An Ecological Crisis is a Spiritual Crisis

Cristina

I’m waiting on the street corner, leaning on a lamppost when Cristina finds me. She knows a cafe down the road so we head off. She knows the area — her Italian grandparents immigrated to Fitzroy in 1938, where her grandfather worked as the community’s resident barber for forty-five years. A few long-time businesses still stand in these streets, like Sila Espresso Bar, now run by the children of her grandparents’ neighbours, hardly changed in sixty years.

She never met her nonno and nonna, but she sleeps in their bedroom, wakes up to light from their bedroom window, and sees the city they saw. For them, it was a city of hope, of new life, of whirlwind change.

Before we walk down Brunswick Street with Liam and Cristina, let me backtrack to set the scene for today’s interview. Liam had called me earlier that morning. “The news,” he said. It wasn’t a question. “I know.” The liberal party won the Australian federal election. In the next four years Australia is slated to see Queensland’s Adani coal mine approved, which alone could lead to another eight coal mines to open and 27 billion tonnes of coal extracted (the emissions of which alone would send the global temperature rise over 2 degrees Celsius). Already, we’ve failed to deliver a national report on conservation progress and future plans for the United…