What climate horrors will my granddaughter see in her lifetime?
All power to the children and teachers who demonstrated to draw attention to the lack of action on the ever increasing threat that climate change presents to the quality and continuance of life on this planet.
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These kids have a much greater stake in the future than I have – my youngest granddaughter is five months old, what climate horrors will she see in her lifetime?
A quick Google search will bring up the views of a number of eminent scientists who were once global warming sceptics and are now firmly convinced that the warming of the planet has nothing to do with volcanoes, sunspots or changes in earth’s orbit but is directly related to the rapid rise of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels.
Those not convinced by this science need only to “look out the window” to see the effects – melting polar ice (huge chunks of east Antarctica are now breaking off into the sea for the first time), melting of the permafrost in vast northern regions, rapidly retreating glaciers, marine life migrating to waters that previously had been too cold – even some of our winemakers now see Tasmania as the future for grape growing.
Unprecedented fires have raged across Europe and California this year, much of the bush on the New South Wales coast caught fire in the middle of winter and God knows what this fire season has in store for us in Victoria.
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Generally, the incidence of flood and drought seem to be increasing and is mainly caused by changing surface seawater temperatures ultimately producing more extreme and unpredictable weather.
It is true that Australia directly contributes only a small percentage of total global emissions but when you add in the emissions produced by all the coal we export we would have to be, per capita, some of the biggest emitters on the planet.
I hope these children will continue to be encouraged to demonstrate on what could become the biggest issue in their lives and in the process develop a political awareness they, and their own children, will need to be able to survive and live with dignity on planet earth.
Keith McKechnie, Golden Square
Yes, the climate changes, but, no, we should not destroy our economy
For a man who doesn’t want to get into a slanging match (It was about climate change | Your Say”, Bendigo Advertiser, December 15) by Ivan Kitt, his last paragraph certainly does a good job of it. However, I welcome the debate.
I shouldn't need to reiterate the main points of my argument – I thought I made them clear enough, but for those still in doubt – yes, climate changes; yes, humans may play some small part; yes, Australia is doing its share per capita of “addressing” this issue by various means including carbon sequestration, emissions reduction by less coal power and more renewables; but no, we should not destroy our economy or our standard of living (especially for low income households) by raising the price of power to unaffordable levels or other drastic action including herd culling, and I hope the PM adheres to this.
Lastly, teachers have an obligation to teach students how to think, not what to think. Enough said.
Helen Leach, Bendigo
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