It seems that Australia’s new Prime Minister really meant it when he said he’d dismantle even the moderate steps taken by previous governments to meet the challenge of climate change.
Luckily, however, the future isn’t completely determined by Tony Abbott, the Murdoch media and those whose interests they serve. Among myriad initiatives taken by non-government, non-Murdoch people, 350 Australia recently launched a divestment campaign, Go Fossil Free Australia. From their web site:
As members, beneficiaries, and customers of super funds, banks, educational and religious institutions, and governments, each of us can play a powerful role in divesting Australia’s economy from fossil fuels.
As part of their project of building public dialogue and awareness of fossil fuel divestment and alternative investments, 350 Australia is hosting public forums around the country in September and October 2013, with the intention of presenting a variety of perspectives, both for and against divestment.
Just in case you were hoping you could trust in the Murdoch–Abbott complacency, here’s a talk by Ian Dunlop at a recent forum, outlining just how grim things are.
A 2 degree increase in temperature, which apparently is pretty inevitable, will be bad enough, but if we keep on as we are, we’ll have a 4 degree increase, and the planet then would only be able to sustain 1 billion humans. I guess anyone reading this will all be dead anyhow before that load of disaster hits the fan, but Tony, how stupid do you have to be not to even try to stop it from happening?
Me fail? I fly! 