Having lived in Australia all my life I have grown up with a keen sense of nature, of a big country that is always a breath away no matter how civilised we might think ourselves. I’ve done very little overseas traveling but in my own country I’ve been everywhere, as a child we went camping most school holidays, I remember long bushwalks and crashing surf. The baking heat of summer, it was always hot for my birthday in february, we would run around in bare feet and it felt like the holidays lasted forever! Tim Freedman from “The Whitlams” has a lovely line in his song “Little Cloud” where he talks about the fence shimmering in the heat as if it wants to disappear, just that one image captures my childhood summers perfectly.
Tim Winton describes Australia as “more landscape than culture” and explained, “I was calibrated differently to a European. Everything we do in our country is still overshadowed and underwritten by the seething tumult of nature.”
Maybe you have to go traveling to really understand your own culture or at least get a different perspective, for me nature is woven into my everyday reality, especially as I am living in the bush at the moment. and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But it is fascinating to try to imagine what it’s like for those who have grown up in very different environments, how difficult is it for someone who has grown up surrounded by people and buildings to actually connect to nature when they get the chance? And how important is it for human beings to feel that connection to their natural environment?
I would say that it is vital and one of the key elements of the evolution of humanity, in order to be good caretakers we need to get to know the amazing systems that have evolved on this wonderful planet called Earth. Have a look at this inspiring short film that shows just how connected we are to the planet we call home, enjoy!
Through the Vortex 