Sustainable development

[gac]

Very true and frightening at the same time. No time to read (too busy working to afford living in this expensive city) so happy to accept your summation of the Book.
Do you think we can get by for another 8 years?

[wynn]

Quite a few ratepayer associations in EL have declared disputes with the local 'Monkeypality' they won't pay if they don't get service.
Is this the beginning of a revolt?

What can the local authority do if you don't pay? cut the services they don't provide in the first place?

Its easy to cut lights and water but if you consider the cost of a generator and the minimum water with rain tanks etc against the increased rates, which option is better?

I see a very different playing field in the near future where rate payer organisations will be standing for council and certain suburbs will be declaring independance from metro's irrespective of the law.

[gac]

Ratepayer disputes appear to be spreading. Before rates can be withheld there has to have been reasonable efforts to have the disputes satisfactorily attended to by the municipality. I thin it was a small village called Sannieshof in Mphumalanga that did just that some time ago, and the residents now attend to critical service delivery using the rates that otherwise would have been paid to the local authority. Rates and charges are paid into an account administered by an Attorney and released for costs of maintaining and delivery services that are fully accounted for.

It is a very good example of the power of the people and presents a real threat to misbehaving municipalities.

[Newretailer]

Dave, funny you should bring up this topic. I get an on-line magazine called Green Times. They discuss all kinds of ways of reducing your footprint. I wrote the editor an email in October last year asking her why they don't address the real issue, aka the world population growing at such a rapid rate. She replied that it was a subject with too many bad historical connotations. I think it is safe to say that mankind is doing what it does best: focus on small stuff so we don't have to face the real issues.

I do live as green as possible. The fact is that no matter how much we reduce our footprint, the easiest way is to reduce population growth. Much as I dislike China, I think they were the only nation with enough guts to take real measures to reduce their population. Why can there not be world-wide incentives for smaller familes? If husband and wife are sterilized after 2 children, give them a tax break for life.

India is growing at such a rapid rate that they are going to overtake China soon. It is a country with such poverty that they really cannot afford it. I think the problem should be addressed world-wide. There are many extrememly large white families in the USA as well, so it is not just a racial problem. Add to that the fact that because of their rampant consumerism, they have the largest footprint of all nations.

To me it has nothing to do with whether you can afford a larger family or not. It has everything to do whether the earth can afford you to have a large family. I wish we would start discussing this openly (and thank you for bringing it up)

[wynn]

I grew up Cattletick (Catholic) and the church encourages large families by banning any type of birth control except the rythm method. this is particularly taught in poor countries (South America, Africa, Asia)
Never mind the population growth they even ban condoms while faced with an AIDS epedemic, bloody stupid!!.

Its a sin to have pre or extra marital sex but and even bigger sin to have pre or extra marital sex using a condom even if it is to protect your and your spouses life and then if you are married it is still a sin to use a condom or other birth control.

Needless to say I havn't been an adherent for decades but I believe some moderate priests are now telling individuals to ignore these teachings???

Perhaps the Pope should be substituted by a Chinese population control official.

My guru, the late George Carlin, says that as far as global warming goes, we as humans will not destroy the planet, we may destroy life, our own included on the planet, but the planet will be fine, it will adapt and carry on as if we were just a pimple on it's bum.

[Blurock]

the church encourages large families by banning any type of birth control except the rythm method. this is particularly taught in poor countries (South America, Africa, Asia)
Never mind the population growth they even ban condoms while faced with an AIDS epedemic, bloody stupid!!.

As a Christian I find it disturbing that religious leaders can sometimes adapt the Bible's teachings to suit their own selfish agendas. It also happens in other religions where texts are quoted out of context to sow hatred or to justify their own sin. This also happens because of customs or pure superstition.

The Catholic fathers still cling to Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it". But God spoke to Adam and Eve. They were 2 people, not the 7 billion we now have!

Allow me to illustrate how the Bible can be misquoted by selective reading:

The bible calls for revenge in Exodus 21:24 "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot; Deuteronomy 19:21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."
This is "lex talionis", the law of retaliation as it later became part of Roman law.

Exodus is in the beginning of the Bible, when people were still fighting for existence. When Jesus came, he gave them new laws and he preached love and forgiveness. Worth reading is the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:38“You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’p 39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.

and then; 43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven."

Unfortunately our religious and political leaders can not always be trusted to teach the truth! Everybody claims to be right until they face the Truth.

[Dave A]

Science, religion and expediency have certainly had an interesting relationship over the millenia of civilisation. I suggest they should only be considered as constant as our understanding of them, which history tells us isn't very constant at all.