ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

“We didn’t know we were killing the planet,” they said.

“So it’s not our fault. Believe us, we feel really bad about what we’ve done to Earth but in reality, it’s not really our problem, is it?”

Graham and Butter Reece, an ageing Betoota Grove couple, have recently return home to our cosmopolitan desert community after a short holiday to the Great Barrier Reef.

They both wanted to see the globe’s largest living organism one last time before their generation, the most spoilt in human history, finally kills it.

“The last time we went was in 1995, with our young family,” said Butter, a lifelong homemaker and Rotary Club member.

“I just remember all the fish and coral. It was beautiful. I know it’s sad to say but Graham and I don’t have much longer and we wanted to see the reef one last time before it dies,”

“Which will obviously be way before us.”

Graham said the reef looked much different to the one he saw in the mid-1990s and that made him feel guilty.

He explained to The Advocate that while he fells somewhat guilty on behalf of his generation for the ‘disgusting’ and ’embarrassing’ impact their petulant sense of self-worth has had on the enviroment, he is also glad that death is coming soon for him.

“I can’t imagine what this planet will look like when my grandson is my age,” he said.

“He’ll probably end up being bayoneted by a Russian teenager in some Turkmenistan oilfield during a conflict over oil, water or food,”

“And to some extent, my generation will be responsible. Oh well.”

More to come.

