The Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is claiming that Australia’s population needs to stay under 36 million.
Compared with our current 22 million and growing, is this a realistic expectation?
To continue living at our present standard and expect a fair go for all Australians, our population would need to shrink to 20 million or less, but that would be a recipe for disaster with the way our growth-economy works.
As we face the challenges of global warming, climate change and ocean acidification, all driven by releasing fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, we must wonder how we will ever secure a sustainable quality of life beyond the boom-bust cycle.
Australia once rode the sheep’s back, but now we ride the dragon of coal as we sell our resources to the World; but can this last forever?
We will need to draw energy directly from the Sun, if we wish to stop using fossil fuels and drive the coal dragon back into the ground.
Energy accessed directly from the Sun and brought to Earth by microwave or laser beam, or even a power cable from space1 (see note below), would allow us to shift to electric cars, electric trains and run a fleet of inflatable air ships for cargo and passenger travel to any corner of the nation.
Until we cool the Earth, we may need to live in protected environments, with seawater desalinated on the coast with energy from the Sun and pumped across the nation, where any desert location could be made habitable; we call the protected environments Earth Oasis.
In this alternative world, Australia may be able to support a much higher population of 35 million or more, living healthy and happy lives, but we would need to build, work and play differently to make the future sustainable.
Using energy from the Sun we will be able to fight climate change, reduce CO2 in the air and oceans and even split the carbon out as a resource.
At present Australia squanders its incredible resource wealth for little long-term gain, as we contribute to climate change by selling coal to the World, which is totally unsustainable and irresponsible behaviour.
Australia could use its incredible natural wealth to pursue serious space development and help the World secure a sustainable presence beyond Earth, where factories in space draw on the energy of the Sun to process resources from the Moon and asteroids and build Earth-gravity star cities that can be located around the Solar System.
We call this sustainable human presence beyond Earth the Liberty Line, from where our survival and creative opportunities in the Solar System will be assured for the immediate future.
Building to survive in space will also teach us to build to survive on Earth, even through the storms of climate change; it will always be easier to build to survive on Earth than in space.
This is, of course, providing the Earth does not become a second Venus because of a run-away greenhouse effect, as James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Space Institute warns in his book ‘Storms of My Grandchildren’ (page 223), because we failed to stop the process soon enough.
By building a confident vision of our future beyond Earth, we will be building for our future survival and prosperity on Earth, where a future Australian population may one day be larger in space than in the land Down-Under.
If we aim too low, Australia may risk getting left behind with our empty mines as industry moves into space.
If we fail to expand into space, we run the risk of losing all that we have built and worked for in a climate change catastrophe.
If we fail to expand beyond Earth, we could also risk collapse as we attempt to pull in our horns toward a presumed sustainability.
On the other hand, from a confident position of expansion beyond Earth and even simply working toward this expansion now, we would be able to share a vision of hope for Australia and the World that will motivate participation in building a healthier Earthly environment beyond climate change.
We now sing “Advance Australia fair”, but unless we lift our game we may have trouble waltzing Matilda through the streets of our cities, as they fill with the dust of inland farms blown in by storms that turn the day to night.
Note:
1. See points 10 and 11 in my article ‘Message from the Stars – the CO2 challenge’, published in the Tasmanian Times recently: HERE
