There She Goes, My Beautiful World...
It's now official – Kev, Penny and Co are on the nose. The announcement of the government's long-awaited carbon pollution reduction targets has drawn suitable ire from greenies, a concerned public, and most surprisingly, from industry.
The announcement of a 5-15% target falls well short of the 25-40% environmentalists are saying is essential to stop runaway climate change completely screwing things up.
Many argue the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu wetlands and Murray-Darling basin are all set for irreparable damage thanks to the 5% figure.
Even 15% is likely to be pretty bleak, should next year's negotiations in Copenhagen actually succeed.
We spoke to Mathew Murphy, Energy Reporter with The Age in Melbourne to get some insight into what the targets actually mean and whether it was all as bad as it seems. He seems to think not, but says there is definitely room for movement into a higher percentage range.
The Australian Youth Climate Coalition's Anna Rose thinks otherwise. We heard last week about the AYCC's 'Your targets = Our Future' campaign, which was anticipating a 5-15% reduction target. The AYCC are going to be at the government's White Paper information sessions around the country, including in Brisbane tomorrow from 9 until 11am, at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on Merivale St, South Brisbane.
Fortunately people seem to care about what's in store – Radio Democracy tried to get in to hear the session and all 370 seats are already booked out. Being outside is always more fun anyway.
While we were on a roll with doomsday scenarios and climate chaos, we heard the first of three excerpts from Radio Ecoshock, featuring journalist and war historian Gwynne Dyer. Dyer was speaking in Vancouver about his latest book and upcoming radio series, which looks at the likelihood of war as a result of climate change.
While hardly the first person to run this argument, Dyer puts a very strong, logical case as to just how we can expect the shit to hit the fan. The first is a massive influx of Mesicans and Central Americans into the United States and increased border control (think Palestine, walls, guns, razorwire etc.), the second a drying up of the Indus River by India, leaving Pakistan thirsty, angry and armed with nukes and finally a collapse – through desertification – of the world's food producing regions. Case in point – the Murray Darling. More next week.
Music
Capital – Gang of Four
Moment of Truth – Blue King Brown
Burn Down the Parliament – The Herd
Cigarettes and Alcohol – The Leftovers
Car Song - Woody Guthrie
Conspiracy to Riot – Sage Francis
No comments:
Post a Comment