population poem

Melbourne's environment is steadily deteriorating as rapid population growth continues but some are insulated by wealth against the effects of this. Happy 2012- Melbourne’s environment

In city and suburbs trees fall victim to greed,
Backyards are demolished for a so called need
Of people awaiting all our precious spaces
And we give them up and then turn on the *races.

Our surroundings decline as we stand by and watch
And try to explain it in terms in terms of *“hop scotch”
“If you move to there these ones can move in
Then cover your garden, it’s no longer a sin.”

We think ourselves rich but sometimes we wonder
When our Bay is “un-swimmable” after rain, hail and thunder,
Was it like this when we were all kids?
The Melbourne environment is now on the skids!

But to our weekenders, some of us go
To beaches and sun or to ski in the snow
It still seems to the lucky ones everything’s dandy,
While for the rest of the people there’s little that’s handy.

“Have you heard of Peak Oil ?” I hear someone say,
“No problem” ‘s the answer, “Make fuel out of hay!”
“There’s plenty of growth still there in the system,
It’s elastic, you know- build ‘em higher and list ‘em

On domains that take in the populous places
I care not about problems that everyone faces
When too many people chase scarce flats and houses
I’m content with my mansion and grey suit and trousers.”

*"races" broadcast horse racing in Australia a favorite diversion from anything serious.
*"Bay"-Port Phillip Bay, the shallow lake like sea that get's filled with ordure, a danger to health when it rains heavily.
*"hop scotch"-Old children’s game where players move around different parts of a diagram drawn into the ground