WEBVTT

00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:13.000
[sil.]

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.999
The tress a hundreds of years old,

00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.999
the forest thousands of years,

00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.999
the waterfall eternal,

00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.999
and we little people are now used to thinking
in stretches of the next three years,

00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.999
the next five years hardly realizing

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:05.000
how short lived we have to come.

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
[sil.]

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
(inaudible) everything we take for granted

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
is a quite recent origin.

00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
A 100 years ago,

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
the modern world had no steel,

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
no electricity, no cement we are
talking about. Even 30 years ago,

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
the whole scale of our economic
activities was relatively harmless,

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.999
non-destructive. It’s really
only in the last 30 years

00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.999
that all these natural assets
have become threatened.

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.999
Now this water has been flowing forever,

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
and it is still clean,
and it is still sweet.

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
How long will it remain so? That will depend to
very large extent on what we do with the forests.

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:23.000
[sil.]

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.999
Though the earth is 8
thousand miles in diameter,

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
the entire dry land life depends on the
utmost few centimeters of it’s soil,

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
and incredibly sin life jacket.

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
Germinating in this soil is of which canopy
of vegetation without which no animals

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
or men could survive. This
green mantle provides

00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
not only the food we eat, but the air
we breathe, and the water we drink.

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
It’s a layer over 2,000 million
years old which has changed

00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
and (inaudible) itself throughout
time without ever deteriorating.

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.999
It is the system upon which we
completely depend, and upon which

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
we must continue to depend to the
end of our days as a species.

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
Health in the forest is not a
matter of trees without blemish

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
of leaves without grubs and caterpillars
are all just blossom and flowers.

00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
No, health is a matter of balance

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
of a system which has the
power of regenerating itself

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
for surviving for centuries, millennia.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
The great ecosystem

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
with innumerable forms of life
all supporting one another,

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
and we never quite know what we’re doing
when we’re removing any one of them.

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:08.000
[sil.]

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
The forest is full of
examples of living harmony

00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
of interdependence between species of interlocking
pieces which support one another in life,

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
which account for so much
of the forests stability.

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
So a

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
system to be looked at, at all

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
and treated with the greatest
degree of caution, even dead wood

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
plays a part in it. Let’s
have a look at it.

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
Of course, the tidy human mind says dead wood
should be removed as quickly as possible,

00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.999
but how dead is it? The wood maybe dead,

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.999
but it’s full of life. Here on this piece,

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.999
we can identify probably 20, 30
different species of plants,

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.999
lichens, Mosses, little flowers,

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.999
not to mention worms, insects,

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.999
and here again in miniature, an ecological
system which is a necessary part of the whole,

00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.999
and produces this mysterious effect

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
that there’s so many
different varieties of life

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
that life always continuous
in spite of all vicissitudes,

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
always regenerates itself,

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.999
even improves itself in spite of many
things that happen all the time.

00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.999
Now one of the vicissitudes
of life in the forest as men

00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.999
and as long as he behaves as true to
nature as the other natural forces,

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
this great asset, this great
wonderful thing will continue.

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
But he becomes too violent,

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.999
too cocksure, and too selfish,

00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.999
then he will destroy the very
basis of his own existence.

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:28.000
[sil.]

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
Well, what do we see here?

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
A scene of devastation,

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
this is no longer a forest,
it used to be a forest,

00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
it used to be like a temple,

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
and now it looks like a battlefield.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
Abandoned machinery,

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
everything abandoned, how can this happen?

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.999
Well, it happens when a forest is treated

00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
simply as a kind of quarry

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
to get value out of it, pick
the eyes out of the forest,

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
make room for transport, what
isn’t of the highest value

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
as abandoned left lying around.

00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
It happens when men stinking as rude

00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
as the highest value by what you might
call the religion of economics,

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
nothing else counts except
turning things into cash.

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.999
And the religion of economics is the enemy

00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.999
of all the things that humanity really cast

00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.999
for beauty,

00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.999
sympathy, harmony, the harmony

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
that used to be represented in this forest.

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
The irony of the matter

00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
is when economics becomes a religion,
when the economic calculus

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
is put as the highest value,

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
the behavior of men becomes extremely
uneconomic from another point of view.

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
I see nothing but wasted resources here,

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
resources which very likely in the
future will be sorely missed.

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
What is this? It’s, it’s an attitude of.

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
The only thing that is worth

00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
economizing on is human labor. It’s
not worth getting this timber out,

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
too much labor. But labor
is one of the things

00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.999
that we always have, and
we have it for free.

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
We have unemployment, we have surplus labor.
The oil that is needed for these machines,

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
we don’t get for free, once
we’ve taken it it’s gone.

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
So this religion of economics, far
from being economically rational

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
is in the longer term very uneconomic.

00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
And these forests, there should teach
us that there is a longer term.

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
And if these trees have survived
for many, many hundreds of years,

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
they’re the oldest living
beings on this earth.

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
And strange to say, it seems that trees

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
are one of the most abused presence

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
that nature has given to this earth.

00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
It has been said that civilization has
left footsteps behind these footsteps

00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
are deserts. This has been
so for thousands of years.

00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
We are paying the price for it.

00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
So the most luscious planes, landscapes
have been turned to many parts of the world

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
into rocky wastes where,

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
at best, a few goats can survive.

00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
Why has it been so neglected? Perhaps because
normally it takes a bit longer to grow

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
a tree than to grow a crop. But
then the tree last much longer.

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
And I think what is happening
now that we are collectively

00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
rediscovering that this is
one of the greatest assets.

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
What I think should be considered particularly
attractive about trees also is the fact

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
that tree establishment, tree planting

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
is very democratic kind of technology,

00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
everybody can take a part in it. Everywhere there are bits of
lands that would be greatly improved if a tree would grow.

00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
And not just a (inaudible)
tree, but an interesting tree,

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
and possibly a very productive tree.
Tree belts,

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
also very neglected, to stop erosion,

00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
to increase the productivity
of agriculture,

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
it has been found by planting tree belts,

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
even though you lose a bit of land for
agriculture, you increase yields with which,

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
perhaps by 15% because the soil is kept

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
in better conditions, the moisturize
is kept, the harsh winds are kept out.

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
Where there are no forests,

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
we should get into the habit
of thinking and of acting

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
that wherever there is an opportunity
to establish a tree, let’s do it.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
[sil.]

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
Then I think of this great
continental country, Australia.

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
I could imagine that the future
really rests with the establishment

00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.999
of more and more trees, the
personalizing off this whole matter

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
because the tree is a living thing,

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
and every living person ought to have a
few trees named after him or after her.

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:33.000
[sil.]

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
People haven’t always loved trees,

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
they saw them as an obstruction.
The forest set to give,

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
make room for agriculture
feeling comes first.

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
So they destroy the trees,
they ring bark them.

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
Here we can see the monuments of men
struggled to make a living from the land.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:23.000
[sil.]

00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
This is what it means

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
getting forest land for
agricultural purposes.

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
We burn it.

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
In modern agriculture, in silviculture,

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
all its technical, mechanical,
and chemical aids,

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
what does it mainly do? It reduces the vast

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
variety of vegetation to monoculture.

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
And as soon as we have mono-culture,

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
and the more monoculture we have, the
more, again, the land becomes dependent

00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
on chemicals for its fertility.

00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
The life of the soil diminishes,

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
and we need oil

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
or natural gas to produce
the substances which ought

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
to be being produced by
the bacteria in the soil.

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
The soil becomes more and more
dependent on men’s inputs,

00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
it becomes relatively dead soil

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
which cannot regenerate life the
way it has been regenerating

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
for many thousands of years.

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:43.000
[sil.]

00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
The pine is not a native tree,
and this is not a forest,

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
it has a plantation, a kind of timber mine.

00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
The crops being grown for the market,

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
the trees to be felt and
replanted over and over again.

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
This is the kind of

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
intensive timber production units which
society virtually forces upon the country

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
as long as the demands ever
increasing amounts of wood.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
And what is this wood used for?
Primarily making newsprint, wrappings,

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
one might say perhaps a bit
lastly, the production of litter.

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
Many doubts have been uttered

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
whether this kind of monocultures
can be sustained for a long time.

00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
It’s fairly new thing in
Australia, and nobody (inaudible).

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:53.000
[sil.]

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
Take a good look at this Jarrah.

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
[sil.]

00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
Jarrah tree takes

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
about 200 years to grow to maturity, and
this one may well be up to 400 years old.

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
It is the eucalyptus marginata

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
or what used to be called
West Australian mahogany.

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
It yields a richly colored timber varying
in color from pink to deep red brown.

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
It’s extremely hard and durable.

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
It is recognized as one of
the world’s finest timbers.

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:13.000
[sil.]

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
For decades, it has been the
focus of production forestry.

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
It has been cut down at a faster
rate than the trees could grow back.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
[sil.]

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
Sustained over cutting

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
has left these depleted forest
with falling production rate.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
And these have brought a crisis within the
timber industry, and a chronic timber shortage.

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
Throughout the regions, saw
mills will be closing down,

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
and men’s jobs put in jeopardy.

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:08.000
[sil.]

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
What is left of the Jarrah
after the acts of the chainsaw

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
have taken their heavy toll is being rapidly
destroyed by a fungus known as dieback.

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:28.000
[sil.]

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
As a result of human action,

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
it has become one of the most serious
epidemics in botanical history.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
It is at present destroying 10
thousand acres of Jarrah annually,

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
more efficiently than a bulldozer. The
rate of this spread is not natural.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
It is being promoted by
men’s use of the forest.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
Firstly, all the prime healthy
timber has disappeared off

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
to the saw mills leaving a greatly weakened
forest behind. What remains is subject

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
to periodic controlled
burning called cool burns

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
in order to prevent the buildup
of dead timber and leaf litter

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
from leading to severe bush fire.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
This fire management

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
however is inadvertently changing
the nature of the forest understory

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
by stimulating the germination
of (inaudible) seeds.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
The cool burns are leading to an increase
of this species in the forest understory.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
(inaudible) and in its masses of
fine hair like roots which serve

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
as a launching pad for the new sites
of infection. These same fires also

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
dramatically reduced the
numbers of water bushes,

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
which have certain microorganisms
associated with their roots

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
which are actually antagonistic to
the dieback fungus. After a hot fire

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
such as found in natural conditions,
(inaudible) would produce a dense understory.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
But the cool burn is not hot
enough to stimulate germination.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
In short, a natural stable symbiosis

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
has been interfered with producing
quite unexpected results.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:38.000
[sil.]

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
What a tree!

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
[sil.]

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
Where Newton had an apple
falling on his head,

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
he wondered why the apple fell down.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
If he had wondered how they got to the top in the
first place, we might have a different physics,

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
what a feat of engineering.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
What a tonnage of material that has been brought
up there against all the laws of gravity.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
If we knew that, we wouldn’t
have an energy problem.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
Certainly a (inaudible) that
we know very little about,

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
perhaps its solar energy was able
to life tons and tons of weight

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
of substance to this height
is quite incredible.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
This is King Karri,

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
one of the forest giants of this planet.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
It grows only in a relatively small area
of the forests of Western Australia.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
The timber it yields is immensely strong,

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
long grained, and dense.
This is structural timber,

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
it has few equals. Because the
log is so straight and long,

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
the limits to the links of planks or beams that can be
cut from it are determined by the handling capacity

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
of our mills and logging equipment.

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
The Karri of Western Australia
is splendid harmony,

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
is now being used as a source of supply

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
for the Japanese paper pulp industry.
These giant hardwoods

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
being reduced to wood chips
cleared in an operation

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
known as clear felling. Clear felling is the
latest advances in intensive production forestry.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
Instead of only the mature trees

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
of a forest being singled
out for selective felling,

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
the whole forest is cut down.
In groups of 200 hectares,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
every living thing is removed with the
exception of a single seed tree every acre.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
The effects that such a large
scale clearing operation

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
will have on the forests
of Australia is unknown.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
It has never been attempted before.
The size of the coops

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
and the rate at which they’re being cleared
has been made possible by the development

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
of massive capital-intensive
labor-saving technology.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
Clear felling for intensive production forestry
is now operating or schemes are proposed

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
for almost every state in Australia.
In this area of Western Australia,

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
about 35 square kilometers

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
is to be cleared each year
for the next 30 years.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
This is tree farming on a massive scale.
It is typical

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
of what is happening in forest not only in the
rest of Australia but throughout the world.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:08.000
[sil.]

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
The forestry people throughout the world,
at least all those that I’ve ever met

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
love their forests and live for them.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
How is it then that there’s so
much damage that we have reason

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
to fear that the Earth gets denuded,

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
can’t breathe anymore,

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
the deserts grow?

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
Well, it’s not the forestry people.
If they had their own way,

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
we would have as far as forests are
concerned, a conserver society.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
But they are under pressures.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
And where do the pressures come from?

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
They come from all of us. They
come for society at large.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
They are forced to adopt policies
because government says,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
\"This is a national asset and
economic asset, it must pay.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
It is a source of exports.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
This is a source for chips
or making newsprint.\"

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:33.000
[sil.]

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
It will take 400 years for the
forest to replace at long.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
Surely, we owe it to our the
great, great grandchildren to see

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
that the use to which the timbers is put
will last at least until its replacement

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
is ready to be filled.

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:13.000
[sil.]

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
The whole question of the forest

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
is a question for all of
us, for society at large,

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
where we’ll be able to
become a conserver society,

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
conscious that we are part of nature or are we
going to continue to remain a rapacious society.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:53.000
[sil.]

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
Are we in favor of progress? Of course,

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
we’re in favor of progress. And what
is progress? What is real progress?

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
It’s not progress to kill the
goose that lays the golden egg.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
No real progress

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
is an improvement in the quality of people,

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
the quality of the environment,

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
the power we develop to appreciate,

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
that’s real progress.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
If our actions does mean

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
destroying the very
possibilities of progress,

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
the very assets, in other words the
goose that lays the golden egg,

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
then we are impermanent

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
inhabited on this world.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
And during the last 30 years,

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
our activities have become
more and more destructive.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
We are engaged in a battle with nature. And
if per chance we should win the battle,

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
we will find ourselves on the losing side.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
To work with nature,

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
this is a very subtle matter.
It requires a great deal

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
of understanding how nature works.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
Now nature has achieved permanence,
there’s no doubt about that.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
Our economics at present are
very impermanent, look at it.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
We have interfered to such an
extent that waters are polluted,

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
resources run out, and so on.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
So our real task is to
develop the thoughts,

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
the understanding that would be
called the economics of permanence.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
It can be said that we
are now far too clever

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
to be able to survive without wisdom.
When we were much less clever,

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
we couldn’t do much damage. Now we
have powerful tools, bulldozers.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
And if we don’t treat environment

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
with the tenderness it
requires to remain alive,

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
we just ruin it. Now wisdom

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
in economics, what does it mean?

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
It means never losing sight of
the fact that we mean to be

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
permanent inhabitants of this world.
It will not be easy to learn wisdom

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
in our economic behavior.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
But we still have some time.
And without learning it,

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
I’m sure, as a race, we
should be, can be classified

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
with the species threatened
with extinction.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:18.000
[music]

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
Shortly after his visit to
Australia to make this film,

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
Ernst Friedrich Schumacher died in
Switzerland on the 4th of September 1977.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
In his book, \"Small is Beautiful,\"
he concluded with these words.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
Everywhere people ask

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
what can I actually do? The answer
is as simple as it is disconcerting.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
We can, each one of us, work to
put our own inner house in order.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
The guidance we need for
this cannot be found in

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
science or technology, the value of which
utterly depends on the ends they serve,

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:05.000
but it can still be found the
traditional wisdom of mankind.