Dinali uses writing to explore her place in this world with a focus of the intersectionality of race, environment and gender and how this can point us towards more beautiful worlds. She finds peace and joy in wondering under tall trees and exploring biodiverse landscapes. Dinali was born in Sri Lanka and grew up on Kaurna Country in Australia.
I’ll be using this space to explore a number of areas loosely related to what it means to be alive on this Earth and a part of a civilisation that has become so disconnected from the web of life and yet so far-reaching that it is having harmful impacts on a global scale.
My experience of moving to Australia at a young age, my travels as an adult and work as an environmentalist has shaped my ideas about belonging and how to live well in a world falling apart.
Areas of particular interest to me include the reasons we have got to a place where the actions of the dominant culture is threatening our very future and the future of numerous other species. I don’t believe that we can create a “sustainable” society by simply tweaking our current system or by creating better technology.
How, and even if, we can create such a society is something that I am unsure of. First steps for me is to take a step back and re-evaluate everything we take for granted as being normal. We need to shed our lifetime of conditioning and see the world from a new perspective. Not an easy task but I think otherwise the work we do will invariably end up propping up a system that for all its apparent luxuries, is rotten at the core.
We need a radically different system which at its core values all life and recognises the importance of our connections to each other and the rest of this universe. From bacteria to great ape, we all have a place and point in this universe and accepting our place as part of a larger universe is vital.
This also means exploring the world outside of the binary thinking of right and wrong, left and right, black and white and straight lines. Recognising the beauty and exciting possibilities that lie in the many shades of each colour and a world filled with curves, twists and loops. That for each person the meaning of life and its worth will vary depending on a host of factors including place, gender, age and personality. This being reflected in the numerous cultures, each with their own mythology and ways of relating to the planet, that have evolved over the eons. For that matter my worldview has been shaped by my life as a female of Asian heritage living a middle class lifestyle in an English speaking country. We can never truly escape the society we live in but we can endevour to see the privilege our positions accord us and try to understand what it is like for others in different circumstances.
The most important thing that I am learning is that our life is a journey. No one is perfect, all we can do is try to live up to our beliefs and enjoy the path that evolves….
Of This Earth 