Hi All,
I know I’m probably opening a huge can of worms and may get my arse kicked, but here we go.
We often seem to get upset with governments (or other groups) who don’t protect the environment and rightly so, and I do agree that most of the time much, much more can be done! I also see that all governments in Australia and worldwide are under huge pressures from citizens and other countries to provide resources and facilities (I in no way support hunting in parks or other areas). The real issue, especially now, is our ever increasing human population in Australia and again worldwide. A recent article I read, said that now the world population is increasing by about 200 new humans born each second (that’s after human deaths per second are taken into account). We have already passed needing 1.6 planets to survive, totally unsustainable!
Resources (mineral, water, food) are dwindling and any areas, including national parks, will have to be destroyed if it is necessary to get them. Every one of those new 6000+ humans (by the time you read this email) will need more new resources and facilities. Perth, I’ve heard last week is going to increase by at least 500 000 in the next ten years, a city that is already severely short of water, bad transport and the list goes on. We live in a desert continent, so for us in Australia, water, food and resources, not to mention providing all the facilities people want, is going to be a nightmarish problem!
Sorry to sound so dark, but there does not seem to be any quick solution to these problems, the wonderful natural areas we love will have to be destroyed or at least modified and degraded. Our protected and loved natural areas can only exist if we have a ‘comfortable’ modern life, think of it, if Coles or Woolworths ran out of food, wouldn’t you go hunt as much native wildlife as you can find, even in national parks, to provide food for yourself and family? I believe this is already happening on a subtle worldwide scale, resources are running out and the world is hungry, time to plunder what’s left, unfortunately it’s often in our ‘protected’ areas. It will only get worse and faster.
Generally most people only care about the environment (if at all), when there bellies are full and other needs met. We are only able to spend time birding and enjoying the natural environment, because we don’t have to spend all our time growing food and trying just to use the environment (eg. hunting birds) to survive.
Over population is the real problem (look at the extinct civilization of Easter Island) for many of our environmental and other problems, but I’m not sure if we will deal with it or are even able to. How do you tell members of your own family to stop having more than 2 kids, or other families wanting to? How do you stop immigration or genuine refugees? The answer is you really can’t (for moral, freedom of choice or other reasons), so the environment and our lifestyles will have to change and probably degrade. Sadly, I think the ‘big crunch’ for humanity will come (fairly soon and very rapidly) and the last remaining natural environments will be the first to go.
Regards (I won’t say cheers),
Richard King
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