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|
email the perth indmedia mob...
Open letter to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and Labor |
| by solidarity |
2009-09-25 1:53 PM +0800 |
Racism can’t win climate justice - Population is not to blame for
climate change. |
We are shocked and angered that the ACF has supported Labor MP Kelvin
Thompson’s calls to cut Australia’s migration rates.
These proposals pander to racism and offer no solution to
environmental degradation. They divert attention away from the real
cause of environmental disaster - government inaction and corporate
polluters.
Population is not cause of pollution and carbon emissions. In
Australia, current total household electricity usage is around 12% of
total electricity usage. Over 80% of electricity generation comes from
dirty coal fired power plants.
Migrants are not to blame for the dirty coal-fired power stations.
Increasing population would not increase carbon pollution if
electricity was produced by renewable power. For that, we need
immediate government investment in solar, wind and geothermal power.
Similarly, when we look at water usage and the health of our rivers,
it is corporate consumption and waste that threatens the environment.
Without paying a cent Roxby Downs uranium mine in South Australia uses
42 million litres of water a day (set to rise to 250 million litres
after the proposed expansion). By 2020 the same single mine will be
using a quarter of the State's electricity. The use of environmentally
unsuitable areas for cotton production has seen Cubby Station starve
the Murray-Darling River Basin of much needed water.
The planning and environmental disasters of our cities is due to
government neglect, not population. Governments continue to subsidise
the car industry, expanding toll roads while privatising and
chronically under-funding public transport.
Tragically, your call for migration cuts opens the door to "fortress
Australia" racism. Each decade of Australian history has seen
anti-immigration campaigns which have led to increased division and
racism. Your call risks encouraging the kind of openly racist campaign
waged by Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party in the 90s.
Climate change, driven by the pollution of the developed countries, is
already displacing large numbers of people. There will be millions of
climate refugees if this continues. Your comments can only encourage
anti-immigration reactionaries who will oppose re-settling people
here.
We call on the ACF and Kelvin Thomson to withdraw their anti-migrant
statements and join the grass roots climate movement demanding
immediate government action that can stop carbon emissions and lay the
basis for a sustainable future for the planet and its people |
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Better logic please? |
| by Mike Novack |
2009-09-25 9:09 PM +0800 |
"Population is not to blame for climate change."
That's SILLY! Rather obviously human population is related to human induced climate changes. Just take a look at the "limit" conditions:
1) If the population were zero then there would be no human induced climate changes regardless of how wasteful/destructive the per person effects.
2) If the population were close to infinite then there would be human induced climate changes regardless of how unwasteful/undestructive the per human load.
So there IS a connection. PLEASE -- don't take this the wrong way. I am NOT saying that there is anything wrong with arguments such as "first take care of the "per person" and only then worry about the "how many persons" -- and giving reasons WHY that's the better approach. So feel free to do that. But when you let your ideologies blind you to the reality that how many matters (is part of the equation) you aren't helping the cause of getting us humans back in balance with the rest of Nature.
Link here
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Certainly |
| by Scale |
2009-09-26 1:11 AM +0800 |
Clearly, population growth is an important aspect of environmental stress, as every man, woman, and child requires food, water, clothing, shelter, and energy.
A larger global population means a larger demand for everything - especially energy.
And growing populations means that we are putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than we should, just because more people are doing it and this is related to overconsumption by people in general - especially in the ‘developed’ world.
The world's population is forecast to rise by one third to more than 9 billion people by 2050.
With a rising world population and biofuels, more land is
needed.
Soil and vegetation are being lost at an alarming rate
around the globe, which in turn has devastating effects on food production and accelerates climate change.
The root cause of climate change and virtually all aspects of the global ecological crisis is too many people consuming beyond the carrying capacity of ecosystems to absorb and regenerate from their impact.
Humanity has reached the limits of technology and the biosphere's ability to put off over-population's impact being fully felt.
However, the idea of overpopulation tends to reinforce racist stereotypes of the world's poorest people, demonizing those who are the least responsible for global warming...
Link here
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| by Virginia |
2009-09-26 1:36 AM +0800 |
"The root cause of climate change and virtually all aspects of the global ecological crisis is too many people consuming beyond the carrying capacity of ecosystems to absorb and regenerate from their impact."???
Scale, I think you should bear in mind the points made previously on a recent thread ("ACF agree with a reduction in migration" - just a few stories down the general newswire), about it not just being about *consumption*.
Look at the massive usage of water by industry, for instance - are you saying that is necessary? We already have examples in front of us of countries leaving a fairly low 'footprint' and approaching sustainability, by dint of having overthrown the only class which actually *needs* to cause environmental destruction - the capitalist class. The record of Cuba (actually, it's the only country approaching sustainability) is important, and given the better resources that many other countries have, they could actually do better still in this area if capitalism weren't getting in the way.
Not sure what you mean by "Humanity has reached the limits of technology" - I assume you're aware rich corporations make a practice of holding back the development and usage of alternative, less polluting technologies (often deliberately holding on to patents etc), because they don't want newer, more enviro-friendly products to eat into their profits (greener doesn't necessarily mean more profit-generating). So while it's true to say that capitalism has reached its limits of playing a progressive role in human development (and, in fact, reached those limits centuries ago), there seems no reason to think that we're at the "limits of technology".
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| by drogo |
2009-09-26 9:56 AM +0800 |
The Malthusian argument that the Earth is overpopulated, there are insufficient resources, etc. has been debunked time and time again over the last two centuries. Technological advancement has a direct relationship with population growth.
Link here
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ACF's statement |
| by Lenny |
2009-09-27 8:55 PM +0800 |
The ACF's stament is quite politically dopey.
They do articulate some rather crude Malthusian logic, they fail to engage the really big climate change "criminals" (mining and coal to name but 2) and they open the way to allowing themselves to be used by anti-migration xenophobes.
For while they do say
“Australia can meet and increase its humanitarian obligations and accommodate family reunions, while reducing overall migration to more sustainable levels.”
This is but 2 lines in a media release that could otherwise serve "fortress Aust" red-necks quite well.
Realistically in the current Australian political climate (pun intended) the migrants who are going to be denied access to Aust under this proposal are not going to be skilled workers or the wealthy or educated elite but precisley refugees and people seeking sanctuary from oppression, degradation or poverty.
The ACF have shown a lamentable lack of politcal awareness here and rightfully deserve the criticism they are receiving.
Link here
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racists |
| by de |
2009-09-28 3:04 PM +0800 |
The ACF have given up on doing anything about greenhouse emissions and are pandering to long-standing Australian racism to bolster their dwindling membership (or simply to get some attention). They should be scorned by anyone with any serious interest in environmental issues.
Link here
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The rich, he rich we gotta get rid of the rich |
| by Viola Wilkins |
2009-09-29 1:47 PM +0800 |
Surely if any group in society overpopulate the world at present it is the rich. They who profit as heads of Corporations who plunder the environment's resources and make expenable all life animal or human.
If anyone has to go then it should be those who consume so much more than everyone else. They can be expropriated, their wealth shared out - first priority to indigenous folks around the planet. The first nations people are usually the poorest of the masses of plundered workers and ironically consume the least resources. Aboriginals here in Oz lived in harmony with Mother Earth for tens of thousands of years at least before Colonisers came.
So lets save the planet and stop BHP-Billiton, RTZ, News Ltd, Exxon-Mobil, Unilever, Monsanto National Australia bank etc before they kill again... Surely Kelvin "Mokbel referee" Thompson & the ACF free of Corporate sponsors and paid bureaucrats would agree to shutting down Corporate Criminals
Otherwise it is only two terms for politicians, "office" and then jail really.
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its a rich thing |
| by scoot |
2009-10-01 3:12 PM +0800 |
useful article here from the oz of all places, quoting the International Institute for Environment and Development,
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26143323-11949,00.html
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| by Ash Roth |
2009-10-07 5:53 PM +0800 |
"The record of Cuba (actually it's the only country approaching sustainability)
Oh, sure.
Socialist countries are renowned for their care of the environment, the openess of reporting, and the transaparence of Government activity.
"Cuba is a signatory of various international accords for the conservation and protection of the environment. Among the most important are the covenants of the Earth Summit just recently held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, those of the Barbados Conference and others signed with UNESCO. But external image is one thing and internal environmental policy something else altogether.
Since the triumph of the Revolution, the government of Fidel Castro has carried out a policy worthy of little praise with regard to the natural riches of Cuba. It is sad to see the fate that has befallen the various sanctuaries for Cuban fauna and flora, principally due to governmental decisions such as the draining of the Cienaga de Zapata wetlands, the tree cutting programs carried out by the sadly much-touted "Che Guevara Brigade," the destruction of the Guanhacabibes forests, the disappearance of the renowned Mayari pine groves, and many other acts the listing of which would be an interminable task.
At the start of the so-called "institutionalization stage," carried out during the mid-70's, the Cuban regime decreed a law concerning the protection of air, water, land, fauna and flora. This law regulated the use and management of natural resources, but the violations of it by government institutions and officials are countless. For this reason, in present day Cuba, deforestation, environmental pollution and the disappearance of species are consummate deeds . The present "Special [Economic] Period" has caused an acceleration of this process, due to the energy and food crisis that exists in the country. The people, anguished by shortages, descend upon the countryside in search of wood for cooking and venture into forested and coastal regions-- habitats for numerous animal species--where they practice indiscriminate hunting to obtain food."
http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/enviromental.crisis.html
Link here
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