“If we leave them to die from hungry they, billions of people, will take US with them into the grave!”
Dear Ant

It’s quite astonishing that you persist with this crusade. I can assure you, that no matter where the “billions of people,” breeding like rabbits are, they have the potential to "take US with them into the grave."

Birth control was always practised by illiterate ancient tribes. Education is not a pre-requisite for commonsense and I know of no Qur'anic text which forbids prevention of conception except by surgical sterilisation.

When millions of disadvantaged people, scratching around like chooks to find themselves a feed, continue bearing children, the only responsibility Australia has is to denounce this inhumane practice, a practice which is morally one step up from infanticide.

The Catholic church’s edict on birth control should be denounced by the leaders of nations, as well as the resounding silence of most Islamic leaders, on its own population explosions. In fact, I would go further and recommend that birth control mitigation be incorporated into the Kyoto protocol since without the halt of human population, the objectives of Kyoto will fail.

Alas Ant, you are devoid of any knowledge on biodiversity or of the interdependence between different species, essential for human survival.

Rather you deem a zone of land containing wildlife, diverse plant populations, and intricate ecological systems as 'undeveloped', the plundering of the planet by humans as 'progress', and the current destructive discipline of sustainability, ‘normal’.

Under the entrancement of your proposal, you believe that unlimited production of food by Australian agriculture could feed the teeming “billions” who just don’t get it. These teeming "billions" remain an environmental, economical and socially frightening nightmare!

contd.....

Contd....

But hey Ant, why not take your proposal offshore?

The largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara. Over 8,000 years ago there was no Sahara Desert; what is now the Sahara Desert used to be grain fields. It is estimated that 2,500,000 people live in the Sahara Desert – one of the lowest population densities on the planet.

Only a few thousand years ago the Sahara was significantly wetter, and a large mammal fauna resided in this area. Climatic desiccation over the past couple of thousand years, and intense human hunting has obliterated these faunas.

The remnant large mammal fauna remaining is highly threatened by over-hunting so you could easily knock them off and the greater Sahara stretches across Africa to the Red Sea and down to the highlands of Ethiopia, encompassing an area 9,100,000 square kilometres.

Australia’s total land area is only 7.6 million square kilometres. Just imagine Ant how much more you could achieve if you opened up the Sahara desert to all those breeding “billions” and no biodiversity left to interfere with your objectives?

Indeed yes - Swimming pools, "small parks in the desert" for travellers, mini McMansions, sheep, cattle, pigs, poultry, grains, man-made poisons to knock off any stray ferals and tonnes of room to expand the human population to keep the desert people "strong." Yay - go for it Ant!

Protagoras,
The most obvious flaw in your scenario is that of AGW, pollution and such.

Stats suggest that if we had a different economic model other than Consumerism (magic pudding economics) that the world produces or can produce enough food for several billion people. However what isn't expressed in these numbers is the AGW, pollution etc and the "sacrifices" the profligate west would need to make in consuming less.
Antonius I wish you good luck and hope for the sake of the rest of the world your ideals succeed

Examinator – I was being facetious though I didn’t realise my banter was so subtle.

Agriculture and pollution? Consider our waterways which are now little more than an invisible chemical factory.

The streams, rivers and oceans have become the factory’s waste disposal streams but most of the chemical damage cannot be seen by the naked eye. While plants and animals have had millions of years to develop their arsenal of biological protection, without polluting their own environment, we've had about sixty years of experience in developing agricultural chemicals and in so doing have caused massive damage to our ecosystems.

That’s only part of the pollution problem in Australia which also has 100,000 contaminated sites.

India's lucky to have 54% of arable land, Rwanda 49% and Australia 6.4%. Yoohoo Antonios?

Meanwhile 45 million Africans go hungry while international investors continue to cast their sights on Africa’s farmlands, especially the best ones on the African continent.

In five years, investors have rushed to buy millions of hectares in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Madagascar, and Sudan. Some examples are: "Saudi Arabia has invested $100 million for an Ethiopian farm where they hope to grow wheat and barley, adding to the millions of acres they already own in the war-ravaged country, as well as in neighbouring Sudan.

"China, on the other hand, owns vast tracts of overseas land, mainly in Algeria and Zimbabwe, and one estimate suggests that more than a million ethnic Chinese farm workers will be living on the continent this year. Kenya and Tanzania have leased land while the Ugandans have been big sellers, allocating two million acres of land to Egypt for wheat and corn.” Still with us Antonios?

However, between 1975 and 2008, Africa’s population grew from 335 to 967 million.

Examinator – I find your post a contradiction. You raised the issue of AGW and pollution. Do you really believe that colonising our fragile deserts with millions of people would be sustainable? If not, why are you supporting Ant’s crusade – particularly when Australia's ecosystems are failing from pollution and the threat of global warming is already evident?

examinator,
"Antonius I wish you good luck and hope for the sake of the rest of the world your ideals succeed"
Thank you!
My ideas will succeed ONLY if we:
1. build many and strong desalination plants around Australia
2. create lakes for the flood waters and sent there the clean water from the desalination plants, these lakes could be a paradise for the plans, animals and birds, an exelent destination for our tourist industry.
3. a water distribution system from desalination plants direct to the fields or threw the lakes, it depends on the positions of the land.
4.divide ALL the crown land in small pieces,as 20 acres each, and install irrigasion systems on these pieces.
5. sell or lease this land to Australians, many Australians will run to buy or lease from this land
6. create the infrastucture and build small towns, encouraging the cooperatives and small industries, create regional towns with schools, university branches etc.
7. Encourage industries to move close to them with various ways, including tax deductions etc.
8. Encourage the use of solar panels, for hot water, electricity etc
, the use of temperature monotic materials in the buildings etc.
GENERALY TAKE ANY STEP TO INCREASE THE INCOME FROM THE SALE OR LEASE OF THE LAND, TO INCREASE THE PRODUCTIVITY OF THE LAND, TO IMPROVE THE WORKING OPPORTUNITIES, POPULATION, ENTERTAINIG, ETC IN THESE PLACES ETC.
I RETURNED HOME FROM MY WORK LATE AFTER MIDNIGHT, GIVE ME TIME TO CONTINUE LATER!
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Dear Antonios,

To quote Protagoras since you may have missed it. "India's lucky to have 54% of arable land, Rwanda 49% and Australia 6.4%."

Arable means "capable, without much modification, of producing crops by means of tillage." Tillage means plowing.

That means only 6.4% of Australian land is suitable for growing crops even if it had the water. Sometimes crops can be grown, but farming is not sustainable. After several seasons the land can no longer be used for growing crops.

In May I visited Mungo National Park. Erosion has carved the land in spectacular shapes. In the nineteenth century three sheep stations were established. The erosion was the result of humans trying to raise stock. Pest animals established themselves within the park shortly after the introduction of sheep to this fragile landscape. Intensive farming of these hard-hoofed animals and clearing techniques for feed led to the destabilisation of the soil (especially the dunes) and a change in the composition and structure of the vegetation. This lack of vegetation structure allowed the rabbits to establish holes and warren systems and they quickly bred and adapted to the environment. Rabbits are not finicky eaters, and in drought periods with rabbits in plague proportions, they have been known to completely clear vegetation from a landscape, leading to an increase in erosion. Predators such as eagles, goannas, foxes, snakes, feral cats and dogs eat at least 70 per cent of rabbits.

The land looked as though it could be used to raise stock, but it wasn't sustainable. Rabbits and other animals can live on it, but it is not suitable for humans to raise either crops or stock even with water. The operation is not sustainable. That means it can't be kept up. There are many abandoned farms along with abandoned sheep and cattle stations in Australia. Part of the reason is the uncertainty of the water supply. Even with a water supply the operation cannot be kept up. The result is desert with rabbits and other creatures replacing the creatures who lived there. Humans had merely changed the character of the desert.