Heat And Fire Stress

Yesterday was the hottest day on record in Sydney. It reached 45.6c = 114F. We have entered a new era and need to learn how to survive the change without increasing our impact.

There are two actions required for a society to survive the change:

1. Change our culture of wastefullness into a culture of mindfulness. Our nation is a culture of many displaced peoples. The traditions of the forefathers belong to distant regions of different soil and micro-climates. European foods in a new country might need some european growing traditions but these must be modified to suit the new climate and the new age of climate change.  European foods might love full sun in Europe but they struggle to survive full sun in Australia especially in summer.

2. Conserve existing natural resources by valuing and nurturing them. This will help reduce the real threat from vandals  who start fires and will bring us to find peaceful, sustainable and effective solutions.

Quick solutions to reduce heat stress and stress on the power grid and planet are:

1. Find quick shade solutions. You can tape cooking foil to the inside of windows (shiny side out) to reflect light and reduce heatwaves coming in.
2. spray curtains with mist (you can fill an old spray container with water to do this) – as the air moves around the room, the curtains will help to cool it.
3. wear a wet bandana, scarf or light cloth over your shoulders.
4. keep your hat moist if you are outdoors.

Some quick solutions to help your garden survive:

1. install lots of shade – use old containers or baskets or screens or even sticks to create tents of shade over young plants
2. water stressed plants in the evening. Set up more catchment containers.
3. start gardening in the evening or very early morning.

If you have ideas to add, please tell us!