http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/population/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-ethics-of-feeding-off-the-fat-of-the-land/ Wildlife harvesting advocate Professor Mike Archer AM has been geeing up the anti-vegetarian ork armies with an article putting the boot in for ‘hypocrisy’ over mice. The pesky little critters erupt into sizable plagues in grain growing areas every few years and Archer thereby accused vegetarians of having the “worst possible” diet in terms of suffering and sustainability. What not to do when it comes to a sustainable diet During the robust online debate following his article, Archer produced the following visionary statement on Australia’s food production future: “In fact (sorry to sound insensitive), but we should not be consuming Australia unsustainably as we are now to feed 50 million people overseas in addition to the rapidly expanding Australian population. It’s a great short-term strategy to make more money and feel we done [sic] our bit to feed the starving millions overseas, but it makes us contributors to the exacerbating global problem of overpopulation rather than part of the solution. If we could just manage Australia sustainably, that would be the beginning of a rational approach to land-use and set a good example for the rest of the world.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-ethics-of-feeding-off-the-fat-of-the-land/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-ethics-of-feeding-off-the-fat-of-the-land/#item7506 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-people-can-the-world-support/ Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-people-can-the-world-support/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-people-can-the-world-support/#item7179 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/7-billion-good-reasons-why-the-world-needs-more-people/ Somewhere yesterday in rural India, the world’s 7 billionth person was born. This event, which should be a cause for celebration, will undoubtedly provoke the population prophets of doom to predict impending catastrophe. Last night, Sydney was lucky enough to host the patriarch of the prophets, Professor Paul Ehrlich, who gave an address at UNSW on ‘Population, Environment, and the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and Biosphere’. Professor Ehrlich made his name at a time of population hysteria, the age of Logan’s Run, the pill and the birth of China’s one-child policy. He is most famous for his 1968 work, The Population Bomb, which predicted immense social upheaval, massive resource shortages and the deaths of hundreds of millions of people from starvation due to a “population explosion”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/7-billion-good-reasons-why-the-world-needs-more-people/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/7-billion-good-reasons-why-the-world-needs-more-people/#item7046 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Seven-billion-reasons-to-think-about-sustainability/ The United Nations estimates that the world’s population will reach seven billion sometime in late October or early November. The sixth billion was arrived at in 1999, and it is significant that the seventh billion took the same number of years (12) to add as the sixth. This is relevant because prior to that, there had been a progressive shortening of the time taken to add billions to the human population. The first billion was reached in 1804, taking many thousands of years of human evolution to achieve. Thereafter successive billions were added in 123, 32, 15 and 13 years respectively. This reflects a slowing down in global population growth from a high of 2.1 per cent per annum in the late 1960s to 1.2 percent per annum currently. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Seven-billion-reasons-to-think-about-sustainability/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Seven-billion-reasons-to-think-about-sustainability/#item7024 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-would-life-be-like-if-we-lived-to-150/ The existence of a fountain of youth that restores the health and youth of anyone bathing in its waters has tantalised humanity for centuries. Substitute the mythical water for modern-day medicine and we could, in the next decade, see medicines that slow the ageing process and help us live to 150 years old.  Life expectancy in Australia is already on a positive trend. At the beginning of the 20th Century, life expectancy at birth was about 55 years for males and 59 years for females. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-would-life-be-like-if-we-lived-to-150/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-would-life-be-like-if-we-lived-to-150/#item6997 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Should-Australia-defend-the-great-wall-or-the-grand-canyon/ Recently a colleague mockingly asked me why I bothered writing. I replied: because the quality of debate is appallingly bad. Exactly, she said. Thus with a sense of light-hearted despair at the recent banter in the media, I weigh into Australia’s strategic policy apropos the on-rushing war with China. It appears that the conservative minds that discuss strategic policy are aligning. China is growing, the world is changing, and power is being redistributed. According to those who subscribe to the various brands of “Realist” international relations theory, this situation necessarily entails armed conflict between states. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Should-Australia-defend-the-great-wall-or-the-grand-canyon/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Should-Australia-defend-the-great-wall-or-the-grand-canyon/#item6264 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-bigger-australia-is-inevitable-but-will-it-be-better/ Listening to the sometimes facile public debate about population growth, it seems that all Australia needs to do to address our population issues is ditch ‘big Australia’ in favour of ‘sustainable population’. With a debate as shallow as this, it’s little wonder that we’ve made little headway in addressing our growing pains. In 2009, when Kevin Rudd dug the first few feet of his political grave with his declaration in support of a ‘Big Australia’, population growth — led by higher birth rates and record migration — was at an all-time high.  With Rudd safely out of The Lodge, Gillard and Abbott raced to the election trying to see who could distance themselves furthest from the former PM’s sentiments. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-bigger-australia-is-inevitable-but-will-it-be-better/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-bigger-australia-is-inevitable-but-will-it-be-better/#item6065 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-need-to-stop-the-cult-of-endless-growth/ Population stability in Australia today is all about immigration patterns and policy, not about some notion of enforced family size. If it weren’t for sky-high levels of immigration we would already be well on the track to population stability, as are a number of other much wiser OECD countries. At least the Burke review did not re-endorse Rudd’s “unapologetic” call for massive population growth. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-need-to-stop-the-cult-of-endless-growth/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-need-to-stop-the-cult-of-endless-growth/#item5875 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Bigoted-australia-cloaks-the-problem-of-big-australia/ The latest debate over multiculturalism has again exposed the often inflammatory nature of media reporting and its misrepresentation of Australian society. A recent study by the University of Western Sydney noted that 87 per cent of Australians agree that “It is a good thing for a society to be made up of people from different cultures”.  Yet the headline from one major tabloid newspaper was “Australia a land of racists”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Bigoted-australia-cloaks-the-problem-of-big-australia/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Bigoted-australia-cloaks-the-problem-of-big-australia/#item5654 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/population-growth-is-not-all-about-immigration/ A growing population is not the result of over-zealous politicians and bureaucrats or big business trying to expand their market. It is a result of Australians being healthier, living longer, and having more children. It is because people from around the world want to come here to work, travel, live and study. Population growth is neither an impending disaster nor something we should blindly strive for—it is simply happening as a result of our economic progress and the collective desires of millions of people. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/population-growth-is-not-all-about-immigration/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/population-growth-is-not-all-about-immigration/#item5523 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Here’s a simple thought experiment: imagine a glass seemingly empty apart from a scum on the bottom. That scum is yeast that doubles its size every day and you know that, after 60 days, the glass will be full to the brim with that yeasty scum. Question: on which day is the glass half full? Answer: day 59. Just one day before the glass is filled to capacity it’s half full. That’s the sneaky thing about exponential growth.The final spurt happens so rapidly. Take the world’s human population. We only made it to the first one billion people within the last 300 years. But then we really started packing them in. When I was born in 1963 there were 3.5 billion people. Now, just 47 years later, we’re double that figure and still climbing rapidly.