Survival Day

January 26 is Australia Day, noting when the first ships arrived bearing convicts and settlers from England to New South Wales in 1788.  Since 1938, Indigenous Australians have observed “Invasion Day,” a “Day of Mourning” or “Survival Day,” marking the fact that they have withstood loss of land, being forced into boarding schools and other disruption of their culture. Given the fires that have ravaged the country in recent months, “Survival Day” takes on additional meaning in 2020.  We are only just learning how wildlife, individuals and whole communities have emerged from this destruction.  How do we survive climate change?  How do we encourage ourselves and others to exist and even thrive, reclaiming what matters most to our sense of wholeness in the face of disaster? 

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