Familiar dystopia

I did not think I would feel like doing a post so soon but this is what I’d have been telling Janet had she lived… so now I’m telling you!

I was given an op shop book that by chance is highly resonant, set in places I know well, have camped in and have protested in, and dealing with issues close to my heart.

It is set in the future, where humans have continued on their current trajectory of stuffing things up in the natural world, of being greedy and human-centric, so it’s not a good future. Hence we would say it’s dystopian, that is, the opposite of utopian.

But sadly, the world Inga Simpson has evoked is so close to what we are now doing and seeing that it is eerily familiar.

Siding Springs Observatory in the Warrumbungles features large in this terrific and terrifying book, as does the Dark Sky rating and the Artesian Basin we are trying to protect from the Santos Narrabri gas project.

The main characters race through well-known parts of the amazing volcanic Warrumbungles, on to the precious Pilliga, heading to Mount Kaputar near Narrabri. It’s a great story as well as scarily realistic.

When I went to Mount Kaputar, I was entranced by its differences, but also horrified to be able to see the spoil heaps of the Boggabri area mines even from there.  And the pollution.

I urge everyone to read this book: anyone who cares about what is happening in the north west, about the gas project, the pipeline, the tragedy of Maules Creek, the likelihood of losing so much more if the ill-approved Santos project goes ahead.

It is well-written, totally credible, very place-based, and deals with the social and environmental issues we are all anxious about now.

I use World of Books to get secondhand copies of books, with free delivery, so have immediately ordered another of her books, ’Where the trees were’, from them. How did I not know of her passionate and clever writing?

Please, go find a copy of The Thinnings; this is where we are heading.

Thank you, Inga Simpson. And brava.