There Was I, Feeling A Little Complacent

During the week a technician came to the house to install our new Smart Meter. He told us we were among the first households in town to have one fitted because houses with solar photovoltaic systems were being done first. He went on to say that there were 200 such houses in Euroa, an unusually high number for the size of the town.

Front page news on the local newspaper this week was that the BP service station in town is now the first retail outlet in Victoria to sell Biofuel B20 (biodiesel, made from renewable resources).

Inside the paper was a story detailing the plans of the Secondary College to develop an ambitious vegetable and fruit garden on the site of the old netball courts. The vegies will be grown in raised beds, constructed by students, and there are plans for 52 fruit trees to go in. The primary school already has a vegie garden and compost system. The photo above shows the start of the Secondary College project.

I was feeling good about the town. At last, people are getting it, I thought. They get that knowing how to grow your own food is important, that the environment is not an optional extra, that we need to take some personal measures to lighten our environmental footprints.

And then . . . We received an email saying that two old redgums in the park were to be cut down, unnecessarily according to the environment group spokesperson. I went to a meeting in the park this morning, where an experienced arborist explained that the two trees in question did not pose any unusual danger, but one of them could do with having some branches overhanging a road trimmed off, for safety reasons.

It was heartening that there were about 50 people there to show their concerns about this, especially as the meeting was called at very short notice. It was interesting to note, though, that nearly all were in the over 55 age group and that no councillors or council officers attended. We signed a petition and it was suggested that we go home and contact a councillor, as work is scheduled to begin on Monday. This I did. The councillor assured me that two arborists had given an opinion that the trees were unsafe and had to be cut down. I was also told that there had been community consultation about the matter. The environment group spokesperson had said this was not the case. Perhaps there is a lack of understanding and agreement on just what 'community consultation' entails.

What are ordinary people to do when differing claims are made and 'experts' give differing opinions? As far as I could tell, and from the explanations given by the arborist in attendance this morning, the trees in question were in quite good health and did not pose any more danger to the public than redgums anywhere, which are notorious for dropping branches. 

I do not hold out much hope for the survival of these trees. It seems that the bureaucratic mind is already made up. Part of the petition, though, called for a long-term management plan for all the trees in town. Perhaps there is more hope of this becoming a reality. 

On balance, I still think many people are getting it, just not enough people, not quickly enough and not enough (in the case of councils) to realise that being smart environmental custodians ultimately involves much more than avoidance of potential litigation.