I know we must not lie down to be run over by circumstances - but, look at every graph, they are all moving towards our destruction. It seems inevitable.

One of the best articles I have seen on this topic. Thank you Michael. The chaos is reflected in the rise of mental illness in the'West'. So many of us are completely out of touch with our roots,
our earth. I don't expect any magic event to 'fix' our headlong
rush into oblivion. The film Soylent Green had some interesting
answers. Let us have children by all means, but keeping the rest of
us alive past, well, say, 70, seems a bit pointless. Recycle the
Old Ones, put us out in the snow for the polar bear's (if there are
any left) dinner. Now I'm going to Walk to the Shops with my little green bag.

Lesley

Very well said Michael! And HealthWatcher, I agree that it is too late to avoid a crash, the momentum in growth and the general depth of our ignorance is too great.

There is a fantastic interview with David Holmgren that really addresses what the future may hold for us. Very relevant to Michael's article and worth listening to a couple of times:

http://transitionculture.org/2007/07/30/david-holmgren-on-peak-oil-energy-descent-and-permaculture/
or
http://tinyurl.com/24w8pv

Richard Dawkins also said that:

"We admit that we are like apes but seldom admit that we are apes."

Unlike the real apes, who appear to take only what they need, we humans are intent on turning the planet into a graveyard.

The insatiable desire to continue cloning ourselves by breeding millions more human robots, urged on by governments with neanderthal intellects, will certainly return us to the trees - providing there's any trees left!

it doesn't have to be like that. we can change oz. but it needs admitting that change is necessary, and we have to do it ourselves. the system is moribund, but it can be changed by organizing and presenting an alternative that appears achievable.

the 'thinking' part is necessary, but easy. 'doing' will involve deciding that passivity is not survival oriented. you gotta get off yer bums, if you want to live in a civilized and just society. frightening prospect, i know, but the alternatives are becoming visibly worse.

Demos, there's many people like yourself that wish "something" could be done to stabilise populations, reduce rampant capitalism and obtain sustainability, but it's simply not going to happen. It's not just Australia that needs to wake up! The whole world is full of religious fundamentalists that are hell bent on out-breeding the others. They've lost all semblance of rationality simply because they believe that something floating around in the sky makes all the important decisions for them and that if they follow their weird and wacky scriptures and books they way the are TOLD by their leaders they'll eventually die and find themselves in some imaginary place where all their pain and suffering will be eradicated where they'll live in happiness for ever.

When mankind in this day and age of so called "enlightenment" continues to educate children in the barbaric and superstitious practice of religion, the human race holds no hope for survival. It only takes one of those fundamentalists nut cases to push "the button" and much of humanity will be erased from the planet. Pity about the animals!