This week thousands of schoolchildren walked out of their classrooms and gathered in central Sydney for a noisy demonstration protesting the inaction on global warming. Like most of the rest of the world, Australia is dragging its feet in making the legislative changes that are necessary if we are to halt and turn back this relentless rise in world temperature.
In many ways this inaction is an age demographic. The pundits are prophetising the calamities that will hit humankind in increasing severity from about mid century and middle aged people have a comforting feeling that they will be dead by the time the worst of this happens. The politicians know that action plans will be disruptive and unpopular and so they avoid making practical decisions now in the hope that they will be out of office by the time it happens. Without doubt, it is the children of today who will encounter the effects of their inaction.
In Australia, the problem is clear to see. The electricity sector remains the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions but the tally continues to shrink as coal fired power stations close and renewables take up more of the load. Unfortunately it is counter balanced by the rapid increase of natural gas production emission gains, which include those from oil, coal and gas extraction and processing. These jumped 5.2% for the year just ending.
The other big annual increase came from stationary energy sources which take in the manufacturing, mining and commercial sectors. These also rose by 5.2% over the year and seem likely to continue that rise in the future.
A critical issue awaiting decision is the fate of the proposed Adani coal mine in Queensland. World finance has walked away from providing the funds to develop this new mine which involved a new train line to bring the coal from the rich Galilee basin to the coast for export to India. We now know that the mine is likely to be self financed and reduced in size, but opening a new coal mine is the exact antithesis of what is needed if greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced.
The lure for Australia is the likelihood of about seven thousand well paying jobs and the royalties that will be gained from coal extraction. Had the original mine proposal gone ahead this would have been our biggest coal mine and even in its present form it will still see a massive increase in national coal production. Science is warning us of the calamity we will face unless we reduce gas emissions by leaving coal in the ground.
No doubt some of those kids attending the Sydney demonstration were enjoying the freedom of a day off school but there is little doubt that global warming is sending warning signals right before our eyes. The nightly news brings evidence of raging forest fires and homes destroyed. Weather events are moving off the scale and the north pole is fast becoming ice free in the northern summer. Those claiming global warming is " crap " are fast losing a following in the minds of intelligent people.
The fact that the kids are now involved is likely to raise the global warming issue a notch or two. What sort of world are we leaving for our kids and grandkids ? Kids demanding action on global warming may be the stimulant that forces action where it has been missing for a very long time !
No comments:
Post a Comment