"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
"George.com" wrote in message
...
Interesting book I and 3/4 the way through, Collapse - How societies
choose
to fail or succeed, Jared Diamond (I can recomend it). There is a
chapter
on
Aus that is good reading. The chapter is titled "Mining Australia" and
says
essentially that for decades ockers have mined not only minerals but
also
soil nutrients, timber resources, moisture/water and fishing stocks.

The bit about timber I found expecially interesting. I am aware that Aus
exports timber, we get oz hardwood in NZ for decks and the like. I
presumed
that it was from a sustainable resource. According to Diamond this is
not
the case. The rate of timber growth is slow for you compared to say NZ.
Once
a forest is stripped of mature trees the conditions for regrowth is
quite
difficult and can lead to the drying out, even desertification, of the
soil.
Not sure I will buy any more Aus hardwood if that is the case.

He reckoned that much of the nutrient value of your bush is held in the
trees themselves. I have understood for a while that your soil is low in
nutrients given its age. It seems the trees store much of the nutrients
and
recycle it through the growing cycle as they shed leaves or die and
decay.
Once the trees are gone so is much of the nutrient. The trees could
curvive
and grow as they existed in a closed cycle with the existing nutrients
recycled many many times. Once the nutrients were stripped away by
forestry
there was nowt left in the soil for regrowth. If true, a really
fascinating
example of closed cycles in nature and the way ignorant human activity
can
destroy it.

He also described in some length the salinisation of your soils. I knew
about it however the author described in length how the salt pans came
to
exist, how irrigation can cause the salt level to rise and dryland
salinisation results from leaving productive land bare for much of the
year
allowing rain to wash salts through waterways or raise it to the
surface.
The soluable salts then infest waterways.

This isn't a criticism mind, kiwis have done a good job of habitat
degredation as well. I guess our environment is not so fragile in many
ways.
I did not realise just how fragile the Aus environment was (aside from
your
droughts).

Comments welcome.
rob

my only real comment would be: "don't get me started". :-)

on a positive note, many people are waking up to better ways to do things
here, and it's a learning process that i believe is almost at critical
mass,
but essentially are hindered by a few things (see jonno's post) but mainly
our godforsaken dickhead gobshite ****knuckle federal govt, who have now
decided it's a top idea to drain wetlands so that people who already waste
water can waste even more of it. i could just scream (in fact, sometimes i
do!)
kylie

sorry, I am going to get you started as I am going to enlarge the issue a
little. The way I see it, there is a very real potential the human race (as
we currently enjoy ourselves) is phuqed. What makes me think that? Arguably
the current methods and patterns of production and consumption we 'enjoy'
are unsustainable from an environmental perspective.

This writer Diamond list 12 major (global) environmental problems: loss of
natural habitat; loss of wild food sources including seafood; loss of
bio-diversity; loss of soil and soil nutrition; limits on major energy
sources; limits on freshwater availability (as well as water degredation);
finite amounts of usuable sunlight; toxic chemicals; introduced pest
species; human produced gases deterimental to the atmosphere; polulation
growth; rising standards of living amongst the burgeoning population and the
strains placed on the earths resources.

Even if we can argue that the current style of life amongst the developed
world is sustainable, and debatable point, the strain will only increase. In
the last 15-20 years several nations have reached first
world/developed/western living standards - Malaysia/Taiwan/South Korea/Hong
Kong/Singapore & (apparently) Mauritius. These countries have added around
125 million people to 'our' production/consumption habits. Several nations
in Eastern Europe are starting to accelerate toward first world income
levels, China is rapidly adding people to that class and India slightly less
so. Then we have the likes of Brazil and Russia, even Thailand, who have
aimed that way. If China alone realises its goals of first world living
standards the impact on the world of production & consumption patterns will
double what it is now. IE any problems now left unsolved will double with
China alone reaching our living standards. Never mind the other large
populace countries.

Likely the problems of development (along first world production/consumption
patterns) will grow rapidly for China (if not addressed swiftly and
successfully). The problems won't just be Chinas alone. If problems grow
rapidly, even exponentially, public opinion and preparedness to find
solutions/change the way we live will need to adjust just as rapidly. Am I
confident that will occur? Not at present, not at the moment. I look around
and despair at some of the everyday ways people live, I am included in that
of course.

If we are currently rooting the earth beyond its ability to cope long term,
and I tend in the favour of we are, then any further increase in people
living like we do will further root the earth. Things are happening so
rapidly in the likes of China and India, the consequential enviro impacts
growing so rapidly, that some solutions to enviromental problems will need
to be as equally rapid and the populations acceptance of this will also need
to be as rapid. I see the genesis of awareness and movement but no major
'enlightenment'. The dickheads (or choose stronger terms as necessary) who
simply say the 'freemarket' or 'technology' will take care of things,
allowing them to merrily go on as usual, are to my mind f wits.

A simple way of course would be for developed nations to ensure the 3rd
world remains 3rd world and therefore never develops our lifestyle habits.
War, terrorism, genocide, mass migration of peoples is possible as a result
of this. I am cynical, there may be hope for society yet however if it comes
time to bite some hard bullets I just can't see the preparedness at present
to do so.

If you want an example of some of this go and visit Cuba. Look at their
economy/society in the 1980s, the 1990s and today.

rob