Germaine Greer: "I've now become a doer"
Germaine Greer (credit: University of Melbourne/Wikipedia)
Australian writer Germaine Greer is known for having a strong voice, often opinionated, funny, and brilliant. Her books on feminism and the woman's movement have been read by millions. Greer purchased an abandoned dairy farm in Queensland and retired to become an advocate for environmental restoration. When asked why she decided on this new path Greer replied: Give me just a chance to clean something up, sort something out, make it right, and I will take it.
Springbrook NP, Queensland (credit: Wikipedia)
The famous author has written about this new journey in White Beech: The Rainforest Years to describe her time learning about the forest, its plants, animals, and how to restore the degraded areas that surrounded the farm. Greer purchased ~150 degraded acres and began propagating native species from seeds gathered from the few remaining trees and other plants nearby. Using ecological 'trial & error' attempts at survival she watched to see what grew, became established, and the species that did not. She then planted those that survived to encourage further regeneration around her property from the few remaining patches of the original rainforest. Greer wanted to see if it would be possible to rebuild a forest extensively degraded by deforestation, overgrazing, and covered by invasive weeds. Nature was so impressed by her new endeavor they asked fellow Australian, the ecologist Tim Flannery, to write them a book review for the science magazine.
Rainforests in Queensland represent remnants of what once covered the ancient super-continent Gondwana, of which Australia was a huge portion. The organization Gondwana Rainforest Trust works to expand efforts like hers to protect these forests. They work particularly to conserve the Daintree Rainforest in far north Queensland, which has survived for perhaps 50 million years in situ there.
Chance encounters with the natural world often have profound effects on someone. Greer had one such epiphany while sitting quietly in the rain forest patch. She commented on this during a university presentation: I was sitting on a rock viewing and listening to the forest when a bird appeared, a Regent Bowerbird, and danced in front of me. The whole time it kept looking out of its yellow eyes right at me. It was like the bird was saying, What are you going to do about this place? Are you going to help us? In the end, I left that rock and bought the property."
Regent Bowerbird (credit: Wikipedia)
The author was invited by the University of Melbourne to present her forest recovery efforts and the intellectual impact this had on her. The account was personal, emotional, powerful, and funny. Greer made quite the personal choice to take on environmental restoration as a second career. Such tasks are big but anyone can participate if they choose to. WHB