Yes, I’m sick. Sick and tired of the way our Government is eroding every single environmental agency and target we have, and is brazenly anti-science.
I’m sick that we have little action on climate change in this country when the rest of the world is forging ahead.
I’m sick that our fully functional price on carbon was rescinded by short-sighted politicians with little thought for future generations and only focused on profit and greed.
I’m sick of the political ping-pong that our Renewable Energy Target has become and in the process stifling investment in renewables across the country. It needs to stay the same or increase because it is the only real action this country has on climate change in the current political vacuum. How many more enquiries does the Wind industry have to go through and why doesn’t coal-fired power stations which are heavy polluters not under the same scrutiny?
We have sunshine in abundance. We have steady winds in many places throughout this wide brown land.
So why is the Government putting a noose around the neck of renewables all the while cheering on the fossil fuels industry? It is shallow thinking, short-sighted and just bad leadership. Leadership of the worst kind.
In fact in all my years, I don’t think I have ever seen a government so hell-bent on the destruction of our land and our planet. It is shameful.
That is why I am raising my voice. That is why I am speaking out where ever I can. I shall no longer be politically agnostic (not that I really was), because when there are bad things happening, one should not be quiet. One should stand up and be counted.
I will sign any petition, attend any rally, get the message out there any way possible, because we all need to do more, government and citizens alike, to solve the climate crisis and put a price back on carbon. It is the only way we are going to get any traction on this, the biggest issue mankind has faced. The time for inaction is over. The time for action is now!
Who else is sick of this bull? Hands up!
Did you read this in the paper recently? “The carbon emissions intensity of the National Electricity Market …. is up 3.3 per cent since the carbon price was scrapped in July” . Demand for brown coal has increased. My hand’s up!
I did Monika. It was one of the things (amongst others) that sparked off this post. We are sinking so far backwards it is not funny anymore. x
My hand is up also. Sometimes I feel so disheartened by this government I have to take a break from listening to the news. They behave like lemmings racing to the cliff edge. Sadly they are taking everyone else with them. You know what also amazes me is that people who care and live the lifestyle we do are still very much in the minority!!
So true. It is a slow motion train wreck in progress. I do think that the simple/sustainable lifestyle movement is growing though. It is certainly much bigger than it was when I started blogging 7 years ago.
The mismanagement of tax payers funds at the moment is driving me crazy. If they have so many hundreds of millions (nee billions) to throw around imagine what good that could do to the environment. Solar/wind power for everyone!! Im so embarrassed by our reputation internationally.
I’m sick of it too Gavin. Beyond Zero Emissions shows we could be world leaders in zero carbon technology. However with the total inaction of our government, it looks like any progress is only ever going to be at a local level eg. Byron Shire is hoping to have zero emissions within ten years. Like Roselyn above, I sometimes just have to avoid the news. Too disheartening.
Did you catch The Project last night on Chanel 10? They did a great piece on the RET and how behind the 8 ball Australia is. The piece is going around the Facebook world, I will try share it on your page!
Hi, now this is just my opinion but I don’t think putting a “price” on carbon emissions is the right way to go. All that will do is allow companies to carry on with what they are doing and just pass the cost on to someone else, ie us. They will get lawyers and accountants to manipulate it so nothing actually changes, it will become just like the stock market, all about profit and greed.
A while ago I watched a DVD about the electric car and how the govt just demanded the car makers to go and make one, they did, even Croc Dundee had one. This is what has to be done, make it law. This way they will have to use there own hundreds of millions of dollars to find new ways to do their own business and not just pass the cost on, it has to be changed from the source of the problem which are the companies. This new Indian goal mine up north, he is in the news today, the CEO said he has done everything “by the book”, which means by Australian law. well the LAW is wrong so it should be the law that has to change not create another level of bureaucracy to watch over the carbon price scheme. To me it just won’t work.
Just my opinion.
Here! Here! My hand is up too!!! LIke you, I was a political agnostic until recently but the Abbott Government changed that. I see the actions of the current government as completely incomprehensible and so now I add my voice to whatever campaigns I can that are aiming to try to make a difference to our world’s climate.
I get really annoyed when people just blame the government. Not that most politicians aren’t ignorant self-serving morons, but it’s a cop-out to blame other people for your own failings and inaction. PEOPLE are to blame for climate change….every last one of us who use fossil fuels and still uses fossil fuels despite the science saying we are changing the climate by our behaviour. Yes, I know there are many people, people like you Gav, who do much to reduce their individual carbon footprints, But the vast majority are doing nothing. Consuming and wasting, buying imported food, when they could buy local or grow their own, flying and driving for non-essential reasons like holidays, mowing useless lawns, buying energy-consuming goods and tools instead of doing without or using hand tools (don’t get me started on leaf blowers!).
And what did these people do when the government did try to introduce a carbon tax? Protest!! People don’t care; people won’t change; they love their energy-consuming lifestyles. People just want the government to do something rather than change themselves.
We need to hit people with a huge carbox tax; we need to tax driving and flying, purchase of power tools and household goods running on fossil fuels, industrially-produced food, especially imported food and imported goods of all kinds. We need to close down industry and shops and cities at 5 pm like we used to do; we need to stop playing night sporting matches wasting energy with those huge banks of lights; there are a thousand things we need to do and could do. But try and change the way people live and you’d start a war. The only way to get coal-fired power stations to close, is to stop using power. The only way you’ll get people to change is to hit them where it hurts…in the hip pocket nerve.
I was visiting a friend yesterday and was trying to explain peak oil and energy depletion to her husband. I said, the way we were going we’d run out of oil in 30 years. He said, “I won’t be here then”. I said “but your grandchildren will”. His reply, “that’s their problem”. Yeah, right!
Rant over.
New Zealand is now fulled by 80% renewable energy. Now that is a trans-tasman competition worth beating (better than cricket or rugby). Shameful that the kiwis are beating us (but good on them for kicking our butt)!!!
Well if New Zealand is fueled by 80% renewable energy, why aren’t we? I am interested to know how New Zealand got to that point in case we can follow their lead. I agree with Foodnstuff it is not just the government, it is the people who vote for the government that are playing a role in this too. If enough people sincerely wanted change and demanded change then wouldn’t the government be under pressure to act or be voted out? Perhaps many people think action on climate change would be good but on the other hand don’t want their hip pocket or their lifestyle affected?
Hear hear! A big hear, hear!!
We need action on two fronts – individuals making conscious decisions to use less carbon (and other energy sources and products that create emissions that cause greenhouse gases like methane) on a daily basis.
But – the only way to get widespread, effective meaningful change is government action – at all levels of government from the local councils recycling schemes to the national government leading the way in job creation and environmental management through supporting new sustainability industries, and other strategies like a carbon tax. Not that sustainable industries need help – last week’s The Economist magazine had a graph which showed that solar power is not cheaper than oil!
If Australia doesn’t act soon, and lead the way, then we are going to be left behind paying higher prices for old ways of getting energy, and destroying our magnificent environment at the same time.
Just one correction: The Economist’s graph showed that solar power is NOW cheaper than oil.