One of the most pressing issues in the Redlands at the moment is the topic of an increasing population. One of our members has shared his views on the subject below.

Fellow members… I see this topic is up for discussion again, here are some thoughts that may be of interest to the committee.

Population issues are getting some exposure in the media from many angles but I believe there is a failure to put them in a big picture framework .

Start with a premise that there is a need to care, maintain & nurture this beautiful planet for the future, above all other considerations. As we are the most intelligent of the animal species it is our responsibility. However consider the following:

• the world population has exploded to where it is out of equilibrium with the planets ability to cope
• It is the population that demands the goods & services that require coal fired power stations which contribute to climate change
• excessive consumption results in obesity & other health plus problems with rubbish disposal, a serious depletion of the food chain & environmental degradation
• the root cause of so many problems is population growth & no one is discussing it seriously,
• China is the only country to make an effort to control population, yet cops a beating from western press
• Countries like Australia promote growth without any concern for the basic premise outlined above, even baby bonus incentives!!
• You need a license to drive a car, build a house, start a business etc but when it comes to the huge responsibility of creating another life no qualifications needed
• With the political incentives to win votes with baby bonus, there is no thought to the potential social problems being created
• the ability of Australia to have a population of 35 to 50 million should be tempered by our inability to handle infrastructure for 20 million
• we should also remind ourselves of the environmental damage we have managed to inflict in just 200 years
• there is a need to question the religious push over centuries that man is created in Gods image & therefore special.  We are just at the top of the chain & need to take care of natural flora & fauna. There is no divine right of man just as there is no divine right of kings, queens, mullahs, priests, rabbis, politicians & others. Dr Phillip Nitschke, instead of being reviled should be made Australian of the Year & recommended for an international humanitarian award.
• there are powerful vested interests in continuous growth and its time we modeled for some negative growth & worked out how to handle it
• It will take a rare politician to stand up like statesman & promote some discussion on such issues, instead of just vote chasing.
• I believe that until we seriously accept & act on a premise such as above, we will not address the hard decisions, that is until its too late.

Regards,

Gerald Brock

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