An environmentalist with a keen interest in the relationship between climate change, population growth and economics, Fiona Heinrichs, author of Sleepwalking to Catastrophe: ‘Big Australia’, Immigration, Population Expansion and the Impossibility of Endless Economic Growth in a Finite World, invites Bernard Salt, writer of interactions between the Baby Boomer Generation, Generation X and Generation Y, to respond to her critique of his view between the Baby Boomers and Gen Y, as well as between the “‘Big Australia’ growthers and those supporting for ecological reasons, a smaller population”.

Fiona Heinrichs

Fiona talks about her challenge to debate pro-growthers, proud of their stance, yet intimidated by the opposing perspective of a 23 year old student, in particular referring to Salt’s article ‘Gen Y Grows Up With Satirical Tale’, which talks about Gen Ys having an ‘increasingly indulged childhood’, however Fiona debates “it is the big business elites who have actually caused the most damage to the Earth through their greed, affluence and extravagance. It is my generation and those to follow, if we are lucky, who will have to suffer the ill-effects of climate change, peak oil and the other horsemen of the ecological crisis. Ultimately it is Gen Y who will have to contest against the conditions of decline, which the previous generations leave behind and pick up the pieces of civilisation.” Read the full article from Fiona here.

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