A wonderfully optimistic article Paul.

I am sure you are right; the change is coming..and Obama will have a large part to play in it. Whether he’ll go anywhere near far enough is another question. As for Rudd, it’s not looking good at all so far.

The big question is; will the change come in time to prevent enormous upheaval?

There is so much happening in the world that should have triggered a massive change towards sustainability by now….but which just hasn’t done so at all.

So what will it take? What is the magic ingredient that will change our collective psyche, or engender the right sort of leadership that will harness the latent collective concern of the masses?

With overwhelming overpopulation, a global financial crisis, all manner of increasing environmental problems and degrading resources, we still haven’t found the trigger.

Does the trigger have to be an enormous crash event, where western societies basically fall apart and millions die?

It seems to me that it does.

There is no point in talking about sustainability while the population continues to grow.

Paul Gilding writes:

"It means we are going to transform the economy to close to zero net CO2 emissions. This will create massive growth in many sectors and the collapse of others."

and

"This is all good news. It is an economic, technological, political and social revolution far greater than anything we have imagined to date. Because we’ve left the change so late it will require a level of effort comparable to waging a war. But this we can do."

Paul Gilding has called a target indication correctly. The question is whether Australian political leadership is up to giving the order to open fire, figuratively speaking. The opportunity exists to totally wean Australian society from dependence upon increasingly scarce and expensive energy. If Australia, for its own self-preservation has to go to war, so to speak, to solve this problem, then we all want to come out of it having the newly created sustainable energy industry 100% in Australian ownership. I question whether such an outcome would even enter the minds of the current crop of sell-outs as being desirable.

Interestingly, the author also comments:

"We will see closed loop systems for packaging and drink containers that will require widespread changes in infrastructure, new materials and very different marketing strategies."

and

"For business, the consequences are clear. The change is coming - the question is how you respond it."

From this link: http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:3mXoeGTj72QJ:www.visyboard.com/uploaded/pdfs/rpwater2005.pdf+Richard+Pratt+and+the+Renewable+Energy+Fund&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au

"My companies have been built upon supplying a wide range of packaging to the Australian food and beverage industries. Anything I can do to promote their growth will be good for my business. Of course it will help my competitors as well. AND I DON'T SEE THEM CAMPAIGNING ON THIS ISSUE [of getting water supply right in Australia]." Richard Pratt, the Sydney Water Summit, 30 March 2005.

A fairly responsive businessman, it would appear. Perhaps too responsive for government.

Obviously you think that sustainability is not going to happen if people were left free to choose what transactions to enter into: hence the idea that a much bigger role for government is necessary.

Government already confiscates in taxes and inflation about 50 percent of what the nation produces every day.

Yet your article is unclear on the details.

So my questions are:
- How is government going to ensure sustainability in practice? What would be the necessary policies, in a nutshell?
- If more than 50 percent government control of economic activity would be better, would 100 percent be better still? If not, why not? How will you know what the correct balance is? But if you can assume that bigger government will not make the problem worse, why not just go straight to 100 percent control?
- How will the need for ecological sustainability be balanced against the demand for economic goods, such as food, clothing, shelter, transport, communications and entertainment?
- How will government know if any given human action is unsustainable in terms of resource use, species habitat and so on?
- How will the information get from the source to the decision-making authority?
- How will the system avoid the need to control every transaction that uses natural resources? If it does need to control it, how will it cope?
- How is the government authority going to know whether any given action is justified in terms of human needs or wants? Will it do it by rules and regulations? Who will know what the rules and regulations should be? If not, then how?
- To what extent have you considered the possibility that the current economic crisis the result of attempts by government at central planning?
- If people are too stupid or too greedy to decide what transactions to enter into, how are the same people going to be presumed capable to decide what politician to set up over them to restrain their stupidity and greed?

How do I know I am not being spun ?

Most of our pollution can be negated by converting to Nuclear Power , reintroducing Rail to our freight and changing our vehicles to CNG or Alcohol .

As for Population , your suggestions are stupid , unless you can prove we can work right through to the day we die .

As an example Japan , how do they survive ? Intelligently thats how .
Don't say what about now , their problems are caused by Filth in high places in the west .

How come ALDI can sell Chardonnay for 2.95 a bottle ? Safway will sell you the same sized bottle of plain water for 2.95 while farmers at Mildura are to let their fruit fall to the ground ? Any bells ringing ?

How come Govmts are spending squillions on pipelines intending to pump water from where there is no water to where there is no water ?
Somebody needs to tell them that two minuses only makes a plus in maths !

What happened to pre election Rudd and his Solar Energy ?

Politics is a horrible manager , water can only be generated by RO according to them , the answer is smooth salesmen selling water at the same price as ALDI wine .

The Answer to water is to observe nature , evaporate then condense , too easy .

Aussies are pretty dumb , none of us ask , what's the go when we run out of Minerals ....there is a huge future in Oz it's called Agriculture . What's Rudd doing for Ag , he is selling up the Farmers by stealth , selling out the non Metro electorates , manifesting Union Power ........who do unionists vote for ?

Why then did our Government do nothing about plastic bags, remove the solar energy grant and leave the whales to the Japanese? Because talk is cheaper than action and its talk that wins elections. No more preaching thanks. Somebody just DO something.