The CPRS will not save us
When Kevin Rudd says “it is now time to act”, he is not himself acting. When he says “failing to act today is to roll the dice on our children’s future”, he is throwing them down the chute and calling for lucky 7. This is PR. This is spin. This is not to be believed.
5% by 2020 is not “ambitious”. It’s not even close. We’re too late for 450ppm. This isn’t a problem we can softly softly approach. We’re already past the 350ppm limit our planet can maintain. We’re fat and about to have a heart attack. This isn’t the time ease into a healthy lifestyle. Give up the burgers, get to the gym – your only other choice is death.
I’m a big believer in markets, but a market can’t work if you’re monkeying about with it. There’s a time and place for subsidies, but propping up a dying industry is not one of them. Giving the most compensation to the biggest polluters is bullshit. It undermines the very goal the CPRS is supposed to achieve. There is no economic incentive to change if the government is offsetting your costs. The market doesn’t even cover one of the biggest polluters in the country – agriculture. Yes, there are complications in measuring emissions from farms, but the idea that it’s not possible is frankly an outright lie. A market so obstructed and distorted cannot function effectively.
Taking into account voluntary action for households is a token gesture. The direct measurable impact households can make is important psychologically, but in the scheme of things neglible. The real gains to be made – primarily dietary changes and reduced consumption – will not and should not be covered by an emissions trading scheme1. Don’t think for a second GreenPower absolves your responsibility to our planet.
It all comes down to risk.
If science is wrong and we do something, the precious “economy” slows a little as we move to renewables we’re going to need anyway2.
If science is right (current consensus) and we do nothing: Big capital-T Trouble.
Skepticism is important, but I’m not a betting man. And I’m not stupid. I’m not going to gamble on something this important. Keep asking questions, keep demanding proof, but the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that we must act now. Real action, not KRudd-jumping-up-and-down-not-going-anywhere action.
What can you do? Start making some noise. Tweet about it, blog about it, write your local paper. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell the person you meet on the train. Get angry. The government’s job is to look after us. It’s time to demand they stop posturing and start doing their job. The Walk Against Warming is coming up on the 12th December. Get off your couch and come show them – and those complicit on the sideline – that we’ve had enough. The future is not to be gambled with.
Supplementary
- Government media release on CPRS compromises
- Greens call CPRS actively harmful
- AYCC also unhappy
- 350ppm science
- Walk Against Warming
1 Though it’d be neat to get some credits for being vegan…
2 Even if all the climate change research is bollocks, “renewables” will rear it’s head again in a few years anyways. Exponential growth does not play well with finite resources.
