'Kicking the footy' Beneath the Wisteria

Saturday's AFL grand final will be “played” in Shepparton’s Maude St Mall.

Those who gather Beneath the Wisteria will discuss the role of football in society, its prodigious use of energy, its impact on our changing climate and therefore its sustainability.

Football is something of a religion for many in which they have invested much of their being, but convener, Mr Robert McLean, said that when considered analytically AFL-style football contradicts much of what we need to do to mitigate the causes of climate change.

The frivolous use of energy, most of it generated by burning fossil fuels, is what primarily allows the AFL to operate on a national basis.

Tomorrow’s discussion will not resolve the issue other than illustrate that what we consider to be an everyday occurrence and so an ingredient of our daily lives is exactly what is worsening the damage to our atmosphere.

Also, discussion will also focus on decisions taken by Australia’s new government and the impact those decisions will have on climate change mitigation.

The “Grand Final” edition of Beneath the Wisteria will be held tomorrow at the northern-end of the Maude St Mall starting at 11:30am.

Some seating is available, but those attending are encouraged to bring a folding chair. The event is open to the public and free.

Talking 'Beneath the Wisteria' about being prepared

For more than a century now the Scouts of the world have aimed to be prepared.

Like the Scouts, we
 need to
 "Be prepared'.

That is an idea that each of us should heed and will be discussed at Saturday's gathering Beneath the Wisteria in Shepparton’s Maude St Mall, at which a local response to our changing climate will be considered.

Organizer, Mr Robert McLean, said there is an urgency and importance about responding to climate change; a need for decision and action with a haste that exceeds the imagination or understanding of most.

“We have seen less than a one degree increase in global temperatures over pre-industrial times and with a two degree increase already unavoidable, the damaging weather events never before seen in recorded history can only become even more destructive,” he said.

“Like the Scouts”, he said, “We need to be prepared”.

“That shift in our thinking, our way of living,” Mr McLean said, “is going to demand a wholesale reappraisal of how we live, how we co-exist with our neighbours, our communities and, more broadly, others throughout the world.”

The scouting movement, he points out, wants to contribute to the education of young people, through a value system based on the promise and law, to help build a better world, where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society.

“We can morph that set of values into our response to climate change and in doing so help create a beautiful society in which people understand that humanity, despite our often grandiose beliefs, is really just a small part of the total biosphere,” Mr McLean said.

The Saturday, October 27, gathering Beneath the Wisteria, which is free and open to all, starts at 11:30am. Some seating is available, but those attending should bring a folding chair, along with an open and inquisitive mind.

“The implications of our changing climate are so grave,” Mr McLean said, “that all should join the conversation to be at least mentally and emotionally prepared.”