A Sun Burnt Country

The sound of the ultralight buzzed like an angry Nat, skimming across the barren landscape like a bird of prey. 

Rick was now only 100 km from the east coast, all was dry or burnt, no rain had fallen for a few years, which meant no regrowth either. Although, he could see evidence of new fire storms, he really wondered what was left to burn.

        Nothing below ran from the ultralights shadow. It’s hard to believe this country once held dense bushland, stock, and kangaroos. He hadn’t flown over a wet dam in the last three days.

         No wonder the population migrated to the coastal plain. If this kept up, he thought, we’d be launching boats to somewhere else.

Well, that’s the irony of course, becoming a population of boat people, not from war, but from our own blindness, and inability to change.

         He remembered an old quote of Charles Darwin, 

“Intelligence is based on how efficient a species became at doing the things they need to survive.”

        It seemed to Rick, that was our first mistake by listening to successive governments who were more concerned with the bottom line, while totally ignoring a need for future survival.

         Rick jumped a little as the radio crackled to life, “how far out are you Rick, any evidence of life out there yet.”

         “No mate, nothing, if anything, it’s more barren than the last fly over two years ago.”

          “What about the dams.”

          “No evidence of rain, dams are just cracked basins. Can’t even say I’ve seen a lizard or snake. Definitely, no mammals.”

          “What about creek beds.”

          “Mate, there’s nothing, creeks and rivers are dry and sandy, their banks have crumbled from lack of surrounding foliage. Heaps of soil erosion, I’d say from wind storms.”

          “What of mountain coverage.”

Uluru Australia

          “Fred, are you listening to me. The landscape is dead, over the mountains I could see straight to the ground, the rocky outcroppings, and grand scale landslides. There are no significant stabilising trees. The gums are so much fallen deadwood.

          “Ok, I get you. Anything else?”

          “I’ve taken quite a few new ariels, and compared them with what I brought with me.”

          “That was the idea.”

          “Yep. You want the bad news.”

          “Shit Rick, it can’t be any worse than you’ve just said.”

          “Yeah, well, actually it can, and it is. The dead zone has extended at least another 200 km closer to the coast than last time, and the ambient temp at ground level has risen by about 3 degrees.”

          “Hope you’ve got some answers for us then.”

          “Sorry mate, to late for answers, and you’re forgetting, I’m only a scientist, you’re the government guru. If I remember rightly, the Morrison government didn’t believe in science.”

          “Christ, Rick, that was 50 years ago. I don’t even remember Scott Morrison.”

          “I’m older than you, and I remember the whole stinking lot of them.”

          “Ok, Rick, come on back in. There’s nothing else out there to see.”

          “Oh, there’s plenty to see, Fred, it’s just to late to fix it.”

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