Letters line would seem to be ideally suited for use as a trail for hiking and cycling between the small population centres scattered along its route. Will this wonderful idea be any closer to realisation given another decade? Not if TOOT and co have their way. John Scrivener Main Arm
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Three movements
Rail and trail
If you are looking for or supporting affordable housing in the Byron Shire, it is worth contemplating a regular rail service, which connects the jobs hub of Byron Bay with more affordable housing in the hinterland of Mullumbimby or Bangalow. Both affordable housing and the Byron Line are difficult to attain, with the Byron Line having the potential to help ease the pressure on workers paying high rents for their abode close to their work. In addition it creates more jobs, in Bangalow or Mullumbimby or the hinterland, from tourists wanting to explore those jewels in a leisurely fashion, not just on pushbikes. This chance should not be missed as there is only one.
It’s the only valid reason to protect the rail corridor. Jens Krause Byron Bay Q The old railway line has lain disused for more than a decade now. The process that led to its abandonment was gradual, inevitable and irreversible. The reasons for the discontinuation of rail services to the far north coast were largely economic. Railroads were first developed in early 19th century England and trains quickly became the primary mode of long-distance transport throughout much of the industrialised world. Today they remain an essential and efficient means for transporting bulk produce over long distances between major locales, such as hauling coal or iron ore from mine to port.
But when it comes to distributing lots of people and packages to and from many different places, railways and trains are not the most effective or economic transport solution. Smaller vehicles that can travel on a variety of road surfaces are necessary to distribute and deliver people and products to and from diverse and dispersed locales. In large cities, where centralised rail systems transport large numbers of people between suburbs and city centres, railroads remain economically viable transport solutions. But out in the country and regional rural districts, railroads have limited utility, associated mostly with mining and agriculture. For a small, environmentally friendly community like we have here in Byron Shire, the disused railway
Letters to the Editor Send to Letters Editor Michael McDonald, fax: 6684 1719 email: editor@echo.net.au Deadline: Noon, Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. Letters already published in other papers will not be considered. Please include your full name, address and phone number for verification purposes.
When humans are ready to come out of denial that they are in the midst of an environment crisis, and are more ready to remember the humanness of their exceptional ability with reason, they could consider three major movements. The first, with the acknowledgement that the sideeffects of all technologies are killing the planet, is movement away from technologies. Technologies themselves are not the problem. Humans’ excessive attachment to anything is a problem. The second, the result of humans as a herd animal constantly comparing with each other, is egalitarianism; equality of material resourcing; the elimination of wealth gaps. This reduces the possibility of movement away from technologies being seen as poverty. Egalitarianism is also a movement that has been known to be needed to be accomplished, but was neglected for millenia. The prehuman past asserted itself more than humanness. The third, the result of the comparative shock introduced by the first two, and as a means of supplying human needs in terms also of not creating a dead planet, is ruralisation rather than
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Thursday 29 September
MARSHALL O’KELL Friday 30 September
RAGGA JUMP Saturday 1 October
DEVILS KIOSK Sunday 2 October
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The Byron Shire Echo September 28, 2016 9