Well said, Squeers - I like your term "creative destruction".

SPQR - the "Green Revolution" is not biologically sustainable.
It has degraded the land in India and depleted its water aquifiers. It has poisoned the soil due to the overuse of pesticides - resulted in the loss of biodiversity and indebted many poor Indian farmers resulting in many many thousands of suicides. Those that are still farming, are in the main, in debt and in servitude to giant global corporations.
Although, this so-called revolution has resulted in vastly increased yields, much of the food is stockpiled in order to inflate the price - many thousands of Indians still suffer hunger, stunted growth and death due to an inability to access food.

Now they are thinking of doing the same in Africa. There is nothing particularly altruistic in this action - it is merely a profitable enterprise for the corporate West.

SPQR I believe the "sustainable" population theory is a myth ; truth is we need vibrant population to be sustainable Ask any Father or Mother of a big family what that means ie; 1: seeks guidance from Heavenly Bodies.
2;Gets lost at Monash Uni 3;Gets up to go to toilet , spends all day in bed writing Computer letters to OLO etc 4; hyper active female spends my pocket money on op-shop glam of all sorts then Daddy has to get up 2am to take exhausted boyfriend home in time for a sleep because has to be at work 8.30am.5;Works hard Uni doing well, always broke,very competent beggar.
Will any of them do enough work to sustain M&D in retirement? Please excuse me while I wonder.

The other issue is the number of humans capable of inventive genius .
I put it to you those people are pretty thinly spread your philosophy thins the ranks ?

The frightful IQ of our Politicians is interfering with our development we have just been through a drought and flood that everyone considers the worst in living history, its not , the floods we are now experiencing all that water wasted we all should be thinking Dams ,Diversions etc instead everyone's focused on a high speed Porn line across the sparsest continent on earth , some type of madness ? We are now a net importer of food we are eating apples and frightful garlic from China oranges from California yet we have in our Government Union Leaders and Unionists who's pride & dedication & High Principles does not extend to Mexican & Chinese workers whose lot almost equals Slavery. We need more young people who will set a new pace fight for our Country reduce the influence of the pathetic investors squabbling over real estate gambling on demand how pathetic.

Garum Masala

Just wondering ... did you complain about OZ being an importer of oranges when "Globalisation" was being championed by the 'free marketeers' of this world? Happens regularly I believe, at G8.

But, maybe you are too young.

If you are of sufficient age and IQ (not necessarily mutually exclusive) you might also understand some governments of late have not had the foresight to build the infrastructure for future generations.

People with an IQ greater than their shoe size (including some politicians) understand the dilemma: how do you maintain 'growth' without destroying the very thing that growth is dependent on?

As for more dam building - perhaps people (including some politicians) should just do some basic homework before they make fools of themselves - the Australian Water Association is a good place to start, Mr Abbott.

bonmot, Monday, 24 January 2011 1:01:39 PM

your post seems a bit aggressive ?

I am unable to put a score on my IQ never been tested .

My age 67 .

I was mostly self employed Refrigeration and Engineering .

Class 5 Masters Certificate . Coxswains Cert.

Pilots Licence .

Certificate of Competency "Boiler-Steam.Engine"Vic.

Various Welding Certificates .

Does this help ?

bonmot, Monday, 24 January 2011 1:01:39 PM

sorry please clarify the Abbott part of your post ?

Garum Masala: Ever watched ‘grumpy old men’? Perhaps I’m just a grumpy old fart too.

You seem to ‘grump’ about Oz being a net importer of food. Thing is, we are now living in a ‘global’ world - and people like you and me see some problems. What did we do when this was starting to happen before our very eyes? Do we have the right to complain now, or should we instead be doing something to make it better? I’m not suggesting you or I should rock up to the World Economic Summit in Davos, but I’m sure you get the drift.

Abbott wants to simply build more dams. This ill considered policy-on-the-run does not give me confidence in his leadership of the Liberal Party, nor his potential leadership of the country.

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/water-experts-slam-abbotts-dam-plan-20110107-19iwj.html