Leader columnist and Maules Creek farmer Phil Laird will be one of the rural types protesting in Sydney tomorrow as farmers take on the government over the its draft strategic land use policy and the mining and resources exploration encroachment on agricultral lands. Here’s his opinion on a topic of dissent and discontent.
I HAD to laugh when reading a comment from coal seam gas proponent and state government MLC Scot Macdonald regarding the “greater good” for NSW.
Unfortunately, it is not funny, if this thinking is guiding the contentious mining and land use policy of the O’Farrell government.
The myth of the “greater good” usually comes with negatives and is often used to justify a range of unwelcome outcomes, including wars and torture.
Individuals and their economic interests, amenity and health are reduced to “things” to be used and traded off against other “things”, such as individual wealth and political power.
What is conveniently lost is the nature and distribution of the supposed good. It is often argued that a monetary benefit to one person, when compared to the unmeasured cost to the environment and the community, must be for the greater good. Anyone with a different view is a NIMBY or a Green.
Northern Daily Leader
This worth a read;
ReplyDeletehttp://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/29/on-fracking/