Veronika Wild

Prescient -This lovely pen and ink drawing by Professor Alice Roberts foreshadows what I saw one year after the fires which devasted the Southern Forests (Many thanks for letting me use this!) I went for a walk at the weekend. What’s so remarkable about that you ask? Well, it’s the first real walk I’ve done since before I went to New Zealand.   In fact, one of the main reasons I went, was that I was afraid that if I didn’t go then, I might never be able to do it at all. At the time I could barely make it to the local shop, even with my trusty trekking pole. Luckily, I got a specialist's appointment the day after I got back.   “Hmm," he said, "There's a blood clot in your femoral artery," and without much ado, he whipped it out. Now, thanks to this miracle of modern medicine, I’m walking normally again even though I didn’t quite make it to my destination. The Southern Forests a year after the fire It was nigh on dusk when I reach...

While I was waiting at the bus stop yesterday there was a young man promoting Dolly's Dream and  the  'Be Kind' Postcard (below) caught my eye. It was a lovely thought and something we might be in great need of over the coming months as people come to grips with their losses and try to rebuild shattered homes, businesses and lives. Tempers are already fraying because of the slowness of relief efforts and lack of decisive government action. Expecting it to be about someone's lifelong ambition to attend the Olympics or something, I took a closer look, but it turned out that Dolly's Dream was an organisation dedicated to preventing youth suicide and the memory of a 14 year -old girl, Dolly Everett, who committed suicide after sustained bullying and cyber -bullying. Dolly's Dream seeks to end the bullying and the cyber bullying which cost Dolly Everett her life So far, with the help of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation the group has taken t...

Climate Change on Wall Street? -Photo by Chris Li on Unsplash Things are looking a bit bleak in Australia at the moment and it’s not just about the landscape or the economy, so today I want to focus on some of the positive things which are happening around the world. Here are a few bits and pieces which have been in the news.   In the first instance, did you know that there are in fact some wealthy people in the world with a conscience who are not opposed to paying their fair share. The group of 121 millionaires who signed their letter to the Davos Economic Forum “Millionaires against Pitchforks” called on world leaders to close the international loopholes which enable the super rich to avoid paying their taxes. It reminds me of a man I met in Sweden many years ago when Swedes were among the most highly taxed. I asked him if he minded paying so much tax.   “Oh we grumble about it of course,“ he said, “But in the end I am lucky to be i...