Equipped to deal with issues, keep growing

Clive Bibby

Opinion

Re: Chalk and cheese, August 16 column.

It wouldn’t be so bad if Gavin Maclean was as committed to supplying the basic necessities of life to those most negatively affected by “degrowth” without the raw materials that are essential to even a maintenance existence that he proposes. It is an impossible dream.

Without growth, we all get poorer as we squabble over the scarce resources that unavoidably become hugely expensive. And it follows that the real losers in all this sharing of a Stone Age lifestyle are those at the bottom of the heap.

So pray, what does Mr Maclean advise us to do with this recipe for mass extinction of another kind?

If he’s talking about plotting a course for an egalitarian society, where people know how to share scant resources, then he has already missed the boat.

Inequality is something that most hypocrites preach about addressing but, in the real world, do little to prevent.

Having said that, I believe it is still possible to make things happen that benefit us all.

First, those who have the most to lose must accept that positive lifestyle changes for a majority requires a contribution equal to one’s ability to make it. And talk is cheap.

The Bible parable of the widow’s mite is a great reminder of who the real contributors to a modern society are.

Ideological posturing and irrational pontification are what has led to much of our current problems in this country, and the time has surely come when we show these imposters the door. We can do quite nicely without them.

And be aware — Mike Joy has form and this latest visit to Tai Rawhiti is unlikely to be his last.

He has been a leading adviser to the anti-fresh water storage movement for a long time and has contributed to the cancellation of large provincial projects like the Ruataniwha dam in Hawke’s Bay, in spite of these proposals being a welcome alternative to the overreach associated with aquifer use.

You can’t have it both ways but Mike Joy, Gavin and Al Gore all seem to think their ideas will solve “man’s inhumanity to mankind”.

It is possible to continue growing and we can actually take advantage of the positive aspects of naturally occurring events and climate change to solve the problems we would normally have few answers for.

For example: more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is one of the best stimulants to plant growth. That can be good news to those nations experiencing famine on a regular basis.

Even the new head of the IPCC is admitting that overreaction to the negative effects of climate change is counter-productive, and that there are good reasons to be optimistic.

The evidence actually suggests we have it within our power to learn to live with it, just as earlier generations of humans have in the past.

Some say the modern experience is much more damaging to the world environment, but if that is true then we must also admit that our generation is far better equipped to deal with the problems as they occur.

Slash and burn, sackcloth and ashes are not viable alternatives to the answers that make sense.