climate change
25 Nov 2008
The Icing Is Melting
You can't have your cake and eat it too, writes Anna Rose. The Rudd Government should be celebrating its first birthday by announcing strong emissions targets
All the small people I know — and by that I mean under the age of seven — have trouble sleeping the night before their birthdays. Many of them don't want to go to sleep after it ends, too. Birthdays mean so much to children; and then we get older and the fact that we have been alive one more whole year seems to become less miraculous and more mundane.Yesterday was the first birthday of the Rudd Government — one year since what many have described as the world's first "climate election". It was an election in which the Government was given a clear mandate to take strong action on climate change. For people my age — who had spent their entire adulthood under John Howard's rule — it was an election that promised to bring change of a type we had never witnessed before.
I couldn't sleep on Sunday night, and I am finding it ever more difficult to do so as we get closer to the Government's announcement on targets. As the hangover wears off from its birthday celebrations, I want this Government to decide not to create a real-life nightmare for all the kids of the future.
What did you do to celebrate the Government's first birthday? I baked cupcakes — 172 of them, two for each Labor MP. One of them had a picture of the Earth, the other the words "The Icing is Melting!" The cupcakes were hand-delivered to MPs in Parliament House by a team of five young people from different member and partner organisations of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
The "melting" cupcakes, delivered alongside a statement from young Australian award winners, were a gentle reminder that if the Government doesn't get its act together on climate change, the planet will keep baking and affect our entire lives.
If you'll allow me to continue with the cupcakes metaphor for a moment: the Government is in a sticky situation on climate change right now.
The Prime Minister's own climate change advisor, Professor Ross Garnaut, found (and said in an excellent interview with Tony Jones on Lateline last week) that to strike a global deal that saves the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and the Murray Darling Basin, means at least a 25 per cent cut in carbon pollution of 2000 levels by 2020.
Garnaut said he didn't believe that international politics could currently achieve such a deal, which would require stabilisation at 450 parts per million of carbon — but there are two clear counters to that argument.
Firstly, the international politics have changed since Garnaut's report: Barack Obama's election has momentous consequences for the international climate negotiations. He has already committed to an 80 per cent cut in carbon pollution by 2050 — putting Rudd's 60 per cent by 2050 to shame — and he's committed to creating 5 million new green jobs for America. His statement on 18 November at Arnold Schwarzenegger's Global Climate Summit included this powerful statement:
"Few challenges facing America, and the world, are more urgent than combating climate change. Many of you are working to confront this challenge .... but too often, Washington has failed to show the same kind of leadership. That will change when I take office."
And secondly, we know that even though one economics professor might think it's politically impossible to get a strong global deal to save the planet, we have to demand the impossible to avoid the unimaginable.
Luckily, we know that we have a choice, and that acting to set strong targets now will create new investments, new green jobs, new economic opportunities for our generation — and at the same time, protect our future.
The past year of the Rudd Government has seen too many missed opportunities to start implementing the millions of solutions we have at our fingertips to reduce carbon pollution.
The Government continues to support the coal industry to the tune of billions of dollars through subsidies, direct grants, and political cover in the guise of so-called "clean coal". Yet just last week, Australia's only commercial-scale solar panel plant announced it would close, losing 200 Australian jobs. I have seen so many of my friends working in the renewable energy field move to China, California, Germany, and Spain because of the simple lack of Government support for the industry of the future: renewable energy.
The debate in Canberra this week is about carbon pollution reduction targets. The Australian Youth Climate Coalition hopes that our cupcake delivery yesterday — including my appearance on Channel 7's Morning Show with Climate Change Minister Penny Wong and our "melting" cupcakes — will influence the terms of that debate.
We know that, as Professor Garnaut found, the absolute minimum target we need to be aiming for by 2020 is a 25 per cent cut, if we want a global deal to save Australia's natural icons. But most scientists are saying — and have been for a while now — that much more is needed: we need to be aiming for a 40 per cent to 50 per cent cut in carbon pollution.
We know we can do it. We have the solutions — just take a look outside at the sun and wind. Although Australia is currently behind where it should be, largely due to the pressure from the coal industry, the Rudd Government has enough time left in its term to catch up.
Next year, on the Government's second birthday, let's celebrate the decision we hope they'll be making this week or next: to start capitalising on the opportunities inherent in our environment and to lay the foundation for a future economic boom by pursuing a strong sustainable economy.
A year ago Rudd was elected on a promise to take strong action to address climate change. He moved quickly to ratify Kyoto. To set strong targets at least within the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's range of 25 to 40 per cent would be the icing on the cake.
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Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Rudd mob woke up to what is going on, and actually DID something. I get the strong impression every time I see Climate Minister Penny wong on TV that she is under the permanent influence of drugs. Some time ago, I watched her on I think a 4Corners programme, where she was asked a question on the situation of the Murray-Darling. She looked back half smiling, bemused, and gave no answer! I got the distinct impression that she did not know what the interviewer was talking about. Either that or she is so smart, that she considers everyone else so dumb as to not warrant an answer. The whole scheme for saving the Murray-Darling appears to have been hit with a bomb… it just has no clarity, no real purpose, and has no chance. No one is going to move the Queensland Government to see sense, and to co-operate. They are troglodytes. The relevant Qld. Minister even looks like one! He sure talks like one! Hell, we are Queenslanders, NOT Australians!
So-called Environment Minister Garrett, so far, has done absolutely nothing except agree with every development proposal put before him. The Environment just does not come into his consideration. But then, he is under the total control of Rudd, anyway. In the latest, the Traveston Dam issue, it appears that he (well, Rudd, actually) did not want to upset Captn. Bligh, so had quiet words with her, and she has now postponed it for three years. By then, Garrett will likely be released from his now portfolio. One can certainly hope so.
Rudd, Bligh, what’s-his-name, the NSW premier, are all totally under the control of the Coal Miners. The very existence of the State appears to hang, with the Ore Miners, on the expansion of the Coal industry. America became hostage to the corrupt money markets, Australia has become totally hostage to Big Coal and Big Ore.
It was a great shock to me to see BP Solar move out. So many good ideas on Solar have come from Australian Universities, but because BP had managed to buy up all the opposition, their leaving leaves us totally bereft of any manufacturing in this area, and most if not all of the people with the ideas have also left. One has become a billionaire in China, selling Solar.
Rudd did his bit with the Kyoto signing, and has pretty much now put it in the ‘too hard’ basket. I doubt that he really understands any of it anyway, and Garnaut was always a bit of a buck-pass. Why a bloody Economist, anyway, a purveyor of a very dim science?
Like the Invasion of the NT. Rudd agreed with it, and now supports it, warts and all. And it sure has a lot of warts. After 12 months and more, a big enquiry which he completely ignored, he just wants the whole thing to be forgotten, with the Indigenous people left in the lurch - again!
The Big Promise - fast broadband for all. Well, some of us. I was never going to be one who could use it. I do not have a phone line, I operate on Satellite Internet, and it is horrendous, really. Very much third class! I doubt that the FTTN will ever be built. Or Telstra will get their way, and we will pay through the nose for internet at Telstra’s very inflated prices, no competition.
Fudd is a bureaucrat, a technocrat, a control freak, a robot, totally non-human, but seems to love prancing on the world stage. Does not look too bad, so long as you turn off the sound! Meanwhile, I do wonder where we are going in Australia. Maybe to Hell in a Handbasket! But believe me, I do not see Turnbull and his mates as any sort of savior. I develop a greater contempt for Turnbull every time I see him on TV, being the pandering politician, but NOT a good Australian. The Polls bemuse me completely. You really CAN confuse, just ‘con’, most of the people, most of the time. Our Media has a whole lot to answer for.
And why the Hell are we listening to the once ‘Dirty Digger’ with such attention these days.
He is an American Robber Baron, a Far-Right Warrior, a Bush Backer, and has concentrated on trying to fool us, all of us, all of the time, for many years, and make a lot of money doing it.
And now Gillard seems to be listening to him on Education of Australian kids. Yesterday I heard on ABC Radio someone (an American) say that anyone who thinks that the Yanks education system has anything to offer anyone, would have to have rocks in their heads, or words to that effect! It is an unmitigated disaster, one Obama thinks he can fix. We can all wish him luck. But please, Julia, not here in Australia. That would be real dumb!
So I am very sorry, but I see very little chance of the Rudd Government actually doing anything to save this planet. That would offend and upset too many of his rich mates and backers. Perhaps what we want is more of the ‘Beautiful People’, such as our Movie Stars, whom he does seem to pay a whole lot of attention to, to whisper in his ears. They seem to be more conscious of the world’s problems than Rudd is. Dazza.
Jane E
I don’t think Mr. Rudd has done anything about climate change which has actually cost him money.
But he does seem to be finding plenty to bail out crash market refugees.
The brain drain on alternative energy has indeed been going on for nearly 2 decades that I know of. People with good ideas couldn’t get Australian banks and investors to lend them money, so they went offshore in droves through the nineties, taking their IP with them.
Now the banks have come unstuck and apparently we have to save them.
Mr. Rudd has removed the subsidy on PEV installations from a population subgroup most likely to invest in it. I suggest that, instead of subsidising, or not, individuals to decorate their roofs, the government should enable the energy companies to rent roof space from people and do their own installations, and maintenance. Then you get efficiencies of scale, proper ongoing maintenance, and the possibility of mass takeup. Then we could see how much base load solar could produce.
Anyone following the environment topic should keep an eye on ABC’s Landline, which I find far more informative than Lateline. Landline is going into holiday mode next Sunday 12 noon (in Melbourne, anyway), and playing "best of". I hope they reshow their segment on Cubbie Station.
And on the subject of Mr. Rupert Murdoch telling Ms. Gillard how to educate the masses, words fail me. I heard him on the radio this afternoon. He managed to speak for at least a minute and convey what sounded like grave vituperation without actually saying what he thought was wrong with education in Australia, and / or how it should be fixed.
I am sad to say that Mr. Rudd has not surprised me at all by his conspicuous failure to actually get any meaningful change under way regarding climate change. When his party was in Opposition, there were very many times when you couldn’t have slid a cigarette paper between them and the then Government. Just because you have two parties doesn’t mean you have a choice.
Well maybe Rudd and Obama can save the GBR.
That banana bender from Nambour, the home of the big pineapple.
And the cotton picker from Chicago, Can they afford to upset the really big end of town?
Well, Wall St collapsed, has the main street? not yet!
Prop up the banks some more.
Maybe print more money.
Make more futures and options contracts, bet on some future bubble that never bursts.
All the same PE ratios in their double figures, and speculate that they will turn a profit one day. What have we learnt?
Do the math, trillions of dollars on paper with no real money to show for it.
We are going to trust the puppet governments to suddenly regulate the "market"!?
Greenspan (and Howard) believed that if you let the sharks into the aquarium, they would eventually kill off their own food chain during a feeding frenzy and so die off, and the guppies would return, and the food web would be perpetrated. (The natural order of the jungle)
Now these well-heeled "socialist" leaders that we’ve elected are going to feed up the sharks so their numbers don’t decline, and guess what? No more goldfish left in the tank…all gone…just sharks.
So no planet, no economy, just very fat sharks, with very good ratings from the rating agencies and unparalled "popularity" for our leaders according to the pollsters.
Would the last person leaving the planet please take out the rubbish.
Thank you.
The Rudd government is slightly better than the Howard regime however if he was serious about climate change(which he isnt) he should be talking to the Greens about proper targets and implementation. He doesnt really care though he just says he does. At least he isnt a climate sceptic like the Liberals.
Apparantly (according to David Bellamy - The Australian, 25 Nov 2008) the ice is not melting and the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have very little effect on varying global temperatures. And if it wasn’t for global warming ten thousand years ago our planet would be virtually barren by now.
He believes it would be far more practical to concentrate on the degradation of the environment.
Perhaps another one of the reasons for this financial disaster is because the financial sector has invested into a lot of failed renewable energy schemes, that are just not financially viable, even in the long term.
Why waste valuable energy and resources on trying to fix a potential problem, when a correlation between the levels of CO2 and rising global temperatures (another dubious claim) has yet to be proven?
And I’m not a Liberal either!
So until the maths is conclusive about the correlation between CO2 levels and increased temperatures, it is madness to make ‘strong emission reduction target’ policies (other than those signed for at Kyoto) and continue to ignore other more pressing problems concerning the environment, especially at the cost of such a speculative inconclusive correlation.
And just a point about the last election which was not a ‘climate election’ (according to polls) as you state, but was in fact a ‘work choices’ election.
Jane E
Dear Denise,
May I suggest that you look at some additional sources of information?
Try googling "carbonequity" where you can sign up for a fortnightly news digest of articles related to the climate change debate.
The Australian newspaper was a strong supporter of the "sceptic" position all through the Howard years, and seems to remain so.
Even if it turns out that catastrophic climate change is not poised over our heads like the sword of Damocles, it makes sense to reduce dramatically our dependence on fossil fuels, for economic, political and environmental reasons.
And if it is poised over our heads…
The faery cake is a nice gesture for Mr Prime Minister, here is my fifty cents thesis to counter the Garnautt, Wong and Rudd rhetoric…I cant even be bothered listening to Garrett rhetoric im not sure who writes his material.
Here is in a bottle..a green glass full of cold water to pour upon the ever so heated climate change, global warming and everything else catastrophic debate. They are all about the same thing and the drummer boy is playing the same tune of fear and loathing in city vegas, but its consume as normal so we can keep up with the jobs and get a bigger mortgage.
Its a game of energy wastage and the politicians are here to tell us everything is not alright and things are only going to get better if we listen to them…then maybe an outside chance of rescue, of global recovery, of boom time spending and another party, a few wars and lets not forget about the recessions.
Rudd has made some achievements that will dribble through to the waiting masses but its an overall good show at continuing what forever was a machine of self interested traders, selling energy cheap to drive consumerism and the sharemarket, their role in the wealth cycle made legitimate under the system of free democracy. It has become and been enabled so to be quite global which is fine, except for the extraordinary energy costs which are never made to be seen, rubbish strewn across the planet because no one could be bothered paying for it.
So its not about 2020, or 2012, or this green paper or that…its about the ability to bring about change now which is more aligned to harmonious and justifiable use of energy, and taking control of that energy out of the exclusive hands of private enterprise and oligopoly who have never, to their credit, pretended to be acting on behalf of public interest. That my friends is my thesis and thats what I encourage the Rudd government to do - yes to do - talkfests, gas-bags, conventions, none very practical in bringing about change in the simple areas where it matters - community, well being and health, education, transport…quality of life matters which will improve peoples lives and dispense with the ‘disaster’ politics mindset as well.