Jennifer is an alumni of Sydney University, who studied a Master of Special and Inclusive Education. She know works with high school students who have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. Here Jennifer explains the inspiration behind her artwork 'Catastrophe Averted', and why climate change is such an important topic to discuss.
Charlotte Lim is an advocate of climate justice and animal rights. She spends her spare time volunteering at NSW Hen Rescue, an animal sanctuary dedicated to the liberation of all animals, especially caged hens.
Earth Cries is an impressive accomplishment. That it’s been done in a time of plague, with the great, choking fires still so fresh in our minds, and with all the pressures and strangeness of lockdown, makes it all the more so. The editors, contributors, Sydney University Press – Dr Karl, for his powerful and authoritative introduction – are all to be warmly thanked and congratulated. I’ve read the book from cover to cover. I’ve re-read several pieces. I’ve discovered writers and artists I’m sure I’ll encounter again as their careers develop.
Hannah is a poetry writer, studying English literature at Sydney University. She believe that the world is sacred, and it is our human duty to preserve and guard it as its stewards. The poems she has submitted in this years anthology are about that duty.
If you were at the launch for Earth Cries last Friday, then you would have heard Sydney University student Seth Robinson read an excerpt from his piece 'When the birds came back'.
What does it mean for something to be ‘inevitable’? We know that the sun will rise each day and set each night (until millions of years from now when it inevitably doesn’t). We know that if you’re working in a group project, there’ll inevitably be someone who doesn’t pull their weight. We know that scientists are making predictions that sea ice will retreat to a small fringe by 2040, polar bear populations will decline by more than 30% in the next 35-40 years, and our world’s temperature will increase by more than 2° Celsius.
It feels like we are on the precipice of an apocalypse. In 2018, global carbon emissions hit a record high as energy demand and coal usage increased according to the International Energy Agency. Some species the seemed abundant in coral reefs may actually be going extinct as a result of reproductive failure. It is estimated that within two generations, rising sea levels could displace millions of people. In times of strife, we turn to media that reflects our reality; as demonstrated by the sudden explosion in book sales during the mid-year COVID-19 lockdown. In saying that, what kind of genre should you read next? Dystopia? Post-apocalypse? How about something a little different.
In almost every natural environment, trees play an important role in perpetuating life; providing shade, food, fuel, shelter to name a few. However, they are a slow growing species and what can take years to mature, can be destroyed in a very short space of time.
Excerpt from Hindi/English Indian by Rhea L Nath, Student Anthology Diversity 2019. twenty-one years I have lived in this country, still I take a minute to read the signs: ‘Saav-dhan, aa-ge an-dha mod hai’ ‘drive ... slow’ this dumb mind translates...
In all of the uncertainty that hovers in the foreground of our current social, economic and environmental climates, there is one thing that is certain; our world is changed, and the ramifications of such change are going to be significant.