Following on from my last article on climate change on the south coast, I was prompted to post something in response to the events that took place today in the Liberal Party.

The replacement of the party leader by one who has made statements in past interviews like this one should be of concern to us all - (taken from an interview with Laurie Oakes):

Laurie Oakes: … can I remind you that a few days ago you visited a Victorian town of Beaufort. Let me read from the local newspaper.  It says “In a wide ranging speech, Mr Abbott talked about climate change, the Liberal political fortunes and Kevin Rudd. quote - the argument on climate change is absolute crap,” he said.’ Is it absolute crap?

Tony Abbott: But then I went on to say -

Laurie Oakes: Oh yes you went on to say and I’ll quote the paper.  You said, “However, the politics of this are tough for us. 80% of people believe climate change is a real and present danger.” You think its crap but you’re doing this to humour the voters?

Tony Abbott:  And what I was trying to do in that discussion, Laurie, was to talk around, if you like, a group of good, decent Liberals to support what I think is a reasonable compromise position. That’s to say we will have an ETS but it will be an ETS that does the least possible damage to Australian jobs and Australian industries and the maximum possible protection against the possible risks of climate change.”

Hmm. Sound like poli-speak to you? It sure does to me. The leader change will probably ensure the liberals won’t get back into power for years to come but just wait for the outpouring of ‘pseudo-science facts’ that will be trotted out in the coming weeks and months to justify not doing anything now about reducing carbon emissions. People want to believe that any ECT is an evil of course as we realise how it will affect our lives.

We should be concerned that those who must make the hard decisions minimise the negative economic effects as much as possible but the reality is that the science is in. The overwhelming evidence says that the earth is warming at a phenominal rate, far more than it has ever done in the past during the normal cycles. The evidence is also overwhelming that human society is the major cause of the rate change and that we have to do something about it - now.

In fact, it may already be too late to prevent a catastrophe larger than humankind has ever faced before - nevertheless it is important that we play our part in doing something about it to give coming generations a chance at enjoying what we take for granted… living.

Continuing the delays by holding endless committee meetings and procuring and discussing endless ‘independent science’ reports (always from self-interested industry lobby groups) and by promoting doubts in the real science they will, I have no doubt, succeed in getting the majority of, at least the liberal voters, to go along with that.

In reality of course, many of these people have children and grandchildren and forget to stop and think, ‘what if I’m wrong’? Does it never occur to them that by ensuring that their electricity bills don’t rise by 30% (I doubt the majority of them would know what they pay anyway) or that their constituents who are employed by major polluting industries will vote to keep them in office - what the consequences will be?

Sure, we are only human and will fight to preserve our way of life and prosperity - but at some point the planet will have to come together on this before it’s too late and the only thing left to do is to sit back and watch and experience the effects of doing nothing and wish that something had been done…

Can I suggest that you take 15 minutes to watch the Baloney Detection Kit video below by Michael Shermer of the Skeptics Society? It may help you to make your own mind up about the climate-change deniers ‘arguments’. At the end of the day, if the majority of Australians know all the facts they will hopefully make the right decision and back any party to make the tough but vital necessary decisions on our behalf. Note: if the video stops and starts, press pause and wait for it to load a little before continuing.