Where is the leadership for a new generation? It felt like a knife in the heart when I heard Kevin Rudd say that he believed in a big Australia (meaning a big population)! He uses 1950s notions of what is good for the economy and a breathtaking belief that more humans are needed to keep the human fever going. Then, humans can do no wrong, can populate like an exponentially growing bacterium, and Australia and the rest of the planet will be blessed with yet more of them scavenging off what is becoming the carcass of nature on this island continent. It’s like a madness!
Already, with a population of 22 million, Australia faces so many problems. Kevin Rudd’s answer is to turn on the blow torch, and increase the population to 36 million, whether by birth rate or immigration! Are we supposed to ignore all the problems that stem from humans and their already excessive numbers? It is as though humans have the morals of the pox. They can keep growing, and therefore they will! No pause, no self assessment of whether they are worthy, no care of whether the land can survive such a burden.
For Kevin’s information, increased population means:
- Less water
- More energy consumed
- More carbon dioxide released and increased global warming
- More pollution
- More land cleared
- Accelerated species loss
- More social conflict. You cannot walk a city at night these days without the risk of getting stabbed
- Did I say more beetle species loss?
- Who knows what new disasters await from a rampant species proving to be toxic to the planet?
- Unaffordable housing
- Congestion
- No more butterflies, frogs, native birds, koalas, native orchids, numbats, tasy devils.
- Even more humans nibbling incessantly away at nature. 100 acres blocks get subdivided into 20 acre blocks, then to 5 acre blocks, then to suburban blocks. More trees have to be cut, more land cleared. Fire risk increases when people build in forested areas, so they clear more vegetation, which releases more carbon, which increases the fire risk even further! A viscous cycle. Kangaroos get run over on the roads, or I see them bailed up against tall cyclone fences, as suburbia moves into their land and they don’t know where to go.
Here’s a thought, why not pull your horns in until you actually get it right? Why not become a sustainable and planet-responsible species? Why not take the population that you have, and make the most of it, and organise yourselves into a decent and fulfilled peoples? There is so much more talent, heart and good will that could be drawn out of the existing population if delusions and belief became unacceptable. Why keep taking the weak way out and peddling the delusion that increasing populations will let you continually outrun your demons. The bitter pill will have to be taken one day! Why do humans keep behaving like spoilt children that can only stomach their immediate want for more.
Of course, Kevin says increased population is needed to:
- Allow Kevin to strut the world stage and say he represents a big and growing country – is he really that vain?
- Maintain foolish economics that assumes more can always be sucked out of the country and technology without any karma coming back to affect humans. All we have to do is not complain about the cancer, stress, workload, seedy escapes, crime, inequality, overcrowding.
- Beat the chest that humans are next to godliness, so why not keep growing? If you believe in that stuff, like Kevin does, even God did not want human follies to lead to species extinction. He sent the species to an ark so none would be lost. But many humans today dismiss any concern about species loss, whenever it comes to a choice of them or their jobs vs another species. Such lack of style and grace.
Of course, big business says we need high immigration. Out of their concern for who?? To increase the profits of their few? They don’t have a social conscience! All they want is more fodder to keep employment competition and salaries down, and they want more consumers to buy buy buy. Of course, we will need even more landfill sites for the junk and trinkets.
Like a breath of fresh air out of the Labor party, Kelvin Thomson can foresee the consequences. Vote for him if you can. But dump the rest of Labor while Rudd is the leader and its members stay silent. And don’t vote for any other party that wants us to stay on the population treadmill. Otherwise, how will you get off and see the alternatives!! The voting block that I control of carabs, staphylinids and longicorns shall certainly not be voting for these.
Hard times are coming for humans. The bubble will burst. The easy resources will run out. Let's try being realistic? The immorality of paying no head to the feelings, hopes and joy of other species is darkening the human soul and plunging it further into despair and alienation. If population growth was stopped, even reduced, other experiences and knowledge would emerge. Other more worthwhile things would flourish. Necessity is the mother of invention. The world will need sustainable and reliable processes to survive. If Australia could take that bitter pill early and curb itself, it could become a leader of sustainable technology and understanding, valuable assets that will be sorely sought by the rest of the world soon.
Article posted 9 April 2010
Kevin Rudd’s
Big Australia Population Delusion
by
Dr Beetle
