Going, Going, Gone – Government Sell Out

Bad news this week. The Australian Government has given up on its promise to introduce the Carbon Reduction Scheme and given in to the vested interests who didn’t want to pay for their emissions. No point blaming the Opposition for this backward step. The Government has lost its authority and its ability to act on climate change. And seemingly lost any semblance of capability to achieve anything positive for the environment and the economy. Look at the disastrous insulation scheme. Can we expect it to do better with a comprehensive energy efficiency programme and other measures to reduce emissions? We would hope so. We have reports this week on what needs to be done with energy efficiency, what California is doing in this direction and what a city like Melbourne has underway. Bill McKibben says it’s already too late – we just have to learn to cope with what we have done to the planet. Michael Roux says business is already doing a lot and prepared to go even further. Much could be achieved with massive investment in renewable energy, with the sun shining for solar. What about moving to faster and more greenhouse friendly rail transport? In Queensland, there’s a big worry about who’s calling the shots on developing an effective energy grid and there’s new research to show what’s happening to our oceans. Good news that four developing countries are getting back to the basics and back on track for global climate change action. Four cheers for Brazil, South Africa, India and China.