Opinion: As climate changes, we need the arts more than ever

In the 1997 film “Titanic,” Wallace Hartley, the violinist and leader of the band on the ill-fated ship, turns to his bandmates as the water rises around him and says: “Gentlemen, it has been a privilege playing with you tonight.” Is the only contribution musicians and other artists can make at this moment in history to bravely go down with the ship, lifting the spirits of fellow passengers? On its own terms that’s an honourable contribution, but surely we can do more.

We now need arts more than ever.

It’s often said that a novel, a painting, a song or a motion picture changed the world. What that really means is, it changed how a lot of people thought or felt about the world.

Anthropologists and historians rightly argue that society’s major transformations have emerged not from the arts, but from our relationship to our environment — for example, our shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture, or from using firewood as our main energy source to using fossil fuels.

Read Richard Heinberg’s Ensia piece - “Opinion: As climate changes, we need the arts more than ever.”

How riding to work is becoming a pursuit of the wealthy

Australia's band of commuter cyclists is growing.

Melbourne is Australia's ride-to-work capital.

More than 100,000 people now ride to work after an 8.8 per cent increase between 2011 and 2016, analysis of the latest census by consultancy firm SGS Economics and Planning shows.

The typical bike commuter is a male, white collar worker who lives four to eight kilometres from the central business district. They also tend to earn significantly more than average.

Melbourne is Australia's ride-to-work capital – it had 29,000 commuter cyclists in 2016, about 27 per cent of the national total. Fitzroy North, Carlton North and Brunswick East were among the suburbs with a big share of bike commuters.

Read Matt Wade’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “How riding to work is becoming a pursuit of the wealthy.”