Hesse

I got a break. I was this migrant kid and the system gave me a leg-up.

I went to university and chose Economics, and then my fate was sealed.

I learn about the system that is all about using resources. I do the degree and then head for the bush. I become a teacher (to pay the bills) but I also set out to separate myself from the system. I endeavour to become self-sufficient.

And then, one day, as I’m weeding the veggies, I realise the ‘square circle’…the need to feed the system – and the expense of that to the planet.

I, like everyone, do the buy-it, use-it, throw-it-away, and buy-another. But I feel the pain as the precious earth buckles and groans under my weight. Despite all my efforts to separate myself from the consumerism that envelops me, every move I make still feeds the monster. The monster; the economic system wrapped like cling wrap around me. Despite my best efforts, each morsel I drop it picks up and adds to destruction of the planet I walk on.

I’m caught in the ‘buy-it, use-it, throw-it-away and buy another’ system. How can I escape this torment?

Simple; I write about it and I hope.

Hope that the insanity of it all is finally revealed.

Hope that the spell of self-interest and greed is broken.

By my ideas…

Hesse graduated with an honours degree in Economics from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia in 1974.