Eco online

Tim Flannery: time to deepen our democracy

ECO talks with former Australian of the Year, author, scientist and renowned conservationist, Tim Flannery.

ECO: As far back as 1995 you were advocating a population policy by 2005 with an ultimate target looking out two centuries. Nothing has been done – in fact we seem to be heading to unsustainability at a much faster [...]

Time for a steady-state economy

Lois Levy argues that governments should be considering a steady-state economy rather than blindly promoting unsustainable growth. Martin Rasini talks to this environmental warrior of the Gold Coast.

Veteran environmental campaigner Lois Levy views the upcoming population forums as an opportunity to highlight the unwanted social impacts of population growth and expose the thinking behind it.
Ms [...]

South East Queensland Regional Plan: a ‘scary blueprint’

When Debra Henry stands up to speak at the Brisbane population forum she will be well-armed with knowledge and confident she has the unequivocal backing of her community. Martin Rasini talks to a woman on a mission.
Redland City Councillor Debra Henry is committed to challenging the growth paradigm and plans to make her personal views [...]

Bigger road networks or better public transport?

In her office at the Nambour headquarters of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, Cr Vivien Griffin pulls out the super-duper plan for the Mooloolah River Interchange and by the look in her eyes asks silently, ‘What do you think of that?’.
It’s then that you realise that projected population growth is sending people loopy, including road [...]

Population: perpetual growth is not the answer

Martin Rasini gets a little tutorial help on the population issue from one of Queensland’s sharpest academic and research minds
Growing crops in a more sustainable way is easier than growing the human population in a sustainable way.
In fact, the latter is nigh on impossible – and a sentiment embraced by Dr Jane O’Sullivan, an agricultural [...]

Population: looking at the numbers with Bob Abbot

Sunshine Coast mayor Bob Abbot sees uncontrolled population growth as an insanity
We’re looking at 98,000 dwellings that the State Government has told us we have to build in the next 20 to 25 years

Charismatic Sunshine Coast mayor Bob Abbot says he can see a light at the end of the tunnel in the population-growth [...]

Populate and perish

by Professor Ian Lowe
I urge everyone to get involved with the public population/growth forums taking place in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast in the lead-up to Anna Bligh’s ‘Growth Management Summit’ at the end of March.
The decisions being taken in the next few months will literally shape our future. If we want to protect [...]

Jamming us in

Driving to work, going to the beach, going to the shops, taking the train – do you have the feeling you’re getting crowded out? Well, things will only get worse if Premier Anna Bligh has her way. So, welcome to Squeezeland, land of lost dreams!
But there may be some light because, at last, the planet’s [...]

A time to unite

Anyone who has attended meetings will know — the greater the number of people, the less chance there is of obtaining an outcome.
Therefore the outcome of Copenhagen should come as no surprise. Governments from wealthy countries know that voters are easily swayed by economic arguments. Poorer countries want more for their people. While we all [...]

Population: the real problem?

Letter to the Editor
By now it would seem beyond doubt that global warming is a reality and a serious problem. Precisely how much of it can be attributed to human activity and how much to natural causes may be open to debate. There is also mass starvation and violent aggression, manifesting in our part of [...]