Dear Foxy,

Tribal people may care for the environment. Tribal people may also be destructive to the environment. There are instances of both. Aboriginal people in Australia used fire as a tool to regenerate forests. Aboriginal people in Australia are responsible for the disappearance of megafauna in Australia.

In current times there is destruction of the environment by irresponsible logging and land clearing. Thee are also conservation organisations such as Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club which seek to preserve the environment.

In fact one may make the generalisation that in both tribal societies and modern societies there are groups and individuals caring for the environment and destructive to the environment. The difference is that tribal societies get romanticised, and modern societies don't get romanticised.

Dear David,

Reason, the supremacy of science, and the universal
brotherhood of humans are the pillars on which we
can built a better future.

If world population continues to grow rapidly,
if industrialization spreads around the world,
if pollution and resource depletion continues
at an increasing rate - and all these things
continue to happen - where is human society headed?

The most optimistic answer to these questions would
be that, one way of another, sweeping world changes
await us.

In the modern industrialized world people often
feel insulated from nature and confident that technology
can give mastery over the natural environment forgetting
all too easily that they too are animals, ultimately
dependent on the environment for their survival as any
other species.

Recently, however, an awareness of an
" ecological crisis" has led social and natural scientists
from several disciplines to focus on the complex
interrelationship among industrialization, technology,
population growth, and the global environment.

As I stated earlier, hopefully our world leaders will
start taking notice of the vast array of experts who are
willing and able to guide us through the coming difficult
years. A better world is possible. It will take effort.
It will be diffcult. But it will be worth it.

where is human society headed?
Foxy,
Where the majority, as in Democracy, who are stupid, destine us to !

The problem that, while the majority is stupid, they elect politicians no wiser than they are. Trump does not generally follow the advice of scientists, enlightened military men or wise corporate leaders but caters to the wishes of his base who are subject to primitive religion and endemic prejudice. Hillary Clinton should have had enough sense not to say it, but she was spot on in calling them deplorables.

David F, Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club, & wind farms do a damn sight more damage to the environment than most of the logging companies in the world. The world would be a lot better place if all the members of Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club were locked up for the terms of their lives.

We need a whole lot more logging in Oz to pay for, build & maintain fire trails & firebreaks, & to keep the fuel load down. A huge part of the disastrous fires seen recently is because the logging companies have been kicked out of the forests, & their management & care has been left to conservationists in national parks departments.

Dear Hasbeen,

Do the loggers really care about the condition of the forests? I doubt that many of them do. Their objective is to get the trees down that will make the most money for them. Whether that tree is a home for wildlife is not their concern. Whether they leave inflammable brush on the ground in removing profitable old growth is not a concern of theirs. It is standard rhetoric for those who wish to exploit the environment by demonizing those who have a concern for it. You said it all when you said ” We need a whole lot more logging in Oz to pay for, build & maintain fire trails & firebreaks, & to keep the fuel load down.” We can pay for the fire breaks and fire trails by other means than logging. I think you have it backwards. We need no more logging. There is limited land devoted to forests in Australia. There is a tremendous diversity of wildlife in the forests we have left. We need to keep them not only to preserve wildlife but for flood control, humans to appreciate them and keeping a bit of Australia’s heritage. The disastrous fires we have seen recently is largely due to climate change. That will be largely addressed by other means than by logging. Fire chiefs wanted to meet with our prime minister to warn him of the fire danger. He did not meet with them. About six months after the warning he ignored the disastrous fires started. During that time firebreaks and fire trails could have been made. Not preparing for emergencies for which one has had warning is a sign of poor management. It is much easier to blame those with a concern for the environment like Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club, and those that have done something about it like the wind farms. In recommending "members of Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club were locked up for the terms of their lives." you are really saying, "This is bad news. Kill the messaenger!"