Communities around the world are involved in a vast array of environmental nurturing activities. The ‘Caring for our Country’ project in Australia is a government sponsored community initiative, which seeks to encourage communities to value, respect and actively participate in the care and management of Australia’s natural resources for current and future generations. However, governments are often indifferent to the ‘uncaring’ activities of large corporate companies. For instance, in Australia there is a failure to recognise the damaging impact of Coal Seam Gas on the environment.

Governments are frequently at odds with many positive community action initiatives. An example of the important alternative perspectives community action groups provide is found in the work of ‘Six Degrees’ whose position on Coal Seam Gas is to ‘… advocate for robust investigation into the potential impacts on the ecosystem services provided by agricultural land, on human health, on environmental toxicology, and especially about the potential degradation of groundwater systems, including the Great Artesian Basin – one of the few reliable sources of fresh water for inland Australia’. An initiative of the ‘Friends of the Earth, Brisbane’ the Six Degrees campaign encourages communities and groups across Queensland ‘… to reduce the dependence on the coal industry, and to ensure a just and measured transition to a safe climate future’.

The continuing quandary of how to support communities to participate in sustaining and nurturing the environment while providing for energy needs is the underlying concept theme for this issue’s cover design. The quandary reaches into our personal lives. For instance, in order to adopt a clean energy source, such as solar, I would have to cut down four 40-year-old trees, two of which are indigenous. The idea of struggle, balance and harmony sustains the cover concept. The idea of nurturing alternative perspectives and arguments is represented by the application of the cupping of hands holding a small mound of earth with a seedling tree. The action signifies the care and active participation required and the articles placed in placards are the call to speak out against social and environmental injustice.

Reference:
http://www.sixdegrees.org.au/content/our-position-coal-seam-gas-csg (accessed, 2nd April 2012).
http://www.nrm.gov.au/ (accessed, 2nd April 2012).