Economics v climate change: at the polls jobs and Adani won
Following Queensland's worst drought on record then later, flash-flooding with huge losses of livestock, Queenslanders still opted to vote against Labor policies which included commendable ambitious climate-change targets.
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Short-term self-interest (or was it individual economic survival?) apparently outweighed long-term national interest in the address of climate change as demonstrated by regional voters fighting for Carmichael Adani coal mine commencement.
For almost 650,000 years, atmospheric CO2 levels stayed within the range 180 - 300 ppm. The industrial revolution of the last 200 years has now resulted in a historic high CO2 level of 415.3 ppm.
Atmospheric CO2 content is the primary reason for global warming giving rise to an average global surface temperature rise of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius with both CO2 levels and temperatures continuing to trend upwards to dangerous levels.
This in-turn is warming our oceans and increasing marine acidity causing coral bleaching and potentially the ultimate demise of our Great Barrier Reef.
Climate science confirms Adani mine coal used to fuel power-stations will further accelerate global warming and together with sea-bed dredging of Abbot Point coal port, the Great Barrier Reef as a global attraction will be detrimentally threatened, fish stock will be depleted, and 65,000 current sustainable jobs associated with all reef activities will collapse.
Our (unsustainable) economic growth model based on consumption and planned obsolescence dictates the necessity for jobs as a priority over the environment.
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Regional Queenslanders have a dire need for immediate jobs hence their support for the Adani mine project was made clear.
Over the last two decades both federal governments have done little towards a bi-partisan effort to limit climate-change together with a smooth transitional plan away from coal.
So Queenslanders opted for the prospect of immediate jobs as a priority over environmental considerations.
A similar predicament arose with the planned damming of the Franklin River in South West Tasmania from 1978.
However visionary wisdom prevailed with the intervention of the federal government under Bob Hawke, and the Dam was not built.
The Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park (west of Hobart) now creates a sustainable livelihood for thousands of people and attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from both the mainland and internationally.
Similarly, one can argue that the Federal government has a moral responsibility to stop the mine proceeding as it has severe national consequences for all Australians both economically and morally, so regional sustainable jobs must be established quickly as an alternative to mine commencement.
This matter is not just for Queenslanders to decide; it is really a Federal matter, with outcomes of global consequence.