Gosh, now Remco is a farming expert. He says, "This is why Australian dairy farmers go to Israel to find out why they can get twice as much milk per cow than we can". Can they really? Name your source, Remco. Are these Israeli cows milked 4 times a day or are their bladders twice the size of our local stock? Or is this one of those Judean "loaves and fishes" gigs?

And as this was originally a post about things green, it would seem appropriate to remind you that Holland is essentially a lowland bog. So could you please elaborate on what sort of enhanced perspective on the SOI a dryland cropper from Moree, or a grazier from Cunamulla, might get from a Dutch Bog Wallah? You do know about that SOI thing, don't you Remco?

And you do know that the Dutch were one of the three founders of the European Union and so, have had the longest access to farm subsidies of all, don't you Remco? They couldn't scratch their backside without a subsidy.

But do keep it up, matey. I was going to say that the average "greenie in the street" takes articulate bimboism to extraordinary lengths, but it hardly seems necessary now.

As Ludwig so succinctly put it - many will say "I am not a greenie but....." The greenies, like the other side so epitomised by the firebrand Perseus, are simply reactionary without anything substantial to offer.

Being "green" however one conjectures that up, presents opportunities, not threats except to those "bags per acre" or "miles per gallon" producers with their hands up for bailouts during each inevitable flood, wind or drought. Let's instead hear about opportunities to be smart even if we have to whisper "green".

I wonder what our grandchildren's assessment will be of the little bit of our economy (4% of GDP), that the rural sector now represents when compared to the environmental cost that we are deferring to them. Why on earth did they allow them to destroy so much?

The author of the article is dreaming .

Here in Tas we've endured the greens holding balance of power twice & it was a disaster both times .

The only positive thing I can say about the greens is that they seem to promote the views of their party faithfull .

However when the party faithfull are predominantly envy driven ferrals & the young voter , fringe status is assured as the young voter will usually end up in the workforce with a mortgage & real concerns about where their next paycheque is coming from .

Enviromentalism as it is thrust upon us today is only an indulgence afforded by our current wealth .

This will change !

Other nations are encouraging industry development & growth at a massive rate while we are busy locking up our land & water for the "enviroment" .

As putting food on the table & keeping a roof over our heads gets ever harder , The welfare of trees & frogs will become ever less important in our minds .

So too will the envy driven rantings of the tree hugging / people hating greens .

What the likes of Jamo and other anti-conservationists miss, is that land and water are not in abundance - but what is, is smartness to produce more effectly. It is not about locking up, but doing it better, again with role models in Europe and say Israel.

Sadly the greenies while having a point, fail to offer solutions while the other side, simple whimper about a way of being that is no longer appropriate.

Lets create a vision instead of headbutting.

Remco, nicely said. I hold the view that "Green" political parties don't represent my green leanings. We need to find sustainable ways of living in and with the environment.

We need spaces that retain as much of their wilderness values as possible for our own benefit and for biodiversity (something that appears to be essential to the health of this planet) but we also need access to resources - especially if we are not willing as a society to take some very harsh decisions. Decisions which I for the most part don't support. It often seems that the "Greens" social platforms are in almost direct contradiction to their environmental platforms.

Has the debate over the environment been so dominated by the "green left" that the "green right" has lost it's voice?

Time for sustainable end to end solutions rather than single dimension ideology.

R0bert

“Other nations are encouraging industry development & growth at a massive rate while we are busy locking up our land & water for the ‘environment’ " .

Jamo, some other countries are encouraging development at a massive rate, most notably China. These are of the greatest concern to our world environment.

Others are not growing and have maintained a high quality of life for a very long time, ie Scandinavian countries.

Who is busy locking up land and water? Not Australia. We are encouraging growth and development as much as we can! The little bits that are set aside are minuscule compared to the humanised landscape.

You are taking an extremely narrow focus of ‘the greens’ as those who are “tree hugging / people-hating” and only concerned with the “welfare of trees and frogs”. Then you are mixing this up with “environmentalism”.

Please see my last post for a summary of what true environmentalism, or greenyism, should be.

The trouble is, the Greens have in no small part engendered an impression of themselves that is somewhat similar, although a little less extreme, to yours. And it is partly deserved, because they are a million miles away from true environmentalism. For all Bob Brown’s wonderful input into various issues, he has just completely failed to grasp the big-picture sustainability issues. The Greens desperately need someone with a holistic outlook.

I think your comments are too strong, but not entirely lacking merit.