DOWN on King George Island (the northern tip of Antarctica), recent scientific research conducted by 14 countries has confirmed that the Antarctic peninsula is one of the fastest warming regions on the planet, with average temperatures rising 2.8 degrees Celsius in just 50 years.
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This is the biggest temperature rise in the Southern Hemisphere, a rise that is visually obvious from rapidly melting glaciers.
While 196 countries globally have committed to keeping average air temperature increases below 2C, alarmingly, Australia is not among them.
Professor Peter Convey, of the British Antarctic Survey team, says, “We (mankind) have essentially knocked the global system out of kilter, and we should be scared about what’s going to happen to humans”.
While 87 per cent of the peninsula's glaciers are retreating, this is considered minor compared with the disintegration of thousands of kilometres of ice sheet in west Antarctica which is predicted to have a catastrophic effect on ocean sea levels, ultimately affecting about one billion people worldwide who live near the sea, including major cities in America and Australia.
Australia’s renewable energy target was set at 20 per cent from renewable sources such as wind and solar by the year 2020.
This target was legislated at 41,000 gigawatt hours, but now, with reduced demand for power largely due to improved consumption efficiencies by consumers, the government is choosing an opportunistic and environmentally irresponsible approach to reduce the target to 32,000 gigawatt hours.
As renewable energy significantly contributes to reducing carbon emissions globally, we in Australia should certainly not be reducing our renewable energy target at all.
The renewable energy sector has invested heavily in this program over past years and any reduction now will be disruptive to this investment, stall progress in the uptake of renewable energy, and cause the loss of thousands of sustainable jobs throughout Australia.
The dramatic findings by scientists in the Antarctic regions confirm the beginnings of runaway global warming as always predicted by eminent climate scientists, so rather than reduce our contribution to carbon emission reduction we should be setting more ambitious targets beyond the 41,000 gigawatt hour mark.
Any reduction in our RET can only be described as irresponsible and in opposition to the thinking of more than 196 responsible countries around the globe who are united in their efforts to minimise the impact of accelerating global warming.
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