For the first 39 years of my life I lived and worked on farms before moving to the City. Originaly Australian towns and Cities were established on the 1/4 acre block to allow families to have water storeage, fowls, fruit trees and vegetable gardens to supplement their household use. My impression today is almost no one in the city could self survive because they do not and have no clue to produce any food for them selves. They have become totally dependent upon others for all their needs. Their spirit of self survival is totally lazy.

Australia needs to decentralise and build infrastructure to support population growth. Piping water into the head waters of the Darling into weirs from the gulf country may be an option.

Runner, would you be so kind as to address the questions I posed to you on 23 July. Thanks

“Australia needs to decentralise and build infrastructure to support population growth”

Philo, no doubt you’ve addressed this question previously on OLO, but why should we in Australia do anything to support population growth?

Well doesn't this sound like Eco's in the wind. This planet ticks to its own clock and unfortunately the human race ignores the fact and goes by its own understanding of time.

The maths is simple. If we back off, we will save ourselves and all living things.

Anyone with half a brain can forecast the next 50 years, so, lets keep on thinking that its all going to be fine.lol.

I went fishing the other day, looking for a quiet place to fish, and you know what, I couldn't find one!

I wonder what the problem was? ( not to mention there were no fish)

9.2 billion! GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! The year (2050) Does sardines in a tin come mind? The benefit's of human population reduction out strips the need for wealth. Eat it all now and leave crumbs for the kids! Well, that's what we are all doing. It sort of defeats the purpose for having them in the first place, and wait until they go for their first job, that long cue wont discourage them. Yeah right! and the virus we are.

EVO

Barack Obama is obviously one of the Multiculturalist Mafia Maniacs from his Berlin Speech and is promoting the Common Purpose Group's agenda in seeking to remove all State Border Securities and allow free flow of anyone to any country of their choice as has happened in Europe to the detriment of the British people. Rudd and Brumby are obviously also members of this neo-socialist group in their policies of encouraging increased immigration and population growth.

I had already posted this extract on a GW article thread, however it deserves an airing here, given that sustainability, climate change and peak fuels are all a part of the same challenge humanity is facing.

From Ockham’s Razor, by Ian Dunlop, former Head-of-the-Australian-Institute-of-Directors and now Deputy-Convenor -of-the-Australian-Association-for-the-study-of-Peak-Oil.

“We face major changes to our lifestyle. It is not just high oil prices and global warming but the very question of the sustainability of humanity on the planet as population rises from 6-1/2-billion people today to 9-billion in 2050, all aspiring to an improved quality of life. New technology will undoubtedly come to our aid but that will not be enough; our values must also change. Conventional economic growth in the developed world will have to be set aside in favour of a steady-state economy where the emphasis is on non-consumption and the quality of life rather than the quantity of things.

There will be far more focus on local food production, opening up new opportunities for rural areas; cities will be redesigned using high-density sustainability principles to avoid urban sprawl, and properly integrated with public transport to minimise energy consumption. Work centres will be decentralised. Rail, powered by renewable energy, will become a major transport mode for both freight and high-speed passenger traffic. Air travel will reduce unless new technology develops jet fuel from, for example, bio-sources, and even then emission constraints may limit its use. The internal combustion engine will disappear in favour of electric vehicles for many applications. Cycling and walking will become major activities for both work and pleasure; obesity and diabetes will decline!

The challenge is enormous, but it is the greatest opportunity we have ever had to place the world on a sustainable footing, for what we are doing currently is not sustainable. We must not waste this opportunity, but it needs far bolder and broader thinking than we are seeing at present.”

Full program at:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2008/2313512.htm#transcript

We have both the technology and the ability, it is the will that is sadly lacking.