Spinning Rainbows Please.
It has been a very challenging summer for so many people here in Australia. Soaring temperatures have resulted in power outages and water shortages on a huge scale. Country towns having to survive on bottled water and all this was going on before the catastrophic fire season we have all witnessed.
There have been several occasions of my sessions having to be conducted indoors as it was too smokey to be outside. Driving to the central NSW coast with my lights on at 10 in the morning was an eye-opener. I have seen a marked change in the attitude from parents and children in relation to this too. Summer holidays canceled stories of brave daddies, mummies granddads, and nans who have been out fighting the fires or helping people affected by them.
My sessions have been steered by these events too. We have talked lots about sustainability water conservation a lot more and the fantastic thing is that the children get it. They see the sense of not wasting things. They dislike plastic bottles and litter on the beach just as much as us ‘grown-ups’.
Surely in Australia, it should be the norm using the Sun or wind for power in such a sun-drenched country, not an alternative energy source. This leads us to a fabulous and heartening session I had with some kids who were at one of my holiday program sessions.
Recently I had a session making windmills from recycled birthday and Christmas cards etc, the kids loved it. We talked about wind spinning them and one of the group said, “I like the big ones on the hill going to grand ma’s, I like the way they look like they are happy and waving at us and i like the way that the big shadows zoom across the fields” i replied.
“They should paint them like rainbows added another “ (A huge rainbow fan this particular kid).
What an inspired way to look at it though I thought, simplistic yes but ask yourself this.
What would you rather see on the road to grand ma’s? The giant looming concrete cooling towers of a coal fired power station billowing smoke into the atmosphere, or spinning rainbows and dancing shadows on the horizon?
Feb 25 2020