Marine

I am amazed how the Howard Government continues it's stoic stance on the refusal to participate or comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Using economic driven reasons for this, is fast becoming a paper thin mask, for what the real purpose of this is, and that is to retain political power, with promises of economic reforms for Climate Control, which have come too late and too little.

As an Australian citizen I am embarrassed by the slamming Australia received in the International arena at the recent UN meetings in Europe. Australia needs to make a much tougher and more immediate target to bring the reduction of our Greenhouse Gas Emissions down to an acceptable level. Rudd and Garret however, have taken a tough stance against this Governments inaction and seem to be making it their main political drive, coming up to the Federal Elections. Whilst we all realize that these changes cannot occur overnight and will in fact, take a great deal of forward economic planning, I am of the opinion that most Australian citizens are so concerned about the effects of Climate Change, that most people I have spoken to about this topic,are not concerned about the personal cost to themselves. If it means that we all give another dollar or two in taxes for this specific purpose, then so be it! After all, we are all acutely aware of the effects Climate Change is having in our country and it seems it is getting worse every year.

How long are we going to wait? Many of our generation, baby boomer era, are of the opinion that it won't be our problem to worry about, because we won't be here anyway. I'm appalled by this attitude, as well. What of our children and humanity's future in general?What price will they pay for our greed and apathy? Where will our food come from if our major River Systems are not managed immediately to address the rising salt tables and drying up of our most productive produce regions?

Not to mention either, the rising sea levels, which seem to be increasing faster than previously forecast. The Ice caps are melting at a pretty phenomenal rate. What will happen to our beloved coastline and in particular, our beloved Gold Coast? Surely there must be sufficient economic cause there to drive the political engines into action with regard to the possible loss of so much Tourist based revenue?

I attended the first ever Greenhouse Conference held in Sydney in 1988. That was almost twenty years ago now. The scary thing is that some of the scientific predictions forecast back then, to start occurring by 2050, are starting to happen now! It's exponential and a run away train, but panic will not solve the issues, only action. Australian Politicians need to form a united front on the entire issue, pull together and stop using it as a political point scoring agenda.

We are on the brink of a mass extinction event. Do we really want to be one of the species counted among them?