Economics 101

Hello Rambling Masses,

Here's my rather simple take on the economy, be it a local, national or global one. Apart from the occasional injection of currency from various countries' mints, money is not created or destroyed. What makes a successful economy is merely the constant movement of money. A recession or depression is merely the stagnation of this natural movement of money.

Phew! What a mind-blow! Now that we've got that out of the way, I would like to apply this rather simple philosophy to the current problem of the environment. The Federal Government of Australia has continually postulated that the reason for its foot-dragging regarding the environment is purely economic - we don't want to do anything that risks jobs or puts us at a competitive disadvantage to the rest of the world.

Erm, yeah, okay. The absolutely revolutionary concept that I want to put forward is that if you show leadership and invest in an industry, then the money will follow. If the government had anything other than glass balls in their scrotum, they would invest some of that $20 billion they are sitting on, and push to become one of the world leaders in renewable energy research and development. The long-term gains would far outweigh the initial investment, and that's just looking at it from an economic point of view.

I have incredible respect for the amount of investment that Germany is engaging in, mostly in the solar and wind sectors of renewable energy research and implementation. Imagine that - Germany, which gets a tiny percentage of the amount of sunlight that Australia gets, investing hugely in solar technology. Now, that's balls for you.

What is our excuse? None that I can see. To borrow from a rather forgettable Hollywood movie - "If you build it, they will come". Instead of renewable energy companies shutting down their operations here in Australia and moving elsewhere (where the political will is stronger), they would flock to our shores and help to build a powerful industry that would provide jobs, business investment and a future for us all, instead of the fossil fuel graveyard that we are currently building for ourselves.

It takes only a cursory dip into my somewhat feeble intellect to come up with further suggestions for sustainable industries that could yield incredible profits, whilst still providing much smaller ecological footprints than current destructive practices. For example, non-THC hemp plantations (THC is the psychoactive constituent of hemp that gives the "high" when smoked or otherwise ingested, but non-THC varieties of hemp are available) could replace all wood-pulp industries currently in operation. The growth rate of hemp is such that it yields much greater fiber returns per square metre with much less irrigation requirements than any tree plantations in operation. The fiber can be used to make clothing, rope, paper, even particle board and other manufactured wood products. The cost involved in migrating current manufacturing and processing equipment to hemp fiber instead of wood is minimal when the big picture is considered, and timber industry workers could be reskilled with no loss of Beige Howard's precious jobs-figures that he likes to tout as one of his government's great achievements.

One of the big problems associated with solar and wind power technologies is that they cannot provide base load power - when the sun isn't shining and when the wind isn't blowing, there's no power, right? Well, all it takes is a little bit of innovative thinking, and that's something that Australians have always prided themselves on. Battery technology is not at the point where power can be usefully stored for later consumption. However, batteries are not the only method of energy storage. For example, pumps could be run off solar/wind power during the day, pumping water up to a reservoir at the top of a hill. The water could then be released during the evenings to run turbines, thereby generating power at night. This isn't rocket science, you know, just simple engineering and application of the conservation of energy principles.

Tidal power and geothermal power are other technologies that warrant much more research because of their great potential.

For God's sake, Australia, wake up and see the sun shine. Investment in sustainable industries now will not put us at a competitive disadvantage or risk job security. To think that is pure folly, unless you are a recalcitrant backward-thinking slug whose head is still stuck back in the 1950's somewhere. The challenges of the future await us, and they should be met with the ingenuity and hard work ethic that our forefathers used to get us all to where we are now. We have been slumbering lately, and it's time to realise that the fossil fuel honeymoon is over. It is only through environmentally sustainable practices and sound judgement that we will survive it with anywhere near our current levels of wealth and ease.

I have faith in the human race to overcome the obstacles that are looming. However, without political leaders who have the will, the guts and the determination to make the hard decisions, we will be lost. The world will slowly slip into ruin, as we listen to the latest Pop Idol tune on our iPods or watch the latest tax-payer funded advertising campaign on our plasma screens, telling us that the government is "really serious" about the environment.