Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gases, Overpopulation 13 comments

CARRYING CAPACITY AND POPULATION OVERSHOOT

By on March 15th, 2018

“We are dealing with two opposing forces, the scientific power of food production and the biologic power of human reproduction. … There can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those that fight for population control unite in a common effort.” .These comments by Norman Borlaug brings to mind the equally exasperated comment by Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson when he wrote…“The raging monster upon the land is population growth. In its presence, sustainability is but a fragile theoretical concept.”

Carrying Capacity
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Population From 1950
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Paul Chefurka describes carrying capacity as a well known ecological term that has an obvious and fairly intuitive meaning: “the maximum population size of a species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment.

Unfortunately that definition becomes more nebulous the closer you look at it – especially when we start talking about the planetary carrying capacity for humans. Ecologists claim that our numbers have already surpassed the carrying capacity of the planet, while others (notably economists and politicians…) claim we are nowhere near it yet! Continue reading CARRYING CAPACITY AND POPULATION OVERSHOOT →

Infertility, Plastic Garbage, Plastic to Oil, Public Health, Waste Management 11 comments

SPERM COUNT DECLINE MORE A WORRY THAN AGW

By on March 1st, 2018

Forget about trying to prove Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). By far the most pressing problem is the threat of human extinction as sperm counts continue to fall. Sperm counts have plunged by nearly 60 per cent in just 40 years among men living in the West, according to a major review of scientific studies which suggests that the modern world is causing serious damage to men’s health.

Haaritz News Photo

Pesticides, hormone-disrupting chemicals, diet, stress, smoking and obesity have all been “plausibly associated” with the problem, which is associated with a range of other illnesses such as testicular cancer and a generally Continue reading SPERM COUNT DECLINE MORE A WORRY THAN AGW →

Apartments, Home Ownership, Housing Affordability, Leaving the Nest 10 comments

WHY MORE ADULT CHILDREN ARE LIVING AT HOME

By on February 18th, 2018

It is not surprising to read that one in five people in the 25 to 29 age group are still living with their parents, many of whom had left and returned after getting into financial difficulties through no fault of their own. There were so many reasons, a marriage breakdown caused by a partner wanting to maintain a life style beyond their means, those who became addicted to drugs, alcohol or gambling or had lost their savings on poor quality “dead end” real estate products such as high rise units.

Reasons For living at home
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By Carolyn. Rosenblatt

People keep living longer. Longevity usually leads to expensive costs of care.  Parents spend their savings and eventually need to sell the family home because one elder (sometimes both) needs cash to cover assisted living, home care workers or other care  giving arrangements.  By the time one parent needs full time care in or outside the home, there may be no other choice and the parents want to put that house on the market.  As they age they elect not to be homeowners any longer, or they want to move closer to other family members. In numerous parts of the country it’s a good time to sell with low interest rates and rising home values. Their dependent live-in adult children are unwilling to leave the parents’ home.  It’s our observation after seeing many of these situations that there is typically something Continue reading WHY MORE ADULT CHILDREN ARE LIVING AT HOME →

Apartments, Car Ownership, High Density developments, Manningham Council, Traffic Congestion, VicRoads 15 comments

CAR DEPENDENCY THE DONCASTER HILL DILEMMA

By on February 3rd, 2018

 TRAFFIC CONSULTANT’S REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATION

“A strategy based largely on car dependency (or existing travel patterns) to service future development is likely to return back to pre-1997 congestion levels on main roads through the study area. However, the performance of these scenarios is unsatisfactory in the PM Peak periods and as such demonstrates the need to accept a lower development density if travel behaviour is not changed”.

Freeway Peak Hour
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2001 Volume Estimates
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“The clearest statement about how to achieve the broad aims of the Strategy are to change people’s travel behavior by encouraging increased public transport use and to reduce the level of car dependency. Council policies and guidelines will form a key element of this task, with Council acting as an advocate of change in travel conduct”.

Preliminary work by consultants had based their reports on there being an integrated transport  system for the centre which suggested that it would have all three modes of transport made available, the promise of a railway station on Doncaster Hill and an extension of the Tram line, however were never more than political skulduggery. As early as 2002, Continue reading CAR DEPENDENCY THE DONCASTER HILL DILEMMA →

DDA, Manningham Council, Pedestrians, Public Safety, Vic State Government, VicRoads 5 comments

CIRCULAR PEDESTRIAN OVERPASS WAS PROPOSED

By on January 23rd, 2018

PRECINCT 8, (Intersection of Doncaster Road and Tram Road), Pedestrian Overpass Council’s Draft Urban Masterplan suggests that this key intersection should have a strong pedestrian function. A pedestrian overpass is proposed as a means of connecting and unifying this busy node.

Doncaster Road/Tram Road Intersection Flyover

Overpass at Main Intersection
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Any overpass must be outstanding in terms of its design as this is the high point of the hill and therefore is key in setting the tone for the Hill. An overpass will be visually prominent from all directions and should have a strong visual form by day and night and so incorporate lighting of the structure. Continue reading CIRCULAR PEDESTRIAN OVERPASS WAS PROPOSED →

Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Climate Change, Lunar Power, Renewable Energy 10 comments

LUNAR ENERGY THE HARNESSING OF OCEAN TIDES

By on January 10th, 2018

LEAST RELIABLE, LEAST ECONOMICAL AND LEAST PREFERRED 

Sihwa Barrage Plant
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Tidal Plant Off Maine
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The gravitational pull of the moon and sun along with the rotation of the earth cause the tides. In some places, tides cause water levels near the shore to vary up to 40 feet. People had harnessed this movement of water to operate grain mills more than a 1,000 years ago in Europe. Today, tidal energy systems generate electricity.  Several tidal power barrages operate around the world. The Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in South Korea Continue reading LUNAR ENERGY THE HARNESSING OF OCEAN TIDES →

Air Pollution, Climate Change, Funding, Global Cooling, Greenhouse Gases 23 comments

WARMING LIKELY CAUSING SEVERE POLAR VORTEX

By on December 29th, 2017

“The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment project allocations, and the power of money, is ever present and is gravely to be regarded”. “Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become captive of a scientific technological elite”…. Dwight Eisenhower

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Scientists who have switched from global cooling are now saying that the severe cold spells do not disprove global warming. “It may well be that it could make the occasional bout of extreme cold weather even more likely”. Much of the U.S. when in the the grip of a Polar Vortex is pretty much what it sounds like a whirlwind of  extremely cold, extremely dense that forms near the poles. that usually the fast winds in the vortex—which can top 100 mph (161 k/h)—keep that cold air locked up in the Arctic. But when the winds weaken, the vortex Continue reading WARMING LIKELY CAUSING SEVERE POLAR VORTEX →

Apartments, Investors, Owners Corporation, Property Management 5 comments

LUXURY APARTMENT THAT PROVED ANYTHING BUT

By on December 24th, 2017

PROPERTY COMPANY NETWORK PACIFIC ACCUSED OF MANIPULATING PROXY VOTES TO KEEP LUCRATIVE MANAGEMENT CONTRACTS…Liz Hobday ABC 7.30

Jennifer Fletcher      Photo ABC News

When Jennifer Fletcher bought her luxury apartment in Melbourne, she never thought it would lead to a battle with one of the countries biggest management companies.

Upon buying into the Tiara development at Melbourne’s Southbank two years ago, she had to join Tiara’s owners corporation and pay fees of $4,300 a year.

“I thought it would be simple. Everything would be looked after for me, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case,” she told 7.30. Problems in the building included graffiti, urine and bloodstains that weren’t cleaned up, cracks in the plaster from level nine to level 30, Continue reading LUXURY APARTMENT THAT PROVED ANYTHING BUT →

Apartments, Car parking, Manningham Council, Mechanical Parking, Road Safety 20 comments

MANNINGHAM STILL BACKER OF THE CAR STACKER

By on December 9th, 2017

Despite their previous misgivings about the use of Car Stackers, even after the developer of a 15 storey development refused to install them, Council officers still recommended approval of a car stacker system for resident parking in a four story apartment proposal at 19-23 Bayley Grove, Doncaster.

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As far it can be ascertained this will be the first major development on Doncaster Hill that is likely to proceed using a car stacker system for its entire resident parking. Residents adjacent to the development have complained that they had no way of knowing the method of parking until after the period for objections had expired because the notice board on site did not reveal that stackers were proposed….this is standard practice according to the Doncaster Hill Residents Group. A leader of the Friends of Hepburn Group said there were three previous developments where council had approved mechanical parking, two did not proceed and the developer of the third went ahead without the use of stacker parking. With most councils car stacker parking systems are only acceptable where Continue reading MANNINGHAM STILL BACKER OF THE CAR STACKER →

Doncaster Rail, North East Link, Traffic Congestion, Transport, VicRoads 11 comments

BUS LANES TAKE CENTRE STRIP PLANNED FOR RAIL

By on November 27th, 2017

“You can rule out Doncaster rail to the City via the freeway because Vic Roads want the the median strip reserved for dedicated Bus lanes”.  26/8/2016                                                   

No Railway– Buses Only

The release of the North East Link last Friday has officially ended any hope of a rail line being extended to Doncaster Hill after it was confirmed the freeway centre strip would be replaced to provide dedicated bus lanes.    northeastlink.vic.gov.au

Both Liberal and labor  governments had always regarded buses as the only public transport solution for Doncaster Hill and had repeatedly advised Manningham to “stop tugging in other directions”.  That didn’t stop an opposition party proposing a $6.5 Million study, as an election campaign ploy, which  was only half completed after it won office.

What surprised residents was how easily Council could be sucked into believing the politicians by providing a false hope to Doncaster residents and investors by embarking Continue reading BUS LANES TAKE CENTRE STRIP PLANNED FOR RAIL →