We’re calling for contributions for our Summer 2021 edition of Green Agenda: On fire in politics and policy. Submit your short pitch to contribute to the debate on sustainability, social justice, peace and nonviolence, and democracy.
This earth, I never damage. I look after. Fire is nothing, just clean up. When you burn, new grass coming up. That means good animal soon, might be goanna, possum, wallaby. Burn him off, new grass coming up, new life all over.
Bill Neidjie, Bunitj elder
Fire holds a compelling place in the Australian political imagination. We know fire-as-literal all too well, especially during the Australian summer – the walls of flames that consume Australian bushland, homes, livelihoods. The fire of global warming, and the power it has to burn our world to the ground. As too many in this country have experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic, the experience of being fired from work. Firepower, and the way that it is wielded by police and the military, the need for it used to justify billions in public expenditure. As many of you reading this will have experienced first-hand, the way that the fire of activism and passion can burn us out. The burning of bridges. The experience of political heat – both how to apply it, and how to survive under its blowtorch.
But there is also generative, transformative fire. The “clean up,” as Bill Neidjie, Bunitij elder, described it. That with which fire-affected communities rebuild, and create something new, more resilient. The traditional Aboriginal fire practices that renew and restore native bushland, giving space and hope for new growth. The fire that drives our activism and passion, that creates change. Fire that has the power to ignite us, and to transform our world, to illuminate a new path forward.
In the Summer 2021 edition, we’re asking what we can learn from different types of fire. What can it teach us? How can we yield it with intention and responsibility? How can we protect ourselves from its worst effects – the burn out, the destruction, the planetary crisis we find ourselves in?
We’d love to receive proposals from a range of policy and practice areas: protecting and sustaining the environment, inequality, security, data and technology, green campaigning strategies, the future of work, rebuilding a just economy, a decolonised future – please get in touch with your ideas.
There are some great pieces at greenagenda.org.au you can look to for inspiration.
Submitting a pitch: Deadline 11 December 2021
We welcome contributions from everyone. Contributions from young people, First Nations people, women, members of the LGBTIQA+ community, and people from within the Asia-Pacific region are especially encouraged. You are welcome to submit a co-authored piece.
We are looking for short opinion pieces, policy, politics and practice reflections, and are also open to photo essays or other creative pieces.
To submit a pitch summarising your piece or idea, of no more than 200 words, fill in our Contributions Form. Please include “Summer Edition 2021 Pitch” at the start of your brief. Final written pieces need to be a minimum of 1000 words (1000-2500 words is ideal) or of equivalent contribution if in another medium.
We also ask those with successful submissions to participate in a one hour webinar with Green Agenda.
We are pleased to able to compensate authors for their pieces. Commissioned authors will be paid $200 for their piece.
The deadline for abstracts is 11 December 2020, with approximately four weeks from commission agreement to submit.