It is unfortunate that some did not attend the recent Climate Commission Forum held in Port Macquarie where they would have heard from some of the leading Australian scientists in their field (climatology, ecology, economics), along with a former President of BP Australasia, all of whom endorse the concept of human induced climate change (see http://climatecommission.gov.au/2011/05/02/the-port-macquarie-wrap/). With not a “tree hugging greenie” in sight, questions from the audience were astute and brought forth most informative answers from the panel.
Mr Jansen makes the attack on Rob Oakeshott but neglects the fact that there is universal agreement among all major parties in Australia that we need to take urgent action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions – it is only the approach which is under debate.
Any action, including the coalition’s direct action, will have a cost, which ultimately must be borne by the community.
Higher energy charges will be offset to some degree by improved energy efficiency and hence lower household demand. Poorer households should receive compensation along with these efficiency gains.
To Mr Wheeler-Smith and his comments on The Greens’ coal policy, specifically coal exports to China.
The Greens policy prohibits further expansion of the coal industry, including coal seam gas, along with retraining of any displaced miners as a result of this policy. Obviously China is not singled out as an export destination. If it was, then where would most of our manufactured goods come from, Mr Wheeler-Smith?
He promotes nuclear energy as the “only cost effective and clean alternative” to coal.
I encourage him to read Professor Ian Lowe (nuclear physicist) in Quarterly Essay, Issue 27, 2007 (it is in the PMHC library). In this volume you will find the following: “there is less than 50 years of high grade uranium left in the world, low grade ore requires so much fossil fuel energy to concentrate it to a usable level that there is little gain in GHG emissions; it is morally unacceptable to burden future generations with the storage of nuclear waste for thousands of years just to provide us with energy for a few decades.”
As for the Greens, I believe all of our Greens elected representatives hold university degrees (eg Bob Brown has a medical degree; John Kaye holds a PhD in engineering; several are social scientists and just to show we are not biased, we even tolerate a lawyer or two). As for myself, I hold degrees in agricultural science and development economics and have over thirty years’ experience in six countries in rural development, including agriculture, forestry, fishery, rural finance and infrastructure.
This followed six years as a metallurgist in steel production and copper mining.
A thought for our grandchildren is needed at this time; a minor inconvenience for us now will mean their very survival in the future. I will leave the final word to one of the Climate Commissioners at the Port forum: “a global temperature rise of five degrees would wipe out all of our current agricultural species”; now that is food for thought.
Ian Oxenford
BAgrScMScAgr,
Convenor, Three Rivers Greens
