Exit Stage Right. Almost.

Yesterday I almost quit the course. Almost said goodbye/auf wiedersehen/hasta luego, and all that jazz. Almost walked out dramatically, swinging my swag over my shoulder, storming down the Zoology Building corridor and never looking back. Disappointingly for all of you who I have promised a soap opera, this was not because I had a failed love affair with a fellow student. Nor was it becuase I had an unresolvable run-in with a lecturer unjustifiably harsh on my attempts to write creatively. On the contrary, our department seems to be distinctly lacking in drama. My almost-exit happened because I was silly enough to go to another talk on Peak Oil...

Peak Oil is going to hit, we were told by Prof. Bob Lloyd on Wednesday night, in four years time. We have four years, then, to put in place infrastructure that will support us when oil prices shoot through the roof (demand exceeding supply) and then supply dries up all together. And here I am, sitting in a class room staring at red apes running around the Sumatran rainforest on a plastic screen. Why? As pleasant as it is, can I justify sitting here happily on my arse, waiting for some other joker to do something about it? Sure, I'm here learning how to communicate effectively with an eye to changing the world (!!) sometime later in life...but how useful is that going to be before 2010?!

So, although I am still here, still staring at a plastic screen (and yes, even guiltily enjoying it) I am resolved to make a film that might make a difference. Possibly one of those issues-based films we have been warned against, as first-time film-makers! Has anyone heard of the Save Happy Valley campaign?

Happy Valley. Photo from the Happy Valley website.

Let me know what you guys reckon. There is a group of pretty determined campaigners who have spent the whole winter camped out up there in a yurk, committed to raising the profile of the case in the hope of preventing an open-cast coal mine from obliterating the area. Potentially pretty good material for a doco, but I need a definate 'story'. Beginning, middle, end. Which may be a little difficult to pin down...