Actually, it's too late to fix the problem with the Murray-Darling Basin
Mr Opinion,
Only if Academic "experts" & Cotton farmers keep being involved.

Dear individual,

I sympathise with your feeling but I'm afraid it is just TOO LATE for the Murray-Darling Basin. It is doomed to the fate of becoming a salt ridden desert and its rivers will become ecological dead ends.

This is similar to the fate suffered by the city-states of ancient Mesopotamia where large-scale irrigation fed by the Euphrates-Tigris rivers turned the fertile plains into a salt-ridden desert that has never been able to recover from such a man-made environmental disaster, which is what is happening in the Murray-Darling Basin.

The only one who will come out on top from the environmental degradation of the Murray-Daring Basin is the Chinese Communist Party which is using Australian water to grow Chinese cotton. When the M-D Basin has been exhausted the Chinese will just move on and repeat the same thing in some other country.

Mr. Opinion,

I think you and I agree on the Chinese. But the Chinese can act the way they do in Australia only because Australian politicians allow them to - no, they encourage them to.

I believe that the Murray Darling Basin problems can be fixed; just not by the same people who caused the problems in the first place - politicians.

Dear ttbn,

It's not just Australia's politicians who are to blame. It's also the bureaucrats who run the State apparatuses and the business people who are selfish and greedy for putting profit above the community and the environment. And all three appear to be in the pocket of the Chinese Communist Party, which is hungry for Australian water to grow Chinese cotton.

It is nice to see your concern and that you think the problem can be fixed but unfortunately it is just TOO LATE! The majority want to have business as usual and either ignore the environmental degradation to the Basin or just fob it off as someone else's problem.

I like a wager every now and then, but as an environmental sociologist I definitely wouldn't be putting my money on fixing the problem. The Namoi River recently stated as being dead and the killing of millions of fish in the Darling at Menindee are just the tip of the iceberg. As a sociologist I'll be interested in watching how the death of the Murray-Darling Basin is going to affect people and communities and how politicians et al will react to the level of environmental degradation that is heading their way. And I think it will be a lot sooner than later.

As a sociologist I'll be interested in watching
Mr Opinion,
Instead of just watching why not actually engage in finding solutions by applying for a job with the Cotton farmers & show them how much harm they cause ?

Dear individual,

It doesn't work like that. Sociologists study societies to explain social problems NOT to intervene in social action aimed at avoiding social problems. We need to explain the bad just as much as we need to explain the good. We can offer opinions on what the outcomes might be but it is up to you social folk to make the choices that will lead to the ultimate outcomes, good or bad.