Until about six months ago, I had never thought about population.  It simply wasn’t in my realm of thinking.  However, one thing which gives me a little bit of solace is that most of my friends were the same.

In September 2009, my youngest daughter, Jenny, phoned me and said, “dad, they are all talking about human induced climate change, and they’re all going off to Copenhagen.  Why don’t they talk about the ‘elephant in the room’”.  I said, “Jenny, what’s that?”.  She said, “population!”.

The instant she said the word, it was almost as if a light was turned on in my head.  Within seconds I realised how stupid I had been.  Here we were talking about problems which are facing our planet, but people weren’t talking about the most obvious problem – too many people.  I knew that we had something like 6.7 billion people in the world, and this was predicted to go to over 9 billion by 2050.  But I’d never actually linked that with a great many of the problems we have in our world. continue reading

The Murdoch press are absolutely paranoid about anyone mentioning that we can’t have constant growth in the use of material resources and energy. 

Linked HERE is an article written by Michael Stutchbury, Economics Editor of The Australian following the launch of the Wilberforce Award and the screening of the Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle documentary on 12 August.

I have therefore decided on a special $5,000 prize for the first young person under the age of thirty who can get definitive coverage of the Wilberforce Award in the Murdoch press, including the fact that you can’t have constant growth of the use of resources and energy in a finite world.

So go for it!  It must be possible.  One day there will be a journalist working for Murdoch who understands the truth and believes responsible journalism means that both sides of an argument should be fairly shown.

Remember, this is not an emotive view – it’s a simple fact.  We can’t always have growth in the use of material resources and energy in a finite world.

Following his launch of the Wilberforce Award last week, Dick Smith received some great coverage in the press.

Check out what Sydney’s Channel 7 News had to say about the Award, as well as what The Australian and the SMH had to say about Dick, the doco and the award.

Channel 7 News Coverage of Dick’s launch of the Wilberforce Award on 11 August

SMH: Dick’s blonde ambition: $1m cash to save civilisation
The Australian: Dick Smith offers $1m for person who reduces population with Wilberforce Award

Armed with a suitcase full of cash and more blonde beauties than Richard Branson, businessman Dick Smith announced his Wilberforce award at the FEX Market Site in Sydney on Wednesday 11 August 2010.

The award is designed to give a one million dollar prize to anyone under 30 who can impress Dick by becoming famous through his or her ability to show leadership in communicating an alternative to our population and consumption growth-obsessed economy.

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