In many ways, Australia is a very intelligent country. Australians decisively banned guns in the 1990s after a major shooting, invented the ubiquitous black box and Wi-Fi and opened their borders in the post-war period, which led to the birth of one of the most multicultural nations on Earth.

Sometimes, however, Australians are stupid. Take this as an example.

Australia makes a lot of money from digging up and selling its resources, such as coal and uranium. We’re a county rich with sunshine and wave power, yet we still destroy the landscape for the energy sources of yesteryear.

I saw the ad above by the Minerals Council of Australia on a wall in a men’s room, which is an appropriate setting for it. Frankly, it stinks. For a start, the ad essentially admits that mines are destructive and ugly (in contrast to greenery) with the farmer’s supposed statement: ‘You’d never know all this used to be a mine’.

Still, what has replaced a mine? In this case, a farm did. With all the available scientific evidence of the causes of global farming, we know that one of the major factors is livestock, such as cattle. Yes, agriculture is crucial to contemporary human sustenance but if you’re trying to sell an environmentally friendly alternative after a mine, farming isn’t exactly the best choice.

Last of all, I take issue with the sentence, ‘There’s more to Australian mining’. What is that exactly? The poster fails to explain it at all.

With all of this in mind, what do we see here? We see an advertisement by the Minerals Council of Australia that says absolutely nothing. The council is attempting to maintain the sadly outdated status quo with empty statements and some vague appeal to conservative, white Australia through the depiction of a hard-working Aussie farmer.

Australia, indeed the planet, is well past the point that it should be in adopting renewable alternatives. We’re running out of time. I find it insulting that the council considers this to be appropriate advertising today and I sure hope that Australians don’t fall for it.