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SubscribeThe Great Barrier Reef, Australia's participation in the clean energy revolution now sweeping the world, and the well being of future generations have all taken a big hit this week.
The release of the Australian Government's latest Energy White Paper on Wednesday suggests our nation is locked in a policy time warp that all but ignores the onset of dangerous climate change.
The science is clear. To keep human-induced global warming below an internationally agreed safer threshold of a maximum 2 degrees Celsius, Australia and the world need to achieve net zero carbon pollution for energy by 2050.
But the Australian Government is basing its energy blueprint for the nation's future on totally discredited numbers that would see average global temperatures rise by about 4 degrees Celsius this century.
That would make already-hot Australia a living hell for many people, for the current generation of children and their children and generations after them. The Great Barrier Reef would die from heat stress and ocean acidification.
You hear senior Government figures talking a lot about the immorality of burdening future generations with financial debt. They decry the notion of this 'intergenerational debt', but what could be a more immoral intergenerational burden than causing climate chaos?
The Energy White Paper is gambling our future on sticking with dirty polluting fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas and pays little regard to the clean energy technologies like wind and solar that more and more of the Australian people want.
At the end of this year the world meets in Paris for a crucial round of the United Nations climate negotiations, the 21st Conference of the Parties or COP21.
Nations committed to climate action are looking to Australia in alarm, hoping that it will be part of a strong post-2020 treaty for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but fearing that it is stuck in policy reverse.
This week's ill-considered Energy White Paper, the weak plan to protect the Great Barrier Reef while ignoring the huge threat of climate change, and ongoing attacks on the Renewable Energy Target all send very bad signals.
The Australian Minister for Industry and Science, Ian Macfarlane, seems oblivious to all that is wrong in the energy policy he presides over, saying:
'Strengthening the policy settings for Australia's energy sector is necessary in a changing energy marketplace and I am confident the framework provided in this White Paper will help Australia reaffirm its position as an energy superpower.'- Ian Macfarlane
The thing is that Australia could be a 21st century clean energy superpower, but seems bent on missing that opportunity by clinging on to the dirty old-industrial world alternative of fossil fuels.
The Australian Government has to break out of its energy and climate policy horror patch. Too much is at stake and more coal, oil and gas won't get us to a future we can all live with.
The only positive in all of this is that it makes the resolve of 1 Million Women and our members to get on with practical action in our daily lives all the more vital. We just can't sit around waiting for 'the government' to get its act together. There isn't enough time for that!
FOOTNOTE: If you want to see the Energy White Paper for yourself then just put that title into your search engine and click through to the official site. But sadly if you are looking for any serious attention to the climate challenge, you'll only find a single mention!
If you're serious about climate action, then join 1 Million Women...
