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Conservation

AS BUSHFIRES ravaged much of the Australian landscape in early 2020, passionate Australian authors Leah Kaminsky and Meg Keneally wondered what they could do to help. Leah, a long-time animal lover, and Meg, a scuba diver with an interest in our country’s unique marine life, were both distressed by images of the destruction of precious habitat for our native animals.

Now, the pair have teamed up to produce Animals Make Us Human -- a collection of responses to Australia’s singularly beautiful native wildlife by some of the country’s finest writers and wildlife photographers.

Little did Leah and Meg know when putting this collection together that 2020 would be defined not just by the bushfires, but by a pandemic that would create tragedy the world over. Never has there been a more important moment to remember that animals really do make us human – that we are all part of nature, part of a bigger order, and that we owe so much to the planet and to each other.

Animals Make Us Human

Leah Kaminsky

Photos: Gillian Rayment

In the midst of the 2019-2020 bushfires, I opened a window in my suburban Melbourne house and pungent smoke filled the room. The enormity of the catastrophe suddenly became acutely palpable, beyond my TV screen that spewed out continuous horrific images of people stranded on beaches, or screaming koalas engulfed in flames. The radio announced an estimated 3 billion native creatures had already been decimated. I felt galvanised to do something, but at the same time any action I might take felt minuscule in the face of the enormity of this catastrophe. But the only activism I’ve ever known is through my writing, so the idea for an anthology to raise money for Australian wildlife was born.
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I called Meg Keneally to ask her to join me as co-editor and before I’d even finished the sentence, she agreed. Penguin Books were very enthusiastic about the project and Meredith Curnow and her team worked tirelessly over several months, to produce a book of exquisite art and heart. Everyone worked pro-bono - generous writers shared personal stories of encounters with wildlife they loved, and photographers took our collective breath away with their captivating images. We are thrilled to have included stories not just about charismatic animals, but also some we had never heard of.

Emma Viskic writes about the tiny phascogale, a marsupial with a tail that resembles a feather boa. Shaun Tan remembers his childhood love for a red wattle bird he called Pippi Eugene, and Bruce Pascoe admires the common but clever Little Black Cormorant. Geraldine Brooks waxes lyrical about a huntsman spider who has taken up residence in her bedroom, bringing a taste of the wilderness inside.

The stories in this collection engender empathy for both iconic and unmet creatures alike. Nature writing is traditionally seen as reassuringly refreshing, an escape from urban modernity, but with precious wild spaces rapidly contracting in our country, as well as around the globe, it must take on a more urgent call for action. Creating a book like this during a pandemic, which saw many of us holed up at home, had its challenges. Meg worked her ‘day’ job into the wee hours as I scurried to and from my clinic, donning and doffing protective equipment. It was truly a joy for everyone involved to come home to dozens of emails from all over Australia, with lyrical descriptions and exquisite photographs of the beauty and bounty this unique land of ours holds.
 
Knowing how fragile our flora and fauna are in the face of worsening climate change and deliberate destruction of wild habitat, made us all the more determined to get the book out quickly, before the forthcoming summer of 2020-21, to help raise crucial funds in support of two of our incredible wildlife organisations – the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Australian Marine Conservation Society. Animals Make Us Human is not only a celebration of the unique wildlife we have; it is a cry from the wild, a call to drive change and activate our environmental conscience. Above all, it is the hope and vision for a better future. 
© Leah Kaminsky 2020 
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Leah Kaminsky (left) is a physician and award-winning writer. Her debut novel The Waiting Room won the Voss Literary Prize and was shortlisted for the Helen Asher Award. The Hollow Bones won the 2019 International Book Award in both Literary Fiction & Historical Fiction categories and the 2019 Best Book Award for Literary Fiction. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Meg Keneally has worked in journalism, corporate affairs and as a part-time Scuba diving instructor. She is co-author with Tom Keneally of the four novels in The Monsarrat Series, and has also authored two novels of her own, Fled and The Wreck.

Animals Make Us Human. Editors Leah Kaminsky and Meg Keneally. Penguin Life. RRP $29.99

 

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​Surfers rally for climate change

Photo: Jeremy Bishop

THE biggest names in Australian surfing have banded together today to defend Australia’s coastline and the surfing lifestyle from the threat of climate change.
 
Surfers for Climate, founded by longboarding champion Belinda Baggs and former pro-surfer Johnny Abegg, is taking on the crucial challenge of bringing the Australian surf community together to protect the coastline from future threats.
 
“For surfers, the ocean is life,” Baggs said.
 
“Climate change, fuelled by the burning of fossil fuels, threatens everyone’s way of life. For the surfing community, this is a red alert. Everything we love is under threat.”

Photo: Anastasia Hofman

Australian surfers found their collective voice seeing off the Norwegian oil giants seeking to drill the Great Australian Bight in February this year, and have now come together to take on an even bigger challenge, climate change.
 
“The ocean has made me who I am. Now, we get the chance to help save it,” said Abegg.
 
“Through Surfers for Climate, we are standing to fight for the ocean, so my kids, and generations to come, can continue to ride waves in thriving oceans.
 
“Surfers for Climate will bring surfers together in a positive, fun and inspiring way. The ocean has shaped our country. And now, we must stand up and do what we can to create the future we all want.”
 
Legends of the sport, like pro surfers Adrian “Ace” Buchan, Laura Enever and Pacha Light have joined swimmer and ironman Ky Hurst, actor and director Simon Baker, surf filmmaker Jack McCoy, and musician Jack River as ambassadors for Surfers for Climate. ​

“The freedoms we had as kids, the thrills, spills and lessons learnt amongst the beauty and power of nature, it held us close. To think we could repay it by inaction breaks my heart,” Surfers for Climate ambassador Simon Baker said.
 
The surfer-led organisation’s launch today coincides with a remarkable collaboration between Jack McCoy and legendary Beatle Paul McCartney, who have created a new film clip to McCartney’s evocative homage to the ocean, “Wine Dark Open Sea,” featuring the hypnotic surfing of Belinda Baggs.
 
Surfers for Climate draws inspiration from the True Locals, First Nations’ people, their generational wisdom and connection to land, waters and culture. 
 
Surfers for Climate is an Australian-based registered charity fostering a broad alliance with other surfing and environmental groups, climate scientists and campaigners and surfing communities around the world.

Photo: Thomas Ashlock