Diary Entries

The current pandemic has been caused by one thing only. This is the massive overpopulation of humans in the world. Examples of this has been illustrated many times over in monoculture agriculture and aquaculture. If a crop has been grown on a massive scale or one type of animal has been farmed on a large scale then disease that would normally be controlled can spread quickly and extensively. A very well known example is the cotton boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis. It is a major pest of cotton attacking the developing squares and bolls. Feeding damage causes young squares to shed and damages the lint in older bolls. Infestations in the USA have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to control. Another example occurs in fish farming. Antibiotics are used in aquaculture to treat diseases caused by bacteria. Sometimes the antibiotics are used to treat diseases, but more commonly antibiotics are used to prevent diseases by treating the water or fish before disease occurs. Now the massive crowded population of humans is experiencing the same fate and will occur more often and more extensive and more deadly in the future. The countries fairing the best at the moment are those of low population density such as Australia and New Zealand. The countries suffering the worst are those with cities of high density such as in Asia, America and Europe. With the prevalence of high rise living – even in Australia – this is where the spread of the virus must occur the most. STOP THE DEVELOPERS. Scale down now to a sustainable human ecosystem. Please Australia be a leading world example by becoming a cleaner, safer, smaller society consuming less but of greater quality.

All my family is well, safe and happy despite the turmoil of the past couple of years. 1) We had a very severe drought for about two years 2) Then devastating bush fires all along our east coast from Melbourne to Sydney to Brisbane. Many lives lost, much property destroyed and a lot of wild life wiped out. 3) Now the virus As they say all things come in threes. So now there are three good news happenings on the horizon. Actually four. 1) Australia is fairing very well with the virus. 2) We have excellent governments - local, state and federal. 3) We have a relatively small low density population. 4) Even though our population is multicultural there is very little racial or religious conflict. Almost everyone has taken the governments directions very seriously. We hope to be virus free this year.

My wife and I are both retired and live at Dolans Bay. We spend quite an amount of time mucking about in boats along the Hacking River. Weekends were always too busy on the boat ramps and river so we always went out only during the week days. Plenty of parking and the waterways were quite. Since the lock down and extended school holidays there has been a great change. The number of boats out and about in Port Hacking during the week has increased on average about ten fold. People are so restricted with regard where they can go and what they can do many have realised how good and how safe weekday boating is. What a change.