I believe that a good dose of common sense is required to understand the real issues. A dose of common sense to decipher the media bullshit and political one-up-manship that is being thrust at ordinary Australians every single day in the mainstream media. A dose of common sense to get back in touch with the reality of it all with the realisation that the furor of anti-climate action is being created by vested interests who choose short term profits and greed over the future of our children’s children. A dose of common sense about the true meaning of not acting on the voluminous amounts of carbon dioxide and the five other greenhouse gasses that we spew into the atmosphere and oceans every day.
As far as I can tell it all comes down to risk management. We make a choice based on the risk of action or inaction on what we are doing to our home. Here are the four choices as I see it.
A. If the majority of scientists are correct and man-induced climate change is happening and we do something about the cause to lower emissions, then great, it was money well spent and we have a future. No issue.
B. If the majority of scientists are incorrect and man-induced climate change is not happening, and we still do something to lower emissions, then no great loss, we have a clean planet to live on, species decline may stop and we begin to care about our planet. Money well spent. No issue.
C. If the majority of scientists are correct and man-induced climate change is happening and we do nothing, then we spend no money and we are stuffed. Changed climate, species loss including our own, and a general shit storm if the IPCC reports are anything to go by. It’s life Jim, but not as we know it!
D. If the majority of scientists are incorrect and man-induced climate change is not happening and we do nothing, we party like it is 1999 and we spend no money on reducing emissions, we still end up with a shitty place to live with a polluted environment for our children’s children.
Our choice is simple. A nice place to live as in choice A and B, or a shitty place to live as in choice C or D. The vested interest would like us to choose the latter. I personally choose A and B, and am doing something about it in my own special way. Our capacity for inaction in the face of the facts about climate change continually stuns me each day in this country. It could be all of the media hype, which is hard to avoid these days, but I have weighed up the research and have made an informed risk based decision.
Now because I choose A and B, I will be attending one of the many family oriented rallies being held throughout our great land on Sunday, 5th of June. Check out the Say Yes Australia video below for more information or click on the link.
This rally is great but lets not stop there. I find that you can influence other at a more personal level. Think of it like this. One person starts doing something out of the ordinary (taking waste coffee grounds home from the office for the garden, keeping chooks, turning off their work PC overnight, whatever), and then a whole bunch of other people will start doing it.
It’s almost like nobody wants to be the first to go out on a limb, but once that first person has broken the ice, it’s suddenly much more socially acceptable for others to do the same. We really are social animals.
So lets get social and lead by example to tackle it from both angles!
I cannot thank you enough for putting things so simply and clearly. Because I sometimes I get so bl*&^y confused by the politicians – go figure…
the current political situation in Oz is dreadful. A government made ineffective through the fear of losing the balance of power and almost too scared to do anything. …if they would just do something amazing they may find they would have most of the country cheering. …and don’t start me on the Press!
Oh, and ‘miaow’!
Well put Gavin!
I’m sorry but I disagree. A tax or emmisions trading scheme is just an instrument to take from the pockets of the little guy and put money in the pockets of the wealthy yet again.
If strict emmissions regulations were introduced(They already do this with cars) then that would actually have the desired purpose. Of course costs to reduce would be passed on to the consumer but it would be attacking the problem at it’s source.
On the other hand if you want a tax then the people issuing carbon credits will make a nice little fortune out of it. And no surprise who has vested interests in these offices. And the consumer will be filling these people’s pockets while having little to no effect on emmissions.
Of course the government is being sneaky about the whole thing because a lot of people are being distracted from the fact that we will have a market system on carbon dioxide in a couple of years after the introduction of the tax that will allow speculators to manipulate the price and we’ll have fluctuating prices further burdening households.
If they say it will cost households 10 dollars a week at a price of 25 dollars a tonne then what happens when the market drives the price to 250 dollars a tonne? that would cost families 100 dollars a week.
I cannot believe the gullability of environmentalists that believe
an instrument designed by economists for people like goldman sachs & co is for the benefit of the planet.
Of course we have no choice as the little guy has been screwed by the big guy since the start of time and through deception we will get an ets.
Because it’s the new tech boom or housing boom or gold boom. Sound familiar?
Personally I don’t think moving money around is going to achieve anything. Why doesn’t the government invest money in providing solar panels and solar hot water heaters to everyone. Lets get using an alternative energy source! I cant for the life of me understand why they are stopping the solar rebate scheme.
You are so right Gavin, lets err on the side of caution. So solar panels going up as I type this.
@ Sonia, Cheers. It takes me a while to figure out what they are saying as well, which is why most of the time I ignore them.
@ Hazel, miaow to you! I had to look up on google on what you were refering to, and I had a good laugh when I saw the footage.
@ Lani, thanks for the email.
@ gullygunyah. Fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Howerver, at this stage of the game, any action on climate change would be a step in the right direction as far as I am concerned. Direct action has not worked so far, so what makes you think that it would work in the future. Most people just don’t give a shit, and will carry on like scenario C & D regardless. A good point to note is that we are the ones that lead the government, not the other way around. They bend to the will of the people and if there is enough opposition to their plan they will stop and do nothing. Back to square one again with the climate getting warmer every year.
P.S I love the veil of anonymity you hide behind.
@ Africanaussie. Fair point. Not wanting to offend, but don’t you think that the industries that pollute the most should either be forced to curb their emissions via an ETS with a reducing cap or some mechanisim rather than the government using taxpayers funds to put solar on every roof. That would be as bad as subsidsing the fossil fuel industry that cannot stand on its own two feed without government assistance. The type of power you use is your choice right now. Switch to GreenPower if you haven’t already to promote renewable energy tech.
@ Angela. Cheers and well done. Once you make the choice of solar you never go back.
Well, well Gavin, just bought my copy of Grass Roots today and who do I see but Gavin Webber of the Greening of Gavin with an article in same. Way to go Gav you are surely getting the message out there. Funny how we take ownership. I was thinking “there’s our Gav out there” Great article. Keep up the good work mate.
Cheers, Karen near Gympie.
I am off to Sydney’s rally today and plan to write a post tonight about it. Enjoy World Environment Day Gav!
Common Sense and politics, nope, can’t see it ever happening. Same with the media.
I still struggle to comprehend why people are fighting so hard not to do anything about climate change.
Do you remember the Dodo bird scene in Ice Age where they all follow each other off the cliff? That’s us.
Bang on, Gav, that’s exactly how I think too! Every individual person that does something positive, however small, will have some kind of snowballing flow-on effect on those around them.
It’s time to give the snowball a shove!
“Our capacity for inaction in the face of the facts about climate change continually stuns me each day” It stuns me too. I-don’t-get-it-I-don’t-get-it-I-don’t-get-it. It is shocking really. Are we not rational people?
I agree that we are social animals, and we have to be the change in our own lives to inspire change in others. I might not do it if I see a media ad to conserve, but I might follow the lead of friend.
Congrats on the magazine cover.