Holden bailout leaves me 'weeping'

by Robert McLean

Announcements last week that you and I, through our Governments, were to spend nearly $300 million supporting a dying industry left me weeping, metaphorically.

My children, my grandchildren and their children, particularly the latter generations, will have forced upon them a difficult world of scarce hope because of such populist and short-term decisions.

Decisions to support a way of life, and an industry, that has socially ravaged the world and seriously depleted finite and so irreplaceable resources; illustrate a gross misunderstanding of how, and why, our world is unfolding.

Rather than stake our future on what is little more than an aging dinosaur, we should be looking for a “Black Caviar–like” winner that will enable us to gallop into the future with confidence.

Easier said than done of course as the motor industry is an intricate part of society, both physically and psychologically and to wean ourselves off it will be even more difficult than erasing the fondness we have for alcohol.

That shift away from our partiality for the motor car is for the good of our grandchildren, society generally, the earth in a broad sense and, in particular, our atmosphere.

Advocates of the $275 million bailout for Holden, defend the decision through argument that it brings massive economic and social benefits that are not just relevant to the company, but percolate through our society to benefit all.

That is a questionable position and one if examined closely and considered with reference to contemporary history is simply false.

The promise to sustain the industry for another decade is little more than digging a deeper hole to fill with ever more taxpayer cash and so rather than spend to prop up a failing, and already irrelevant, industry we should be spending to abate the convergence of climate difficulties, resource depletion and a worsening world economy.

The motor car is a significant contributor to the world’s climate difficulties, it success depends on a resource that is in terminal decline, the individuality it promotes erodes the strength of society and the cash it consumes would be better spent on building resilience, co-operation and consensus in communities.

The natural world can no longer sustain our insistence on endless growth and its reaction to that human resolve to grow is in evidence around the globe, including right here in the Goulburn Valley.

Our responsibility to those who follow is not about guaranteeing they will have a Holden to drive, rather they will have a habitable world; a world in which the seasons are predictable, rainfall is equally predictable; a world in which all species, from the largest to smallest are valued; a world in which the welfare of people is put ahead of profit.

A smile brings an understanding about life's complexities

A pretty young woman smiled at me recently.

That, in itself means nothing beyond the fact that it makes near 65-year-old bloke feel pretty good, but it does tap into the far broader psychological questions of life.

Edward O. Wilson.

The smile, altruistic and given in a moment of fleeting inclusive friendship, illustrated that what is best about life is simple, uncomplicated and without cost to either the giver or the receiver.

In fact a smile and its more exuberant cousin, laughter, is an international human language, just as are those other emotions of sadness, fear and distress – they make sense and we relate to them irrespective of colour or creed.

However, the simplicity of a smile and the force of its message are a timely reminder of the insistence and urgency of a message of which we should all take heed.

Human life is of such complexity that it now stands in direct conflict with the intricate biology that sustains all life on earth, including you and me.

Trying to make sense of a life he considered to be burgeoning out of control, E.F. Schumacher sat down in the early 1970s and wrote “Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People mattered” to quickly secure something of cult following.

The implication of Schumacher’s “small” was that something as uncomplicated as a smile and so simple seemed closely related and stands in contrast to the complexity to which humanity is now heavily embroiled.

Climate change, oil scarcity and the world’s economic difficulties are or little significance according to American biologist and author, Edward O. Wilson.

Edward O. Wilson's
"Biophilia".

Wilson, writing in “Biophilia” and then “The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth”, repeatedly emphasised of humankind’s need to ensure the sustenance and survival of every species, from the microscopic to the massive, to equally ensure its own survival.

Wilson explains that fewer than 10 per cent of the life forms on earth are known to science and of those, less than one per cent has been studied beyond simple anatomical description and few notes on natural history.

He said we don’t need a moon base or a manned trip to Mars, rather an expedition to planet earth.

Considering Wilson and Schumacher’s views, we don’t need the gigantism or complexity of our modern world, instead we need certain smallness, an understandable simplicity of life and a way of living that is on a decided human scale.

Contemporary growth, many claim, hinges on complexity, size and speed, but within such sophistication are often unintended consequences that alienate humanity and solutions are to be found in something that is smaller, slower and simpler.

That, by its very nature, would less demanding on our biosphere and so would make everyone smile, young or otherwise.