We should be concerned about limiting growth, not just closing roads

An idea beyond the comprehension of most never really found its way into the discussion at last week’s public meeting about the closure of Shepparton’s Andrew Fairley Avenue.

The Limits to Growth"
by Donella Meadows.

In our modern business world efficiency mostly equates with growth for it is through those improved processes that profits are further boosted.

The idea of efficiency/growth is good was never questioned for viewed through the prism of most, it is revered ground and to think otherwise brings only scorn.

Efficiency/growth is not necessarily a good thing and to close a public space in the furtherance of its name is simply the wrong thing to do.

Consistent growth in a finite world is statistically impossible as unequivocally explained by Donella Meadows in her 1972 book, “Limits to Growth”, published by the Club of Rome.

About 200 people listened as the SPC Ardmona’s chief financial officer, Mr James Harvey, explained why the company needed exclusive use of the avenue; then to the Mayor of the City of Greater, Cr Jenny Houlihan, who talked about why, how and what processes the council had followed to reach its present position; and then the president of the Greater Shepparton Better Local Government Association, Mr Gordon Hamilton, talked about why his group opposed the road closure proposal.

Questions and discussed ensured, frequently damning the probity and processes of the city council, along with suggestion from a few of a conspiracy between SPC Ardmona and city council.

Sadly the idea that both organizations, along with the community, needed to settle on a future not aligned with efficiency and growth was never discussed.

Yes, we need efficiency, but not of the type that produces only profit, rather we need a style of efficiency that will ensure the resilience of this community as the world steps into an energy-depleted future, a future that science has shown will be hotter, drier and decidedly different from the energy-rich post World War Two decades.

Success in the future for this community, and all others on the planet, will hinge on what is known as ‘localism” – that is the turning inward of all villages, towns and cities to ensure they provide for themselves, wherever possible, all their food, energy and other critical needs.

Last week’s meeting uncovered a restlessness for here was something many saw as unnecessary, something that could be resolved with innovative thinking and something in which the benefit was not worth the cost.

Importantly, we are headed for even more interesting times for the realities described by Meadows in her Club of Rome book once hidden beyond the horizon are now in full view.

Rather than gathering at public meetings to discuss the closure of one road, we should be meeting to talk about building resilience and adaptation.

Do what you can to ensure SPC Ardmona's future, momentarily at least

Yes, each of us needs to do what we can to ensure the survival of Shepparton’s SPC Ardmona processing plant, for the moment at least.

One need not look too far or too deep to see and understand good reasons why the factory and the infrastructure it depends upon play a critical role in the economic wellbeing of this community.

Visit The News to add you weight to campaign.

Broaden you view and quickly it become obvious that the much lauded level-playing field is, and always has favoured the few.

Yes, we need SPC Ardmona to stay about for a while, but just long enough for us to learn about, and understand what it is we need to do to build a Goulburn Valley-wide community sufficiently resilient enough to withstand the unfolding society-wide shocks of the next few decades.

Rather than allow our communities to become implicated in the narrow financial definitions of globalization and instead of pursuing ever expanding growth, we should be working for “just enough growth”.

Success of a business should not be measured by a particular percentage growth each year, rather through its contribution to the community from which it draws its workers and to how many people it provides regular employment.

Success should not be measured through the raw brutality of the bottom line, rather whether or not that company is an integral player in the richness of the community in which it operates and within that how it embraces and cares about everyone from initial suppliers to the final customer.

Without stumbling into the rhetoric of the doomsayer, let’s us acknowledge that the future, even the immediate future, is going to be different from what has been, and is.

So what do we do? First, and of critical importance is to support this newspaper’s campaign to press our politicians to support short term goals of SPC Ardmona.

We need as much time as we can leverage to ready ourselves for an energy-depleted future as we surrender a lifestyle that is enlivened, almost totally by oil and coal.

Technophobes promise all sorts of wondrous energy solutions, but the few existing and scalable ideas, beyond simply using less, are solar and wind.

Support solar and wind ideas; support projects that encourage people to initially use less energy; live closer to where you work; cycle and walk where possible and look to your community to source whatever it is you need, including your food.

Join and support groups which are doing what they can to help us understand how we live fulfilling lives in an energy depleted future; read, read and read, and listen, listen and listen to learn about the societal instability that is arising from the exponential growth of recent decades.

For the record: our Federal MPs have received my SPC Ardmona plea.