Said with intelligence Billy,
Until a personal responsibility is taken for one's own environmental impact then 'tis all really only hot air. We all need to lobby for solutions constantly in our own immediate sphere of action with exemplary behavior and simple tenets. This is hard at times, but forgoing the food-mile rich crackers or ridin' the bike in the rain to do the locally produced vegie shopping can become free adventures!

Divergance, my criticism is twofold. First, I don't think Johns tone of pessimism will successfully sell his argument. I await the pollie who will sell alternative energy as an opportunity, who will appeal to our altruism and our sense of progress and pioneering spirit. In this article there is no inspiration, no real direction. Does he really think he will get the Latham/Howard aspirationals fired up by trying to sell a bleak future of an irreparable planet peopled by a populace who have less in the future?

Second is his insistence on the incompatibility of growth and sustainability. He allows for no goodwill, no technological breakthroughs, no opening of new northern hemisphere lands and no recognition of our ability to change.

The 'market' will get us most of the way there,with the right amount of carrot and stick by govt. This article was too much stick and no bloody field to sow carrot in.

Palimpest, you only want to hear the good news? Excellent! A positive thinker.
Always look on the bright side – believe in growth and sustainability.

Be cheerful.
While there seem to be rumours that we are currently living beyond our limits, it will take time to spend all our capital.
To date we have had the good fortune of almost unrestricted access to withdrawl of capital from the bank.
And our bank is big – it is the material and environmental resources of this great big island. Heaps!
With effort, it is possible to maintain an attitude of deferring worry about what reserves remain.
Our GDP (basically our spending) has only been increasing at 4% per year.
At that rate it will be a whole 17 years before our annual expenditure doubles.

With spirited entrepreneurial attitude, 17 years might provide time to overcome both present deficiencies, and the pressures for doubled efficiency in resource use.
No worries, mate, for 2024.

Sustain that growth of optimism for better than present sustainability:
By a factor of 2 in 2024; 4 in 2041; 8 in 2058; 16 in 2075; 32 in 2092 when the population at continued present growth rate of 1.4% would be about 70 million contented(?) souls.
It took the British 80 years to kick the last tiger out of Singapore by about 1900. With our present progress, it will take less time than that to wring dry the northern rivers and leave our crocs destitute