Kayaking for climate change

BY ALEX MCDONALD
Steve Posselt’s environmental epiphany happened on the Plenty Highway outside of Alice Springs two years ago. That was the spot where he almost died after flipping his motorcycle while riding through central Australia.
“That was touch and go for while,” Posselt said. “When I didn’t die I decided I better do something important with my life.”
His first instinct was to do something to help save Australia’s threatened waterways.
Never one to do things by halves, the 55-year-old engineer embarked on a seven-month journey last year from Brisbane to Adelaide. He kayaked the entire length of the Murray-Darling River to raise awareness about the crippling effects of climate change and chronic mismanagement on the river system.
“We are treating our river systems as drains,” he said bluntly. “We do our yield calculations as if they were drains and now they are behaving as drains. But they are much more than drains, obviously. Whole ecosystems and our very existence depends on the health of these waterways.”
Posselt is now in Sydney, after having paddled 940 kilometres from Brisbane, a trip he began on October 4. This latest expedition is to deliver a bundle of letters to the Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett from concerned Queenslanders about the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam. The dam will become south-east Queensland’s second largest water reservoir when it is completed in 2035.
Yet Posselt sees the dam as an environmental travesty which threatens one of the world’s most ancient creatures ‘ the lungfish.
“I think it should be of particular interest to every person on this planet. [The lungfish is] older than the dinosaurs. It’s what we learnt about at school. It’s just that at school they never told us that it lives right here in Australia and that it only lives in two rivers.
“We’ve dammed one of those and its last remaining natural habitat in the whole world is the Mary River.
“It’s important to stop the dam for Australia’s reputation, as well as for common sense.”
His latest voyage was almost cut short when his kayak capsized in rough seas south of Brisbane.
“It was right up on the Gold Coast where I tipped over,” he recalled. “It took 45 minutes to straighten myself out and get the kayak going again. I was paddling in whitewater which was about as high as my chin.”
When they met in Sydney last weekend, Posselt was determined to convince Peter Garrett to use his powers under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act to stop the Traveston Crossing Dam from going ahead.
“I never really thought of myself as an environmentalist or a greenie,” said Posselt. “I’ve always been passionate about water and concerned that we had to ensure we left the world no worse for our children than we received it.”
Despite dire environmental predictions from some quarters, Posselt is optimistic that it’s not too late to save Australia’s rivers, reefs and estuaries.
“Travelling down the coast I saw lots of whales. In fact, I had one of the most exciting times of my life when one surfaced a couple of metres away from me. I’ve always surfed that coast and I didn’t see whales when I was a child. So to see how they’ve come back gives you great hope that we can do the right thing.”
Having discussed the imminent effects of climate change with many Australians on his journeys, Posselt is adamant that the climate sceptics are now in the minority.
“What we found down the whole coast was that once we can talk to people about the issues, they are almost always very receptive.
“I think there’s an underlying fear amongst a lot of people that we may have gone to far.”