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Special N.02 – Poets speak up to Adani

Stop Adani

by Anne M Carson and Julian Bailey

From Alpha to Hughenden, eight river basins flow, flood, funnel into the Galilee Basin.

Under the blessing of the golden sun, the benediction of life-giving rain,

Cared for by the Wangan and Jagalingou people for millennia –

Known, every billabong, every elbow of river, intimately by them.

Adani, Gautam, is worth 11.2 billion, moral worth nil. He

Does not have the traditional owners’ consent, he lies,

Acts as if the Wangan and Jagalingou support him. They don’t.

NAB, Westpac and CommBank are persuaded not to invest.

Instead Palaszczuk will fund with taxpayers’ dollars.

Accumulated coal – 29 billion glossy black tonnes

Nestles peacefully in its bed, innocent matter sleeping deeply.

Disturb this darkness at our peril.

Abbot Point coal terminal – home to foraging dugongs, slow moving turtles

Lithe snubfin dolphins. During the Wet, the Caley Valley Wetlands bursts,

Loquacious with 40,000 birds. Let them thrive. Let them be.

Carmichael equals calamity: coal is the biggest driver of climate change.

Over the coal beds, mature woodland, precious remnant vegetation, flourish.

Adani mining will suck billions of litres from the Great Artesian Basin

Leaving the Doongmabulla Springs to suffer irreparably.

Migratory birds will be disturbed, their traditional pathways trashed.

Inside the Great Barrier Reef Heritage Area 500 extra coal ships threaten oil spills,

Numerous increased boat-strike injuries, death to humpback whales and calves.

Extinction threatens the Southern black-throated finch, Ornamental Snake, Yakka skink.

Stand in solidarity with the Wangan and Jagalingou people. Stop Adani!

Anne M Carson with Julian Bailey

Published: August 2022
Anne M Carson

Anne M Carson’s poetry has been published internationally and widely in Australia.

An Australian and international
journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetics.

Plumwood Mountain Journal is created on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to elders past, present and future. We also acknowledge all traditional custodians of the lands this journal reaches.

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