And the price of all this plastic will go up and up as the price of oil goes up. It is clearly unsustainable and someone, somewhere, has to decree soon that meals-on-wheels go back to using reusable plates, and the cleaners to using reseable gloves and aprons.

I think the solution lies in moving to a steady state economy with stable population. It would at least, put a cap on house prices so only one income would be needed to pay it off. There might be then a few more people around who have time to come in and help the elderly with cleaning, cooking and washing up, and in the process provide a bit of companionship.

popnperish......said,

"I think the solution lies in moving to a steady state economy with stable population." I've been pushing that one for years:)

"It would at least, put a cap on house prices so only one income would be needed to pay it off" See, the sorry thing is, the upper levels will never see this and change their ways. Human-nature is a very ugly thing indeed, and the elderly are in-fact easy pickings for circling vultures.

But you ever know, humanity just might see its humanity:)

LEA

Good on you Valerie,

I wouldn't be so harsh on your self and please delete the instrumentalism. That's what the anti-pops use to measure a humans worth - how much they eat.

You are worth your weight in gold because for 60 or so years you have paid taxes, bought up a family and helped to make this nation great.

I would recommend that you tell your grandsons and grand daughters to start producing kids like mad because the greedy babyboomers (who have not saved for retirement) will certainly be an impost on the health budget.

Personally I'd like to tax the Boomers out of existence except they'd kidnap me and tell me how great the 60s were and play Creedence Clearwater Revival music at me until I cracked.

Good point about plastic and Meals on Wheels (a fantastic organisation). See if you can't start a recycling movement. You sound like a go getter. My hat is off to you.

Valerie, I fully support you in principle, but I just wonder whether the use of china or hard plastic plates instead of use-once-throw-away flimsy plastic plates, and all of that sort of reusable versus one-use stuff is really significant?

I wonder if, when everything is factored in, the costs to the consumer, society and environment would be significantly less, or any less, if Meals-on-Wheels moved right away from disposable stuff, as far as is possible?

The really big factor here is not this sort of thing, nor the increasing number of the elderly, nor the increasing proportion of the population requiring these sorts of services, it is our hopelessly ANTISUSTAINABLE continuous expansionist mindset.

This is what is causing us to spend ever-more money on the negative symptoms of too much growth and exerting pressure for ever less money in real terms to be spent on education, health, the elderly, etc.

Then there is the fact that most money spent on these sectors is just building more of the same for ever-more people without actually improving their quality for the existing population. In fact, most of this expenditure is desperately trying to stave off the negative factors constantly exerted by rapid population growth!

The argument that we need rapid growth to be able to pay the ever-rising costs of the elderly has just got knobs all over it. Yes, population growth would put more tax-payers in the workforce and hence provide more money for pensions and other services for the elderly. But this same population growth creates a demand for ever more services and infrastructure and hence for public expenditure.

We’d be much better off in terms of our overall quality of life, very much including that of the elderly, if we rapidly reduced immigration and geared our society towards a stable population and a lower-growth total economy, but higher-growth per-capita economy, forthwith.

Ludwig.....At the expense of human development, Iam afraid the very thing we need to survive on ( Air, trees, oceans, fresh water, animals wild or domestic, our fisheries, jobs for future people, you know them things) is just getting in the way, and of course most see it as, environmentally expendable......ALL OF IT. However, I too tip my hat to all those that have the fortitude and insights to improve what ever that your eyes may see as failing with not enough attentiveness that some fail to see, its good... really...its the best we can wish for.

Good on you and your formidableness to fix a problem.

If only there were more like you.

And as for the anti pop as some put it......if recycling
technical experts dont get it into full swing, well wont 10 billion people sound like fun:)

Sometimes the most simplest ideas work out to be the best. ,
Mass Production and the Creative Instinct.mmmmmmmmmmm

Cheryl, said....

"I would recommend that you tell your grandsons and grand daughters to start producing kids like mad"

WOW How can I think like you:)

LEAP

Cheryl
As a baby boomer I don't want my kids producing kids like mad - other than one or two each. In 20 years when I'm in my mid-80s my kids will have adult children who can come and visit Grandma and do the washing up or a bit of gardening while their parents continue in the workforce (rather than looking after ever more children), paying taxes, so that, when I'm in my 90s, their taxes will keep me in a nice nursing home thank you very much.