This thread is for discussing Ch. 13 - "Mining" AustraliaYou may post within this framework or create your own threads. Edited by: misterpessimistic  at: 6/18/05 1:47 am

katala au...if you are reading, no hard feelings...BUT...has ANYONE else, while reading this chapter, had visions of the Three Stooges running through their heads?What the heck were these people thinking!? EVERYTHING they have tried seems to have gone horribly wrong! Except Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin...they are cool.Man!Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

Funny fact:Australia, with 20% land covered by forest, exports wood to Japan, with 74% land covered by forest.7 dollars a ton for wood CHIPS (for a country loosing forest) to Japan to make paper products, which sell at 1000 dollars a ton. Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

i think the economist would call this comparative advantage....

And the pragmatist would call it environmental suicide. WW

And the pessimist would call it, simply, the stupidity of one group being exploited by another.Plain old human stupidity.It ANNOYS me! Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

Australia takes up 2,967,877 sq mi, as compared to Japan's 145,833 sq mi. So even if Australia's forests only cover 20%, while Japan's cover 74%, Australia still produces about 5 times as much timber as Japan. The different kinds of tree produced in each nation is likely also a factor in determining the need for exportation. But that's the situation viewed from an economic standpoint; Australia may still be screwing the pooch if their exportation makes their forests less sustainable.

Yeah well...someone entrepreneur should start a paper making company in Australia at least...or charge more for the export!Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper