On Friday, March 15, hundreds of young people assembled in Littleton Gardens to cry out for climate action joining 100s of thousands across the earth. This is not a prank by adolescents, it is a source of anxiety and despair if not addressed through listening and empowerment. They are not able to vote.

Who can we the adult parents, vote for at state and federal parliament, that will adopt effective policies to interrupt and repair environmental destruction, cease emissions and particle pollution from fossil fuel burning and transition our grid and industries to alternative energy. Be thoughtful of our children in upcoming elections.

I have two expensive watches that I only use when I go out because I do a lot of outside work that could damage them.

For the dirty stuff I buy cheap $15-$30 watches from a large department store and have done so for over 30 years without a problem. They last one or two years and till this week I have never had to return one.

Four weeks ago I bought a $25 one from same department chain. I have lost a bit of weight so had to get some links taken out which made it $35.

Today the watch stopped and as it has a 90 day guarantee I took it back. The lady on the returns counter told me the watch was fine but the battery was flat. She then told me the guarantee didn't cover the battery. I said you mean to say that you actually sell watches with faulty batteries and they are not guaranteed. She then told me they get a lot of that because it takes up to two years to get them delivered from their supplier in China and then they can sit in the warehouse for six months. If the little plastic stopper comes off the watch they would have been actually running all that time.

Finally the lady said she would replace the watch even though it wasn't policy. Thank God for someone with some common sense. Or maybe she took pity on me?

So be very careful to make sure the little plastic stopper is around the winding mechanism and the watch is not already running.

This store must make a motza out of all those coming back to get a new one.

A year on after the Tathra bushfire, while participating in the Clean Up Australia campaign, I reflected on what a beautiful expression it is for one's love of country. People of all ages participate.

We've honoured great Australians with significant international contributions such as Dr Catherine Hamlin and Fred Hollows by naming Sydney ferries after them. It's a shame the same honour was not extended to Ian Kiernan who died last October. It was an astonishing decision because Kiernan topped the $100,000 public poll.

This was only found out after a Freedom of Information application in response to the public outcry against the ridiculous decision by Bega's local state member to name a vessel "Ferry McFerryFace". There was never a convincing reason given to justify not accepting the public support for the man who established Clean Up Australia, voted Australia's most trusted environmental charity. Can we assume it was because Kiernan was an environmentalist?

In the light of this appalling judgement, the Murray-Darling catastrophe, the destructive proposal to raise the Warragamba Dam wall, the inappropriate legislation protecting feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park, and a National Party member's call to de-gazette a national park, you have to seriously question how much the state government dislikes anyone who speaks up for the environment.