Speech at Peoples Climate Assembly, Parliament House

Last year we went from bushfires, from 12 million hectares of Australia burning, dozens of lives lost and over a billion animals killed, straight into a global pandemic.

We’ve been living with a huge amount of uncertainty. And this can feel really overwhelming and scary. Some fear is probably an appropriate response. Fear about what the future will hold and how we can look after ourselves and our families. Fear about what sort of world we’re walking into. 

While we’ve seen uncertainty and fear, we’ve also seen just how capable humans are when we put our minds to something. We’ve seen what we can do when we listen to experts and make decisions that are in the interests of everyone in our society, not just a select few. 

We are capable of extraordinary things when we have the courage to act. And right now, we need courage when it comes to action on climate change. 

We have to act now and we have to act fast. Experts are telling us that. 

We can act now by ditching the gas led recovery, and instead investing in a just transition to renewables and the decarbonisation of our economy. We can set clear, ambitious targets and develop a roadmap of how to get there.

We can act to look after the people and places we love. Our families. Our farmers. Our forests. Our wildlife. The Great Barrier Reef. 

Like so many other immigrants, I have fallen in love with this amazing continent. It is a true privilege to call it home. Home to the world’s oldest living cultures and full of so much natural wonder, none more so perhaps than the Great Barrier Reef. If we fail to act now we will lose the reef. Scientists are telling us that. Scientists are imploring us to act now.

The great barrier reef, a wonder of the world, will die. We’ll be the generation that stood by and allowed the reef to die. Actually, it's not that we’re allowing the reef to die, we’re killing it with inaction. What does it mean for us as a country if we are willing to stand by and watch this happen? We should be doing everything we can and showing global leadership to save the reef.

Looking after the reef means saying no to a gas led recovery.

As the son of a farmer I was horrified to see government data showing farm profits are down 22% since 2000 due to the impacts of climate change. Our farmers are already struggling with the impacts of a changing climate. Yet the same government that produced this data has approved coal mines on prime agricultural land, given Santos the green light for their massive gas project in the Pilliga and wants to open up the Northern Territory to fracking. 

Looking after farmers means saying no to a gas led recovery.

This home that we love so much is on fire and is struggling to cope. Our home is on fire and we’re subsidising fossil fuel projects. 

But we can tell a different story.

We are better than a gas led recovery. We can change course. And we must change course.

We have seen with Covid that we can listen to the experts. We can take strong, decisive action to protect ourselves, our communities, and our future. We can make decisions that are in the interests of all of us. 

We are facing an even greater challenge than covid in the climate and biodiversity crises. Thankfully we have experts, like Will Steffen here today and many others, who have dedicated their lives to understanding problems like these and how to solve them. 

We already have the technology, the natural resources, the know-how to get the job done. Scientists are telling us this. 

We have a narrow window to act. We have to act now. Scientists are telling us this too. 

This could be a huge threat or a massive opportunity for us as a country, it’s our choice. We need bold climate action now ‘to save lives, and livelihoods as well.’

We all stand to benefit in the long term from bold action on climate change. This shouldn’t be about which side of politics you’re on - whether you’re on this team or that team.

This is about all of us and what our futures will be.

We must demand our government spend our money in ways that will create jobs and create the Australia we all want. 

We can face this challenge together and we must face this challenge together.

We must say NO to a gas led recovery and say YES to a better future for all Australians.

Image: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

40+ of my training programs in an Ebook

A new e-book by my former Western Force S&C Coach, Brendyn Appleby.  BA has compiled an array of programs I used at the start of my professional career.  There are over 40 programs with brief explanations behind their creation and implementation.  A great resource for players and coaches.  Best of all, he is donating all proceeds to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

You can find the book and more about BA and other resources here

Last copies of In Our Nature

We're selling the last copies of In Our Nature and aiming to get them in the post for Christmas. We've made it $50 INCLUDING postage. $50 total.

If you order 4 books I'll throw in a custom headgear worth $135 (size Large). I got them custom made so you won't find the same colour anywhere. There are only 5 of these available.

In Our Nature contains photos from myself and others (including award winning photographers), essays, poems and a sense of hope for these uncertain times we're living in. All profits are going to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy to support endangered species like the amazing Numbat. I was blown away to learn that there are, at most, 2000 of these amazing marsupials left in Australia, and AWC protects at least 30% of this population.

They're one of the only small marsupials that are diurnal (active during the day) - wouldn't it be cool to see more of them around in the future?!

Doco and reading list

Quarantined? Looking for something to fill the time? Use this time to armour up for the climate crisis, learn about regenerative agriculture, do some inner work or dive into some top-shelf Nature reading.

Em and I put together this list of recommended reading in our book In Our Nature. Lots of second-hand booksellers who will deliver promptly and some great documentaries on the list!

Let's use this time to think about the bigger crisis coming if we don't change our relationship with the natural world that sustains us. You can also still pick up a copy of In Our Nature right here.

Stay well and take care of each other.

Favourites:

2040, a documentary by Damon Gameau and their website https://whatsyour2040.com/

Fresh the documentary. iTunes store link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/fresh/id497110815

Not Just a Game, a documentary by Dave Zirin. Hard to find online but you can see parts of it here on YouTube. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 

ABC Story Lab: What you’d spend to prevent climate change — and what you could get with your money

A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright 

Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities, Rebecca Solnit

The Earth Has a Soul: The Nature Writings of C.G. Jung, Carl Jung

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead, Brene Brown

Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives, James Hollis 

Living an Examined Life; Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey, James Hollis

Finding Resilience: Change and Uncertainty in Nature and Society, Brian Walker

Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life, David Montgomery

Silent Spring, Rachel Carson

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, David Wallace-Wells

Half-Earth: our planet’s fight for life, Edward O. Wilson

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari

Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture – A New Earth, Charles Massy

New and Selected Poems, Volume One, Mary Oliver

New and Selected Poems, Volume Two, Mary Oliver

Out of the Scientist’s Garden: A Story of Water and Food, Richard Stirzaker

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, Dan Barber

Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love, bell hooks

Walden, Henry David Thoreau

A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold

An Arid Eden: A Personal Account of Conservation in the Kaokoveld, Garth Owen-Smith

Life is Like a Kudu Horn: A Conservation Memoir, Maragaret Jacobsohn

Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture, Gabe Brown. You can see Gabe in this short video on regenerative agriculture

Regenerative Agriculture essay in the Guardian

“We need a revolution in Australia. Many can sense that. We’re richer than ever, but when it comes to our environment and the climate we’re in a big hole – and we need to stop digging. We must find new ways of living on this incredible continent we have brought to the brink of climatic and ecological catastrophe. If that sounds bleak, it is. But what if the revolution we need is already taking place; in the space between our ears and the ground beneath our feet?”

Tarkine photos in The Hobart Mercury

You can read more about takayna/the Tarkine here and in In Our Nature - available now.

The Uninhabitable Earth

David Wallace-Well’s book (with the same title as his 2017 article that you can read here) is well worth reading. It’s a compilation and exploration of the work of climate scientists and their modeling of what the world may look like based on how much warming is already locked in and how much action we take (or don’t take) to halt emissions. It is really tough going at times reading how much trouble we are in and then seeing how little action is being taken at a government and global level. We need leadership and we need action now. I took a heap of notes and have put a few below.

In the face of climate breakdown and an ecological emergency we need bold thinking and a re-imagining of our place in Nature and our relationship with our home.

Earth Day 2019

On Earth Day I was thinking about what an incredible gift it is to call this planet home. I think we often get caught up chasing the extraordinary, the 'special', and sometimes miss out on appreciating the simple beauty around us every day.

I find one of Mary Oliver's poems such a great reminder to take time to notice the little things and appreciate our place in Nature.

Is there something that reminds you of this? A favourite photo, poem or quote?

Invitation by Mary Oliver

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

Student strike gets Pocock’s support

David Pocock has slammed greedy corporates and politicians while hailing the thousands of students who will walk out of classrooms on Friday for the climate strike march.

The Wallabies star is the first Australian athlete to voice support for the students, who have come under intense fire from politicians and media commentators.

“This school climate march is pretty exciting, for so long we’ve just ignored future generations and have very much built up wealth at the expense of the planet,” Pocock told Rugby Confidential.

“You’ve got a whole bunch of kids now who potentially won’t even be voting age before some fairly serious climate breakdown, if scientists are correct.

“So to see kids actually decide that they want a voice, and to organise something like this strike on Friday, I certainly think it’s exciting for democracy and Australia’s future.

“Hopefully our leaders take notice and take some action.

David Pocock attends a protest outside Parliament House in Canberra in February against the proposed Adani coal mine. Picture: AAP

“We have to be making decisions with a long-term view, there’s no point having wealth and prosperity, and in a few decades time not having a liveable planet.

“That’s the challenge for younger generations, to push for that and create an environment where those hard decisions get made.

“I certainly don’t remember a school strike, that’s a real sign of young people standing up and getting involved.

“People are starting to realise we live on this incredible planet that is clearly finite, yet we’ve got this economy that seems to think we’ve got infinite resources.”

Pocock, who seems destined to have a political future ahead of him once his rugby career is finished – potentially by the end of this year due to persistent injury – has been engaging with several students recently about climate change.

“Young people have grown up in a country where politics has largely been irrelevant, there’s never been a poor economy or recession, so young people have taken that for granted in Australia, largely for white middle-class Australians,” Pocock said.

“Obviously if you’re Aboriginal or part of the Sudanese community, you know the impact that politics can have.”

“But they’re learning all this stuff about climate change in school and asking, ‘What’s happening? Why aren’t our leaders acting?’”

Interview by Jamie Pandaram. The original article first appeared here.

Rugby.com.au mini doco

Marty Cambridge from Rugby Australia spent a week with us in Zimbabwe last year and produced 3 videos as a snapshot of what we were up to at the time he visited.

The Chameleon

I met Richard Stirzaker not long after I moved to Canberra towards the end of 2012.

Watching Rich and his passion and commitment to helping small scale farmers around the world has been inspiring. I’ve been involved with some beta testing and used the Chameleon in our home garden and while in Zimbabwe in 2017.

We even got around to making a few videos about the Chameleon and the Virtual Irrigation Academy (VIA).

For more information check out VIA.farm

Ice Cream

I often get asked about the kinds of food I eat for recovery. I wrote about bone broth in a previous post.

This is one I had a lot of when I was back in Canberra after breaking my hand. While I couldn't do any contact work so my hand could heal, I was training pretty hard with a lot of fitness work in the altitude room.

We had already rented our house out so were staying with friends Richard and Mary. They have an ice cream maker so Em put it to good use making Dave Asprey's ice cream. It is so good! Definitely worth making if you have access to an ice cream maker - which I know not everyone does.

Em used Professional Whey's Cacao powder, butter and coconut oil and subbed the MCT oil for Nuilife's Coconut Clarity.

Ingredients

• 4 whole eggs 
• 4 yolks (in addition to the whole eggs above)
• 2 tsp vanilla 
• 10 drops apple cider vinegar 
• 100 grams (7 tbs) butter
• 100 grams (7tbs) coconut oil 
• 50 grams (3tbs + 2tsp) MCT oil (important for consistency) 
• 80 grams (5.5tbs) xylitol 
• ~100 grams water or ice (just under 1/2 cup; add less than you think you need, then increase the amount).
• (optional) 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cacao powder

Methods

1. Blend everything but the water/ice in blender. It takes a while to get the butter blended into perfect creaminess.
2. Add water or ice and blend some more until well blended. Ideally, you want a yogurt-like consistency for creamy ice cream, or add more water for a firmer, icier texture
3. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and turn it on.

Surfing with Mark Matthews - 'The Joy of Fear'

Earlier in the year I was contacted by Mark Matthews. I knew he was a big wave surfer and had seen videos of him surfing ridiculously big waves (see below). And also getting crunched by ridiculously big waves - checkout YouTube. But didn't know much else about him. He said he was keen to catch up to talk about fear. It sounded pretty interesting coming from someone who, to most of us, does something that seems to require an above average ability to deal with fear. So we organised to catch up and it was filmed for his new series, 'The Joy of Fear'.

We talk about my poor surfing, how I prepare for games, dealing with injury and a few other things. And also went for a surf in the rain.

Mark Matthews surfing Ship Stern Bluff in Tasmania

Chocolate Ricotta Muffins

These Chocolate Ricotta Muffins are great for a treat.

Recipe makes 20

Ingredients
125g butter
180g 70% or darker chocolate
700g ricotta
4 eggs
3/4 cup natvia/xylitol
1 and 1/2 cups milk
4 cups of almond meal
3 Tblspn PW cacao
2 Tblspn baking powder
150g chopped PW walnuts

Method
Melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat. Set to one side to cool. In a big bowl whisk (or use an electric beater) ricotta, eggs and sweetener for 2 minutes. Pour in chocolate mixture while beating. Then stir through milk. In a separate bowl mix almond meal, cacao and baking powder to remove any lumps. Fold this through wet mix and finally fold through the walnuts. Spoon into lined muffins tins and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Tales by Light

Last night I was at a screening of Abraham Joffe's Tales by Light Season 2. The episode that screened was incredibly beautiful and powerful. It allowed us a glimpse into the world of Jonathan and Angela Scott, who have spent decades telling the stories of big cats, as they work to help reconnect humans with nature and protect the Masai Mara.

There are other episodes in the Tales by Light series and they're all definitely worth checking out.

World Rhino Day 2016

Today is World Rhino Day.

I was lucky last year to spend some time at Malilangwe in Zimbabwe, who have an incredible story of conservation and community involvement. I was there with the SAVE African Rhino Foundation who support a number of projects in Zimbabwe.
 
Above is a video from a morning I spent training with some men taking part in a ranger selection course. These are the heroes of rhino conservation - spending their days and nights patrolling and protecting these amazing animals.

I had the privilege of tracking rhino on foot at Savé Valley Conservancy and Malilangwe. Rhino are incredibly powerful but also very vulnerable due to their poor eyesight. This is a photo I took on foot - we were down-wind of this mother and calf White Rhino and were able to get within 25 metres or so as they kept walking towards us, before we moved back so we didn't disturb them.

Reflecting on 'Strength to Care'

I am waiting for surgery later this afternoon on a fracture in my hand and I’ve been thinking a bit about my involvement with the Strength to Care campaign that dove men+ care have run this year during the test matches in Australia. They have done some stuff with the Wallabies over the last few years exploring what guys care about - family, relationships, kindness, integrity. They asked me to be involved in extending that campaign.

Having grown up idolising rugby players, I’m very aware that we often just get to see them on TV on the weekend - when they’re on the field giving their all as ‘tough’ rugby players, displaying a certain kind of strength. Now people get to see a lot more of their lives with social media but this is mostly a highly curated and ‘filtered’ version of who we want others to see us as - the lifestyle we want to portray. I am certainly guilty of this. No time am I more conscious of it than when awaiting surgery and realising no one sees the pain, frustration, sorrow and guilt that so often accompanies the kind of masculinity seen on the field and the degree of dependence we all have on the people around us: team mates, family, partners, doctors and mentors. This is not the ruggedly individual masculinity portrayed in media myth-making of footballers, nor perhaps the way we’d like to portray ourselves.

In taking part in the campaign and spending time with the team who produced the series, I was hoping to talk about some of the fears I have and challenges I face. My experience is not unique: we all have fears and things we struggle with and my hope was that by talking about these things we could continue a conversation about the notion of ‘strength’ and what it looks like. I believe we show strengh when we begin to be more honest about who we are, acknowledging that who we are is a lot more complicated than we often make out. In doing so we are able to better care for ourselves and have more to give to the people around us.

The strongest people I know and admire are certainly not the most physically strong, but rather have an inner strength - a willingness to live with ambiguity. As James Hollis says, “fear of our own depths is the enemy.” In talking about our fears we can begin to explore these depths. None of us have it all together - and that’s nothing to be ashamed of - it’s what makes us human. In making ourselves vulnerable and talking about it, i believe we show true strength.

Caring for yourself

On the back of our toilet door at home we have this quote

“We are not here to fit in, be well balanced, or provide exempla for others. We are here to be eccentric, different, perhaps strange, perhaps merely to add our small piece, our little clunky, chunky selves, to the great mosaic of being. As the gods intended, we are here to become more and more ourselves.”

— James Hollis - What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life

I'm an avid reader and admirer of James Hollis' work and his challenge to look within, in order to become more ourselves and have more to offer the world. In a world that seems to demand so much of us, it is often hard to find this time, or it may seem selfish, but as Hollis says, "the paradox of individuation is that we best serve intimate relationship [and any relationship] by becoming sufficiently developed in ourselves that we do not need to feed off others."

One of my favourite books is his book Hauntings - a challenging read, but well worth it.

What is strength?

In exploring the idea of having the ‘Strength to Care’ I spent a lot of time thinking about what our culture identifies as strength and what this leads to. Brené Brown, a social researcher from the University of Texas, explains that men “live under the pressure of one unrelenting message: Do not be perceived as weak.”

“Learning to wear a mask (that word already embedded in the term ‘masculinity’) is the first lesson in patriarchal masculinity that a boy learns. He learns that his core feelings cannot be expressed if they do not conform to the acceptable behaviours sexism defines as male. Asked to give up the true self in order to realize the patriarchal ideal, boys learn self-betrayal early and are rewarded for these acts of soul murder.”

— bell hooks, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love

I remember reading “boys learn self-betrayal early and are rewarded for these acts of soul murder” and thinking, ‘wow! That is some strong language’. Too strong, I thought. That was until I began to look at the way my thinking and life has been shaped by our patriarchal culture that privileges ‘rational thinking’ and ‘achievement’ over other things like caring, making ourselves vulnerable, articulating our feelings, and really connecting with our fellow human beings. I know this has been true in my own life. While I grew up in a home where crying was never frowned upon, and I was encouraged to share my feelings, there is no escaping the cultural messages that surround us as kids. 

As hooks also says, we can’t teach boys that "real men" (and real strength) “either do not feel or do not express feelings, then expect boys to feel comfortable getting in touch with their feelings.”

My idea of strength has definitely changed – I no longer see anger as the ultimate display of strength but look for power in those around me expressing their joys and sorrows – seeing the ability to understand, process and express a full range of emotions as being deeply human and incredibly strong.

This has been very confronting as I have realised how disconnected I have been from my emotions – at times finding it difficult to process and articulate them. I don’t think this experience is unique to me. Being able to access our emotional/feeling side and all the different parts of ourselves – our ‘inner community’ if you like – is to live a fuller, more whole life.

If you want to read a little bit more here’s an essay by bell hooks. If you want to read more than a little bit more, bell hooks – ‘The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love’ and Brené Brown – ‘Daring Greatly’ are worth checking out.

Strength to Care

Last year I was looking through some family home videos my mum had as Australian Story were after some footage. I was watching an under 10's rugby game I was playing in and one of the kids tackled with his head on the wrong side and someone landed, full bodyweight, on his head. The kid started crying - as you would at that age. The ref stopped the game to check if he was ok, and at the same time the opposition coach marched onto the field, stood over this poor kid and yelled, "Stop your crying! Be a man!"

I don't remember this incident - it's not something that had made an impression on me at all and don't think I'd watched that game again since.

We grow up with different notions, implicit and explict, of what it is to be 'strong' and I think that pausing to think about and maybe re-evaluate some of the views we have is really important.

I certainly grew up in a world where men were meant to be tough and not show any weaknesses, to keep going and just get on with things - I would never have been so sure of this until watching that video. 

I decided to be involved in the project because I've realised how damaging and restrictive this sort of worldview is and how it is our fears and vulnerabilities that make us human.

More short videos will be released over June that will hopefully explore a few more things around this idea of strength and 'Strength to Care'.