The good that I would

I don't do .It's true ! Its not so bad to admit this because its true for each and every one of us - most days .But don't be surprised if you don't hear much talk about it publicly ( tis not something one does, especially because we keep doing it ) We are incomplete and broken persons needing help and asking for help is never easy for any of us ) .Sorry is not a bad word but a very necessary word .
Why worry then?
To not admit to this reality means you can say one thing and yet do another without realising it.You can project your guilt onto others, bringing us all down instead of resolving together to face reality and "get over it" . The truth can set you free from the blame game .

G20 If small is beautiful, what ever happened to G7

Some questions for those meeting in Melbourne at the G20 this week ? Where do the small and powerful fit in when the big players seek to become even more influential with each other.
Perhaps , in getting together as big players they should'nt pretend they can easily deal with the problems of the small players ? The externalities of poverty and patronige driving people to war?
What for example, is the real focus of the keynote issue, aid or poverty alleviation; patronige or political power: aid or trade . The need for unity of purpose must not cloud out need for accepting the diversity of economic assemblages .

Will this G20 be the first to suggest that economic stability should be seen as more like symbiosis amongst ecosystems rather than a facilitation factory with finely tuned settings ?
Economic prosperity and profit gives power , yet the rural poor around the world are , on the criteria of profit and prosperity, powerless.( they get taxation concessions, even in Australia)
That sort of puts them in a industrial economic band all their own = a sort of G777
.Lets hope the discussion around the edges is robust and far reaching on the subject of eco diversity because , for far too often the industry of agriculture is subject to lumping in with all other industries--- when it is clearly a special case requiring ecological as well as economic considerations .

Bono

Wasn't he "oh so good" on Denton's Enough Rope. How do we translate all that ambition for sound change in Africa and the Middle East to action ? One way I think is is to study the environment For those whom science is too much , how about you encourage governments ( by voting for someone who says so ) to ensure
--"the Right" don't keep turning agriculture into a clone of all industry ( where concrete and steel demolition don't matter)

Watch a good movie and learn how important your character( not your money , or your looks or your talents) is in the ever present tough situations of everyones' life . , see My Girl Friday

Another inspiring suggestion for people of all ages from barbara

...Help other people. Stop thinking about your problems and look outside yourself. If you can get past the "It's all about me" stage, then you'll really understand the power of networks. I've discovered that helping others connect has been remarkably beneficial for me.

Are you an artist, or are you not sure you can be one ? Do you want to become one ? Here's a great line from a blogger who just engaged 500,000 callers ( since she started ) this week. She could make a lot of money but then .... read what she says June10th at the important qualifications !

Conspiracy or Cockup It can be very hard to seperate the two eh?Not sure which one tempts you ? watch the protocols story by Marc levin . I'd vote for the lateral
Cockup and then a conspiracy to cover it up .And i'm not sure cockup is a tough enough word.

Dancing with the Stars has provided the young audience of Australia with a very important lesson . Like a mirror to their own excuses the children of Australia watched grown men and women capitulate to some force of evil not identified and not rational . These adults agreed together to support a story about Todd and co being not good enough to win . But honest brokers and children knew otherwise.

The mirror on the screen said it all - That life is not always fair and that even judges can rationalise, rebel and be blind when it suits them .
Young people --Worry not about what you see in all the finery, but what you don't see working its way to the surface occassionally.

Good boy Lester Brown . Lots of greens ideas are just that ---ideas - loose and dangerous if applied carelessly .
If you want to study someone who studies the earth AND its economic principles, listen to Lester Brown . he's got some well thought through actions to consider to make our world a better place and click on

Recognise projection as one of the most serious diseases of the human mind. Train your mind and body to avoid doing it . when we get into projector mode we say " The problem is not mine - its yours" .

Young and Bored? My suggestion . Read or watch something great . Like Pride and Predjudice Why you say? - because whatever you do with your life, you wan't to make the most of it .Y or N ? You don't need lots of money or fame to do that - you come from a family and you want that to work for you as you get older too -eh? . Its your top priority?!
That means,amongst other things, avoiding mistakes other make . You are not that dumb you reckon ? Sorry to have to say this but going on averages , maybe you are living on pride and predjudice
Take this one for eaxmple . Your parents are dumb and don't know much This story talks about teenagers dealing with this reality and growing to love both them and others-click below to find out more.

There is so much rubbish around . Avoid it and bookmark http://worthwatching. blogspot.com

HOMES rather than SHEDS to go to.

Young Jason asks nicely whether the governmnet could do something , but will his reasonable request be heard ( Brisbane line - land allocation )
There was a time, not so long ago ,when leaders of both parties supported his great idea. And a great idea it was because it kept the price of homes down and the market away from meddling too much with this basic need we all have .Kept us from easily falling for that old popular myth that our houses were the key to our economic wealth.

Even better than giving young people a bit of commonwealth land away from where the work was , they studied where best to put houses and they paid for it - not a sin as they spend a lot on other things and then sold houses and kept aeye on the market - esp so homes didn't become mere clones of that secondrate extract of economia called the shed.

But they don't like to interfere in the market like they used to then, so, until they stop sleeping to the chant we make a bit of noise, and wait for them to wake up.
Our homes, despite being places where we learn economia are too good and too complex to house the crude, if essential, subdivisions we called sheds. Now that sheds and their simple lines and substance have become the focus, families feel the stress . yes talk about it more

The G8 this week removes "urgent" from its summary. A good thing? Yes

Urgent is an important imperative, but not in every ecosystem and certainly not after the problem has hit the press. In the big picture, hasty late action is counterproductive as it acts only when a problem is biologically too fast growing and too big to stop. It’s fine in industry, but no use when real world limits apply as they do within the real boundaries of economic activity in communities. There are also easier and more effective ways to avoid “just in time” action and its unfortunate birth child -unsustainable growth.

Urgent encourages the wrong choice in our dealings with algophobia. By choosing short term gain our children will have to deal with long term pain. The slower route is possible and achievable - a choice that works. Quick is the fear word grabbed from industrial mechanistic world views that eventually undermines sustainability in ideas and action.

The western world has reversed most of the dangerous processes it has set up, mainly in ignorance and quick fix, in their expanding territories. The need for the future is to avoid the quick fix (http://quickfiz.blogspot.com ) mentality of modern industry imperatives and ensure our children have a more concrete, unchanging view of how the bigger picture in the real world could change for the better over the next two generations .Only that way will they have some hope of getting there in the long term.

Are the Bad boys providing a lead ? Safin has made the point that the lifestyle promoted as the norm (where most kids have tried it by the time they are 16- ABC afternoon program last week)is not really the ultimate .

Is Safin the leader and is Hewitt following? Where oh where are the media on this? maybe there are millions of new milleneum young people who only want what their parents had ( a more stable view of relationships and relationship building)

Making Poverty History If a down to earth African leader believes it can happen -why can't the so a called "powerful west".
Maybe intellectually and morally we are poorer than we think .
Don't you wish your countrymen too ,would go back to their roots to find the source of true treasure!
Good on you brits!

Worth doing,worth doing well? Why then do so many environmentalists fail to talk things out properly .

for example, Shellenberger in "Death of Environmentalism " There is no place for public debate in the environmental movement. Even librarians have much fiercer public debates and dialogues than the environmental community. Or look at the AIDS movement, where public-health organizations and government agencies have fantastic debates every year. They have peer-reviewed journals and panel discussions at international conferences. The environmental movement needs a national or international forum to debate strategy.
Having another meeting will do nothing . Before you can create debate you have to know why there is no debate - more on cuttingedgeconservation

Labor has lost its way!

Let me suggest if Mark Latham knew where the high moral ground was and went for it he may have a had a chance at the recent federal election .The point is he didn't know what to aim for .
Sorry- but its pretty obvoius -the high moral ground mate !

You are what you believe Mark If you are silly enough to say there is no morality Mark, then there is no high moral ground and you can spend a whole campaign wandering around and missing all the high spots - what is evident to many young people( and the greens )in this country about the reactionary left - They don't stand for anything, so they will fall for everything - weak and woosy .As the real balnacing force in politics they don't need to be weak on greed - just better targeted .

The reality is that the left is suffering from its own tired old inadequate doctrine and practice on radical politics. The left needs to ditch reactionary politics and noise makers and go back to some deeper roots .

Would Labor have won if it stuck to a consistent worldview on morality . What do young people think of Mr Latham - tell us . mreforce@telstra.com

Get beyond the reactionary politics of the left and the crippling disease of cynicsm and "no talk" in the media and public life http://users.gsat.net.au/tuf

Beat the blinkered bookkeepers
Remind our leaders of the real difference between accountability and accountancy- and how ecology, health and biodiversity will never be managed well on an excel sheet alone !

Can altruism win over greed? . Are economic systems solely an expression of the later?

What you can do is push for cooperation when it matters. Remind your leaders that we don't want farmers thinking they have to stretch themsleves even further that they are - in the worshipful name of meddling myopics -competition .
Big picture thinking on this matters and makes a big difference to stability for agrlculture the world over because land and resource custodians are in the risk environment together - Secondary industry models are too clean to cut carefully on biodiverse boundaries and risk matters .

The choice in Australia 2004 then is : Mate against mate or Mate with mate
Some farmers , like the rats in the big smoke, have fallen for the competition chants hook line and sinking .

YET Cooperation rather than competition is the model of effective big picture policy for eco sytems as big as Australia's .
Competition maybe a critical model of small scale efficiency, but crude efficiency isn't everything and benefits of pursuing it exclusively wane as the systems become complex --and then don't last with extrenalties to boot ! You have to invest outside the square in Agriculture !

NO The Ag's won't be better off if they work harder and smarter . No they /us are in this world together . Go for big picture modeling !

Support the single desk approach so effective for wheat . ecosystems approaches to economic management are not monocultural like most industry policy in Australia is at the moment .

You may not squeeze the last drop out ( but who cares but the pedants) ,especailly when you know the milk and honey will flow more consistently to those who should get it . Questions? email me

Environmental planning discourses are too greatly influenced by people who have little competency in managing the broad questions. This failure and waste rightly upsets players who have proper ownership of the land or its resources. While this lack of competence is often self evident “truth” to one side about the other, the recognition that both sides, and the judiciary, continue to have limited training, experience and credibility is still news to most. Forget the critics, we all could do with some more training!
The problem? There are more spectators and newcomers trying to organise the game than is responsible. The players need to be given back control of the game, before the game itself becomes more of a joke than a serious issue.
FESTER is a newsletter forum for players (however inexperienced) who want to encourage responsible involvement and training in environmental planning issues. http://ourland3.tripod.com/fester.thm