Meg Humphry hopes her new children's storybook offers a gentle wayinto a very tough subject. Illustration from Wave of Change
By Meg Humphrys
DANCING light on rolling waves has captivated me for as long as I can remember. Years spent on Victoria’s Surf Coast walking and surfing is infused in my DNA. I’ve always felt water speaks to me;, it’s where I feel most at home, where I feel held.
When I started working for a rural water utility on groundwater management of the Murray Darling Basin, I realised I wanted to write a book about water. Water could bring together a key theme I wanted to explore - our interconnections with the natural world.
DANCING light on rolling waves has captivated me for as long as I can remember. Years spent on Victoria’s Surf Coast walking and surfing is infused in my DNA. I’ve always felt water speaks to me;, it’s where I feel most at home, where I feel held.
When I started working for a rural water utility on groundwater management of the Murray Darling Basin, I realised I wanted to write a book about water. Water could bring together a key theme I wanted to explore - our interconnections with the natural world.
All people have a relationship with water. Its ability to change between a liquid, solid and gas while it moves through the landscape brings so much together for exploration. There is also an inherent spiritual aspect to water practised through different cultures and belief systems. Water holds a universal significance necessary to support livelihoods and for all living things to thrive and grow.
In high school I was not overly interested in science. This changed in my early 20s when I travelled around New Zealand and explored its many volcanoes. I became fascinated with Earth’s systems and cycles, and decided to study geology and environmental science at university. The study of geological timescales at university made me feel small and insignificant as a human being. We are here on the plant for such a short time. In some ways, this made me feel disconnected and disenchanted with human behaviour on our very precious planet Earth. But now I explore science through the arts as a way to engage others who might be intimidated by science, as I once was.
My first children’s picture story book, When Water Lost Her Way, is an exploration of purpose, self-discovery and belonging. Its lead character ‘Water’ questions who she is and where she belongs after an encounter with a creature (a cave salamander) in an underground cave. This causes Water to reflect deeply and explore herself and uncover her interconnections with the natural world, while enabling the reader to uncover the water cycle creatively through the art and story.
The idea of “connection to self” became most apparent to me in a personal sense after having my first child. It was during this profound time of change that I created When Water Lost Her Way. The inner journey of motherhood allows for reflection, where suddenly overnight another human being is dependent on you, and your life is forever different. This inner journey, with its trials and tribulations, is the hardest and most rewarding work but often gets little recognition from the outside world. Yet it has brought about a softening to the human existence on Earth for me. A realisation of my connection to the next generation, together with an inner drive to protect it, has driven me to continue to use art and story for this purpose.
Since the creation of When Water Lost Her Way, I’ve been focused on how to explore the impacts of climate change through the lead character Water. It’s come together through a sequel, Wave of Change.
In high school I was not overly interested in science. This changed in my early 20s when I travelled around New Zealand and explored its many volcanoes. I became fascinated with Earth’s systems and cycles, and decided to study geology and environmental science at university. The study of geological timescales at university made me feel small and insignificant as a human being. We are here on the plant for such a short time. In some ways, this made me feel disconnected and disenchanted with human behaviour on our very precious planet Earth. But now I explore science through the arts as a way to engage others who might be intimidated by science, as I once was.
My first children’s picture story book, When Water Lost Her Way, is an exploration of purpose, self-discovery and belonging. Its lead character ‘Water’ questions who she is and where she belongs after an encounter with a creature (a cave salamander) in an underground cave. This causes Water to reflect deeply and explore herself and uncover her interconnections with the natural world, while enabling the reader to uncover the water cycle creatively through the art and story.
The idea of “connection to self” became most apparent to me in a personal sense after having my first child. It was during this profound time of change that I created When Water Lost Her Way. The inner journey of motherhood allows for reflection, where suddenly overnight another human being is dependent on you, and your life is forever different. This inner journey, with its trials and tribulations, is the hardest and most rewarding work but often gets little recognition from the outside world. Yet it has brought about a softening to the human existence on Earth for me. A realisation of my connection to the next generation, together with an inner drive to protect it, has driven me to continue to use art and story for this purpose.
Since the creation of When Water Lost Her Way, I’ve been focused on how to explore the impacts of climate change through the lead character Water. It’s come together through a sequel, Wave of Change.
The gentle narrative follows water as she is called to help by the world around her. This allows children to connect with Water rather than fear her, bringing an understanding of the causes of climate change and how it impacts on Water’s dance. While a sad tale, the focus on connection offers hope and leaves opportunities for climate action to be explored at the end of the story.
The artwork is inspired by the lived experiences of climate change impacts here in Australia, from the red, murky skies of the 2019-20 Gippsland bushfires through to the bleached coral of the Great Barrier Reef. Other characters and concepts were based on reports from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, an international group of scientists responsible for reviewing scientific literature from around the world to determine the state of knowledge on climate change. From these reports, I drew on some key relatable species that had adapted, migrated, or declined due to the impacts of climate change.
While ‘When Water Lost Her Way’ was about self-discovery and recognising our interconnections with the natural world, ‘Wave of Change’ is about enabling and creating change to strengthen our communities and connections with the natural world.
As an extension of this, I aim to print the book 100 per cent carbon neutral. A campaign to raise funds for the print run will run on Pozible Crowd Funding until May 8.
Meg Humphrys is the climate change & environment officer at Westernport Water and a mother of two young children. She will discuss her book at the free community social and film screening of ‘Regenerating Australia’, to be held at the Phillip Island Nature Parks Theatre at the Penguin Parade, from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday April 30.
The artwork is inspired by the lived experiences of climate change impacts here in Australia, from the red, murky skies of the 2019-20 Gippsland bushfires through to the bleached coral of the Great Barrier Reef. Other characters and concepts were based on reports from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, an international group of scientists responsible for reviewing scientific literature from around the world to determine the state of knowledge on climate change. From these reports, I drew on some key relatable species that had adapted, migrated, or declined due to the impacts of climate change.
While ‘When Water Lost Her Way’ was about self-discovery and recognising our interconnections with the natural world, ‘Wave of Change’ is about enabling and creating change to strengthen our communities and connections with the natural world.
As an extension of this, I aim to print the book 100 per cent carbon neutral. A campaign to raise funds for the print run will run on Pozible Crowd Funding until May 8.
Meg Humphrys is the climate change & environment officer at Westernport Water and a mother of two young children. She will discuss her book at the free community social and film screening of ‘Regenerating Australia’, to be held at the Phillip Island Nature Parks Theatre at the Penguin Parade, from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday April 30.