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Current Issues

What Economy?

The survival of the species Homo sapiens has been dependent on our ability to regularly find suitable food and shelter.

But above all else, our survival has also been due to the availability of environmental conditions such as fresh water and clean air which have been provided by nature.

As a species, we have developed ways to exploit and dominate nature to the extent that entire natural systems have been altered.

Domination of nature ultimately translates as depletion of nature. Depletion can be measured by the increasing rate of extinction in recent times, reflected by the extraordinary growth of the human population.

As more land and resources are given over to supporting Homo sapiens less is available to other species.

Our progress has been underpinned by the concept of a 'civilized' society. Definitions of the term range from 'non-barbaric' to 'the ability to plan and provide for future generations'.

Despite this, the world economy is characterized by increasing inequality in terms of distribution of wealth. The minority controls and consumes more than the majority.

As a society, to meet the survival challenge of the new Millennium and avoid catastrophic conflict within the human population, we need to adapt our social and cultural frameworks to be more productive and less wasteful.

As individuals, we need to accept responsibility for our personal consumption, and take practical action to nurture the planet that is our home.

Maintaining Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are benefits to the human population that are produced by nature. They include clean air, water, food and fibre production, erosion prevention, pest and disease regulation, and genetic resources for biochemistry and pharmaceuticals.

The recent Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report (more than 1300 scientists worldwide) states that 60% of ecosystem services are being degraded or used unsustainably.

Victoria's Ecological Footprint

Extract from 'Having our cake, and eating it too' by Melissa Fyfe, the Age 30/4/05

An ecological footprint is the land and water area needed to produce a society's resources and absorb its wastes. Divide the world's resources into its population and each person gets 1.8 hectares of productive land and sea.

Each Victorian however uses 8.1 hectares (the Australian average is 7.7).

Extract from 'Still world-beaters in pollution stakes', ed. Angus Grigg, Financial Review 28/4/05

Flicking through the World Bank’s Little Green Book we thought Australia had been relegated to second place in the pollution stakes.

The World Bank's book, released last week, says that each Australian pumps out 18 metric tones of CO₂ equivalent, compared with the US on 19.8. What a shame this would have been, losing to the Americans yet again.

But no, after a little research and a call to Clive Hamilton at the Australian Institute, the situation has been rectified. We're told that the figure used by the World Bank does not account for agriculture or land clearing.

Once these factors were dropped back in, we regained top spot on the podium as the world's biggest polluters, pumping out 27.2 metric tones of CO₂ equivalent.