The International Energy Agency announced today that spiralling greenhouse gas emissions from human activities mean there is now little hope of limiting our rising global temperature to 2 degrees as agreed at the Cancun climate conference. Their report said "44% of emissions come from burning coal, 36% from oil and 20% from gas".
It's not as though we don't know what is causing the problem yet Queensland's government is planning to double our coal exports by 2030 and cover rural Queensland with 40,000 coal seam gas wells. It doesn't compute - unless they think money will save us.
Every year global overconsumption is recorded around the world. It records the day of the year when our consumption exceeds what the planet can sustain. In 2010 it fell on 21 August and it moves further forward every year. This so called development cannot continue. Something has to change.
* The Nordic region leads the way. They have shown over the past decades that growth is possible without increased environmental impact. The idea of sustainability goes hand in hand with the Nordic welfare state where it is their objective to enhance quality of life without depleting the earth's resources.
* In 1990 Sweden introduced a $100 carbon tax. It is now one of the world's most successful economies.
* Germany's Angela Merkel, in centre right government, on announcing she will phase out nuclear power by 2022 said this week "We believe we as a country can be a trailblazer for a new age of renewable energy sources".
"We can be the first major industrialised country that achieves the transition to renewable energy with all the opportunities - for exports, development, technology, jobs - it carries with it."
* Government in Scotland has announced the country will be running on 100% renewable energy by 2030.
Yet we keep hearing that Australia can't afford to get ahead of the rest of the world in responding to the growing climate crisis. We are orchestrating a crime against nature and the future.
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