Environment
From "Maple Street Co-op News", Oct/Nov 2006

Let the Rivers Run Free!
by Mary Meadows

Water is the current flavour of the month, and so it should be. From my perspective, it is the respect for the natural order that I wish to focus on here. I was on holiday in Canberra when the Queensland State election was on (I postal-voted), and that night, having dinner with friends, we discussed the fact that our prime minister doesn't keep his promises and tells porkies to manipulate the public, who in turn have such short-term memories that he gets away with this behaviour. Another conversation we had related to the fight for the Mary River. This made me think of the fight for Lake Pedder in southwestern Tasmania in the 1960s and 1970s.

In this case, it was Tasmania's Hydro Electricity Commission (HEC) that insisted that the flooding of the lake was essential to produce more electricity. This was the usual emotional argument of progress and jobs and, as in the case of today's proposed Mary River dam, was put forward by short-term thinkers lacking in imagination. It can be argued that such short-term thinkers were driven by the fact that they had the power to wall-off and flood entire valleys and divert the age-old course of rivers while using "jobs" as the standard catch-cry.

One argument put forward in a 1972 HEC report was: "While some may regard Lake Pedder as possessing that charm which is associated with small size, it is considered that the new lake will possess almost all of the scenic attractions of the existing Lake Pedder."

Keith McKenry, an engineering graduate who had a grant from Monash University to study how decisions were arrived at in major development projects, replied: "This passage implies that a huge artificial impoundment is possessed of similar aesthetic character to a small natural lake, and that, because the impoundment is much larger, its aesthetic and recreational appeal will be correspondingly greater. A more profound ignorance of the nature of aesthetics is difficult to contemplate."

Lake Pedder was the largest and most spectacular natural lake in the southwest of Tasmania. Its gleaming white quartzite sandy bed covered 10 square kilometres. The distinctive landscape was the outcome of long-time geological processes and marked climatic changes. Upstream was the lagoon system comprising the Maria Lakes, complete with sandy beds and dunes, and the network of braided clearwater streams which fed Maria Creek, the source of the lake. The formation of Lake Pedder was a chance occurrence; it was the only such glacial outwash lake in Australia. The lake now lies under 16 metres of dead water. Several of the gorges on the middle and lower Gordon River are now no longer accessible.

The act of living is the act of flowing. Back closer to home, the Mary River provides breeding grounds and homes for its inhabitants. Masaru Emoto, in his book The Secret Life of Water, states: "If a dam is built in a river to stop its flow, the river will die. Likewise, if the flow of blood gets dammed up somewhere in our bodies, it will mean the end of life."

In his research, Masaru Emoto has visually captured the structure of water at the moment of freezing. His amazing photographs show the crystalline structure of an array of samples, highlighting how positive thought produces a beautiful structure – compared with negative thought, pollution or dead water which gives a cloudy, murky result. Masaru says: "Water comes to Earth as the answer to our prayers. The prayer that life will be born, breathe and take root. The prayer that nature will prosper, expand and cradle what the native people call the 'circle of life'. The prayer that intelligence will emerge and civilisations will form to protect the Earth and spread love and gratitude. Water is given to answer our prayer for life, for evolution. Human beings are essentially crystals formed upon this Earth. And that is why we have the responsibility to protect the Earth by protecting our water."

The Save the Mary River Coordinating Group has a website, www.savethemaryriver.com. To raise funds, it's selling cute "Wheezer" the Lungfish T-shirts for $20 each. They're available from the website, or care of Kandanga Post Office, Qld 4570, from the One-Stop Shop, 80 Main Street, Kandanga, tel 5488 4929, or from the Kandanga Support Centre, tel 5488 4800. Donations by cheque or direct deposit will be gratefully accepted and fully receipted by the group.

References
• The Mountains of Paradise, photographs and text by Les Southwell, 1983, ISBN 0-9591966-0-9
• The Secret Life of Water, by Masaru Emoto, Atria Books, 2005,
ISBN 1-416522-18-2

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", October/November 2006; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.coop@ serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]