When European settlers arrived in Australia they did not display much respect for aboriginal people. Perhaps that’s because they resented their right to occupy their traditional land. The settlers may have missed the point of this completely, confusing this with mere greed. However, the recent fires have caused some researchers to wonder: could aboriginal wisdom have avoided the raging fires?
Could Aboriginal Wisdom Have Attracted Any Interest Then?
It’s an open question; given Britain was a supreme world power at the time. The settlers may not have understood the Aboriginal relationship with Mother Earth and their duty as custodians of nature. That’s because the traditional culture of land management in Australia contrasted starkly with the rampant industrialization sweeping through Europe at the time.
The Aboriginal model included widespread, knee-high controlled burning that devoured kindling and decaying leaves without igniting the forest giants. The bush needs to burn, Aboriginal knowledge expert Shannon Foster told BBC researcher Gary Nunn. This epitomizes our culture, she explains. It’s about what we can give back to country; not just what we can take from it.
Fast Forward To the Epoch of Rapid Climate Change
Those traditional practices were starkly different from the current method that destroys everything in its path. Hot burning is destructive, whereas the Aboriginal way replenished the earth. Shannon Foster wonders could aboriginal wisdom stop the blazes if we applied it now.
Alas, we are past that point, warns associate professor Joel Preece of James Cook University because of global warming, “With the recent catastrophic conditions of humidity and high winds, nothing could stop those fires,” he says. The Aboriginal people cared for this land for countless centuries, Shannon Foster grieves. Nobody allows us to care for it now and this is devastating. “It’s not like we didn’t tell you so.”
Devastating indeed it is, when we allow commercial interests to overtake our duty. We are supposed to be custodians of Earth, the fragile planet on which our life depends.
Related
Climate Change Chronicles: Australia Fires
Is Climate or Change Behind Australian Fires?
Preview Image: Controlled Autumn Burning
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