Expansion
After the mining cool down here in Australia the new idea seems to be build everywhere, and population growth. But with that, often comes land clearing and the destruction of our wild animals. Is this a good plan, is it sustainable, and is it really in your best interests?
Building
The push for large area land clearing for building housing developments is unfortunately a death sentence for a lot of our wild animals. I’ve heard many of the reasons, but most often when high density housing areas are being constructed they say the construction is creating jobs. But the jobs can be high risk financially for the sub-contractors, temporary for many, and it often involves large company’s just redeploying their existing staff and contractors to another area once completed. It is not sustainable to just keep building places and increasing our numbers in a relatively small area.
This Place Is Hot
So now you have all these houses in the same area typically on small plots of land so as to maximise developers profits. What can be created in doing this development is a hot zone. By removing the tree canopy and bush they just increased the average temperature of that developed land. Academics from the Griffith University School of Environment did a study of Upper Coomera, and found that in that area the temperature increased around 6 degrees. So as people move into the area they are running their air conditioners more often and for longer, because it has become hotter. Not so great for our environment and also not something they mention when selling high density housing.
The Jobs
The expansion of people into an area reduces the wildlife and its available food and habitat resources, and those animals don’t just disappear. While some may be able to shift to somewhere else, others are not so fortunate. As the new homes are sold and more people move into the area jobs are needed, some may be lucky and find a job locally but with tough times now, its not something that comes easily. All these new people in the area aren’t small business owners who are then employing locals and creating jobs. So we have just increased the number of people out looking for work, thus making it even harder to compete for jobs. Some will likely tell you that those people create more jobs by buying things from the local businesses, thus driving demand for employees. But have you ever been to a supermarket where they have lots more checkouts open, and increased staff numbers? More likely they are pushing people to those self serve machines instead. Have you gone into a hardware store and seen more staff to help you? Are there more staff at the hospitals for the additional population? More people moving into an area equates to more profits for the big companies. If they do need extra staff they typically just put a casual there for a while, and if not, you just wait longer to be served. After all, if someone gets 5 or so hours a week as a casual, that’s creating jobs… just not good sustainable ones.
Money. But Not For You.
This is what I believe a large part of it is about: The more people you can cram into an area, the more money for Councils and the Government in the various taxes and fees. It doesn’t matter to them that its hotter, that the animals are gone, that you sit in traffic gridlock, or that you’re struggling to find decent work. The influx of people paying their rates, power bills, water bills, stamp duty, fees and fines, dog registration, and all the little taxes on fuel, cigarettes, even online purchases, soon add up to a great income for them. How many times do you see the roads, infrastructure, and hospital staff numbers also expanded to suit the population increase? What happened to jobs and growth there? Unfortunately we seem to have become the cattle of the rich. You sustain them and their lifestyles by the ever increasing taxes you pay, that’s one reason why they love population growth. Our resources are not infinite, yet there is always a push to expand, something which is not sustainable. However, if you start costing them money, watch as they cut down on what you can access, your pensions, your health services.
“Not so much has changed since the times of Kings, Queens and castles. There is still the elite walled off from the peasants, taxing the hell out of them, using them simply as a resource.”
If the people are kept financially broke they are far less likely to be looking at what is happening to our environment and animals. They will be more concerned with paying their bills and their family’s survival. Next time there is a push for land clearing, or population growth, please give it a great deal of thought. Think about the true consequences, to the animals, to the environment, and to you.
