Having just failed at something, I typed “on failure” into Google. I wanted to wallow, to exaggerate, to really go into the feeling that this is the End of the World, that Nothing Could be Worse (impossible to type these things and continue to be serious). Of course it’s not the end of the world and a lot of things are far, far worse. I still have the use of all my faculties, most of my health. My nearest and dearest are all, as I write this, alive and accounted for.

Anyway, see how quickly I’ve moved from wanting to get to the bottom of failure all the way over to “It’s not that bad”?

This mirrors what just happened on Google. I wanted to read about the abject, miserable, total and utter failure of others. What I got was a series of chirpy “failure is crucial to success” pieces topped off by the story of J.K. Rowling, who was once a poverty-stricken single mother and is now stratospherically successful.

But what about the non-J.K. Rowlings? That’s what I want to find out about. People with dreams, talent, determination, intelligent perseverance, who practice every day, write a little every day … and still fail. The people for whom there is no happy ending, only disappointment. Where am I going to get that story?

The other day my friend Lisa told me (in a text message) about her sister’s husband’s uncle. This man, John Cramer, “was a v talented cartoonist but had not come 2 much getting published only a few times in Private Eye. He was part of a troupe of cartoonists who designed for the yellow submarine film but he was the one who actually created said submarine!”

Interesting. Another person might consider designing the yellow submarine and getting published in Private Eye at all the very definition of success. As the chirpy pieces say, it’s all about what you wanted, what you thought you might get, what you thought you might be allowed to hope for. And then having that dashed, smashed, nebulised.

Maybe I could write a book or make a documentary about failure, and in this way, become a success.

This week I watched a marvellous video on YouTube. It wasn’t the one with the cat flushing the toilet or the twin babies talking. It was much closer to home: a video about exactly what happens to the stuff that goes into our yellow-lidded recycled bins. The video, by Bathurst Regional Council, follows a plastic bottle and a few other items as they get picked up at the kerb and go through a partly mechanised, partly human-powered sorting system and then off to be re-made into new items. It’s not as funny as the cat flushing the toilet – in fact it’s not funny at all – but it does show how important recycling is to keeping mountains of rubbish out of landfill. The web address is: http://youtu.be/46dJuKh3_is

I note that Bob Irwin, father of the late Steve Irwin, has been arrested for protesting against coal seam gas in Queensland. Those of us who saw the film Gasland in Bathurst can understand why he has put himself out on a limb like this. The process of “fracking” rock to get at gas is an environmental disaster. I hope that the new O’Farrell state government, via our local member and mayor Paul Toole, will take heed of community fears about the rush to coal seam gas.

While BCCAN has members who support parties across the political spectrum, including the Coalition, I must say that for me, it was a huge relief that Orange councillor Jeremy Buckingham from the Greens trumped Pauline Hanson for a seat in the upper house. We now have another strong voice in parliament for action on climate change and support for renewable energy.

As part of the Autumn Heritage festival, there’s a fun bike-riding activity for the whole family. Pick up a pack from the visitors’ centre and go on a self-guided bike ride to points of interest on the heritage trail. Details: 1800 681 000.

Coming up towards the end of the month, a key player in wind farm energy is coming to town. Jonathan Upson, Senior Development Manager of Infigen Energy, will address a public meeting about the benefits of widfarms at the Bathurst RSL on Thursday, April 28 at 5pm. All are welcome.

While I was waiting for my coffee at Al Dente the other day (using my recycled plastic KeepCup, I might add), I noticed a sign on the counter asking cyclists to lift their bikes over the railing into the garden area rather than have them crowd the footpaths. Al Dente, like Elie’s, is a favourite among our lycra cyclists. Now I see that there’s a controversy over whether or not there should be a bike rack on that corner, with some other businesses in the area saying no.

I think there’s an excellent business case (as well as an environmental one) for saying yes to more bike racks in Keppel Street. Keppel Street is arguably our most charming street, with the grand sweep down to the railway station, the line of heritage street lamps, the library and art gallery complex and plenty of cafes and boutiques. It’s a foot-friendly street, perfect for strolling in, unlike the shopping malls that invite you to drive underground into a concrete car park that could be anywhere.

The beauty of many European cities flows directly from the fact that they were established before the rule of the private motor car and that they continue to support pedestrian precincts, cycling and excellent public transport. Keppel Street has a touch of that vibe now, and encouraging cycling is a great way to enhance it. It’s in walking, strolling and cycling that people are more likely to spend the “moseying” time needed to wander into a shop and check out the wares.

At the same time, we need more dedicated cycle paths. It’s these that will get the daggy, non-lycra cyclists among us out on our bikes more often. If it’s rude to be on the footpath and dangerous to be on the road, we’re less likely get to the bike racks in the first place. (Fortunately, the Council’s new bike plan takes this on board.)
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A key player in wind farm energy is coming to town. Jonathan Upson, Senior Development Manager of Infigen Energy, will address a public meeting in the Courtyard Room at the Bathurst RSL on Thursday, April 28 at 5pm. Jonathon Upson will talk about the success of wind energy overseas, give a brief overview of the technology and “explode wind energy myths”. All are welcome.

Today it’s all about green. I walked into a meeting at 9am and there was my colleague Fiona with a great big brooch in the shape of a green mug of Guinness. And when I went to get a flat white, all the girls in the cafe were in green: green glittery glasses, a huge green felt hat, green Guinness antennas. They went about their business like cheerful elves. In the cake display, some sponge cake with splats of green icing.

Off I went, back to my green car, walking over some nice green grass. (It was as though my eyes had been primed for green, so the grass looked particularly green.) When I got home I noticed there was mail hanging out of my green letterbox. In it – yes, you guessed! – a Green letter! Actually it was a brochure from Diane Solomon Westerhuis, Greens candidate for the seat of Bathurst. She is sitting on the front of the brochure on green grass with her husband and two Scottie dogs, one white and one black (although the white one has been obscured by text, so you only see its ears).

Flora and fauna updates

My friend Ray Mjadwesch has emailed me a photo of Hester the hare. We’re hoping she’ll make it onto the Daily Bunny. Fingers crossed. If not, you can still see Hester here.

If there was ever a polarising issue, then the carbon tax would have to be it. Each side feels that the truth is self-evident and the other lot are barking mad or positively dangerous. At the moment, it would appear that Tony Abbott’s “people’s revolt”, egged on by the talk-back kings, has the upper hand.

Of all the confounding ideas being thrown around by those opposing the tax is the idea that carbon is not pollution because it’s “everywhere” and it’s “natural”. Excuse me, but this is a very stupid argument (yes, the gloves are off). Cyanide is also natural. Cyanide is present in apple seeds. If you eat apple seeds in small doses (the odd apple seed, even quite a few of them) nothing terrible happens. But if you were to save up all your apple seeds and put them in a bowl and eat a dinner of them, you might not live to reach the bottom of the bowl.

Pollution is about unsafe concentrations of substances. We need carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to give us the greenhouse effect that nurtures life on earth. Without it, we’d freeze over. The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the warmer we get. For years now, scientists from organisations like the CSIRO here in Australia and NASA in the United States have been trying to tell us that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is reaching unsafe levels.

For all of human history up until very recently, we have had an atmospheric carbon concentration of 275 parts per million (ppm). We are now at 388ppm. Scientists agree that this particular rise cannot be explained by a “natural cycle”, but is the direct result of humanity burning fossil fuels since the industrial revolution. We’re concentrating our apple seeds, here. We need to throw this trend into reverse.

The most maddening thing about the “people’s revolt” is its reliance on a willful denial of scientific facts. It is one thing to oppose the carbon tax as policy, but quite another to encourage confusion about the mechanisms of climate change. Unfortunately, the science of climate change is hard to explain in eight-second sound grabs. A shock jock has no time for considered argument. He will cut you off if you disagree with him.
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Tracy Sorensen is the publicity officer for Bathurst Community Climate Action Network (BCCAN). Visit www.bccan.org.au. This piece was originally written for The Western Advocate, Bathurst’s daily newspaper.

PS: This just in: Atmospheric CO2 hit 391.76 ppm in Feb 2011 — the highest in 2.1 million years. http://co2now.org