Rita Walker: Australia (Blog Three) by Dan Watt and Taylor Norris (reference links at bottom)

The Australasia Recycling Label

• We administer the Australian Packaging Covenant to reduce the environmental impacts of consumer packaging and optimise resource recovery.
• We develop plans and guidelines to prevent plastic waste from entering the oceans.
• We work with state, territory and local governments, as well as industry, to support and encourage the reduction of plastic waste and litter.

https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/waste-resource-recovery/plastics-and-packaging

It’s so hot as she walks to the Jenolan River that she grimaces with every step.  But she wants to wait until she reaches Sidney before using any of Dilga’s herbs.  Once she reaches the river she kneels down and diligently pours some of Dilga’s milk into the water.  Before climbing in she presses her hands in.  Feeling the ebb of the current she asks Dilga to send protection to Marlo.  Keeping her hand under the warm water she waits until she is connected to Marlo.

The vibrations she feels from Marlo tell her, “I’m near the Cocos Keeling Islands.  The plastic and other debris is bad and some of it is breaking down into smaller pieces that wildlife ingests.”

She sends back a vibration asking, “What’s causing it?” and waits.

“Most of it seems to be coming from Asia.  We both know the steps now.  Let the World know and then offer solutions.”  She can sense Marlos’ frustration.

“How do we solve it?” she asks with more vibrations.

After a time she receives his reply.  “In water form I can estimate the amount of miniscule pieces and larger pieces but it will take time.  The movement of water and wind will make it hard to clean up without hurting the environment.  I need time to find a solution.  Can you contact me in a few days?”

“I will,” she promises.

The heat is almost unbearable as she slides into the Jenolan River.  A lot of the 18.6 million hectares of the land burnt in the 2019 to 2020 fires has now regrown.  But the summers in New South Wales can be as high as 50°C.  The dilly bag and her clothes become a part of her body as she turns into a school of trout cod.  She will feed as trout cod do on her long journey to Cox River into Lake Burragorang then north into the Nepean River.  From there she will travel along the Hawkesbury River in Broken Bay and finally to the South Pacific Ocean.  There she’ll travel south to Sydney as a bottlenose dolphin.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43375-4

https://www.marinelitterthefacts.com/sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Australian_bushfire_season

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trout_cod

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native-animals/native-animal-facts/bottlenose-dolphin#:~:text=The%20bottlenose%20dolphin%20can%20be,the%20lower%20reaches%20of%20rivers.

Blue Mountain Jenolan Caves background pic by Peter Samuel with Rita Walker body makeup by @amasonart Alannah Mason, model Taylor Norris, picture of model by Dan Watt

Caedar-writing-artwork.com

Mythruin.simplesite.com