9 February 2007
REALITY OF CLIMATE CHANGE ACKNOWLEDGED – NOW FOR THE HARD PART
The major report issued by over 2000 scientists last week has effectively ended the debate about the reality of climate change. It is real, we have caused it and its impact will be catastrophic unless urgent action is taken.
Now that world leaders have (reluctantly in many cases) been forced to acknowledge the reality of the problem the first step towards finding a solution has been achieved, but the more difficult step on agreeing on what needs to be done has yet to be addressed.
A TV advertisement was launched on three continents this week (but not Australia) urging world leaders to ‘wake up ‘ to the impending disaster that threatens.
The advertisement can be viewed and an online petition signed at the AVAAZ website.
In the meantime the two major political parties in Australia sought to respond to public concerns on this issue. The Government announced a National Water Plan whereby it intended to take over the States’ powers in regard to water management in order to better co-ordinate the conservation of this precious resource, and the Opposition announced it would be convening a National Summit on Climate Change to forge a national consensus on how to respond to the crisis we face.
In other developments the Deputy Mayor of Sydney and Australian Greens’ candidate in the forthcoming local elections, Chris Harris, claimed that climate change could be significantly addressed by making Sydney a solar powered city by 2010. He pointed out that the technology is already in operation as 6.6 MW (soon to be 38 MW) of electricity at the Liddell Power station in NSW is currently generated using Solar Thermal power.
Nevertheless despite the obvious advantages of switching to solar power in Australia, the immediate prospects of that happening look bleak given the government’s preference for existing coal and nuclear options according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald
You can find email addresses of your Parliamentary representatives to express your concerns on this issue at the website of the Parliament of Australia
Now that world leaders have (reluctantly in many cases) been forced to acknowledge the reality of the problem the first step towards finding a solution has been achieved, but the more difficult step on agreeing on what needs to be done has yet to be addressed.
A TV advertisement was launched on three continents this week (but not Australia) urging world leaders to ‘wake up ‘ to the impending disaster that threatens.
The advertisement can be viewed and an online petition signed at the AVAAZ website.
In the meantime the two major political parties in Australia sought to respond to public concerns on this issue. The Government announced a National Water Plan whereby it intended to take over the States’ powers in regard to water management in order to better co-ordinate the conservation of this precious resource, and the Opposition announced it would be convening a National Summit on Climate Change to forge a national consensus on how to respond to the crisis we face.
In other developments the Deputy Mayor of Sydney and Australian Greens’ candidate in the forthcoming local elections, Chris Harris, claimed that climate change could be significantly addressed by making Sydney a solar powered city by 2010. He pointed out that the technology is already in operation as 6.6 MW (soon to be 38 MW) of electricity at the Liddell Power station in NSW is currently generated using Solar Thermal power.
Nevertheless despite the obvious advantages of switching to solar power in Australia, the immediate prospects of that happening look bleak given the government’s preference for existing coal and nuclear options according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald
You can find email addresses of your Parliamentary representatives to express your concerns on this issue at the website of the Parliament of Australia
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