Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Welcome to Cairns Greens Blogspot

Two centuries ago a philosopher asked the question: What happens when a finite resource, such as the earth, meets an ever expanding consumer species, such as mankind? This theoretical question will be answered in the lifetime of our children.

Our history is replete with cultures which denuded their environment then degenerated into religious zeal and War. These cultures had the luxury of moving to greener pastures except for those on Malta and Easter Island where the civilizations vanished into a cataclysmic cloud of destruction. I would like to point out that we live on an Island called earth, an oasis in a barren solar system.

The greens have for decades been telling the world about the importance of the environment, they were spat on, abused and arrested. Through it all their strength of character and personal convictions spurred them on to continue the struggle. Now the whole world is realizing the importance of the environment and our precarious place in it.

The traditional political parties appropriated the greens credo and put on a new green jacket, relegating the greens to a subordinate role, but where would we be now if the greens had not persisted. Even now many people think it is already too late. I am not one of those, I believe all the solutions are already in front of us they need only be implemented, but the traditional parties of Labor and Liberal will not implement them. They have put on the green jacket more for political reasons than from a conviction that something must be done. The focus of the two mainstream parties remains the same, liberals believe in economic rationalism and labor focuses on an improved quality of life for the working class.

The world has grown with the advance of economic rationalism and improving the quality of life for the working class is ongoing, but we live in the 21C, the arcane concept of us and them will destroy us. We, as a species, must evolve to embrace this new world, we must rise to the occasion or suffer the consequences of our own failed nature. If we cannot rise to the occasion Gaia will create an environment which will shake our civilization to its foundations, if we do not prove ourselves worthy to be the dominant species on this planet, if we are so stupid as to be the progenitors of our own destruction, then God will not protect us, we are not the center of the universe only the center or our own universe.

There are two main problems associated with saving the world. The first is vested interest and the second is that the pollution problem is not a local issue but a worldwide phenomenon. The world was barely able to sustain the two developed areas of Europe and America, now China, India, Russia and many minor players such as South America, Indonesia, south east Asia and the middle east are industrializing. They want the lifestyles of the rich and famous and who can blame them, we sell it so well. In an environment of economic and political competitiveness the world and its ecosystems have been relegated to a secondary issue, it is being torn apart. To any sane person the consequences of such a mindset are obvious.

Vested interest is quite easy to understand, people who make money out of a business which pollutes the earth, and particularly the air, subordinate the general good to their own personal gain. This is quite natural, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, these people will protect their vested interests regardless of the consequences to others. Their priority is their bank account. They promote ideas, ethics, concepts and arguments which supports their cause using any and all possible means to ensure the bottom line; their bank balance. We can’t blame them morally for doing this, it is only natural in a hierarchical cut throat society such as the one we live in. The good thing is we live in a democracy and it is your vote which will ultimately determine the direction we go in.

The second problem with pollution, particularly Carbon Dioxide Emissions, is the fact that we cannot fence off the air or the ocean. Much as economic gurus proclaim “everything should be owned” no one had yet stamped their authority on the air or the oceans. The pollution emitted by America, Europe, Russia, China and India is breathed by us all, the consequences of global warming and climate change are born by us all. When was the last time you saw all these countries agree on anything. People only agree and are willing to change their ways of thinking when disaster looms. We hold on dearly to our pet beliefs.

The greens have shown understanding, perception and foresight, the earth itself has proved them right. Surely those who foresaw and forewarned us of the problem are the ones most suited to deal with it. Don’t wait until the disaster is irrevocable before trusting those who warned you it was coming.

The greens are an intelligent socially upstanding group of people putting in time and personal effort for the creation of a better society in a modern world. We couldn’t do better than to have people like this in responsible positions of government in the city council, the state government and in the federal senate.

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