Hampden speech by Anton Olivers

SKY SLIDE

Firstly can I say that I feel humbled to be speaking to you this evening about issues that I care very deeply about, issues that I have no University qualifications for or years of job experience under my belt, just an interest in nature and the natural world. Perhaps this is one of the first things that should be garnered from this series of seminars, that, as a human beings and concerned citizens we all have the right to speak our minds, debate and contest current dogma and orthodoxies, in fact we have the obligation to do so.

And so it is that I find myself here, performing my duty, and this is what I wish to talk about

SHOW SLIDE WITH THREE POINTS


Put quite simply the Earth is very ill; we humans have poisoned and polluted it to the point where some of us are questioning if the illness is terminal.

The planets problems can be described succinctly.

-There are far too many of us on this Earth.

POPULATION SLIDES AND INFORMATION

-The catalyst for this has been the introduction of fossil fuels, which have extended the natural limits of human carrying capacity and this has created an unsustainable environment, an environment that now sees more than 6.5 billion of us co-existing.

-Trade exploded with fossil fuels, distance now no longer a concern, we humans extracted resources via machinery from sources once thought an impossibility, and we assiduously went about our work of exploitation and expansion.

- Capitalism eclipsed Communism, which also did the Earth no favours. In the 20th century Capitalism flourished and it’s fundamental economic plinth, to make money for its shareholders has been one of the greatest and most wicked foes of the Earth.

For fundamentally Capitalism is underpinned by a simple but devastatingly powerful human trait-greed.


The result of this simplified summary has seen the Earth polluted, raped and plundered.

Witness some of its illnesses;

-Collapsing fisheries; In 2002, an estimated 75% of the world's oceanic fisheries were fished at or beyond capacity.

-Shrinking forests, Today, only one-fifth of the planet's original forest cover remains in large tracts of undisturbed natural forests, tropical forests being the worst effected. From 1990 to 2000, more than 370 million acres of forest cover-an area the size of Mexico-was converted to other uses. If the loss of 49 million acres per year, which was typical in the 1990s, continues to increase at 2% per year, the unprotected forest will be gone before the end of this century.

-Eroding soils, The first global assessment of soil loss, based on studies of hundreds of experts, found that 38%, or nearly 1.4 billion acres, of currently used agricultural land has been degraded,

Species are disappearing at an unfathomable rate, water tables are falling, glaciers are melting, grasslands are deteriorating, seas are rising and rivers running dry, and deserts are expanding.

CO2 EMMISSIONS GRAPH


The increased CO2 emissions caused by fossil fuels is causing the world to heat up and is the cause of many of the aliments that I have just outlined. Sure the world’s temperature has fluctuated wildly over the annals of time, huge droughts and ice ages are known to have occurred. The point is however, that these changes have occurred over thousands of years, not sixty.

Since temperatures have been officially recorded which was in 1880, as at 2004 , five of the last seven years were the hottest ever recorded

TEMPERATURE GRAPH




This rise in temperature has caused cataclysmic changes to world ecosystems, an explanation of these changes is too extensive for the scope of this talk.

However, the rather obvious point of permafrost, tundra ice, glacial and polar ice melting and hence raising sea levels has a crude but elegant point to make. The sea level has risen 10-20 cm since 1900. Most non-polar glaciers are retreating, and the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice is decreasing rapidly in summer.

SEA WATER GRAPH


With vast numbers of humans living at sea level and vast amounts of farmland, particularly in the subcontinent at sea level, raising our sea levels mere centremetres will have catastrophic implications for millions of humans.

Our weather patterns are becoming more and more unstable, something that has, rather brutishly been displayed in Aotearoa in the last month.

WEATHER PICTURES

Finland:

"The ongoing winter in Finland has been extremely freaky: very mild, with record storms, culminating in a rise in the sea level of nearly two metres in Helsinki. "The city erected flood barriers of cardboard bales, but they didn't do much to help; the water reached the streets."

Water palace

"This picture is of the Jal Mahal (Water Palace) in Jaipur, India. The appearance of fog suggests the photo was taken in the morning. "That is not the case. It was taken in the afternoon, and the 'fog' is actually pollution.

Samoa

"A house damaged when cyclone Heta hit Samoa in January 2004." According to some scientists, the ferocity and frequency of hurricanes in the Caribbean last year were caused by warming water in the Atlantic.

CHCH

"This picture is of the parched hills just south of CHCH during the summer heat wave and drought of 2003-2004." Europe also suffered a major heat wave in 2003, with temperatures soaring to unprecedented heights in some places. According to climate scientists, heat waves in the 21st Century will become more frequent, more intense and lasting longer.

HOAR FROST SLIDE

And still we continue to consume fossil fuels as if they were both inexhaustible and have no adverse effect on our environs.

But fossil fuels are finite and we have always know this, and that point makes the folly of our addictive dependence on them all the more incredulous.

Those that have been labeled ‘conservative experts’ believe we will reach peak oil, or topping point, by definition-the point where we have reached the highest possible production and after that we are in decline-by the end of the decade and that after that point we have roughly two trillion barrels left to consume. Those labeled ‘optimists’ believe we are at least twenty five years away from our topping point and that after that point we will have three trillion barrels left in supply, a massive difference in the parties estimations.

HEN AND CHICKENS SLIDE










Jeremy Leggett writing for the UK Independent in January this year published these very telling figures ‘Ninety per cent of all our transportation, whether by land, air or sea, is fuelled by oil. Ninety-five per cent of all goods in shops involve the use of oil. Ninety-five per cent of all our food products require oil use. Just to farm a single cow and deliver it to market requires six barrels of oil, enough to drive a car from New York to Los Angeles. The world consumes more than 80 million barrels of oil a day, 29 billion barrels a year, at the time of writing. This figure is rising fast, as it has done for decades. The almost universal expectation is that it will keep doing so for years to come. The US government assumes that global demand will grow to around 120 million barrels a day, 43 billion barrels a year, by 2025. Few question the feasibility of this requirement, or the oil industry's ability to meet it.’

It is this dependence on oil that has seen America, the world’s single largest consumer, guzzling 20% of total world annual supply, slowly convert the function of it’s military into an oil protection agency.

FAVOURITE TREE SLIDE


The Earth’s size and its carrying capacity are limited, they both have a finite end point. Growth and limits are diametrically apposed concepts under our current economic practices. If the Earth grew commsurately as we humans and our consumption rates did then there would be no need for meetings such as these, but of course the Earth doesn’t grow and we continue to be ignorant.

What is it that drives this ignorance? Why are we unable to understand our plight and change to a path of redemption for Mother Nature and mankind?

SKY SLIDE

One of the main reasons for our ignorance is the resistance of the omnipotent. The entrenched political, economic and religious systems that we live in constrain attempts of individuals or small groups to function by different rules or to obtain goals different from those sanctioned by the system. Those currently in power are those who have the most to lose and therefore they hide and smear the truth. They look to make the collective ignorant, postpone action, organize and facilitate apathy: they want us to be isolated and alone.

Highly contentious and generalising statements some may say, and of course the comments are both, but if breaking our inability to think differently requires some contentious talk then it must be done.

Capitalism has reduced nature to ‘assets’ and ‘resources’ making the idea of attaching a price system seems logical, and to reduce nature to capital assets is the equivalent to saying the world was made for humans.

Economic growth, full employment and universal prosperity are incompatible with conservation and the ecological integrity of the Earth and we are now at the point where the world’s economy is out of sync with the world’s ecosystem.

Organisations like the World Bank, WTO, IMF have been a disaster for the Earth.

William Lines is very illuminating, Lines contends ‘The World Bank makes development loans on the condition that recipient countries dismantle their native economic and social arrangements and redesign them according to free trade ideology. Conditions include the lifting of tariffs protecting local industry, the removal of rules controlling foreign investment, and the conversion of self sufficient, small scale, diverse agriculture to corporate-controlled, export orientated monocultures.

WTO rulings free the world’s largest cooperations to, enter any market, sell any product, overturn any tradition or custom, quarry any mine and land, clear fell any forest, fill any wetland, pave any grassland, fish any sea, dump all toxic waste, poison any waterway, pollute any atmosphere without constraint by local laws or citizens’.

MOUNT ST BATHANS SLIDE


And it is Globalisation that brings it all together committing everyone to the same rules, the rules are, the buying and trading of the Earth’s resources, distorting lives and establishing a world of wealth and waste.

The usual defence for Free Trade and Capitalism is that it has improved the standard of living for all, especially the poor-this is simply not true. During the past three decades the poorest 20 per cent of countries have seen their share of global income decline from 2.3 per cent to 1.4 per cent. As a result, the ratio of the income of the richest 20 per cent of countries to the poorest 20 per cent has more than doubled. It rose from 30:1 to 61:1 in the last three decades. In more than a hundred countries, the average income per person in 1995 was lower than it had been fifteen years previously, according to the 1996 Human Development Report. More than a quarter of humanity -- 1.6 billion people -- were worse off despite the fact that between 1960 and 1993, total global income had increased six-fold. Only 8% of the world's people own a car. Hundreds of millions of people live in inadequate houses or have no shelter at all- much less refrigerators or television sets.

Social arrangements common in many cultures; save, invest, and multiply their capital. In 1998 more than 45% of the globe's people had to live on incomes averaging $2 a day or less. Meanwhile, the richest one-fifth of the world's population has 85% of the global GNP.

The rich continue to expand their wealth at the expense of man and nature.

CAR SLIDE


We must view the land in terms of what it naturally will allow us to do. Leopold’s golden land ethic rule- A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise’.

This has to be our golden rule too. Thus we should be asking ourselves,

What is the nature of this place? And then think about what will nature permit man to do here in a sustainable fashion? How can we sustainably maintain farming practices in harmony with the land-without abstracting that which nature did not intend?

Pouring millions of litres of water and fertilizers onto land in the Mackenzie Basin to set up dairy farms clearly goes against these philosophies.

The second major reason we find ourselves unable to make a change is because Humans are animals, just as Desmond Morris so famously stated in his book ‘The Naked ape’. And just like any other animal we behave in certain ways: human nature.

SKY SLIDE





We always want more, never satisfied with what we already have, an insatiable need to elevate and to consume. And it is so hard today to fight against consumption; marketers bombard with messages-overt and subliminal- desirability playing on our insecurities and need for control and status. More gadgets more appliances more land with little concern for others and for the future: Individualism and hedonism in collusion.

A measurement of one’s quality of life now seems to be a measurement of how much stuff one owns and how much stuff one consumes.

And we are all complicit in this regard; it just depends to what extent. I am a perfect example of this. I fly around the world in gas thirsty jets, stay and eat at wealthy five star conglomerations, my work apparel is covered in global branding which is in direct conflict with my own personal beliefs. Indeed a few months ago I was made to do a Coke television commercial that I objected for obvious personal reasons however my request came I was contractually obligated to furfill my obligations. I try to live my life according to my moral and social principles, however I am finding it extremely difficulty ceding my autonomy and personal philosophies to the collective-as my job requires me to.

EAST COAST TREE SLIDE


Many of us, at one time or another, would have asserted our right to express our individual choice while not wanting to acknowledge the fact that this individual choice often means the deprivation and or destroying of others treasures. Many of us espouse noble causes such as ‘make the world a better place’ and ‘ help make a difference’ without making any real sacrifices in our own lives; sacrifices that are going to change the way we live, not just recycling or buying organic apples but significant changes.

SEA SLIDE

Recently when Auckland was without power there was a massive furore, millions of dollars of productivity lost they said, and outrage, this must never occur again they said. And yet many families in the south went without power for three weeks, without the normal facilities for heating and food preparation. Many elderly needed special attention to survive-literally not to die. However human lives vs. four hours of lost economic productivity loses out here in NZ, for we placed more emphasis on money over man, and I was greatly sadden by it.

The more we become isolated from nature the more we become dislocated from the consequences of our actions and so it happened with the power shortage a few short weeks ago.

Our lifestyles and attitudes are increasingly abstracted to the stage where we are insulated from nature and a vast majority of those who live in big cities do not have a direct and intimate relationship with the natural world.

ME AND BRIAN SLIDE

Again Lines says ‘Proximity to nature does not always turn into love for nature. Without proximity, however, there is little chance for love. What will motivate the adults of tomorrow to fight for nature if, as children, they never breathed the open air?

We humans have to start understanding that we are, in-fact, part of a natural community, not commander of it. We have a responsibility to see that the economy is there to serve the Earth not the other way around. For any parent who really cares about their children should be ultimately concerned about the Earth’s future well being.

KID SLIDE

The negativity of my speech to this juncture has been factual and necessary, it is how things have been and the trends we will continue to follow unless we decide enough! The time for strong words and small steps are behind us. We, as a race need to take action and take action now.

Firstly there has to be an admission that growth has limits, and that means an admission that fossil fuels are going to run out and far sooner than projected by Oil companies and Oil stakeholders.

The ultimate goal is to live in a sustainable society, one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. An easy example of sustainability in practice would be that birthrates would roughly equal death rates. We have to change and conceptualise a society that is almost diametrically different to the current philosophies that underline modern man.

TANE MAHUTA SLIDE

We have to view growth in a different way.

Sustainability, in our new world would mean an attempt to discriminate between different kinds of growth and the purposes for that growth. Some of the questions I think sustainability would ask are, what kind of growth is it? who stands to benefit from that growth? And crucially, what is the environmental and otherwise cost of that growth?-can the earth accommodate the pollutive aspect of growth so that the net balance is zero.

How, you might say, do you intend to achieve all of this? I believe the answer lies in small, dedicated groups, communities that have an awareness of themselves and the natural world around them. The phrase community must be altered from the current dogma of man singularly, to a new definition that encapsulates the natural communities that are particular to that area, to encompass the rivers, mountains, trees, grasses, and animals.

OPITO BAY SLIDE

These communities have the ability to stay focused and a determination to follow and believe in the path that they follow is the right one. Small communities can be seen, in many ways, like a family. The people that you can call upon in times of need, the ones who support each other and also the ones that fight ritualistically but always are able to disagree and commit. It is this type of community with communal sharing of assets and skills and property that will adapt and survive into the future. This type of community would see a growth of knowledge for the good of the group, not for individual careers or to make people better staff members, but for the accrued knowledge of the collective. It is this type of flexibility that will see communities sustain themselves locally both work wise and food wise in a manner that doesn’t damage their environment and therefore endanger their existence. It is this type of community that shares it’s fate with every other member of that community so that there is a joint membership of failures and success, so that all members are inextricable tied to the direction and future of that community, so that there are no OE trips or emigration plans when times are not as one would desire.

SKY SLIDE

You can’t change everything, I cannot influence what is happening in Iraqi and Israel, but I can make a difference in my own back yard; that is where I can be truly effective and where my energies are most wisely used.

Mary Mead once said ‘Never deny the power of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed that is the only thing that ever has’ and when you think about it she is couldn’t be more correct.

For if we do not change, the Armageddon that is referred to often in biblical texts will not be wrought down via divinity, rather it will be brought about by man.

I personally think that whilst the simplification of lifestyle that I have just outlined is not beyond our means-I think we would be able to achieve it- I think that it may be outside the reach of our desires.

ME LOOKING OUT OVER SEA SLIDE

There is no panacea for the future but one thing we must have is hope, for what else do we have if we relinquish that?

Ends