Submission to Australia 2020 Summit says we cannot afford more population growth

by Jennie Epstein, from her submission to the Australia 2020 summit.

The future of the Australian economy
We need a sustainable economy that does not depend on moving our non renewable assets overseas and destroying our biological assets through "development". We need to improve quality of life and level of happiness rather than level of consumption. Our economy should allow everyone to have a reasonable quality of life, no matter what their health status, income, background, sex, religion, age or ethnicity. We also need to ensure that future generations are not disadvantaged by our overuse of resources.

What we need is a sustainable, steady state economy that does not damage the environment on which we depend, and does not depend on population growth, which this country can no longer support. Encouraging small families and lower immigration, as well as increasing overseas aid to ensure human rights for all, and women in particular may alleviate the potential for starvation and conflict, which will do nothing for the world economy. Poaching skilled immigrants from developing countries is undermining their future.

Our current prosperity should be used to introduce sustainable energy alternatives so we no longer depend on overseas oil markets and dirty coal. Subsidies for renewable enrgy and water supply to all householders and businesses would be more cost efficient than supporting polluting and energy intensive power stations and desalination plants. Encouraging community gardens and local agricultural pursuits would reduce the energy cost of food.

Reducing our expenditure on weapons and military hardware and redirecting it to encouraging human potential (education & health) and environmental sustainability will improve our quality of life significantly, and reduce the likelihood of conflict these weapons would be needed for.

We need to encompass a whole new way of living that cherishes people and our natural resources and does not destroy them in the name of endless growth which is not possible, and will severely impact on our children and theirs.

Population, sustainability, climate change and water
I'm writing to express my concern about the continued high rate of population growth in this country. Many people see this as a good thing, and I'm sure it is for those in the building, real estate, car industries etc. but the overall cost to our environment and quality of life is immense. Just about any environmental issue you could think of is exacerbated by population and consumption growth which is encouraged by the government. Apart from environmental effects, there is heavy traffic/ train congestion, loss of open space in suburbs, loss of trees and other vegetation, loss of garden space and water for growing vegetables, and loss of agricultural land for growing food, thus higher transport costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

The big issues at present are increasingly unaffordable housing, due largely to high levels of skilled immigrants so demand outstrips supply, and lack of a sustainable water and power supply. Yes, new technologies will "fix" some of these problems in the short term, but the extra energy used to develop pipe lines, desalination plants etc. will add to greenhouse gas emissions. The best thing we can do to reduce our "ecological footprint" is to reduce our level of consumtion and our population. We can reduce our footprints individually, but each extra person will nullify our efforts.

Other species on this planet need to be here just as much as we do - please read "A big fix" by Tim Flannery or "On borrowed time: Australia's environmental crisis and what we must do about it" by David Lindenmayer. The economic and social cost of continued "growth" which is reducing our biological and mineral resources, and keeping people away from their families at work and in traffic needs to be taken into account. This is an issue which has been invisible for too long - we need a sustainable population policy to have any sort of sustainable future where we can live in harmony with the planet that supports us. 

<strong>See also:</strong> <a href="/node/417">Submission to 2020 summit: End Population Growth, not just manage it</a>

Submission to 2020 summit: End Population Growth, not just manage it