A Socialist View from Outside the Box

Give a man a fish and he will eat it. Show a man how to catch a fish and he will eat for a lifetime.  An analogy I have a strong belief in and try to live by.

If we keep giving people things, they will expect more of the same on an ongoing basis. There is no option to learn to support themselves. To succeed at anything people must first learn to stand on their own 2 feet. A baby must crawl before it can walk.

But one line of things the socially minded people DO need to be given in order to have the motivation to WANT to begin to support themselves, is respect, dignity and equality.

Capitalists (i.e. Money spinners, Corporation Directors, CEO’s) usually think of themselves as the top of the supply chain. “People” to a corporation are the tools that expand the corporations wealth. These “People” are typically paid at the industry minimum rate and if they complain, a loophole is found to retire them to a new money spinner (AKA… You’re Fired).

The Gillard Governments decision to resign Harry Jenkins as Speaker was an obvious successful attempt to gain an extra vote. Without the steps that were taken with Harry Jenkins Labor would be in no position to negotiate with Mr Wilke on poker reform. If he removed his support for Ms Gillard, there would be no Government.

Instead, we now find a Government prepared to negotiate with peoples lives by way of the consequences of addiction to instead favour the gambling industry and the massive profits it produces at the detriment of lifestyles and often eventually the lives of those affected by gambling addiction.

At least in Tasmania we have members of parliament, like Kim Booth, prepared to stand up for social problems caused by gambling even if that means Tasmania going it alone. I will personally get behind any push that sees the eventual banning of poker machines in this Country.

The Tasmanian Devil is facing a major upstream battle with relatively few answers for its survival. There is a very real chance the unique animal could be extinct by the end of this century. Probably sooner.

The devil facial tumour disease has drastically reduced devil numbers in Tasmania, with only a few small pockets of unaffected devils remaining. Healthy devils have been relocated to sanctuaries around Australia to help ensure their survival.

Could aerial spraying of tree plantations and other broad acre agricultural spraying in Tasmania be associated with the tumours effecting these unique creatures?

Some of the chemicals used in Tasmania include:

Picloram
Glyphosate
Triclopyr
Metsulfuron-methyl
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4 D)
2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA)
Atrazine

Most Chemicals used for the control of weeds and other “pests” are either a mutagen, teratogen or a carcinogen.

A Mutagen is a substance that causes a genetic mutation.

A Teratogen can effect the developing foetus and induce birth defects.

A Carcinogen is a substance that causes cancer.

A mutation caused by a mutagen can also result in cancerous growths as is also the case with a teratogen.

Unfortunately, due to the reliance we have on these chemicals, if it were determined that one or a combination of these substances resulted in the tumours effecting the Tasmanian Devil, science would look to develop something for the devil to counteract the effect of the chemical. Alternatively we would simply look at the extinction of the devil as a necessary evil for the sake of maintaining the use of the chemical.

The local City Council have invested much time, effort and money in attracting Cruise ships to the sea side port of Burnie. Though a large percentage of visitors to the town venture away to other destinations.

A recent letter to the editor in “The Advocate” mentioned how thrilled the authors were with the great reception they received on arrival in Burnie on their recent cruise ship voyage though they do mention that pre-arranged plans saw them spend the day in Devonport & Stanley.

There are many attractions in Burnie that could easily hold a tourists interests for more than a day. However despite these many attractions, the Authors of this particular letter still decided to venture away from the town for their short stay.

Burnie does have a lot of great places, but it does lack that “one thing” that transforms the town from a gateway to other areas into a destination in and of itself.

That is not to discredit the benefit the cruise ships have on the rest of the state, but with the investment Council is making in getting the ships here, one would think they would do more to keep more of the passengers entertained locally while off deck.

In Australia, more people believe in human enhanced climate change than don’t… even liberals… (Apart from Nick Minchin and a handful of his followers…) the question isn’t if its real, its what we should do about it that’s got the debate going…

The Liberal plan will see Millions of Trees planted to sequester carbon which on its own is not a bad idea but given the number of trees cut down each year around the world its not going to achieve much by way of carbon reduction.

Part of the Liberal plan is to create several clean energy plants to compete with coal driven facilities but several questions are raised about this.

Competing with coal is not the answer, reducing coal use to complete eradication is required within the next 15 to 30 years to have any impact on carbon dioxide reduction. Building clean energy facilities is only going to create another pathway to wealth for a handful of industry heavies.

Funding the Liberal coalitions plan is also questionable. It has been suggested the Liberal policy will cost Tax payers an average of $750 per year with these funds coming from the general coffers. Raising the question about what services are going to miss out on funding as a result. This $750 year could add a lot a child’s Education, could fund additional nurses in hospitals or repair or rebuild failing transport channels, roads and other infrastructure around the country.

The Green/Labor Carbon price is the only logical alternative to reducing carbon emissions through Market based incentives driven by the additional cost of fossil fuel energy with the addition of the carbon price.

The carbon price also allows for additional funding in addition to the federal budget to construct the required clean energy plants as well as compensate consumers at a retail level for any increases in prices after the carbon price is added.

Eradication of coal and oil is inevitable… the time frame is the only unknown… Fossil fuels can not last forever… Anyone who thinks they will are few and far between!

When the hole in a bucket becomes bigger than the flow of water going into it the bucket empties quicker… unless we reduce the size of the hole first!

The United States alone consumes more than 1,500,000,000 litres of oil every DAY, considering oil takes millions of years to create anyone with a calculator could easily work out oil supplies are running out.

I am looking forward to the day (hopefully in my lifetime) where our economy has restructured to allow for both coal and oil to be a negligible part of where and how wealth is created… the carbon price is a huge step to making that happen… when it becomes more expensive to purchase coal and oil powered energy and machinery (when the carbon price is added) people will move away from using them…

If that requires a temporary collapse of the economy, so be it… but I doubt very much that will happen… because the carbon price will cause a steady move from one to the other not an immediate crash or recession based on an abrupt change… which is what will happen if we continue using coal and oil at current levels…

Humans are not the ONLY cause of Global Warming but there are only certain things we can alter – typically the things we have caused or initiated. We can’t plug volcanoes or alter the distance between the earth and the sun that is obvious.

Historically, Trees eliminated excess CO2 as it was produced (mainly from Volcanoes). Unfortunately we are also the cause of deforestation at the same time as producing more carbon dioxide. In other words we are cutting down the filtration system that has historically reduced CO2 levels.

If I could insert a graph here it would show a decline in trees and an increase in CO2 emissions. Planting more trees will help eliminate CO2 when the levels decrease, but we have to get the current and anticipated future levels down first. The best way of doing that is to slow down the use of Fossil Fuels and increase the use of Wind and Solar energies.

Its a simple solution really and one that the C onservatives would jump on if only these renewables produced the same income as Coal & Oil (which are in diminishing supply).

There are other things that cause Global Warming… Methane for example. Bovine Gas is one of the main causes of this.

I have read some research where trails were undertaken on several ways of either preventing wind from cattle (caused by a complex digestive system). Some research has tried to capture this gas where cattle had to wear contraptions around their stomachs while a valve was inserted through the wall of the stomach… more realistic trials have included medication to reduce the amount of gas cattle make. But the key is that research is being undertaken.

Pricing Carbon is a good tool for reducing CO2 emissions because it provides incentive to change to renewable Energy options while providing an Income source to invest in those renewables.

In Australia, as is the case in most developed Countries we have a system of both Private & Public Education. As a result what we have is the development of 2 Educational mindsets (or classes) of people through Education. The Privately Educated Upper Class and the Publicly Educated Lower Class. If we had a single system of Education we would see a single class of development through generational levels – and a potential increase in work ethic as a result.

Its not fair that a child (who didn’t choose the “class” in which they were born) should be denied the same benefits as given to Privately Educated Students especially when the Government funding for those schools is potentially on par with Public Schools who don’t see anywhere near the income from levies compared to Private Schools.

While there remains a system of both Public & Private Schools we will continue to see the generational differences in work ethic between social classes… Public Education is the only truly fair system of Education because it is about EDUCATION regardless of social or income status.

Within Schools both Private and Public in Australia the wearing of a Uniform is encouraged… in addition to recognition of the individual school the uniform prevents the incidence of fashion wars between students.

In other words All students are expected to wear the same uniform so they all fit in. One isn’t forced to feel different to the other based on something as simple as fashion…

Philosophically if we had half a school dressed in a Uniform and the other half dressed in regular casual clothes it would be like splitting the class of people between Private & Public Schools. One is always going to feel more superior than the other and this will flow on through work ethic in adult years…

© 2011  Eric J. Smith