Automatic Earth Tour with Nicole Foss - Writer's Account
On 21st April the writer attended the Automatic Earth Tour in Melbourne, an all day workshop in the Fitzroy Town Hall. The event hosted one international presenter, Nicole Foss, a sustainability expert from Canada and editor of ‘The Automatic Earth’. She was joined by three Australian guest speakers: Adrian Whitehead (founder of Beyond Zero Emissions); Geoff Mosley (Director – Centre for Advancement of the Steady State Economy); Theo Kitchener (founder of neighbourhood sharing website thesharehood.org). The event was to discuss the implications of a worldwide economic collapse and how best to prepare for it.
Nicole Foss presented for the morning, and her outlook for the near future, to which she refers to as ‘the perfect storm’ was a pessimistic and heavy-going hypothesis, at least for the short- term future. Nicole does not place much hope in some of the proposed solutions to our current economic and environmental crises such as political intervention or green-tech. Instead she believes localized DIY collectives based on self-subsidized permaculture will be the most likely long term solution.
Several of the other speakers had other views. Geoff Mosely talked of practical ways that political and social intervention can result in a healthy zero growth economy. Adrian Whitehead believes that green tech is humanity’s best bet in regards to reducing global greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and Theo Kitchener introduced the audience to a number of local initiatives in Melbourne that are assisting people in being more self reliant and community orientated.
Population was an issue brought up by attendees during table discussions and as questions to the presenters. It was reassuring that many attendees at the event believe that efforts to stablise or reduce population, both worldwide and locally is a necessary step towards humanity’s long- term survival prospects. It was also refreshing that the speakers did not shy away from answering population questions publically when directly asked from members of the audience. Geoff Mosley was of the opinion that reducing net immigration and readdressing the baby bonus were practical moves in reducing to a stable population size, which is critical for a zero growth economy. Nicole Foss talked about population growth on a global scale. She believes that international intervention measures are problematic as it is hypocritical for developed countries to request developing countries to reduce their population until developed countries lead by example by addressing their own levels of consumption. She does not perceive that the world population will reach 9 billion and above as an economic and environmental collapse within the near future will inhibit the capacity for population growth. She predicts the world population will be reduced to 1 billion people within 100 years following such a collapse. The details of this were not discussed in further depth but the implications painted a suitably pessimistic end to a heavy going day for all involved.
The writer believes that the workshop was applicable to the SPA and SPP members who are opposed to the infinite growth ideology within a finite planet and to all those who believe that zero growth economies with a more local community DIY focus is a viable alternative.
Michael Bayliss – SPP Melbourne Candidate and SPA committee member
Thoughts on David Suzuki’s observation that Canada is FULL. Now is the opportune moment to say that on this issue, Dr. David Suzuki is right.
There is an Orwellian new Bill on the brink of being passed in Victoria's Parliament. (Debate 27 June) The Bill justifies reducing public rights to consultation and objection by narrowing the scope of consultation, by reducing the scope of information given to the public in respect of revocation of reserves of public land and compulsory acquisition of land, public and private. It allows enormous discretion on the part of the Minister with regard to what information and consultation he allows, even with local government bodies. The really Orwellian part of the Bill is the circular justification of these reductions in citizens' civil rights on so-called grounds of 'efficiency' and 'time saving'. In this case 'cutting red tape' means 'cutting out democracy'.
This new Major Transport Projects Facilitation Amendment (East West Link and Other Projects) Bill 2013 is to be debated on 27 June in the Legislative Assembly. The Bill, by its very name, shows that it has been drafted to push through a particular hated series of private toll-roads that will horribly scar our green landscape and drastically reduce habitat for native animals. We refer to the East-West Link, which Kelvin Thomson has described as 
Mr MULDER (Minister for Public Transport) tabled following statement in
The recent announcement of yet another new suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne is nothing to celebrate despite its upbeat name of ‘Merrifield’, according to the Victorian and Tasmanian branch of Sustainable Population Australia.
Queensland clearing laws could kill over 400 million native animalsl The Commonwealth must act to stop the destruction.
More about the upcoming 2013 environmental exhibition containing this painting, at end of this article under "Notes".
A rally was held today on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne " to protest against new laws proposed by the Napthine government which are undeniably bad news for forests.
What would Dr Nugget Coombs think of our treatment of the environment and the economy today? Quark applies a retrospectoscope to the problem as she reports on a 1970 Boyer Lecture on environment and economy.
Today Australia reaches a population of 23 million. If we assess this against the status of our life-support systems, we should be alarmed. Neither Australia nor Earth is ecologically sustainable as shown by our national state of the environment reporting and the estimate that humans are consuming 150% of Earth’s renewable capacity. Population size is one of the underlying drivers of these trends. Should they continue, the implications for future generations are clear.
Way back in 1994, The Australian Academy of Science said “In our view, the quality of all aspects of our children’s lives will be maximised if the population of Australia by the mid 21st Century is kept to the low, stable end of the achievable range, i.e. to approximately 23 million” and “If our population reaches the high end of the feasible range (37 million), the quality of life of all Australians will be lowered by the degradation of water, soil, energy and biological resources.” 
Max Planck's adage should therefore be amended to read that "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it --- and by being adequately funded and promoted by people who incarnate Dale Carnegie's formula for success."
"Allowing fools and eco-criminals to run our State governments is like the blind running with an axe." Adapted from anonymous comment with thanks.
THE Queensland State Government plans to reopen logging in two million hectares of environmentally sensitive land put aside by the previous government, including in Central Queensland.
Tony Burke had no legal obligation to even consider the threatened koalas in Leard forest for the Maules Creek and Boggabri approval. New loopholes could see developers and miners determining if koalas are under threat.
Federal documents obtained by the 
The new science of ecology will now describe animals as they really are---moral agents, not biological automatons. And as such, they are to be charged with a moral responsibility to constrain their cravings and live simply so that other animals like them can simply live. Or as they now say on St. Monbiot Island, “Be the reindeer you want the world to be.”
David Attenborough and other renowned conservation figures have urged PM Gillard to retain National Environment Powers. At the moment changes devolving major decision making to our growth-mad developer states are imminent. The writers of a letter to the Primeminister say that their concern arises particularly due to Australia being "one of a very few biologically mega-diverse developed countries on the face of this Earth. The array of natural ecosystems and their component species is simply breathtaking, making Australia one of the most important and exciting places in the world for the long-term conservation of biological diversity." 
Kelvin Thomson, MP for Wills, has written to Prime Minister Gillard, asking her to consider and respond to the concerns of constituents about planned changes to the federal environment act. Have any other ministers done this? We would like to hear from them if so. 
This Friday, 7 December, the Federal Government plans to give away environmental assessment authority to the states. Candobetter readers should take any opportunity they can to avoid this devolution of our already semi-toothless legislation. Here is an opportunity to add your signature to a petition. There is also a Get-up campaign. Readers are invited to let us know of any other actions they are taking.Links to petitions etc inside.
A left-wing environmentalist group opposed to all forms of racism and xenophobia has been able to get a national immigration referendum on the ballot in Switzerland.
On November 6, 2012 it was reported that the Victorian government was cooling on the idea of another port for Hastings and instead its planners were casting their collective beady eye in the direction of Werribee. ("
The contest is international. This year it will focus on the human-ocean connection. The Marine Photobank is seeking images depicting human impacts on the ocean, its inhabitants and its resources, both restorative and destructive. First prize is a voyage for two aboard the National Geographic Endeavor to the Galapagos Islands with Lindblad Expeditions. There is also a second and third prize.
This awfully unsettling photograph by Terri Goss of a shark with a permanent hook in situ was the winner of last year's competition.
The disingenuous who cannot refute your arguments often resort to sleight-of-hand alterations in terminology to make their case. Conflations are their stock in trade..... Lets not let our opponents get away with it.
This delightful cartoon, by Marco Marilungo Pictor, depicts a conflated Pinocchio, apparently overwhelmed by his own complexity, under the somewhat calculating regard of his inventor, which so seemed to suit this topic that I purchased it from
Bill McKibben has recently unveiled some new "terrifying math" about global warming. But there are other numbers that terrify me more. My mother used to tell me to stop worrying, because it is not the things we worry about that usually get us, but the things we don't see coming. I think she was right. 
Bill McKibben recently wrote about the “terrifying math” of global warming:
On Saturday 11 August I attended the "Stop the Supertanker Protest National Day of Action" at St Kilda Beach in Melbourne Victoria. There was a large group of mostly young people, well prepared with signs and activities designed to convey their message visually.
PROTEST TODAY (Now!) 11 AM St Kilda Beach, behind Luna Park. See: 
It is a Canada where the unimaginable becomes real and the impossible becomes possible. They’re here! They’re here I tell you! Why can’t you see the Digital Generation has been stolen and replaced by replicas who look like real Canadians but are in fact programmed to follow an anti-Canadian agenda? 
The Rio+20 global environment conference in June aimed to set the environment agenda for the next 20 years. The consensus was that Rio delivered virtually nothing. The pre-agreed outcome document ‘The Future We Want’ is a 49-page wish list of clichés and aspirations, but it does not address or respond to the fundamental issues needing action at all. It failed completely to acknowledge the central importance of unsustainable population growth on a planet of rapidly diminishing resources. The blog gives a one-page summary. 
The Stable Population Party Australia is reaching out to members and sympathisers in a series of networking events across Australia. Should be interesting and fun to meet like-minded people and help to organise a coordinated electoral response to the growth lobby that has taken over our country. (Candobetter Ed.)
CO2 Group's Chief CEO, Andrew Grant says that anthropogenic climate change science is quite simple really: "It's a function of increased population on the earth." Candobetter.net received the following as a press release today. We obviously like the idea of wildlife corridors connecting national parks. By the same token, nothing in the corporate or the government area can be taken at face value. Until the corridors are established; until we can see that more is not taken away by related interests somewhere else, we have to remain cautious. Nonetheless, on face value, this is cheering news. So is the Chief CEO of CO2 Group's attitude to human population growth and carbon emissions.
Tim Murray reports on a recent Canadian census and the public reaction in a voting poll to uncontrolled population growth. He asks why politicians seem to do the opposite of what the Canadian voters actually want.
Recent comments