to harvest fish without disturbing the environment at all. You may stir up the water, but it in the blink of an eye it manages to find its original form. Magic!

In the U.S. on the other hand, (the land of excess) a dog has an EPP of 30% of a human. (Is that because in the US they like to starve their dogs? Or is it perhaps because in the US they manage to wolf-down 3 times as much meat as a Japanese?)

Ironically enough, most dogs are fed far more protein and fat than is good for them. So this leads to higher food costs, higher vet costs and higher environmental costs. It could even end up costing the earth, heaven forbid!

But its not only the dogs that are getting too much fat and protein, us humans are in the same sorry state. (it is a little known fact that unused protein is converted into fat, oh no! we all know fat is a no no.)  

What really irks me is that these large people and their large dogs and their large houses and their large cars and their enormous sense of entitlement, are often the same folks who  say, W...

Many of us are unaware that there are people who have lived in this country for generations but they still cannot speak English. These folks have lived here for more than 10 generations, possibly over 300,000 generations. Some of these obviously dinky-die Auzzies cannot speak a word of the language of their oppressors. Most can speak at least five local Australian languages way before they take on the utterly foreign tongue of the dominant culture of the day.

When migrants come to our shores we like to advise them that learning the language of the locals will make their life easier.

This is common sense. It is also backed by empirical evidence that if you fail to learn the language of the local culture this can lead to misunderstandings. More often than not, these misunderstandings lead to conflict. Sometimes these conflicts can lead to wholesale slaughter. This is exactly what happened when the first immigrants arrived on our shores, unannounced, uninvited and unwelcome. In their arrogance these uninvited guests refused to learn the language of their hosts, consequently missing out on a wealth of knowledge and wisdom about the country they had chosen to conquer. Refusing to learn the language of their hosts also meant they were unaware they were dealing with a highly developed and sophisticated culture that had figured out how to flourish in a volatile environment that can be extremely harsh at times, especially during an ice age. Rather than ask for advice from the locals, they chose to shoot them. They then set about plundering the defenceless environment, slowly but surely weakening the environments ability to thrive. That wilful ignorance on the part of the invaders persists to this day, exacerbated by a stubborn refusal to learn the language of our hosts. On the contrary, we demand that our hosts learn our language, and have gone to great lengths over the years to dissuade them from speaking their own languages.

Having failed in our concerted attempt at genocide, we are now having a go at cultural genocide. In the N.T. to this day the argument flops back and forth between teaching in the utterly foreign language of English, or using the language of the students themselves.

It is not beholden upon our hosts to learn English in order to be understood. You will never fully understand any of them this way, no matter how good their English is. If we really want to understand the first people to make this place their home, we will have to learn their languages. Only then will we begin to understand the enormous gulf between our cultures and why it is so hard for either of us to cross that gulf.

Hopefully learning at least one blackfella language will naturally lead to more respect for their culture. A culture tailored specifically for the unique climate and environment of this unique continent.

Dare I say that way may well discover that the first nations peoples of this strange land f...

Hey, lets all be optimistic today, just for a change.

Sure, we are on track to reach major irreversible tipping points like the reversal of the gulf stream current in the Atlantic, that keeps Western Europe 7^o  warmer, but they are used to the cold arent they?

I am an optimist. I am optimistic that we will all collectively realize before it is too late, that Net Zero Emissions by 2050 will not cut the mustard, and we will take appropriate action.

Or, if we dont, I am optimistic that we can build a society from the rubble that is focused on the things that matter:

Needs First Wants Last!

1 Ecosystems

2 Nurturers of the ecosystems

(especially blackfellas, they have a good track record in this area)

3 Houses, food, health for everyone in the world

(dont worry about clothes, we can get them from the Op shop)

4 All the other needs: Safety, security, wellbeing, psychological support, coffee, etc.

5 Last of all, Wants and Desires.

If we stop collecting money for the 3 people who own almost the entire world, and are hell-bent on getting hold of the rest, * we will have enough time on our hands to take care of all the worlds needs in about 2 or 3 days of each week. The rest of the week can be spent doing whatever takes our fancy. But be warned, most of the worlds resources will be taken up fulfilling our needs. There wont be much left over for frivolities, so try to make your frivolities resource free, like playing the violin, especially if your violin has been handed down from generation to generation of veneration.

*The bean counters have calculated that bean counting takes up at least one third of our working lives.

Why do we spend so much of our precious time counting our beans?

Because we dont want other people taking from us what we have garnered. But if we all agree that no one has the right to take from us what we own, then we must accept that we have no right to take from others what they own, no matter how much it is.

There is the rub. Other people are obviously much better at gathering wealth and keeping it than we are, and the more they have the easier it gets to get more. We feel we must accept this as the price we pay for keeping the little we have, and keeping alive the dream that one day we too can join them the filthy rich!

Well, do not despair, I have found a place where there is no money at all, not a cent. It is a beautiful place where everyone looks after the needs of all before they pursue their own wants.

That place is called Yenemon

...

Ben Laycock & Rilka Laycock-Walsh

Materials Carbon ( coal & cardboard)

Artist Statement

This work is about our collective ecological footprint.

Here on planet earth, we are currently enjoying the Holocene Era.

Sentient beings have been reaping the benefits of this era for some 65 million years.

Unfortunately for all of us sentient beings here on planet earth, this glorious era seems to be coming to an abrupt end. The boffins are telling us that our beloved planet is entering the unchartered waters of the Anthropocene Era.

Said boffins have predicted this era will be short and nasty. It will soon be replaced by The Catastrophocene Era. As the name suggests, the Catastrophocene will be a wild ride for the few hardy species that survive the Anthropocene.

Alas, it appears humans are unlikely to be among them.

It is predicted that the Catastrophoscene Era will last until the next giant asteroid hits the earth. Hopefully by then the diversity of life on earth will have recovered to such an extent that a few species will survive that inevitable shock.

As the chart below shows us, relatively stable eras on planet earth, are rudely interrupted by sudden mass extinction events on a fairly regular basis, roughly every 60 100 million years.

The earth needs at least 50 million years after a mass extinction event for life to recover its diversity to the point it was before the cataclysm. The last event was 65 million years ago. The world has recovered remarkably well in that brief interval.

It has matched the number of species present in the previous era, and surpassed it in leaps and bounds, adding an astonishing plethora of weird and wonderful creatures to the mix, including us. Misanthropes (and they are thick on the ground these days) might wistfully wish that a mass extinction event had happened just before humans turned up. But that did not happen, did it? We turned upin great numbers, and made our present felt. Every species on earth is now feeling our presence, and dont forget, despite our relentless depredations the present epoch is still the most diverse array of life that the earth has ever known. It seems a shame to go and ruin it all in one fell swoop. But not only is it shameful beyond measure, it is extremely dangerous. By inserting an extra extinction event into the cycle we create the very real risk of extinguishing all life on earth, every single species, bar none.

After 65 million years we are overdue for a natural mass extinction event. If that event happens to occur just after the human induced mass extinction event that we are working on at the moment, that will be a double whammy!

The old one-two, knock-out blow. Down for the count.

That is a big shame job, to have orchestrated the demise of 500 million years of glorious life on earth.  Hopeful...