Understanding social issues; understanding how we should respond to climate change

Most everything in life is resolved and dealt with through a social response and so the better we understand our social implications and complications, the move prepared we are for whatever dilemma confronts us.

And the king of all dilemmas, the most wicked problem facing humanity, and so communities at all levels is climate change; something that is both vastly misunderstood and underestimated, and for many people a dilemma not even on their personal radar.

Shepparton will soon have the chance to hear a fellow who is Australia’s pre-eminent social researcher, Hugh Mackay.

Beyond being a social researcher, Hugh has written extensively about his  findings in many books, including his latest, “Beyond Belief”, and he will discuss that, along with his earlier works on Friday, August 12.

He is being brought to Shepparton by Slap Tomorrow and the Shepparton event will support the Goulburn Valley Community Fund.

Tickets for the 7:00pm event, at the Go TAFE Harder Auditorium, are $10 each and will include a light supper and can be secured from The Community Fund at  (03) 5832 8221 or from Collins Booksellers in Maude St, Shepparton, at 5822 2679.

Consumption and inordinate demand on resources explored in Shepparton

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onsumption and the inordinate demand it puts on the world’s resources will be explored in Shepparton later this month.

Writer, teacher, editor and environmentalist, Kerryn Higgs, will talk about her new book, “Collision Course: Endless Growth on a FinitePlanet” on Wednesday, April 29, at the GoTAFE auditorium at 6:30 for 7:00pm.

Kerryn, who graduated from the University of Melbourne with honours in history and English, also graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Diploma in Environmental Studies.

Meanwhile, the International Society for Local Futures says, in its story headed: “The Global Economy’s ‘Impeccable Logic’” that there will never be enough resources to bring all those billions of people (those people who are becoming expendable every year) up to the levels of income and consumption common in the west.

“This,” the story adds, “is something that even pie-in-the-sky economists who dream of endless “sustainable growth” must realize.”

Kerryn, who is being brought to Shepparton by both the GV Community Fund and Slap Tomorrow, was recently appointed a Fellow of the International Centre of the Club of Rome.

Tickets, which will soon be available at $10 each from Collins Booksellers in Maude St, the GV Community Fund and Slap Tomorrow members, will include a light supper.