12:00a.m. 13th April 2008

| By Carolyn Tucker

Global warming campaigner Steve Posselt wants to help stop the Traveston dam.

Global warming campaigner Steve Posselt shakes his head at the stupidity.

A civil engineer who has devoted his working life to the water industry and wrote his thesis on dam design, Steve is simply staggered by the government’s plans to flood the Mary Valley.

The Traveston dam is an abomination, he said. Economically and environmentally, it defies logic.

So much so that he cannot sit by and let it happen.

“At 55 years of age I’m becoming an activist,” he chuckled, “and I see myself as being pretty good in a scrap.

“We’ve got a government in Queensland that is as bad as the Bjelke-Petersen government – they are just a bit more subtle – and I think we should get back to a bit of activism.”

Photo Gallery: Steve's trip to save the Mary River

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Last year he sold his Brisbane business, Watergates, and embarked on an epic journey, dragging and paddling his kayak more than 3000 kilometres from Brisbane to Adelaide to highlight the disastrous state of the Murray Darling.

Steve was in the process of writing a book about his experience, but shelved that project just before Easter to take on another.

His message this time: don’t Murray the Mary.

Steve’s aim is to shake city-dwellers out of their complacency about plans to build the Traveston Crossing dam and show them what is at stake.

He said the world has passed peak oil, we need food sources close to urban centres, the Lockyer Valley is drying up and the government is planning to flood arable land on Brisbane’s doorstep. Moreover, climate change will bring reduced rainfall and the dam will contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, he added.

“My goal is to help the people trying to kill this off,” Steve said.

“I think it’s time to really rev this up and I take my hat off to the people who’ve been battling away for the last two years.”

Steve took to the waterways again yesterday, padding and lugging his kayak from Brisbane to the Great Sandy Straits and back, posting photographs from the trip on his website.

He has done little physical preparation for what will surely be a gruelling journey, but is not concerned about the toll it will take.

“I know how tough it’s going to be.

“I’m not looking forward to parts of it. I wish I’d had time to get fit but I guess I’ll be fit when I finish,” Steve said casually.

And surprisingly, he is not even particularly passionate about kayaking.

“Kayaking is not necessarily a passion.

“I used to run a bit. I ran a marathon, but after an orthopaedic surgeon operated on both my knees and said ‘you can’t run anymore’, I was trying to think of something else I could do.

“I built a kayak to get to work – it’s got three wheels on it and it’s less than half a kilometre to the boat ramp from my place.

“The trip was about one and a quarter hours door to door, and it was a great way to start the day and a great way to unwind.”

And one day, he explained, he decided to go a bit further.

The Murray Darling venture was a seven-month odyssey, shadowed by a support crew who handled communications and logistics.

This time it will be much the same but on a smaller scale with the trip expected to take just over four weeks.

“I can’t really tell where I’m going to be until the day before, but the end date is very important with this trip because we want to have a big rally, so I’ll need to have some time up my sleeve,” Steve said.

“I have no idea what I’ll do if I hit a big southerly between Double Island Point and Noosa, but relying on nature is good, it keeps you in touch.”

This time the spotlight is on Traveston dam, but it is part of Steve’s broader campaign about global warming.

He has reduced his own carbon footprint by 70% and said daunting though the challenge may seem, it can be met with grit and determination.

“When I decided to do the Murray Darling trip I knew it was going to be hard.

“I looked at the maps and felt sick, but when I started it, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I just put one foot in front of the other and that’s what we need to do with global warming.

“We all just have to put one foot in front of the other. Global warming is the bottom line for me and we are not dealing with it on a risk basis.

“I think part of this campaign may be to say to people ‘don’t you care?’….” he trailed off.

It was as if he had been thinking out loud and was suddenly struck by the tragedy of this indifference.

“I don’t know… I really see this dam as an economic issue, but why do the worst thing environmentally, particularly when you don’t know what the effect of climate change will be?”

More than a decade ago as president of the Queensland branch of the Australian Water Association, Steve was advocating a shift away from dams and towards recycling.

“It’s not hard to predict the future, but apparently it’s very, very hard for governments,” he said with frustration.

Water has been a central theme in Steve’s professional life, and today he wears the activist tag with pride.

But it was the unlikely catalyst of a serious motorbike accident that prompted him to walk away from his career and dedicate himself to raising awareness about climate change and the importance of our waterways.

“It took me a while to realise I nearly died. I thought I better make my life count from now on – that changed my life.

“I’ll have grandkids one day and I want to be able to look them in the eye and say ‘I did my best’.”

Steve Posselt is aiming to arrive back at the Boat Ramp, Riverside drive, West End on Sunday, May 11. For photos and reports on his progress, visit www.kayak4earth.com.