Peak soil is the concept that the soil's capacity for production is finite. 
We have the converging situations of peak energy combined with exponentially rising energy demand, and peak everything from pollution to peak soil, peak water, peak population growth combined with the implications of an aging baby-boomer generation.

The small amount of 5 per cent solar energy target, and 20% reduction in ghg emissions in the next ten years,  is surely tokenism against runaway population growth, the subsequent rising demand for power, and the race to combat the tide of climate change threats.

"Each of these appointments brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on population issues and will be vital in development of a comprehensive sustainable population strategy," Mr Burke said.
We cannot doubt the integrity and/or qualifications of at least some of the panel members to give a balanced viewpoint, but surely, considering that we live in a democracy, the majority should decide?

So many of our manufacturing industries have disappeared overseas, that opportunities for training and apprenticeships are limited, despite the provisions of vocational training at TAFES.
Why should we be having an immigration program to address skill shortages when we should be developing a better educational and training framework that produces and exports our own skilled workforce?

An estimated 40% of food on our supermarket shelves contains palm oil. Palm oil typically costs the lives of up to 50 Orang-utans each week. Possible extinction in 20 years.
Over 85% of the world's palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia. See also, for some hope, "Restoring Eden"

Bernard Salt's main concern is that we need strong population growth to support a rising tax base in the coming decade. His view is that after 2020 it will be a bleak time for Australian investors, as baby boomers retire off. Bernard Salt says that there's a strong need to lift the number of taxpayers in Australia during that period to pay for the retirement needs of the baby boomers.

The Zero Carbon Australia report provides a detailed blueprint for transitioning Australia’s stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy sources by 2020. The project involved a team of engineers, scientists, researchers and others — including engineers from the existing fossil fuel energy sector — contributing thousands of hours of pro bono work to put together a detailed roadmap of the steps necessary to replace our coal and gas infrastructure with renewable energy.

The Chinese Government is buying Australian farms to directly feed its population. Farm buy-ups were not referred to the FIRB unless they were worth more than $320 million! So, unless the farm property is under this amount, it just becomes "international" land! Unease about global food shortages in the next 20 years - and long term agricultural market opportunities - have made Australia and areas of South America prized targets for foreign government-aided enterprises and private investor groups.

Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past. According to the  UN's environment branch, if the world remained on its path of overfishing, fish stocks could become uneconomic to exploit, or extinct, by 2050.
At stake is not just the biodiversity of the oceans, but a substantial chunk of the global economy and the livelihoods that depend on it.

The original case for Labor's controversial $1 billion food bowl upgrade was rejected by state cabinet because the government's promised water savings could not be achieved for the price tag of $1 billion, it has been revealed.
Farmers have slammed an independent report that says Murrumbidgee and Murray irrigators should make big sacrifices to help revive the Murray-Darling Basin. The cut would drain at least $2.7 billion out of the basin's economy.
The north-south pipeline has provided a mere 16.7 billion litres. That translates to a piddling 1% of Melbourne’s current water supply.

Since the slogan ''populate or perish'' was coined during World War II we have forged a consensus that a growing Australian population is mainly good for national prosperity.
The populate or perish policy is nothing new, of course. Under various guises, it has driven growth in Australia for more than 200 years. However, those who argue that big population equals better everything are wrong.

A proposed 380 lot subdivision opposite the Serendip Sanctuary in Lara, Victoria, will have devastating consequences on the area by destroying the natural habit, risking the welfare of animal and bird life, increase the chances of flooding and put added pressure on local infrastructure already at breaking point.

(Photo: Climate Ark)
U.S. oil addiction is killing American and global ecology. An international wake-up call must be delivered to both the administration and Congress, to focus more effort upon reducing the demand for oil. The risks and costs of offshore oil exploration far outweigh their benefits, and the U.S. would be better off focusing upon promoting alternative energy sources.

As was reported in the Melbourne Age of 9 May 2010, the Anglican church has rightly called for both a decrease in natural population growth and a decrease in Australia's current record high rate of immigration. The Citizens Electoral Council, which believes that not only Australia, but the whole world, is underpopulated, responded, on 11 May 2010, with one of its typical hyperbolic media releases.
The Anglican Church General Synod paper can be downladed from here (pdf 277K), See also the original paper released for comment by the Anglican Church.

Unlike the Western dragon of Europe that is representative of evil, the many eastern versions of the dragon are powerful spiritual symbols, representing seasonal cycles and supernatural forces. Until 1912, the dragon was the national emblem of China. Many Chinese consider the dragon a god, one to be worshipped. Now, the god of Growth is the one that is worshipped!

Under the Federal Government plan, captive populations will be boosted and extra feed and nesting options will be provided to encourage the 50 or so parrots left in the wild to breed.
It is easy to blame “drought” when loss of habitat is the surest way to lose a species!

The kangaroo habitat in Mill Park/South Morang was, not surprisingly, earmarked for development, and there was no “suitable habitat” left in Victoria for translocation!
Over 21 kangaroos were shot by shooters, employed by the DSE. Is it reasonable to keep comparing studies on possums, tiger snakes, rock wallabies to eastern grey kangaroos?
(photo: courtesy of Wildlife Victoria)
On what scientific basis, or body of experience, do our official “experts” conclude that a mass slaughter of kangaroos is more humane than translocation?

The Australian Government has decided not to support a global ban on the trade of the northern variety of the bluefin tuna. Instead, the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, has decided to support stronger trade control measures and fisheries management. Japan holds the line on whaling and they are also sending a signal that limits on bluefin tuna aren't up for debate either.

Tasmania's forest industry has rejected a Greens plan to ban logging in high conservation value forests.  The Greens says 300 jobs would be lost but more than 700 created through the strategy.  Even job creation is not enough to move the die-hard destructive mentality.  Both Labor and Liberals support Gunns pulp mill and neither is proposing any new forest reserves.
Trees up to hundreds of years old cannot be replaced overnight, despite how "sustainable" the logging is supposed to be!

European Parliament made history when it voted overwhelmingly to ban trade in seal products. Over one and a quarter million seal pups have been clubbed or shot to death over the last four years during Canada's annual seal slaughter. Seals and their pups do not owe swelling human populations a living, and this atrocity is morally unsustainable and unethical.
(photos of harp seals from Wikipedia commons)

Melbourne Zoo's baby elephant has been blessed by Buddhist monks after Victorians voted to name her "Mali", the Thai word for the jasmine flower.
Sadly, there is no animal "Christening" or official Blessing ceremony in the Christian church.
There is little or no agenda in the church to recognize non-human creatures, despite their worshipping of God of All Creation.
(Newborn baby Asian Elephant - Photos courtesy of Wikimedia commons)

Almost the entire Basin had been explored and occupied by Europeans within 50 years of the crossing of the Great Dividing Range. The development of a European way of life resulted in
unintentional degradation of many of the Basin’s natural resources. There have been warnings of impending disaster for the Murray–Darling Basin for more than a decade, but here near the mouth it is suddenly real and shockingly rapid. Inflows to the Murray system remain at record lows. The removal of water for last summer’s irrigation, coupled with evaporation, has seen lake levels plummet. The search for another food bowl is on!

The mining company Cape Alumina has lodged a request to strip mine over 12,000 hectares in the western part of Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve for bauxite. This reserve is home to six highly vulnerable plant species. The nearby Wenlock River is the richest in freshwater fish diversity of any Australian river, including speartooth sharks, sawfish and the estuarine crocodile. Of the 32 ecosystems found on the reserve, 21 are threatened.

What you can do: If you are a Queensland resident, please sign the e-petition on the Parliamentary web-site (see text below), The petition is open until 17 May 2009. If you live outside of Queensland, please sign the petition on the Save Steve's Place. (www.savestevesplace.com) web site.

Kevin Rudd has expressed his desire for a "big Australia", contrary to public interests, an independent scientific assessment of our "carrying capacity", and without any population plan or policy.
Our wealth is our natural heritage.
Deliberate population growth is all about greed and consumerism and a failure to appreciate what is naturally "big" about Australia.

There was an outcry about the illegal and brutal attack on baby koala Doug, and his consequent death, yet loggers will be allowed to destroy the habitat of a colony of koalas in the state forest on the NSW South Coast. They need protection before they are legally wiped out, simply because their homes are for woodchip profits!

One of the most important principles internationally when referring to greenhouse gas reduction schemes it that the polluter pays. This means that national targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions should be based on the historical contribution of each nation to global emissions. It is obvious that Australia's population growth policies have a enormous impact on our greenhouse gas emissions.

Heavy rain triggered the slides and swept away roads, leaving the tourists stuck in Aguas Calientes, a small town near the Inca ruins. Peru has the most tropical glaciers in Latin America and has already lost 20 percent of the 2,600 kms of glaciers running through its central and southern Andes in the past 30 years. By the end of the 21st century, the tropical Andes may experience a massive warming on the order of 4.5–5 °C.
(photos courtesy of Wikimedia commons)

A patriotic meal to celebrate Australia Day should be one that does not cause the environmental damage that livestock do, and one that recognises that our ecosystem is already stressed. 
LAMB ON AUSTRALIA DAY? Sam Kekovich's rival, “Simon Kennovich”, says, thats un-Australian.
CSIRO, over 90 per cent of land degradation is caused by animal industries.

(Grey Teal - a "game" target)
The Government says conditions have improved in parts of Victoria and game ducks can be hunted sustainably. Hunters would be permitted to increase their take from last year's two per bag to five. Acting Minister for Environment and Climate Change Tim Holding said the compromise struck a balance between ensuring sustainable duck numbers and the interests of hunters.

According to the Antarctic Treaty, it shall be used for peaceful purposes only. There shall be prohibited any measure of a military nature, such as the establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying out of military manoeuvres, as well as the testing of any type of weapon.
Australian Antarctic Division guidelines for visiting the Antarctic include ensuring that "wildlife and vegetation are not disturbed".