The Byron Shire Resilience and Regeneration Roadshow will be in Brunswick Heads this Saturday, as part of a series of events across the region tackling the question: ‘How do we create more resilient communities in 2021?’
James Perrin, from The Overview Effect podcast series, is interviewing the guest speakers, and organisers invited him to also respond to the question.
He said, ‘In my podcast interviews, I ask my guests the question: Have you had a moment, an overview effect, that has changed the way you see and interact with the world?’
‘The responses vary, but always have a similar theme; an experience that made them realise there is more to the world than first meets the eye; that broke them out of the “mould” and allowed them to see a different way of living.
‘An ecological system is resilient when it has high levels of biodiversity. This is because there are more plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria interacting with one another. When a “shock” or [big] change happens, the diversity of these interrelationships means the system is able to adapt.
‘As we know, change is inevitable. Resilience is not necessarily about trying to “bounce back” to the way things were, but about being able to adapt to, and even embrace, changes as they occur. For this, we can’t be isolated. We can’t be sitting in our separate homes, glued to our screens, and oblivious to the burning world around us.
‘This may seem like an over exaggerated example, but following the bushfires in 2019, I heard stories of firefighters preparing for an oncoming flame who were shocked that some residents were still in their homes, unaware of the looming danger.
Asleep at the wheel
‘We can’t be asleep at the wheel. We need to build community networks and know where our food is being grown (and who’s growing it). We need to take responsibility for our waste. We need to know who our neighbours are and who we can turn to for various forms of help, and who we can help in return.
‘We need to self-organise. We can’t rely on corporations or the government to do this for us’.
To RSVP your free ticket for Saturday, at RenewFest Roadshow.
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