Editor’s letter: ‘Fresh thinking’

(This story first appeared in the Oct15-Nov15 issue #18 of Green Ideas magazine.)

A bird caught my eye as I walked home the other day: it somehow seemed... different. It was a mynah – one of those noisy ones with a yellow beak – and instead of squawking and flying off, it cocked its head and hopped closer. “Hi there”, I said, offhand – to which the mynah replied in a spookily perfect woman’s voice, “Hello little darling. You’re okay my little darling...”

This was less weird for me than you might think. I already knew that a lady on our street had found an abandoned baby bird and raised it – and had heard that it could talk, so quickly realised it must be him – and I’ve since found out lots more about my new friend.

His name is Morris (as in Morris Mynah – NICE pun there) and he has some funny habits. The wild birds in the neighbourhood know he’s different and give him a hard time – but Morris marches to the beat of his own drum. Instead of snuggling for warmth with his cousins on the wires, he has a nook on top of the fridge for keeping toasty. And rather than mobbing cats and squabbling over food with the local louts, he prefers more refined company. His human family are favourites, but if they’re out, anyone having a quiet cuppa on their deck knows what to expect: Morris announces his arrival on your head with a flurry of wings and a gentle “You’re okay my little darling...”

In short, Morris is different, and he’s cool with it. It brightens our street to have him around – and in a funny way that sums up the theme of this Green Ideas. For this issue we wanted to introduce you to a few Morrises out there who’ve stepped away from the squawking masses to go their own way.

Whether that’s by starting community banks that give interest-free loans, building natural homes at a fraction of the price, or raising families on the road, they reassure the rest of us caught up in the daily grind that we DO have the power to reinvent our world. When the planet seems locked into a crazy status quo, hearing about this kind of fresh thinking feels liberating – and reassuring. Like a flutter of wings and a funny voice that says “You’re okay, my little darling.”

Greg Roughan
Editor, Green Ideas magazine

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