Mills and democracy
Not unexpectedly, the federal government has given the go-ahead for a
pulp mill in Tasmania, whilst imposing additional environmental
conditions on the project. The so-called opposition has jumped on
board as well which leaves the Greens as the only political party
prepared to stand up and fight on this issue.
Now it could be that the mill will be a good thing, there might be a
net improvement in the local job market, the effluent might not be as
poisonous and polluting as is expected and everything will be cosy
down on the Tamar. The mantra of jobs and the economy is similar in
authority to the position of the bible a thousand years ago. Who can
argue against something which will be good for the economy?
There are two rather serious problems here. One is, as the Greens
often remark, there is no economy without an environment, and
secondly, speculation about future economic good fortunes is just
that. Speculation. The reality is that a big local timber company (ie
a company that makes money out of chopping down trees) wants to make
more money. They are not proposing this mill because they want a
shiny badge that says “best environmental practice”. The fringe
benefits might appeal to some locals who can see a quick buck in
constructing the monstrosity or in raising another generation of
rednecks who only see trees as standing between them and a pot of
gold, but for the rest of the people in the area the mill will
adversely affect the quality of their environment.
When the mill is built it will have a huge appetite for trees. Trees.
The things that grow in the ground and without which the world will
be completely fucked. Like Mars. With its precious diet it will
generate greenhouse gasses, pollution and poisonous dioxin. Workers
will work and the owners will get richer. All of this in a world
spiralling into a global hothouse. You could be excused for thinking
it was the actions of a lunatic.
Which brings me back to my original thought. How is democracy served
(democracy is government BY the people) when political parties fail
to give a voice to the people? The greens might be a voice, but in
our enlightened system of two party choice it is a voice in the
wilderness which can be safely ignored by closing the door. And so we
are governed, not by the people, but by vested interests, like Gunns.