The term, "back to the reality", refers to the movie "Back to the Future" starring Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd who play the characters of Marty McFly and Doc-Brown. Doc discovered in a fictional story how to go back in time, and right the wrongs of the past, to set Marty and his family's life back on track. But, of course, there's always the drama in between, which makes for good entertainment. So much so that there are three movies based on the journeys backward and forward in time.
In the second movie, "Back to the future 2", they do just that; going forward in time only to stuff things up once again! Marty becomes greedy (a seemingly natural desire for humans) which is subsequently mishandled by Marty. These events lead them on an ever-changing course with the main characters failing to understand the gravity of their actions until they return to back from the future in an alternate reality. Finally, at a crucial time, they manage to right their wrongs in the alternate reality and return to their own reality.
But what if I was to say that the koala Industry TODAY is already in that ALTERNATE REALITY? That this isn't fiction, it's fact! And that we have become DISCONNECTED. THAT THERE IS NO ONE POINT IN TIME THAT WE CAN SAY, "we need to go back in time to change our ALTERNATE REALITY BACK TO REALITY". Unlike a fictional story, in real life there are many changes that occur and many different layers, which includes a variety of staff coming in and out of the industry. This has had the effect of creating an industry that lacks accountability.
In the koala industry, there is no singular crucial "point in time". You could say every Australian is at fault because we value ourselves first. Humans have valued their own importance by their status placed in the community from either their work position and/or their wealth. We, as a society, value certain commodities and resources such as land and metals of importance and we place our direct control over animals and plants because they do not have a direct voice. But, they do have a have voice, many years later when it's too late. For example, On BLUE PLANET 2, David Attenborough explains that otters were nearly wiped out because of their fur. Since their protection, we now understand their importance, as sea-urchins are increasing in size and eating away the ocean's sea grass, and sea grass absorbs more carbon dioxide than most of the trees on this planet. So, by protecting otters you are also ensuring less carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere and subsequently saving us! That is, until we figure out how to reduce our carbon footprint, which may take MANY decades and won't happen overnight.
If we could find and explain in basic terms the dollar value of certain native wildlife and plants, I think it would be priceless. Recently, scientists in 2018 have mapped the DNA of the koala and have explained the importance of female koalas' milk for their joeys. Now this milk has the potential for human use and could benefit mankind. We have only scratched the surface for these sorts of discoveries. So many plants and animals have amazing abilities for their own survival, which in time, the answers are always right in front of our faces, we just need to look. But, today, we have structured and designed the world into one of human domination, which makes society feel more insecure in parts and secure in others. That will take hard work, and in some cases, as is common through human history, things may get worse before we understand the true value of our wildlife and plants. It's our nature to take things for granted until something drastic happens to the first-world countries. But why is this the case? One reason might be because we have become disconnected from our own survival instincts – these instincts are ingrained into our psyche and our DNA. But when life is too good, as the wealth of a nation increases, so does that connection between mankind and nature itself, its like we are leaving it, to someone else's to worry about it. As we continue sourcing our food from a shopping centre, going to school in a concrete-like environment, living in a modern-day cave, playing sports on manicured grass under artificial lights, and entertaining ourselves and seeking medical treatment in big concrete buildings. These aren't bad things - far from it! It's the way of the future. We just need a consistent reminder of how far and fast, we have evolved and where we have come from, as our future little beings will ask their parents the connection between us and animals and plants. But if we design a new form of living standards, living closer to these two kingdoms, the questions would be easier to explain, and, if not, IN TIME, as young adults they could work it out for themselves.
In today's environment, to play a scenario of both the victim and the hero, as we all do throughout the day, see if you can catch yourself in a conversation, or better yet, listen to someone and see how they explain the story to you. If you analyse it, you will notice straight away, which side of the story has a hero or victim. We all do it: in a way its un-human not to; it is part of survival as nature intend it to be. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST! If you like, read article 2. But in society, it's survival in a modem sense, meaning saving face, or looking for sympathy. This is ingrained in our everyday way of life, going back to the beginning of our ancestry from the moment one cell became two. We are from the oceans – then we move from the waves of the oceans to the land and soil in which we evolved over millions of years ago. I think for most people it's too big to comprehend. I find it hard myself. Maybe we should have a TV program on that, as we start to see this new form of T.V. and documentaries, CALLED Slow T.V. I've been watching these new documentaries, switching over and then back and it's not as bad as you might think. But you have to be relaxed in the first place, which only makes you even more relaxed. Maybe to comprehend the Earth's evolutionary steps, we should watch evolution itself, that over 1000 of years the earth itself creates layers and order, from the first two kingdoms– to appreciate how we evolved ourselves.
We need to strip ourselves right down to the core, and this is what society must do in order to move forward. We must set our own future; decide which reality we want (just like Doc Brown and Marty). To me, I prefer working hard in the moment; history always realigns us into the right boundaries, but sometimes that takes decades for that knowledge to sink into the everyday person.
In the koala industry, it's all about our behaviour, and the many different underlying themes we have for each other industries, who are on the outside of the koala and wildlife industries. By informing the right people in the right position, hopefully we won't have to go through such an ordeal in order to move forward. TIME becomes our most valuable resource.
It is about the way we are living today. For many in the captivity sector, it's all about reducing risk, in every action and the repetitive behaviour we do in captivity. I can at least give you the incremental steps that zoos and larger wildlife parks have taken in order to cut costs. Since around the same time, Marty and Doc Brown went back in time (around the year of 1985)! After the height of the koala's popularity, sales ticket numbers have slowly decreased so there was pressure to find new ways to maintain the profit margin that every institution enjoyed back in the 80's. Instead of the koala industry finding new, innovative ways to express our knowledge and redevelop a storyline or reinvent the business itself (that's too risky), businesses and business leaders automatically cut resources back and reduce staff numbers as this is the way they have been educated in leading education and business institutions. Rather than educating themselves to be creative and fight, staying on the offensive, but NO! they are taught to be on the defensive, as its easier! For some reason this is their first option in business. So, what does society do, they follow suit, as they individually see the behaviour of big businesses, and over time follow their lead. Again, it is survival of the fittest, in an economical sense.
But for some reason (perhaps because the koala has dropped right off the radar of most Australians, only popping up as a feel-good news items at the end of the daily news cycle), rather than, commercial T.V. taking a more in-depth approach on a regular basis to the interest of a growing society and the impact that has on wildlife. BY NOT STAYING FOCUSED ON OUR OWN WILDLIFE AND OUR NATIVE VEGETATION, we fail to bring pressure on OUR GOVERNEMENTAL DEPARTMENTS, who are meant to be on the front lines of conservation. Instead, most are merely window dressing, and have a corporate mentality behind closed doors. This too BRINGS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF SEPARATION, AND COMBINE THAT, WITH our Zoning laws, ALL CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS A DISSCONNECT SCOITEY on the growth of Australia.
The pace of life went from one gear to many gears in only about 15-20 years. The reality in my line of work, behind the scenes, has been altered. This is reflected in the way most outsiders and newcomers who have entered this space IN THAT TIME, react in a different manner compare to 20 YEARS AGO. Their understanding of the industry has been influenced before leaving their position to someone else who has also been influenced by the structure that they find themselves in. They worked so hard over the years to get that promotion, so by the time they get it, the last thing they want to do is rock the boat because there is always someone else higher than them! So, nothing happens; not in this industry anyway!
A similar situation was illustrated in Al Gore's 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Now, in today's environment, the koala INDUSTRY has short-changed itself, focusing more on window dressing such as the displays and giving out basic information to guests and tourists to maintain a certain amount of stability. But in the long run, that's irrelevant if we don't keep our number one treasure alive. The industry itself GIVES OUT a basic educational pitch to guess, rather than explain the difficulties and skill levels required to manage koalas in large numbers in a modern society.
For the industry to grow, what's MORE important is CREATING A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE for guests and tourists. They should become more aware of our failings, so if anything, we should be talking about our presentation in a forum of openness, to educate guests and allow commentary on our long-term approach. This adds value for the newly formed problems. Telling new stories will win over the Australian people if all wildlife parks and zoos are consistent with this new form of education. But the koala industry is just sticking to an old form of education instead. Why? Because it's safer and doesn't expose certain institutions with their short-term business structure. Knowing questions would turn on them, and then on to government department giving out the licencing which will raise ever more questions as to why they aren't doing more. These questions would move higher up the chain of command, as they only have a small amount of staff and limited budget to deal with. So, it's better from every level to keep the education simple and within a certain framework. We as an industry haven't kept up with the times that we live in.
It is worth noting that conforming to a number of aspects on koala husbandry does not necessarily mean a positive outcome, it can result in a different set of risks altogether.
Below; This was the famous drawing Doc Brown drew for Marty to explain what he had created; his actions to buy a sport magazine that gave him a cheating glimpse into the future. However, "Biff" the villain of the story, realizes Marty and Doc's advantage, and uses it against them. Later, they trick him back in the same way before "Biff" realises they are present and purpose in the first place! Confused? Well best you watch all three movies! It's a classic form of fiction and in some parts non-fiction (realistically showing certain parts of human behaviour which we all can relate to). The reason the theme of these movies did so well was because it resonates in pop-culture of today and our inner most survival instincts.
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