More than a week ago Super Typhoon Haiyan went on its way across the Philippines. Three islands of the Philippines suffered catastrophic damage. Many aid organisations in lots of countries immediately organised aid transports to the Philippines. However the aid to the worst struck areas arrives for the survivors of the typhoon only slowly. Too great is the destruction on these islands. This makes the transport of these aid supplies very difficult.

Some people say there have always been typhoons and bush-fires. Of course this is true. But did they always occur with such frequency and severity? Do these people really believe that our way of life does not make any difference at all?

These days all first world countries have an extremely high standard of living. Would it really hurt us people in first world countries very much if we all cut back a bit on carbon emissions? Some economies in some first world countries may suffer a bit from time to time. But do we really make it a better world and a better society by spending more and more? I do not say we should not spend on ourselves anything extra at all. For Christmas for instance it is important for the economy that people should spend a bit extra. However I do not see that there has to be an increase in last year’s Christmas spending. Why not aim for a slight decrease? Why does there always have to be an increase? I don’t get it.

And here my thoughts on our Aid Budget in Australia: Why do we have to reduce it? Are we really so bad off that we cannot afford the previous level any more? And why is our Defence Budget so much more important than our Aid Budget?