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