What’s the fuss in Paris – about two degrees? At the December climate change talks in Paris there will be a spectrum of agendas; ranging from the “We desperately need to do nothing”, headed by Australia, to the “We desperately need the world to end fossil fuel emissions”, from the low-lying oceanic island nations.
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The plight of the island nations is indeed desperate. Many have already lost fresh water resources through salt water incursion as sea levels rise. To put it into perspective, even at the present rate of increase, those flat sandy beaches that Ballarat residents love so much at places like Barwon Heads will disappear under more than four inches of water by 2050.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, November 24, when Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt speaks at the Paris Climate Talks next Wednesday he is expected to assert that keeping global warming below two degrees is a “deeply personal goal”, that climate change inaction is “not an option”, and that “climate change is not a matter of belief but a matter of science”.
The opportunity for limiting global warming to two degrees has long gone. As for climate change action, the government has pledged to cut domestic emissions by up to 28 per cent from 2005 levels of 532 million tonnes by 2030. As for climate change being a matter of science we know from thousands of peer-reviewed articles by hundreds of scientists that coal is the main driver of climate change, yet we constantly hear from government ministers that “coal is good for humanity” and that “coal will be an energy source for decades to come”.
it’s going to be fascinating, then, at the Paris talks to hear Greg Hunt rationalising Australia’s role as a leader in climate change action while simultaneously striving to make Australia the earth’s fossil fuel exporting superpower. The nations of the world hope to agree on action that will limit warming of the earth to two degrees above the pre-Industrial Revolution level of 15 degrees.
So, what’s the fuss when temperatures in Ballarat can change by 20 degrees in one day? It’s simple really – the 1.2 degree average global temperature rise we have seen already has had such a dramatic effect on earth’s oceans, land and atmosphere that the biological life support systems of all creatures are seriously threatened.
We have heard from fossil fuel representatives and some politicians that: “We have a moral responsibility to supply coal as an affordable energy source to developing nations”. This is not just a statement of greed disguised as altruism, but should it become reality is an act of treason. We cannot unleash all our coal into the atmosphere already so dangerously polluted. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is a ray of hope for those of us who really love our country but can he go to Paris and stare down those who would betray us?
Too hard is no excuse. In 1939 when the Allies feared nuclear destruction from the Nazis the Manhattan project was devised to counter the threat. Within six years, centrifuges and gaseous diffusion plants were built to purify uranium, a nuclear reactor was built to make plutonium and nuclear bombs were successfully constructed and detonated. All of this technology was built from scratch requiring developments of completely new metallurgy, mathematics, physics, chemistry and engineering. Horrific as the outcome was it shows what great feats can be achieved when people are terrified of the future - as we should be now.