Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will focus on Climate Change.
In 1985, Veronica Lord knew nothing about climate change. She lived in an outer suburb of Melbourne, studied full-time at University – in the area of Applied Science of Physical Jerks and Intimate Anatomy – and worked part-time to help pay her way.
She drove an environmentally-unfriendly mission brown Ford Escort, she used an abundance of Wella hair mousse in an aerosol-pumped can and she thought recycling was a matter of wearing the same makeup to Uni as she had to the nightclub 24-hours earlier.
Veronica Lord lived with her mother (O’Meh) father (Lordy) and sister (Laura) and everything was about living in the moment. It was the 80s. Things were big, plastic, colourful, synthetic, flammable, produced en masse and probably as toxic to the environment as they could possibly be – but no matter. Might as well live life fully because the planet will explode by the turn of the (frighteningly apocalyptic-sounding) Year 2000.
She didn’t smoke, but most of her friends did, their butts (not the ones beneath their undies) littering the footpaths and parks where they partied. Veronica drank from bottles that were never recycled. She used plastic non-washable cups when she could and threw them in the bin without another thought. She watched smoke ascend from household chimneys and thought how wonderful it would be to have an open fire where you could burn anything and keep warm, and she just did not think about packaging, biodegradability, toxicity, bleaching or environmental ramifications.
She was a typical 80s teen/early twenties ‘have-to-have-it’ whore, and she couldn’t look beyond her nose to see pastures becoming less green, air turning acid-white or plants calling from the garden ‘help me, Veronica!’
In fact, Veronica didn’t even know what a plant was until sometime in the 90s.
If our antihero Veronica was here today, she would notice. She’d see the ravages of hotter, drier Aussie summers. She’d contemplate the most unusual weather patterns and the changes of seasonal structure. She’d watch Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ and be skeptical about some things he mentions, but listen to the underlying message – that what we do to (and with) our environment has long term effects – and she’d try to do small things to help change a pattern . . .
a pattern that was introduced and established during times when the consequences to our planet were not understood. The changes would be small steps – like looking at labels, considering what she’s buying, incorporating recycling as a habit not a hobby – but they would become part of life. Something done regularly is better than not at all.
And in the scheme of things, Veronica Lord wouldn’t buy diamante jewellery now. Not only is it unfashionably big and gaudy, those earrings reflected the heat and light of the natural sun and caused a hole in the ozone that is bigger than the entire 80s.
But climate change is a serious issue and it’s the focus of blog-writers all over the world today. If we could all do one small thing in the act of ‘prevention’ on October 15, then a series of tiny rain drops may help form a deluge of reform that might wash clean the environmental sins of our past. Veronica Lord would turn off the heating today – if she wasn’t a fictional character!
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7 Responses to Blog Action Day 2009, with Veronica Lord
That Veronica is a fine specimen -- she moves with the times, she’s open to new ideas and she’s the kind that will be able to “see the light”. She will be a shining example to the generations that follows. That chick rocks!
HERE, HERE, Fiona………Veronica Lord for Prime Minister, I say!!!!!
Oh bugger, she’s ficticious isn’t she *nudge, nudge, wink, wink.*
Hi Gayle -- I have trouble remembering she’s “fictitious” too. If she was real, I’d love to be in her group!
I hope you have a great time with Veronica, whoops I mean Rosie *feeling jealous about exotic international destinations*
Fiona! I agree that V. Lord is a top chick. she rocks, and you would defo be in her group if she walked amongst us. She is VERY open to new ideas. Hope you are well.
Gayle -- hi lady! I hope all is well over there. It’s bloody cold here, and wet. Get the G & Ts ready, and a nice hand of Mahjong. Oh, and the fan and lounge. One needs a lounge when holidaying in the heat. Oh, and the eating. Bring it, bitch xxxx
BTW, Gayle, what have you done for Climate Change Day. I hope you have been proactive. ; )
“that what we do to (and with) our environment has long term effects”
I think this is the important thing to keep in mind, regardless if you are a global warming, or nonglobal warming person. If we want to keep our world a nice place, we need to work at it. Maybe this means recycling, or not littering, but no matter what it means something. To me it means being antiplastic. lol That’s my newest bandwagon.
Hey Cathy. Hope all is well in your part of town. Im glad you are on the anti-plastic bandwagon. To me, looking after our environment -- and attempting to prevent an ecological catastrophe for future generations -- involves common sense. I’m not into scare mongering, but I try to do small things for the bigger picture. Not sure it helps.