Dax
There has always been a big debate about what is a sustainable population for the planet. Unfortunately most of the debate isn't driven by facts but myth.
Those who wish to drastically reduce the population paint a simple utopian world where everybody lives on an acre block growing their own food and trading their excess with their neighbors. They bake their own bread. Their houses and water is heated by wood from their own block. They get water from their own well. They see this as true sustainable living.
You can live like the Amish now if you wish, but you cannot have Computers, TV, the Internet, low pollution, Airlines, tractors, accurate weather forecasts and cheap transportation.
While I admire the Amish for their faith, I cannot forgive them for their lack of education. The Amish will never produce another Shakespeare, Dylan, Beethoven, Van Gough or even Mandela. Because they do not understand to principal of "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants". Or to put it simply, we move forward by building on the work of others.
But where do electric or bio-diesel cars, Solar Panels, generators, computers, batteries, TV's or refrigerators come from? There is no car farm where you can just grow the next model with GPS. These products are produced in cities by those who are educated in Universities.
Some even dream of going back to a simpler time, to the days of the horse. They also conveniently forget that the car was seen as low pollution means of transportation when compared to the horse.
The truth is that many of those who preach population reduction are the rich, western countries, worried about maintaining their comfortable lifestyle.
There was a very good documentary about a family in China. Remember, China has a lot of very fertile land, unlike Australia. The husband was working in the cities to make some extra money. The wife and child stayed at home on the family farm. She worked from sun up to sunset just to grow enough food to feed themselves for the year. We are talking about backbreaking manual work that never ends. These are people who are not well fed, it's just rice and vegetables. Meat is a luxury and only for very special ocasions. Like when they have had a good litter from the pigs, the crops didn't fail, nobody needed the doctor or school fee's didn't rise. How are these people going to afford to send their child to high school let alone university.
The reality of a sustainable lifestyle is a fantasy created by the rich. All anybody or any country can sensibly do is to reduce their own burden on the planet. Those who demand that the poor need to do more, should be willing to compensate the poor, and I can never see that happening.
As far us Australia is concerned, we need to stop complaining about others and put our own house in order.
Posted Thursday 2 Jun 2016 @ 10:50:29 pm from IP
#