I Hope the Sun Comes Up Today

Sunrise over Hobart

My home office in Tasmania faces directly east, looking out over the city and the Derwent River.  Regular insomnia finds me many mornings at my desk before sunrise.  The sky is often painted such intense colours that I started taking regular photos, and often the thought would cross my mind “I hope the sun comes up today”.  

The Gordon Dam & Lake Pedder

Of course it’s a ridiculous thought.  I’m sure those wallabies wouldn’t be quietly hopping away after mowing our lawn all night if such a big event had happened.   I’m sure there would have been some sort of warning that the sun wasn’t going to come up, but it does, faithfully, every day, and whenever I think to be aware of it I’m always very grateful.

Another day of the sun coming up over Hobart

Sometimes I wonder about this new generation of kids growing up in this world of i-phones and Facebook, and faster and faster internet; young adults who may have spent not one moment of their lives without the convenience of electricity.  I wonder if they ever take a moment to wonder if it will be there for them when they make their breakfast, go to the bank, turn on their computer.  My guess is that, like the sun coming up each day, they just assume it’ll be there, and with the rate at which we continue to surrender more and more of our lives to our dependence on electricity, the ‘powers that be’ must be assuming the same thing.

But what will we do if the power goes out?  And is anyone paying attention to exactly how fast and how far we will fall if it does for any length of time?  One hopes that the powers that be, whoever they are, will be taking note of the wake up call in the USA this week and see how quickly things fall apart when we don’t have access to the source that drives most of our activities these days.   

Rosie at the Gordon Dam, Lake Pedder (subject of a later post)

When the electricity went out in India a few months ago I immediately thought of the suffering of all those people in the heat, stuck in traffic, trapped underground in a mine that depends on an elevator; all the mothers dealing with children and sick people and the elderly and vulnerable. According to reports, Indians are so used to disruptions and inconvenience that many of them just take it in stride and turn on their generators, but all those people on the east coast of the US suddenly having to cope with all the disruptions of living without modern conveniences are probably feeling it differently.

The Sun going down again, over Mt. Wellington, Hobart

No doubt when the corporations see those images they think of lost profits and productivity.  The only saving grace about it being them who are on watch these days is that they have so much to lose by being without power (no pun intended, but if the shoe fits…) that you have to believe they have it covered, no matter what….don’t they?  They couldn’t possibly allow that to happen in our world, could they? 

And yet I can’t help but wonder if Mother Nature feels compelled to give humans a nudge once in a while, to remind us who’s still ultimately in charge of everything, including whether or not the sun comes up today.

Thanks for listening…

Rosie