"The average Melburnian would be forgiven for thinking that if they only put a bucket in the shower, turned off the DVD or no longer washed the car then the problems confronting us would go away."
What they don't??!! Thats it no more buckets in the shower....you green shams.

"engines that run on unleaded fuel and remove this dangerous pollutant"
Which one?

"This stance is profoundly pro-people, for an existence of true quality and potential in perpetuity, not otherwise."
Yeeerrr right and pigs fly backwards.

"Christianity has been portrayed as being particularly unhelpful in caring for nature"
Christianity is somewhat irrelevant today but never fear enviromentalism is the new religion of the 21st century. Praise be to Gaia.

Nice to see Alzo in top form railing against anything that even hints of restraint!

On a more serious (but simplistic) note the nature of our financial system itself currently locks us into constantly striving for economic growth. Fractional reserve banking allows the creation of money by banks when these make loans - and they can only receive a return on this new money if the economy grows further - the asset and activity base must grow in order to give the new money value!

Looks like the collapse of the current economic order may be in order though. Expect hyperfinflation first and then a move to currencies based on something other than paper (or numbers in a computer).

Speaking of Gaia. It is an unarguable fact that the earth is a total energy system which operates or is "governed" by natural laws or mechanisms that in one way another always work to achieve a homeostatic balance---just as the human body-mind does---or tries to do---sickness symptoms being signs that the body is energetically out of balance---acupuncture for instance hepls to rebalance the subtle energy systems of the body and thus restore health

These Gaian laws obviously work over time spans much larger in scale than that of the normal human life time, and in a much vaster style altogether causing natural disasters of all kinds---earthquakes, storms etc etc (tsunami's even)

It is also an unarguable fact that human civilization (mis-lead by the West in particular) is profoundly out of wack or balance to the extent that we are making/causing all kinds of negative effects on the plantary eco or energy systems altogether.

Sooner or later the inter-connected energy systems that make up Gaia in its totality are going to bite back or do whatever it takes to rebalance itself.

Dear Ho Hum,

Don't give the inanimate earth too much credit for its ability to seek and achieve balance, or humans too little credit for our ability to respond to conditions we don't like.

As far as I can see, humanity is the only part of the earth even remotely capable of self-assessment and is by far the quickest actor when it comes to changing land use, changing the composition of the atmosphere, exterminating undesirable species and the like. Volcanoes, hurricanes and earthquakes look big to individual humans, but the consequences of the activity of billions of people dwarf those of natural 'disasters' in the long term.

*Because* we are capable of reflecting on the consequences of our actions and *because* we have the capacity to change the earth, I think humankind itself is the only likely candidate for restoring the relative tranquility we disturbed, and thereafter for maintaining the planet in such a way as it keeps us comfortable despite whatever natural changes might otherwise have occurred.

No matter how much damage we do in the short term, as long as we don't wipe *ourselves* out altogether (highly unlikely in my view) we will be here for the long haul, and eventually we'll be bound to get our act together.

The most successful parasites don't kill the host, they evolve into its symbiotes.

Look. Just see how Michael Fendley, can "dispose of pollutants, like CO2" by breathing out "..... we can strive to be more a part of the natural world, more aware of its workings and subtleties, more emotionally tied to its richness and health."

Xoddan. If only that were so.

Unfortunately and dreadfully the scenarios envisioned by Lovelock, the "inventor" of the Gaia hypothesis will most probably come true.
But his idea was/is not new. Traditional so called "primitive" cultures" have always known that the world is a Living Being. And some of them--the Hopi for instance---have right, from the start, seen very clearly where the white-man's "culture" is leading.

Most people on this planet are overwhelmed by the sheer struggle for survival. They dont have the time, space or luxury to reflect on their situation---let alone make any changes.

Those that arent are stupefied by the insanity machine (TV) in their "living" room and the utter emptiness of our consumer so called "culture"----the titti-tainment "culture" that Aldous Huxley prophetically described in Brave New World.

Meanwhile we are also "living" in the equally horrific "culture" described by George Orwell in 1984. With the wall to wall propaganda of fear via the so called war on terror.

Meanwhile do you really think that anything can be done to stop the catastrophic floods that are now happening in India---25 million homeless people. That situation is only going to get worse as the de-forestation in the Himalayas continues on its present momentum.

What about the Tsunami that killed 300,000 people?

They are just the gross level horror scenarios in front of us.

If you want to read something truly horrific about the almost unstoppable biological micro-disasters now occurring everywhere---disasters which were created via both the unintended consequences of good intentions, and by the sheer malfeasance by those in power----disasters which will possibly make the global pandemics of the past look like Sunday afternoon picnics---please check out

Pandemonium at: 1. http://www.andrewnikiforuk.com