Foxy said;

>I can't help but wonder - what sort of country this
>will be years from now...

Quite a lot different. The high cost of energy and indeed some
shortages will change everything.

> Will we have solved our refugee problem?

Probably, but because the difficulty and cost to get to Indonesia will
have stopped the flow.
> How big should our population be?

Whatever it is it will probably be too big. Five to seven million
will probably be ideal.

> Will we have discovered a cure for cancer and aids?
Maybe, but the cost will probably be higher than governments could afford.

>What about our water shortage problem?
Depending on where our population change ends. If higher no, lower yes.

>Will we have solved the drought problem,
No !

>what about bush-fires?
This country always had bushfires and always will.

> Energy?
This will be our biggest problem. We will change to using natural gas
early in the transition, but gas will deplete fast as we use it.
Just hope we can get geothermal working on a large scale.

> Will we go nuclear?
Probably not as by the time we decide to go nuclear, peak uranium
will be upon us.

> Will we become a Republic?
Maybe, but there will be such monumental changes taking place that it
might seem a waste of time to discuss it.

>So many questions - and I don't expect
>answers to each and every one.

END OF PART ONE

PART TWO

Actually I am somewhat optimistic on the future.
First, all those lost jobs to overseas manufacturing will come home.
Globalisation will be a bad dream fad.
If you want a new table, you won't go to Harvey Normans, you will go
to your local furniture maker at yourshops.
You will ride your bike there or catch the shuttle bus.
You might even walk there.

If you have a job in an industrial area, perhaps manufacturing
electrical goods you will get your local shuttle to the station and get the train there.
If you are a schoolteacher, then you will work at the local school.
At the school, the internet has not worked for a couple of weeks as
the adsl server at the exchange has not been able to get a swap over
modem and probably will have to wait while the technicians repair the
modem. That might take a couple of weeks.
It will be the end of the throwaway electronic goods. They will be too
expensive and hard to get to throw them away.

You have harboured your petrol ration carefully so you can fill up
and visit the grandchildren in Bendigo for Christmas.
Just before you leave you will be taking vegetables from your garden
to help out your son's family as they only have a small backyard
garden.

You will ring your son to let him know you are ready to leave.
You have to book the call as a trunk call because there is a world
wide shortage of exchange parts calls outside Melbourne must be done manually.
Parts have been reserved for government telephone systems.
International calls work OK sometimes but if there is an undersea
cable fault it can take months to get the ship to the site.
Recently your husbands parents died in the UK and he has gone there.

He will be back in 2 months if he can get on a ship.
The airlines went out of business 10 years ago.

Well I am not Nostrdaemus, but how do you like my future plan for you ?

Dear Bazz,

Thanks for your taking the trouble to answer
each of my questions.

And it's an interesting picture that you forsee
for our future.

My picture is somewhat different.
As I've said previously - I predict
a more positive future - with new
technology, forward thinking, and
us finding alternative solutions to
the current problems plaguing us.
I have confidence in our inventiveness
and creativity.

I hope that I'll still be around to see who's
right.

Foxy asks what sort of future for Aust?

I’d like to break it down into three periods:
Short -- around 10 year
Medium -- around 100 years
Long term --around 1000 years

--At around 10 years
Malcolm Turnbull will preside over the new Australian republic, being now in his second five year term. He will have introduced a CPRS and will be favouring renewable energy, but such moves will be motivated mainly by a desire for a cleaner environment & wish to expand the energy base rather than any belief in AGW, which will by this time be largely discredited.
The long serving/suffering leader of the opposition Julia Gillard in an attempt to win some traction in the upcoming election is considering an education revolution.2, offering to subsidize brain enhancement implants for all, which will boost natural intelligence exponential–but fears it will erode Labors base turning all recipients into Liberal voters.
Belly will have seen the error of his old ways and be joined the Liberal Party & will wear a “I Love John Howard” button everyday. Its blue and white colour matching well the colours of his new football team, the Bulldogs ( having ditched the saints!) .
CJ Morgan will have finished the long and winding journey he started so long ago on OLO, has found God, being the new mullah of a local mosque on the Sunshine Coast –total congregation him and his dog (though, his dog must stay outside when he giving his sermon being “haraam”)
Qanda will have published a book called “Blizzards of My Grandchildren” subtitled “the coming Ice Age & how my background in hydrology lead me to see through the AGW scam” .
And, this will be our new national anthem… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI7GWbVV7ps

--At around 100 year
Most of the worlds energy will be supplied from orbiting solar stations.
The Western world will be facing immigration pressures , principally from the middle east, which overpopulated on the basis of on-going oil (now drained or dethroned) and can no longer support its numbers. Mars & Venus will be undergoing terraforming and early colonists will be already moving in .Mobile phones are obsolete, having been replaced by brain enhancements that enable telepathy . Average life span is now 150 years.Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane are following the new trend to build cities of single hive-like structures rather than a conglomeration of buildings ---a huge saving in space, materials and energy. And, this will be what they look like …
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=10224

--At round 1000 years
The entities that have evolved from humans take the form, for want of a better description, of immortal spirits,which feeding off pure energy and move through the myriad of multiverses, at will. Occasionally, these entities take on bodies, human or animal, to sample different existences. At such times the Horus body is most sought after, though the CJ Morgan body still experiences a brief popularity around 31 October .
And, this is the sound of spirit humans communicating…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjF9D8xDYFg&feature=related

Dear Horus,

Absolutely brilliant!
Loved it!

I can now go to sleep with a smile
on my face!